Apparently my readership is about to increase, so, time to write something interesting, update the photo, etc, etc.
Anyone who has happened upon this blog knows that its posts are not of typical blog-length. Some would say article-length; others, tome length. Whatever. Practice your attention span, I say. Besides, why only be fascinated for one or two paragraphs.
But this post is more a compendium of things which have occurred over Obama's first 100 days - that completely irrelevant measuring stick of performance which somehow or another is here to stay.
Inauguration Speech:
You know, just ok. I wrote a post on this. And I was there, 30 yards away, maybe. We were crammed in, and people were full of hope, where I was, and all down the mall, which was just a thumbnail of how people felt across the country, and around the world, whether they voted for Obama or not. The tide definitely changed that day, from threat-level "orange" to hope. And like him or not, that fact, in aggregate, was undeniable, as name the last time 2 million people packed the National Mall.
Stimulus Bill:
I wrote a post on this, too, and I said I thought it would have been a good time for him to ring a bell long and loudly to the leaders of Congress, namely, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, that "change" had arrived in Washington, by publicly calling for a rewrite of the bill whose authorship began at his request before he was even president, and was replete with, in "old-Washington" fashion, plenty of constituent goodies, as well as plenty other rightly stimulative things and investments in infrasture of the kind he had campaigned about. And if they wouldn't rewrite it, I said he should have vetoed it. Now, I freely acknowledge this may reveal my naivete about Washington. Jimmy Carter tried to come in and change Washington on day one from its usual way of doing things, and all he accomplished was to alienate himself from the Congress, leaving him with few allies in advancing his legislative agenda. The difference - and I think it matters - is that Jimmy Carter did not have 2 million people on the National Mall, and approval in the mid-70s, with Congress' approval at that same time in the teens, where it had been for some time, even lower than the mid- to high-20s George Bush had been managing in the last couple years of his presidency. Obama had and still has a mandate for change, and I thought that stimulus bill was a good time to fire across the bow of his own party, as well as the Republicans. That said, I'm still glad it passed, and I believe we are seeing some of the positive effects now.
Emphasis on "New" Energy and Education:
Much of that emphasis was contained in the stiumuls bill, and it's why I'm glad it passed. That stimulus bill, as many commentators have said, was the equivalent of about four-years worth of policy initiative for any other president. And that's why you loved it or hated it, I suppose. There was tons of money for new energy, and for education, especially college education; and he advanced that latter goal even further with his announcement yesterday, that part of the "new" form of unemployment insurance would be federal money for taking yourself back to school, in order that America can quickly retool and respond to the serpentine path in which a free-market economy flows and develops. A heckuva good idea, and money well-spent.
Notre Dame Bruhaha Over Conferring Its Traditional Honorary Degree to A New President:
Notre Dame is being really dumb, I'll just say plainly. Or, rather, those who are making such a stink about presenting Obama with an honorary degree when he is a pro-choice president, where that flies in the face of the Roman Catholic Church's official pro-life position. I was raised Roman Catholic. It is still my religious denomination of choice. But this is why I hate religion as Man inevitably practices and governs it. While the Bible and the Koran, which are the bases for the major world religions, have in common the promotion of love, compassion, and generosity to your fellow man, once human beings get involved, they inevitably cherry-pick those same documents to advance and promote an us-and-them view of the world, wrapped effectively and cleverly in a spiritual bow inevitably tied to one's prospects for holy salvation. Enter the "holy war", be it the Crusades, or the insanity that Islam is permitting in this day and age, where blowing up women and children in the market place, or mowing them down in the lobby of a hotel is an act worthy of martyrdom, and the highest reward by their God. A religious zealot is someone for whom a few specific religious beliefs trump nearly all other judgments. This is what Notre Dame does when it says Obama should not receive the degree. Does the Catholic Church not view as beneficial the social investments on which Obama campaigned, education being just one of them? Do they not think that will save lives? What about his professed desire to engage more with our adversaries? Do they not think that might save some lives? Obama has simply removed executive orders which in fact ran counter to the established law of the land since, what, 1973?..and that is the Roe v. Wade decision, which in the subsequent 36 years has only been upheld time and again by an array of different challenges and decisions. Time for Notre Dame to understand that President Obama is not President of the Roman Catholics, by the Roman Catholics, and for the Roman Catholics, who, incidentally, if Notre Dame cared at all, and they don't, vote overwhelmingly for Obama, 55% to 45%.
Cuba:
President Obama, you go! I don't even smoke cigars but when someone sticks one in my hand, and still I'm looking forward to the day here soon when the wrapper says "producto de Cuba". Come on. We engage all these years with China, but not Cuba? It's just dumb. Why is economic engagement with China the right policy, but embargo the right policy for Cuba? Canada, Mexico, the rest of the world dropped their embargos a long time ago. We're left looking like the knuckleheads. I don't like it when my country looks like a knucklehead. I'm looking foward to my first Cuban beach vacation in the VERY near future, y cervezas a la playa.
Pelosi:
Is it just me, or is it fun to watch her backpedal on what she knew about the aggressive interogation techniques employed by the Bush administration, now that everyone (nearly), and most importantly our new President and Justice Department have officially deemed them torture.
Ok, enough fun. And it's warm outside, and not raining, so far, so no time to waste. That's my take. Let me know if you have a different one. And I'll tell you what's wrong with it. Ha. Naw, you know that's not how I work. Happy Satuday, readers, especially those new ones, who, I'm told, tend toward the inflammatory. Bring it on!
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