Waxman is in as Chairman of Energy & Commerce. Now let’s see something interesting come of it.
Update: Of course, you knew the GOP members had to try do something stupid like raid the appropriation for alternative energy vehicles instead of using the bailout fund. More and more, the Republican party is reminding me of Ricardo Montalban’s final scene as Khan Noonian Singh from The Wrath Of Kahn. Fighting spirit is great, but it’s starting to get pathetic. Fortunately, the Democrats are asking for, yanno, some indication of how they plan to spend the money.
Oh, how pathetic? This pathetic:
Caveat: I’d say we’re only about 2/3 of the way through the scene now, so we don’t want to let up on the pressure.
It is possible, I suppose, that the pundits are right and the public didn’t really mean it when it elected a liberal Democrat president and gave Democrats even larger majorities in both houses of Congress. Maybe America really wants the same nice, reassuring, centrist thing as always.
But it is also possible that, for once, the public weighed the big issues and gave a clear verdict on the great economic questions of the last few decades. It is likely that we really do want universal health care and some measure of wealth-spreading, and even would like to see it become easier to organize a union in the workplace, however misguided such ideas may seem to the nation’s institutions of higher carping.
That was the sense I got when I met last week with officers of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Their mood was optimistic — as well it should be, since labor unions spent some $450 million during the 2008 races, orchestrated massive voter outreach, and saw their candidates triumph.
What is coming, they believe, is not triangulation redux. This was, SEIU President Andy Stern told me, “a clear election not on small things.” Mr. Obama “talked about what people wanted to hear about,” as opposed to the culture wars. “We’ve redefined the center,” Mr. Stern said. “Universal health care is now centrist.”
Near the top of labor’s agenda is the Employee Free Choice Act, a.k.a. “card check,” the legislation that will make it easier for workers to form a union by signing cards instead of by secret ballot in the workplace. Mr. Obama was a co-sponsor of last year’s version of the card-check bill and has vowed to sign it when it is finally passed by the incoming Congress.
…
Mr. Marcus sketched out the doomsday scenario for his listeners, with unions going after what he called the “low hanging fruit” and proceeding to organize workers in industry after industry. He had taken it upon himself to notify the nation’s CEOs of the danger, but they were not yet grabbing their guns. “This is as important as anything that’s ever happened to these companies. And they’re not reacting, and they’re not fighting. The old time fighters are gone.”
But in the class war, as in the real deal, there are always ways of motivating the yellow. “If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys,” Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to Republican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers “should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs.”
Mr. Marcus may snarl, but he doesn’t bark. His is the voice of a business class rediscovering its ancestral zeal for combat. Liberals should take heed. If they thought the “Harry and Louise” campaign that sank Hillary Clinton’s health-care reform was dirty, they should know they ain’t seen nothing yet.
To sum up: if you thought getting Obama elected was a struggle, you haven’t seen anything yet. This is going to be Clinton Years II, at best, but it’s worth it and we have the numbers to bring it off. Mr. Marcus is not alone out there, has come to expect getting what he wants, and is going to be very hard to deal with when he doesn’t. Still, after what he and his ilk have done to the country (both inside and outside government, I have a prize for him:
In the video, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s No. 2, castigated Obama’s foreign policy stances on Afghanistan and Israel and ridiculed the president-elect’s worldview. Al-Zawahiri compared Obama unfavorably to the late Malcolm X, an African-American militant who adopted Islam.
Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden are believed to be hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Al-Zawahiri can be heard saying, “In you and in Colin Powell, [Condoleezza] Rice and your likes, the words of Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him) concerning ‘house Negroes’ are confirmed.”
“House Negroes” is the English translation of the Arabic term “house slaves.”
That last line does not provide the entire context - the particularly hostile translation is from the English subtitles in the video. I suspect that the choice of translation was carefully considered, and I doubt it will work. Obama has always been a hawk when speaking of going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and he didn’t react impulsively to the GOP slurs against him, so I doubt this will have much of an effect.
Depending on how things turn out, the alternative world that is media-filtered history will remember this as either the challenge that brought down the otherwise promising Obama by sucking him into a horrible blunder he could have avoided, or it will be remembered as al Qaeda’s “bring ‘em on” moment. Bets, anyone?
Context for “bring ‘em on” for those in the cheap seats:
Troll repellent: Yes, I know we’re beating al Qaeda in Iraq. We also effectively created them by going there, so that’s a wash. As for the rest of the people there fighting us? The situation is not a military problem, and we’re blunting the hell out of our military trying to treat it as one.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
If they are smart, the Democratic leadership today won’t punish Sen. Joe Lieberman. The Dems will need Lieberman’s vote in the future, so they’d better place nice with the independent from Connecticut
Playing nice with someone who isn’t playing nice with you is a recipe for getting kicked in unpleasant places.
That especially means Lierberman [sic] should keep his chair of the Homeland Security Committee, which he enjoys for the publicity it brings him.
Because we all want to give national security positions to people who want to feel important.
Some Democrats, of course, want to smack Lieberman around for supporting Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid.
I don’t understand what the problem is - he’s sending clear signals that he’s opposed to the Democrats having control of the government. That being the case, he shouldn’t participate in Democrats having control of the government.
But come on, this is Washington, where political backstabbing is a fine art.
The knock-off label on your worldly ennui is showing.
Lieberman accomplished what he wanted during the presidential campaign — getting plenty of attention for being such a maverick.
I wouldn’t say “maverick,” I’d say “wiseass.” And yes, it takes one to know one.
But when Congress gets down to the hard part of actually governing in 2009, President Barack Obama and the Democrats are going to need Lieberman.
To do what, exactly? “Politics is the art of the possible,” but it is perfectly possible - and even welcome - that the players in the game can be changed.
That means making him happy. So the Democrats ought to swallow hard and do just that.
They have been swallowing, and by this time I’m sure their knees could use a break.
I originally published this as a page, rather than a blog post. Oops.
Regarding Obama, I’ll give you the feel-good stuff first:
I’m excited because…
He’s not a Republican.
He’s not George W. Bush or (less importantly) John McCain, and Joe Biden is not Sarah Palin.
He’s reviewing what GWB did for the purpose of stripping out the worst of it (that he’s stripping out the gag rule alone is truly wonderful).
He’s planning on doing some good things, most especially making sure we have a progressive tax system.
He’s smart.
He seems to be interested in working with Congress, or at least his diplomatic statements on the Lieberman question (and the fact that no-one is foaming at the mouth at him about them) have been well-handled. *
He’s more diplomatic in general.
Rahm Emanuel won’t be in Congress to try and pack the Democratic caucus with Blue Dogs anymore, and his replacement probably won’t be as good at it.
Most of his supporters are neat people.
He fights back when hit, counter to the advice of many Democratic strategists - and he hits back well.
Why I’m skeptical:
While it’s just not his style to call for Holy Joe’s head, apparently Obama is working to prevent Lieberman from experiencing any consequences at all for his choices. This is not change.
Some of his fans are really creepy (this site makes me want to run screaming. Even though some of the ideas presented are good, the whole idea of WWOD gives me the willies).
Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff hints at liberals having difficulty getting the President’s ear, which is something we’re used to (unfortunately).**
I doubt he’s going to confront the bipartisan insanity that’s spread all over the country, since his willingness to do so has not been apparent since the reaction to his comment about his grandmother and the “bitter” statement were twisted out of recognition. He’s going to have to do this or the crazy will hamstring him the way it did Clinton during his second term.
He’s not against war, he’s just against fighting the wrong war - which is one step away from “okay, maybe we should have just a small number of troops in Iraq instead of none, and a whole hell of a lot in Afghanistan.” Okay, I’m reaching - but given that war is the favorite pasttime of American Presidents, I am entitled to be suspicious until I see what he does.
Those things having been said, I’m going to disappear for the weekend:
I
* For the record, I think Holy Joe should be ridden out of the Democratic Caucus on a rail. Tarring and feathering is optional, defenestration may be excessive.
** I firmly believe that Rahm Emanuel just didn’t quite make it past the “you must be at least this crazy to be a Republican in Illinois” sign. Just sayin’.
Now one could say that Obama is building what (in a sane governmental system) is known as a broad- based coalition government, but I’m suspecting that he’s actually just a pragmatist who is looking for things that are 1. going to work, and 2. not going to get the populace into pitchfork-and-torches-rioting mode. He does mean business, though, and plans to fight every step of the way if people aren’t willing to work with him - note the selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff.
It’s good that he’s digging in, since Paulson and Bernanke seem to be embarking on operation “what, you really thought we’d buy that shit? OH, SNAP!” I believe that’s a good idea (because there are more bad financial instruments out there than we have the ability to purchase, and we’d probably rather not go the way of Iceland), though if we weren’t going to do it, we shouldn’t have said we were going to do it, and it would be polite to invite Congress to participate in the discussion (not to mention the legal questions). Still, the new administration is going to need to act swiftly to undo the breakdown in trust that’s happening right now for justifiable reasons - the Bush Administration isn’t doing what it said it was going to do. Combined with the strong-arm tactics, it’s as if someone was trying to make the relationship between business and government as hostile as possible, for as long as possible.
Now that I sit back and read those last two sentences, I’m wondering what part of this was supposed to be a surprise.
* No, I’m not advocating stealing flags, but misusing a distress signal speaks of a special kind of stupid.
Jesus, these article titles are either an attempt to make the left dance in the streets, or the right to go into foaming-at-the-mouth revolution (all-caps are mine unless otherwise stated):
IRAQ WAR ENDS
Troops to Return Immediately
STREETS COME ALIVE AS RELIEF AND EXUBERANCE GREET END OF CONFLICTS
* Last to Die in Battle Remembered, American and Iraqi
* Torture, Rendition “Not Such Good Ideas After All”
* War Brides (and Husbands) Find Their Place in a New Iraq
NATION SETS ITS SIGHTS ON BUILDING SANE ECONOMY
True Cost Tax, Salary Caps, Trust-Building Top List
MAXIMUM WAGE LAW SUCCEEDS
Salary Caps Will Help Stabilize Economy
TREASURY ANNOUNCES “TRUE COST” TAX PLAN
EX-SECRETARY APOLOGIZES FOR W.M.D. SCARE
300,000 Troops Never Faced Risk of Instant Obliteration
COURT INDICTS BUSH ON HIGH TREASON CHARGE
National Health Insurance Act Passes
POPULAR PRESSURE USHERS RECENT PROGRESSIVE TILT
Study Cites [Unreadable] for Massive Shift in DC
USA Patriot Act Repealed
NATIONALIZED OIL TO FUND CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORTS
ALL PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES TO BE FREE
Okay, getting caps now.
Update III: Okay, I forgot about the screencap - but apparently Gawker didn’t (and has more info). Excellent stuff.
I’m in a hotel room for a conference in New York (the hotel room is a story in itself, I asked for a hotel downtown and specified as close as possible to Park Avenue S and 16th street, and (despite repeated attempts by the travel agent to put me in a double room with king-sized beds, and finally being told I have a room with one queen-sized bed) a goddamn SUITE at the GRAND HYATT PARK AVENUE. I’m going to have a hard time expensing this, business trip or not.
Anyhow, the TV thing - I turned it on to watch the morning news, thinking it might be interesting - and wound up with the “morning Joe” on MSNBC, where they dished CNN’s Fischer-Price My First Fake Hologram (and deservedly), because that was done with the same techniques used in Star Trek to make the Enterprise fly, only with a deliberately fuzzy edge. Whoever thought that up had a deep, dark desire to humiliate Wolf Blitzer on live cable TV, and they succeeded. But it took me a moment to think about this, because I was still recovering from the massive dose of marketing stupid that blasted out of my TV, in the form of an advertisement for the Astrology Workout:
You won’t miss those brain cells. The best part of the workout is that it supposedly is customized for your body type.
Joe Scarborough is a turd, and is already slamming Obama for Rahm Emmanuel waffling on camera as to whether to take the job of White House Chief of Staff. And they’re already trying to tie him to Bill Clinton, and presenting this as a big thing, talking about how Emmanuel was supposedly the big pick for CoS…. and completely forgetting the original story being pushed in the MSM, which was Tom Daschle for that job. God the wingnuts are going to be unsufferable. Fortunately they’re not completely getting away with it (guests, etc are pushing back), but dayamn.
I want to go home to my TV-free existence. Then again, I think I’ll just turn it o….
WTF IS WILLIAM SHATTNER DOING WITH THIS “NEGOTIATOR” CRAP
This blog (like many others - and not counting my brief foray into LiveJournal) was born out of my outrage and dejection after the 2004 election. Yes, someday I’ll extract some of those posts from the database on the old server and put them up here. Maybe. For now, only a few would be important, or appropriate. For now, it’s time to take stock of where we are now that our President-elect is named Obama rather than McCain, and we are now - if we continue to work as hard, or even harder as we did in preparation for this election - in a position to start reversing the waves of stupid and hatred that have consumed our nation.
So let’s take stock.
We no longer have a political party in charge that’s desperate to run this country as if they were adolescents.
The litany of religious intrusions into the the secular lives of people of all religions - or none - might finally be slowing. (Updated 5:15AM - Holy hit this is close, and terrifyingly so, because it’s not looking good anymore)
We have a party in charge that needs to be watched carefully, lest it become comfortable with political dominance.
We have a slightly left-of-center president who we need to watch, lest Rubin convince him to allow this country to stray off into the Never-Never Land of Ayn Rand again.
We have wars to end, a nation to rebuild, and our asses to cover. We’re not popular right now, and it’s unlikely anyone else is going to be doing us any real favors unless they stand to lose a good deal more than we will - certainly not until we’ve done a lot of work to regain some trust, some stability, and some strength.
We have an economy that’s only going to get worse for at least a year, and that’s not even counting the secondary effects of the nascent global economic crash (yes, I said nascent - if you think what we’ve gone through thus far is anything more than a sweet kiss hello, you’re going to be in for many unpleasant shocks in the years ahead).
So the focus of this blog is going to change - rather than focusing on fighting back the seemingly unstoppable final stages of the Republican Revolution, now it’s about carefully cleaning up after that battle, and the long, hard slog we’re going to have healing ourselves and the battlefield itself - the world, and our nation in particular.
Our President-elect has an expression of grim determination on his face as he waves to the crowd - he knows what’s coming. I understand it’s just a hunch from watching someone’s expression on a video stream (though that someone’s state of mind is pretty damn important to how things turn out), but I’m comforted by the idea that he understands the stakes involved. We have much to break down, much to correct, much to rebuild, and much simply to do. In that spirit, I end this with an old and powerful statement by Senator Carl Schurz:
The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.
