America Strongly Stands Up, Now It's Time To Move

The world is taking it all in, Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States. People from London to Tokyo cheered the results and today the dollar is up against the Euro and the markets are....well, the markets are the markets. The facts are that the Democratic majority in the House and the Senate grew tremendously because the nation demanded a change. As 2009 begins, the 111th Congress and the new President have great expectations thrown upon them. The critics in the media are already salivating over a repeat of Clinton's first term, where the Democrats ended up crumbling under the GOP's ability to trick Americans with wedge issues and fearmongering. Yet where Clinton's neo-liberal agenda failed, a progressive one under Obama will succeed.

From ThinkProgress:

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explains, “In this election, Obama proudly stood up for progressive values and the superiority of progressive policies; John McCain, in return, denounced him as a socialist, a redistributor. And the American people rendered their verdict. Now the work begins.”

A mandate for progressive change exists. In a memo released today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund writes, “Obama ran on the most progressive platform of any presidential candidate in at least 15 years, including a promise of universal health care coverage, a dramatic transformation to a low-carbon economy, and a historic investment in education.” Read the full memo below:

Our nation today is only now realizing the extent of the resounding victory for progressive ideals registered on election day. Progressives triumphed in all regions of the country and won overwhelming support from individuals of all different backgrounds. President-elect Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) decisively, winning the most votes in history and the largest share of the popular vote of any presidential candidate in two decades. Candidates running on progressive platforms helped Democrats expand their majorities in both houses of Congress. Democrats now have the most elected members of Congress any party has held since 1995.

Now comes the hard part. Our country faces enormous challenges, many the direct result of eight years of hapless conservative governance. The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is only the latest blow delivered to the American people after years of stagnant wages and the worst job-creation record since Herbert Hoover. Our increasingly costly health care system leaves out more and more Americans every year.

Years of war in Iraq have left Americans less safe at home and abroad despite the incredible sacrifice of our brave fighting men and women there and in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are mounting a comeback. And our planet is now eight years closer to catastrophic climate change.

Sen. McCain and other conservatives supported these policies, and they ran this election year on ambitious conservative plans that would have gone even further. The American people rejected these stale ideas yesterday, understanding the dismal consequences of conservatism these past eight years. The urgency of our problems was central to the decisions of American voters, who were significantly more likely to say that the economy, taxes, heath care, and energy were “very important” compared to four years ago, according to the Pew Research Center.

That’s why candidates who embraced progressive solutions to these problems won. Obama ran on the most progressive platform of any presidential candidate in at least 15 years, including a promise of universal health care coverage, a dramatic transformation to a low-carbon economy, and a historic investment in education. Winning congressional candidates also embraced progressive policies. And polls showed that voters supported progressive solutions by wide margins.

In a few short months, leaders who support progressive ideals will take up the reins of government in Washington. We must rise to the occasion. We must move beyond the false choice of left versus center to embrace solutions as big as the challenges we face.

We need investments now to jumpstart our economy while laying the foundations for sustained economic growth. Restoring confidence in our economy will require a new direction for the economy, health care, clean energy, and education. And we must be willing to set priorities on government spending to restore budgetary responsibility in the coming years.

If we do these things, then we can translate yesterday's victory at the polls into a victory for health care, clean energy, national security, and a stronger and larger middle class. The American people are ready. Now it’s time to deliver.

Krugman is exactly right, this isn't 1992. America is hurting more than ever under the tutelage of conservative ideologues and now we must go a different way that puts people first ahead of corporate America. Obama said it in his victory speech last night, it is time for Main Street to come before Wall Street (I'm paraphrasing) and that we must rise and fall as a nation united. That means following the guidelines that Center for American Progress lays out as well as other progressive organizations. The old ideas didn't work, now lets get back to policies that have worked for us in prior trying times, and adapt them for our 21st century.

Will The Congressional Dems Cave On FISA?

How ridiculous would it be if the Democratic majority in Congress gave the telecommunications companies (and George Bush) retroactive immunity, even though they have no need to do so at all? Folks, it would another failure by our caucus to stand up to the President and to act as a co-equal branch of government. This would be a repudiation of the Constitution and another symbol that Congress would lay over and die rather than protect the rights of Americans, something they swore an oath to when becoming members of the Legislative branch.

I guess many in that caucus just don't give a damn:

House and Senate Democratic leaders are headed into talks today that they say could lead to a breakthrough on legislation to revamp domestic surveillance powers and grant phone companies some form of immunity for their role in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A senior House Democratic aide said a bill could be sent to President Bush as early as next week. But significant issues remain, including those surrounding immunity, said Wyndee R. Parker, general counsel of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Parker, who said she hopes the House can take up the compromise legislation as early as this week, said a resolution has been delayed partly by the need for all members of the House Judiciary Committee to gain access to the letters and other relevant documents sent to the phone companies by the administration requesting their assistance.

Um, what? No, the duty of Congress is to allow the people (who they represent) to be able to sue these companies for violating their privacy. It is up to (and framed by the people that wrote our Constitution) the courts to decide whether the telecoms are culpable in their actions that aided and abetted George Bush in his quest to illegally spy on American citizens. That is how it is supposed to work.

If only the wing of the Democratic party that wishes to (and rightly) do nothing to help these corporations had more members, we'd be able to sit tight until either the President learns that this is a nation of laws and not a nation that serves corporate interests.......or, we get a new President. That is what we need, "compromise" (meaning giving Republicans everything that they want) is not the right path of action here.

Democrats Want To Prove They Have No Spine...Again

Remember when Bush asked for another $196 billion dollars for his illegal and immoral war? Well the Democrats are talking tough again, they are going to shut down the war, demand the troops come home immedia....oh wait a moment, my imagination took over from the reality of what is actually happening. Reid, Pelosi et al. are going to give Bush a measly $50 billion (gasp) and ask (pretty, pretty please) that he start bringing troops home so that we'll be out of there by the end of next year. How much would you bet that Bush doesn't follow their suggestion?

From RawStory:

"This is not a blank check for the president," she said at a Capitol Hill news conference. "This is providing funding for the troops limited to a particular purpose, for a short time frame."

The bill would set the requirement that troop withdrawals begin immediately and that soldiers and Marines spend as much time at home as they do in combat.

The measure also identifies a goal that combat end by December 2008. After that, troops left behind should be restricted to a narrow sets of missions, namely counterterrorism, training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. assets, Democrats say.

Bush rejected a similar measure in May, and Democrats lacked the votes to override the veto.

Blah, blah, blah. It is a blank check, just not with the number Bush wants. He'll veto it with Republican support and make them cower into their holes offices until Pelosi and Reid agree to his every demand. If our "leaders" had any backbone, they'd cut off the funding now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, now. Sadly, they don't and because of it more of our soldiers will be wounded, emotionally scarred or be sent home in a coffin.

Bush Can't Cut It In The House

Like most things George Bush has set out to do in his life, this Presidency has fallen to pieces. Sure, he was successful in making a mockery of the United States and tearing apart the Constitution, as well as being hated by the majority of people on the planet....otherwise, he is a massive failure. The latest proof comes from his record in the Democratically controlled House of Representatives.

From Yahoo News:

President Bush’s success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position.

The previous low for any president was in 1995, when Bill Clinton won just 26 percent of the time during the first year after Republicans took control of the House. If Bush’s score holds through the end of the year, he will have the lowest success rating in either chamber for any president since Congressional Quarterly began analyzing votes in 1953.

A study of House and Senate floor votes, compiled by CQ over the August recess, also showed that House Democrats have backed Bush’s legislative positions this year only 6 percent of the time, making for the strongest opposition from either party against a president in the 54 years CQ has kept score.

Based on what I learned in U.S. History classes, the only President worse than him was probably Andrew Johnson. Funny how Johnson and Clinton were impeached.....I'm looking for a trifecta here fellas. A conviction would be even better. Of course, I won't hold my breath for any type of chutzpah from the Democrats on this issue.