What Now, Hillary?

Does she want to be on the ticket? I suppose many of her supporters want her to at least be offered the 2nd spot on the ticket. There is historical precedent for opposition candidates to join together on a ticket, e.g, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

If I were her, however, I think I would prefer to remain in the Senate, which is likely to be solidly under Democratic Party control, as will the House Of representatives, rather then play second bananna to President Obama.

If I were Obama, I would not want to run with Mrs. Clinton, and have to deal with all the baggage she would bring, most notably her husband, whose behavior becomes more and more bizarre and unseemly for an ex-president as time goes on.

One thing is clear: Obama needs to try to bring closure to the Democratic primary campaign if he can. However, Mrs. Clinton can continue to contest the nomination right up to the convention. Pundits are split on whether or not she will do this, and on her motivations for not conceding. The next few days will be interesting to watch.

Jim

PHOTO: One of my favorite flowers, the Foxglove. I'm trying to get them started in the garden here at the beach so that they come back by themselves each year.

What Happened To Obama?

Hillary won big yesterday. All bets are off. It seems to me that this means the Democrats have a BIG problem: two strong candidates but only one can win. To me it looks like the scenario for a "Unity" ticket, meaning that they both run - either Clinton-Obama, or Obama-Clinton. Any other outcome will tear the party apart and pave the way for a McCain victory. Let's see if the Party elite coalesce around this idea and make it happen.

Jim

Whining About Nader

Democrats continue to whine about Ralph Nader, and how he supposedly cost Al Gore the election in 2000. Nobody cost Al Gore the election except Al Gore himself, who couldn't be himself and instead was three different Al Gores in his debates with the "chimp." Hell, Gore didn't even win his home state of Tennessee. Democrats need to stop whining and grow some balls, and take principled positions on the issues. I'm still waiting for this from either Clinton or Obama. One gives us speeches full of talking points while straddling both sides of important issues, while the other gives us inspirational sermons without much substance. If the Democrats lose to McCain it will be their own fault, and not the fault of any third party candidate.

Jim

A Great Night For The GOP???

That's how blogger Andrew Sullivan sums up last night's Democratic Party presidential debate at Drexel University here in Philadelphia. Here's his take:

The winner was clearly Edwards. He was concise, aggressive, completely right
about Clinton and always on point. He seemed unafraid to take her on, while Obama was still playing a too-careful defense. If I were to give an instant sum-up of the debate - and I'm a blogger so it's my job - it would be that Clinton's profound weakness as a general election candidate was pretty badly exposed. And the main alternative just about survived as a credible presidential candidate. In other words: a great night for the GOP.

I think that's pretty much accurate, although I think Senator Dodd also came across strongly, especially when he nailed Hillary for answering the same question on immigration, the now infamous "driver's licenses" question, two different ways in the same response. His poll numbers, though, are not good.

I think Obama comes across too meekly and too reserved. Edwards comes across as the trial lawyer that he is: very strong. Hillary was finally bloodied after two hours of pounding from Edwards, Dodd, and Obama. They nailed her on her high negatives - the "electability" issue, pointing out that she is the one Democratic candidate that could unite the Republicans against her.

Well, where do we go from here? Iowa will tell the story for the Democrats.

PHOTO: Happy Halloween! Our Jack 'O Lantern deisgned by Dan and carved by Jim

Jim

What's Wrong With The Democratic Party?

Here's one view:

Unfortunately, many of the Democratic Party’s leaders fail to defend
the four
pillars on which any just economic policy agenda must be built:
♦ Progressive
taxation and prudent military spending cuts to provide
necessary public
revenue;
♦ Universal social insurance programs and high-quality public
goods;
♦ Powerful, democratic labor and social movements capable of
achieving
equity in the labor market; and
♦ Global institutions that
advance labor and human rights and provide
for a sustainable environment.

This doesn't resemble what we hear from the leading Democratic presidential candidates, now does it?

(Source: "Toward An Economic Justice Agenda" - Democratic Socialists Of America draft version)

Jim

Bush's Democrats

Aren't we happy to have a congress controlled by the Democratic Party? It's great they way they are standing up to George Bush, getting our soldiers out of Iraq, and restoring our civil liberties.

In our dreams!

Here's the Washington Post on the way the Democrats rolled over and gave Bush the authority to wire tap US citizens without a warrant:

"The Democratic-led Congress, more concerned with protecting its political
backside than with safeguarding the privacy of American citizens, left town
early yesterday after caving in to administration demands that it allow warrantless surveillance of the phone calls and e-mails of American citizens, with scant judicial
supervision and no reporting to Congress about how many communications are being intercepted. To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much
credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through
both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law—or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions."

The Democrats: pretty useless, I'd say.

Jim

Betrayed Once Again By Our "Friends"

Some gay and lesbian observers are bitterly complaining about the fact that 40 Democrats in the House just voted to include an anti-gay provision banning money for benefits for domestic partners in the Washington, DC appropriations bill. Not one Democrat rose to speak against the gay bashing, while both Democratic and Republican members spoke in favor of it. Where is the leadership of the new Democratically controlled congress, they ask? It just goes to show you how our community is taken for granted by the Democratic Party. I've never believed that the Democrats are our friends. I've been lied to by Democrats, betrayed, and been bitterly disappointed in them. So, this latest jab comes as no surprise to me. Some day gay community leaders will demand accountability from the Democratic party in exchange for our support and for our votes. Unfortunately, we're not there yet.

Photo: Another interesting house in The Pines

Jim

This time of the year I bounce back and fourth like a ping pong ball between Fire Island and Philadelphia. Yesterday I drove back from New York and met with my Friend Marc for a couple of hours. He's handling his mother's death well. As he told me, they were both ready for it.

This photo shows the new Fire Island Pines Pavillion replacement structure, which is nearly ready for the summer season.

I missed the Democratic candidates debate on TV last night because we went out to dinner with friends. It was" Dining Out For Life," an AIDS fund raiser that has been a tradition for years. News coverage has it as a lovefest between the Dems at the expense of the emperor. I suppose that's a good thing at least at this point in the game.

Jim

How Politically Left Or Right Are You?

Click on the above title link and take the quiz to find out. (Thanks for the link, Kirk!) Are you on the left end of the political spectrum with the likes of Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson, or are you over there on the right with Reagan? I scored a 4, which puts me pretty far over on the left. I wonder what I answered wrong? I wanted a perfect score on the left. Take the quiz and you'll see what I mean.

This time of the year I love to visit Fire Island, where we have a second home. In the Spring I buy lots of bird seed and keep the feeder full when I can be there. I took this photo of a female Cardinal a couple of weeks ago.

Here are a few random thoughts for today. John McCain says that we don't need additional gun control measures because the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to own a gun. He's wrong on both counts. That's not what the Constitution says, and we do need measures designed to prevent unbalanced individuals from obtaining guns. Maybe we ought to require a psychological checkup before selling someone a handgun. We require vision tests before issuing driver's licenses, so why not? Why does a 23 year old student need a powerful handgun? Shouldn't someone ask him? We don't sell alcohol to intoxicated individuals, so why do we sell guns to unbalanced people?

I read that the Democrats are likely to extend most or all of Bush's tax cuts, which heavily favor the rich. That's not great. We finally get a Democratic congress, and they're going to lay down in the face of the obscene inequities of Bush's economic policy. No matter that we continue to incur debt that will saddle future generations. I'd like to return to the pre-Reagan tax rates, which were truly progressive. If we did that we could probably solve the Social Security and Medicare funding challenges, and begin to reverse the ever growing inequality between the rich and the poor in this country. Republican economic policy has Social Darwinist underpinnings: "Let them eat cake." Their newest "rising star," Fred Thompson, is a "supply-side economics" advocate. Wasn't that debunked? Here we go further back into the dark ages.

Jim