Obama, Massachusetts & the One Term Presidency

In a seemingly impossibility, Massachusetts elected a conservative Republican as its next United States Senator, Scott Brown. What is even more shocking is that it is the same seat held by long time Senator Ted Kennedy, who was a member of the Kennedy dynasty of American leaders. 

If you had told me the outcome of this election a month ago I would never have believed it! Massachusetts, or so I believed, is the bastion of liberal politics. It was as if all the progressive ideas and policies of our great land were born and nurtured first in this state's womb (sick analogy, I know). 

President Barack Obama visited the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to campaign for the Democratic candidate Martha Coakley before last week's special election, but was unable to sway the state's electorate that she was the right individual for the job. What does that say for Obama's presidency?

Barack Obama made the pledge to close Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by January 20, 2010, but that date has come and gone and the illegal W. Bush-era prison is still going strong. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also seem to be without end. Those are three BIG promises made by the administration during campaign times. If I had been president, I would have ensured at least one of my goals had been accomplished by now!

My friends, including you, get tired of me harping about Hillary Clinton. But let's face it, Hillary Clinton was railroaded out of the presidency. Instead of a lion in the White House, we have a lamb. We have the former junior senator from Illinois, who gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (which is his only claim to national fame), as president! I said it many times during the 2008 presidential election, and it bears repeating, but America did not need a president who had to be trained on the job. That is exactly what we have with Barack Obama. Americans are starting to see through his thin veneer of simpleton ideas and promises. 

 Now we are doomed to have a Republican become president in 2012, as I do not see Obama being re-elected for a second term. He is simply too timid for the job of president. Perhaps, the Republican Party will nominate the hot new senator from Massachusetts to represent it in the upcoming presidential election. It would fall into the mainstream of what happened in 2008, when Barack Obama was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. 

I'm thinking Hillary Clinton will be only 69 years young in November 2016!

Massachusetts

The voters of Massachusetts are going to the polls on Tuesday, January 19 to elect a senator to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D). The race between the two contenders, Martha Coakley (D) and Scott Brown (R), are coming down to the wire.

In a state that is traditionally hardcore Democrat, the two candidates are running neck to neck in a state where Ted Kennedy had ruled supreme since being first elected in 1962. For crying out loud, the current senior United States senator for the state, John Kerry, is a Democrat and the  2004 Democratic presidential candidate! 

Democrats must maintain Massachusetts' seat in the Senate or they will lose their super majority of sixty votes, which is crucial when it comes to voting on important national issues such as healthcare reform. 

I find it hard to believe that Massachusetts will vote for a Republican to represent them in Congress, but who knows. President Barack Obama is heading to the state on Sunday to campaign for Coakley, who is the current Attorney General for the state. It remains to be seen, however, if Obama has what it takes to get a fellow Democrat elected.

Haiti

 (President) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is off to Haiti tomorrow to assess the situation there firsthand. It has been more than three days since a 7.0 earthquake devastated the national capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince.

Financial aid, rescue personnel, and heavy equipment, from all over the world, is slowly trickling into Haiti. Much of the country's primitive infrastructure has been destroyed as a consequence of the earthquake. The main airport is congested and is currently being operated by the United States. Ships carrying aid and personnel cannot be offloaded, because the docks are in shambles in conjunction with bays full of dangerous debris. Helicopters will be used to transport personnel and supplies to the island nation. 

Medical resources and personnel are in dire supply. The Haitian government has waived licensing requirement for physicians arriving from the United States (and probably other countries as well), which means they can go straight work without any red-tape.

Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, this will certainly work against Haiti's future. The people of this small country have been wrought with social and nature calamities since its inception as a Spanish colony in the 15th century. 

John McCain, Welcome to America!

United States Senator John McCain (AZ), who we all know is a Republican, blah, blah, thinks President Obama made a mistake by not classifying Santa bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as a military combatant, so he would be tried in a military court, instead of a civil court.

With all due respect, Senator, but isn't that whole point of terrorism? I mean, isn't it the very notion that terrorists want to destroy American institutions by instilling fear into our minds and causing us to throw off our day-to-day lives to conform to them? If we put Abdulmutallab on trial before a military tribunal for an act that occurred on American soil, then the terrorists are defying American justice, and we are complacent. 

The Constitution applies here, Senator McCain.

I sincerely hope that the terrorists--whomever they are--see that in America we live by a set of equitable laws and a solid code of justice that cannot be defied by their bombs, kamikaze-wanna-bes, or rhetoric. If you commit a crime in the United States, then you will be tried in an American civil court of justice, protected by liberties guaranteed by our nation's constitution, defended by an attorney, set before a jury of peers. If appropriate, the guilty will be punished according to our laws.

The Constitution cannot simply be railroaded when you feel compelled, Senator McCain. This is not Nazi Germany. And the age of George W. Bush is in the past. We do not have secret courts, where civil rights and liberties can be ignored, when a few desire it. From the lowest to the highest criminal, each stands before the same framework of justice. 

That is our America!

Dear President Obama

If I had been elected president of the United States in 2008, I would have done things a lot differently. As presidents go, Barack Obama had a staggering cult following and phenomenal ratings in the polls. How else could he have defeated Hillary Clinton? But, now, I digress.

January 20, 2009, is a day that will go into the history books. American voters threw off the yoke of racial divides and set forth a political revolution, of sorts, in national government. We elected a man that wasn't quite as pale as the ones who came before him. Obama will be remembered for that, surely. 

But I want to remember the promises that got him elected in the first place. Democrats put all of their eggs into a very limited basket. They were going up against a Republican machine that was limping and running out of steam. Democrats had the upper-hand and they won the United States Congress and the presidency. It was truly a remarkable election that opened the doors to true social progress.

The war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan were, and are, unpopular. George W. Bush left an enormous mess for the Obama administration to clean up. But has Obama done that? In a word: no. As a result. Democrats are starting to suffer in the polls. The 2010 election is less than a year away and Democrats in the House and Senate are feeling the effects of promises unfilled. It's not just the wars, though. Obama promised to work with the Congress to get Americans a healthcare system that they deserved. Healthcare is a civil right, after all. It is now January 2010 and Congress is meandering toward a watered down version of the promised reform, even though they hold a stark majority in Congress.

Weird.

January 20, 2009, would have been a much different day had I  been president, for sure. After being sworn in and delivering my inauguration speech to the world, I would have high-tailed it from the steps of the Capitol to the Rotunda where I would have signed two Executive Orders. 

The first order would have required all American military involvement in Iraq to cease on July 20, 2010. The order would have further stipulated that American forces currently in the country would be withdrawn in equal three six month phases. The second order would have required all American military involvement in Afghanistan to cease by January 20, 2011. As in Iraq, American forces would be withdrawn in an equal four six month phases. With my plan, the war in Iraq would be over and the war in Afghanistan would be three-fourths over before the 2010 mid-term election, which would ease the minds of American voters and demonstrate to them that, yes, wars can be ended in an orderly and responsible way. People say, "That can't be done." Yes, it can. I just made it happen. 

Also, in the afternoon of January 20, 2009, my administration would have presented to Congress a healthcare bill providing each and every American with access to appropriate healthcare. Would I have expected it to pass on the same day? Of course, not! But the whole idea needed to be in the minds of Americans from day one. In my administration, there would have been no time for late night parties. Parties are for when the job is done.  

I would have been on Capitol Hill frequently to see how progress was going on my healthcare bill. There would be no need for phone calls, I'd be there. Strong-arm tactics often work and are necessary when you believe in something deeply. As a teacher, I have a fool-proof method of getting something done. When all other options of compromise and cajoling have failed I reach deep into myself and let loose a psychopath. Between a yell and a hushed voice, and two inches from their face, I start saying over-and-over, "Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!," while looking in their startled eyes and pounding my index finger onto the table. I love the look on the person's face as I do it. It is complete and utter fear and confusion. In their mind they are thinking, "This guy is completely nuts, I better do what he says or who knows what terrible things are going to happen!" I have a 100% success rate using that method. I would be happy to use that same method in the office of a senator or congressman/woman. There is no shame in winning.

I realize there are many, many other issues that cannot be solved in a single term as president, including the economic meltdown. But the whole point of being president is consistently running for office. After all, the next general election is less than four years away when you take the oath of office as president.

My Mother: Facebook Stalker

My mother, who has recently become one of Facebook's newest users, is using the social networking site not only to keep up with family and friends, but also as a way to stalk people. 

Mother has made friends with people who she hasn't talked to in years. Isn't that one of the great benefits of Facebook? Yes, it is, but not simply to go through a person's online life to find things to gossip about with other family. I try to tell her that Facebook is a way to reconnect with people in a more direct way, rather than becoming an online voyeur. 

But that is just my mother, a Facebook stalker!

Happy New Years 2010

Before I get all liquored up on two bottles of champagne and multiple gin & tonics, I want to wish everyone a happy and drunk 2010!

God, it doesn't seem that long ago we were celebrating Y2K by waiting for planes to fall out of sky, nuclear missiles to lift-off, and the world to end. 

Gosh! Times certainly have changed.