American Soldier

The United States is concurrently fighting two of the longest wars in American history, Iraq and Afghanistan, yet it often feels as if that is not really happening. The wars are rarely on the front page and not in the consciousness of the average American. Well, here's a newsflash: American soldiers are still fighting and dying overseas. One of those soldiers is my nephew, Kyle, and here is his story.

For those of you interested in the story of the American infantry, you might pick up the book Grunts, authored by my good friend John McManus, a prolific historian of the American combat experience. McManus is one of the best storytellers I know and a master of archival research and oral history.

Have They No Shame?

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has already eclipsed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill as the worst in history. It may be the costliest environmental disaster in American history before all is said and done which could be months from now. Yet you have a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Joe Barton (R-TX), complaining that the Obama White House is perpetrating a "shakedown" of a private company by forcing BP to create a $20 billion dollar fund to compensate victims of this tragedy.

Some thoughts:

1. BP is responsible for the real "tragedy" in the Gulf of Mexico and I'd bet the price tag will far exceed $20 billion to clean up all the damage.

2. A Congressman, whose largest campaign contributor is an oil company, should be smart enough not to go on record defending a company that is solely responsible for the real tragedy that is occurring.

The fact is that the response in the Gulf to the leak, from BP to the White House, has been woefully inadequate. However, it is outrageous that a member of Congress would publicy defend BP, and portray it as a victim, when that company has been responsible for such a large scale disaster. Incredible.

Back to the Kitchen...and the 19th Century

Earlier I posted videos of Ohio U.S. Senate candidates who spoke at the Akron Press Club. One of those candidates was Republican Tom Ganley, a wealthy car dealer from Cleveland who has since dropped out of the senate race to challenge Betty Sutton, the Democrat from Copley who represents the 13th Congressional District. The race is starting to heat up--or at least the rhetoric is. In a newsletter sent out to Medina County Republicans, Medina County Republican Executive Committee Chair Bill Heck intones: "Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen!"

Clearly this was a poor attempt at a clever pun. Newsflash: Its 2010, not 1810 or 1910, or even 1960. Women vote. They also work outside the home now (not that working inside the home is something to be ashamed of as is inferred in the above comment). They are CEOs, astronauts, teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, cabinet members, legislators, even heads of state.

A comment like this can only backfire. You can bet Emily's List, who bankrolled much of Sutton's 2006 inaugural House campaign, has been energized by this. Ganley has deep pockets but so does a ticked off Emily.

Ohio U.S. Senate Candidate Videos

In the autumn of 2009, the Akron Press Club and Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron co-sponsored a series of luncheon talks by the four announced candidates for the Ohio U.S. Senate seat of the soon-to-be-retiring George Voinovich. The events were recorded by Time Warner Cable and broadcast later on the cable network. The videos for each of those events have been converted and are now available on-line.

Things have changed since then on the Republican side as Car Dealer Tom Ganley dropped out of the Senate race to enter the GOP primary for Ohio's 13th Congressional district, a seat held by Congresswoman Betty Sutton. This is slightly ironic as Sutton became known as the originator of the "cash for clunkers" program which became so popular among consumer last summer and probably put a lot of cash in Ganley's pocket as he is the biggest car dealer in Ohio. Ganley's move leaves former Congressman and OMB Director Rob Portman as the presumptive nominee.

On the Democratic side, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher has been unable to pull away from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner despite a hefty cash advantage. With the May 4 primary rapidly approaching, anything could happen.

Tom Ganley Video

Rob Portman Video

Jennifer Brunner Video

Lee Fisher Video

The Penultimate Decision

Before a president signs an important piece of legislation, as President Barack Obama did when he signed the historic health care reform legislation into law, his staff has a trivial yet interesting decision to make: how many pens will POTUS use and who will receive them as gifts afterward? President Obama used 22 pens to sign the legislation. That is not a typo--22 pens to sign his name. With 11 letters in his name that averages out to a half of one letter per pen. According to Politico, the recipients were:

1. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

2. Sen. Dick Durbin

3. Sen. Max Baucus

4. Sen. Tom Harkin

5. Sen. Chris Dodd

6. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

7. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

8. Rep. James Clyburn

9. Rep. George Miller

10. Rep. Henry Waxman

11. Rep. Sandy Levin

12. Rep. John Dingell

13. Rep. Charles Rangel

14. Vice President Joe Biden

15. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

16. Vicki Kennedy (Senator Ted Kennedy's widow)

17. Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform

18. Phil Schiliro, assistant to the president for legislative affairs

19. Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association

20. President Obama himself

21. & 22. NARA

The multiple souvenir pen tradition began with Harry Truman. Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 where he gave a pen to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is perhaps the most famous of all pen giveaways. Using all those pens to construct a legible and flowing signature has to be a difficult task unless the president prints his signature.

Political Dorks Rejoice!

C-SPAN has placed its entire video library on-line. For free. Hundreds of thousands of shows. For free. It is an amazing digital library and historical archive.

Who can forget Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jesse Helms (R-NC) blocking fellow Republican William Weld's (R-MA) nomination to become ambassador to Mexico in 1997? I've been retelling the story to my students for years. Now I can actually show them. (I'd like to show the video but am having problems embedding it. No matter, here is the link).

Bravo C-SPAN.

Hat Tip: Political Wire

Let's Hear It For Parma

One of my three loyal readers sent me this video link. Too funny.

The Face of Gridlock

The House empowers the majority party; the Senate empowers individual senators. That's the way it has been for about a century and will continue for the foreseeable future. With the intoxicating power to shut down the institution via the filibuster and hold, it is no wonder that most members of the House dream of sitting in a Senate seat.

Just witness the story of Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) who single-handedly blocked 47 Obama appointments in order to "get the attention of the administration" because he wanted a lucrative military contract to build refueling tankers for the Air Force to be awarded to a company in his state. When asked why he did it, Shelby replied: "Ultimately, I am a senator from Alabama. I wanted to make sure there was fairness because if there was fairness, the jobs would go there." And when asked about whether or not the nominees he blocked were qualified, he replied: "Oh, I don't have any idea."

Senatorial holds and the blocking of nominees are not partisan issues--they happen regardless of the party who holds the White House and who controls Congress. Their frequent use does point to a larger problem, however: the fact that the U.S. Congress in the modern era is dysfunctional. With 535 members each looking out for their own parochial and partisan interests, often with little regard for the national interest, Congress is failing in its responsibility as a co-equal branch. It is no wonder that every president, even if they were a member of Congress previously, looks to increase the power of the executive branch vis-a-vis Congress. It is also little wonder that a mere 14% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling their job.

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White House Photostream

I love anything presidential. I love pictures. The White House Flickr account marries the two. It is a constantly updated photo album of the Obama White House which makes available hundreds of pictures taken by official White House photographer Pete Souza and his staff. The photos give you a glimpse of the president, his staff, his family, and the White House itself very often not present during official events.

For example, one observation: President Obama likes sports and exercise. He shoots hoops. He plays golf. He throws a football, often. He throws it with staff. He throws it with members of Congress (even the opposition). I like that. It's cool seeing the president from beyond the podium. This humanizes a president--all presidents.

I hope this and future White Houses continue the practice of using Flickr. It's a very easy way to attempt to connect with the American people not subject to the filter of the media.

Obama Okay With Big Bonuses for JPMorgan and Goldman CEOs

In an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, President Obama said that “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system" and that he "doesn't 'begrudge' the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein." Isn't this the same president that last year decried the bonuses that AIG and other companies were handing out to their executives: "All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses....All they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules."

For a president trying to take on a populist tone, cozying up to Wall Street executives right now is just not good politics. True, they are an easy target but if these Wall Street fat cats continue to behave in egregiously greedy ways, then public scorn is well-deserved and should continue to heaped upon them.

NASCAR's Danica Moment

NASCAR used to be rolling in cash, sponsors, and fans. It can boast none of that now. The sour economy has impacted NASCAR like no other major sport. Sponsors have been fading away quicker than the ink on Sarah Palin's hand. Fans? There's still a huge fan base but many fans have become bored with NASCAR, especially after the generic Car of Tomorrow has taken hold and fan favorite Dale Earnhart Jr. has struggled in the last few years.

Now comes Danica Patrick. How important is Patrick to NASCAR? Very. Just look at the ratings jump for Speed Network for Danica's ARCA race last Saturday--her first race in a stock car (she finished 6th). The ratings jumped 87% over last year. These numbers are out of sight and excellent news for a sport losing fans--especially the lukewarm fans that it needs to stay connected with the sport.

The big question is: will she be able to handle a stock car? At 5'2" and around 100 pounds, a stock car will be a beast to handle compared to the open wheel IndyCar she is used to driving. Also, much of NASCAR is about bumping and grinding--stuff that gets you killed in open wheel racing.

Yes, there will be challenges for her and success right away will be unlikely. However, she has the confidence, demeanor, and talent to run with the big boys. Although she's only won once in 81 starts since 2005, she finished fifth in points in 2009. I expect she'll make the jump to the Nextel series in 2011 and bring the best ratings to the Nationwide series ever.

Although the dinosaurs of NASCAR, fans and drivers alike, are likely rooting against her, those interested in seeing NASCAR flourish should be rooting for her because NASCAR's Danica moment could be the only compelling reason for many band wagon fans to jump back on the wagon and make NASCAR a profitable enterprise again. I know I'll be doing something this Saturday I haven't done in a long time: watching a Nationwide Series race. How Patrick handles Daytona International Speedway will certainly be on the minds of most. I think she'll do just fine.

Wasilla Imbecile

Imbecile: "A person whose mental acumen is well below par."

How else can one describe former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin these days? It is mind-boggling that she was a major party candidate for vice president in 2008 (and I have made my opinions known on this subject in several posts on this blog). It is downright frightening that she is a GOP front runner for president and populist hero to millions.

In case you haven't heard, Palin was caught looking at notes written on her hand to answer questions at a Tea Party event last week. If one of my students had done this during a test, I would have failed them. The fact that this person is considering running for the highest office in the land should give everyone--Democrat, Republican, and everyone in between--pause. Not only is Palin "not ready"--she never will be.

If you need notes to answer pre-screened questions from a friendly questioner, you are an imbecile and always will be. You may be a hypocrite too, especially if you had just ripped the current President for being a "charismatic guy with a teleprompter" (a device, by the way, Palin uses herself). Now, if the event were not scripted in advance and you didn't know for certain what questions you might get asked--a debate perhaps--it is perfectly appropriate to have notes to refer to (though I would never recommend writing them on your hand like a 10 year old). But this wasn't a debate. It was a softball Q&A session among worshippers. Any public person worth their salt should be able to sleepwalk through such an event. But not Sarah. She had to write notes on her hand...

[Below is Jon Stewart's take on Palin's palm notes and the Tea Party convention in general. As per usual, Stewart nails it.]

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