I think it's probably about that time in the campaign season, just before you hit the August beat down that activists in Texas tend to have, where we tap the brakes twice, take three breaths, and get ready to take a step forward.
A great many activists have expressed disappointment because our Democratic Candidate for Texas Governor, Bill White,will not appear with Democratic President Barack Obama. The President -- for who I donated, block walked, phone banked and voted for -- appears to be swooping in for the traditional hand in the cash register moment that happens every election cycle, so often that Texas Democrats have come to be immune to these sort of fundraisers.
I don't blame Bill White a bit for not going; this is not only smart political strategy, its smart personally, too. I want to explain why - and then also give others the chance to weigh in with their thoughts, because as I discovered bringing this up just among other BOR writers, there are lots of ways of thinking about this trip.
The fact is that right now President Obama is unpopular for most southern Democratic candidates, both incumbent and challenger, due to his sagging popularity nationally. We love our President and we support him, but he sure ain't helping our cause right now politically. That's not our fault, and it's not really the President's, either. He has - in the words of one speaker from Netroots - stood up and offered to drive the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. A great many of us have done plenty to help in any capacity we can and we continue to do so today.
But politically speaking, the best way we keep championing the policies and priorities of our party is to avoid visits that drive a wedge into state-focused races. That's true in some other states, but is especially true of Texas where the President is even less popular. Given those political realities, Bill White made the only move he could make. His is not a campaign about Washington; his is a campaign about Texas and its future. Bill White said those words at our state convention in Corpus Christi. Don't you remember? Nothing has changed; this IS the campaign about Texas and its future. These DNC fundraisers are a convenient reminder to us all that we Texas Democrats operate a different political and party strategy than Washington does. That makes White's decision that much more impressive, if you ask me.
Personally speaking, we know by White's record, his public statements, the way he governs, and most certainly the way he leads, that Bill is simply a different type of Democrat than our friends at the DNC. We are Texas Democrats! And we think differently, strategize differently, message differently, organize differently, mobilize differently, and it's about time that our years of work get respected and appreciated. We Texas Democrats have worked to rebuild our Party here for quite some time without the DNC's help. Although we have struggled, a great many of us have the scars and memories of how hard it took for us to get here, and appreciate that we are in a position to make a serious run not just for the governorship, but the legislature as well. Bill White made the right move not only for himself, but for Texas Democrats.
If it were up to me, everyone would tap the brakes a bit here, take three very deep breaths, and get ready to take a step forward again. We've got a great deal of work ahead of ourselves. We have the hot August weather, the September blur, October sprint, and early November Red Bull and 5 Hour Energy moments ahead of ourselves. The sweetest moment of all won't come from a high-dollar fundraiser. It will come from the exuberant feeling we'll all have when Texas Democrats win with Bill White, when we win back the legislature, and when we remind the rest of the Democratic Party that we Texas Democrats know how to win too!
The Statesman's Jason Embry reports that President Barack Obama will headline August 9 fundraisers in Austin and Houston for the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, respectively.
The event in Austin is "tentatively scheduled" for the Four Seasons with tickets starting at $5000 a person.
Bill White spokesperson Katy Bacon told the Statesman that White "had no plans to attend" either events and said instead "Bill will be talking with Texans about the future of our state." Some will try to twist this into a negative, but White is doing exactly what he should do: focus on his state and his race.
That presents a clear contrast with Rick Perry, who most recently appeared with the national Republican Party's most sought after campaigner, Sarah Palin, in Tyler on June 28. After going on sixteen years of governors who are eager to make their mark on national politics and ignore problems here in Texas, it is time we had a governor whose top priority is the future of Texas, not posturing for higher office.
Yesterday, President Obama met with Senators at the White House and pushed them to pass comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation. Still, the skeptics are spinning a monotonous web of negativity regarding what is achievable on this front. And, not surprisingly, the "mainstream media" once again has been asleep at the wheel in setting the record straight. Fortunately, we know that when this President rolls up his sleeves, he gets stuff done and delivers on his promises. One thing’s for sure; President Obama is anything but an underachiever!
Along these lines, President Obama held a press conference following the G-20 summit in Toronto. In response to a reporter’s question regarding how he would achieve his deficit reduction goals, the president responded:
For some reason people keep being surprised when I do what I said I was going to do. So, I say I’m going to reform our [health care system], and people say well gosh that’s not smart politics maybe we should hold off. Or I say we’re going to move forward on [Don’t Ask Don’t Tell] and somehow people say well why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics. I’m doing it because I said I was going to do it, and I think it’s the right thing to do. And people should learn that lesson about me, because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficit and debt step up cause I’m calling their bluff.
To that list of accomplishments, we could also add:
Creating or saving 2.2-2.8 million jobs, well on the way to Obama’s February 2009 pledge that he would "create or save 3-and-a-half million jobs over the next two years."
Reforming Wall Street (likely to pass Congress any day now)
Overhauling the student loan market
Reaching a nuclear arms treaty with Russia
We could go on and on, but you get the point: anyone who continues, at this point, to be "surprised" when President Obama gets things done when he puts his mind to it is deep in denial. Or, as a previous president might have put it, they are wildly "misunderestimating" our 44th president.
Clearly, as we’ve seen over the past two years, underachieving is not a problem Barack Obama suffers from. Of course, even a superachiever like Barack Obama has an awful lot on his plate to deal with. And right now, one of the most important things on Obama’s plate is figuring out how to push comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation through the U.S. Senate. Along those lines, yesterday, Obama met with a group of Senators on this issue, reportedly holding firm in his call for putting a price on carbon emissions.
The question at this point is, will President Obama roll up his sleeves and deliver on another of his major campaign promise (as well as a major challenge facing our nation)? Given the long list of accomplishments mentioned above, it certainly wouldn’t be smart to bet against him. The fact is, Barack Obama usually succeeds in whatever he puts his mind to.
Given the nation’s increased focus on energy and climate issues – and the increased support by the American people for taking strong action as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster – now is clearly the time for boldness and for bluff calling by our nation’s leaders. Today, President Obama has the opportunity to demonstrate once more that, when he rolls up his sleeves, he accomplishes what he says he’s going to do. In sum, today is clearly the moment for President Obama to prove the doubters and naysayers wrong – to call their bluff - yet again!
As President Obama prepares for his meeting tomorrow with Senators at the White House to discuss clean energy and climate change legislation, he might want to check with the White House staff on an important matter first. No, not the details of the legislation, although that’s important of course. Instead, what President Obama might want to make absolutely sure about is the non-trivial matter of whether the White House air conditioning is in tip-top shape. I say "non-trivial," but these days it’s more like "life or death." How hot is it in the Washington, DC area? As NBC Washington puts it, "We're Talking Spontaneous Combustion." (UPDATE: it's more likely this is apocryphal than literally true, but it sure feels like plants could catch on fire these days in Washington, DC!)
How hot is it? It's so hot that dead plants are spontaneously combusting in Frederick, Md.
Don't believe it? Just ask Frederick County Fire Marshal Marc McNeal, who told the Frederick News-Post that excessive heat caused a dead plant to catch fire Sunday afternoon in a hanging planter on the rear deck of a townhouse.
The hanging basket fell to the deck and burned some vinyl siding, causing about $3,000 in damages.
It has definitely been hot in the Washington region. Monday will be the 10th day in a row that we've reached 90 degrees or higher, and this will be the 17th day of the month that the thermometer has reached 90.
NBC4 meteorologist Tom Kierein said that when it's all said and done, June 2010 likely will be the hottest June on record in the District.
Dead plants catching on fire in the hottest June on record in the Washington, DC area? Sadly, this may not be an aberration, but a frightening sign of things to come in a global warming world. True, we shouldn’t draw broad conclusions about the earth’s climate from one heat wave in one specific geographic area, as certain climate change deniers dishonestly did during last winter’s "snowpocalypse" blizzards. However, when we see month after month, decade after decade of record-setting heat globally, it starts to get a bit hard to ignore.
In fact, climate scientists are not ignoring these heat waves and other phenomena. Earlier today, for instance, The Project on Climate Science reported that the "record-breaking heat wave" we are currently experiencing in the eastern United States "is consistent with climate change." According to Tom Peterson, Chief Scientist for NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, "We’re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course to bequeath to our grandchildren." Of course, as The Project on Climate Science points out, "individual heat waves can be driven by a number of factors." However, they conclude, "more frequent heat waves are one of the more visible impacts of climate change already underway in the United States" and "will occur more frequently in the future."
In sum, if you enjoy record-setting warmth – not to mention the stronger storms, mass extinctions and "record sea ice shrinkage" in the Arctic that go along with that warmth – you have a lot to look forward to! If not, then you should contact your Senator and let him or her know you want climate action now.
Come to think of it, perhaps we should all hope for the White House air conditioning to be broken tomorrow – or turned off on purpose - so that the Senators meeting there get a taste of what the planet will feel like everywhere if they don’t do something about it now. When you think about it, a bit of Senatorial sweat and a few stained shirts is not too high a price to pay if it results in long-overdue, comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation on the President’s desk sometime this sweltering summer. Is it?
President Barack Obama will deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border, according to an administration official and an Arizona congresswoman.
Obama will also request $500 million for border protection and law enforcement activities, they said.
The National Guard troops will work on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence and blocking drug trafficking.
Despite Rick Perry's ridiculous claims to the contrary, President Obama has actually been much stronger about border enforcement than his (and Perry's) predecessor, President George W. Bush. From a recent TIME magazine story, "Why GOP Senators Won't Play on Immigration Reform" we learn the following:
The Obama Administration has exceeded Bush Administration efforts on border control. Last year saw the highest number of people ever deported: 387,790, up from 116,782 in 2001 and 349,041 in 2008. Thus far this year, some 185,887 people have been deported, a record pace that, if maintained, will nearly double the number of deportations in 2010 to 604,133. The Administration has also doubled the number of agents assigned to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force and tripled intelligence analysts along the Southwest border.
I'll follow up on this later today or tomorrow, once we learn what portion of the new efforts are coming to Texas...
“We need more federal support for border security and border regions. We need more support for local police and sheriffs, who can enforce criminal laws. National Guard troops are not a long-term substitute for sustained federal commitment to border communities” — TX Gov. candidate Bill White (D) said in a statement to PMT
State Representative Leo Berman plans to file a bill in the next session that would -- wait for it -- require Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to prove that they're actual American citizens, and not, you know, Kenyan Muslims secretly trying to implement sharia law here in the United States.
From the Boston Herald, demonstrating yet again that Texas Republicans are making our state a national laughing-stock:
State Rep. Leo Berman this week said he's planning to file several immigration-related bills once Texas lawmakers get back to work in January, including one that requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to prove their citizenship to the Texas secretary of state before their names are added to the ballot.
This is similar to one provision in the immigration law recently approved in Arizona.
"We'll do it," said Berman, a Republican and a former Arlington, Texas, mayor pro tem. "We'll do it from now on. If he can't prove citizenship ... he won't have a place on the Texas ballot."
Berman wants to see Barack Obama's birth certificate? Is that because he wants so very badly to de-legitimize the first African-American president? Because having an African-American president is really upsetting to his narrow-minded, racist ideology? Or because he wants to behave like an ignorant embarrassment to his constituents?
Well pull your hood off, Berman, and feast your eyes on this:
The President actually released his birth certificate, demonstrating that yes, he was born in Hawaii, and yes, Hawaii is one of the United States of America. Further irony: when Obama was born, his father--who immigrated from Kenya--was actually a subject of the British empire, since at the time in 1961 Kenya was still a British colony.
Berman, it seems, is looking for procedural technicalities to try and keep Texas in Republican hands in 2012. He must see the demographic handwriting on the wall and understand that his party's days are numbered. As you may recall from his statements at the recent Rick Perry-Glenn Beck love-fest:
Last weekend, Berman told a crowd in Tyler, Texas, that he believes "Barack Obama is God's punishment on us today, but ... we are going to make Obama a one-term president," according to a report in the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Cornyn and McConnell's trip was easy to criticize. In reality, it appeared to be much more a fundraising expedition than a policy discussion.
Over the weekend, President Obama weighed in on the two senators' pow-wow with Wall Street.
"The Senate Republican Leader, he paid a visit to Wall Street a week or two ago. He took the chairman of their campaign committee. He met with some of the movers and shakers up there. I don't know exactly what was discussed. All I can tell you is when he came back, he promptly announced he would opposed the financial regulatory reform."
"The president, frankly, was demeaning himself and his office by making political attacks against Sen. McConnell and me when what we were trying to do was learn more about a complex topic from people who actually know something about it."
Cornyn has consistently put his job as NRSC chair above his duties as a senator. His trip with McConnell to Wall Street is not anything new; it is just another instance in which Cornyn has put partisan politics above actually getting something done.
Obama is right to criticize him. For John Cornyn, one of Washington's most hyper-partisan Republican, to criticize anyone about politicizing anything is a great hypocrisy. That's exactly how he has risen within the Senate Republican leadership.
I honestly do not know why the President would even bother to waste his precious, non-existent time (considering what he has been saddled with by the reckless, incompetent and irresponsible, if not criminal, W. Administration and its rubber stamping Congress) with the Republican Party whose only goal is to destroy him. Indeed, the Republican far right, led by Rush Limbaugh, has even far more sinister plans for our President.
The President Obama ran on a platform of change and bi-partisanship. He won the 2008 election hands down. He speaks to Democratic conservatives, moderates, centrists, progressives and Independents. I guess he is also attempting to reach out to a bunch of corrupted, lying crooks and political thugs, too.
On Friday, two days after the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama, an invited guest, spoke to the House Republicans at their annual retreat meeting in Baltimore.
Videos of the President's remarks and Q&A are below the fold.
Key Point: You know why last night's election in Masssachusetts doesn't bother me? Because it happend in Massachusetts! Texas isn't Massachusetts, Texas Democrats aren't Massachusetts Democrats, and the incumbent all Texans are rejecting this year is not Barack Obama, it is Rick Perry.
If Texas doesn't equal Washington, and Massachusetts is a communist/socialst state, then how can anyone believe Rick Perry's crowing about last night's win?
So why repeat the spin? Why do you find yourself feeling bad about the chances of Texas Democrats this morning, based on an election held in a state whose politics are completely the opposite of those in Texas? Why would any political analyst in Texas, or close follower of Texas politics, believe that what happened in Massachusetts last night has any bearing on what will happen in Texas 2010?
One year ago today, an incredibly popular Barack Obama took the oath of office. And in the coming days, if you watch CNN, MSNBC or Fox News for any amount of time, you’ll hear plenty of chatter about how he’s lost his appeal, about how he’s damaging his party and how Democrats might lose the U.S. House this year. The point is that things can change quickly, and we shouldn’t rush to judgment about what will happen in Texas in more than nine months based on what happened Tuesday in Massachusetts. The national mood will matter, but Texas elections will be contested on Texas issues.
I mean, think about it -- all those Texas Republicans I listed before are supporting a pro-choise, anti-Bush-tax-cut, Sotomayor-supporting Republican from Massachusetts. What, exactly, is that supposed to signal for Texas? Do all these Texas Republicans believe there is a huge pocket of lberal Democrats (since we're the only Texans who are pro-choice, ant-Bush-tax-cut, and Sotomayor-supporters here) that will vote for Republicans in 2010? Does Rick Perry think that a progressive Democrat in Houston is going to choose Rick Perry over Bill White in November?
In Texas, anti-incumbent is anti-Republican. We weren't Massachusetts yesterday, and we're not Massachusetts today.
Unfortunately, here's who we are -- or, who we are until we decide to change it:
Texas has led the nation in the number of uninsured children for ten years -- every year Rick Perry was in office. Today, 1.4 million children do not have health insurance. Texas also has the highest uninsured rate in the country -- 25 percent, or 6.1 million Texans lack care. (Source: Center for Public Policy Priorities)
Texas has so many who are uninsured, it costs insured Texans 150% the actual cost of coverage to cover the uninsured. (Source: Dallas Morning News)
That's who we are. That's who we were yesterday, and that's who we are today. And until Rick Perry is no longer in office, that's who we will be.
Is last night's loss tough for all Democrats? Of course it is. We don't like to see our team lose. But at least we're fighting for the right cause. Will we still get a health insurance bill passed through Congress? Probably -- if everyone takes a look around them and remembers that the status quo is an unfathomable failure.
Here in Texas, the status quo is Rick Perry. He is our unfathomable failure. We can't change what happened yesterday in Massachusetts, but we can change what happens tomorrow in Texas.
Very, very early this morning, the Senate took an historic vote to pass sweeping health reform. This version of the bill--while far from perfect--will help insure millions of Americans who currently lack access to affordable, quality care. President Obama sent the following email following the vote:
In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this incredible breakthrough really means. But consider this: This Christmas, there are millions of Americans without health insurance who risk losing everything if they get sick.
There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their children because an illness has wiped out their savings. There are small business owners who worry that they'll have to lay off a long-time employee because the cost of insurance is rapidly rising.
If we finish the job, all this can change. We will have beaten back the special interests who have for so long perpetuated the status quo. We will have enacted the most important piece of social policy since the Social Security Act in the 1930s, and the most important health reform since Medicare in the 1960s.
Success of the final bill means that within the near future, millions of Americans will have affordable insurance coverage. Millions will be spared the fear of medical bankruptcy, and millions will no longer have to choose between taking their child to the doctor and paying the light bill. This change is a holiday gift we can all be thankful for, no matter what we celebrate.
President Barack Obama continued:
There is still more to do before I can sign reform into law -- a last round of negotiations and final votes in the Senate and the House -- and I'm counting on your help every step of the way. But for now, I hope that as you celebrate this holiday season, you remember that the work you are doing is making our union more perfect, one step at a time. For that, I am grateful to you.
After this holiday weekend, we all need to keep the pressure on, contacting our officials in the House and Senate. A stronger bill can emerge from committee, but we the people need to advocate for it.
The President's email thanked everyone who called and organized in support of health reform, and asked us to sign a letter of thanks to those Senators who voted in favor of the bill. After all, it is just as important to thank our elected officials for doing the right thing as it is to challenge them when they do not.
I signed the letter, and I left a note:
"Thank you. As a citizen of Texas, my Senators do NOT want me to have access to affordable, quality care. They do not believe that we need reform, and are satisfied with the status quo. Those of us in Texas--where we average 24% uninsured--are depending on this reform to give us access to care and coverage. Thank you for doing what our own Senators would not--standing up for change, and standing up for the American people."
We're one step closer to historic health reform. There are still a few important steps to go, we should all be happy with today's progress.
