2010 has finally arrived, and I wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!! New Year's is my favorite holiday. This statement usually garners strange expressions from people. Most people want to know how New Year's Day could be anyone's favorite holiday considering it is a celebration of just a day that happens to begin another year. I, however, find it to be an incredible blessing to be allowed to remain on this earth to see another year (the gift of life is always something to be celebrated). I also find that New Year's day is the one day out of the year where people are genuinely hopeful about their future, and they actually have faith (no matter what your religious affiliation) that their lives can be better tomorrow than it is today. 2009 was certainly a whirlwind of a year politically beginning with the inauguration of America's president (it was a moving moment in history, but it was freaking cold!!! I still have flashbacks every now and again, brrr.) to the passage of the healthcare reform bill in the Senate right before Christmas. Now that we have arrived at 2010, there is a lot of work that has to be done to continue to move our local, national, and international communities forward.
First, Atlanta held the inaugural ceremonies for our new mayor, Kasim Reed. It looks as though there is a change happening here, and we now have some new, young faces at the helm of city leadership. It will be interesting to watch the changes that our new mayor and city council president, Ceaser Mitchell implement. For all my Georgians, come November, we will elect a new governor. This is the time for us to start getting informed about the various issues facing our state and our individual cities. We need to take a hard look at the candidates and the positions that they have on various issues. Georgia, like most states, has been plagued with budget deficits, a failing healthcare and education system, a shortage and debate over water supply, out dated transportation systems, and most recently a state congressional scandal that is making things look extremely bleak for state Republicans. Over the coming months, I will discuss the candidates and their political stances on my blog. Once an informed decision has been made, the most important thing that we can do as citizens is go to the polls and vote.
Second, 2010 is the year that healthcare reform must be put to bed (ASAP), and the job situation has to be front and center for President Obama. The number of unemployed Americans is still relatively high. A new plan for resolving this issue needs to be created and implemented, and it will have to happen this year. The war on terrorism is another issue that needs some serious review by leadership. As we all know, a terrorist attempted to blow up a plane headed into Detroit on Christmas Day. The young bomber claims to have gotten his "materials" in Yemen. Okay, if Osama Jr. got his "materials" (and instructions which he clearly DIDN'T read. I guess suicide bomber isn't a career option for more educated, young men.) in Yemen, why have we been fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?? A war on terrorism can not be fought in any one country. If American leaders don't accept this one concept rather quickly, our young soldiers will be planted in the Middle East for the rest of our lives. Furthermore, if we continue to invade, occupy, and destroy other people's countries, they will only re double their efforts to come here and try to destroy our homes.
Finally, this is a huge election year for Congress. The balance of power in Congress will be determined by the coming election in November. It seems to me that Americans are always excited and geared up for presidential elections. However, when it comes time for midterm elections, we lose our gusto, forget about them, or simply don't care enough to go and vote in them. I would argue that this would not be the year to have that type of attitude. Now, obviously, not every seat in the House and Senate are up for re-election, but for those people sitting in districts where there are seats up for election, you need to start educating yourself on the candidates now. If you are an Obama supporter or Democrat, you have some big decisions to make about how you are going to vote in November. The Democrats did get a little lily livered toward the end of 2009, and there are many people that would like to punish them for caving on a number of issues ( I don't entirely disagree with this thinking). However, if people choose to put Democrats out of office in November, they could just swing the power in Congress into Republican hands. If President Obama can't get his agenda through Congress now, will he really be able to pass anything with a Republican controlled Congress? If he can't deliver on some of his 2008 campaign promises, what will his chances in 2012 be? There is no doubt that Democrats are in serious trouble come November, but the ultimate decision lies in the hands of the voters. Democrats need to wake up, smell the coffee, and realize this fact so that they can make a better case for keeping them around. Republicans have a little bit of an easier job because their base will be out in full force come November due to their hatred of this president and Congress. Republicans, however, should not count their chickens before they are hatched. They still have yet to propose any ideas that will offer real change to this country. As with the Georgia gubernatorial candidates, I will periodically discuss various congressional seats up for grabs and the candidates seeking them in my blog. With the retirement announcements this morning made by Sen. Dodd of Connecticut, Sen. Durgan of North Dakota, and Gov. Ritter of Colorado (all Democrats), 2010 is already looking to be an exciting and interesting political year!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Ahhhh, Mom. Healthcare, again????
Ok, Atlanta officially has a new mayor by the name of Kasim Reed. I definitely offer my congratulations to him and all the other city officials elected in the recent run off for a job well done. I will have to postpone my other comments on or newly elected officials for a later post because I simply have to discuss this health care debacle. I am in utter amazement that the Democrats have managed to royally screw this one up. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, Democrats need to have a come to Jesus meeting, and I do mean ASAP!!! I am furious with Republicans for their complete sabotage of any and all legislation that has been put forth. However, I at least respect them for sticking together and giving the Democrats a resounding H*LL NO when it came time to vote on the issues (more importantly, I didn't expect any better from them). My disgust really lies with the conservative Democrats in the Senate. They obviously believe that if they don't side with Republicans on healthcare, they won't be re-elected to office. Let's take a moment to look at this situation, shall we?
A conservative Democrat generally comes from an area that has a more conservative constituency whether it be made up of republicans, independents, or democrats. Given the current climate for Republicans (meaning they are in control of NADA), it is safe to assume that they will be sticking together come the next election cycle. This means that a conservative Democrat can let go of any fantasies that there will be a bevy of Republicans lining up to cast a ballot for him/her because Republicans almost always tend to tow the line. This leaves independents and democrats. Independents are a toss up right now. There are many of them who have become disillusioned with both parties meaning they could just stay home. Now, more right leaning independents may vote for our conservative Dem, but they also may decide to toss their vote to the Republican (it's anybody's guess). The conservative Dem has a better shot with a more left leaning independent. However, our candidate's best shot for re-election would be with the democrats. The problem is that democrats are not known for towing the line like republicans. If enough democrats feel like a candidate is not supporting the party's agenda, they will pink slip him/her in the blink of an eye using a myriad of methods.
Now, I can respect anyone who has a legitimate difference of opinion on the way we should reform healthcare, but if a person does not like the way in which the bill is being drafted, he or she has to offer a viable alternative. This stance of just saying no in order to defeat this bill is disgusting and should not be allowed to go unpunished. Therefore, it is time that the Senate leadership (paging Harry Reid) haul some of these "troublemakers" into the back room of the Congress and tell them a few things. The most important being that come next year if they choose not to get on board with the healthcare reform agenda, they can expect to be looking for a new job. There will be no support coming from the democratic party monetarily or otherwise (and contrary to popular belief, they most certainly are going to need this party). Bottom line, if you can't support us now, don't even think about looking for us later. For independent senators such as Joe Lieberman (who actually flip flopped on this issue), he should expect to be stripped of his chairmanship as soon as is humanly possible. Although it is a little late, democrats still have time to get cut throat with some of these senators and "beat" them into submission.
The left is now saying that the bill should be dropped and picked up after the 2010 elections. I'm not sure if I agree with this stance either. It is quite possible that healthcare reform could be dropped and never picked up again. I don't think that the whitehouse and congressional democrats have come this far to drop the ball now. However, I do agree with progressives on the left who say that maybe Harry Reid needs to consider utilizing reconciliation to pass other parts of this bill such as the public option or medicare buy-in (by the way, where the freak are seniors on this buy-in option. You screamed and hollered about death panels, and all of a sudden you are mute on this issue. It is absolutely EGREGIOUS!).
Finally, president Obama has to get his head in this game. I can fully appreciate all of the other issues that are on his plate at this time, but we are at the do or die portion of this healthcare debate. Now is the time that he has to really step up to the plate and push this reform through. More importantly, he is missing a big opportunity to link healthcare reform to jobs. It occured to me after hearing the death knell ring for the medicare buy-in that President Obama and congressional democrats did not do a good job linking the buy-in to jobs. The medicare buy-in would have allowed seniors in their late 50's to early 60's to buy into medicare. Therefore, it would allow for people in this age range to have an affordable healthcare plan. One of the main reasons that people in this age range continue to work is so they can have affordable healthcare. If people in this age group can afford healthcare, they may just choose to retire earlier at least at the age of 62 (when you can start collecting Social Security). Retirement opens up jobs for younger workers who are in desperate need of employment right now. My own mother recently chose to retire early, but she almost stayed longer at her job because she wasn't sure about how she would afford healthcare (thankfully, other things fell in place which allowed for her retirement). My father could retire in a couple of years, but he will more than likely continue to work because he needs to be able to afford healthcare. The case needs to be made that in some instances healthcare and jobs go hand in hand. Ultimately, I understand that Republicans are playing the obstructionist role in this debate. However, democrats (including President Obama) are not doing themselves any favors by sitting back and letting them take over the stage (ala Kanye West at the VMA's) when it comes to this issue. Democrats have to get out there on the airwaves and help Americans understand that this healthcare bill is needed to move this country forward, and they won't rest until a GOOD healthcare bill is passed and signed into law.
A conservative Democrat generally comes from an area that has a more conservative constituency whether it be made up of republicans, independents, or democrats. Given the current climate for Republicans (meaning they are in control of NADA), it is safe to assume that they will be sticking together come the next election cycle. This means that a conservative Democrat can let go of any fantasies that there will be a bevy of Republicans lining up to cast a ballot for him/her because Republicans almost always tend to tow the line. This leaves independents and democrats. Independents are a toss up right now. There are many of them who have become disillusioned with both parties meaning they could just stay home. Now, more right leaning independents may vote for our conservative Dem, but they also may decide to toss their vote to the Republican (it's anybody's guess). The conservative Dem has a better shot with a more left leaning independent. However, our candidate's best shot for re-election would be with the democrats. The problem is that democrats are not known for towing the line like republicans. If enough democrats feel like a candidate is not supporting the party's agenda, they will pink slip him/her in the blink of an eye using a myriad of methods.
Now, I can respect anyone who has a legitimate difference of opinion on the way we should reform healthcare, but if a person does not like the way in which the bill is being drafted, he or she has to offer a viable alternative. This stance of just saying no in order to defeat this bill is disgusting and should not be allowed to go unpunished. Therefore, it is time that the Senate leadership (paging Harry Reid) haul some of these "troublemakers" into the back room of the Congress and tell them a few things. The most important being that come next year if they choose not to get on board with the healthcare reform agenda, they can expect to be looking for a new job. There will be no support coming from the democratic party monetarily or otherwise (and contrary to popular belief, they most certainly are going to need this party). Bottom line, if you can't support us now, don't even think about looking for us later. For independent senators such as Joe Lieberman (who actually flip flopped on this issue), he should expect to be stripped of his chairmanship as soon as is humanly possible. Although it is a little late, democrats still have time to get cut throat with some of these senators and "beat" them into submission.
The left is now saying that the bill should be dropped and picked up after the 2010 elections. I'm not sure if I agree with this stance either. It is quite possible that healthcare reform could be dropped and never picked up again. I don't think that the whitehouse and congressional democrats have come this far to drop the ball now. However, I do agree with progressives on the left who say that maybe Harry Reid needs to consider utilizing reconciliation to pass other parts of this bill such as the public option or medicare buy-in (by the way, where the freak are seniors on this buy-in option. You screamed and hollered about death panels, and all of a sudden you are mute on this issue. It is absolutely EGREGIOUS!).
Finally, president Obama has to get his head in this game. I can fully appreciate all of the other issues that are on his plate at this time, but we are at the do or die portion of this healthcare debate. Now is the time that he has to really step up to the plate and push this reform through. More importantly, he is missing a big opportunity to link healthcare reform to jobs. It occured to me after hearing the death knell ring for the medicare buy-in that President Obama and congressional democrats did not do a good job linking the buy-in to jobs. The medicare buy-in would have allowed seniors in their late 50's to early 60's to buy into medicare. Therefore, it would allow for people in this age range to have an affordable healthcare plan. One of the main reasons that people in this age range continue to work is so they can have affordable healthcare. If people in this age group can afford healthcare, they may just choose to retire earlier at least at the age of 62 (when you can start collecting Social Security). Retirement opens up jobs for younger workers who are in desperate need of employment right now. My own mother recently chose to retire early, but she almost stayed longer at her job because she wasn't sure about how she would afford healthcare (thankfully, other things fell in place which allowed for her retirement). My father could retire in a couple of years, but he will more than likely continue to work because he needs to be able to afford healthcare. The case needs to be made that in some instances healthcare and jobs go hand in hand. Ultimately, I understand that Republicans are playing the obstructionist role in this debate. However, democrats (including President Obama) are not doing themselves any favors by sitting back and letting them take over the stage (ala Kanye West at the VMA's) when it comes to this issue. Democrats have to get out there on the airwaves and help Americans understand that this healthcare bill is needed to move this country forward, and they won't rest until a GOOD healthcare bill is passed and signed into law.
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