No Love for Congress

News and Analysis…

On Monday, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh announced that he will not contest his seat in the 2010 election, citing a lack of love for Congress.  His announcement leaves the Democrats with one more open seat to defend from Republicans to keep a majority in the Senate.  Bayh’s announcement is being read as everything from a run for the hills (by Michael Steele) to a set up for a presidential bid (by pretty much every one else).

Huffington Post | In other words, it’s not the kind of place for an executive at heart. Bayh mentioned three perches that would be better suited to a doer of his temperament: running a business, a university or a charity.

But there’s another executive job that Bayh, the former Indiana governor, has had his eye on for decades. Was his step down today a step toward the White House?

The Hill | Bayh on Monday cited the lack of bipartisanship in Washington as the reason for his retirement, but Inofe said that the centrist Democratic senator was looking over his shoulder in a tough year for incumbents.

“The fact is, there was no way in the world that Evan Bayh was going to beat Dan Coats, so I kind of expected that to happen,” Inhofe said on KTOK 1000 AM radio in Oklahoma City. “It’s just like Chris Dodd’s situation. He knew he was going to lose so he bowed out.”

Daily Intel | But still, have you seen Congress lately? Would you want to work there? We’re not saying you, as in sitting at your cubicle right now deciding when to take a bathroom break for maximum monotony-busting potential you. We’re saying you as if you’re Evan Bayh, a centrist senator who can’t get anything accomplished because Congress is broken, but who could easily slide into a less maddening and higher-paying job in a business or charity or university. Sounds like a pretty reasonable decision to us. In fact, Bayh is far from the first Democrat to cite the partisan rancor in Congress as a reason for leaving. It seems as if the GOP obstruction strategy has been even more successful than previously realized. Instead of slowing the Democratic agenda, creating frustration among voters, and hoping to win elections based on that frustration, they’re cutting out the middle man and making Congress so god-awful that Democrats will just go away on their own.

Talking Points Memo | In the fallout over Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement, one of the things we’ve been grappling with today was whether his timing was designed to prevent Indiana Democrats from holding a primary election — or whether that was just collateral damage from a last-minute decision.

FiveThirtyEight | Senator Bayh’s retirement announcement reminds me of a point I’ve made before (also here) but I think is worth making again: National swings between the two parties are amplified by politicians’ natural tendency to stay put when things are going well and retire when the political climate looks stormy.

The Washington Note | This is serious stuff. Bayh, who was a likely win in Indiana, now makes the state a toss-up, if not a takeover by the Republican Party.

This could mean that Democrats could lose Biden’s seat, Obama’s former seat — and possibly even Harry Reid’s seat in addition to Bayh’s.

On the Web…

I’m Gay is Offensive | Womanist Musings

An Oklahoma man attempted to get the words “I’m Gay” as his vanity plate only to be told by the Oklahoma Tax Commission, which regulates license plates, that Kimmel’s plate would violate its policy of banning offensive language. Kimmel countered that “favouring certain viewpoints is not allowed” under the U.S. Constitution, according to KOKH News.

Is the Criminal Justice System “The New Jim Crow”? | Racialicious

Placed within the context of the euphoria around the election of President Obama as the nation’s first black President, Michelle Alexander’s first book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” argues that while on the surface it seems like racial subordination is no longer entrenched in the law books, the truth is Jim Crow laws have simply been redesigned and appropriated by the criminal justice system.

Nearly Half of Street Homeless At Risk of Death | Change.org

Just as we are not all equally at risk of homelessness, those experiencing homelessness are not all equally at risk of death. A New York non-profit organization, Common Ground, has pioneered the use of a survey instrument called the Vulnerability Index to help communities identify who amongst their street homeless are most at risk of prematurely dying on the street. The Vulnerability Index assesses risk of death based on a combination of demographic and health indicators as well as the duration of an individual’s homeless spell.

The State of the Union

Analysis…

Last night President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.  If you missed the event, Daily Intel put together this five minute video you can watch with highlights from the speech.  If you missed it but plan on watching the full speech, our friends at Feministe put together an entertaining drinking game to accompany the president’s remarks.  Obama did not manage to pull any rabits from hats but he made it clear that the economy was his first priority this year.

Slate | It was appropriate that the iPad was unveiled the same day President Obama gave his first State of the Union speech. Both were centered on Jobs, and both sought to give people something useful they could put their hands on.

Obama answered complaints that he hasn’t been focusing on the economy by calling for passage of a jobs bill and a series of other breaks for the middle class. None of the ideas was new or revolutionary (the House has already passed the jobs bill), but the speech was about emphasis. He’d planned to focus on the economy in the speech and in 2010, but he gave it a top priority he hadn’t before. He called on Congress to pass the jobs bill before it did anything else. Health care reform is now clearly in second place—or lower.

Truthdig | It was also obvious that he realizes his administration lost two crucial battles last year: to define his stimulus plan and his health care proposal. Polls show that Republicans’ negative claims have stuck with voters, while the administration’s arguments for the merits of both have not.

Norman Transcript | For Emily Kirk, her belief in President Barack Obama is waning.

The OU interior design senior said the president’s grandiose statements during Wednesday night’s State of the Union address are nice, but at this point, she’s looking for results.

“I don’t want to sound negative, but I don’t know if I really believe it,” said Kirk, recognizing recent hand-wringing over Obama’s leadership amid budget deficits and economic worries, while eating dinner in OU’s Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Huffington Post | But at this point Obama has more of a credibility gap than anything else. The big question facing him is: can you deliver, Mr. President? Whether through sweet talking conservative Democrats and a few Republicans, or twisting their arms, or horse trading or cajoling, or log rolling and pork barreling, or legally bribing them, or threatening to un-elect them — by any means necessary — is this president ready to use all the many legal tools of persuasion that a president possesses?

Alternet | Remarkably, the president clung to the hope for bipartisanship that was dashed at every turn in 2009 — either with outright rejection by the “party of ‘no’” or, worse yet, via compromises that handed ultimate authority over policy-making to Republican senators who diverted stimulus funding from job creation to tax cuts for the rich and Democrat-In-Name-Only Ben Nelson and Republican-In-Everything-But-Name Joe Lieberman, who forced the Senate to scrap the public option that was needed to challenge the grip of health insurance companies.

The Hill | Democrats are blasting Republicans for sitting on their hands when President Barack Obama touted the middle-class tax cuts in the stimulus during his State of the Union speech Wednesday.

Just after the president pointed out that the Democrats’ $787 billion stimulus included tax cuts for the middle class, small businesses and first-time homebuyers, congressional Democrats stood and applauded while Republicans remained seated.

On the Web…

A Memory of Howard | Truthdig

I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, “Howard Zinn.”

Supposedly Forget Obama Is Black | stuff white people do

It’s as if competing common white tendencies in Matthews are at war with each other here. One part of him thinks that he “shouldn’t talk about” Obama’s race; another part wants to claim that he doesn’t see Obama’s race; yet another does see his race (otherwise, why mention it?); and still another wants to compliment a black man for presenting himself well, as if he did oh so much better than most black men seem capable of doing, by making white people forget that he’s black.

Brown Out

Analysis…

Tuesday’s special election to fill the Massachusetts senate seat left open by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy resulted in the election of current Republican state senator Scott Brown.  After having been in Kennedy family for 56 years, the seat was perceived by the Democrats as unlosable.  However, they did lose 52 percent to 47 percent.  Is this race a bellwether for the political leanings of the country or a wake up call for Democrats to get their act together?

The Next Right | Scott Brown’s victory is an enormous opportunity – for the Democrats.

That is if we repeat the mistakes of the past in interpreting a “change” election.

There is no doubt that President Obama and Democratic over-reaching on stimulus and health care – to no immediate effect – fueled the Brown momentum in Massachusetts.  They know that and after they get through finger-pointing and in-fighting, they will do some serious soul-searching in the wake of Brown’s election much like we did after November 2008.

Huffington Post | The seed of the Obama debacle was there long before the tea party protests, the relentless pound from Rush Limbaugh, the Fox News Network, the pack of right side talk jocks, and Republican National Chair Michael Steele. The seed was in the silly belief that Obama’s victory was tantamount to FDR’s 1932 smash election victory and the even sillier belief that the GOP had been reduced to a dwindling bunch of tobacco spitting rednecks in the Deep South and know nothing heartland voters. Neither was ever true.

Alternet | Barack Obama went to Boston to rally voters and got a pie in the face. He lost his innocence as the valiant young president and also lost his sixty-vote majority in the Senate. Now we will find out what the man is made of — either a true political leader or just another show horse. Dozens of explanations are being offered for why the Dems were humiliated in Massachusetts. Democrats incline to grab easy answers. The president, if he is tough enough, will instead face the hard message of this political fiasco.

Crooks and Liars | Coakley and this election is a wake-up call for the left and for the Democratic party. No, actually, it’s an ear-shattering warning siren going off, and if the DNC doesn’t dig the crap out of their ears and start listening to the very people who voted them into power a year ago, every hard won victory they’ve had is in jeopardy.

Just because the Democrats won the White House and Congress doesn’t mean the rightwing and its hordes of wingnut teabagging loonies have magically been defeated and sent back to the netherworld to languish for all eternity. They’re watching and waiting for the DNC to screw up badly enough that the tide of anger and disappointment that swept the right out of power will sweep them back in again.

The Plum Line | I just talked to GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio, who did that exit poll on the Massachusetts race I reported on below, and he confirmed my interpretation: It’s a reach to see the outcome as a wholesale repudiation of Obama and his overall policies and agenda.

That seems a bit at odds with what many Republicans and pundits have argued today — that the results last night amounted to a referendum on Obama’s whole presidency.

On the Web…

The NYT Will Charge Online | Columbia Journalism Review

A metered model will allow the Times to continue to get traffic from the millions of casual readers and preserve most of its current ad revenue while getting a significant second revenue stream directly from heavy readers. As we’ve said, the press must focus on its core minority of readers, who bring in the vast majority of pageviews and revenue. Shaving off some Digg traffic or something is not going to make that big a difference to the big picture. The top quarter of readers account for 86 percent of all pageviews at newspaper sites, according to one survey.

Five Year Phone Concept Phone Finally Hits Sustainable Design Points | TreeHugger

Designer James Barber has come up with a concept phone for Nokia that we can really start to get on board with. Built with the dual problem of embodied energy and recyclability of our electronics in mind, Barber worked out a phone that will last until the break-even point – where the embodied energy of the device and the device itself finally balance out – and then be quickly and easily recycled.

Why Do We Pretend an Insurance Mandate Will Help the Health Care Crisis? | Slate

Some time ago, Massachusetts weighed a new, innovative health care plan to cover the uninsured. As a result of a new mandate to buy health insurance, reported the New York Times, “no one would go uninsured” in the state. Following a tough political fight, the bill passed and prompted the same newspaper to editorialize, “Massachusetts last week ventured where no state had gone before: It guaranteed health insurance for every resident.”

The year was not 2006 but 1988, and the Democratic governor who presided over this legislation was Michael Dukakis. The result? The proportion of state residents who were uninsured subsequently rose and remained unchanged for almost two decades.

Rape Victims Vs. Prison Rape Victims | The Sexist

I recently headed over to the Web site for Just Detention International (formerly Stop Prison Rape) in order to learn more about this sad study reporting high rates of sexual assaults against juvenile detainees in the U.S. (Short version: one-in-eight detained youth report being sexually assaulted within their facility within the past year; 80 percent of these victims were abused by a member of the facility’s staff).

Switch Hitter Rep. Griffith

News…

Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith has announced his switch of party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.  This switch will not have a major effect on the make up of the House of Representatives due to the large majority held by the Democrats.  In fact, Griffith had only voted with the Democrats approximately 85% of the time, abandoning them for such initiatives as health care.

Alternet | Hard to say what this all means. The Democrats lose a Democrat who rarely voted with them when it mattered. The Republicans get an incumbent who will be challenged in a primary by a Tea Party candidate.  If the warfare within the GOP ranks is heated enough, the Dems could possibly win back the seat in the same way that they won in the 23rd congressional district of New York — this time with a Democrat who might be a bit more reliable. That would require a third-party challenge, though

Daily Intel | What may end up mattering more, politically, is that Griffith is part of a trend. Four Democrats have announced they’d rather retire than face an inhospitable reelection climate in 2010. Griffith, for all intents and purposes, is the fifth: He’d rather join the minority than align himself with the Obama administration and Democratic majority in Congress. Not only that, but the fact that health-care reform is the impetus for his decision doesn’t reflect particularly well on the legislation, in a purely public-relations sense, especially since Griffith is a doctor by trade.

Huffington Post | Politico calls the news a “jolt” to House Democrats, but it seems pretty clear that the only “jolt” they are concerned with is the one to his backside as the door to the Democratic caucus closes behind him. Meanwhile, conservative activists are already painting Griffith as the second coming of Dede Scozzafava.  As Media Matters was quick to point out, Democrats basically lost a party member who pretty reliably voted against their initiatives anyway.

Politico | NRCC spokesman Ken Spain in December 2008: “Parker Griffith was elected to Congress with the help of dirty money from one of Washington’s most blatantly corrupt legislators. If Griffith truly is the ‘independent voice’ that he claimed to be on the campaign trail, he’ll come forward and join the calls for Charlie Rangel to step down from his committee chairmanship for the benefit of the American people.”

Here’s what NRCC chairman Pete Sessions had to say today: “I am pleased to welcome Parker Griffith to the Republican Party. Congressman Griffith’s party affiliation may have changed, but his conservative principles, values and commitment to Alabama families has never wavered.”

On the Web…

Transgender Basics | Feministing

It’s Trans 101 in video form, an excellent resource to have and something I know I’ll be using a lot. I never agree with everything in a Trans 101 curriculum – the ways we teach this information are constantly growing and evolving as we try to find the best and most inclusive ways to explain trans and gender non-conforming theory and experience. But I’m impressed by this straightforward, comprehensible, and compassionate video.

Related Blog: Are You Trans(gender) Literate?

Rock the Vote Says Teen Abstinence, Transphobia Will Win Healthcare Reform | The Sexist

A new initiative from youth voting campaign Rock the Vote is encouraging young people to “hold out for health care” by refusing to have sex with people who don’t support health care reform. In a strange turn of events, I’m with FOX News on this one: This sucks.

5 Ways to End Hunger in 2010 | Change.org

As we move towards the end of 2009, it’s time to step back and take a sobering look at the statistics on hunger that were released over the past year.

For example, we’ve learned that nearly 50 million people in the United States regularly don’t have access to adequate amounts of food, the highest number ever since records have been kept; and that, at some point in their lives, 50 percent of all children in the country will have relied on food stamps for survival.

Health Care Catch Up

Analysis…

 As the health care debate continues for what seems like over a year, many of us have become exhausted by the story.  Most know that the House passed a bill in mid-November.  But how many know the state of the Senate bill?  This Analysis is a catch up for those of us who have tuned out.  Good luck keeping up for the rest of this story. 

BBC | In a rare weekend session, the Senate has gathered to debate and vote in a bid to get the bill completed by the end of the month.  Mr Obama urged his Democratic Party senators to “get the job done”.  Democrats are divided over abortion and whether to allow the government to compete with private companies to sell insurance.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, a key author of the healthcare overhaul, said Mr Obama had told the senators that the public would reward Democrats for decades if the reform got through.  ”You could tell it had an effect,” Mr Baucus said.  Obama aide Bill Burton said the president had urged legislators to “continue forward on this historic opportunity to provide stability and security for those who have insurance, affordable coverage for those who don’t”.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had invited Mr Obama to the meeting, said that Republicans wanted this to be “President Obama’s Waterloo” adding: “It’s not going to be.”

Talking Points Memo | With the blessing of leadership, and the help of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), liberal and conservative Democrats are continuing to meet to find a solution. “I called and personally asked five moderates and five progressives to work things out and the issues that they care a lot about: Public option, small business,” Reid said at a press conference after a rare Sunday caucus meeting. “And they’ve had, I don’t know how many meetings, but many.”

“Progress is being made and that’s not just talk. They’ve made a lot of progress.”  On the table are a number of ideas, including affixing a public option to a trigger, and potentially allowing states to opt in to a public option.

The Hill | Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) will introduce an abortion amendment on Monday, Reid announced this afternoon. Meanwhile, a team of five moderates and five progressives continue to forge ahead with negotiations on the “issues they care about” in the healthcare bill, the majority leader added.

But while Reid praised the president’s visit, reiterating the party’s committment to passing a reform bill, Senate Republicans continued debating that proposal on the Senate floor.

Huffington Post | In the pending health care bill, Senate Democrats have finally addressed the taxpayer subsidy of excessive executive compensation. Unfortunately, their limited proposal is little more than political grandstanding.

The current bill denies corporate income tax deductions for excessive executive salaries paid in the health care industry, but continues to permit such deductions for egregious salaries paid elsewhere in the economy.

News…

LA Diocese Elects Openly Gay Bishop Suffragan | Episcopal Life Online

The 114th annual convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles made history for the second time in as many days on Dec. 5, electing an openly gay candidate, the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, as bishop suffragan, pending the required consents from the majority of the church’s other dioceses.

56 International Newspapers Print Same Editiorial Demanding Action in Copenhagen | Change.org

One blog post isn’t enough to influence the outcome of the Copenhagen summit. And one news story on the front page of a national newspaper isn’t enough either. But one single editorial printed on the front page of 56 newspapers in 45 countries from India, to Lebanon, to Poland, to America (Miami) might create a splash big enough to wake world leaders napping on the beach, failing to act, as sea-levels rise. British newspaper the Guardian led the effort to run the same front-page lead article calling for action in Copenhagen.

Good News and Bad News About the Ozone Hole | TreeHugger

Good news: The hole is getting smaller. Bad news: It was keeping temps lower.  Alarming new research has come to light that further illustrates the severity of global warming. According a recently published report from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the ozone hole, which is linked to causing skin-cancer, cataracts, damage to plant-life, and a reduction of the plankton population–has also been reducing the effects of global warming in Antarctica by keeping the temperature at the pole artificially low.

Palin Pokes Fun at Herself at Gridiron | The Hill

Still, snippets of Palin’s remarks in particular creeped into news reports late Saturday night. Among the highlights from the former governor’s speech, as reported by the AP:

 – Palin took a shot at Vice President Joe Biden’s hair: “I could be the one overseeing the signing of bailout checks and Vice President Biden could be on the road selling his book, ‘Going Rogaine,” she said.

– Reflecting on her remark during the campaign that she could “see Russia” from her house, Palin quipped she “came down from my hotel room and I could see the Russian embassy.”

Legislating the First Lady

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) recently proposed an amendment to a bill that would require more transparency from the actions of the First Lady.  The groups whose meetings she attends would have to announce their meetings in advance and in some cases hold them in public.  However, the measure was met with much hostility from Congressmen and Congresswomen not looking to pick a fight with a member of the first family. 

Rep. William Clay (D-Mo.) suggested President Obama might see the legislation as a personal provocation that could trigger a fight. “Let me… caution my friend from California that, as you’re probably aware, this president is very guarded about his family,” Clay said. “I think that, no matter what you’re intending with this amendment, that the president may view this as an attack on his wife. And I’m just saying, you know, let’s be careful–if we want to open up that can of worms. Let’s not go in that direction.”

First families have always been a touchy subject.  Remember when Chelsea Clinton wore a mini-skirt for her father’s inauguration?  However, it seems naive to think that the role of the First Family is merely as the nuclear support of the President.  Hillary Clinton was able to launch a successful political career from her tenure as First Lady. 

Up to this point, Michelle Obama has largely stayed out of the public policy debates that occupy Washington, stating that her first priority is as a mother to her daughters.  Is it fair, under those circumstances, for the actions of a First Lady to be monitored as is proposed by this amendment?  Recent First Ladies have been so varied (Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush) that it is difficult to paint them with the same brush, or regulation.  One wanted to engage in the heart of the political process and the other had a more hands-off approach. 

Can one set of regulations be used for First Ladies?  Or, should their roles be regulated at all?