With an economy in shambles, people are going to be distraught— it’s unavoidable and many of them have the right to be angry— they’ve fallen victim to a poorly managed economy, irresponsible corporate leadership, and predatory banks and lenders. But let’s keep the big picture in perspective and remember a few things before we start pointing fingers. Just a quick reminder: the Obama administration has only been in control a few weeks. They never said this would easy. Granted, there are those who are going to be angry with the president no matter what he does. There are those who will blame him for the entire world crashing down on their heads, even if it’s self-inflicted. And there will always be those anarchists who blame government for everything, even though they don’t participate in or understand the process. Many are out there already peddling for the next third-party run, built on the premise that there’s no difference between the two parties, when we know there surely is (see 2000). And of course right-wing radicals are out there spinning their web of confusion and doubt, getting people riled up over a national debt that they have been building. Suddenly they are so concerned about the economy, the one they have been trashing with an unnecessary war sucking twelve billion dollars a month out of our economy. And then for some reason, Conservatives have no problem granting American-paid free universal healthcare to citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan, while healthcare for our own Americans citizens it’s considered “socialism.” How come, in the last six years of reckless war spending, none of those Republicans complained about mismanaged contractor fees, missing funds, and the rebuilding of a nation we probably shouldn’t have destroyed? Our policing of other countries is just one of the major root causes of our current problem.
But for the sensible person of logic and reason, they will remember that Barack Obama did not cause this mess, and that Barack Obama cannot clean up this mess in a couple of months. This has been a disaster in the making.
This crisis is essentially the result of “there’s no difference between Gore and Bush” voters in 2000, but more directly it is the result of the eight year Republican president with no economic compass, no regard for the welfare of America, and more interest in repaying his oil, mining, and defense contactors who contributed to his campaigns than helping the average American. Our parents have been neglectful for eight years, letting the rich and powerful throw all the house parties they want. Now the house is trashed. What responsible family member should balance the budget? None, according to the “no regulation” slogan-pumping philosophy of the Republican Party. Now we’re left with a recession, a mountain of debt, and an assortment of other troubles.
The two term president isn’t alone. We have a Republican Congress to blame as well. You don’t already forget that, do you? Reminder #2: Congress was controlled completely by Republicans for the last twelve years— fourteen if you consider the fact that anything the slim Democratic Congress of the last two years tried to do was or would’ve been vetoed by President Bush.
Republicans are not alone though. While President Bill Clinton cut the debt in half and left Bush a $3 trillion surplus, some of the trade and business agreements of the 90s were not as beneficial for the U.S. in the long run. Trade has its benefits, but there are many drawbacks as well, especially when dealing with nations that use slave labor and violate human rights. The outsourcing of American jobs and corporations for cheaper labor and lower overhead is the other big problem. The politician-corporation relationship is just one more prime example of what went wrong with America. With Hillary as a board member and Bill as governor of Arkansas, the two helped their hometown corporation Wal-Mart rise to the top. Now as the biggest corporation in America, Wal-Mart can proudly boast that it has put out thousands of small businesses and replaced hundreds of thousands of secure jobs with lower paying ones that offer little security and no benefits. Wal-Mart has ultimately leveled entire communities and then enslaved the people there with only two choices: shop (and even work) at their store or leave. Add on the fact that the overwhelming majority of their merchandise is imported from foreign nations, instead of American made products, and you have one of the major causes of the economic crisis we are in now.
The Wal-Mart effect of monopolizing non-U.S. merchandise in gigantic stores designed to wipe out small business competition has demolished America. Politicians, and voters alike, are not the only ones to blame for our economic mess, so are shoppers. But how could we blame them? Wanting products for dirt cheap prices? Especially when times are tough? We are now seeing what Robert Greenwald calls in his documentary film Wal-Mart, “the high cost of low price.” The American consumer has contributed to our economic mess without even being aware of it. The materialistic mentality that took shape under the Reagan administration in the 1980s and originated from what historians call the “me-decade” of the 1970s has lead us into the ground. Why would we even think we could maintain the massive consumerism that we indulged in? Giant warehouse stores to pack our giant gas-guzzling vehicles to pollute our way back to our giant homes with more rooms than people, more materials than people, more “things” than we know what to do with. We want it all, we want it now, we want it all cheap, but there’s a price and in the process of acquiring an abundance of empty possessions, we’ve lost our moral compass and polluted the planet at the same time.
I drive around even the most affluent areas of northern Virginia, where unemployment is much lower than most other regions, and I still see stores closing their doors. Some of these stores are small businesses, but some of them are major corporations that have been around for over 50 years. Why didn’t anyone know that stores like Wal-Mart would put out so many other businesses? What is even democratic about having only one or twos stores provide all of your necessities? But again, necessities aren’t exactly the problem. The problem is our over-indulgence in consumerism, the very thing that now fuels our holidays like Christmas and Valentines’ Day. While people starve in other countries, we’ve been too busy boasting about our giant cars, giant houses, giant TVs, and our giant bellies show it. But now the starvation has hit home. Our own neighbors, our own family members, our own friends cling onto whatever they have left, losing their jobs, their cars, their homes. The American suffering is not pretty and while many don’t see it, at least not yet, it is right under our noses.
So as much as we’d like to blame it all on George Bush, he’s just a part of it. It seems our capitalistic pride has gotten the best of us. While many will try to blame President Obama and the much needed yet surely imperfect stimulus package, we’re all a part of the problem. The president can’t do it all alone. We all need to change for change to happen. Whether we are ready to accept our responsibility is another story.
Beauty and the Beast: How McCain’s lack of judgment will cost him the presidency
John McCain’s recent surprise selection of a running mate with hardly any policy experience will be the hammer that drives the nail into the coffin of a candidacy gone wrong. In one radical and spontaneous decision, McCain has reversed his strongest argument against his opponent Barack Obama: experience. For months, McCain has been investing in this one lone argument that Obama is not ready and inexperienced. But McCain’s selection helps Obama look like the qualified candidate he truly is. Obama’s selection of Senator Joe Biden as Vice Presidential running mate also outdoes the McCain selection, as Biden is specifically experienced at the foreign policy level— something McCain’s VP lacks even exposure to.
At 72 years old now, if something happens to McCain, God forbid, we get someone with a year and half governing experience of the 3rd least populated state in the nation. Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s only other experience before becoming governor less than 20 months ago include being a PTA mom and a two term mayor of a small town of just 9,000 people. To put this in perspective, Rudy Giuliani, who McCain called “unqualified” during the Republican primary was the mayor of New York City, population 8,274,527. Giuliani as we remember lost terribly to the other Republican candidates who claimed to have more experience than the mayor. But if Giuliani’s governing of 8 million people wasn’t good enough, then how will Palin’s governing of 9,000 people compare or even her recent year and half experiment of governing the state of Alaska, population of only 670,000.
This isn’t McCain being a maverick; this is McCain being careless and destructive. How could he pass up dozens of more qualified candidates? Why? What will this unknown person even contribute to a McCain White House if he were to win? How could someone contribute with so little policy experience, no advanced education or degree, and no national recognition?
Some right-wing pundits have already hung up their hats for the season. It’s all over for McCain in their eyes. Others have turned to Bob Barr, the conservative running in the Libertarian Party. Others have even questioned the loyalty of Palin, since her husband and son are not even registered with the Republican Party. But others have already tried to make a case. One pundit tried to say that Joe Biden is a senator from a small state with a similar population to Alaska. At 853,000, the state of Delaware has just about 200,000 more people than the state of Alaska. But the problem with that comparison is Joe Biden is a United States Senator has written and passed important legislation affecting Americans all across the nation, from the Violence against Women Act to the Crime Bill. Biden also has over thirty years foreign policy experience and has met and worked with leaders from around the world. Palin pales in comparison.
Others have tried to say that Obama is no different than Palin, both being in their first term. Obama though, who has been a U.S. Senator for nearly four years, also served on the Illinois State Senate for eight successful years where he wrote and passed hundreds of important bills. Republicans seem to overlook this experience, even though many former presidents had similar or even less experience than Obama, including Abraham Lincoln. Palin has virtually no legislative experience at all.
Look at the facts here. McCain has chosen a person he’s only met once before. And he’s chosen her on a whim. The American public knows little about her with only sixty days left to the election. Is McCain trying to throw the election to Obama on purpose? Has he changed his mind about being president? Why else would he have picked such an unqualified candidate?
If McCain really wanted to compete he had a whole list of qualified candidates. Mitt Romney certainly was experienced enough. Republicans probably would have sealed the deal if he had picked runner up and popular conservative governor Mike Huckabee. But if he still really wanted to pick a woman there were dozens of other qualified candidates like Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Olympia Snowe. Instead John McCain stuck it to the Republican Party and all of the primary candidates by choosing an inexperienced self-proclaimed “hockey mom.” But even McCain himself looked a little nervous as she came out to the podium to give her VP announcement speech. He fidgeted the entire time, staring off and away, awkwardly shifting his body on the stage beside the VP nominee that’s going to sink his chances for once and all.
It makes you wonder who was on his VP search committee. Did he even have a search committee? Did they even vet Sarah Palin? Did they know about the Alaskan legislature’s pending investigation of Palin in what they’re calling the Troopergate scandal where she fired a longstanding Public Safety Commissioner because of his reluctance to fire her former brother-in-law over a dysfunctional family dispute? Did they know about her beauty pageants and magazine spreads? Probably. After all, McCain, who is often seen pulling his wife around, recently volunteered her for a topless biker beauty contest. Is Palin just another McCain show girl meant to attract dissatisfied Hillary Clinton voters? The problem with that calculation is all the Hillary Clinton voters are already over it and supporting Obama. McCain is a couple of weeks late on that call. And even so Hillary supporters wouldn’t have voted for someone like Palin anyway whose extreme stances on women’s issues endanger Democratic principles.
Governors are supposed to bring governing experience to the ticket, not a gender title, not a host of radical ideologies, not a pretty face. Bringing in a person who has been governor for less than twenty months of one of the least populated states doesn’t quite fit the bill.
We all remember when McCain rightfully questioned the multi-million dollar bridge to nowhere to be built in Alaska, the same bridge that Sarah Palin supported on record, even though now she claims she didn’t. It doesn’t take a maverick to question a million dollar bridge to nowhere. It doesn’t take a maverick to make a fatal campaign decision either. This terrible decision to choose Palin as a running mate is an indication of what a McCain presidency would look like. Poor judgment and poor decisions. Perhaps Palin is McCain’s very own bridge to nowhere. And perhaps we’ll be thanking McCain in November for taking part in such a historic American election.
This morning in Michigan, Senator Obama announced a comprehensive New Energy for America plan designed to address the current energy crisis and move America towards a 21st century energy economy.
Native American Heritage
Day: 27 November."NOW,
THEREFORE, I, BARACK
OBAMA, President of the
United States of America,
by virtue of the
authority vested in me by
the Constitution and the
laws of the United
States, do hereby
proclaim November 2009 as
N...
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