Iowa Republicans today will begin to decide which version of the Republican Party will prevail for this election year but more so the immediate future. Not really understanding how the world has changed around them, Republicans have allowed anger to walk them into a social and demographic trap. In almost every way, Republicans do not understand that their perception of the world does not remotely comport with reality – and that most people are tired of nastiness. Continue reading
Category Archives: Politics
Eleven Months of Dithering?
So as the new year starts, where do we stand? It seems like things are poised to stay about the same or get worse. Nothing on the horizon suggests that the economy will start moving again on its own. All of the long-term factors and components of a changed structural economy are in place and will remain in place for a long time, mimicking an economy in recession. What is true this week was true last week. And with Congress dithering on the payroll tax cut extension and undecided on continuing aid to the long-term unemployed, the signs are not encouraging. Add to that the presidential campaign that officially starts tomorrow in Iowa and that will not be resolved for another 11 months – tempting businesses in and outside the United States to hold back from investing in their own growth. Hard to make a new year’s resolution to remain optimistic. However: Continue reading
Newt: Not America’s BFF
When writing, it takes effort and discipline to not hurl labels at people. By now, though, Newt Gingrich has revealed himself for what he is: Aside from being labelled as unstable by people who worked with him, he has all the makings of a budding fascist. Gingrich’s attacks on the judiciary are nothing less than breath-taking. His suggestions that judges be hauled before legislative committees by police to explain their decisions speaks to a time and place that the History Channel deals with every day.
HispanicLatinos at a Crossroads
HispanicLatinos are living through a nationally decisive moment. The pressure is building on HispanicLatino leaders – elected, appointed, self-proclaimed and otherwise – to step up to a point in history as important as any since the mid-1960’s. In but a few months, the Supreme Court could waylay the progress HispanicLatinos have made over five decades to achieve social, economic a political parity with mainstream society – and in the process the Court could jeopardize America’s very future.
The Supreme Court Disrupting the Future
Redistricting and immigration are difficult and complex subjects and are easily and simply intertwined for one reason: They relate directly to the power of the two political parties in the country since most HispanicLatinos vote Democratic.
Given the expanding number of HispanicLatinos in the nation relative to the rest of the population, any fair handling of redistricting going forward should favor HispanicLatinos and, therefore, Democrats. And given that immigration is the lifeblood a country, any mishandling of it could be catastrophic for the long term. That seems natural and reasonable enough, though the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to confirm the unfairness and outright hostility that state legislatures and other political entities are visiting upon their HispanicLatino populations.
From W to Newt: Downward, Ever Downward
I remember watching George W. Bush on television at one of his first group meetings with foreign leaders. It was a NATO summit meeting of European leaders in Brussels six months after he took office. As the leaders gathered for the traditional group picture, they stood around the nervous President of the United States, who at one point looked up and behind him to laugh at something one of the leaders had said. In that split second, Bush looked like a lost schoolboy, out of his element. I will never forget the thought I had then.
This country is rich – rich enough to squander the Presidency.
Any country that would elect a neophyte and a person so lacking in intellectual depth was presumptuously wealthy enough to risk the Presidency on someone whom I was convinced would be a disaster. I had only a clue from someone who knew him how much of a debacle was at stake. Now we all know. The same thought came to me as I watch the spectacle of today’s Republican presidential candidates.
George Will: Wrong for So Long
Years ago, when I was an editor at The Austin American-Statesman, I had to decide whether to run George Will, the conservative columnist at The Washington Post, on a regular basis to balance the pages with perspectives from the left and the right.
I had admired Will’s writing but more and more I had to force myself to read him – still do. My struggle began many years before with a piece that suggested to me that he fundamentally misunderstood where the country was headed. Will had written at the height of the Reagan Revolution – I’m paraphrasing – that the country had entered a conservative era that would last for generations.
No Newt is a Good Newt
A cardinal rule in politics holds that you cannot beat somebody with nobody. Another rule becomes operational when the first rule is violated: Political animals roam the landscape in search of a political void. Another reality is that journalism is not dead – meaning no one should crown Newt Gingrich just yet.
All for Newt, Newt for All
Sometimes what passes for political reporting from Washington swamps the senses. A report in one of the nation’s leading newspapers suggests that New Gingrich has built a network to make inroads into the HispanicLatino vote. Goodness. That is news. Gingrich does not have an organization in Iowa and cannot pull together a full slate of delegates for the caucuses to vote on, but, by gosh, he has a network within the HispanicLatino population. Yes, and peanuts turn into gold if you stare at them long enough. Continue reading
Texas: Justices, Help Turn History Back
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his fellow justices are being asked to stop redistricting maps in Texas drawn by three federal judges who voided the plan of the state Legislature. The three judges concluded state lawmakers purposefully diluted the strength of minority populations. The 2010 Census confirmed that minorities provided the vast majority of the state’s demographic growth since 2000. Scalia oversees appeals from Texas. The Court’s response could be instructive to other states.