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
Category Archives: Presidential Campaign
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.
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
A Different Kind of Tea Party
My tea this morning is perfect. As Premier of China and head of government and the State Council, I seldom get a bad cup of tea. The intra-party struggles have been resolved. We seem to be managing that burst of inflation that reared its head in the economy. Our balance of payments continues to grow spectacularly in our favor. Things are fine. We need to open up credit a bit more, but generally we are on our way. Why do I feel so odd, then?
Gingrich: The Newt Slaveholder
Newt Gingrich is at it again. He sat down for an interview yesterday with CNN and repeated the idea that most of the world ridiculed when he offered it at the most recent Republican presidential debate. The notion that local panels or juries would decide the fate of immigrants who are in the country illegally boggles the mind. But he is serious. He apparently believes that citizens other than hate-filled, blood-thirsty bigots would serve on the local boards.
Gingrich would have us believe, too, that such a system could be built. The mountains of files, the numbers of lawyers, the need to hire experts to verify piles of paper – the whole thing is an unworkable mess. Come to think of it already exists. It used to be called the INS.
However unseemly and unmanageable his idea, Gingrich presses on. His new system would never, ever grant citizenship or voting rights to the immigrant community – even after 25 years of lawful and productive existence.
You would think that someone from Georgia – especially someone who seeks to convince the public that he was paid $100 million to provide “historical perspective” to corporate interests after he left the Speakership – would know the definition of slavery.
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What Luck!
Newt Gingrich’s proposal for local citizen juries to decide which of the individuals illegally in the country gets to stay is of course nuts. Why even discuss it? The arguments against it are monumental. The idea is being laughed at across the board and it shows one of the reasons Gingrich would be an excellent choice for Republicans to nominate as their candidate for president – if they want to lose in a landslide.
After Herman Cain are Willie Horton and Pete Wilson Next?
Hmmm, so this is what the election year is going to look like. It begins with the sensational accusations of sexual assault against Herman Cain and an equally astounding press conference by the candidate himself that pushes the limits of what is now fair game. Should we dare visualize how it might end? It almost should not matter, now that we get a glimpse of what could be a spectacularly sorry election year – except that it might get worse for HispanicLatinos, especially those unprepared or who live in a state of denial.