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Posts Tagged ‘hillary’

Politics and Football’s Veer Option Offense

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , , on October 21, 2011| 1 Comment »

Triple Option Veer

Presidential politics puts college football’s option offense in my mind.  Mixing metaphors is risk as we remember Obama/Palin with lipstick on a pig and more recently Herman Cain’s 999 with apples and oranges.  Those other candidates at the Western debate knew full well what he was saying.  State sales tax will still be there anyway on apples…whatever. I like a flat 14% income tax personally.  

While I am no expert on football, I know that the triple-option, the veer or the wishbone is the base formation that allows three running options: the fullback receiving the handoff, the quarterback side pitching to the half back or the quarterback running the ball himself.  The quarterback might also pass to a receiver.  With the new “spread” option, the quarterback is in the shotgun formation and the defense is spread because several wide receivers are used. 

In 2008, Barrack Obama was basically the quarterback of a spread, wildcat offense because we put the best player on the team at quarterback and said run fast and think on your feet. 

(Here is where the metaphors get murky and confusing.)

Today, the American voter is the quarterback, Obama is the tailback; Biden is maybe the blocking fullback; and Hillary joins Timothy Geithner as wide receivers going deep.  A sound economy is the goal line/endzone and some feel that Hillary should be quarterback.

We can stay with the current starters or put in the red-shirt (red as in Republican) freshmen who really to play.  Romney wants to be tailback while Rick Perry is a tight end who needs to block but can also catch the ball.  In from the pizza concession stand, Herman Cain could be Hershel Walker or another Marcus Dupree.  Coach Newt Gingrich knows the Xs and Os but coaches don’t suit up.

Bottomline: Voters need options.  If something isn’t working, we need to pitch, pass or put someone else in the game.  Of course, the GOP could be the other team and they are keying on Obama because he might be all the weak Dem team has.  Check this out, we are all on the same team and penalty flags are flying everywhere. 

Ultimately, the people drive the economy and we have been weak in the weight room, weak in practice and unprepared on game day.  The developing world might be the other team and they have become the manufacturers we once were.  The game shouldn’t be decide in the press box (the media) by has-beens or never-weres….dog- gone Monday morning quarterbacks.

Oklahoma’s J.C. Watts was the sweetest option quarterback in history while Texas’s Earl Campbell and O.U. Billy Sims were the best running backs.  You never knew if Watts was running or pitching to his tailback and sometimes he pitched down field.  Former GOP Congressman Watts recently brought liberal former House Armed Services Chairman Ron Dellums into his governmental lobbying firm.  J.C. is smart enough to know that you scheme for gameday by knowing the other side or using a scout team of red-shirts.

The presidential primary is like the recruiting process and we want good red-shirts on the team because we might need to change late in the game or season if the starters aren’t producing (double-digit unemployment, four dollar gas.)

Obama is my starter but who do we need on the sidelines in waiting—Romney, Cain, Perry, Gingrich.   “Veer right…and pitch down field on two.”  

  http://www.ktvu.com/news/29525390/detail.html

  Longtime Democrat Dellums working for Republicans

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Jon Huntsman: Obama’s Cousin (Not really)

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on June 21, 2011| 2 Comments »

Jon Huntsman’s candidacy helps the political arena because he serves as foil to the other GOPers in the race for the White House.  If I remember correctly from junior high lit class, foil is a character who contrasts with another character to highlight features of that character’s personality…i.e. Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes…Morris Day to Prince….Dirk to LeBron.

Huntsman, President Obama’s former ambassador to China,  is smart and level-headed has little chance of coming out of the GOP primary.  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or Huntman could secure a sizeable part of the Center voting bloc but my friends on the far Right don’t want to vote for anyone who the Middle find acceptable.    

To be honest, cool Huntsman puts me in the mind of Barrack Obama–they might be cousins.  If President Obama wins reelection, the GOP should know that they could have had a reasonable, non-pissed candidate that centrists could have supported but they looked elsewhere.  Many Democrats thought it was Hillary’s turn and that she was the type tough leader that the nation needed but we knew that the Clinton legacy was a two-edged sword that might motivate some to support the GOP nominee.  Senator Ted Kennedy often said a half a loaf is better than no loaf.  Well, some folks want the whole loaf or nothing.  Huntsman’s demeanor on the debate stage is welcome by some Democrats and if he happens to win the White House, the nation could have done worst.

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Columnist Cynthia Tucker on Possible Presidential candidate Mitch Daniels

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , , on February 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I want a second Obama term and a recovered economy is a must for that to happen.  But, I am smart enough to know that other possibilities might occur.  The president could reform what he wants and walk away from the game like running back Jim Brown (President Hillary?).  There is a growing chorus in my community that want him to skip a second term if the “state of the union” hasn’t improved—it hurts to see a good guy get blamed for everything.

Applying to only one college is not wise for high school seniors and only thinking about another Obama term is equally unwise. If someone other than Obama or Hillary is to be the next American president, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is one of the most leveled-headed Republicans in the nation and therefore unlikely to emerge from a GOP primary.  AJC Columnist Cynthia Tucker wrote this week:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels- the dream presidential candidate of many centrist Republicans – has urged the GOP to “call a truce on the so-called social issues” and concentrate on righting the economy.

Daniels impressed me with reasonable T.V. news interviews that showed he was more interested in improving the country than slamming the other sides.  A century from now political historians will likely think that the GOP blew a golden opportunity to obliterate the far Left because they let the far Right’s hostile nature run the show rather than using Daniels and cooler heads to secure the moderates/centrists who are troubled by far Left spending.

Tucker’s column was primarily about abortion legislation and as a liberal she takes issue with conservatives who are strongly anti-choice yet opposed government programs design to help children living in poor conditions.  Tucker missed one clear point regarding the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition program.  The program is helpful for our farmers also because it gives them the opportunity to grow more food and make more money.  What happen to the “soft power” concept from the Obama campaign?  By this point, our agriculture industry should be exporting more farming equipment, seeds, fertilizers, and insecticides to developing nations—sowing the seeds of love while growing Georgia’s largest industry.  Give a man a fish he eats for a day…

I hate to be pessimistic but the future will have more people than available jobs.  Will those unemployed folks turn to illegal activities and cost the government billions in prison expense.  We must seriously look into population control and at the same time, abortion rates would be lower if people didn’t get pregnant in the first place.  Ms. Tucker wrote:

It’s no mystery why abortions rates are much lower in Western Europe.  Those countries have adopted public policies that make birth control pills and other contraceptives cheap and widely available.  If we did the same, abortion rates would drop sharply here, as well.  That’s one of those common-sense solutions that social conservatives should embrace.  So far, though, they’d rather keep fighting the same old battles.       

http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/2011/02/11/do-pro-lifers-really-care-about-babies/

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/02/12/mitch-daniels-rephrases-his-truce/

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Vote in 2010 or Obama Might Skip 2012

Posted in politics, tagged , , on October 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When Senators Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton had that private meeting at Senator Dianne Feinstein’s house in 2008, everyone wondered about the details. My gut told me that Obama said he would be a reformer for his first term and if the country wasn’t feeling his leadership, Hillary could have it 2012.

My gut always said that Michelle Obama got the same promise from the now-president shortly before that meeting.  Like Alma Powell, she has obvious concerns about crazy people’s actions.  If not for Mrs. Powell’s concerns, Gen. Powell would have been president rather than Bush 43 and the nation would have avoid much drama.  And what would be the barometer of public opinion for the Obamas and the Clintons?  The 2010 mid-term elections would be the indicators. 

My gut didn’t see the Tea Party Movement coming nor did I see Sarah Palin’s meteoric rise to the leadership of conservative movement.  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or former Governor Mitt Romney are presidential material but if the mid-terms are successful for the Tea Party Republicans, Palin will get the nod from the GOP Primary.  Sarah Palin could be president of the United States of America.  I divide the T.P. Republicans from “regular” Republicans while others don’t.  

If Palin and the T.P. Movement are positioned to take the White House, the possible Hillary-Obama plan from Feinstein’s house might be employed.  He might be ready to go since the “yes we can” has become “yes he can.”  Dam, the cheering masses haven’t kept their end of the change movement but he still has me. 

Bottomline: If you want Obama to even run in 2012 get those who voted for him in 2008 to support congressional Democrats who are in his corner on Election Day 2010.  If not, he could seem like a lame duck as early as Thanksgiving and POTUS doesn’t deserve that.  Everyone except Democrat voters know the election next week is really a referendum on Obama.  The President had finally started saying that openly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoFZ2r0QiSE&feature=channel 

Feinstein Gives Details of Obama-Clinton Meeting

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The Obama White House Needs Some South

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on July 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Is the Obama White House too New England?  To me, that’s is an interesting question but I do think the South is not “representing” in that camp as well as it should be. Columnist Maureen Dowd just broke it down and made some compelling points based on the comments of  a Who’Who in Black politics.  A flag should have gone up when the name “Sherrod” was first mentioned.  I am proud to say I knew the name and would have known Foxman, Chavez, Evers, Long or even Duke (North Carolina or Louisiana.)      

People running America should know America.  My pastor recently mentioned the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline and after church I pointed out that the telephone poll of voters only reached people who had phones.  I lived long enough to see a president who looks like me (I would have voted for Powell or Rice also) but this gentleman is so unique in his background that he doesn’t know “the trouble I have seen.”

During the presidential campaign, many CBC members were initially for Hillary Clinton because they knew she knew “the history” from living in Arkansas and having friends like Marion Wright Edelman and Grant Hill’s mother Janet, a Clinton college roommate.  For some, a Black president was enough but zero members of the CBC are in the cabinet was a concern. I knew our south Georgia congressman would have made a great Secretary of Agriculture.  In an interesting twist, my congressman grew up as a member of the Black intellectual elite while Secretary Tom Vilsack’s life story is Sherrod-like and poignant.

My friends from the Clinton-era Official Washington (the administration, Congress) saw it coming: the new White House would be full of Ivy Leaguers and brainy wonks who while diverse still don’t understand regular folks.  I don’t care; I still like Obama as much as Clinton and LBJ.  Yes, I said LBJ.  LBJ was no angel on race matters—none of us are- but he push legislation through congress and knew how to get tough when needed.     

The most successful business people surround themselves with the right advisors and the same should be said for elected leaders.  An urban senator should have some NRA member, pickup driving, America-feeding farm boys on his staff to provide a range of views on issues.  To be honest, every member of the CBC has forgotten more about my community than I will ever know but my background was valuable in other congressional camps.  Hey, that’s life. 

President Obama and Herman Cain seem puzzled if someone mentions Black issues and I like that.  They both seem to think that every issue is a Black, White, Brown and Yellow issue and they are right…in theory or in a perfect world.

Congressional offices, congressional campaigns and every White House should seek a certain amount of “range”.  I love the word range because nothing is cooler than having the loyal opposition learn that you have been listening, can outline their arguments and respectfully disagree.   Everyday, I learn a little something about people and as Don Henley sang, the more I know the less I understand.   

Dowd’s Column

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/opinion/25dowd.html?_r=1&ref=maureendowd

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Sacrifice: Obama, Hillary and Venus Williams

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , on June 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Did you see the recent picture of the Obama kids greeting the president?  After watching the “America: The Story of Us” marathon on the History Channel this weekend, seeing folks who look like me in the White House is a reminder that we came “from a mighty long way.”  However, Memorial Day is a reminder that freedom is not free and collectively we must do our part to move the nation forward. 

Cotton working slaves, Chinese railroad builders, and Whites in the manufacturing industry are more than historic footnotes; the Native Americans really got a raw deal.  To make omelets, some eggs must be broken and empires are often built on the backs of others.  William Mulholland supplied water to Los Angeles by draining the Owens Valley some 200 miles away.  It’s about cost benefit analysis; it’s about reluctant sacrifice.

To me, the Blue Dogs in the Georgia congressional delegation are decent public servants who listen to their unique constituencies.  In the year of anti-incumbency, the one who should go (if one must go) is the one whose departure would be least dramatic or traumatic.  Come on now, we know that Dem Rep. Marshall from Macon is from a district that Senator McCain won in the presidential race.  If not for middle Georgia’s personal affection for him, the GOP would have picked up that seat years ago.  His opponent, Austin Scott, seems to have a conservative temperament similar to Johnny Isakson; he is not nearly as bitter as some in the conservative movement.  Trading Scott for Marshall would be less traumatic to the body politics than losing any other Blue Dog seat and other Blue Dog opponents are more connected to the far Right. 

“America: The Story of Us” included the story of Prince Estabrook, a slave and Minuteman who was wounded by one of the first shots fired at Lexington.  He started a legacy that includes the former slaves who fought in the Civic War.  In some way, President Obama, the commander-in-chief, seems to function with the same regard for sacrifice and national pride.  Political safety (his second term) comes after what he considers right…and let the chips fall where they may.  As an Obama supporter, I appreciate the Blue Dogs who put their congressional careers at risk by backing Obama and/or Hillary.   On sacrifice,  Hillary Clinton took one for the Democrat Team when many believed it was her turn but unfair distain for Bill Clinton might have made her a better target for the GOP. 

  As a person who loves tennis, I enjoyed watching Venus Williams play at the French Open ten years ago; it’s too bad that Arthur Ashe missed the Williams sisters, Tiger Woods and President Obama.  When Venus was defeated in Paris this weekend, I knew that she would never have the career grand slam that Serena and Tiger have.  I also know that Serena would have let Venus win if they met in the finals in Paris; tennis history shows that Venus has done the same for little sister.  Again, it’s about sacrifice and the common good.  No one listens to my political speculations but I still think that the right GOPers in congress could actually benefit the second part of the Obama presidency by adding fiscal considerations to policy-making.

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Michelle Obama and Mother’s Day

Posted in Georgia, politics, tagged , , on May 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

first ladies

For Mother’s Day, some mothers need a Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner to make their lives easier and other mothers need an exercise ball to make their lives longer. But, I remember my father saying that Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day were not as important a being nice everyday—that’s the last part of the jazz standard My Funny Valentine.

To me, a sweet part of this Mother’s Day is seeing my sister Michelle Obama as the first lady and first mother in the White House.  I don’t think we really appreciated grace and intelligence of her predecessor Laura Bush, who was the smartest person in the room at the end of the day and actually advised her husband more than we know.  Without her balancing Cheney, bad could have been worst.

In farmland, we are always looking for residual benefit—wheat straw becomes office furniture; peanut shells become kitty litter; and swine waste fertilizes hay fields.  I knew this time last year that we would have a woman as president or a minority woman as first lady/mother and the residual benefit would be of epic proportions.

Michelle Obama is like the Cosby Show’s Claire Huxtable come to life and the residual benefit of young people seeing what motherhood should be like should encourage better parenting and family planning, and should advocate staying childless for those who are not up to the task.  I know, I know, that some of these people having all of these kids don’t think logically about their choices and that brighter people actually have few children because parenthood is hard.  

We hear appropriations this and grants that but real moderates and conservatives would figure out away to sincerely and tactfully say “ask not what this country can do for you but ask what can you do for this country..what you can do is stop being overconfident about your ability to raise productive, law abiding citizens because if you half-raise children, they could end up dead or in prison shackles.”  

 I never understood Toni Morrison’s Beloved—the book or the movie; but, I did get that a slave woman killed her baby rather than see it grow up to be a slave.  We have creditability issues in my neighborhood because the same people who are rightfully upset about slavery are not equally upset about criminal actions that youth in prisons. 

 How did I go from Mother’s Day to slavery to prison?  Easy, because after things settle down with the economy, Michelle Obama is going to start encouraging underachieving folks to be better and do better in their personal lives—in addition to the current Obama family examples.  She will be doing what southerners elect conservatives to do and if she is successful she would be improving America at a nominal cost. At that point, the far-right would be in real trouble so they better get on the ball and get some positive mother candidates because Hillary and Michelle on it but it is not a competition; it is a mission. 

Georgia might have a woman governor and should have a woman in congress and that could be a good thing if their natures provide the residual benefit of positive motherhood that First Ladies Clinton, Bush and Obama are giving.

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Understanding Southern Subcultures: Political Parties

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on January 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Once and for all: the affection and connections that Republicans have for the GOP is not the same feelings most Democrats have for the DNC.  It just isn’t.  Other than teachers and union members, people who voted for Democrats in the South (outside of urban areas) are not diehard party faithfuls.  The GOP subculture is deeper because it is based on implementing the principles of their faith into governmental action for social and moral improvement.  

 

Of course, I am not “going down that road” or “touching that with a ten foot pole” but I will say that if Americans lived the way good people should, our nation would be better.  The delicate matter is that government in our system can’t force people to live “right.”  Maybe we need a constitutional amendment on “acting like you have the good sense the good Lord gave a cat.”

 

For many southerners, the GOP is more than a political party.  Like the Bulldog Nation and Gator Nation, the GOP is a subculture of like-minded people who do business together, attend church together, and often date and marry.  It’s a comprehensive way of life.  Did you see the eyes of the people at the RNC Convention—that is not just enthusiasm.  We are taking about a good vs. evil battle fervor.  Of course, we Democrats must be the anti-Christ or something.   (Actually, the DNC convention was a little like that also; but that was about one outstanding dude rather than a party. A smooth GOP moderate move could be “Obama is exceptional but the jury is still out on the rest of them.) 

 

Why are my GOP friends telling me they are surprised President-elect Obama doesn’t hate them.  Newsflash: Barrack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are not “hating all the time” kind of people and if your moral compass did not pickup on that fact something is wrong with you.

 

If I had to call it, I would say that someone is catching negative vibes from talk radio and talk T.V.—on the far right and far left.  Bottom line: if you take the time to interact with a variety of people, you might learn that your subculture and my subculture both want a better America—keep you filters on because negative cats (haters) will always pit groups against each others because that is what haters do. 

 

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Rahm Emanuel out coached the RNC

Posted in Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , on October 30, 2008| 6 Comments »

Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel

Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel

 

It finally came to me that the Dem Team is much smarter than they use to be.  Don’t think that Hillary, Barrack and John Edwards did not lock the door at a Blue Dogs meeting and say “if you can’t be with us, we understand, just don’t be against us.” 

 

What a pretty move; like a well executed Hook and Lateral in football—a thing of beauty.  And the GOP defense got caught napping. It is hard going from “baller” status to functioning as the House and Senate minority.

 

The GOP ended up with John Cain, which was a blessing in disguise.  All they had to do was allow him to select Romney as a running mate and the Wall Street crisis would have sealed the deal for their team because Romney is a fixer (Salt Lake City Olympics) and a finance expert. 

 

But, they picked Palin (who is a bright star) to please the base but gave up on the middle. 

 

To the Marshall v. Goddard race in Georgia: the counter move to the Dem Pass for Marshall should have been pushing the notion that Marshall was not behind Obama to Obama supporters and that Marshall was not behind Hillary to her supporters. 

 

But, the RNC did Goddard a disservice by not being familiar with the mindset of all of the voters.  Georgia  Rep. Paul Broun beat Jim Whitehead by securing a few points from Black conservatives—can you believe Whitehead has a tire company with several Black managers.  I knew those guys would be appearing in an ad similar to the Obama infomercial from last night.  “Jim gave me a job after high school and I worked my way up to management….thanks for believing in me.”   Boom: 20% of the Black vote but it never happen.

 

I must admit that I did not follow the ball as a fan in the stands: the Dem Team cooked up this “ignore Obama and Hillary if you need” plan 22 months ago to protect the Dem control of the House. But the signs were there: the CBC would be eating Marshall up if he was really dissing Hillary and Obama. 

The whole thing must have been orchestrated by one mastermind: Congressman Rahm Emanuel.  As chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and then Democratic Caucus chair, this guy is the Vince Lombardi of politics.  He ushered his delegation mate into the White House and served up a friendly congress.  

 

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