 If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year. Simply put, all hell is about to break loose in the markets and the economy. The mortgage crisis will likely be followed by defaults in credit card debt, student loans and car loans. We will probably be set for two years of zero growth, according to economists with whom I talk. And the federal efforts to protect the nation from the worst of the recession will probably lead to huge budget deficits and resulting inflation. We are in for stagflation that could last for years. Had McCain won, he would be the latter-day Hoover, blamed for the disaster that unfolded on his watch. Now it is Obama’s problem. With the Republicans suffering a wipeout in congressional elections (although not as bad as they feared), the ball is now squarely in the Democratic court. Good luck!
 Brace yourself. It's going to be a rough several years.
What kind of president will Barack Obama be? As I have anticipated this night for the last several days, I've been frightened, very frightened, at the answer. Americans have been through times like these before, 80 years ago, during the Great Depression. While most schoolkids learn that the great savior, FDR, rescued the United States through his public works, it was of course the industrial mobilization of World War II that pulled America out of a funk that was extended greatly by government intervention. Those four terms changed our federal government from small, distant and unimportant to one that is now huge, bloated and very much a part of people’s lives. Even many Republicans ascribe to an interventionist form government. That is the danger we have now: an even greater extension of federal power. Or is it? It was noted on Fox News tonight that Obama has always chosen the road easier travelled; bent in any way the wind was strongest. He made these choices down to his church, his friends, his donors – with a spirit of convenience that can only be derived from old-time city politics. Maybe running a diverse country will moderate his politics. His track record belies none of this though. He has been unabashedly liberal both in the Illinois and US Senates. Will the easiest path for Obama be in following Reid and Pelosi? Will he outlaw conservative talk radio? Take away guns? Redistribute our wealth? If so, his first midterm will be as disastrous for him as Clinton’s was in 1994. But in the end, we know none of these things. We’ve never had a president as new and as unknown as Barack Obama. And even though that’s very dangerous it will be even more dangerous if Republicans don’t act. And smartly. Republicans can’t afford to act like they did during FDR’s early years – shrill and disjointed, whiney and uncoordinated. I can’t say the jury’s still out on Barack Obama – the jury was quite explicit today. But I do know there will be many actors trying to right the ship in these years to come. Be a part of it. Don’t let him get away with anything.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 November 2008 00:26 )
 Virginia will be a very important bell weather state for McCain. The polls close early, 7pm, so keep an eye on the results here.
It is important obviously because without Va McCain probably won't win, but also because Obama is up in this traditionally republican state by about 4 points in the polls. If the polls prove to be wrong here, they will likely be just as off everywhere else and we will have a close race on our hands.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 November 2008 16:43 )
It's become an annual tradition. Every year, right before election day, the Queens GOP holds a big rally to support their slate of candidates from the top of the ticket - this year John McCain and Sarah Palin - to the very local races for state senate and assembly. This years event is on Thursday, October 30 at the Reception House in Flushing. It's an exciting night where all the candidates are introduced to others from around the county and energy and enthusiasm is are generated for the final push to election day. There are some outstanding candidates running in Queens this year, especially our two incumbant state senators, Frank Padavan and Serf Maltese. Then there is our newly elected councilman, Anthony Como, who is defending his recently won seat. We also have some exciting challengers running, including Peter Koo and Tom Dooley for Senate and Tony Nunziato and Rob Speranza for Assembly. It promises to be an exciting evening and everyone is invited. The full invitation is below.
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN Zogby, Rasmussen and Gallup all report McCain closing to 5 points back. Zogby had him 12 back, Rasmussen 8 and Gallup 6 in their previous polling. McCain's use of the Joe the Plumber and the tax issue in his ads is working! Unilaterally, John McCain agreed to disarm himself by refusing to use perhaps his most potent weapon in exposing Barack Obama: the Democrats' relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The McCain campaign and, at its direction, the Republican Party, have banned use of footage of Rev. Wright from their campaign commercials. Perhaps for fear of being accused of racism, they are not bringing up the single most compromising association in Obama's past - his close liaison with Rev. Wright. But it does not matter that Rev. Wright is black, white, or brown...or purple. What matters is that he spews hatred of the United States and that Obama was an active participant in his church. Or are we supposed to believe that Obama regularly attended church with Wright for two decades, chose the Reverend to baptize his children and officiate at his wedding, titled his book Audacity of Hope after a sermon of the Reverend's, but did not know of his anti-American views? Nonsense.
 Most conservatives liken Barak Obama to President Jimmy Carter since it provides us an opportunity to compare Obama with one of the worst U.S. Presidents since the end of World War II. However I don’t think it’s a fair comparison for a number of reasons.
Carter entered the national scene with a lot less baggage then Obama and lot more credibility. Carter, not unlike Obama, identified himself as a Christian. However, Carter’s Christian identity was that of a “born again” Christian, something many Christians embrace, while Obama’s Christian identity is that of “black liberation” a revolutionary doctrine which is not very well accepted among most Christians. Before entering politics Carter was a high ranking Naval officer serving under one of America’s most revered admirals, Admiral Rickover, developing the nuclear science that ultimately powers our battle ships and aircraft carriers today. Obama has no military credentials whatsoever. Not unlike Obama Carter came into the national scene at a time when most Americans were sick and tired of the Republican Party, seeing it as both unethical and incompetent. Also, Americans were still divided over the Vietnam War, angry that we got into it, even though a Democrat could be blamed for that, but even angrier with the perception that we lost it
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 November 2008 23:30 )
|
As the election enters its last two weeks, social populism wars with economic populism to become the major outlet for American anger and angst and to satisfy the demand for change. In his book The Populist Persuasion, Michael Kazin articulates the difference between these two types of populism: economic and social.
Economic populism, the staple of the Democratic left, demonizes Wall Street and glorifies Main Street. It rails against unequal distribution of wealth and warns, perpetually, that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. From Andrew Jackson’s frontier democracy to Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, economic populism has powered the left.
Social populism, the conservative reply, attacks the values of Hollywood and the intellectual elite. It criticizes the welfare state and opposes a redistribution of wealth from the hardworking and deserving to what it sees as the freeloaders. More recent in origin, social populism has its roots in abolitionism and Prohibitionism and achieved its modern form in Richard Nixon’s silent majority, Jerry Falwell’s and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition and Ronald Reagan’s new right-wing majority. Within the Republican Party, social populists oppose the country-club wing and emphasize social conservatism over economic austerity.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 28 October 2008 09:43 )
Last night John McCain was at the annual Al Smith dinner here in NYC. He gave one of the best performances I have seen in a very long time He is absolutely hilarious, killing the crowd with laughter. If he was like this on the campaign trail he'd be up by 20 points. Watch it and let me know if you agree with my take.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 October 2008 11:05 )
 Last night's debate finally saw the deep contrasts between the two candidates on a range of issues. Most importantly, John McCain was able to corner Barack on the issue of government spending and taxation. McCain used the "Joe the Plumber" story to his advantage - although I thought he had effectively "over-used" it by the time the debate was done. It was surprising that Obama didn't have a better prepared answer to that question ready to go and he basically admitted his overall goal was to "redistribute wealth" from rich to poor to "make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entreprenuer who doesn't yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now."
Obama's reasoning was shown to be flawed, His position is that he wants to give a tax break to people who, effectively, don't "pay taxes," so that they can someday have the money to buy a business, like Joe the Plumber, which then Obama wants to tax the daylights out of the small business to help someone else who "doesn't yet have money." By taxing successful small businesses as aggressively as Obama wants to, he will dis-incentivize the primary reason to buy a small business, which, consequently, eliminates the specific justification Obama gave to "Joe the Plumber" for "giving money" to the average worker in the first place. This plan probably doesn't make sense "even" to CNN!
Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 October 2008 16:08 )
In three weeks the campaign for the presidency of the United States shall come to an abrupt end and Americans shall elect a President who will serve for 4 years….all in accordance with our beloved Constitution. Reading the polls over the last 5 days it is clear that Barak Obama is in close striking distance of capturing the Presidency. As in all of our elections, save one, the American people, notwithstanding the vitriol, calumny and invective directed against each of the candidates, shall accept the event with equanimity and move on to their own business at hand. On January 20, 2009, after his inauguration, President Obama will also address his business at hand, the Presidency of the United States. The question is what can we expect.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 October 2008 13:42 )
 For distinctively Republican Staten Island and southwest Brooklyn, this has not been an election season to remember – from Vito's stunning downfall to the staggering inability of Republicans to convince a Lanza, an Oddo or even an Ignizio to pick up the mantle to a bruising primary that pitted an uninspiring doctor against an outcast and liberal wanna-be against a rare conservative Democrat.
This is a race we're not likely to win. We've finally done it – we've hit rock bottom. In the morass that is now the 13th Congressional District – where Staten Island Conservatives spurn their Republican counterparts so they can cozy up to whoever the anointed winner is while in Brooklyn, Conservatives are the tail that wag the GOP dog – there is finally an interesting candidate to watch: Timothy Cochrane.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 October 2008 15:58 )
McCain's debate performance Tuesday night was not impressive. Actually, it was terrible. I'd like to mention a few areas for him to improve upon for the next debate and the last few weeks of the campaign. McCain's ulitmate goal in these debates should have been to try to increase Obama's negatives. I thought he was heading in that direction with the William Ayers attacks being thrown out there by Palin and himself in the beginning of the week. Unfortunately, little of these attempts during the debate were strong enough to stick.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 12 October 2008 12:56 )
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 1 of 3 |
