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Posts Tagged ‘republicans’

Black Republicans candidates and the Fox News Article: Jacked-up Planning…Again

Posted in politics, tagged , , , , , on October 13, 2009| 5 Comments »

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/12/carter-obama-allen-west-race-card/

The political part of the web is buzzing about the Fox News article on Black GOP candidates for congress.  This article highlights what is fundamentally wrong with the approach of Black elephant candidates: push the color blindness.  Of course, all issues before congress concern all Americans but when will the Black community birth a Black conservative candidate rather than the conservative community selecting someone they find suitable or innocuous.  

I am talking about a community-oriented person who speaks passionately about the limited role of government, personal responsibility and self-determination like Dr. Bill Cosby—speaking out of love for the community and the nation rather than hate for Obama.  The dilemma is finding a candidate who appeals to the right and our community also.  In classic GOP form, it rarely crosses the GOP establishments’ mind to find candidates that will be acceptable to Black centrists.  Here is a little trick: get some non-GOP Blacks’ opinions on the candidates first. 

Raynard Jackson, a Black political consultant mention in the article, should be the GOP pointman on Black candidates and the worst nightmare of the Dem Team—in think he knows how to pick and position them.  You grow candidates in the “farm system” like Major League Baseball so go find a list of Black congressional and administration staffers from the 90s and you will find some proven quality candidates who will likely have community, civic and college connections that can net them 20% of the Black vote walking in the door without compromising their core conservatives principles and spending a ton of money.  What these candidates should do is speak against the crazy talk of the most extreme elements of the far right—stay on the issues.  Newsflash:  that move will get them even more Black votes.        

I noticed that the Fox News article attributed the Democrats lock on Black votes to LBJ’s social programs without mentioning the GOP’s Southern Strategy.  That makes me appreciate CNN so much.  Anyone who only watches Fox News or MSNBC doesn’t know what they are missing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Strategy

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Congressional candidates: Blue Dogs vs. Pure-Bred Republican Red

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on October 6, 2009| 3 Comments »

It sounds odd but I like the Kohler faucet ad where a couple asks an architect to design a house around a faucet.  The same logic should be employed—in my opinion- to select congressional candidates: start from the desired result and operation backwards, or start with the type candidate who can win in that particular situation and plug in the right person for that candidacy.  The faucet in that ad conveys a certain elegance and style which the couple feels reflects their lives and they want that continued in their home.  Can the same be said about “home” congressional districts? 

Georgia congressional politics in swing districts involves the left, the center and the right.  The candidate who gets two of those three segments can win.  Currently, the Blue Dogs get the left and the center in a skillful display of balance.  The right seems to have little interest in producing candidates with centrist appeal.  If the suburban dwellers that are center-right become more comfortable with the Blue Dogs (reacting to the anger of the protesters, the negative vibe of talk radio and T.V. and the pending presidential bid of Palin) the right won’t be able to win swing districts—and they know it.  

But, what those of us in the center don’t seem to understand is that conservatism leaves little room for flexibility.  Conservative friends have been saying that for years but people would not listen.  Everyone remembers the classic Oprah show when Dr. Maya Angelou said people tell you who they really are when you first meet them—believe them.   Conservatives are not looking to build a winning coalition with anyone else; they are waiting for the rest of the voters to “realize” the error of their ways and move right—far right.  I still can’t believe that some on the right view Georgia’s Republican senators as liberals.  Really—not centrists or moderates but liberals.  Senators who national sources rank as clearly conservatives.  The same people are beating up Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham this week for not being real conservatives also. 

Okay, let me see if I finally get this:

 -Not every Republican is a conservative. 

-Not every Democrat is a liberal.

From those two theories, the 2010 congressional elections in Georgia look bright for the Blue Dogs because the traditional Democrats (liberals) afford them leeway to be somewhat conservative or centrist, but the conservative purists are purging their ranks of any Republicans who are not pure-bred red.  Putting the castaways in the doghouse—the Blue doghouse.

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Southern Politics: I am Confused…Again

Posted in politics, tagged , , , on September 15, 2009| 7 Comments »

Would someone be so kind as to explain southern politics to me because I am confused?  Georgia’s Blue Dog Democrats worked with President Bush and congressional Republicans on a range of issues because their districts wanted a certain amount of cooperation and civility.  In other words, Democrat voters allowed these congressmen leeway to function in the best interest of our state. 

Today, the shoe is on the other foot but Georgia Republican voters are not allowing their party’s congressmen the same leeway with President Obama (honestly, those congressmen personally don’t like the new White House agenda…personally.)  To me, this is the point where “D” colleagues quietly meet and remind “R” colleagues of past cooperation and the heat Democrats took for that cooperation—just be fair.

Look at it like this: I live in southwest Georgia and my congressional representation comes from a D congressman and two R senators.  I am generally pleased with all three but know that my R friends think the congressman is some now undemocratic or unconstitutional for not doing what they want.  Huh?

The guy wins elects by big numbers so his legislative actions should reflect the will of the people who voted for him—two/thirds of the voters.  On the other hand, an R congressman wins elections my similar margins in southeast Georgia.  A Democrat voter in that part of the state can’t get upset if that conservative doesn’t side with congressional liberals.

I am also confused when the will of the voters is likely wrong.  For example, most rural Georgia voters before 1970 supported laws and policies that treated Black Georgians as second-class citizens—see my point.  While opposition to the current Democrat leaders in congress and the White House is very vocal, the voters elected these leaders fair and square.  To go against the will of the voters would be un-American on some level.

Georgia Blue Dogs have generally been supportive of this White House but Democrat voters should not allow them to take our votes for granted while flirting with far-right voters.

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Blue Dog Democrats: Do The Right Thing

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , , , on August 22, 2009| 4 Comments »

DO_THE_RIGHT_THING

Spike Lee’s film “Do The Right Thing” drove compelling discussions about cultural and race in my circle of friends. In the book Lee wrote about making this movie and in interviews, he refused pointing the finger of blame at any one character for the riot that erupted in the plot. Film-making is an art and the viewers in this medium make their conclusions ultimately.

Danny Aiello’s character Sal owned a pizzeria in a transitioning neighborhood.  While people in the community grew up on Sal’s slices, it was clear that the Sal’s family “tolerated” the area out of business necessitate. 

When I think about the Blue Dog Democrats, I see a similar situation.  I was proud of most Blue Dogs for taking the town hall meeting heat this month and slowing the rush to pass a massive health care reform bill before August recess.  The protesters deserve some credit also but they need to understand that a member of congress who easily wins elections must defer to those ballot results first.

Long servicing Blue Dogs are starting to look like “I don’t need this juggling stuff in my life.” If the Blue Dogs helped conservatives with issues during the Bush years, some of those conservatives in their districts should reciprocate on some level now.  Federal retirement could be looming for some members of congress and political observers should remember that the total number of years for retirement includes time in congress, the federal bureaucracy and military.  As the possible full retirement year approaches, members (like school teachers) might decide to ride the wave without rocking the boat or tell it like it is. 

Like retirees in barbershops, these public servants can finally speak their minds with secondary consideration for pensions.  I had to smile pleasingly when I saw a few normally tactful Blue Dog show some bite when protesters questions did not give them the same respect conservatives received while supporting Bush/Cheney debatable policies.   While voting the party line on the far-left and far-right is easy, Blue Dog Democrats and the few moderate Republicans must analysis every vote to make decisions that best serve their diverse districts or states. 

Like Sal in “Do The Right Thing,” they must also decide when enough is enough and if closing shop would be better than continued conflict and aggravation—getting out before a riot jumps off.  On the bright side, Sal could have moved his business to a suburban mall and moderates on both sides of the aisle could move to better situations in the executive branch, private sector or academia—President Obama’s White House seems to like Republicans more than Blue Dogs.  While I am not the best person on faith matters, this situation makes me think of Luke 9:25:  

For what is a man profited if he gains the whole word, and loses or forfeits himself?

Discussions about using the reconciliation process in congress to pass health care reform makes me think about those brave Democrats who voted for Bill Clinton’s Budget Reconciliation Act in the early 90s and were defeated by smirking Republicans in the mid-term elections.  History has proven that Clinton was right but many Democrats in safe districts conveniently voted against that important legislation to save their seats. 

“I am voting the wishes of my districts.”  But what should a member do when his/her district has formulated opinions based on deliberate misinformation efforts.  Like Georgia native and eulogizer of Malcolm X, Ossie Davis’s character said in the Spike Lee’s film, always try and do the right thing.

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Tennis and the Blue Dog Democrats

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , , , , on August 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

On the tennis court this morning, I faced the old “go left, go right” decision several times.  If I chose the wrong direction, my opponent could hit the ball in the opposite area and I would be burnt like toast.   A deeper consideration of that situation states that a player can accelerate in the current direction but changing direction is almost impossible.  In the 70s, we called that “the wrong foot” or “caught you leaning.” 

Politics mirrors sports at times and a person’s temperament on the field, court, or even playing chess tells you about his nature in business and elsewhere.  My opinion on “what’s next” in American politics was incorrect.  If I thought center, the South when right and I “got caught” leaning. 

When the conservative movement swept the nation, the Blue Dogs emerged as a moderate division of the Democrat Party, a home for those who felt the Right was too far right.  I naturally assumed that a similar moderate subdivision of the Republican Party would materialize after the election results of the last few years.  At this point, the situation is the opposite.  If you listen to conservative friends, you will learn that the commitment the Right has to their core principles is unwavering and inflexible.  If the general public wants to vote differently, those voters must be collectively mistaken about the best interests of our nation.

As I have written in the past, the GOP has a short bench of rising stars who could challenge the Democrats on issues, budget and logic; Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin comes to mind.  Unfortunately, others are more appealing to their base. We likely will not see a fresh crop of positive GOP candidates against the Blue Dogs in the South next year.  As General Colin Powell recently pointed out on Larry King, there are legitimate concerns with the speed and spending of the Democrats.  However, the GOP is opting for red meat candidates from the far right rather than those who could appeal to the center—great idea for the primary season but the general election is a different matter.  Of course, it is their party and they will live with the results of their strategies.    

The alarming part to me is that the leader of “what’s next” from the Right will not be Gingrich with his intellect or Romney with his command of the business world and financial markets.  You and I both know who is the next leader of the Right and what she will need to do and say to win; put on your seatbelt and prepare for a bumpy ride. 

I personally like Michael Steele and hope that our community will have an opportunity to better connect politically with our obvious conservative nature in the South.  However, going from a Blue Dog moderate to the far right is seriously wrong foot.  We will see how this situation plays itself out but don’t asked me because I often lean wrong. 

Bottomline: Will we see smoother GOP candidates or will others prevail?  If the GOP wants to push all moderates and centrists out, I am sure the Blue Dogs will take them. To finish the tennis parallel relative to politics, I tend to hang in the middle and go short distances left or right.  If you drift far left or far right, the other guy can pass you with ease.

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The Libertarian Affect

Posted in Conservative, politics, tagged , , , , on June 15, 2009| 6 Comments »

Incumbents general cruise to victory in Georgia congressional politics but recently Libertarian candidates forced several elections into runoffs where two candidates duke it out without the coattails of their party’s heap in their corners.

How many Democrats voted for Rep. Jim Marshall during the Obama wave last November but could not pick him out of a lineup?  Actually, I am wrong about that because TV viewers saw the 1.3 zillion political ads he ran that never connected him to my guy Obama.  About Obama, while the president is quick to kiss and make nice we will live in this South while he is planning his presidential library on the side of an Hawaiian mountain or in a Kansas cornfield.  President Obama doesn’t have the right to tell me not to be upset that Rep. Jim Marshall never help us get Hillary or him into the White House.

I have been listening to the Libertarians and other “third” parties lately and came to realize that they are often about creating better government and deeper discussions rather than winning elections.  A non-Democrat or non-Republican candidate gets into the debates and asks the real questions about what’s what and if the people are feeling that whole truth thing a runoff is needed and all bets are off.

So Rs and Ds are forcing to make better policy and be fiscally sound now because the people will remember in November after the third party candidate constantly reminds them.  In the past, Rs and Ds could do whatever they wanted because the only other choice was other considerably different.  The Libertarian candidates I have seen in the past, who get their debates suits at Jacque C. Penne, actually thought they were going to win and it turns out they were right because their objective was to improve the accountability of officeholders.       

If a few of those Tea Party guys run for congress next year, things will be interesting for the Blue Dogs and GOPers because those cats have a double barrel shotgun of fact checking.  If you have a Blue Dog in a runoff with a decent GOP candidate because a third party candidate ran well, history has proven that the Democrat base doesn’t come back out. 

On the other hand, the GOP should be concerned about losing supporters who are discovering that our current national crisis is due in large part to Chaney, Rove and congressional Republicans leading W down the wrong path and misleading the people as they planned their cushy post-government careers with elite private sector companies and firms.  What if GOP voters start think, “Wait a second, Bush did do all of this alone..where was the congressional oversight from the Blue Dogs and the GOP.”

For sake of full disclosure, my personal problem with the establishment is that I did get my corner office….yet.  As  rapper Biggie Smalls said, “Call the crib…same number..same hood…it’s all good…and if you don’t know…now you know.”  That’s the unsettling thing about third party movements; they can’t be bought.

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Can Michael Steele and John Boehner Stop GOP Self Destruction?

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , , , on June 14, 2009| 3 Comments »

I keeping hearing the hook from rap anthem “Self Destruction” when I think about Obama’s concerns for our community.  With elements of Kennedy’s “Ask not what this country can do for you” classic speech, President Obama and his lovely family will outline the formula for better living for those who care about themselves and how we carry ourselves.  However, that same rap hook applies to the self-destruction of the GOP.  

The GOP is working hard to marginalize themselves and doing a fine job.  Alienate Blacks with attacks on Obama, Steele and Powell…check…alienate Hispanics and women with attacks on Sotomayor….check…alienate centrists by pushing Specter away and preparing to attack McCain and the few remaining moderate GOP senators if they voted for Sotomajor’s confirmation….check and checkmate.  You just guaranteed defeat in the midterm elections.  

If the GOP purifies their rank and file, those voters pushed away will natural hang in the center or join the Blue Dog division of the Democrats.  The Blue Dog selection of the Democrat team could therefore grow large enough to counterbalance the far-left urban ultra-liberals and give President Obama the opportunity to be more corn-fed Kansas populist than Chicago rural liberal.  We must remember that Obama created his statewide appeal in Illinois by connecting with the country folks down state. 

While the GOP is counting on the big spending from the White House helping them during the mid-term elections, America might actually like Obama and the Democrats more as the White House slides toward the center.  Cover the children’s eyes because the sight of a dying elephant could traumatize them for life.     

Michael Steele has some elephant-sized EKG paddles in his hands but I don’t think he can get pass those who are in denial about what when wrong in the past or those who don’t want new congressional candidates to be more Sen. Isakson smooth and less Fox News bitter. They could pick up three House seats in Georgia just by reading this blog. 

The House Minority Leader John Boehner recently said what…I can’t believe it…no he didn’t…he told the truth.    

Boehner: ‘Digging Ourselves Out of a Deep Hole’ – George’s Bottom Line

“We’re digging ourselves out of a deep hole,” he admitted.  “We took it in the shorts with Bush-Cheney, the Iraq War, and by sacrificing fiscal responsibility to hold power.”  Boehner also acknowledged that the GOP hasn’t done a good enough to job shaking the “party of no” label. 

Rep. Boehner outlined his positive strategy turning things around but I think he needs some fresh face with encouraging vibes.  Michael Steele should consider the following a personal gift from me: in Georgia, getting Austin Scott,  Deborah Honeycutt into the correct congressional races would be your best spot at picking up seats by pulling voters from Blue Dogs.

As the Republicans taught the Democrats in the 90s, voters are reluctant to vote out incumbents from the party controlling the power in Washington.  The GOP can’t win any congressional races in Georgia without producing Obama and dare I say Palin like popular, fresh candidates.

We know that traditionally Organized Labor and the Trial Lawyers controlled the Democrats with money and the Faith community and big business did the same for the Republicans.  Obama got most of his money from the people so after all this bailout stuff he should do what the people want if he wants a second term.  (And I am not sure he actually does.  Maybe he wants to change the whole game with sweeping reforms without concern for reelection..walking away on top of the game like Jim Brown.  Is that the secret deal he cut with Hillary?)

What would happen if the faith community created a third party?  Who would be left in the GOP?  Hear me: embrace some less bitter GOP candidates now or suffer the consequences.

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What’s Gnu: Democrats and Republicans

Posted in African Americans, Conservative, Georgia, politics, Republican, tagged , , on May 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

My sister just got back from business in South Africa and is heading back next week.  While looking at her African safari pictures, I see that her truck was near a Gnu or wildebeest.  I can not stand the sight of those things because I was chased by a goat coming from midget football practice.  I was coming from practice; not the goat but I am a Worth County and Albany State Ram…talk about your irony.  Also, I am not a midget and as a moderate Democrat I should refrain from using un-P.C. terms like that one. Forget P.C. unless you are talking about Panama City Beach; Little League was called midget football in my day.

So, I don’t like Gnus (if that is the plural) because that goat chased me and wildebeest look like those pictures of the devil from church while we were growing up.  You see the devil on his throne of evil looking like those ugly things the big cats of Africa chase.  One night I when to sleep and woke to hear on one of the smart people TV channels that the largest migration in history is the annual movement of wildebeests.  There is no away I am stepping foot on an African safari and I am careful at Wild Adventures in Valdosta and Chehaw Park in Albany.

The hypocritical part is that I like snakes, another biblical icon of the devil.  Tom from Thomasville use to worked with me in Rep. Bishop’s office and I remember him from his time as a campus leader at Fort Valley State.  In college, we could listen to stories Tom got from old wise people all night long.  When we would ask what’s up in the Valley, Tom would say that a little boy ran on the porch to tell his grandmother that there was a snake behind the barn in the high grass.  The grandmother told the boy that there was no problem if the snake was behind the barn and the boy was there on the porch.  Grandmother said, “Don’t be concerned with the snake in the grass, you need to be worried about your own Black ___.” 

When you think about it, the boy might have been right because the snake behind the barn today could be in the house tonight.  People function under the mindset to trust and fear certain things and groups.  Candidate for Governor Eric Johnson wrote a detailed essay a few years ago about the history of the relationship between Blacks and the two major political parties.  Yes, the GOP was started to stop the expansion of slavery because slaves would do jobs without pay in new territories that new immigrants from Europe wanted to be paid to do and the Democrats (or Dixiecrats) fought for most of the last century to keep the Black restrictive laws in place.

At the end of the day, political parties change for the better, for the worst, and then back again—the same can be said about individuals, groups and races.  What’s Gnu is that our fears and concerns of the past might have been unfounded or no longer relevant (the defense mechanism of the wildebeest must be being ugly and running scared in large groups.)  I should leave this along before I write that the same can be said about the extreme elements of both ends of the political range.

But, when you thing about it the Gnu GOP just wants survival in the jungle just like the cool snakes on the Democrat Team.  I hope President Obama’s African and American DNA helps him sort out what’s what.

History of GOP according to State Sen. Eric Johnson http://www.pickensgop.org/gagop_history.html

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Michael Steele and Red Dogs

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, politics, Republican, tagged , , on May 19, 2009| 5 Comments »

While speaking at the Georgia GOP State Convention recently, RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s statements included:  

The chairman said he had inherited leadership of a party that was “stuck in a 1980s philosophy, using a 1990s strategy to win campaigns.”

The Republican demand for orthodoxy and purity, Steele said, risks making the party irrelevant to “the changing heartbeat of this nation.”

“We can no longer be afraid that to open up, to invite someone in, diminishes us. I don’t know how that works,” Steele said. “If you are true to your convictions, to your core, why are you so afraid to share that?” 

Before he when to Savannah, Steele should have swung by southwest Georgia so we could sit on the porch, sip some sweet tea, eat a few locally produced Nether’s Pork Skins (made by a guy from my church) and I could have hooked a brother up with what’s what. 

I would have explained to Steele that the South dominates his party now and those southerners are accustom to have things their way most of the time.  If we are talking about 10 political points, they want their ranks in line on 9 points and the missing point can’t be the pro-life issue.  The faith aspect makes abortion non-negotiable. 

The GOP doesn’t need to let anyone “in;” that is not necessary.  Steele needs to help them understand that elections are won with coalitions i.e. Reagan Democrats.  Those coalitions are built on situations and circumstances of mutual benefit. 

The GOP took power in Washington in the 90s because large numbers of faith-oriented, patriotic heartland Americans (Rs and Ds) supported them on faith issues, strong defense and what seemed like their commitment to fiscal restraint.  The Democrats seem sincerely committed to addressing the kitchen table issues that current families are handling—Rs and Ds.   

I would have told brother Steele that he could win some contested races in the congress next year if the grassroots of his party understood that sometimes non-Republicans support GOP candidates who are experts or advocates for the major issue in those voters’ lives.  It is that simple.

For example, Georgia farmers agree with most of the Georgia congressional delegation on agriculture issues and USDA programs.  In southwest Georgia, Republican farmers reluctantly vote for Rep. Sanford Bishop while southeast Georgia Democrat farmers support Republican Jack Kingston.  It is all about the wallet in Georgia on agriculture, military bases, veterans, and transportation spending.

While the Democrats welcome “outside” support, Georgia GOPers are don’t understand that outsiders are there for different yet important reasons.  Could the allied forces have won World War II without Stalin and the Russians? 

I would have told Steele that my friends and I were cheering for him when he ran for the Senate in Maryland and that he will always have a home in the community if his party decides he should be elsewhere.  That’s how we roll.  Finally, I would have said that like private schools and churches, some of the grassroots people in his party join with the understand that most of the people there were….well, you know.  Hey, is that the reason I when to a Black college?  That Kumbaya Obama stuff is a sweet concept but in the meantime, you get in where you fit in down here and some of his party members join….you know..and they know too.

If moderate and centrist Democrats can coexist in a big party with the San Fran crew, then Steele’s party can do likewise or send the centrists right over.  We can call them the Red Dogs.

“Red Rover, Red Rover, send Condi, Colin and Maine’s senators over.”

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Obama and Republicans: Circle of Friends or Enough Already

Posted in African Americans, Georgia, tagged , , on May 18, 2009| 5 Comments »

It’s nice to have friends from across the political and social spectrums because discussions and debates bear fruit and we mutually grow.  Some people have a hard time putting their minds around the idea that what you knew as “this” has changed to “that” and what you thought about your group has changed also.

In politics, some Republican officials and operatives don’t seem to realize that their divisive techniques of the past has turned off the sensible center and changes are needed are they will become an anachronism.  If your numbers are falling at an alarming rate, don’t stand around waiting for the masses to come back around or for the other guys to fail.  In the South, we prefer conservative and moderate politics to liberal politics but the extreme elements on the right are abrasive and unjustifiably arrogant.  Pelsoi, Reid and congressional Democrats have similar traits on the left but not to the offensive level.  

In the middle of all the drama, we have President Obama and his wide-eyed collection or hodgepodge of supporters who simply wanted public officials to confer and arrive at logical conclusions to move the nation forward.   There are Republicans who swear that all Democrats are ultra liberals yet the Georgia congressional Republicans work with their Democrat colleagues.  If the Democrats of Georgia allowed the Blue Dogs to consider and support President Bush’s policies then the Republicans of Georgia should do the same with Obama initiatives. 

From childhood playgrounds to the halls of Congress, southerners have a long history of being friends with people who are different when it is convenient then getting amnesia when it is convenient.  The D.C. axiom goes “we have no permanent friends or permanent enemies; just permanent interests.” 

The interests of my community are better served if we diverse our political portfolio while certain stock is low.  Mark my word: that stock won’t stay low. To my Republican friends, I will caution you one last time to make a comfortable place for moderate thought inside your party as the Democrats did with the Blue Dogs or you will have a party of extremists who the public in general find off-putting.

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Matt Towery to GOP: Shut up and Lead

Posted in Georgia, politics, tagged , on January 24, 2009| 2 Comments »

Former Republican legislator, now columnist Matt Towery had something to say to his party in my local newspaper today—good stuff and real.   

http://townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2009/01/23/shut_up_and_lead?page=full

I’m already weary of members of the Republican Party and other conservatives doing little else but throwing rocks at the new Obama administration. And that’s coming from someone who helped build the party before many of today’s pundits were learning to speak.

Barack Obama is president. Get over it, and start coming up with new ideas and counter-ideas of your own, instead of making hateful or smart-alecky remarks just to sell books or attract attention.

Take Joe Lowery as a subject of right-wing grievance. (I’ve known him for years, and he has actually helped Republican candidates on many occasions.) As part of the inauguration’s benediction, Lowery recited an out-of-date and out-of-step little ditty from the civil rights days. Part of it dismissed whites as morally lacking.

So what? He’s in his late 80s and isn’t representative of anything but the past.

And the fact that President Obama had to retake the oath of office because the Chief Justice messed it up is interesting, but only that. It doesn’t stand up to a claim that the Obama presidency is somehow illegitimate.

Listen up, Republicans and conservatives: Your party and your movement only rise when they produce new ideas. Ronald Reagan did it in 1980 with his approaches to things like taxation and fighting the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

And the Republicans who took over Congress in 1994 did so by unveiling a specific litany of government reforms.

By way of practicing what I preach — however navely or haltingly — allow me to outline the rudiments of a free-market approach to start getting us out of this economic slough we are in. This idea might at least help make a dent in the bailing out of our financial institutions without simply throwing good money after bad.

Start with a simple premise: We know that beautiful foreclosed homes in places like, say, Florida have subsequently been marked down in value (and by using an idiotic accounting method, but never mind).

Knowing that someday their full values will return, wouldn’t you love to be able to buy some of those homes at dirt-cheap prices, and simply wait for their values to return or even appreciate? Ditto for strip malls, office complexes, hotels, and on and on.

The obvious problem, of course, is that most people in America don’t have the resources to afford big bargains during this down time.

But now ask yourself this: Would you rather invest in a big-name company that could see its value plummet, or in a collection of assets that have reached rock bottom, but were once quite valuable?

Clear and simple, there’d be little downside and much potential in waiting for the windfall of these assets to return to value.

And now my idea: Why should these billions of dollars of allegedly bad loans, tied to greatly diminished assets held by financial institutions, be purchased by our tax money rather than by a public eager to someday reap potential financial rewards?

In most past recessions, the bounceback on assets — often long-delayed — can be in the double-digit percentiles. Would you not buy a “share of stock” in the “corporation” holding these assets? Maybe 100 shares? Perhaps many more if there was liquidity to spare?

I sure would, and in part because, just like during World War II with war bonds, I would be investing in helping to fund a fight that is critical to our nation’s survival.

Equally important, I realize that I’m going to fund it anyway, if only through tax payments that I will never see again.

I think I’d rather pitch in for Uncle Sam by having the opportunity to see the “corporation” holding these assets gain substantial value in future years.

This proposal probably has a million holes in it. Readers, feel free to help me find them.

But let’s at least get a dialogue going. Throwing rocks at a president with a 70 percent approval rating won’t get America’s entrepreneurial engines running again. Let’s leave the venom to those who make their living milking it from their own fangs.

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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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The Saxby Effect

Posted in Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , , , on December 2, 2008| 2 Comments »

(A wise co-worker once said, “Be careful what you say out loud.”)

 

I almost wrote, “Let’s have a Statewide Blacks for Saxby Victory Party tonight at the Waffle House in Tifton.  Yes, the place has a seating capacity of 30 people but the truckers still need eight chairs.  We could “go green” by carpooling in two Ford Excursions.

 

A younger, unwise me would have written, “You know those drinking games that are triggered by what you see on T.V.  When I was a congressional staffer during the First Gulf War, gamers would watch CNN to hear “Wolf” as in Blitzer and wolf down a beer as others chanted “wolf, wolf, wolf.”  If you heard,  “Scud” you took a shot…”

 

Anyway, there should have been a Georgia Senate runoff drinking game called “Hooker in Church/Coattails” that went like this: every time you spot (no pun intended) a Black person at a Saxby Chambliss rally looking as uncomfortable as a Hooker in Church, you pour out a splash for the “dearly departed brother or sista” then drink. 

 

When Jim Martin mentions “Obama” –the candidate he did not vote for in the primary, choosing to vote for John Edwards, who had left the race by that time, drinkers chant “coattails for cocktails…coattails for cocktails.”

 

I am pleased I have developed into a cautious person who would never publicly write what I just wrote. 

 

During the presidential election, we recalled the Tom Bradley Effect.  The concept is that Whites said they would vote for Bradley for Governor of California but once in the polling place switched.  Some experts think that “the Obama Effect” is saying you would not vote for a candidate but actually vote for him or her.

 

I am coining the new term “the Saxby Effect” where Blacks voted for Saxby out of regional interests but would not come to his rallies because the GOP base makes you feel like “a Hooker in Church.”  (Sidenote: hookers need to be in church and we are hookers at work in some way and on some level…these politicians, hookers.  Congressional and campaign staff, junior hookers.  Wall Street, K Street, Lobbyists, Union Bosses are classic pimps.)    

 

While most members of the Georgia congressional delegation are good people, the GOP members should be concern about the exclusive, elitist attitude of the GOP base.  I go to everyone’s rallies as a political and policy junkie and GOP folks look at me as if I am a spy for the Dem Team. 

 

Karen Bogans, absent contributor to this blog, has been a Republican her whole life and her family’s commitment to that party goes back to Reconstruction.  But, it is common for some perky junior league type to test her conservative mettle.  When Karen and I were debating issues weekly in the Rayburn House Office Building Cafeteria, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue was still a moderate Democrat like me.   

 

Most Americans are eager to have leaders who seek civic debate and discourse rather than those who would divide us for personal and political gain.  Let’s hope that the future of the Georgia GOP centers on Johnny Isakson’s genteel southern approach.  The Waffle House in Tifton won’t hold the “Blacks for Isakson” Victory Party—maybe the Morehouse College gym because they like him there as much as Morehouse alumni Herman Cain. 

 

Politics and public service are all about connecting with people on a personal level.   

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Republican Rhetoric Dialers Needed

Posted in Georgia, politics, tagged , , , , , , on October 25, 2008| 3 Comments »

As we enter the final phase of this political season, we calculate what decisions and strategies would best serve the African American community.  Six months from now, will we says “I wish we would have done this or that differently.”  I don’t play checkers; I play chess—always thinking three or four moves ahead. 

 

When a new president is sworn into office on the West Portico of the U.S. Capitol, he or she is the president.  Period.  Anyone who plays with the notion that the president is not the president is playing with un-American activities on some level.  On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush became my president.  Period.  On the day that White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer announced “the liberation of the Iraqi people has begun,” I walked out of a pub in Vilnius, Lithuania, and some college kids walked up to my buddy Brad and me saying, “Bush bla bla, invade bla bla, America wrong bla bla.”   Since the dollar was strong back then and so were we, I told them “Slow your roll, we can discuss it over a few pints on me but I can’t let you slam America and our president.”  (Of  course, their broke behinds jumped at free brew.)

 

A new president will be sworn in January and I hope Senator McCain or Senator Obama will face fair opposition from the losing side because ultimately we are all Americans.  Bitter extremists from the losing side will dial up conspiracy rumors and untruths design to undermined the efforts of the new leadership—disagree on policy, spending and direction but consider the negative consequences of being ugly just to be ugly.  As a moderate Democrat, I will give President McCain the same consideration I gave every president during my adult life.  If Obama wins, will my Republican friends do the same?

 

Obama supporters should help him by gaining a little leverage with congressional Republicans.  Congressional Republicans will vote with their party over 95% of the time—that is understood; but can we order up a few GOP members who will stand up in their conference meetings and say, “Let’s dial down the rhetoric and beat the Democrats on the issues—we should be above dirty tricks and innuendoes.” 

 

Forget about party politics for a second; the average American thinks our current problems could have been avoided or reduced by better Washington deliberations and communication.  At this late hour, African Americans voters could decide the fate of many GOP congressional candidates.  To me, a Republican who dials down the rhetoric while voting his core conservative beliefs is more important than some Obama coattail-riding Democrats are. (hint, hint Macon, Georgia)     

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