Where's the Outrage?

In my opinion, there are lots of reasons to love the Rachel Maddow Show.  Maddow is really the only true progressive on the air today. I put Keith Olbermann in a category of populist more than progressive.

At any rate, her look at President-elect Barack Obama‘s speech on the economy is truly progressive. She compares Barack Obama’s vision to Ronald Reagan’s. Ronald Reagan proclaimed that the government was the problem. This has been the dominant etiology of the United States and economic political thought for almost 30 years. Now, in this crisis, Barack Obama is stating that the government is the only agency that has the ability to fix this problem.

Some spending conservatives (blue dog Democrats and fiscal conservative Republicans) are trying to argue that spending cuts and tax cuts are what we need.  Here’s the problem — manufacturing is down because demand for American products is down. American consumers are not buying. American businesses are shedding jobs. Remember we lost over a half a million jobs in November. December’s job numbers are expected to be the same. Tax cuts are not going to stimulate buying. Tax cuts are not going to stimulate enough job growth. Targeted government spending will get businesses to begin to hire here at home to cover these government contracts. Businesses will then in turn have to buy supplies in order to do business which would stimulate more the economy. Individuals hired at a “fair” rate will then be able to spend money again stimulating the economy.

I believe that Barack Obama is on the right track. I’m just hoping that his powers of persuasion will be enough to pull Congress along with him.

Tags: Economy, Media, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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• The United States abstained from a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The United States abstained. The United States abstained? I just don’t understand how we are not taking the lead in this conflict. It would seem that sitting on the sidelines is not a viable option.
• A committee in the Illinois House of Representatives has recommended that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich be impeached. The recommendation was unanimous. Interestingly, Ronald Burris, soon to be the junior senator from Illinois, had to testify in front of this committee. He stated that there was no “quid pro quo” for his nomination.
• As of today, it appears that only one of Barack Obama’s nominations for his Cabinet posts is going to be scrutinized or beat up by the Republicans. Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Charles Grassley are gearing up to oppose Eric Holder (Obama’s choice for Attorney General). The part of this saga that I find intriguing is that no one had any specific objection to Eric Holder shortly after the nomination was announced. Early in December, Karl Rove called Eric Holder, “one controversial nominee.” Since then, Arlen Specter’s rhetoric has become more and more negative towards Eric Holder. So here are some of my questions. Is Alan Specter worried about a challenge from his Right in 2010? Do Alan Specter and Charles Grassley take marching orders from Karl Rove? Has Karl Rove become the de facto president of the Republican National Committee? Why would Karl Rove have any significant pull in the Republican Party after getting trounced in two national elections?
• Terrible flooding in Washington State.
• Missile strike has reportedly killed two top Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. Only time will tell if these guys where truly top Al Qaeda operatives or just Al Qaeda foot soldiers.
• Has Microsoft thrown in the towel on Vista? Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, has announced that Windows 7 is in Beta testings. He is calling it the best Windows ever. Well, it has to be better than ME.
• Missouri Senator Kit Bond is rumored to be retiring. No run in 2010. This opens up another Republican seat for the Dems to challenge.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Israel, Legal, Obama administration, Senate by ecthompson md
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In academic surgery, we have these venues called mortality and morbidity conferences. In theory, these are supposed to be open and honest forum where you truly review and investigate all complications. I believe Governor Sarah Palin should attend one of these conferences. At the end of the day, Palin needs to have critically evaluated her performance in this election. What happened from the moment she was introduced and became a superstar to election night that changed the public’s perception of her?

If Governor Palin truly wants to run for national office again, she’s going to have to look in the mirror and ask, “How can I do better?” Without her having made an honest assessment, it is hard to understand how she can move forward. The problem was not the McCain campaign. The problem was not the media or bloggers. One problem was her superficial knowledge of national issues. Another problem was her inability to synthesize complex issues without sounding as if she was sewing 2 or 3 sound bites together. The media didn’t make her look bad during her interview with Charlie Gibson/Katie Couric. She was smug. She was superficial at a time when she needed to be thoughtful and deep. Of course, this is only my opinion. She may be perfect. I’m just a biased blogger sitting in my mom’s basement in my pajamas wearing an aluminum hat. So what do I know?

Tags: Countdown, Election 2008 by ecthompson md
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I briefly got a chance to look at Barack Obama’s speech on the economy. He isn’t president yet; nonetheless, he is urging Congress to get some work done. Working too slowly will worsen the problem. Passing a stimulus package that is too small will prolong the recession if it doesn’t lead to a depression. Congress for the first time in a long time matters. They need to get this right. 

Here’s what Steve Benen said and I agree 100%.

“I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented,” Obama said, “but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning. That is why the time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded.” To that end, Obama described an ambitious vision on energy, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and closing loopholes that “allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks.”

But here’s the part of the speech that, at least politically, was the most important:

“It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy — where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.

“That is why we need to act boldly and act now to reverse these cycles. That’s why we need to put money in the pockets of the American people, create new jobs, and invest in our future. That’s why we need to re-start the flow of credit and restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like this never happens again.”

Reagan told us that government “is the problem.” Clinton told us the “era of big government is over.” And Obama wants America to know that government is the “only” institution that’s capable of addressing an economic crisis of this severity.

For all of the talk in recent weeks about the president-elect’s ideology and partisan fealty, this speech was a reminder of the importance of government activism in a time of overwhelming challenges. And that, at its core, is an inescapably liberal message.

Tags: Congress, Economy, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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From the DailyKos -

Jimmy Carter believes that the “devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.”

Nicholas Kristof described the Boomerang Syndrome:

Arab terrorism built support for right-wing Israeli politicians, who took harsh actions against Palestinians, who responded with more terrorism, and so on. Extremists on each side sustain the other, and the excessive Israeli ground assault in Gaza is likely to create more terrorists in the long run.

If this pattern continues, we may eventually see Hamas-style Palestinians facing off against hard-line Israelis, with each side making the others’ lives wretched — and political moderates in the Middle East politically eviscerated.

Rosa Brooks explains the stupidity styles of all the players in the current conflict in Gaza.

Hesham Hassaballa, searching for the middle ground, says:

It is possible to be pro-Palestine, pro-Israel and pro-peace all at the same time…

David Broder is feeling the love for Rep. Walt Minnick, because he’s all about the bipartisanship.

David Limbaugh, giving his .02 on Barack Obama’s stimulus package, warns Republicans “that when you polish manure, you still have manure.” Let’s take his word on that.

Ishmael Jones lauds the choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA because of his unquestionable loyalty to Barack Obama. After all, George Bush didn’t replace a Clinton administration holdover and look at what happened.

Americans may disagree on the reasons for our lack of preparedness prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and our response to those attacks … but we should agree that much of the intelligence provided to President Bush by the CIA was false or nonexistent.

Americans may disagree on whether Mr. Bush’s associates should have been charged over the Valerie Plame affair … but we should agree that the CIA and its employees certainly had an uncanny knack for being intimately involved in the crises that threatened the Bush presidency.

Karl Rove, concerned about “mythmaking” now that George Bush is finally riding off into the sunset, explains why the housing and overall economic crisis is all the Democrats fault. [Is is possible for Karl Rove to move his mouth without lying? -ecthompson]

Richard Viguerie says that small-government conservatives must fight for a return to their core beliefs…and then “future generations will celebrate us as those who fought for freedom…” O-kay.

Betsy McCaughey tells you why you never want to sit by a doctor or a nurse in a restaurant.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Media by ecthompson md
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