Category Archives: Obama

The Obama I expected and didn’t get until now

Americana, Obama, Politics

When Michele and I started working on the Obama Campaign in 2007, I was drawn to Obama by his message of change. The idea of change that he represented and promoted. During the primary, he said We can’t change the way Washington works unless we first change how Congress works. and It’s not just enough to change the players. We’ve gotta change the game.

In December of 2007 in Des Moines, he said We can’t afford to be so worried about losing the next election that we lose the battles we owe to the next generation.  The real gamble in this election is playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expecting a different result.  And that’s a risk we can’t take. Then he got elected and chose the same Washington players and pretty much got the same results.

But yesterday, Barack Obama nominated Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim to be head of the World Bank. He is Change we can believe In. Way to go Obama. And, if you have any doubts, check out his resume and video below (starting at about 2:00 for the impatient).

Atrial Fibrillation and Obamacare

Americana, Current Affairs, Obama, Psychological Musings

 

Last week, I had a dizzy, nauseous spell – eposode as I don’t like to call it – and went to my doctor. Then, on the next day, to my cardiologist. It turns out that I have Atrial Fibrillation – and I don’t think that is the right way to put it, although I am or I caught Atrial Fibrillation is certainly wrong – and I am now wearing a new Holter monitor. A   Holter monitor records heart activity over a period of time. In this case seven days, my first one was for twenty four hours and was so big I had to wear it on my belt – this one is just stuck to my man boob and it lasts for seven days. Ain’t progress grand.

 

Speaking of progress, for some reason – maybe because a large percentage of doctors are conservative – the medical profession has resisted computerizing records. I am 71 and my files would require a wheelbarrow to carry around if most of them hadn’t – fortunately – been lost. The file at my cardiologist is probably about an inch and an half thick and I have only been going to her for about four years and she is only one doctor. As an aside; What we really need is a chip similar to the chip our cat has but that is going to be a real fight. I see over at Last Days News – where they tell us that These End Times Prophecies are 100% Accurate! In case you had any doubts- that a The Bible says those who take the 666 Microchip will receive the Wrath of God. I am not a Christian and I am not much of a believer in the Bible as an authority but if it really does mention Microchips, I will be instantly converted. End aside.

Anyway, on to Obamacare and computerized records. This week, both my doctors – well, I have more than two, but both doctors I went to – are deep into switching over to computers and it already seems to be paying off. My primary doctor entered her notes into the computer and my cardiologist has them the next day when I go to her office. I leave the cardiologist with a printed list of instructions rather than oral instructions and an hand scribbled prescription. I have a question about my meds and call the cardiologist, her assistant looks up my files at his desk, and in about fifteen second gives me my answer. Last month, he would have had to call me back.

By the time Obama leaves office five years from now, I suspect that few people will still want to revoke Obamacare.

Obama from Richard Taylor

Americana, Japan, Obama, Politics

 

Richard Taylor took exception – in the comments – to my very critical post on Obama and I am reprinting it here because everything Richard says I want to be true. I also think what he said can get lost in the comments and I would like more people to make comments and argue me down.

I too would like more and can imagine strategies I’d like better but still fail to understand how he is supposed to all that I’d like alone and in just 3 years.  Given that the the left abandoned him to let Republicans walk away with Congress I think we might be asking a bit much.  I’m taken by this remark from another blog (that may have even be referenced here first, not sure):

“So according to Raj Patel, at the heart of the widespread disappointment in President Obama among his previous supporters is that too many Americans view Obama as the pizza delivery guy of change.  We exerted a small effort to place an order, then sat down in front of the TV to wait for the change to show up at our door….”

Finally, and if nothing else, we need a democrat in the WH to keep the Supreme Court from getting even worse than it already is.

Steve again: This sort of reminds me of the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt and A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. As I remember the story, Randolph – in a meeting with Roosevelt – wanted Roosevelt to use the Federal Government to desegregate the defense industry. Roosevelt said that he could only do it if Randolph made him do it.

Randolph threatened to march on Washington with 100,000 protesters and Roosevelt finally issued Executive Order 8802, which said that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.

The moral being that we are only going to get Obama to do what we want by making him do it. The Tea Party is making the Republicans do what they want and there is just no comparable force on the left.

 

 

Power corrupts department

Americana, Japan, Obama, Politics, Psychological Musings, War

 

Maybe I invested too much in Obama changing Washington, maybe it can not be done, maybe nobody can do it, and, maybe, Obama just isn’t even trying. When he was a candidate, he ran on Change, he ran on Transparency, he ran on the Rule of Law.When asked about Bush and Iraq, he said

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

Now, in regards to Libya, where we spent a shit-load of money sending cruise missiles – 110 on the first day – and where we sent actual, piloted, A-10 ground attack aircraft to attack Khadafi’s forces, and where we are still involved; the Obama Administration says

The President is of the view that the current U.S. military operations in Libya are consistent with the War Powers Resolution and do not under that law require further congressional authorization, because U.S. military operations are distinct from the kind of ‘hostilities’ contemplated by the Resolution’s 60 day termination provision. U.S. forces are playing a constrained and supporting role in a multinational coalition….

This sounds like one of the Bush Administration’s convoluted justifications and, if they had said it, we liberals would have gone nuts. Now we just sit quietly. It is sad. The Imperial Presidency just keep getting more Imperial. Sometime in 2008 I am not sure where, maybe on the PBS News Hour, Brooks and somebody, probably Shields, were discussing Obama. Brooks talked about Obama and Reinhold Niebuhr and Niebuhr’s theory on power and how it corrupts. Brooks quoted Obama as saying something along the line of  Power corrupts and the hope was that he would get a lot of good done before he got corrupted. Apparently not.

 

 

Pickleball and Obama

Obama, Travel
my sister, Barb Heaney, is on the left with the silver medal
Henry Painter, center, won gold in men's singles

Sitting here at my parents house in Ireland, I learned that my sister, Barb, and her husband, Henry, won silver and gold metals in the SeaTac Spring Invitational Pickleball Tournament while images of Obama and the Queen’s recent visits here play on the TV. Watching the crowds cheer Obama say “Yes We Can” in Gaelic reminded me of the excitement during the election. He looked like he was having a great time as well.

Talking to people, Obama seems to have generated much more excitement than the Queen. When I asked one local resident if Obama was popular here in Ireland, he looked at me like that the the dumbest question he had heard and told me that he thought Obama was the most popular person in the world. It is great to be in a place where it is just assumed that Obama is popular.

In case you are wondering, Pickleball is a sport played on a badminton court with a ball similar to a whiffle ball. I knew Barb and Henry are international badminton champions but that they are also winners in this new sport is new to me. Congratulations to them both!