The sun still rose in the east. My bank account balance remained unchanged. The Senate Republicans refused to work after 2PM. Senator Grassley (R-IA) claimed credit for some parts of the newly signed health care bill (“I was for it before I was against it.”). All in all, I guess the world didn’t end despite President Obama signing a healthcare bill. Who knew?
I had actually planned to write something on Senator Reid’s painful, but truthful analysis of American politics regarding President Obama’s skin color and dialect over the weekend. But every time I’d start, I would stop within ten minutes. Why? Because to put it simply, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. I wish it weren’t true, but skin color (not race) matters in American society and the closer one is to Northern European white, the easier acceptance is. That applies to Asians, Hispanics or anyone else. And nothing I’d write would or could change that in this society. We are not color-blind, but our collective tolerance has grown considerably in the last 50 years.
David Fitzsimmons’ editorial cartoon expresses what people of color have known for decades in this country. It is the thickness of your skin that will get you through. He said it, much better than I could and in fewer words.
See Cartoons by Cartoon by David Fitzsimmons – Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com – Email this Cartoon
All this week, I’ve been offering an opinion as to what I considered to be the best in terms of movies, political events, technology and sport events of 2009. The list is a personal one and therefore subject to discussion, but not argument.
So far, I’ve looked at the movies and technology events of 2009, today I will look at the political stories that made a different in the past year. That said, let’s roll:
1. The Inauguration of Barrack Obama. In the history of our republic, this has to be the number one event of all time. He’s the first man to be elected President that comes from a state admitted to the union after 1912. Yeah, there’s other things that I could mention where he’s the first, but the state thing is pretty cool and often overlooked. He’s from the last state admitted to the union and his Vice-President is from the first state admitted. Again, a pretty cool fact. As Stan Lee would say, “’Nuff said.”
2. Protest in Iran. In what was supposed to be a rubber stamp election for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, protest broke out when reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was declared the loser “by a landslide.” Fueled by the internet and Twitter in particular, the world saw Iran put down the protest violently. It was a public relation nightmare for Iran, as all appearances of a “democracy” were swept away by the brutality and bloodshed. And the blood is still flowing.
3. The Party of No. The Republican party refused to be part of the Government in 2009. They offered no alternates, no compromise and no ideas. They refused to accept any responsibility for the financial chaos they created during the previous eight years. And collectively have hoped that the fiscal ditch they left the country in, deepens so that they can sing their one note song of “tax cuts” as the cure for the economic malaise in a hoped for victory in 2010. They have been obstructionist all year long. For example, because of senate rules, Senator DeMint, a republican from South Carolina, has been able to hold up Obama’s nominee for the TSA because he didn’t want TSA employees to join a labor union. Now he will be part of the hearings next week to ask why there was a failure at the TSA on the Northwest flight Christmas Day. By refusing to be part of the solution, the party of Lincoln has become solidly identified as part of the problem.
4. Foxnews. This cable network gave up all pretense of being a “fair and balanced” news organization and showed itself to be a political broadcast platform for anyone opposed to Barrack Obama. They gave a pulpit to the birthers, the Tea Baggers and any right wing organization that encouraged revolution. The Australian-born Rupert Murdoch seemed intent on using his American companies (which include Foxnews and the New York Post) to sow the seeds of discontent and distrust of the current White House occupant (before he even took office) and drive up the price of gold which he has Glenn Beck hawking almost daily.
5. Healthcare vote. Just that fact that a bill actually cleared both houses of Congress is a miracle. Is it perfect? No! But once you have a law in place, it is easier to change it, then it is to create it in the first place. For good or bad, the Democratic Party has created something with practically no Republican support that they will own for the next two decades. Healthcare, like Social Security, will be part of the American consciousness as an entitlement from this day forward, despite the efforts of the party of ‘no.’
Tonight, President Obama will outline his strategy of the completion of our current mission in Afghanistan. It has been more than eight years since President Bush launched the war in that country in response to the al Qaeda attack on the United States in September 2001.
As it turns out, the latest reports are that we came surprisingly close to capturing Osama bin Laden, but let him slip through our fingers as we were distracted by the initiation of a new war effort in Iraq. There are many who wish for us to pull out of Afghanistan altogether just as we are in the process of pulling out of Iraq. To me, that is wrong thinking. The people who did us grave harm in September of 2001 are in Afghanistan and to paraphrase Dennis Green, former coach of the Arizona Cardinals after losing to the Chicago Bears, " We can’t let them off the hook."
CNN has done a very good job in putting together a sheet of frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding the deployment of the 34,000 troops increase the president is expected to announce tonight. This increase will bring our troop strength up to over 100,000 troops in the country. The FAQ is located here. We simply cannot allow al Qaeda or the Taliban to wiggle off our hook this time. Collectively, they have already demonstrated that they have the ability to strike us on our own streets. This troop surge is a good start to eliminating them as a threat permanently.
Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the last week, you’re probably aware of the couple that crashed the White House State dinner this month. Supposedly, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, accompanied by cameras from a reality show, entered the affair and were photographed with the President, the Vice-President and other dignitaries. Let me be clear. Whatever reality show the Salahi’s were negotiating with, should drop them like a hot potato. The pair should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for trespassing and whoever was in charge of security at the White House should be fired.
This couple got their 15 minutes of fame at the expense of our national prestige. Every visiting Head of State relies on the host nation to provide a maximum amount of personal security. After all, where in the United States could the prime minister of India be safe, if not at the White House. Michaele and Tareq Salahi have embarrassed the United States in front of the nation of India (and the world). The Secret Service has shown that it was not ready to provide the maximum amount of security to protect the President and his guest. That is unacceptable and heads should roll for it.
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