I am not saying we should eschew politics. Rather I am saying we should pound the GOP on their inability to function politically. They have spent the last 4 years throwing a tantrum. And, yes, that tantrum as a lot to do with the race of the President. But, it also has to do with the efficacy of his Presidency – the skill with which he governed for two years, the longer-term strategic view President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and yes, Harry Reid used to jam the most progressive agenda in 50 years through congress.
The last thing I want to see from brilliant columnists and satirists is a “crotch” joke about race.
I’ve heard a lot of white jokes recently about Romney/Ryan. “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Boring.” “Two white guys walk into a Presidential election…”, Joan Walsh’s above the jump piece on Salon, with video, “White and Whiter,” http://www.salon.com/... there are a ton of jokes out there about the race of the GOP candidates.
Let me say I’m a liberal, old school, and unfortunately, actually getting old. I’m black, and have watched in horror as the GOP has used code words and dog whistle attacks, while they have, because of race in my opinion, stopped behaving like a party, and started doing things even regular republicans think is insane. I have watched the right spend all its time attempting to humiliate this President, attempting to “other,” him, and in many ways succeeding. For example, more people on the right think President Obama is a Muslim than think Mitt Romney is a Mormon. I got into a very complicated debate with a guy who insisted Mitt Romney was a Catholic and that I was trying to smear him.
My point is that these racial comments aren’t new… I could, just off the top of my head point to half a dozen, unprecedented things done to this President that all have some basis in racialized speech, thought, or action:“You Lie!” during a joint Session of Congress, the Birthers, Justice Alito shaking his head during the State of the Union, Jan Brewer wagging her finger in the President face, Speaker Boehner refusing to call a joint session when the President wished to address the nation, a federal Judge telling black jokes in Montana, the list is pretty much endless. So, I get the anger and frustration on the left about this “Black Tax” the GOP is making the President pay. And, I get the desire to hit back at a party who is so out of touch in terms of diversity that Marc Rubio and Artur Davis are perhaps the only minority voices to be heard in Tampa. I get the desire to smack the GOP around on issues of race and diversity. Normally I’d say have at ‘em, they earned it.
But, and this is a specific battle in this specific election, the Dems are right. On every major issue. Think about this for a moment:
• We’re right on Jobs, infrastructure, tech, investments in education, InSource rather than Outsource, and focus on smart green energy tech.
• We’re right on taxes. Taxes are too low on millionaires and billionaires. They are too low on corporations, and they are too low on Cap Gains. They are too porous and the off shoring elements should be reversed.
• We’re right on re-regulating Wall Street, re instituting Glass Stengel, and halting the excesses of the modern day robber barons before they take us all down.
• We’re right on Education, the aforementioned investments but also Race to the Top, backing teachers unions, even as we require higher standards including higher pay. Investing in smaller classrooms, more teachers, and a system that is child centric more than test centered.
• We’re right on Energy, which isn’t hard since the other-sides entire position is “Drill Baby Drill,” and Frack(ing) You Mother Nature. We have more Wind power now than 9 gigawatts of energy from wind, which is an order of magnitude leap forward in the last decade, and as much energy as the 9 proposed new nuclear facilities under construction right now. The other side has no energy plan except to buy oil and cross their fingers.
• We’re right on Health Care, I know people were a little cautious about ObamaCare, I use that term with respect and admiration unlike the GOP, but the plan, as it continues its roll out is going to be a huge success. Yes, we all would have like a more liberal plan, but there was no passing one so I am comfortable with this as a giant important first step. We’re right on it, and the GOP can’t get out of its own way trying to repeal it. Thirty-one votes to repeal ObamaCare according to Debbie Wasserman Shultz on Politics Nation last night.
• We’re right on Civil Rights. DADT gone, DOMA falling and soon to be, Lilly’s Law, Hate Crimes, Civil Rights division of the DOJ fighting discriminator Voter ID laws. We’re right on these issues too and the position of the GOP is so far out of touch that they are going to pay the price for their madness for decades to come.
• We’re right on Immigration. The Dream Act should have passed. It was a close vote but conservative dems in the senate killed it. It is a least harm first step and it was compassionate as well. We should have passed it, and the Exec order from the President basically granting it is a wonderful push in the right direction, but the larger discourse on immigration is on our side. The majority of Latinos in this country are under 25; someone said the number was 70% under 25. That means two things, first, they are more likely than not dems, as the youth of this country usually are, and they are 70-30, not based on race, likely supporters of this President. We need a comprehensive policy on immigration that protects everyone’s interests and allows people a clear safe path to citizenship.
• We’re right on Entitlements. Medicare was strengthened by the ObamaCare bill, and the overall push to cut waste and fraud, 70% more fraud prosecutions on Medicare since OCare passed, and pushing to strengthen and lengthen the viability of Social Security now while it isn’t in crisis is smart governance even If it isn’t smart politics. Add in Medicaid which is a necessary program for the most vulnerable, especially in urban and rural areas, and we are right and the GOP clearly, visibly wrong on Entitlements as well.
I won’t even discuss Foreign Policy, but unless you want to go to war in Iran, you should be pretty glad O is in charge on national security.
My point, and granted it took me awhile to get here, is that when you are right on the issues, stop talking about race. When you are right on the issues, stop talking about personalities. When you are right on the issues, talk about the issues. Fight through the echo chamber and talk about what America needs, and how to deliver it.
I am not saying we should eschew politics. Rather I am saying we should pound the GOP on their inability to function politically. They have spent the last 4 years throwing a tantrum. And, yes, that tantrum as a lot to do with the race of the President. But, it also has to do with the efficacy of his Presidency – the skill with which he governed for two years, the longer-term strategic view President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and yes, Harry Reid used to jam the most progressive agenda in 50 years through congress.
The last thing I want to see from brilliant columnists and satirists is a “crotch” joke about race.
A comic once said, when I have a fat guy in the audience the last thing I make fun of is his weight, that’s the lazy, untalented way of being funny. The last thing we need is to point out that the GOP is whiter than white. We all know it, get it, and understand that their party is unsustainable. Now let’s talk about issues and win this election.
Justin Watts