It's not all sunshine and rainbows

          It often seems like no matter what you do you are going to get criticized for it, you’re damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. There is such a thing as fair criticism and there is also unfair criticism. This President has had to weather more than his fair share of unfair criticism. Much of the unfair criticism started during the campaign and persists to this day. Obama has been called a socialist, a Muslim, a terrorist and that's just the start. There are people who believe that he wasn't born in the United States. He was even called a liar in front of the Congress during the State of the Union address on live television.
          Unless you've been living under a rock you would know that we elected the first African American president almost four years ago. The rise of Barack Obama as a candidate in the 2008 election was completely unexpected. Early in the beginning of the campaign all signs were pointing to Hillary Clinton becoming the nominee. In a year where Republicans were extremely unpopular, it was likely that whoever won the nomination would become President. At the start of the campaign, Barack Obama was known as being the first African American to serve in the Senate since the post-Civil War era and that he was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention...and that was about it.
          It often seems, at least from an outsider's perspective, that starting a Presidential campaign is a lot like starting a fire. In the beginning it starts out small. You take two sticks and rub them together really hard, often to the point of exhaustion if you don't do it right. In campaigns it often starts with some handshaking and the requisite baby kissing, speech making and media appearances. As often the case with trying to start a fire, it's hard work that often fails. But sometimes you rub those sticks together just right. Or in the case of a campaign something similar happens: you get a spark. Sometimes that spark is blown away by a treacherous breeze and then other times it catches fire.
          It's very likely that when Barack Obama first started his campaign he wasn't really serious about it. At the time the general consensus was that Hillary Clinton was going to win the nomination. She was playing to win and had all the money, organization and most importantly the momentum to do it. When Obama got his underway it was likely just for fun, or just to get his face out there for a future run at some other office. It's not unheard of, many people run for President just to get a specific issue in front of the American people. But something unexpected happened in 2008. Somehow, Barack Obama managed an unlikely win in the Iowa caucus. Somehow, he managed to catch fire.
          The fire then burned brighter than anything seen in modern times. He went from an almost unknown to a serious contender almost overnight. In the beginning he didn't have a lot of the help the big players had like the exploratory committees, the think tanks and the Super-Pacs of today. Of course it didn't stay that way. Eventually the Obama campaign became another campaign like any other. Obama rode on a massive tidal wave of support. He seemed unstoppable and invincible. He was a rock star. The American electorate was fed up with the politics of the Bush years, the secrecy, the wars, and the unfolding financial crisis. Hope and Change were the words of the day. And in the end for the first time in years we had a Presidential election decided by 11pm EST, where before they were so close that it often ran into days or even weeks.
          While Obama may have been popular, it did not shield him from criticism. There we allegations of associations with a slumlord, Tony Rezko, and former Weather Underground member William Ayers. There were the incendiary remarks made by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. His experience was called into question as he had served almost two terms in the Illinois Senate and was currently serving as a U.S. Senator. There was also the revelation of teenage drug use and other personal allegations gleaned from his autobiography.
          Obama is now in the beginning of a tough reelection campaign. These days it seems the hope and change of yesterday has become the gridlock and cynicism of today. He promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to reform Health Care and balance the budget. But more importantly he promised to end the partisan bickering in Washington and usher in a new era in politics. The soaring rhetoric of the 2008 campaign is a strange contrast to today. The enthusiasm and hope have long ago evaporated leaving us in a quagmire.
          Obama was critical of the handling of the war in Afghanistan and opposed the Iraq War since the beginning. We were promised an end to both wars. At this stage the Iraq War is all but done, the main combat force has been gone since late 2011 but the sectarian tensions are still there. It often seems that the other war, the war in Afghanistan was one of the first victims of the Iraq War. The resources diverted to the Iraq War gave the Taliban time to regroup in Pakistan. Right now there is a fragile peace but who can say how long it lasts. It seems that the Taliban and the Iranians are just waiting for us to leave. The idea of "nation building" in Iraq and Afghanistan was sold to us under the previous administration, likely without the thought that the real work to implement it would have to be done by the next administration.
          George W. Bush may have started the Global War on Terrorism but Obama is the one continuing and expanding it. The use of drones and UAV's has been greatly expanded from reconnaissance to combat and combat support missions. There have been a lot of high profile terrorists killed using UAV's at the expense of some "collateral damage." The usage of drones began in Iraq and Afghanistan and has since expanded to Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. One of the targets of these drone strikes was radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen. While most Americans are not likely to mourn a dead terrorist, it is sobering that he was effectively sentenced to death without any form of trial or due process. And remember, right after he was elected President, Barack Obama was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.
          We were promised a more open and accessible government. We were told that budget items and expenditures would be put online. We were told that there would be more open access to the back rooms where the deals are made. Nothing has really changed in this regard. Even worse is the Obama Administration's treatment of whistleblowers. The current administration has brought more prosecutions against whistleblowers using the Espionage Act than all the previous Presidents combined. This is ironic considering that while in the Senate he worked in favor of protecting whistleblowers. Also, it seems that Obama was having a hard time finding appointees for positions in the administration that had actually paid their taxes.
          Candidate Obama made health care reform one of the centerpieces of his campaign. Like anything else this was easier said than done. He had to abandon the demands of his liberal base for a single payer system and had to settle on a compromise with the individual insurance mandate. Like many other large bills that make it through Congress, this bill had a lot of sugar in it to make it go down easier. It gives the health insurance companies millions of new customers that must buy coverage. The end customer gets some protections for people with preexisting conditions.
          While it was well intentioned, the Affordable Healthcare Act is not without its drawbacks. Primary, this bill has polarized many people much like "Hillarycare" did during the Clinton years. It was the pursuit of healthcare reform that mobilized the Republicans to widespread gains in Congress in 1992 and under Obama again in 2010. It goes without saying that passing this bill cost Obama a significant amount of political capital that threatened the rest of his agenda. The Republicans in the Senate have used the power of the filibuster to effectively nullify the Senate's ability to accomplish anything. The new bill has also expanded the level of bureaucracy present in the health care industry. Medicare is already troubled with fraud, this will only make it worse. As Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google once said "The average American doesn't realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists," this law was no different despite Obama's promises to the contrary to dampen the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups.
          During the campaign it seemed that Obama's favorability ratings were inversely proportional to the state of the economy. As the economy got worse, Obama's poll numbers got better. As President, his handling of the economy has been lackluster. There was the $787 billion dollar stimulus package. The stimulus was supposed to save 2 million jobs, it ended up only saving about 640,000. In purely statistical terms the stimulus was a success, the GDP numbers went from -6.4% in 2009 Q1 to +5% in 2009 Q4, and the Dow went up nearly 4,000 points. Despite this many Americans view the stimulus as a failure. While Wall Street and the banks seem to be doing much better the situation in middle America has been largely unchanged. There is a widespread belief in America that Wall Street and the banks got bailed out while the middle class was left to fend for itself. There have also been quite a few Obama Administration ideas that didn't work like the "Cash for Clunkers" program, which mainly succeeded causing some parts shortages in the auto salvage business and taking a lot of Ford Explorers off our highways.
          Another one of the great ironies of the Obama Administration is that they have maintained and expanded on many policies of the unpopular Bush era. One of his campaign promises was to shut down the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which is still in operation today. The Patriot Act is still in full effect, sacrificing our liberty for protection from terrorists. Obama compromised in order to expand the length of welfare coverage by extending the Bush Tax cuts, the largest single driver of deficit spending today. The Bush Administration was frequently criticized for its expansion of executive power while our current President has claimed "Executive Privilege" in the congressional investigation surrounding the Fast and Furious scandal. It seems strange that as a candidate he ran on a platform of change while many things from before remain the same.
          There is no doubt that Barack Obama has fallen short from the lofty goals and soaring rhetoric of the 2008 campaign. To put it more simply he promised far too much. In the short term the main consequence rests on if he can manage to get reelected. Over the long term however his example may serve only to deepen the jaded cynicism that has consumed politics today. Right now, the approval ratings for all three branches of government are at record lows. This will only make it more difficult to shake the American people from the apathy that currently plagues the entire political establishment.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Mitt Romney

           In politics and in elections there is really no such thing as a perfect candidate.  We are all human, we all make mistakes and we all have our vices.  Mitt Romney is certainly not a perfect candidate.  He has many fundamental flaws, some blatant, others lurking beneath the surface.
           At the top of the list is Romney's demeanor and his natural charisma, or the lack thereof.  All of the truly great Presidents were people who knew how to talk to people.  In recent times we've seen good examples with Obama, Reagan, and George W. Bush.  It's not always about oratory ability where Barack Obama excels, nor Bush being the kind of person many working class Americans would "like to have a beer with."  It also goes without saying that Ronald Reagan wasn't called "The Great Communicator" for nothing.  The problem with Romney is that we haven't seen anything like this coming from him.  When he speaks he doesn't inspire confidence.  When he tries his hand at humor he often comes off as stilted.  To many Americans he feels as fake as a piece of plastic.  Sometimes you don't know what to think when he once asked "Who let the dogs out?"
            In a way, everyone has a story.   When it comes to Presidents this is even more important.  Barack Obama captivated America with his middle class, multiracial and multiethnic upbringing, he was something new, something exotic to many.  Mitt Romney is the son of another wealthy man who was involved in politics, his father George Romney.  His basic qualifier for President, as he has put it is his wealth and success in business.  Romney is not the wealthiest person to run for President.  Ross Perot was a multi-billionaire when he ran for President. Wealth alone is no reason to put someone on a pedestal nor is it a reason to demean them. There is nothing exciting or compelling in his background.  What greatness is there in Mitt Romney?
             In politics lately it seems that there is only room for winners.  Only victory is remembered, and there are no points for second place.  Most people who run for President run on their previous accomplishments, one victory building atop another.  In our history I cannot name a candidate who has run as far from his record as Mitt Romney has.  Recently the Supreme Court upheld Obama's signature piece of legislation often derided as Obamacare. Romney has jumped on the GOP bandwagon in criticizing the law, but the irony is that the architect for Obamacare was Romney himself when he passed the same type of law in Massachusetts when he was governor.  He claims that he doesn't agree with it as a solution for all states but lets be serious, in any other environment he would have made this his keystone accomplishment.  Without his accomplishments he has to fall back to his business background yet again.
               There are times that politicians often seem to be more like gymnasts in regards to policy and flexibility.  A good politician tries to hold a wide position that allows him room to maneuver through various issues.  Ronald Reagan once said that "Politics is the world's second oldest profession which often bears great resemblance to the first."  Mitt Romney has elevated political gymnastics to an art form.  Politicians are allowed to change their minds on issues.  But Romney seems to have a pattern of just saying what people want to hear.  While this is a common feature among politicians he doesn't mask this very well.  His positions on issues seem to be deliberately based on the nature of just who he is talking to at that particular time.  Romney has taken both sides of many issues such as support for the auto bailouts, gay rights, Planned Parenthood and Abortion.  There has been plenty of criticism of Obama for his policies as can be expected.  Romney's other problem here is that he doesn't give any specifics on what he'll actually do if elected.  Obama is bad and wrong and Romney's gonna change things but he's not telling us how he's going to do it.  He wants to repeal and replace Obamacare without telling us what he wants to replace it with.
               No matter how well you can maneuver sometimes you have to face the truth, and sometimes the truth really hurts.  During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama was faced with the incendiary remarks of his Pastor, Jeremiah Wright.  Obama did not try to hide from the issue, he faced it head on with a bold speech on American race relations that very likely saved his campaign.  Mitt Romney has come under attack lately regarding his actions as the head of Bain Capital.  The accusation made by the Obama camp is that Bain was a company that outsourced American jobs.  Bain is accused of taking profitable companies and offshoring them for more profits or loading them down with debt.  Romney's recent excuse is that he was off running the 2002 Winter Olympics, when the SEC documents clearly show that he was still President and CEO of Bain.  His latest, very weak excuse is something called "retroactive retirement".  Offshoring and the problems related to globalization are the greatest threat to the long term economic security of the middle class.  Bain's embracing of outsourcing has sadly become standard business practice. Ted Kennedy used Romney's time at Bain as a hammer and nailed Romney to Bain during the 1994 Senatorial Campaign. Romney has also been very silent about his tax returns, a strange thing considering the idea of releasing them was pioneered by his father. In the end, Romney's response to these facts just isn't good enough, not for the highest office in the land.
             For many years since his election the Right has tried to label Barack Obama as an elitist. From his Harvard education, his appearance, to his oratory bearing, and lastly even how he spends his vacation time he is accused of being a liberal elitist. The Romney campaign really hasn't gone after this angle because while Obama may seem like an elitist Mitt Romney himself is an elitist.  He is a rich man that started out as the son of another rich man.  The policies of the past 30 years have made it easier for the wealthy,  like Romney to keep their wealth and expand it without nearly as much work as it took to obtain it in the first place.  Like Obama, Romney is also a Harvard graduate with a degree in law and another in business.  Like Dick Cheney, Romney also got a lot of draft deferments during the Vietnam War.  He was supposedly a missionary in France for most of the war, learned to speak fluent French and is still very fond of France. We all know how much the Republicans and the Far Right just love France.  Romney also spent $75,000 dollars on a horse that does ballet that you may get a chance to see at the 2012 Olympics.  At a recent television appearance Ann Romney wore a t-shirt with a $1,000 dollar price tag.  There have been pictures "leaked" from the Romney campaign showing him fueling up the campaign bus or doing laundry but they all come off as being staged just to make him look like a normal person.  It has been mentioned that when he shows up to events wearing blue jeans he somehow still looks better than everyone else in the room.
             Right now Mitt Romney is also stuck in a rut, the same rut that John McCain was in when he ran in 2008.  There is a serious "excitement deficit".  Many conservatives are going to be holding their noses when they vote for him.  The only thing he has going for him as a Republican is that he isn't Obama.  The problem is that it often takes more to win than just being against something or someone else.  John McCain tried to change the paradigm when he tapped Sarah Palin as a running mate.  Regardless of the end consequences McCain's choice brought much needed life back into his campaign.  Without Palin he would have likely done far worse on Election Day.  When it comes to a running mate Romney is going to have to make a choice.  Will he stand up to the Far Right and the Tea Party and go with someone more moderate, or will he court them for fear of losing them?  With such close electoral margins these days, being against Obama just isn't good enough.  John Kerry tried this angle in 2004 against George W. Bush....we all know how that turned out.
              It often doesn't seem that Romney didn't win the nomination as much as he survived it.  It's no secret that the GOP nomination process over time often involves standing in line, last election's second place winner often becomes the next nominee.  While there were many others vying for the nomination they all fell by the wayside.  Sometimes, it was personal reasons such as in the case of Herman Cain, his downfall was due to the revelation of a very long term extramarital affair. In many other the other cases Romney merely outspent his competition, often spending more than all of his competitors combined.  This time though money isn't going to be enough , just ask former California candidate for Governor, Meg Whitman.who spent $144 million dollars of her own money and lost.
              Since the beginning of the campaign season I have looked at the GOP and wondered about the field that was offered this year.  It seems that many of the smart people in the GOP decided to sit this election cycle out.  Where is Bobby Jindal?  Where is Chris Christie?  Why didn't they run?  There are many reasons, the rise of the Tea Party, the stubborn mendacity of the GOP in Congress, or the lingering distaste for the Bush administration.  Sadly it seems we got stuck with the rest.  And in the dogpile that was the GOP primaries emerged....Mitt Romney.  Is Mitt Romney good enough?   That's for the American people to decide in November.

Left and Right

Right now American politics is a competition between the incompetent and the insane.

The "Left" as it is in the Democratic Party is right now incompetent in almost every way.  You need only look at the government in our nation’s capital to see it.  How Marion Berry remains in office all these years truly boggles the mind. The bumbling of Reid and Pelosi shows just what "career politicians"  have done for us.  In regards to Obama, his greatest mistake was repeating many of his predecessor's policies.  Obama's other big mistake was health care reform, while good intentioned was a waste of political capital that could have been better used to address the systemic problems that plague us. To the dismay of Obama's most fervent supporters in the last election has been the most startling revelation regarding the President:  that he is at his core just another politician. It is funny that many of the same Democrats who rail against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan today were among the ones that voted for it yesterday.  It is sad that in the ascension of Reagan the term "liberal" became a dirty word, even sadder when you compare classical Liberalism and Marxism and find how much different they really are. Want more fun with Democrats?  Google "C Jack Ellis" and have a big laugh. You cannot govern or negotiate from a position of weakness, yet the Left keeps on trying.

The "Right" as it stands can be summed up in one word:  insane.  The undercurrent has always been around always waiting to flourish.  We last saw this manifested in the 1950's with the "Red Scare" led by men like Joseph McCarthy under the precept of "Un-American Activites" where people tried making other forms of speech and thought illegal. In 50's America the disease was fear as it is today.  Back then it was fear of the Soviets, today it is fear of foreigners, science and even fear of education and critical thinking.  The Right has declared open war on society itself and the institutions that maintain it by engaging in class warfare and divisive rhetoric.  Somehow they have been lead to believe that America was founded solely as a "Christian Nation" by people who valued religious freedom after many of them came here fleeing religious persecution.  They have also been lead to believe that America was founded on the concept on unregulated capitalism when the words "capitalism" and "free market" cannot be found in the Constitution that they revere almost as much as the Bible. Today the concepts of compromise and moderation make as much sense as the do to a toddler with a temper tantrum. The greatest hypocrisy of the Right today is that they care more about things that exist on paper like the Constitution and corporations than they do flesh and blood human beings.  They care more for a collection of cells in a woman's womb than the child it may eventually become.   Nothing today can conjure their wrath quite like showing them their own hypocrisy. 

The disintegration of the right has also hurt the left in unexpected ways.  The debate between the two has been reduced to useless partisan warfare where no one really gets ahead.  It has led to the deadlock in our government that paralyzed the entire system.  Today the promises made to the lobbyists of yesterday are more critical than the needs of Americans today.

Sometimes, we can only be as good as our competition makes us.       

Job Interviews

           For my first post here I thought I would talk about something that has become very relevant to my life at this time:  job interviews.  Like millions of Americans I am also jobless and looking for work.  I have been going through the job interview ritual a lot lately.  It has come to mind though that it often seems that the interview and everything involved with it has nothing to do with the actual job itself.  

           Lets start with the outfit.  It's usually something formal.  For guys it's a standard suit and tie.  It doesn't matter if this is what you're going to be wearing at work, this is what's usually expected.  Of course in  many business environments it might as well be a uniform.  I hate suits personally.  They are stuffy and uncomfortable.  The tie limits you ability to turn your head.   Also I have yet to discover an ideal way to hang up my jacket so that it doesn't get wrinkled. 

           It gets much worse when you get to the actual interview.  Sometimes it's just with one guy.   Other times it seems like you're getting interviewed by a committee.  Then come the questions.  Sometimes you get questions like "What is your greatest weakness?"  But you're not supposed to tell them that you have a hidden obsession with Jello pudding, you have to lie and really give them a strength that's really disguised as a weakness.  Or they'll ask for an example of something you did in certain situations that may not have anything to do with the job.  They claim that its a way to assess your thinking process but it feels like they are just screwing with you.  Sadly, the interviewer has license to say whatever he wants.  If he somehow insults you you basically have to sit there and take it.  

           You almost have to become a different person during the interview.  You put on a fake smile to go with your fake outfit to complement your fake stories.  In the end you might get the job or you might not.  You probably won't get any feedback or have any idea what exact went wrong.  In our online world consider yourself lucky if you get a phone call, expect some kind of stock email or a vague announcement on the company website.

            I suppose it could be worse.  But right now I don't know how.