Chris Graham | Barack
It’s Jan. 20, 2009. We’d be celebrating today no matter who was taking over mainly because of the fact that the other guy would be on his way out the door. Maybe I’m not being entirely original in thinking and saying that, but it’s true.
That out of the way …
Barack Obama is the first African-American president. Again, not a new observation, but given our nation’s history, it cannot be overlooked what it means for us to have elected a black man president. Especially considering the tone of the discourse from the ’08 election. If you can call people referring to Obama obliquely as a Muslim and even questioning his legitimacy as an American citizen engaging in anything akin to discourse. The word fearmongering comes to mind as a more apt description. And yes, I am still hearing from people who are upset about an African-American getting the keys to the White House. Including a relative no longer on my Christmas card list who rather liberally used the n word to explain to me his feelings on the subject.
Me, I’ll never forget Election Night in Waynesboro, just a few minutes before 11 p.m., when the networks started calling the election in Virginia for Obama. In particular I won’t forget looking back from the big-screen TV at our election headquarters to see the volunteers who helped make it possible celebrating together. Black and white and Hispanic, women and men, young and middle aged and experienced all the same. That right there was the America that will become more and more familiar to us as this 21st century unfolds.
Another reason to celebrate – my new friend Brett Hayes. I say new friend conscious of how we used to be at each other’s throats over an ancient slight involving the Chamber of Commerce merger from a hundred years ago. That was long before Brett e-mailed me to say that he was supporting Obama, and to tell me why. Obama made sense to moderate conservatives like Brett because he was going to get the economy back on track and because his foreign-policy ideas were going to get America back on track.
If Barack Obama can make Brett Hayes and Chris Graham see the world through the same lenses, there’s hope for us yet.
- Column by Chris Graham
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[...] It’s Jan. 20, 2009. We’d be celebrating today no matter who was taking over mainly because of the fact that the other guy would be on his way out the door. Maybe I’m not being entirely original in thinking and saying that, but it’s true. That Continue .. [...]
Well Congratulations! At least you can pick a President. You’re still having trouble with college football and basketball, but oh well, that’s for another day. Although I did not vote for Obama, I do not wish him any ill will. All of my conservative friends don’t either. We still have concerns, but will wait to see. If he can pull it off, more power to him. This country needs to pull together and get itself back on track. The people are the answer not the Gov’t.! Oh and please stop the Bush bashing. Let it go. You’ll feel better. Regardless of what you think or feel, he did keep us safe from other attacks, lowered interest rates which allowed me and many others to purchase a new home,(which I have not defaulted on) helped those in Africa more than any other, and other items too numerous to mention. It wasn’t all bad and if you are honest with yourself, you know the Dems had a big hand in the whole crisis we’re in now .
For the record, the Bush administration didn’t keep us safe on 9/11, despite the warnings it had received a month earlier. And the Bush people put us at risk to future attacks with that nonsensical war in Iraq that created a new mecca for fundamentalists while at the same time making it impossible for us to finish the job with the actual people who killed 3,000 Americans in September 2001. They then managed that war so poorly that there is no way we can hope to extricate ourselves from it without looking like we’re retreating.
Our economy is in a tatters, and it is largely the fault of those who somehow couldn’t foresee that an energy policy that would allow high-powered corporate energy interests to nearly monopolize markets would have a devastating ripple effect throughout the rest of the economy. That wouldn’t be Democrats who pushed that policy, incidentally, Phil. Remember those secret energy task force meetings that Mr. Cheney called back in ’01? Yeah. Gas is back below $2 a gallon now, but the damage is long since done.
Let the financial markets regulate themselves – not an original Bush idea, though the Bush folks no question took it to a whole ‘nother level. And then consider that it was the administration’s inability to get even the basics of fiscal management down that put us in the crosshairs for the Great Recession that we are now enduring. For future reference, it’s not government spending that is the great evil in terms of the macroeconomy; it’s poorly managed government spending.
The guy inherited a record budget surplus from the Democrats and turned it into record deficits. He inherited a world situation in which we were a well-liked and -respected near-military hegemon, and left a country so bankrupt morally and overstretched militarily that we’re almost back to where we were before World War II in terms of our standing in the world. He ran in 2000 as a uniter not a divider, and his successor as the Republican nominee got booed by people at his own campaign rallies for not calling his opponent a socialist Arab Muslim terrorist. He promised in 2000 that he wouldn’t use the U.S. military for nation-building, which is what the U.S. military has been stuck doing in Afghanistan and Iraq for seven-plus years now, not surprisingly not all that effectively.
And you feel compelled to invoke the term “Bush bashing” as if this was 2004 and anybody out there still gives a damn? Let it go, man, like you tried to advise above. Just let it go. Really. You don’t need to keep defending the indefensible. It’s OK to admit it – you guys screwed up, and historically so.
It’s probably post-inauguration giddiness, but those of us in the progressive set got together tonight and voted to forgive y’all for hoisting the country on the Bush-Cheney petard for the last eight years.
That, of course, was before you had to get all whiny on us here. You’re so much better talking Tech football than whining about the Bush legacy.
With all do respect to your opinion Mr. Graham. it’s not so much the uncertainty surrounding a possible war with Iraq that is hampering the economic recovery, but stingy consumers, nit-picking accounting-obsessed investors, and an ineffectual Congress that can’t even pass a simple corporate-welfare bill like the Bankruptcy Reform Act. As much as I am to press Bush for admitting their mistakes, I too am, putting pressure now on my state and federal lawmakers to make better decisions. As for the “Big 3″ automakers; there were two main drivers that brought about this recession. One was the short-term spike in Oil that in turn drove increases in costs for food, transportation, etc. This caused a large part of the turmoil, however the second and systemic issues is Unionized Labor in the United States.
This is what makes this is perfect storm for the US automakers is that in addition to their uncompetitive products, they have the have a unionized workforce. They are too hamstrung by the UAW to be able to make the changes necessary to save their ailing firms. Where did the UAW get all this power? Congress. The laws of the United States so heavily favor the workers that Unions have lost their relevancy. The additional labor protections offered by Unions makes US companies less competitive on a global playing field. The true driver of off-shoring is unions. If companies were free to hire, and fire, talent to manage their businesses as needed the overall economy– and the workers would be better off.
In general, Capitalism works best when people are free to pursue their own economic interest. However, Unions they were once necessary to protect workers from the ravages of unethical employers. In contrast, today we have sufficient laws and government safety nets to protect workers and unions lost their relevancy. In effect, the Unions of the past were so successful at persuading law makers to pass laws to protect workers that they are no longer necessary. Unions SHOULD be a victim of their own success, it is past time to restrict their powers in the US. However, CONGRESS has failed to update the laws to balance the tables between employers and employees. This has led to the point where the best way to turn a profit is to close up a union shop and open a new plant somewhere else, often outside the US.
Instead of Congress berating the UAW for pursuing their economic interest (as the UAW should), they should look themselves in the mirror and realize that they are the ones who are responsible meddling with Capitalism in creating laws to protect Unions and then not updating them with the times. Congress, has effectively been poisoning the US economy slowly over many years by allowing Unions to set the agenda of the economy creating a balance to allow employers to run their businesses.
It’s obvious that you have no use for unions. Which is fine. It’s a free country. Everybody is entitled to their opinion.
Riddle me this – how do we better merge capital with productivity? Unions are not entirely efficient. Neither are corporate bureaucracies. Neither is our financial system. Neither is our government. Neither are we, the people. One would not build a machine to work the way our economy does, to say the least. How do we improve upon it? Does clamping down on one of the areas of inefficiency without doing anything to any of the others make the machine work better? That’s not a guarantee at all.
I applaud your effort to attempt a diagnosis. Examine more thoroughly the myriad other ailments before you offer future diagnoses with any authority.