The President-Elect's Weekly Address

Blago Impeached

The Illinois State House just voted to impeach Gov. Blagojevich. I'm sure the trial in the State Senate should be awfully interesting...

No Mo' Torture?

John Brennan's back to torture us?

The accomplishments of George W. Bush

The list of his accomplishments is breathtaking. He presided over the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. He lied to get us into an unprovoked war. He underestimated what it would take to achieve his ambitions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as a consequence, we continue to pour out endlessly our national treasure. He took billions of dollars in cash to Iraq to "rebuild" its economy, failed to achieve that end, and the money vanished. He let the perpetrator of 9/11 go uncaught for seven years after the calamity. He destroyed our national reputation among our allies and compromised our ethical leadership throughout the world. He set up a concentration camp and endeavored to eviscerate our civil liberties. He dismissed the Constitution as a mere piece of paper and joked that things would be a lot easier for him were he American's dictator. He destroyed American education through his misguided No Child Left Behind program. He stood idly by as one of America's greatest cities was destroyed in a natural disaster, and when he was caught up short, he instituted a rebuilding program that not only failed miserably to rebuild the destroyed American icon but resulted in billions of dollars that simply vanished. He presided over the largest increase in not just the national deficit but also the national debt. He took the longest national expansion of the economy in American history and turned it into an economy that teeters on the brink of depression, and in the process, he forced the whole world economy into recession. In order to rebuild the US financial system, he gave it three hundred billion dollars, failed to achieve the end for which he sought the money, and the money vanished. (Wow. Is there a pattern here?)

Presidents like Fillmore and Buchanan languish in American history because they did nothing. George W. Bush was so proactively bad that it seems unlikely anyone will ever exceed him as a failed president. Without a question, the man is the nadir of American history. When we look back at the stolen election of 2000, and our quiescence in the face of his grab for power, it seems truly that we simply misunderestimated the man. Perhaps we forgot that it only takes a single bullet to kill a horse.

Barack Obama Constitutionally Elected President

It's signed, sealed, and delivered: Congress has counted the Electoral Votes. Barack Obama is officially President-Elect of the United States and Joseph Biden is officially Vice President-Elect of the United States.

Al Franken as Mick Jagger

All of us who were alive in 1980s were younger then.

Meet the new boss; same as the old boss

What Congress Is Up To

Here's a great resource: All the new legislation introduced in the House & the Senate! Take a look & see if they're up to no good... Or doing some good.

Real Estate Downfall

What Did 2008 Really Look Like?

OpenLeft takes a look at what really happened last November.

Al Franken Wins?

It looks like Minnesota has a new Senator... FINALLY! Oh wait, I guess it isn't over yet. Hopefully, this won't be tied up in the courts for too much longer.

What Do We Stand For?

I need to know. Other progressives need to know. Other Democrats need to know. We need to figure this out.

What do we stand for?

Only 2 months ago, I thought this question would be awfully easy to answer. I mean, why wouldn't we support President Obama's agenda & whatever the Democratic leaders in Congress pushed for? Why would they be afraid of being more progressive now that they have a mandate?

But that's just it, they're still afraid. So far, there are signs that the Democrats now in power are still afraid of promoting progressive Democratic vision of a better America. Despite the large & growing support for things like expanded domestic partner benefits, a complete exit from Iraq, real actions to target the climate crisis, and a fairer budget, Democratic leaders seem afraid to push a full progressive agenda in 2009. So what can we do?

We keep pushing for what we stand for. But what do we stand for? We stand for what we've always believed in.

I tried to say this in my last essay on LGBT civil rights, and I'll say it again today. Pols will be pols, so we can't just expect them to do the right thing. And when they waiver, we can't just conform our agenda to whatever they're flip-flopping to. We must stand firm and hold our elected leaders accountable so they hold fast to the promises they made to us.

If we don't stand for something, are we good for anything? That's what we as Democrats must continually ask ourselves. What are we doing to end discrimination against LGBT people? What are we doing to end discrimination against women? What are we doing to stop the climate crisis? What are we doing to stop economic injustice? What are we doing to make the world a better place for all people in the world?

This first year of a "Democratic Trifecta" will either be a major progressive victory or an utter failure. And if we don't pressure our leaders in the White House & Congress to enact the bold solutions needed to put this nation back on the right track, then we will have failed. I don't know how else to define it.

So how do we take our stand? Call Congress. Write the President-Elect. Tell them to repeal DOMA. Tell them to pass an economic stimulus package that also promotes eco-friendly development solutions. If we don't ever show the strength of our conviction, will they ever show theirs?

So isn't it worthwhile for us to stand for something? And won't it be worthwhile to make our party stand for something? So what are we waiting for?

Uncle Jay explains 2008

Richardson's Out...

No Cabinet position for him. Hopefully, his withdrawal from the Commerce Secretary position will prevent his possible "pay to play" scandal from hurting Obama as he moves to Washington today.

What to Do on Gaza?

Taylor Marsh has some good ideas on how to handle the latest Israeli-Palestinean crisis.