7.12.15: The Ted Cruz Interview

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) used the term 'true believer' to describe President Barack Obama when praising the president's passion when it came to fighting for what he believed in.  Then in the next breath, Mr. Cruz praised Donald Trump for being the one to bring up the immigration debate.

These two points speak directly to why Mr. Cruz would not be a good president and by extension a poor candidate and even by extending further a failed leader in the Senate.

First, Mr. Cruz lacks sound and shrewd tactics on every political level.  In coming out in support of Donald Trump, he is illustrating poor judgement of sound political tactics.  In the case of the government shutdown, he bullied through the door getting his shutdown over healthcare and then embittered other Republicans because he had no endgame. For his filibuster all it is remembered for - the joke clip that will be forever used in b-roll - is when he recited Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.  Poor Tactics.

Another point is that he doesn't, or isn't willing to, recognize how people view him, he has very little self-awareness, which is interesting in as much as it's a trait of being cocky, a state of being he thought he shed when he said that he wasn't picked to serve in the Bush Administration; being the "Michael J. Fox in American President." The Bush Administration didn't want Ted Cruz because he is the true believer himself, and they certainly were not, not on small government and social issues.  Mr. Cruz wanted to be the one saying, "Do the right thing, Mr. President," and that's exactly what they didn't need.

We respect the fact that Mr. Cruz remains strong in his convictions and political beliefs, though with many we disagree. However, it is difficult to take those views seriously when such buffoonery occurs trying to impose those views on resistant forces.  If President Obama is as to the left as Mr. Cruz says he is being his polar opposite on the right, the Senator from Texas doesn't seem to recognize what separates the two of them when comparing levels of success. Mr. Obama seems the long game and prepares for a long debate - plans long and sees long. And his administration is keenly aware of what people are saying - constantly pushing buttons to influence thinking.

Speaking of influencing thinking, it's never going to happen when you propose that judges should run for election as Mr. Cruz did. This is even a matter of bad tactics as much as it is just simply a stupid idea, not thought out for even a second.

At the very cynical least, in his defense of Donald Trump, Mr. Cruz makes the unforced error of also offending the Hispanic community, one where he should be a leader, and not understanding that he would need those votes. Unlike Rand Paul, Ted Cruz makes no attempt to speak effectively to constituency groups that have different views from his own. You can't lead America if you don't want to consider and talk to most Americans.

As for the rest, you get the point...

(full post on this week's "Meet The Press" coming shortly.)

6.29.15: Supreme Court Decisions in 'Just Another' American Week

What a week... Or ten days as it were...

-Republicans siding with President Obama on the Pacific trade pact
-Confederate Flags being removed from state houses throughout the South
-The Supreme Court uploading a provision of Obamacare, essentially saving it
-ISIS orchestrating three near simultaneous terror attacks in three continents - Tunisia, Yemen and
  France
-The return of the Supreme Court to render that marriage equality is the law of the land
-President Obama delivering an inspired foundation-grounding eulogy for Reverend Clementa
  Pinkney leading the congregation through "Amazing Grace"

And those are even come close to covering it... Welcome to the world.

The moderator, Chuck Todd, had it correct that these past ten days cement President Obama's legacy and also bring it into distinct focus, the good and the bad.

The two Supreme Court decisions were to be expected, frankly.  The Obamacare challenge should have never even come up, but that it had and now that the court has issued its ruling, repeal mentioned by Governor Bobby Jindal in his interview today (R-LA) is not a political reality. And the only thing that Republicans are gathering consensus is a feeling of relief. Now that the court has ruled they can continue to rhetorically oppose the law without the responsibility of coming up with a viable alternative.  Obamacare may be flawed, for certain, but the truly disingenuous political games that Republicans have been playing - e.g. wasting time and tax payers' money with 50+ votes for repeal in the House - make you want to root for the law's success.

Though Justice John Roberts said that people across the country can celebrate the decision but not the reading of the Constitution that brought the decision about. Once again we turn to Mr. Jindal who said that he strongly opposes the Supreme Court's ruling because it's an attack on religious liberty and how it could man redefine an institution created by God? Obviously, five justices disagreed with Judge Roberts but even given the conflict of interpretation, in a less binding but equally significant document, the Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal," which we now rightfully include women, understanding that it means both.  For Mr. Jindal's part, the notion that religious liberty is being thwarted in some way is ridiculous because when you consider and equate religious liberty to religious tolerance, the United States is more religiously tolerant than ever before. And marriage is a man-made tradition inspired by a belief in God, but still man-made which can be changed.

Mr. Jindal also explained that when it comes to race relations in the United States, he has spoken many times on the subject and is a strong advocate of racial equality.  This is great that Mr. Jindal believes that no one in the United States should be discriminated against based on race, but gender and sexual identity is a completely different story? He mentioned the first amendment and if his reasoning for being against marriage equality is because it goes against God then that's a potential attack on that very amendment, which says that no law shall be made with respect to religion. (Our first amendment is quite pliable.)

It may seem like a lot of rapid social change going on a once, but the reality is that both racial and sexual-orientation justice have been a long long time in the making, as Newt Gingrich pointed out in the case of gay rights with the riots of Stonewall occurring 46 years ago. He also said that once same-sex marriage started happening in one state, there was no going back and that it was a just a matter of time before all states recognized it.

It has been all those little unrecognized transformational moments, drawn from pain from agony, that have come before to deliver 'just another one' like those delivered upon this week.

As for the Confederate Flag, we think you know where we stand. In the laws of social physics, there's only so much pressure that can build up before things blow [read: change dramatically]. 

With regard to Mr. Obama's presidency, his legacy and the credit to be given, the panel considered the term 'transformational.' His presidency is hyper-historic and his legacy, two defining aspects will be the Affordable Care Act and the significant social change that happened during his two terms. Kathleen Parker posed the question as to how much credit President Obama should receive for all this. We'd come down on the answer of 'a lot' but not 'all.' The president gets the credit because it is his administration that sets the tone, makes the arguments, presents the agendas and forces its position requiring others to respond. 

Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) response was to call this week's one of the darkest in our history. Mr. Jindal said that if the country wanted to save money, it should get rid of the court as it is reading neither the Constitution nor the dictionary; if so, what makes him think they are reading the Bible either? It's not required reading for the justices. Mr. Todd asked him why Louisiana is the only state not to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple, Mr. Jindal responded by trying to dismiss this fact and half-heartedly gave a few 'procedural' answers. 

But the real reason is that he doesn't like it hence the state is dragging its feet, a passive aggressive move not good if you're running for president; all because he believes it goes against the teachings of the Bible. Now that's taking religious liberties.


Panel: Charles Ogletree, Harvard University; Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post; Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University; Newt Gingrich, Republican at Large


Quick Note...

Governor Jindal and Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) for that matter getting into the presidential race will bring the official count for the 'why not me' primary to 14, and this number doesn't include probable entrant Governor Scott Walker (R-WI).  First, at 15 hopefully the party will feel it's reached its quota for candidates. We sit and hear the argument for Mr. Walker, but Mr. Jindal and Mr. Christie? Please, why?  They must be running for cabinet positions, in which the joke would be on us when Mr. Christie is appointed Secretary of Transportation. Secondly, this many candidates with bomb-throwing tempers could have a gladiatorial political death effect on some careers.  But what ever, why not me?

6.21.15: Deflecting and Diffusing Questions Doesn't Work on Us Anymore

Even though Mr. Todd prefaced the video by saying that it only featured African-American men, but it was in no way a comment about the racial component of gun violence.  As managing editor, Mr. Todd made the wrong decision in choosing to air it with given its inadequate representation of diversity. All the caveats and explanations given before are not going to overcome the visual presentation.  Despite David Brooks becoming choked up, the backlash was to be expected.

We understand the message of the video and the heart of it seems well placed, but for a national audience on "Meet The Press" given what just happened in Charleston, it showed poor judgement not recognizing an obvious shortcoming.

The goal of showing the video was to further the discussion and although it did not turn out how the "Meet The Press" intended, it was successful in extending the discourse in as much as that whites should have that honest conversation with themselves about their attitudes toward race.  There is a constant posture of deflect and diffuse, to be so careful in what one says that nothing actually gets said, hence nothing done.  Eugene Robinson shouldn't have to point out that this was a racist act of terror perpetrated by a white man and that the two murders who recently escaped prison were also white.  Helene Cooper apologized for her cynical answer when it came to guns control law, because she reasoned that if we weren't going to pass any meaningful gun laws after twenty kindergarten kids were senseless murdered then why we would do anything after a white guy guns down 9 African-Americans in a church.  However, she shouldn't have apologized because it stems from the frustration that we all feel in our leaders who are beholden to the gun lobby (among others).

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee offered very little in the form of consolation in term of having an honest dialogue about race as he deflected question after question avoiding giving an honest answer on everything during his interview.  When asked about the Confederate flag flying over the South Carolina state house, he said that it was a matter of states' rights. And we understand that Mr. Huckabee is a man of faith and we don't begrudge him that, but faith alone is not going to solve the problem.  He also said that there were bigger issues to be addressed like the economy and defense of the country. But isn't he missing (or denying) the point entirely? The Confederate flag is a symbol of racism for many in this country and it is a touchstone in the conversation about race relations in this country, which is a major issue.  It's disconcerting that Mr. Huckabee is not more sensitive to this social dynamic and what has been going on in cities across the United States.  Mr. Huckabee keeps a rational tone when giving non-answers to questions or, as we explained before, deflecting to a different topic, but it makes us conclude that he would govern very differently from what he is selling on the campaign trail, at least when in the national eye.

One more point on this: Mr. Huckabee doesn't believe in man-made climate change and instead of addressing Mr. Todd's question about whether he agreed with Pope Francis on the subject, he instead talked about responsible energy policy, which sounds nice but there was nothing concrete in his answer. When pressed again about it, he said that the Pope covered many topics like abortion, and then he went on about that.

We happen to agree with Pope Francis that man's activity are accelerating climate change, between all the greenhouse gas emissions and the plastic island the size of Texas, three-feet deep, floating in the Pacific Ocean most certainly are created by man and neither is good for the health of the planet.  And let us also point out that we strongly disagree with any politician saying that the Pope shouldn't weigh in on political issues; lest we remind them that not only is the head of the Catholic Church, but he's also a head of state, the Vatican state.


[On a programming note, today's "Meet The Press" had a great panel - all journalists - and what would have made the Mike Huckabee interview better would have been if he actually met the press and each panelist asked one question of the candidate.  It's part of our general feeling that the panel isn't utilized enough or quite appropriately. Take out one of the shorter segment - don't do them every week - and extend the interview when it's an interview of significance.  (Which makes us think, maybe Mr. Huckabee doesn't meet that criteria.)]

And a little bit more on the Confederate Flag... Leave it again to Eugene Robinson to educate us and explain that the flag has only been flying above the state house since 1961.  He explained that it was basically a 'middle finger' to the Federal Government in response to Civil Rights legislation.  Another reason that it should come immediately: The entire motivation for flying it again was because of prejudice.

And for the record, Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC) pointed out that the stars and bars isn't actually the flag of the Confederacy but a battle flag.  Well, the South may have started with one, but they certainly ended with another.  We've pasted both in below so you know what the real one looks like.  However, one shouldn't be replaced with the other - both still need to go.

Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; David Brooks, The New York Times (columnist); Gerald Seib, The Wall Street Journal; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post.


A couple more notes...
1. We're in simply wonder of the strength that these grieving families have in the wake of this unspeakable act.  To even come on the program and speak with such love, dignity, and yes, faith speaks to the best of this country.

2. He was mentioned ever so briefly during the program, but Donald Trump's candidacy will be short-lived, mark our words.  And ask yourself, after giving such an insidious race-baiting speech, then having nothing constructive to say after the tragedy in Charleston, would you vote for such a person?  That's an example of representing the worst of America.

6.19.15: Bury The Confederate Flag

Congressman (former Governor) Mark Sanford (R-SC) said that the Confederate Flag is a very complicated issue for the people of South Carolina.  He said that while he understands that some may view it as a symbol of racism, others view it as a symbol of the heritage of the state and of state’s rights or that it serves as a reminder that someone’s great great grandfather fought and died in a uniquely American war.

Those are cowardly reasons.  The fact is that the Civil War has been over for 151 years and the South lost.  Let me repeat: The South lost.

And the continuing “tribute” to the Southern soldiers who fought and died in the war is not honorable at all.  While surely brave, those soldiers fought and died under the banner of the Confederate flag for a cause to perpetuate enslavement of other people, other Americans as it turns out.  Your great, great grandfather who fought for the South was not fighting for a noble cause, so these soldiers should be remembered not celebrated.  And the Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy, should be appropriately relegated to the discarded ashes of history.

All this poetic lead up is almost frivolous to the essential question for white South Carolinian politicians right now, which is “What are you so afraid of in getting rid of that racist symbol?”  What? Your white constituents will vote you out of office?  If that’s your worry then your leadership skills should be brought into question.  And if you support that symbol, then categorize yourself appropriately – bigot at the least, racist at the utmost.

Honestly, it doesn’t take that much courage to vote to have it removed, and every excuse for keeping it simply illustrates bigotry on the part of the person supporting these ‘reasons.’  Any Southern politician who defends the continued flying of the Confederate flag is a coward, pure and simple.

Obviously, I’m not from the South (I lived there - South Carolina as a matter of fact, beautiful state, wonderful people - but I'm not from there) so I must not understand the nuance and history… but what really is there to understand?  I mean, really?  

It’s funny that in a country that can not remember history of three years ago, somehow can not seem to let go this particularly horrible aspect of our past.

Here’s a history lesson: At the time of the Revolution, representatives from the Northern colonies proposed the elimination of slavery, but the only way to get the Southern colonies on board in collective defiance of England was to declare African-Americans as three-fifths of a person.  A ludicrous notion, but that was the compromise.  So when someone says that the civil war was about more than just the ownership of other humans, the other factors are all ones that could have been negotiated without firing a shot.

It’s time to completely bury this symbol of the Confederacy.  It doesn’t serve as a cautionary reminder of what we all call the original sin of the United States.  It’s continued display only empowers bigotry without penance.

But what do I know...

The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/19/why-south-carolinas-confederate-flag-isnt-at-half-mast-after-church-shooting/?tid=hp_mm&hpid=z3

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/us/charleston-shooting-reignites-debate-about-confederate-flag.html?rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article

6.14.15: Relationships Matter

It feels like forever since we've written a piece so we're so glad to be back.  What's odd is that we haven't written in three weeks but have only missed one show, which was on the 31st of May, a "Campaign Special," which would have to be programmed over multiple dates because of the ridiculous number of Republican candidates, and Jeb Bush is set to announce tomorrow... But we always knew that he would.

We would count Jeb Bush in the 'good candidate' column, as opposed to say Ted Cruz who would be placed in the 'stupid candidate' list. Unfortunately, you can not separate them in these terms for the purposes of a debate.  There would be the policy debate and a separate one called the red meat debate.  But Mr. Bush is a good candidate for Republicans. That's not to say we think he's going to win or that we agree with his policies, no.  What we are saying is that he's conservative but has some more moderated views very different from his base, namely immigration.  Let's face it, if Republicans want to win the presidency, it's going to take a moderate candidate.  It's a complete fallacy to believe that someone like Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum or the aforementioned Mr. Cruz could ever be elected.  We sure they're nice people (well, maybe not Mr. Cruz), but they would all be horrible as presidents of the United States.  Mitt Romney in his interview explained his previously use of the term 'chaos' as a description of the Republican primary in 2012.  He said that Republicans attacking Republicans makes things messy.

There's also the other thing with Mr. Bush - Jeb! There isn't any reference to 'Clinton' in Hillary's logo either.  Obviously, these dynasty candidates (one of the themes of today's program) have to shed a bit of the baggage that comes with their sir names; there is no doubt.  But make no mistake, it's much more difficult to overcome the association to disastrously imbecilic foreign policy that was the Iraq War than it is being associated with the 'go-go' 90's.  Interestingly, Mr. Obama's campaign logo was all about his last name, the big 'O.'

Mr. Todd put a lot of focus on the number of issues Mrs. Clinton covered in her rally speech on yesterday and the amount of time put toward each.  But this is the first rally of her campaign, the first of many to come so of course she's going to cover a lot of bases.  Mrs. Clinton will follow the standard candidate model with signature speeches coming in specific locations; e.g. Mr. Obama's speech in Philadelphia on the topic of race. This kind of drill down with regard to her kick-off campaign rally is unnecessary. 

The reason we bring it up is that in the last month (calender), Meet The Press hasn't discussed (especially this week) the big looming decisions that are about to be issued by the Supreme Court - one addressing same-sex marriage and marriage equality in all of the country and the other with regard to Obamacare.  The latter effects some 6 to 7 million people.  And not a word...  Is this on Mr. Todd or the producers? Both, probably.  If overlooked, it's like not hitting a pitcher throwing a grapefruit; and if a choice not to include, a poor one.

The panel agreed, obviously Stephanie Cutter, that no one gives a speech like Mr. Obama and for Mrs. Clinton to try and match that, it would be embarrassing.  But what came out of the discussion is worth mentioning.  Andrea Mitchell explained that Mrs. Clinton is portraying herself as a fighter [for the middle class].  Then the comment came that she would be the one to finish things that Barack Obama started but didn't have the mettle to complete.  In other words, one could say he was laying the groundwork.  We don't totally buy that.  And we do not agree with Hugh Hewlitt who assesses Mrs. Clinton's term as Secretary of State as a disaster.  By no means was it great, but picking up at the tail end of the Iraq War really handicap your odds of success.  Was she laying the groundwork for now Secretary Kerry?  One could argue, yes.

And since we're headed in that direction, it brings us to the subject of trade and this week's vote in the House.  What happened was that Democrats didn't back the president's wish for the administration to first negotiate a trade deal with other countries, fast track it, before bringing it to Congress for approval.  So when William Daley pointed out that it's smart for Mrs. Clinton to not comment, he's right because there is no trade deal per se.  This was all about the parameters in which the president is allowed to negotiate.

You could say that if all it does is give the president the ability to negotiate first, but Congress still has final say, then why not let the administration have that ability?  If it were only so easy.  If the administration has the ability to bring up trade deals with a sole up or down vote, because that's how it could be - a take it or leave, then it's a no-win situation for anyone in any aisle in Congress.  Remember, congresspeople have to live with these deals, presidents don't.  The last major trade deal was NAFTA, where President Bill Clinton got a lot of Republican votes, which candidate Hillary Clinton would now oppose.  Manufacturing in the United States suffered terribly from NAFTA.

But President Obama needed this negotiating power, because it's the only way something that needs to get down, actually happens.  Mr. Daley is wrong, we completely agree with Andrea Mitchell, in that relationship building is vitally important to be effective at your job, even if your job is President of the United States. We understand that Mr. Obama would be reticent to reach out to Republicans after conservative leaders let pass some really despicable language during the presidential campaigns and the 'You lie' and all that.  But to not be constantly reaching out to Democrats so that you not only know them but more importantly they know you, then how would you expect them to back you? Essentially, giving you full control of foreign economic policy.  When we put it like that, even Republicans would take pause before giving Mr. Obama that kind of power... and they were for it.

Mr. Romney admitted today that one of the flaws in his campaign was that he didn't reach out to minority voters soon enough, and we would add as much as he should have.  As a incredibly success businessman, one where the moderator of the program nominates you to head FIFA, he should have known that when doing business with lots of different groups, one has to tackle the most difficult relationships first. 

Relationships matter because if you have the right one, then you might just have the money to run for president.


Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Hugh Hewlitt, conservative commentator; Stephanie Cutter, former Obama Administration official; Evan Thomas, author


One Last Thing:  In addition to the high reverence we place on Meet The Press in calling it the 'news program of record' (being the first television program), one other big reason we started this blog is the tremendous respect we have for Tim Russert's approach to politics.  It inspired us (me) to comment and has continued to do so these years after his passing.

5.17.15: Which Candidate Can Lead America's Rebuilding?

Just when you think you know what you're talking about, Jeb Bush comes out and has the highest profile worst week of any presidential candidate. In last week's column, discussing “Meet the Press's” ‘donor series’ featuring Sheldon Adelson, we had said that Jeb Bush seemed to be the safe bet based on what Sheldon Adelson was looking for in a candidate. But after this week, Jeb Bush may have really taken himself out of the running. We disagree with Chuck Todd when he said of Mr. Bush’s statements today that right now it is relevant but down the line not so much. We think that this will continue to be relevant throughout the entire primary season and it's definitely going to loom large in the first debate, whether Jeb Bush participates in that first one or not.

And the reason is because video exists. Megyn Kelly of Fox News asked Mr. Bush if he knew then what he knows now, would he have made the same decision as his brother, George W and gone to war. Jeb Bush, for his part, was prepared for an Iraq question but not phrased that way – we’ll give him that. He had prepared for, would you have done the same with the intelligence available at the time? We fully understand that he either misheard it or interpreted it wrong or somehow heard the question that he wanted to hear, but in our opinion, either way the answer should have been ‘no.’  The conservative-friendly answer that he should have given in the first place was ‘knowing what we know now, we would have not gone into Iraq, but four days later was plenty of time for other Republican candidates to attack him from all flanks.

With the exception of Jeb Bush, all the other candidates have Monday morning quarterbacked the Iraq War efficiently enough for Americans know where each one stands. So instead of ‘relevant now, not relevant later’ this could be the week we look back and say Jeb Bush took himself out of the running.

In the interview with Rand Paul, he didn't go as far as to say that we are better off with dictators in the Middle East, but certainly affirmed as much. Let's face it, we let the genie out of the bottle in the Middle East and the radicals killed the genie. The only thing that we agreed with Sarah Fagan today was that Rand Paul was asking the right question of Hillary Clinton, which was ‘knowing what you know now would you go into Libya?’

Getting back to Iraq for a moment, the reason that we had this Delta force operation over the weekend goes back to George W. Bush's decision to invade, as will all operations moving forward against ISIS.  We agree that the symbolism and psychological effective of this successful attack where Delta force soldiers went deep into ISIS territory, killed their chief financier, grabbed a wealth of information and captured his wife is incredibly significant… and incredibly risky. For the U.S. military to commit to such an operation, the CIA must have been convinced that knowing what this man knew was vital in defeating ISIS .If one U.S. soldier were captured the consequences of that would have escalated military involvement tenfold within a month.

Returning to presidential candidates for a moment and thinking about the foreign policy and domestic economic challenges that the United States faces, we examine the full presidential field of candidates - both Republican and Democrat. We don't see any of these individuals being able to significantly move the needle in a way that positively affects the lives of middle-class, and aspiring middle-class, Americans.

The panel today was absolutely right about Hillary Clinton in that she has not put forward a vision for where she wants to take this country. She's not out there answering questions we don't know what her ideas are. Helene Cooper she is seeing Mrs. Clinton making the same mistakes as she did in 2008, which is disturbing and has to be really discouraging for all of her supporters. That there is no alternative challenge for her is a major problem. And in terms of the Republican field, we look across the entire scope and don't see one individual that is capable of leading all of America - not just the Republican Party, but all Americans. We just don't see it.

It is beyond our comprehension that not one of these candidates has come out and unequivocally said that we need to improve the infrastructure of this country.  The United States has to reorganize its priorities and sacrifice to do this.  Since Republicans control both the House and Senate, we comprehend their wantonness to cut taxes, but there are so many tax dollars at the top of the chain that are not collected that could help this country rebuild its infrastructure.

A graphic on today's program outlined that most of the train travel in this country is done in Democratic states, making Republicans less inclined to vote for train transportation. This is ridiculous and divisive. Most train travel occurs in California and the Northeast corridor. The Northeast corridor is responsible for 1/5 of the economy - 20%. California is the eighth largest economy in the world. Yet, our leaders do not seem to understand the implication of those statistics, and the necessity of this public transportation. In these terms, they just suck.

The sad, end result of the Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia is Washington voices such as House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) rhetorically asking why we would extend funding for Amtrak and Republicans accusing Democrats of politicizing the issue. This was political as soon as it happened.   

What American people are really saying is that we don’t want it to be political; we just want better, safer ways to get around and nicer trains.  

Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) is on to the right idea.

Panel: Tom Friedman, The New York Times; David Axelrod, fmr. senior Advisor to President Obama; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Sara Fagen, fmr. White House Political Director 

5.10.15: Behind Every Other Industrialized Nation... Almost

Given the fact that some of our Congressional leaders have openly admitted to never using email, which is to sing nothing of social media, it's not surprising that ISIS has a more effective presence and messaging when it comes to social media in its initiative to recruit followers. As Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) outlined, there are ISIS supporters in all 50 states according to the FBI, and you can imagine that most of those supporters have been contacted through social media. She also explained that it takes 30 agents to monitor and follow a single terrorist suspect. Well, we hope that they can survey of more than one person at a time because if that's not the case then the FBI is in effect greatly outnumbered.

On June first, the Patriot Act expires so this month Congress will be debating the renewal of this legislation. Obviously the key sticking point is the NSA data surveillance. The bottom line there is no matter what law is passed, what amendment is made to that part of the law, and no matter what court deems unconstitutional the NSA is still going to collect data. That's all you need to know so you as an individual must act accordingly with this knowledge and awareness.

In terms of Meet The Press's constant omnipresent topic, presidential politics, what does this mean?  This brings us to two of the program's feature series - one old, one new.  In the 'Meet The Candidate' series, Chuck Todd spoke with Carly Fiorina, fmr. CEO of Hewlett-Packard.  As we've said before many times in this column, Carly Fiorino is not qualified to be president, but we will say that she  defended herself quite well when Chuck Todd grilled her on her record as CEO of HP. As Mrs. Fiorina described it, her firing was a board room brawl... that she lost. Look at it this way - a group of business leaders looked at another business leader running a company that they have money invested in, and came to the consensus conclusion that Mrs. Fiorina was a weak link and had to go. But overall, throughout the course of the interview today, we realized that Mrs. Fiorina knows full weel she has no real shot at the presidency so really her goal is an advisory role and or potential cabinet position in the cabinet of administration provided the eventual Republican nominee becomes president.

So if not Carly Fiorina, then who will be the Republican nominee? This brings us to the new feature series introduced this week on "Meet the Press" - The Donor Series focusing on the billionaire donors that enable all kinds of candidates to put their hat in the ring for the office of the president of the United States. Apparently, we have enough of these people now with high enough profiles that it is worthy of a whole feature series, and first up is casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. It's people like this who will at the very least decide the Republican nominee for president. From Mr. Todd's description Mr. Adelson is fiscally conservative but socially liberal which would indicate that he is actually looking for a candidate that more or less resembles Bill Clinton. Nevada veteran political reporter Mark Ralston said that the billionaire's criticism of the Clintons has been muted, not like his very vocal dislike of Barack Obama.  But here's the rub, Hillary Clinton the candidate is going to run way to the left of Bill Clinton's positions as president so with that in mind there is no way Mr. Adelson wants Mrs. Clinton as president and has said as much.  Mr. Adelson spent $100 million trying to defeat Barack Obama and still was unable to do it. This time around he'll be much more careful with his money not propping up hollowed out candidates like Newt Gingrich who was as a candidate all surface and completely no substance. Chuck Todd and Mr. Ralston, who is great for this kind of perspective, threw around names like Marco Rubio and Scott Walker. But as Mr. Ralston explained, Mr. Adelson wants to see how candidates perform first. But Rubio and Walker don't quite fit the bill for Mr. Adelson so what it seems he's looking for, to use his parlance, is a safer bet... Jeb Bush.

There's a lot of money on the line for these candidates who want to swim in the billionaire pool. What really hurts is that we're talking about a $3 trillion election and billionaire donors when in the last segment they were discussing the inability of families to afford quality child care, that mother's do not receive paid maternity leave, which is a travesty. In a survey conducted by the Save The Children Foundation, their index showed that the United States is number 33 on a list of countries that rank good places to be a mom. (Norway was number one.) That disappointing statistic was following by the ever too familiar refrain delivered by Mr. Todd that "the United States is behind every other industrialized nation" in terms of conditions for motherhood.  "Behind every other industrialized nation" seems to be a place that the United States has solidified for itself, maybe with the one exception of wasting money on elections. 

Panel: Matt Bai, Yahoo News; Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post; Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post; Michael Steele, former RNC Chair.

5.3.15: Baltimore and a Wake Up

Could the mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake overall handled the the protests, unrest, and violence better? Of course, but it serves little if no purpose to to Monday morning quarterback her every move, if you’re not on the ground seeing it for yourself. The only exception would be her statement earlier in the week, in which she implied that she would give ‘space’ to the protesters for destructive purposes. She walked back the statement several times, including on today’s program, but that was clearly liberalism taken one step too far inasmuch it’s good to give people the right to protest and comprehending why they are angry but destroying property does no one any good. Mayor Rawlings-Blake has seen her profile in the Democratic party ascend as of late, but disappointingly (but like most all of us) she has been better when she’s in control of her message, but not so good when she has to answer questions under pressure. That aside, it’s now the imperative of the mayor to bring the city back to healing and heading in the right direction.

For always giving answers that, in fact, answer nothing ever, it was almost refreshing to hear the Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) agree with Chuck Todd that the violence that police have committed and discrimination that they've shown toward the black community is at a crisis level because it is.

But as it was aptly noted, no one can agree on what the problem is, but the ‘problems’ are systemic. NPR's April Ryan mentioned that a holistic approach is needed to solve the many problems, and that’s true but a good start would be first respecting that black males’ lives matter and then doing everything we can to help people find employment.  We’re strong believers in the concept that having a job instills a sense of dignity in oneself.  Author Wes Moore explained that the definition of what is a family has to change suggesting a network of caring adults from parents to caretakers to teacher that take an interest in children because the structure of the family has changed so much.  

Mr. Boehner said that if the problems that exist in the inner cities or simply a matter of money, these problems would have been solved long ago. But then some one duly notes that the United States invests more money into the Middle East for reconstruction and training than it does here at home, and whole thing just makes you shake your head.  Why it is that the one thing that everyone in the middle class and below knows is that it’s simply more and more difficult to get by because wages hardly increase.  It’s time that our elected officials start allocating more resources to our own constituents instead of into places where most all Americans will never go.

Everyone is hoping that seeing Baltimore on fire for a week will signal the beginning of the end of indiscriminant police brutality and inner city uprisings – for healing and change to start.  However, we’re afraid that this is only the beginning and that Baltimore is another larger lid-shaking bubble - one that has followed Florida and Ferguson and New York and North Charleston - in an ever more disruptively boiling pot.  This is Baltimore and a wake up.

Panel: Tom Brokaw; NBC News; April Ryan, NPR; Kim Strassel; The Wall Street Journal; Wes Moore, Author

On a lighter note… Ms. Strassel said that is not unlikely that one of the individuals declaring a candidacy for president this week could remain relevant late into the primary process.  Let’s hope her assessment is incorrect for all our sakes.  Declaring a presidential run this week will be Mr. Ben Carson, a brilliant neurosurgeon who makes statements so ridiculous on a variety of topics, you’re simply not sure if he’ll just say anything extreme right wingers want to hear or if he’s really that stupid about everything… except neurosurgery.  Then there’s Carly Fiorina, fmr. CEO of Hewlett Packard and failed senatorial candidate.  Ms. Fiorina did such a good job as head of HP that they paid her $19 million to leave, and since then the company has never really recovered.  At this point, it’s been forced to split into two separate companies to survive.   Lastly, there is former Governor and FOX News talk show host Mike Huckabee, whose first order of business if elected president of the United States would be to repeal Sharia law all together. 

4.26.15: No Absolute Certainty...Certainly

In the wake of two hostages being killed, and Italian and American respectively, in a drone strike targeting and Al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan, there is renewed focus on the Drone War.  This is one of Pres. Barack Obama's great failures during his presidency. Under President Bush there were 50 drone strikes but under Pres. Obama there have been 475. The use of drones in warfare opens up a Pandora's box of bad precedents.

Micah Zenko, a drone expert at the Council of Foreign Relations, said that the spread of drone technology and usage is slowly progressing to other countries. The British and the Israelis use drones, but soon in perhaps 5 to 10 years down the line other countries will have drone technology, which opens up a plethora of scenarios. For example, what if Russia starts using drones and then Russian hackers take over the computers that control the drones and start flying them over and firing missiles on places that send the globe into a panic? Will other countries start flying drones towards the United States that it then has to shoot down, firing missiles from within its own country, to protect itself. It seems crazy, but if you can imagine it so easily only says it could be a possible reality.

But that's future semi-horror/fantasy. In the here and now, the worst thing that Mr. Zenko outlined was that drone strikes are the calling card of US foreign policy, the face of US foreign policy. This not-so-secret perpetual state of warfare through drone use hampers the United State’s ability to negotiate and influence other countries. Granted, the United States isn’t truly negotiating with countries where they’re using drones, despite its ‘partnership’ with Pakistan, where many missions are directed. 

Tom Donilon, former national security advisor for Pres. Obama, explained very carefully that in the assessment of this target, “an enemy facility in the Aghan theater of war,” it was the facility itself were what was under scrutiny, not the identities of the individuals in the facility.  In that context, the CIA had authorization because they were correct in that particular assessment that it was indeed an Al Qaeda stronghold.  It’s the fact of that result that registers most with the American people and the domestic repercussions are minimal right now.  Mr. Donilon said as much, while tragic that hostages were killed, there is no absolute certainty in a war zone.

These are part of the unintended consequences – hostages being killed, civilians being injured in a retaliatory terrorist attacks for the use of those drones, and a deteriorating ability to negotiate with other countries around the world will all continue. Another consequence, Mr. Zenko explained, is the change in calculus as to how frequent these strikes are carried out. He explained that if these were special forces incursions there wouldn't be nearly as many or if these were manned aircraft strikes there also wouldn't be nearly as many. So the impetus for the de-escalation of these strikes given that safety calculus is very low. Drone strikes and the failure to close Guantanamo Bay Prison are two big failures that tarnish Mr. Obama’s legacy as president, there is no doubt.

Speaking of tarnished legacies it is difficult to run for president when you already have one at the state of the race. Of course we are speaking about Hillary Clinton and the rumblings of quid pro quo money for influence favors with the Clinton Foundation. The real problem here is that even the more liberal commentators and progress are using words like Evan buy from Yahoo news used on today's program which is arrogance and disregard for conflict of interest and putting it most mildly was governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas who said the Clintons were complicated. It's really hard to say where all of this is going to shake out however if it gets worse and Mrs. Clinton doesn't take Doris Kearns-Goodwin's advice of dealing with this herself and the Democrats have no fallback candidate if this goes in a nightmarish direction for Mrs. Clinton. We like most others don't feel that this will ultimately be a big deal but it adds to a negative narrative established twenty years with Mr. Clinton, and it’s this rehash that we dread.

Lastly, there is the impending Supreme Court decision on whether or not to make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states and we thought that Mr. Olson and Mr. Boies frame the argument most properly. In denying same-sex marriage you are denying individuals rights that are afforded to others and under the Constitution. Everyone should have equal rights under the law. We understand the religious sensitivities that people have towards the notion of same-sex marriage but as was discussed the progression towards majority social acceptance has been historically fast. This just says that people are more accepting of differences but that those differences shouldn't mean that you have less rights than someone else. That's called advanced democracy.  There’s no absolute certainty that the country always get there, but we’re on board with the practice.

Panel: Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas; Doris Kearns-Goodwin, presidential historian; Evan Bai, Yahoo News; Helene Cooper, The New York Times