The George Bush Years

I'd been contemplating writing a recap of the Bush presidency. The last eight years have seen a marked decline in the status, influence, and strength of the nation, quite probably the greatest in our history. Bush is easily the greatest failure as a leader in the modern era if not in our history as a whole. However, I'm worn out on the guy. Or maybe I've been worn out by him. Watching his farewell address last night, I could not even muster rage at his words, although pity was far from my mind. It is simply that he has done a great deal to dig America into a very, very deep hole and now the next guy must attempt to dig us out... if he can.

Arianna Huffington wrote a short piece today at her site. It is worth a look at the whole thing, but the tease for it is as follows:

Arianna Huffington: Bush's Farewell Address: Still Delusional After All These Years

Thursday night's valedictory speech was quintessential Bush: delusional from beginning to end. He made Afghanistan sound like a swell place to vacation when, in truth, only those with a death wish venture out these days without an armed convoy. He lauded Iraq as "a friend of the United States" -- without ever mentioning the fact that if Iraq has a BFF it is Iran, not America. He claimed that America's "air, water, and lands are measurably cleaner." Who is doing the measuring, the same eco-unfriendly companies to which he handed his environmental policies? It's dangerous spin. It's easy to feel a pang of pity for a guy heading out the door. But the more sympathy he evokes, the more susceptible we are to the lies he is telling. Before we know it, his revisionism becomes accepted as the truth.

I'm sure there will be more recaps of Bush in the week to come. When I see a good one, I'll let you know.

16 January 2009

Edit: 17 January 2009: Video with Huffington here.

Our New Leaders

Here are our new leaders. Wish them success. We can't afford anything less.

15 January 2009

Breath of Fresh Air

I may have a few policy issues with the President Elect right now, but damn is he a breath of fresh air.

14 January 2008

Bingo!

Great new post on TPM by Josh Marshall, quoted here in full:

If Not Now, When?

Real change almost always comes in the face of crisis. So if you believe that Global Warming is real and that sometime soon will have to be confronted in a big way ... and if you believe that our reliance on oil is not only an environmental threat but a threat to our economic security and national security as well ... and if you believe that we need to start manufacturing things that people in other countries want to buy, when else do you expect real change to come on these issues -- a real start on the big changes -- if not now?

It's a lot to expect early in an administration. But look through a couple centuries of our history and you'll see that there are just no examples of administrations that started small and did big things in year 2 or 4 or 6. That doesn't happen. Look at Roosevelt, Johnson, Reagan, presidents pack their biggest punch on day one. And even though many big things can happen in subsequent years, the presidencies are almost always defined at the beginning. Later triumphs and reforms grow from the changed political terrain created at the outset.

A lot I've written over the last few weeks that's been critical of what seems to me like a too little ambitious approach from Obama. But I base that on a belief that the current economic crisis is just the immediate hole we find ourselves in, perhaps the immediate manifestation of these other deep and critical challenges I noted above -- all tied to unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels, financialization of the US economy and decline of US manufacturing. I don't think we have much time to spare.

13 January 2009

My Spidey Sense...

Yet another reason to like Obama.

With great power comes great responsibility!

9 January 2009

Not a New Deal?

Does Obama get it on the economy? This article in The New Republic by John Judis is a good read on the subject.

Happy New Year!

9 January 2009

Gay Marriage: Today

Following the sad passage of Proposition 8 in California last month, gay marriage has been in the news a lot lately. Newsweek magazine did a cover story on the spiritual reasons why gay marriage should be welcomed. The magazine then followed up on-line with responses to the article by experts in the field. And just this week, President-elect Obama invited the Rev. Rick Warren, a evangelical pastor from Orange County, California, to give the prayer at his inauguration. Warren is vehemently opposed to gay marriage and was one of the key backers of Proposition 8.

Obama is taking a lot of heat for this selection and justly so. While Warren has a commendable track record on the issue of fighting poverty -- unlike most well-known pastors in America -- his anti-gay stance is completely immoral. The President-elect defended his selection when the outcry against it came by saying that his would be an administration of inclusion, where all sides of a story would be welcome, thus helping America to come together. While I can support this in principle, it rings false to me here. Surely there were other pastors that would have been acceptable to the religious right who would also not have been key supporters of Propositon 8... and perhaps who were not publicly anti-gay. How can a choice truly be inclusive when the man being chosen is so radically exclusive?

Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, wrote a letter to Obama that was later published. It sums up the situation and the hurt pretty well.

Dear President-elect Obama -

Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, “there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.

Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.

We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends.

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
President
Human Rights Campaign

There have been plenty of op-eds on the subject as well. These include those by Chris Durang, Trey Ellis, Morra Aarons-Mele, Phil Bronstein, and Barney Frank.

Also, the HRC is inviting folks to thank Newsweek for covering the topic of gay marriage in a thoughtful, open manner. You can find their call for action here.

19 December 2008