Democrat Kathy Hochul was victorious (47% to 43%) in a special election in NY-26, one of the most conservative and Republican districts in all of the state. Republicans spent more than $3M trying to hold the seat, which has been in Republican hands almost continuously since the Civil War. The Republicans fate was sealed when their candidate Jane Corwin stated that she would have voted for the Ryan budget plan which would replace Medicare with a voucher program while retaining tax breaks for the wealthiest.
The Ryan plan would destroy Medicare, add $6400/year to each senior's medical costs, not keep pace with medical inflation, and make it more difficult (or impossible) for some seniors to obtain any coverage at all.
Following the raucous town halls protesting the plan and the flap over Gingrich's statement (and later retraction) that Ryan's Medicare plan amounted to conservative "social engineering", it's clear that the Ryan plan is the elephant in the room for the 2012 elections. Only a few Republicans have stepped out of line so far but unless the RNC is totally deluded, their new litmus test could turn out to be their downfall. That is good news indeed.
Now is the time for Democrats to step up to the plate and start to hammer home how far from the average American's interest those of the GOP are. From the GOP's extremist agenda to destroy the social safety net to their support of Wall St. interests (e.g., currently blocking the appointee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) to their refusal to reverse the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to their blatant support for all things corporate to their attacks against consumer and environmental protections and against workers' rights, people need to begin to realize: the GOP is not on your side.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Obama's Middle East Speech
“Precisely because of our friendship, it is important that we tell the truth: the status quo is unsustainable, and Israel must act boldly to advance a lasting peace. The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation.” President Obama, May 19, 2011
President Obama signaled a dramatic and welcome break with previous administrations in calling for an independent Palestinian state based on the borders prior to the 1967 war. Americans for Peace Now, the Jewish-American antidote to AIPAC, issued a statement of support.
The President did not address any of the thornier issues such as the Palestinian right of return or the status of Jerusalem. He criticized the settlements but did not demand a freeze and did not define them as illegal (which they are). And he had previously stated that the US would not support a unilateral declaration in the UN of an independent Palestinian state. His speech was a small step in the right direction.
Combined with his message that it "will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region and to support transitions to democracy" and backing that with pledges of financial support for Tunisia and Egypt, Obama's prosaic speech today moved towards a more balanced approach in the region.
Of course, as APN notes, it will take concrete actions on Obama's part to prod the Israelis and Palestinians towards a just peace. It will take compromise on both sides to end this conflict of more than 60 years. This will not be an easy thing - Israel's PM Netanyahu has already rejected the call for a return to the 1967 borders, the one concession to Palestinians in the entire speech. And the Israeli Ministry of Interior committee - acting with the authorization of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - was set to consider approving the construction of more than 1500 settlement units in East Jerusalem. Obama needs to find a way to break through this right-wing Israeli intransigence that has been so destructive of the peace process.
President Obama signaled a dramatic and welcome break with previous administrations in calling for an independent Palestinian state based on the borders prior to the 1967 war. Americans for Peace Now, the Jewish-American antidote to AIPAC, issued a statement of support.
The President did not address any of the thornier issues such as the Palestinian right of return or the status of Jerusalem. He criticized the settlements but did not demand a freeze and did not define them as illegal (which they are). And he had previously stated that the US would not support a unilateral declaration in the UN of an independent Palestinian state. His speech was a small step in the right direction.
Combined with his message that it "will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region and to support transitions to democracy" and backing that with pledges of financial support for Tunisia and Egypt, Obama's prosaic speech today moved towards a more balanced approach in the region.
Of course, as APN notes, it will take concrete actions on Obama's part to prod the Israelis and Palestinians towards a just peace. It will take compromise on both sides to end this conflict of more than 60 years. This will not be an easy thing - Israel's PM Netanyahu has already rejected the call for a return to the 1967 borders, the one concession to Palestinians in the entire speech. And the Israeli Ministry of Interior committee - acting with the authorization of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - was set to consider approving the construction of more than 1500 settlement units in East Jerusalem. Obama needs to find a way to break through this right-wing Israeli intransigence that has been so destructive of the peace process.
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
The Middle East peace process took a serious blow when George Mitchell resigned on Friday as Obama's special envoy after two frustrating years. Mitchell played a major role in getting the centuries-old Irish question resolved but hit a wall in the Middle East. (No pun intended.) Obama claims that Mitchell had planned to stay in the position for two years. Considering how little was accomplished due to Israeli intransigence and Palestinian turmoil, Mitchell may be resigning in frustration rather than for a time schedule.
Obama plans a speech Thursday. It will be interesting to see where that one goes. Israel will listen to calls for compromise from no one, apparently not even the United States now. An atmosphere in which a united Palestinian approach is considered a "complication" does not bode well. Will Obama cave to the Israel lobby (which does not speak for many American Jews (e.g. Americans for Peace Now) or for the many Israeli peace activists) or will he take a more balanced stance and a personal, but politically risky, role to achieve a just peace for both sides? The right-wing cabal in control of Israeli politics does not seem to understand that true peace and security will only come when justice is obtained for both sides. And American politicians are too intent on winning the next election to do anything that can realistically achieve such a peace and so they blind themselves to what is one of the major causes of anti-American feeling in the region.
It will be especially interesting now that Arab demonstrators are calling on Israel to stop its oppression of the Palestinians in the annual protests against the "nakba" or "catastrophe" – the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement (read "ethnic cleansing") in the war that followed Israel's founding on May 15, 1948. If the United States supported the rights of Arabs in the protests against their own governments, how can they NOT support protests against an occupier that continuously oppresses an entire population?
Obama plans a speech Thursday. It will be interesting to see where that one goes. Israel will listen to calls for compromise from no one, apparently not even the United States now. An atmosphere in which a united Palestinian approach is considered a "complication" does not bode well. Will Obama cave to the Israel lobby (which does not speak for many American Jews (e.g. Americans for Peace Now) or for the many Israeli peace activists) or will he take a more balanced stance and a personal, but politically risky, role to achieve a just peace for both sides? The right-wing cabal in control of Israeli politics does not seem to understand that true peace and security will only come when justice is obtained for both sides. And American politicians are too intent on winning the next election to do anything that can realistically achieve such a peace and so they blind themselves to what is one of the major causes of anti-American feeling in the region.
It will be especially interesting now that Arab demonstrators are calling on Israel to stop its oppression of the Palestinians in the annual protests against the "nakba" or "catastrophe" – the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement (read "ethnic cleansing") in the war that followed Israel's founding on May 15, 1948. If the United States supported the rights of Arabs in the protests against their own governments, how can they NOT support protests against an occupier that continuously oppresses an entire population?
Sunday, May 15, 2011
May
If, as T.S. Eliot wrote, April is the "cruelest month", then May is the kindest. It's a month of hope and anticipation. Winter is gone, the days are lengthening, and the land is coming alive. The end of the school year is near as are the long-awaited vacations of summer.
It is a month of remembrance for workers, mothers, soldiers felled in wars and it is a month of transformation with college graduations and First Communions.
The suburban drone of lawn mowers and of single engine planes, the flowers starting to bloom, the budding trees, the bird song...it's a time of hope. Maybe, just maybe, this country of ours can get it together again.
It is a month of remembrance for workers, mothers, soldiers felled in wars and it is a month of transformation with college graduations and First Communions.
The suburban drone of lawn mowers and of single engine planes, the flowers starting to bloom, the budding trees, the bird song...it's a time of hope. Maybe, just maybe, this country of ours can get it together again.
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