Palin 2012: God's Gift to Obama

Last month, after nearly two months of post-election wrangling, Tea Party candidate Joe Miller's final attempt to have the courts overturn the will of Alaska's voters was rebuffed and the last death rattle of his Senate campaign finally fell silent. Sarah Palin had backed Joe Miller, and his defeat was a blow to her reputation as a kingmaker, particularly since this happened in her own backyard and at the hands of the voters who had once elected her. Also, while this defeat on its own may be a bitter pill for Palin to swallow, the broader narrative may be devastating to her.

Combining this loss with those of Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware we can perhaps connect the dots and draw certain inferences. In Delaware, Republican Mike Castle looked like a shoo-in to pick up a seat but the party didn't nominate him, and in Nevada, as I pointed out in a post this summer, Republicans could have easily ousted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with any credible candidate, but instead they chose Sharron Angle. The common thread in all of these cases is the limitation of anger and resentment. While the most radical faction of the Tea Party may cast enough votes to foist an embarrassing candidate on the Republican Party, the general electorate is still unwilling to select a candidate who is clearly unqualified for the position he or she seeks. Unless the public reverses this trend and develops an appetite for manifestly unqualified candidates, Sarah Palin will never win another election.

If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he could use Sarah Palin as "Exhibit A" in support of his words, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." These days she seems unable to open her mouth without her stock plummeting. She has a rabid base of hardcore supporters who tend to show up at Tea Party rallies ranting, raving and wielding cardboard signs of misspelled hate speech, but there aren't enough of these fanatics to help her win a general election. The ranks of those who hold a favorable view of Palin keep dwindling while the ranks of those who view her unfavorably continue to swell.

More importantly, to the extent Palin continues to be such a force in the Republican Party as 2012 approaches, President Obama benefits mightily.  Look at the two speeches given on the same day in the aftermath of the Tucson tragedy.  When the nation needed a leader, President Obama showed us what a leader looks like.  Sarah Palin by contrast revealed her true character as a petty, self-absorbed opportunist who lacks enough presidential timber to build a matchstick. The unavoidable comparison of these two speeches sent public opinion of these two people in opposite directions. It became hard to picture Sarah Palin as a great president of the Miley Cyrus Fan Club let alone the United States of America.  Palin's apologists say that she had to come out and defend herself as she did because she was the target of unfair accusations, and President Obama had the luxury of being above the fray.  This is so absurd that it's hard not to laugh out loud. Yes, Palin had some stones unfairly cast her way, but for every such pebble directed at her, President Obama has had an entire quarry of rocks thrown at him by, among others, Sarah Palin herself.

Palin could be an unwitting blessing to Barack Obama's reelection in a number of ways. The dream scenario would be her running as a third party, perhaps Tea Party, candidate, which would give neither her nor the Republican nominee a prayer of winning.  Failing that, if she goes deep into primary season beating up on fellow Republicans, the damage could provide the margin of victory for a second Obama administration. Also, if she seeks the nomination and is roundly rejected by the voters who know she can't win a general election, this could strip the all-important enthusiasm factor from the far right fringe of the party, which is her base and an increasingly important voting bloc for the Republicans. Finally, if she just continues sucking all the oxygen from the room, diverting attention away from serious men and women who seek the Republican nomination, she does her party a disservice and gives President Obama a great gift.

Either Stand by Your Words or Shut the (BLEEP!) Up!

The right wing hate machine just can't seem to help itself.  The usual suspects, Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, etc., are simply being themselves, which is to say acting shamefully.  Yesterday Sarah Palin released a video in which she lashed out at those who decried the incendiary tone of the hate machine's rhetoric, especially those who suggested it might have influenced Jared Loughner. Since Palin and others were at least partly blamed for this tragedy despite the fact that their vitriol appears to have no causal link, she had the perfect opportunity to take the high road and come out smelling like a rose, but unsurprisingly she chose not to. In her video she said that acts of criminality "begin and end with the criminals."  No one else bears any share of the blame.  In the very next paragraph, without a trace of irony, she says that because words are not responsible for inciting hatred and violence, people who claim otherwise are reprehensible because their words are responsible for inciting hatred and violence.

Huh?!

Of course in that same sentence she made the great faux pas of referring to the assertions of journalists and pundits as "blood libel", which was very offensive to many in the Jewish community.  The stupidity is compounded when you consider that Palin was trying to express either real or feigned concern for Gabby Giffords as she lies in a hospital bed clinging to life, and that Giffords is the first Jewish woman Arizona ever elected to Congress.  Palin obviously didn't write the speech herself and since her ignorance is well known, we can excuse her offensiveness since she was in all likelihood completely oblivious.  Palin was merely reading aloud.  Although she lacks the intellect and eloquence to have written that speech, I have to give her full marks for finding a writer who could capture the Palin essence of petty vindictiveness.

Turning to Glenn Beck, in more theater of the absurd, Beck was outraged that anyone in the media would offer this sort of innuendo, painting someone as contributing to something bad without specific proof.  (Hello, Kettle?  Yeah, hi, it's the pot.  I'm just calling to say you're black.)  Every single day Glenn Beck goes on the air and pushes his wild-eyed conspiracy theories, gesticulating wildly as he tries to terrify his audience into believing that anyone to the left of the far, far right is seeking to enslave us all in a country that will be indistinguishable from Nazi Germany.  His ranting sounds as though it should be coming from a chronic drooler who has to wear a hockey helmet at all times.

Beck and Limbaugh make their living by spreading fear and hatred every day for the entirety of their broadcasts.  They want us to believe that the consequences are apocalyptic if we stray from their brand of arch conservatism, yet they become enraged at the suggestion that they might drive someone over the edge just because they constantly bombard their disciples with their message that left of center America is the Great Satan that must be confronted with the fury of a holy war or we face imminent destruction.  Now Beck is out there saying he hates violence and doesn't want anyone harmed.  Well, which is it?  Were you lying then or are you lying now?  If all men are mortal and John is a man then John must be mortal; it's called a syllogism.  If anything comparable to Hitler's reign of terror must be stopped by any means at our disposal and the current administration fits that description, then it must be stopped by any means at our disposal.  Beck supported preemptive war in Iraq and has foamed at the mouth about appeasement of monstrous regimes, so a claim that he means wait for the voters to replace President Obama is a dog that just won't hunt.  So again I ask, Glenn, were you lying then or are you lying now?  Either this evil must be stopped by any means if we are to avoid national Armageddon, or the hate speech you use to poison the minds and souls of people with a pervading unease and a great amount of undirected anger is a patent fraud perpetrated by a loathsome fraction of a man who is too cowardly to own up to being the charlatan that he is.  If you aren't prepared to defend what you say on your broadcasts then SHUT THE (BLEEP!) UP!

And They'll Know We Are Christians by Our...Hate? Wait, That Can't Be Right

The funeral for Elizabeth Edwards will take place this afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Her grown daughter and two preteen children will look on as she's laid to rest beside her son who died at the age of 16.  To anyone with even a shred of human decency, this is a heartbreaking scene.  It's hard to imagine feeling anything but compassion for this family and an innate desire to somehow ease their suffering.  However, I'm sad to say that there are people who don't have a shred of human decency.  Enter our very own Star Spangled Taliban, the Westboro Baptist Church.  They are sending a contingent of their hate merchants who will be celebrating her death, brandishing signs saying, among other things, "Thank God for breast cancer" and otherwise doing what they can to salt the wounds of the suffering children who have just lost their mother.

The perverse irony is that these sadistic monsters are perpetrating this viciousness in the name of God.  There is nothing divine about their inhuman cruelty, and claiming that it's done to worship The Prince of Peace is like honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. by denying blacks the right to sit at the front of a bus.  This is apparently lost on people like Fred Phelps.  Because religion should and does foster the best elements of humankind, I still find myself unable to make peace with the fact that religious fundamentalism and zealotry are responsible for humanity at its absolute worst.  Whether we're talking about al-Qaeda or the Westboro Baptist Church, the depravity of these warped fundamentalists, comes from an abyss of hatred and evil whose depth is difficult if not impossible to plumb.

Luckily, these cretins from the WBC have marginalized themselves by visiting their unique brand of ugliness upon the grieving families of military personnel who gave their lives, generally at a very young age.  Otherwise, I fear that they might have wider appeal among religious conservatives in this country.  Remember that in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson went on television to advance the view that we were deservedly attacked because, among other things, we don't sufficiently subjugate women or mistreat gays and lesbians.  Thus, in the view of Robertson, Falwell and the intolerant millions for whom they speak, God apparently lifted His magical force field protecting our country just so innocent masses could be slaughtered as a cautionary tale whose moral is to be more judgmental and intolerant.  To his credit, President George W. Bush, himself a conservative Christian, immediately repudiated this filth.  We must remember that while Pat Robertson and those like him would be in the fringe of any other advanced society, he is in the mainstream in this country.  In 1988 he finished second in the Iowa caucus for the Republican presidential nomination.  Eventual nominee and president, George H.W. Bush finished third.

First Amendment protection applies equally to everyone in this country including the wretched, despicable hatemongers from the WBC and I wouldn't want it any other way.  They have the right to worship as they choose, to speak freely and to protest, although like all rights certain reasonable restrictions may apply.  Freedom of speech is, however, a two-way street and good people must stand up and say in no uncertain terms that what Fred Phelps and his minions do is an unmitigated disgrace, deplorable in the eyes of anyone with a scintilla of decency or Christian charity.

One Nation Under...Well, a Lot of Things

When December 7th rolls around each year we're reminded of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred on this date 69 years ago.  That event brought us into World War II with a vengeance and provided the opening sentence for a magnificent chapter in not only U.S. history but world history as well.  The United States pulled together, sacrificed across the board and did more than anyone thought possible.  Let me illustrate the power of our resolve.  In the second half of 1940, gearing up for possible entry into WWII, we produced about 3,600 airplanes.  By 1944 we were producing nearly 100,000 planes a year.  The unified strength of the USA was a force that simply couldn't be matched if we were determined to master a challenge.  In 70 years we've had a meteoric rise, but we're headed for a crash landing unless we change course.

We can't afford to sit on our laurels and assume that we'll always be on top because God likes us best.  We earned our number one status with sacrifice and dedication not supernatural puppeteering, and we can and will fall hard from that lofty perch if we think that we don't still need to do what's hard.  Unless you're willing to be part of the shared sacrifice that will accompany the hard choices facing us, don't bother puffing up your chest and preaching to me about the greatness of our "one nation under God", because right now we're also one nation undereducated, underemployed and underwater on our mortgages. Our peace of mind is under siege, anyone different from us is under suspicion and too many of us are under the delusion that the American way of doing anything is by definition better than what's being done elsewhere. This has fostered the erroneous and destructive belief that we can't learn a thing from others around the world; they should learn from us.  Like so many heroes of the Greek tragedies, our fatal flaw could be hubris.

We're increasingly perceived around the world as incapable of solving our problems. We used to be so adept at doing whatever it took to build a strong and prosperous society that the world could only watch in awe as the 20th Century became the American Century. At the moment, we're less like that impressive force on the global stage and more like a lumbering, bumbling oaf who can lift a ton but can't spell it. We need to take a brutally honest inventory of our shortcomings and somehow find the discipline to right the ship even though it will involve some pain and, dare I say, cooperation.  Otherwise, the United States is doomed to become an effete has-been like a character from Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" who lives in the past, basking in the memory of bygone greatness.

We used to rank #1 in college graduation rates; we now rank 12th, and we rank 20th in high school graduation. If we combine that with the fact that we've outsourced so many unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, the picture becomes even more disturbing. If we're not educating our workforce as well as the rest of the industrial or post-industrial nations and we've taken the suitable jobs for the less educated and moved them overseas, I'm not sure how we wake from our current economic nightmare. It certainly seems that right now we're eating our seed corn.  The problem of today's overconsumption imperiling our future became disturbingly clear as we watched the wrangling over tax cuts and spending even in the face of ballooning debt.  Right now we completely lack the will to be responsible grownups who make the hard choices and sacrifice the way people did 70 years ago when we were en route to unparalleled greatness.  I'll explore taxes, spending, politicians and the electorate in another post.  For now I'll simply say that like the craven attack on Pearl Harbor 69 years ago today, our greedy, selfish and childish refusal to act in good faith and make sacrifices should also live in infamy.

Greed Over People

If you had any doubt that the Republican Party favored the rich and powerful over everyone else, such doubt can now be safely abandoned.  The GOP, which apparently stands for Greed Over People, continues to hold a gun to the head of the American people, playing their role as extortionist for the very rich to perfection.  Their plan is to hamper and obstruct any effort to do the people's business unless and until their ransom is paid and the wealthy are given everything on their wish list.  At that point, the rest of us can begin negotiating against ourselves regarding tough choices and shared sacrifice as long as the most privileged are insulated from the pain.

Nothing brings this into sharper focus than Republicans' refusal to extend desperately needed unemployment benefits or anything else until we cut taxes for the richest sliver of 1%.  This became an inarguable fact after the Democrats already started negotiating against themselves and agreed to lower taxes on everyone whose taxable income fell below $1,000,000 a year and Republicans rejected this as an insufficient sop to the fantastically rich for whom they pimp.

Considering the ability of Republican lawmakers to inflict devastating harm on average Americans, coupled with the heightened airport security of late, perhaps al-Qaeda should funnel its resources into the GOP coffers rather than spending money on suicide vests.  Maybe if they did so and it came to light we'd realize what's happening.  Unfortunately, since the Senate Minority Leader isn't named Osama bin McConnell most Americans are blind to the fact that we're being kneecapped by these thugs.  Indeed, keenly aware of our widespread oblivion, Mitch McConnell was even brazen enough to say, "We need to show the American people that we care more about them and their ability to pay their bills than we do about the special interests' legislative Christmas-list."  While I abhor both the complete lack of integrity and the cruel indifference to the suffering of his constituents, it's hard not to marvel at the ability to summon the colossal audacity it takes to make such a statement, which is opposed to the truth by a full 180 degrees.

Republicans are taking the unprecedented step of shutting off needed unemployment benefits at a time of such high unemployment.  The average check is less than $300 a week and the entire expense would add much less to the deficit that then unfunded tax cuts for the richest Americans.  Nevertheless, Republicans are wiling, perhaps even eager, to to strip away the only safety net that lies between millions of Americans and Dickensian horror.  On the other hand, the far more expensive, far less economically valuable tax cuts for the wealthy not only don't have to be paid for, but Republicans have vowed to rain down a firestorm of obstructionism and pain if anyone dares to oppose this most sacred of budget busters.  In other words, if the modern American equivalent of Ebenezer Scrooge has his after tax income reduced from 700 times that of Bob Cratchit down to 675 times, Republicans will do everything in their power to ensure that some American homes face the heartbreaking prospect of "an empty chair and a tiny crutch without an owner."

I want to emphasize how much more valuable these unemployment checks are to our economy than the proposed tax cuts for those at the top of the economic ladder.  All of the money from the unemployment benefits gets put back into the economy. People using these checks to keep the wolf from the door aren't stashing their money in the Cayman Islands.  The same cannot be said for those making $1,000,000 a year.  The Republicans' own hue and cry over the failure of the stimulus proves this very point.  We tried to pump money into the economy through a program of tax cuts and spending, but the rich and powerful scooped it up and they're now hoarding unprecedented amounts of cash.  Any economist would readily affirm that we'd get a greater return on the jobless benefits than on the top bracket tax cuts, but Republicans will continue to carry water for the rich, everyone else be damned.

We're Not in Mayberry Anymore, Goober

"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?" I'm introducing this quote before its author because I want the message evaluated on its own, regardless of the messenger. The quip belongs to John Maynard Keynes, the 20th Century British economist for whom Keynesian economics is named. While those on the political right are no fans of Keynes or his economic theories, they would do well to consider those words or perhaps these of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Even though the Constitution makes no mention of limiting congressional reelection, let's say that none of our Founding Fathers imagined an elaborate federal government with career politicians. I'm not sure what if any relevance this bears on today's society. They didn't imagine a telephone either, let alone a stealth bomber or a Google search. To say the least, our country has changed dramatically since the 1700s. If you ran a roadside vegetable stand you wouldn't have a staff attorney on your payroll, but if your little produce business grew to be the size of Del Monte Foods, you would not only have a lawyer on your staff, you would have a team of them. Responding to changing needs and circumstances shouldn't be confused with abandoning sacred principle, while refusing to recognize and adapt to change may be nothing more than maintaining a foolish consistency. When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?

Oh how the facts have changed! Based on 1790 census data, the entire United States at that time was less populous than most current states and even some counties. Comparing real GDP numbers, meaning economic output figures that have been adjusted for the purpose of valid apples to apples comparison, at the time George Washington took office, our economy would produce less in the eight years of his presidency than our economy produced on the day of President Obama's inauguration. The world's largest air force is the U.S. Air Force and the world's second largest air force is the U.S. Navy. This is not your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's United States.

Mayberry, N.C. may have done just fine with a small volunteer fire department but that wouldn't work for Chicago. Mayberry's law enforcement had a total force of two, one of whom, Deputy Barney Fife, was issued only one bullet, which he was ordered to keep in his pocket instead of his pistol. I don't think that would work for New York City. Take a look around, Goober; we're not in Mayberry anymore. We have the world's largest economy and the world's most powerful military. Like it or not we're major players on the global stage and managing the purely domestic affairs of this vast and extremely complex nation is no mean feat either.

Americans dislike government but rational Americans also concede that government is necessary. The work of our elected officials is difficult, sophisticated and important. Doing it well is beyond the ability of most people. Why then would anyone argue that this work should be done exclusively by dilettantes rather than at least some professionals? No one would say that Warren Buffet must leave the investment world after 12 years or Lee Iacocca shouldn't be allowed to make a career in the auto industry. If we need a job done, it's an act of sheer lunacy to systematically exclude the most qualified candidates from consideration.

I really didn't intend this piece to be about term limits as such. I'll take that topic up in a future post. My point here is to reject the reasoning that since our founders pictured society a certain way, we should be barred from altering that vision in any way lest we betray some core value. By 18th Century standards our constitutional democracy was remarkably enlightened, but we certainly had room for improvement. More to the point, as circumstances evolve, we need to be nimble enough to respond to a changing world.

765 Reasons to Be Proud

Last night former eBay CEO Meg Whitman received several million votes in her failed bid (no pun intended) for the California governorship and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina received millions of votes in an unsuccessful run for the Senate. A close friend of mine is also a chief executive of sorts, albeit of a much smaller company, and he entered politics this year as well, running for a district-wide state office. While a shift of 100,000 votes would look like a meaningless rounding error in the above races for Governor or Senator, for my friend Bill an additional 7,000 votes would have given him a victory in his first political campaign.

Unlike campaigns that threw a fortune into attack ads and mud at their opponents, Bill's campaign directed all of its resources into putting his ideas forward and letting them rise or fall on their merits. Truth be told, we were disappointed but not surprised by his loss at the polls. Everyone loves a good David vs. Goliath story with a triumphant underdog, but in reality we tend to see why the smart money bets on Goliath. Bill isn't an Elk, a Lion or a Mason. He isn't on the school board, zoning board or planning board. He's not a union member, he belongs to no church and he has only lived in his district for 12 years, which makes him a newcomer by local standards. In short, at the beginning of the election cycle he was a cipher to most voters and he was up against a popular multi-term Republican incumbent in a very Republican district. That's not an uphill battle; that's an uphill four minute mile in street shoes.

Things have gotten ugly in this country. Our political discourse at the moment is only slightly more civilized than a cockfight, and political leaders have been regarded with contempt. Republicans, who had a huge night last night, have an approval rating that would generally spell disaster, and on the other side of the aisle, Harry Reid only survived because he was perceived as a Democratic frying pan to Sharron Angle's Grand Old Fire. Many voters are selecting whomever they despise less.

That said, spending election night in my friend's living room reminded me what's great about our political process and let me forget the cynicism and anger for a while. I sat there with a man who sought nothing more than a chance to make his contribution to our self-governing society. He wasn't seeking money, power, a pension or anything else, nor was he trying to advance any agenda other than doing whatever he can to improve the lives and fortunes of those in his district. This was a case of civic minded public service in its purest and noblest form. He and I have some major differences in political philosophy, yet he welcomed my input as well as that of anyone else who was willing to talk to him. He wanted to hear from everyone both despite and because of political differences. That's how a representative of the people should be!

When all the returns were in, Bill received 765 votes or 6% of those cast. That's actually an impressive tally for a little known third party candidate in that race. He should be proud of every vote because he earned each one of them with his ideas not his party affiliation. He ran a selfless and honorable race and his message resonated with a significant number of people. I wish that everyone would see up close what it's really like to run for office. Those who put themselves out there deserve our respect, and around Election Day, those who dared to step into the ring have earned the right to stand a little taller, win or lose. I'm thankful that I had a ringside seat.