Mr. Gregory said that the President seemed reluctant to take the lead in discussing race at this time in the aftermath of the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL. But David Plouffe, in his interview segment, said that the President's leadership has been profound. Really, he's stayed somewhat measured in his responses, as he's had to be, and he doesn't need to lead the conversation. The discussion, the way it's playing out in the public forum, is how the discussion needs to progress, and the President should weigh in and observe (as should Congress) about what the American people are saying - they are leading the discussion.
In response to something tragic, the nature first reaction is outrage, but more so anguish, as NPR's Michele Norris described it, because it has reinforced the existing reality of race relations in the United States of America, and specifically as Mr. Ben Jealous described it, African-American men being 'born suspect.' The anger will instill cause in individuals and the conversation will turn productive. It will happen, and we'll progress positively but it takes time. Mr. Jealous said he's already seen a coming together of the public.
As for the President's comments this week with regard to Trayvon Martin, of course it's going to touch him in profound way, he's an African-American and a father, he made a personal comment, and race is a component here. David Brooks described it as a nature sin, that we have to fight, and the only way to fight it is to bring it out in the open. We can not deny the reality so we find it distasteful for the Republican candidates for President, specifically Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, to say that President Obama has politicized this with his statements. Newt Gingrich went so far as to practically accuse the President of reverse-racism, that's disgraceful. Mr. Gingrich marginalizes himself from the conversation with such responses.
Moving on to another nature sin, the Obama Administration's energy policy has been 'cagey,' as Mr. Brooks described it. Mr. Obama has acted , in this area more so than all others, in a true political way, in that he's trying to make everyone happy and like what's he's doing. With his announcement of starting construction of the southern part of the keystone pipeline is the object example. This announcement is clearly aimed to placate his Republican opponents in an attempt to tamper down the rhetoric. All the while, he's also turning to his left and saying I'm holding that up for environmental concerns.
However, if the President doesn't announce plans to build the northern portion, even if it could devastate the environment, then what he has is the pipeline to nowhere. In other words, a political loser on both sides of the argument. With that said, the discussion in the media hasn't focused on at all on alternatives to the pipeline or on how we're building it. Are there any? It doesn't seem that way so it comes down to a do or don't do. Even though the pipeline won't be finished and producing until President Obama is significantly out of office, the call will have been his to make. He's not being completely honest with part of his base, and so that's the risk he takes politically, but we get it. He's trying to head off the politics of Keystone before he gets to the head to head with Mitt Romney, who Haley Barbour said is to be the nominee unless he steps on a landmine. (Even given the media downplaying of Rick Santorum winning big in the Louisiana primary yesterday.) Despite the reality that any President can not control gas prices, he's the one who gets blamed, and they all have thin skin on this issue, Mr. Obama being no exception. We guess what President Obama could say is that his policy on Keystone is just like one that Mitt Romney would agree with - I'm for the pipeline over here, but not over there, taking both sides.
Where the President will not, can not, should not play both sides is in the health care law debate. Right now, he is staying out of the argument while others make it in front of the Supreme Court this week. David Plouffe seemed confident that the Supreme Court would uphold the law, most probably calculating that the mostly conservative court could not possibly take the hit that they are partisan in their decisions, as it was perceived in the Citizens United case, and evident in the Bush vs. Gore decision.
We not going to underestimate the Supreme Courts capabilities in this case, they could very well repeal it, perception or no perception. What's funny is that Republicans are basically putting down what they in fact originally proposed, thanks to lefties like Bob Dole and Mitt Romney. Getting millions of more people into the market and potentially bringing costs down could be a bad thing. Our feeling is that Obamacare will be policy that years down the road will be one of those things, like Social Security, where everyone is saying, why wasn't this way before. Then is 40 more years, the whole thing will go haywire and we'll have to figure it out again.
Round table: Fmr. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R); head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous; NPR’s Michele Norris; presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and the New York Times’ David Brooks.
Post: We commend Rachel Maddow for her engaging in the conversation, through her book Drift, about America's constant state of war and the military superstructure that exists. The notion of Americans being comfortable with it is worrisome at the very least even though 60% of of the people say that we should get out of Afghanistan. It renders us with no moral high ground that we as Americans like to occupy, but in even cold financial terms, we spend too much money on the military superstructure. That's not the troops, who we need to spend more on, but the industries, contractors, and lobbies that push an agenda. What makes us slightly hopeful is that for all this to change, the conversation has to start somewhere and this one is starting in the right places. Way on one political side, the left, is Rachel Maddow talking about it. On the other end is Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul. If you could get those two in the same room, on the same page talking about this, people would take notice.
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