Sunday, July 28, 2013
7.28.13: Over the Limit
(Anthony Weiner Comment below)
Whether of not you agree with the president's economic agenda or not as outlined by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, there is one thing he said that is certainly true, which is that Americans are tired of self-made crises in Washington DC. However, sure enough (every one of today's guests conceded the point) we're going to have a fiscal fight in September when the Congress is set to vote of the debt limit.
As discussed, the president has hardened his position that he is not going to allow deep cuts in domestic programs for a debt ceiling deal while conversely, Speaker John Boehner is on record saying that the debt ceiling will not be raised without real spending cuts. With these two dug-in positions, you have to ask who has the leverage, the higher ground? Given Mr. Boehner's abysmal record so far as the Speaker, it's difficult to take what he says seriously because on any given issue, he is unable to rally his caucus, a caucus that has been unwilling to compromise with the Democratic party and more specifically the president. For his trouble, the president hasn't offered anything new with regard to his economic agenda, something for which the Washington press corps has knocked him, but the reason for that is because he hasn't gotten much of his agenda through. Despite that, the economy has come back, be it modestly overall - 2 percent. Even Maria Bartiromo, a fiscal conservative, nodded her head in agreement when David Axelrod asserted that the antics in Washington [Republican brinksmanship] is what is holding us back economically.
Compromise isn't an option at this point, something that everyone knows, so what's going to happen?
We find it hard to believe that the Republican-led House would willfully default on our debt thus tanking the economy by not raising the debt ceiling. The reasoning for this statement is obvious because you think to yourself that no one would in their right mind would do that. However, given the unpredictability of the House Republicans, we can not be 100 percent sure and therein lays the problem It's the same trepidation that big business feels - they're not a 100 percent sure the Republicans won't tank the economy - and that's the reason they're not investing back in the United States the great amount of capital they've accumulated.
Secretary Lew wouldn't answer Mr. Gregory's question as to whether or not the president would go to the brink on the economy in a debt ceiling fight, and frankly, he didn't have to. From the administration's point of view, they'd prefer an up or down vote on the debt ceiling extension. It's John Boehner who is playing the brinksmanship game because he's the one who has put conditions on even having the vote. One of those conditions is to completely defund the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which is not going to happen.
Mike Murphy stupidly said that the president has to make a painful ideological move [to the right] if we're ever to move forward, but why would he ever do that knowing full well that Republicans wouldn't make any such shift themselves.
Bottom line is that the Republicans will be blamed if there is a government shutdown. And we don't know about you but that means that we've defaulted on our debt and now we're all just deadbeats.
The backlash will come from all sides including from establishment conservatives in of the business and intellectual communities who may line up hard against the extreme ideologues, who simply don't understand that governing isn't a proposition of 'all or nothing' but one of 'more or less.' However, if they are not there to govern as many of them either confess or suggest, then they also don't understand that Republicans have the leverage to obtain 'more' in the equation. They could get the Keystone Pipeline and long-term cuts as Harold Ford suggested or the tax reform and lowering of the corporate tax as Ms. Bartiromo outlined.
Even given all the acrimony, you would think that lawmakers would come together on infrastructure and energy, but it's not to be. Mr. Lew threw out a significant statement that was left out there in the wind by Mr. Gregory (and the media at large), which is defense funding and the cutting of domestic programs to accomplish it. It's a larger conversation that we're not having as a country, but it is money that should be shifted to those two aforementioned sectors - energy and infrastructure. Enough of the build up abroad, how about it at home. It would go a long way in solving the growing crisis of income inequality (more on this to come in a separate column) in this country.
***
Never mind that Anthony Weiner's private sexual proclivities are flat out creepy and completely inappropriate for someone seeking high office, it's his public record that is almost as offensive. Democratic mayoral candidate City Council Speaker Christine Quinn pointed out that in 12 years in Congress, Anthony Weiner passed one bill. In 2000, members of Congress were paid $141,000 and have given themselves a raise just about every year since. As taxpayers' we invested about $2 million in Anthony Weiner over 12 years and we have one bill to show for it - the facts amongst the farce.
The point is that there is no redeeming quality to his candidacy in the slightest. What more can you say when just on today's program you hear words and phrases such as: absurd, reckless behavior, beyond the pale, delusional, shameful, disrespectful to voters, and insulting to describe Mr. Weiner's behavior.
Here's our message to Mr. Weiner - if you really care about New York City and its residents then stop embarrassing them and leave the race.
And as far as that clown in San Diego, Bob Fillner, is concerned, sexual harassment in the work place is an offense subject to immediate termination so why does he get to decide whether he stays or goes? He admitted his behavior has been going on for years - disgraceful.
Roundtable: former top strategist for President Obama, now NBC Senior Political Analyst David Axelrod; Host of CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” Maria Bartiromo; GOP strategist Mike Murphy; and former Democratic Congressman from Tennessee, Harold Ford.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
7.21.13: President Obama and Leadership on Race
There is no way that we could, or even would, consider making some grandiose statement on race relations in America in this column. Even if we strictly stuck to solely what was said on today's Meet The Press, it would still come off as trite, let's face it. However, much of the discussion today focused on whether or not President Obama has done enough to lead on the discussion of race relations, especially in the wake of the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin verdict in Florida (We've reprinted our comment on it from last week's column.) followed by the Justice for Trayvon rallies yesterday in 100 cities across the country.
Some conservatives have criticized the president's remarks on Friday to the White House press corps (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin) for politicizing the issue. More center-right, Michael Steele, who admitted that race was an underlining theme, said that he felt that the president dropped the ball on the discussion just as he did on the conversation about guns. Then on the president's left flank, Tavis Smiley said today that the president was pressured into making a statement, and it was too-little, too-late in his estimation. He said that on this issue the president could not afford to lead from behind. Mr. Smiley repeated that Barack Obama was the right man in the right place at the right time to have this discussion, and there should be no more waiting as the first black president.
Harvard Law professor Charles Ogeltree, who taught Mr. Obama, disagreed saying first 'to clarify' that Mr. Obama is a president who happens to be black, but that also he has now elevated Trayvon Martin as a symbol of racial profiling and injustice. Adding to this, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks declared the speech a symphony - touching on many points thoughtfully and personally.
The praise, as you can see, comes mostly for the speech so the question remains as to whether he's done enough overall. We would suggest that you look at it this way - Pragmatics is the study of implied meaning - what's really being said behind the words - and in that context Barack Obama is having a discussion on race every single day. Professor Ogletree's presidential sentiment above is nice because it does presume to put the content of Mr. Obama's character before the color of his skin, but in all honestly, and we all know it to be the truth, there are many out there thwarting his agenda simply based on the color of his skin. That fact that he has to continually wade through instances of prejudice and bigotry continually such as the Birther Movement. The only president in history to be pressured into showing his birth certificate. (How are conservatives going to react to a Senator Ted Cruz presidential candidacy since he was born in Canada?) Then there is disrespect shown to him by an idiot South Carolina Congressman who essentially called him a liar during a State of the Union address. Why is it that no other president in our lifetime has been shown such disrespect and loathing, from public officials no less, as Mr. Obama? If you don't think race plays a part in that, you're just denying an ugly truth about America.
And in addition those instances, and that's not even getting into the healthcare debate (if you can call it that), the constant complaint is that President Obama has no agenda and doesn't get anything done, which is really like stacking the deck even more. Yet, here we are, during his Administration it had been about 50 years since the last piece of major healthcare legislation came along, 30 years since the prospect of any major immigration reform, and it should have been 20 years since there was a major adjustment to our gun laws.
What we're saying is that on a certain level, Mr. Obama has to do everything he can to get some people to forget about race so that other important things can get done. In the face of that, the president ultimately made a profound, personal, and ultimately optimistic statement on the matter because he empathizes with the pain out there. He understands the anger being felt by a large part of our community and we should be glad he spoke to it. As Governor Granholm commented, he was explaining it to white people. As Dr. Ogletree said, the president did in fact elevate Trayvon Martin as a symbol of racial profiling and injustice, but it's because Mr. Obama is a rare position with a unique perspective. And because Trayvon Martin is not guilty for his own death as the verdict makes it out to be.
We would contend that since the then-Senator Barack Obama started the conversation on race in a speech in Philadelphia in March of 2008 up until Friday's remark in the White House Briefing Room, the conversation has never stopped.
Roundtable (first segment): Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans; Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Tavis Smiley, Host of the "Tavis Smiley Show" on PBS; Charles Ogletree, Professor at Harvard Law School; and Michael Steele, MSNBC Political Analyst and former Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Roundtable (second segment): Marc Morial, along with former Democratic Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, NBC’s Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent, Chuck Todd, and columnist for the New York Times David Brooks.
Some conservatives have criticized the president's remarks on Friday to the White House press corps (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin) for politicizing the issue. More center-right, Michael Steele, who admitted that race was an underlining theme, said that he felt that the president dropped the ball on the discussion just as he did on the conversation about guns. Then on the president's left flank, Tavis Smiley said today that the president was pressured into making a statement, and it was too-little, too-late in his estimation. He said that on this issue the president could not afford to lead from behind. Mr. Smiley repeated that Barack Obama was the right man in the right place at the right time to have this discussion, and there should be no more waiting as the first black president.
Harvard Law professor Charles Ogeltree, who taught Mr. Obama, disagreed saying first 'to clarify' that Mr. Obama is a president who happens to be black, but that also he has now elevated Trayvon Martin as a symbol of racial profiling and injustice. Adding to this, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks declared the speech a symphony - touching on many points thoughtfully and personally.
The praise, as you can see, comes mostly for the speech so the question remains as to whether he's done enough overall. We would suggest that you look at it this way - Pragmatics is the study of implied meaning - what's really being said behind the words - and in that context Barack Obama is having a discussion on race every single day. Professor Ogletree's presidential sentiment above is nice because it does presume to put the content of Mr. Obama's character before the color of his skin, but in all honestly, and we all know it to be the truth, there are many out there thwarting his agenda simply based on the color of his skin. That fact that he has to continually wade through instances of prejudice and bigotry continually such as the Birther Movement. The only president in history to be pressured into showing his birth certificate. (How are conservatives going to react to a Senator Ted Cruz presidential candidacy since he was born in Canada?) Then there is disrespect shown to him by an idiot South Carolina Congressman who essentially called him a liar during a State of the Union address. Why is it that no other president in our lifetime has been shown such disrespect and loathing, from public officials no less, as Mr. Obama? If you don't think race plays a part in that, you're just denying an ugly truth about America.
And in addition those instances, and that's not even getting into the healthcare debate (if you can call it that), the constant complaint is that President Obama has no agenda and doesn't get anything done, which is really like stacking the deck even more. Yet, here we are, during his Administration it had been about 50 years since the last piece of major healthcare legislation came along, 30 years since the prospect of any major immigration reform, and it should have been 20 years since there was a major adjustment to our gun laws.
What we're saying is that on a certain level, Mr. Obama has to do everything he can to get some people to forget about race so that other important things can get done. In the face of that, the president ultimately made a profound, personal, and ultimately optimistic statement on the matter because he empathizes with the pain out there. He understands the anger being felt by a large part of our community and we should be glad he spoke to it. As Governor Granholm commented, he was explaining it to white people. As Dr. Ogletree said, the president did in fact elevate Trayvon Martin as a symbol of racial profiling and injustice, but it's because Mr. Obama is a rare position with a unique perspective. And because Trayvon Martin is not guilty for his own death as the verdict makes it out to be.
We would contend that since the then-Senator Barack Obama started the conversation on race in a speech in Philadelphia in March of 2008 up until Friday's remark in the White House Briefing Room, the conversation has never stopped.
Roundtable (first segment): Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans; Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Tavis Smiley, Host of the "Tavis Smiley Show" on PBS; Charles Ogletree, Professor at Harvard Law School; and Michael Steele, MSNBC Political Analyst and former Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Roundtable (second segment): Marc Morial, along with former Democratic Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, NBC’s Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent, Chuck Todd, and columnist for the New York Times David Brooks.
7.21.13: Zimmerman-Martin Verdict Comment
(Reprinted from last week's column)
Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman Verdict
Ultimately, this is another victory for the gun. We, as an American society, have reached the point where the man with the gun, who fatally shoots someone, is given the benefit of the doubt in court. George Zimmerman had his say, and you would have to sadly conclude that the 'Stand Your Ground' law worked. This is the reason some are saying Mr. Zimmerman should have never been prosecuted in the first place.
A gun provided George Zimmerman with false sense of strength and the ego to believe that he was in control of circumstances when the truth is his actions came from a place of fear and he wasn't in control. And it is this kind of fear that is perpetuated and promoted by the NRA and the gun lobby that lead to these tragedies.
We can neither escape the key role race played in the entire case, and there is no amount of detail that we can go into here that would sufficiently cover all the aspects as it is even concerned strictly to this case. However, it's worthy to get on record the question: Why is it that most people in the country, the general consensus, believe that if the roles were reversed and it was Trayvon Martin in Mr. Zimmerman's position he would have surely been found guilty?
A jury of six determined that Mr. Zimmerman acted in self-defense, which implies that Mr. Martin, the guy with the Skittles, was the perpetrator? The absolution of any responsibility for Mr. Zimmerman is what's unjust in this case. But in America today, it's not about responsibility, it's all about blaming the other guy.
Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman Verdict
Ultimately, this is another victory for the gun. We, as an American society, have reached the point where the man with the gun, who fatally shoots someone, is given the benefit of the doubt in court. George Zimmerman had his say, and you would have to sadly conclude that the 'Stand Your Ground' law worked. This is the reason some are saying Mr. Zimmerman should have never been prosecuted in the first place.
A gun provided George Zimmerman with false sense of strength and the ego to believe that he was in control of circumstances when the truth is his actions came from a place of fear and he wasn't in control. And it is this kind of fear that is perpetuated and promoted by the NRA and the gun lobby that lead to these tragedies.
We can neither escape the key role race played in the entire case, and there is no amount of detail that we can go into here that would sufficiently cover all the aspects as it is even concerned strictly to this case. However, it's worthy to get on record the question: Why is it that most people in the country, the general consensus, believe that if the roles were reversed and it was Trayvon Martin in Mr. Zimmerman's position he would have surely been found guilty?
A jury of six determined that Mr. Zimmerman acted in self-defense, which implies that Mr. Martin, the guy with the Skittles, was the perpetrator? The absolution of any responsibility for Mr. Zimmerman is what's unjust in this case. But in America today, it's not about responsibility, it's all about blaming the other guy.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
7.14.13: Blaming the Other Guy
For
the purpose of actually having something real to say, it is a consolation that
the verdict of the George Zimmerman trial came last night (Our comment below).
The reason is because to listen to Senators Reid and McConnell this morning and
pretend that either actually had something important to offer would have been
too much.
Listening
to both of them, clearly illustrates why Congress's approval rating is lower
than North Korea's as Senator Reid said. Think about that... North Korea,
a dictatorship sworn to our destruction is actually more popular than American
leaders. Really?
Yes,
really... The main gist of the discussion today concerned potentially changing
the use of the filibuster in the Senate. Harry Reid (D-NV) has been threatening
to change the rule for Presidential nominees only, but then cited numbers for
the amount of filibusters Republicans have threatened on all legislation -
420. On the other hand, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) objected to the notion
that Mr. Reid was going to 'break the rules of the Senate to change the rules
of the Senate,' then noted that all the Senators were getting together tomorrow
to discuss these traditions. Blah blah blah...
Recently,
filibusters by Senator Rand Paul (on drones) and State Senator Wendy Davis (on
abortion law in Texas) made news because they were actual filibusters where the
individual took to the floor to extend the debate valiantly. Mr.
McConnell loves these kinds of discussions about filibusters because they
essentially hold up the entire legislative process so that nothing can get
done. From there it's easy to blame the President for any
non-progress. But have we ever seen him filibuster on the floor of the
Senate? Filibuster reform might not be necessary only if Senator Reid had
backbone enough to call Republicans' bluff. Don't fold at the threat of a
filibuster, force them to put up or shut up. Republicans wouldn't
filibuster as much if they actually had to stand there and keep the debate open
for 12 hours. Let the American people see this in action and then it will
be determined very quickly if our Senators are acting stupidly and if change is
really needed. All they did was blame each other for their chamber's
inability to accomplish anything.
Even
on the respective tough questions, both Senators gave non-answers. Senator
Reid said that he would look at a 20-week ban on abortion and wouldn't answer
either way to whether he thought it was reasonable. In other words, he
wasn't going to give an answer right then and there because he doesn't know how
it would play with his base.
Conversely,
Senator McConnell knows very well how his base feels about immigration so
that's the reason for his non-answer as to whether the House should vote on it
or not. They want the bill to be killed but Mr. McConnell can't say that
because it was created in his chamber with bipartisan cooperation and he's not going to throw his colleagues under the bus as it were.
Everyone on today's roundtable saw Immigration Reform as in trouble, meaning most likely dead in the House. Buttressing his joint column with William Kristol earlier in the week, Rich Lowry opined that the Immigration Bill from the Senate should be killed in the House because it doesn't completely eliminate illegal immigration, that in ten years we'll still have 7 million illegal immigrations. Well, if the process for citizenship takes 13 years to complete, it would stand to reason that ten years from now, we'd still have individuals listed as illegal. On the other hand, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt sees the Senate bill as essential not only for the country as a whole but for the future viability and success of the Republican party. For Republicans, there are your two directions - the Lowry or the Schmidt.
Round Table: Rich Lowry; Former Democratic Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson; President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden; and Republican Strategist as well as former senior strategist to the McCain-Palin campaign Steve Schmidt, and MSNBC's Al Sharpton
Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman Verdict
Ultimately, this is another victory for the gun. We, as an American society, have reached the point where the man with the gun, who fatally shoots someone, is given the benefit of the doubt in court. George Zimmerman had his say, and you would have to sadly conclude that the 'Stand Your Ground' law worked. This is the reason some are saying Mr. Zimmerman should have never been prosecuted in the first place.
A gun provided George Zimmerman with false sense of strength and the ego to believe that he was in control of circumstances when the truth is his actions came from a place of fear and he wasn't in control. And it is this kind of fear that is perpetuated and promoted by the NRA and the gun lobby that lead to these tragedies.
We can neither escape the key role race played in the entire case, and there is no amount of detail that we can go into here that would sufficiently cover all the aspects as it is even concerned strictly to this case. However, it's worthy to get on record the question: Why is it that most people in the country, the general consensus, believes that if the roles were reversed and it was Trayvon Martin in Mr. Zimmerman's position he would have surely been found guilty?
A jury of six determined that Mr. Zimmerman acted in self-defense, which implies that Mr. Martin, the guy with the Skittles, was the perpetrator? The absolution of any responsibility for Mr. Zimmerman is what's unjust in this case. But in America today, it's not about responsibility, it's all about blaming the other guy.
Postscript: The moderator David Gregory explained a misstatement he made on last week's program, and it was a whopping mistake. Last week, he said to Eugene Robinson that everyone is successfully being taxed for Obamacare, he said 'that part works,' while the other parts are troubled in their implementation. He clarified this week that not everyone is being taxed for Medicare expansion, only individuals and families making over $250,000 per year. It was a misstatement that essentially drove proponents of the law to the defensive unnecessarily and clouded the discussion.
Monday, July 08, 2013
7.7.13: Inner Turmoil
With all the respective panelists (see full list below) being more than on point, today's Meet The Press even exceeded our expectations for insightful commentary. However, the most disappointing [possibly read 'stupid' here] answers came unfortunately, or predictably, from the two United States politicians appearing on the program - Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with regard to Egypt and Congressman Raul Labrador (R-ID) on Immigration Reform and Healthcare.
The most succinct and accurate assessment of what is going on in Egypt came from Jeffrey Goldberg who said:
The events of last week are a victory for progressivism in a kind of way and a defeat for democracy... Obviously the Muslim Brotherhood is a totalitarian party fundamentalist party, anti-christian, misogynistic party. Let's not kid ourselves about what they are. Their removal from power is good in that country for christians and other minorities, but it also reflects a defeat for democracy in the following sense. We know that this is not going to be the last time the military intervenes in this process. And if there had just been some level of patience on the part of liberals, the muslim brotherhood might have imploded on its own accord. Now they're put in a position to be martyrs and move more radically and possibly get involved in terrorism like we see in Egypt.
He's correct but for one point: the liberals being more patient. If he was referring to liberals within Egypt, their patience was not required. The military's patience is what should have been required. And where Senator Menendez is so naive in his thinking is that he kept stressing an 'Egypt for All" moving forward in their political system. And possibly if President Morsi had called for early elections, a military coup (completely inexplicable that the Obama Administration would not call it that) would have not been necessary. The problem with that is, given Mr. Goldberg's correct characterization of the Muslim Brotherhood, new elections were not a possibility. But an 'Egypt for All' is not likely either. How are the Muslim Brotherhood going to be included? In their eyes, they should be controlling the government, for good or ill, so now the military says to them you can participate but you can not have power. Hmmm.... Sounds like the potential for another Hezbollah in Lebanon type situation, right? The Muslim Brotherhood will not go quietly into that desert night.
Senator Menendez supports the Obama Administration's efforts to assist Egypt in the formation of this new government. Way late to the party here. The Obama Administration's mistake was that when Hosni Mubarak was deposed, the United States stepped back, as Chuck Todd described. What they should have used the $1.4 billion in aid we give them as leverage to force the Morsi government to be more inclusive of the other political parties. No, we didn't do that, but now we're going to help set up a new government after a military coup. Shrewd moves the Obama Administration is definitely not making.
Robin Wright's statement that what happens in Egpyt will have major repercussions across the region so given that, those are the scenarios that the United States needs to contemplate and mitigate that as best as we can. However, going in their now as the country is falling apart (Dr. El Baradei's words), is not a mess we need and until they work it out internally we maybe shouldn't be diving into the deep end of the pool.
Tom Friedman, it should be noted, did make a good point in that Egypt is a pluralistic society that does not government to that pluralism, 'governing horizontally' as he called it, but it sounded too much like the pitch for his next book.
On Domestic Issues:
With the Obama Administration putting a hold on the employer mandate, Congressman Labrador had what he thought was more ammunition to denounce Obamacare, but he was incorrect in his assessment. He said that along with this mandate, nothing else in the law has worked, but that is simply denying fact. The Medicaid expansion for the states that accept is being implemented smoothly, a 25 year-old on his/her parents' health plan has saved considerably money, and individuals with preexisting conditions having the opportunity to buy insurance has added consumers into the pool. Granted that yes, Obamacare, isn't the best piece of legislation but unless you totally scrap employer insurance or private insurance for that matter, this is the direction we have to move. Conversely, and this can not be said enough, Republicans have not offered any sort of cohesive alternative proposal, and we can not continue on our current trajectory.
Then there was this exchange on Immigration between David Brooks and Congressman Labrador:
Not only did the conservative Congressman take a shot at Ronald Reagan (sacrilege in the party), but as Eugene Robinson correctly assessed, he's arguing for something that is just not possible. As we said in previous columns, even given some of the Senate Republicans' superfluous amendments, this bill is a worthy bipartisan effort, or as close as we're going to get. The long arduous process to citizenship that undocumented immigrants will have to endure is almost prohibitive in achieving, set by Marco Rubio. Or are we going to round up 11 million people and send them back over the border? Please. David Brooks provided you with the most succinct and accurate (ibid.) assessment as to why Republicans could support the bill. Sure, he got in a little dig there at the top, a bit of a passive aggressive one preemptively aimed at the Congressman, but he was correct.
Republicans fighting Republicans - you saw it right there in the clip. Speaker John Boehner won't bring the Senate bill to the House floor because he knows he doesn't have votes. You know he doesn't have Congressman Labrador's vote. Even on healthcare, Republicans are at odds as some conservative governors (see: Jan Brewer) are going to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Compromise within the party is now a toxic concept, let alone with Democrats, and until they work this out, we're all just treading water.
Roundtable Guests: Senior Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center, Robin Wright, Columnist for "The New York Times" Tom Friedman, Columnist for "Bloomberg View" and also with the "Atlantic" magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg (incorrectly listed on the MTP site), and from NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell and NBC Political Director Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd. Later - "The New York Times", David Brooks, Columnist for the "Washington Post," E.J. Dionne, " Washington Post" Columnist Eugene Robinson
The most succinct and accurate assessment of what is going on in Egypt came from Jeffrey Goldberg who said:
The events of last week are a victory for progressivism in a kind of way and a defeat for democracy... Obviously the Muslim Brotherhood is a totalitarian party fundamentalist party, anti-christian, misogynistic party. Let's not kid ourselves about what they are. Their removal from power is good in that country for christians and other minorities, but it also reflects a defeat for democracy in the following sense. We know that this is not going to be the last time the military intervenes in this process. And if there had just been some level of patience on the part of liberals, the muslim brotherhood might have imploded on its own accord. Now they're put in a position to be martyrs and move more radically and possibly get involved in terrorism like we see in Egypt.
He's correct but for one point: the liberals being more patient. If he was referring to liberals within Egypt, their patience was not required. The military's patience is what should have been required. And where Senator Menendez is so naive in his thinking is that he kept stressing an 'Egypt for All" moving forward in their political system. And possibly if President Morsi had called for early elections, a military coup (completely inexplicable that the Obama Administration would not call it that) would have not been necessary. The problem with that is, given Mr. Goldberg's correct characterization of the Muslim Brotherhood, new elections were not a possibility. But an 'Egypt for All' is not likely either. How are the Muslim Brotherhood going to be included? In their eyes, they should be controlling the government, for good or ill, so now the military says to them you can participate but you can not have power. Hmmm.... Sounds like the potential for another Hezbollah in Lebanon type situation, right? The Muslim Brotherhood will not go quietly into that desert night.
Senator Menendez supports the Obama Administration's efforts to assist Egypt in the formation of this new government. Way late to the party here. The Obama Administration's mistake was that when Hosni Mubarak was deposed, the United States stepped back, as Chuck Todd described. What they should have used the $1.4 billion in aid we give them as leverage to force the Morsi government to be more inclusive of the other political parties. No, we didn't do that, but now we're going to help set up a new government after a military coup. Shrewd moves the Obama Administration is definitely not making.
Robin Wright's statement that what happens in Egpyt will have major repercussions across the region so given that, those are the scenarios that the United States needs to contemplate and mitigate that as best as we can. However, going in their now as the country is falling apart (Dr. El Baradei's words), is not a mess we need and until they work it out internally we maybe shouldn't be diving into the deep end of the pool.
Tom Friedman, it should be noted, did make a good point in that Egypt is a pluralistic society that does not government to that pluralism, 'governing horizontally' as he called it, but it sounded too much like the pitch for his next book.
On Domestic Issues:
With the Obama Administration putting a hold on the employer mandate, Congressman Labrador had what he thought was more ammunition to denounce Obamacare, but he was incorrect in his assessment. He said that along with this mandate, nothing else in the law has worked, but that is simply denying fact. The Medicaid expansion for the states that accept is being implemented smoothly, a 25 year-old on his/her parents' health plan has saved considerably money, and individuals with preexisting conditions having the opportunity to buy insurance has added consumers into the pool. Granted that yes, Obamacare, isn't the best piece of legislation but unless you totally scrap employer insurance or private insurance for that matter, this is the direction we have to move. Conversely, and this can not be said enough, Republicans have not offered any sort of cohesive alternative proposal, and we can not continue on our current trajectory.
Then there was this exchange on Immigration between David Brooks and Congressman Labrador:
Not only did the conservative Congressman take a shot at Ronald Reagan (sacrilege in the party), but as Eugene Robinson correctly assessed, he's arguing for something that is just not possible. As we said in previous columns, even given some of the Senate Republicans' superfluous amendments, this bill is a worthy bipartisan effort, or as close as we're going to get. The long arduous process to citizenship that undocumented immigrants will have to endure is almost prohibitive in achieving, set by Marco Rubio. Or are we going to round up 11 million people and send them back over the border? Please. David Brooks provided you with the most succinct and accurate (ibid.) assessment as to why Republicans could support the bill. Sure, he got in a little dig there at the top, a bit of a passive aggressive one preemptively aimed at the Congressman, but he was correct.
Republicans fighting Republicans - you saw it right there in the clip. Speaker John Boehner won't bring the Senate bill to the House floor because he knows he doesn't have votes. You know he doesn't have Congressman Labrador's vote. Even on healthcare, Republicans are at odds as some conservative governors (see: Jan Brewer) are going to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Compromise within the party is now a toxic concept, let alone with Democrats, and until they work this out, we're all just treading water.
Roundtable Guests: Senior Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center, Robin Wright, Columnist for "The New York Times" Tom Friedman, Columnist for "Bloomberg View" and also with the "Atlantic" magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg (incorrectly listed on the MTP site), and from NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell and NBC Political Director Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd. Later - "The New York Times", David Brooks, Columnist for the "Washington Post," E.J. Dionne, " Washington Post" Columnist Eugene Robinson
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