Daily Archives: August 16, 2010

by | August 16, 2010 · 11:30 PM

Reflection: Opportunity Costs


No, this post is going to be about economics. My main goal today has been to discuss the issues of opportunity for on a whole range of issues. There is such a thing as good and bad opportunities. A bad opportunity would be to use disaster relief to Pakistan as a way to gain support of its people. A good opportunity is for Democrats to try and use obvious strategies to help campaign in the fall.

Playing dirty is a term that most people do not like to hear because it conjures up memories of the dark side of politics, which nobody likes. The problem is that it must be used in order to solve lots of problems. Whether it is running a campaign or passing legislation, playing politics is part of the game. Right now, people are irritated at Washington’s behavior and its culture of corruption. People say we need new leaders, fresh blood or fresh meat is your interpretation, to solve the nation’s woes. Let me remind you that just because you replace a group of people does not mean that they are going to be any better than the last group.

Washington will always be the same, no matter what it will always be a “swamp” that needs cleaning. So, while it is going to be a swamp why is not used to pass crucial legislation. Cap and trade, education, and illegal immigration are all bills that need to be passed. All will require dirty politics, like the Cornhusker kickback for the healthcare bill. It needs to be done. The president needs a little LBJ in him to do some arm twisting and Democrats need to crack deals with Republicans to solve the gridlock. No one likes it, but this is business as usual and we need it now.

To sum up my posts today:

1. My theme was opportunity
2. China is now the 2nd largest economy in the world
3. An inspirational story about a neighbor of mine
4. Robert Gates will leave in 2011, he is admirable in my book
5. Harry Reid is double speaking
6. Democratic strategy for 2010 midterms

That ends another day. I hope you liked my posts. Please post comments, I love to hear your opinions and feedback. Also check out my stimulus article coming soon. I leave you now with some cute puppies.

Photo Credit:
http://www.ba-services.co.uk/

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Filed under domestic policy, local politics, politics, power walk, reflection

by | · 10:45 PM

Strategy Point: How to Trap a Republican

Warning to those who are Republicans, this will probably not make you happy. An op-ed in the Financial Times stated that the era of Democratic domination was over, mostly because people are tired of the Democrat agenda and want a shift in priorities, but Democrats have not really tried to attack Republicans in campaigns. Their only real attacks have been “Let’s not go back the Bush years” and “The Republicans are running candidates that are too far to the right and outside the mainstream.” Both are interesting strategies, but it does not get to the core of the problem. Republicans do not have a plan, really. The strategy is just say no to Obama, like their anti-drug slogan years ago.

This means that Democrats must trap Republicans into taking positions that they know will be bad for them in the long term.

1. Supporting the Paul Ryan Plan: With all its fancy logical fallacies, this plan mostly apocalyptic and has very dubious math to say the least. Congressman Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America” is about 100 pages and full of the same solutions that Republicans have been proposing for years like privatizing social security and cutting Medicare and taxes. All of this will cut the budget deficit. This is the closest thing that Republicans have to a plan, yet many are not supporting it. Why is this a problem? Because these are key Republican positions. If they do support this plan, nail them. If they don’t then they probably do not have plan. I call it being Ryan-22ed.

2. Use Social Issues: The recent Proposition 8 ruling declared the referendum unconstitutional. Republicans have oddly been silent on this, expect for the family values groups and Newt Gingrich. They are trying to avoid talking about social issues because they see it as a destraction from the economy, I understand that. The problem, they will have to face it sometime. Most Republicans are against gay marriage and the country is actually moving towards supporting it, a little over half according to recent polls. If Democrats bring out this issue the social conservatives will attack like piranhas, and usually say something that is not backed up by scientific evidence. Illegal immigration is another one. Talk about changing the 14th Amendment issue. There is no logical way that will ever work, explain a plan that is rational and do it.

3. Play it Local: Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil once said, “All politics is local.” While local politics have usually gone to the Republicans, Democrats can use this to their advantage. Stimulus funds go to places like schools, police forces, saving jobs in a time when states are cutting budgets frantically (I will have an article about this soon). This has not been explained very well though. If Democrats say that people will lose funding by cutting the deficit, losing services from the local government, people will listen. Republicans will then be trapped because if they say, “We are for cutting the deficit, which means losing local programs you depend on,” that will be a problem.

4. Senior Citizens: Word to the wise, senior citizens vote in midterm elections, pander to them. Republicans want to privatize social security, which is will suck when the market falls again, and cut Medicare, which senior citizens use. People have not picked up on this point, for which I am surprised. Use ads that are scary saying that Republicans will cut these social programs. Many Republicans use ads calling the Democrats socialist monsters, why can’t Democrats do the same thing to Republicans in reverse.

Happy campaign season!

Sources:

Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8abc1c18-a968-11df-a6f2-00144feabdc0.html

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Filed under Democrats, local politics, politics, power walk, Republicans

by | · 10:35 PM

Hitchens’ 6 Reasons Why Iran Should Not Get Nuclear Weapons

Columnist Christopher Hitchens remarked in his column for Slate today some reasons why Iran should not be able to attain nuclear weapons, besides the Israel point that everyone brings up. He does make some compelling arguments here:

1) International law and the stewardship of the United Nations will have been irretrievably ruined. The mullahs will have broken every solemn undertaking that they ever gave: to the International Atomic Energy Agency; to the European Union, which has been their main negotiating interlocutor up until now; and to the United Nations. (Tehran specifically rejects the right of the U.N. Security Council to have any say in this question.) Those who usually fetishize the role of the United Nations and of the international nuclear inspectors have a special responsibility to notice this appalling outcome.

2) The “Revolutionary Guards,” who last year shot and raped their way to near-absolute power in Iran, are also the guardians of the underground weapons program. A successful consummation of that program would be an immeasurable enhancement of the most aggressive faction of the current dictatorship.

3) The power of the guards to project violence outside Iran’s borders would likewise be increased. Any Hezbollah subversion of Lebanese democracy or missile attack on Israel; any Iranian collusion with the Taliban or with nihilist forces in Iraq would be harder to counter in that it would involve a confrontation with a nuclear godfather.

4) The same powerful strategic ambiguity would apply in the case of any Iranian move on a neighboring Sunni Arab Gulf state, such as Bahrain. The more extreme of Iran’s theocratic newspapers already gloat at such a prospect, which is why so many Arab regimes hope—sometimes publicly—that this “existential” threat to them also be removed.

5) There will never be a settlement of the Israel-Palestine dispute, because the rejectionist Palestinians will be even more a proxy of a regime that calls for Israel’s elimination, and the rejectionist Jews will be vindicated in their belief that concessions are a waste of time, if not worse.

6) The concept of “nonproliferation,” so dear to the heart of the right-thinking, will go straight into the history books along with the League of Nations.

Source:

Slate
http://www.slate.com/id/2264064/

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Filed under foreign policy, Iran, power walk

by | · 9:55 PM

Oh Snap: Reid Does Not Support Obama on Ground Zero Mosque

An interesting phenomenon occurred today, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided not to back President Obama’s sentiments about the Ground Zero Mosque. ABC News reported:

The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, “The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else.”

At first, I was a little shocked that Reid would go on the other side of Obama, but then I continued to read this from ABC:

“As the Majority Leader, Harry Reid is usually President Obama’s mouthpiece in the U.S. Senate, and yet he remains silent on this issue,” read a statement issued today by Reid’s Republican challenger Sharron Angle. “Reid has a responsibility to stand up and say no to the mosque at Ground Zero or once again side with President Obama, this time against the families of 9/11 victims. America is waiting.”

Now, I understand why Reid did this. It is all about politics. Sharron Angle is a very conservative, Tea Party favorite, Republican who is not a very bright person, but does have a chance to beat Reid because, well, she is not Reid who is despised in Republican circles. Reid is using this as momentum to say to his conservative base, “I understand that this is controversial, so instead of attacking it outright, I will say that a different choice should be made.” By making this point, it allows for him to stand with the Democrats, but at the same time double talk his way with the more conservative part of Nevada.

Strategically, this has been part of Reid’s political playbook. Last week, he attacked President Obama for not being tough enough. He is trying to separate himself from the president and be with him at the same time. Whether it is a good move, the voters of Nevada will soon decide.

Sources:

ABC news
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-seize-ground-mosque-campaign-issue/story?id=11411490

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Filed under Congress, local politics, Obama, politics, power walk

by | · 8:30 PM

Afternoon Delight: David Duke’s Platform for President

David Duke says that he might run for president. For those who do not remember, he ran for Congress many years ago and he is also a former member of the KKK. He tries to hide that, but some of his positions bring out his rather bigoted ways.

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Filed under afternoon delight, politics, power walk