Wednesday, April 01, 2009

I Moved!

Hello everyone.

Thanks to all of you who followed me on this platform for the last few years.  If you still find me palatable, and do not fear change (c'mon, you know you love living dangerously), please go to my new, and still a work-in-progress website:


Yep, that is my very own site.  Please subscribe to my feed, leave comments, and be an overall cool cat.  I promise to keep improving the site in the days ahead, adding some goodies along the way, so be sure to start going to that website from now on.  What's the address, again, you ask? Here you go!


Adios for now!

PS. Blogger is being funny and might not route you to the correct address.  Please copy and paste the address onto your address bar if you have these issues: www.politicsmajor.com

Friday, February 13, 2009

Obama 2.0: After the "Honeymoon"


Politico.com is often insightful beyond its years. Today's headline is as much about politics as it is about psychology:

"Hardened Obama Plans New Fights"

How character-driven of them. As someone who has followed Obama for over 4 years, read about even the most minute details about him (did you know he is fan of the political theorist and philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr?), and am intrigued at how his meteoric rise pairs with his steady, reformative nature, I can know this is an Obama truth. He changes, he regroups, he adapts.

One of the things he was praised for during the campaign was his uncanny ability to be self-aware and self-reforming. Early on in the primaries, after his campaign staff told him he needed to do find a way of articulating his positions in easy to digest morsels, he would say, "I know, I'll get better." One misstep or challenge after another, a new, refined version of Obama would come out as a result. This time it's no different.

Washington have Obama a honeymoon that looked more like a dry and bitter 29th year wedding anniversary (sorry married folks). One frown after another, Republicans and some Democrats were not too impressed with the new president. They hemmed, hawed, and finally gave him what he was looking for, a stimulus package, after they tore it up to their own liking. Three appointments to his cabinet have embarrassed themselves, and him for choosing and not properly vetting them, on a national level. His Treasury Secretary has been received with mixed reviews, when the economy needs a boost of self-esteem. He is, in 2009, not the perfect Obama of 2008.

That is great news for him. In 2007, as the underdog in the primaries, he tested his wits and his will. This is another opportunity to do the same. Seeing what the White House really entails, and molding it around his lifestyle, not the other way around, he is Obama, President-mode.

lhp

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Great Bipartisan Hope


Judging by the strictly party-line vote the House had over Obama's stimulus package, you would think few things have changed in Washington. You are right and wrong.

As many newspapers and political analysts have noted, this was hardly expected. The Republicans are finding their niche in being the stubborn roadblock the Democrats never could become when Bush held a majority in Congress. They squeezed Obama to see how much he could bare, and then played Washington nice by applauding his efforts to reach out to them and then denying him of any of their support.

This, unfortunately, is nothing new. When Reagan entered office, his greatest concern was the economy, but he had many pet projects he wanted to implement as soon as he set foot in the office. These projects were postponed for more than year because he faced a Democratic Congress that would not budge. Until they did.

Obama has not hidden the fact that he admires Reagan. Not as the Republican demi-god he quickly became, but as the transformative political animal he proved to be. A politician with a smaller resume than most in his cabinet, Reagan came into the White House based mostly off of his charisma and calming demeanor.

He never quit being Hollywood, and he made Washington a compelling dramedy. Obama was chided by his Democratic opponents early in the primary by respectfully acknowledging the "transformative" power Reagan had during his tenure. He can now follow that praise with practice.

Reagan could hardly be considered a bipartisan figure. He was proudly conservative, a loyal Republican, and not afraid to hide or downplay either fact. But he was able to pass most of his agenda despite a Democratic Congress at odds in the most fundamental level. How? He knew the core principle of politics: compromise. You give me this, and I will let you have that. He promised Democrats that he would campaign for any of their Republican adversaries in the coming election if they voted for his stimulus package. He promised abortion issues would be postponed for a year. He scratched their backs, and they rolled over theirs.

This backfired a bit, as Republicans felt like they were being sold out. And, essentially, they were. Reagan was wooing the Democrats to pass his most pressing, and eventually most winning, piece of legislation. When he received accolades for reaching across the aisle when necessary, he used that political capital to catapult his more idealogical agenda.

Yet the core of Reagan's approach is the core of a realistic approach to bipartisanship. Obama should know this. He was raised and educated by the hard knocks of Chicago politicking. He knows what it means to compromise, and is tactful enough to avoid becoming too bareknuckled and do a Blago. This may be a reason why Obama noted Reagan's influence. He knows that in order to see results and win friends in Washington, a tit for tat is the right path to take, instead than arm twisting or chest thumping.

If Obama can be charismatic, calming, and sly like Reagan, he may win over enough votes to have his stimulus package pass through the Senate. Otherwise, he will have a thorn in his shoe, and his celebrity and goodwill will be wasted. The question is, is he as sly as they say he is?

lhp

Thursday, January 22, 2009

100 Days To Establish A Presidency


Now that the primaries, the election, the transition and the inauguration are over with, the next political obsession will be the symbolically important first 100 days of a presidency. The first 100 days set the tone of a presidential term, when a newly minted president takes the reins of the country, has good will and political capital to use, and a Congress willing to make his life easy and ride his coattails.

If Obama's first day is any indication of what sort of president he will be for the next 4 years, his term will be marked by a blinding workpace, ambitious projects within and outside of Washington, and a refusal to adopt any particular ideology as truth incarnate. On January 21st, 2009, the first full day in office, Obama signed an executive order to stop impending cases in Guantanamo Bay and close the camp within a year, close all secret interrogation sites the CIA established around the globe, asked leading generals and commanders in Iraq to draft a plan to withdraw troops within 16 months, froze all White House salaries above $100k, and shortened the reach of lobbyists into members of the White House. Next up for Obama is to take a breath.

Being the academic that he is, Obama knows the importance his deeds between today and April 29th have on the rest of his term. A languid set of months will translate into an even steeper uphill battle for his administration. Members from both parties seem to lack any sort of animosity toward Obama, even if he is not of their party or their agenda. This is the sort of good will Obama will need to catapult him into a milieu of problems his administration inherited. Again, if Obama manages to gain momentum, his mettle will still be tested, but with more strength to answer back.

lhp