Out of Left Field - 2010 Mid Term Elections

The New Republic: Argues that the Obama White House needs to follow the 1982 Reagan model for the Mid Term Elections, that Obama needs to follow the Reagan message of " staying the course." Its an interesting perspective but is let down by a view out of left field, the article states the following on the Obama message so far, " But Obama (has ) been reluctant to stigmatize George W. Bush and the Republicans--perhaps out of a spirit of bipartisanship. " In less I have been asleep for year that all Obama has done since January 20th 2009 is to blame Bush 43, from the economic to foreign affairs, lets be clear Obama is no Ronald Reagan, he lacks the ability to tell a story, the American story, Reagan as an ex actor new that it was important that the audience or voter understood the overall message if not details, Obama is all about details, thus his obsession with health care reform. As recent elections have shown the Obama magic touch has gone out of the window, some of his staff see him as the second coming, Mr Emanuel is the exception to that rule. Thus when it comes to a clear simple message the last person you need is President Obama, his own intellectual arrogance complicates the message and can lead to the Republicans taking over the House. The real political world will hit the Oval when the Republicans are in charge of Congress and just say No to Obama, as POTUS said himself, elections have consequences, the question is will Obama be Reagan or Mondale in 1984.

NYT on HCR

The New York Times: Has an Editorial that comes out in favour the Senate version of health care reform and attacks Anti Abortion Democrats in the House, the liberal NYT states the following, " Anti-abortion Democrats need to show similar statesmanship and accept the Senate’s restrictive provisions. They owe it to all Americans. ". On this specific aspect of HCR the liberal NYT is right, if and when the House does pass HCR it has language that is weaker on abortion than at present and would allow for women to get abortion via government funds. In this one case the liberal leadership was right not to cave to conservative Democrats, the Government should fund or help with abortion costs. Thus on this specific issue an salute to the liberal NYT.

If they Deni, ITS TRUE - White House

CNN News: Reports on the rejection by close Obama Aide David Axelrod of tensions between himslef and Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. A rule of thump folks if Government denies a story take it as fact, so there is political tension between those that worship Obama as the second coming and the real political operators such as Mr Emanuel. It comes down to one issue folks, that is health care reform, the Obama worshippers want to push HCR through even at the cost of losing the Hill to the Republicans, they only see Obama, while Mr Emanuel sees the next election, that is the Mid Term Elections in November being a disaster for Democrats. As stated after the Congress passes HCR the Obama White House will have to sell the Act, interesting notion to sell tax hikes and forcing Americans to buy insurance. That is why Obama will be a one term President.

216 on HCR - NOT YET?

RCP: Reports that Speaker Pelosi does not have the House votes yet to pass health care reform. When you come to news reports about the vote count you believe the side you want to win, it can be argued that Speaker Pelosi would not delude herself and more important the White House that she had the votes if she didn't have the votes. The lack of votes could be a ruse to get more votes beyond 216 to make the Speaker look good, also give cover to moderate and conservative Democrats. As stated the Bill will pass, the Democrats in the House don't have the political common sense to get the fact that Obama is throwing them over the cliff, Pelosi and Obama are safe when it comes to re-election, moderate and conservative Democrats are going to go over the cliff and there will be no nets to save them from political reality. Thus in 2010 Mid Term Elections the Republicans will retake the House and lot of Democrats will be looking for jobs.

Containment - Iran

The New York Times: Reports on US policy towards Iran should it get the nuclear bomb, the Obama Administration has stressed that it will never allow a nuclear armed Iran but as the article states, " the administration races to add antimissile systems and a naval presence in the Gulf........ sure looks like the building blocks of a nuclear containment policy...". The one issue that the article fails to deal with is the fact that another actor has a veto on any containment policy, that is Israel. The Israeli Government does not care if Obama wants or does not want to contain Iran, if Iran becomes a threat to Israel then Israel will take action and Obama will have to life with the consequences, he does not get a veto when it comes to Israeli security. Also the idea of containment is based on a false assumption, that assumption is that Iran is stable, like the old USSR, buts lets recall the August Coup of 1991, thus it can be argued Iran is not stable given the recent protests in the streets. One can postulate that one day the opposition in Iran will get its act together and you have mass protests on the streets of Tehran, the Regime having developed the bomb has to divert attention or they will be hanging from the nearest yard arm, thus one can see a 3am call to Obama to tell him that Israel is under threat from a nuclear attack, that how stable Iran is at the present. Thus folks containment was a policy for a different era, this era requires military action by either the USA or Israel.

Blue Dog Democrats and 2010

LA Times: Reports on the political pressures on blue dog Democrat Jason Altmire, the liberal LA Times states the following, " Because as Jason Altmire goes, so goes the nation -- at least when it comes to the Democrats' quest for health care reform. ". The Congressman faces a problem, the pressure from the liberal leadership in the House and his Conservative District, Speaker Pelosi has stated that members in Congress should risk their political futures and vote for HCR. As stated it can be postulated that the Speaker has the votes already to get HCR through, Pelosi would not be foolish to risk a loss, the real question is does she want to make the victory look good, thus Congressman Altmire should ask himself if Speaker Pelosi has the votes why should he risk his political career just to make the Speaker look good to the liberal base. Thus its safe for Rep. Altmire to vote NO as Pelosi has the votes already to pass HCR.

Obama the Liberal Reagan ?

Newsweek: Advice from Eleanor Clift on how President Obama can turn the polls around before the Mid Term Congressional Elections of 2010. The most basic advice to Democrats is the following, " they must hang together or assuredly they will all hang separately. " The one point Ms Clift is missing from her advice is the fact that Reagan got Democratic support in Congress for his Agenda, thus it was harder for Democrats to attack the President since he had managed to peel off members from the House to support his Agenda. In the case of health care reform President Obama does not have a single Republican vote in the the House or Senate. Thus in the Mid Terms moderate and conservative Democrats will have to fight on the Agenda that has only Democratic support and cant balance the blame on Republicans. As with LBJ, Reagan was a good manager of Congress, he knew how to be pragmatic, the problem for Obama is that he thinks he walks on water, thus when the House passes HCR he will be blamed if Congress is lost to the Republicans. That is why Obama is no Reagan.