Archive for March, 2009

Mike Pence- Congressman from Indiana is on MSNBC right now discussing the Republican budget proposal. I haven’t looked at their budget proposal yet, but this struck me as shocking. Nora O’donnell asked Mr. Pence how much the budget proposal would decrease the national deficit and Mr. Pence had no answer. Now, here’s why this is so problematic. The GOP talking point against the Obama budget was that it would ultimately increase the deficit, or at least fail to decrease the deficit by 2012. They’ve proposed a new plan, that upon first inspection does nothing to address their initial argument against the Obama budget (the deficit). What I surmise from this is that ultimately this is a gimmick- they’re not interested in substantiating their claim (Obama will raise the deficit) and providing an alternative (a plan that is more efficient or requires less government spending but somehow manages to remain stimulative) but rather, they just want to propose something that can then use to justify their disapproval of the Obama plan. What we’re watching is an entirely ideological battle- Mr. Pence responded to Nora’s request for more insight into how the GOP plan would decrease the budget by snapping “there are lots of numbers in our plan”. That’s not a sufficient response- and frankly, we’re at a point where we need to insist upon a more serious debate as opposed to something that’s entirely founded on political calculations and assumptions.

Schumer comes out for gay marriage.

A statement from Schumer’s office today reads;

“It’s time. Equality is something that has always been a hallmark of America, and no group should be deprived of it. New York, which has always been at the forefront on issues of equality, is appropriately poised to take a lead on this issue.”

And lead we must.

A dramatic take on twitterism.

The Obama administration has indicated that they will soon be declassifying and releasing “ugly” torture memos that detail the Bush administrations approach to using water boarding and other coercive measures to extract information from enemy combatants. (The Obama administration also recently announced that they are abandoning the term enemy combatants)

These articles remind me of something that I heard a former Presidential speech writer say at a meeting this past summer. The conversation was off the record, but suffice it to say that the individual is a political legend who suggested that in order to avoid inflaming an already polarized Washington that a President Obama should avoid pressing charges, or even investigating Bush administration abuses. The individual suggested that this was a matter to be deliberated and decided by international courts. I haven’t heard many people echo that sentiment, and while I agree that it’s important to unmask abuses so as to prevent them from being repeated in the future, I also realize that President Obama doesn’t have the political capital, or quite frankly the luxury to make this a center point of his administration. Pundits are already criticizing his administration for taking on too much too quickly, this is such a hot button issue- I just don’t see how this is something that the administration can take on right now.