The Mid Term Elections 2010

RCP: Reports on its latest average of the polls for the generic vote for Congress, the average is Republicans 47.7% and the Democrats 41.9%, a Republican lead of 5.8%. Thus far the Obama counter offensive to the Republicans has been a disaster, the Oval has to decide does it really want to keep a Democratic Congress or in its heart of hearts does it want a Republican Congress that would allow President Obama to move to the centre. If POTUS really wants to keep Congress he has to be bold, really bold, he should state that he got ObamaCare wrong, and say that he will ask the Congress to repeal or reform health care reform. The left would go over a cliff but the Democrats could still keep Congress, also Obama should ask the Congress to keep the Bush 43 tax cuts for all tax payers, high and low,. In Presidential politics a President has to learn to say SORRY, it’s the hardest thing in Presidential vocabulary, even Reagan had to say sorry after Iran - Contra, the American voter are very understating of a President that makes a mistake and says sorry, but its very hard for the Oval, it needs good advisors or a political wired wife, Reagan had Nancy Reagan, who is the Nancy Reagan in the Obama Court.

The Balls FACTOR!

Guardian: Has more on the reason that Ed Miliband didn’t give Ed Balls the job of Shadow Chancellor the article states the following, “ …spurned Balls because he could not be trusted politically…Balls "shafted himself" by his near-public bid for the job. ”. At the end of the day you would have to be very naïve to believe that Ed Balls would not stab Ed Miliband in the back if he thought he could get the leadership. Lets recall the hard time Gordon Brown gave to Tony Blair while he was Shadow Chancellor, Brown never forgave Tony Blair for taking the leadership from him, if you read the Alastair Campbell Diaries Blair is always in some argument with Brown on economic policy, Brown would take a different view just to annoy Blair and Campbell, also his open warfare with Lord Mandelson that spilled in to Government. One thing Ed Miliband would have learned is that a Labour leader needs a Chancellor that he trust and can control, that was never the case between Blair and Brown.
　

The Brown/Balls Camp vs. Ed Miliband

Guido Fawkes Blog: Reports that the Brown/Balls Camp is starting its attack on Ed Miliband for not placing Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Its not quite the Blair vs. Brown Wars as Ed Milbiand worked for Gordon Brown and served in his Cabinet but it’s a fight on the left of Labour, between Balls who wants no cuts and Ed Miliband who wants an economic policy that look real to the outside world, thus you have a fight for NO cuts to some cuts, all very geeky. Lets recall that when Labour did a runner in 1931 it didn’t get back in to power in till World War Two, if the Coalition works the Labour Party could be out of power for a generation. It can also be postulated that Ed Miliband made Alan Johnson the Shadow Chancellor as to have a place holder in till his brother David gets over his political wounds and comes back in to the Cabinet, it can be argued that Mr Johnson will move aside once David Miliband is back in the Cabinet, not the case with Ed Balls. All politics is family.

300 Combat Deaths in Afghanistan

MOD: Reports that a UK Soldier was killed today in Afghanistan, this brings the combat deaths in Afghanistan to 300, the Soldier was from the “ 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment attached to 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles ”. Thus since 2001 the UK has lost 340 of its Armed Forces Personnel in Afghanistan, of that total it has lost 300 in combat operations and 40 due to illness, accidents or other incidents.

Titanic Anniversary 1912 -2012

Telegraph: Reports that a Cruise on the anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic has only a few tickets available. It might sound a bit ghoulish but this blog would be on board if could afford the ticket, the sinking of the RMS Titanic is one of those historical events that never goes away, every year there is new stories that come out, of late that the helmsman of the Titanic who turned the steering the wrong way thus the sinking. Its that night that always fascinates, would you have been a hero or a cad, would it have been women and children in the lifeboats first or you first, its one of those questions that you never want to answer.

The Shadow Chancellor - Alan Johnson

BBC News: Reports on the appointment on Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. There is hope for Ed Miliband, he would have been fool to appoint Ed Balls, at the end of the day Balls is seen as Gordon Brown’s man, it might not be fair but he was seen as Brown’s enforcer, if he had been appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown would have been a ghost at the Shadow Cabinet meetings. Lets be honest would any leader trust Balls not stab him in the back, Ed Balls will never forgive Ed Miliband for this insult, he has wanted to be Chancellor for years, also Mr Miliband has given Balls a tough shadow post, that of Home Secretary, the public always want tough law enforcement and more prisons, the left wants more rights for the prisoners, so if the Tories go hard right in the next few years over law and order, the job will be hard for Ed Balls, to have any and I mean any credibility with the public he will have to be tougher than the Tories, the left will go bonkers, thus Ed Miliband just might have finished the political career one of his major opponents. One has to say Ed Miliband is quite ruthless, his own brothers political career over, now Ed Balls, who next? But be wary Mr Miliband one can postulate that Balls will get you if he gets the chance, he has big elbows and he is not your brother.

Downfall of the Obama Agenda ?

CNN: Reports on the political troubles of the Democrats running in 2010 Mid Term Elections, how the Obama Agenda from health care reform to the removal of terrorists from Guantanamo to the US mainland could have sunk the Democrats and the control of Congress. An interesting and very fair piece from the elite media, if in the White House would not show this to President Obama, he is rather think skinned when it comes to critic of his Agenda. The article makes a very important point that Obama could have read his election as support for his LIBERAL Agenda and not a negative vote against Bush 43. If the Congress goes Republican, President Obama will have to make a choice, move to centre and get re-elected or keep to his LIBERAL Agenda and go down to major defeat in 2012.