Volume 4 Issue 8
January 24, 2007
The Missing Union
Bush goes to the Hill, Obama gets the first smear, and Britons enjoy a day at the Beach
Well, another not-so-exciting speech by the President has come and gone, and somehow we're still here. As usual, I'll leave the full analysis of the speech to the professionals, except for a few quick points...
- Despite the renewed emphasis on domestic issues...notice how there was not even one mention of New Orleans? Yeah, that city that is still in ruins down there. Remember them?
- The march to war with Iran continued, with numerous notes to their perfidy in Iraq and around the world.
- Bush actually took the time to lecture everyone on the parties in Iraq. But here's the problem...by his own description, the Sunni's are all Al Qaeda, and the Shiites are all being run by Iran. So if both of these groups are evil...and they're fighting a civil war...why are we getting in the way? If they are truly both our enemy, why are we not letting them just go at each other?
But the biggest issue with Bush's speech is something that I've been harping on for a long time on this site - the failure of American imagination to dream the "big idea" anymore. Bush's speech featured two main domestic initiatives. The first was a convoluted health care plan that supposedly uses the tax code to encourage people to have health insurance. The second was a pledge to cut the use of gasoline in the US by 20% in 10 years.
Regarding the health insurance proposal, what he didn't say is that tax deduction will not save you any money - because he's raising your taxes to pay for it. So it's a push for most, but the rich will pay a bit more...and it seems to do nothing to help get all Americans covered by a health insurance plan, something even business interests now support.
On the second proposal, Bush is calling for a minor reduction, hoping that the fact that he is doing anything will hide the fact that he is in fact doing nothing. The reduction only helps reduce the amount of foreign oil we are dependent on, and does nothing to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by power plants and other polluting sources. Further, the CAFE standards that Bush has called for are tiny, and still judge SUV's and Trucks at a different standard from cars. It is as if Bush has decided to bail out the Titanic with a paper cup...sure he's bailing out water, but it's not doing much good, other than for some corn farmers in Iowa.
This President time and again has failed to take the initiative when he had the opportunity to inspire and challenge the nation. Instead of a focused effort to help decrease carbon usage (which many economists and scientists think can be done at a cost savings for the economy), we have a tiny little plan that only does what we should have been doing years ago.
America was once a nation that could do anything...and frequently did the impossible. In the case of global warming, it is not as if we do not know what we need to do, or how to do it...we just have to do it. While Americans seem to be silent to the decline of that spirit, the world has noticed. British filmmaker David Sington just premiered his film "In The Shadow of the Moon" at Sundance (review here). The film is interviews with 8 of the 9 surviving astronauts who walked on the moon. Speaking of that endeavor, which many thought impossible, Sington speaks to the decline of American ideas:
While Sington says he did not set out to make a political film, "Shadow of the Moon" became one.
Why did we go to the moon? The Cold War, the Russians, politics, hubris, exploration. What did it mean? We're still debating that question.
Sington, who is British, has his own answer.
"In eight years, from the conception to completion, an immense, a really immense distance was traveled. America was the leader of the world, and the world was better for it. It's no accident it was the Stars and Stripes planted on the moon. Now America is the most powerful, but not the leader."
Imagine what can be done, Sington says, to face the challenges of our day-- environmental, social, political -- if the same national will were applied.
Imagine indeed. Now all we need is a leader who can take us there.
The Quiet War: As Bush talks more about his dream war with Iran, an objective look at the accusations says they are based on incomplete and faulty intelligence. Hey wait, where have we heard that before?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraniraq23jan23,1,2522871.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true
Look Who's Running for President: Well, Barack Obama has the great honor of being the first Democrat to be attacked by the right-wing "Swift Boat" smear machine this cycle. CNN has a good summary of the smear, and how they even tried to blame it on Hillary Clinton -
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/index. html
Look Who's Voting for President: The DNC may have thought that they had set their primary schedule for next year, but New Hampshire isn't giving up quietly -
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2439.html
Bad John Edwards Photo of the Day:
Me John, Big Tree!
This Could Be Interesting: So the trial of Scooter Libby, Cheney's former Chief-of-staff, began yesterday in Washington. The prosecutor's opening statement was about what was expected...the Administration waged a war on Joe Wilson, and Libby covered up his part in it and lied under oath. The interesting part came when Libby's attorney argued in his opening that Libby was a fall guy for Karl Rove and was being hung out to dry by the higher-ups in the Administration. This trial was already going to be interesting to watch because of the top journalists and politico's that will be testifying...but if Libby is going to vilify the White House as part of his defense...this could be a lot more interesting than many thought, and a lot more embarrassing for the White House as well -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/us/24libby.html
Of course, Libby may want to remember that the "the White House told me to do it" defense doesn't always work...just look at Howard Hunt, the key Watergate figure who died yesterday -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/23/AR2007012301012.html
The Fun Ship: A cargo tanker recently wrecked off the British coast in bad weather, and cartons have begun to fall off and wash ashore in England. Ah, England, the old distinguished mother country...where people are flocking by the thousands to loot from the ships wreckage -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6287457.stm
Am I the Only One...who finds those Office Depot ads with the hand a bit freaky?
Website Updating: It's coming soon people. Hang in there!
