Dime Store Philosophy

There’s no shortage of pundits, amateur shrinks and our own friends and neighbors who like to tell us what’s going on in America. I have my personal ideas that are based on nothing more than my own personal observations. That’s a departure from what I’ve accustomed to because I’ve always relied on stats, studies, polls and opinions of people I trusted.

It’s in the middle of August, it’s very hot, the economy is struggling and it looks as though no one cares.

If you are on the right, you will never understand how anyone could be stupid enough to give President Obama a second term. You are also frustrated because there’s not any evidence out there that will lead to impeachment. The so-called scandals have fizzled out.

Despite the Affordable Care Act being unpopular, about 51% do not want the law repealed. The anger these people have will hinder any chance of them listening to reason. They actually think shutting down the government will lead to defunding Obamacare. You have 15 Republican senators misleading their constituents by saying that voting for a continuing resolution that funds Obamacae means you are for keeping the current health care law. The Affordable Care Act falls in the mandatory spending category because the law is considered an entitlement. Democrats are silently hoping that the radical right pushes their leadership into a giant mistake that will doom them in the 2014 elections and beyond.

Conservatives take the spoken word literally, and they do their own interpretation. Liberals and Democrats are more nuance. For example, when the president said the old al Qaeda (the ones who attacked us on 9/11) had been weakened, we knew he meant that we destroyed the old havens and leaders; we never thought that al-Qaeda was finished. Then again, we weren’t scouring over the speech looking for words and meanings that we could exploit politically.

It’s relatively easy to read the frustration some conservatives have experienced the last two presidential elections. They blame the low information voters who are naturally less intelligent than they are, a nonexistent voter fraud problem, people yearning for free government handouts, and that their candidate was not conservative enough. It can’t be their policies or rhetoric wasn’t that appealing because Romney won several Texas counties by double digits. It’s like Governor Rick Perry bragging that Forbes's magazine had Texas as home to 7 of the top 10 best cities for future job growth without mentioning that those cities have mayors who are Democrats. Bill Clinton pointed out the fact that in the fifty-one years since President Kennedy, the GOP had twenty –eight years in the White House and the Democrats had twenty- three. In that period, the economy produced 66 private sectors million jobs -42 million under the Democrats, 24 million under the Republicans.

Last but certainly not least is the racial hatred that is worsening for President Obama and people of color. A racist does not want to own that label because they will be shunned by the people they presume to represent. The “N” word has been effectively taken away from them, so they will say the president is not one of us, they don’t like his white half either, he's also a Muslim, Socialist, and then use voter suppression laws to make it more difficult for his kind to vote. Just last week, the president was met with several racial hate signs in Arizona where he was making a speech. When all that doesn't work they would like to scare you into thinking that we are becoming a third-world country. The United States is among the most successful countries pulling out of their financial doldrums. For some, it’s a last stand of sorts for what they see as traditional conservative America. These are the people favoring state nullification laws which stems from their Civil War mentality.

Well Done Mr. President

I’ve been waiting a long time to hear another liberal inaugural address that drew the line on what separates liberals from conservatives. The president did not use the opportunity to extend another olive branch to the Republican Party but instead chose to lay down the foundation for a new tomorrow or as someone said,” to declare the end of Reaganism.”

The talk of a need for collectivism and a need for a free market that is fair for all Americans had to be devastating for Libertarians to hear. 

The president did not draw- a- line in the sand, but he did lay down his marker, which is what we need to have an honest dialogue. He knows nothing will get done on climate change in the next four years, but that doesn’t mean he won’t continue to talk about more violent storms, frequent fires and drought that are caused by climate change. Fifteen years from now, the climate-change deniers will be saying, “ if we only have listened to President Obama, we would have had a fifteen-year head start."

The president talked of honoring the social contract we made with the elderly and the most vulnerable and the need to view all the options before cutting those programs. This was the first time in inaugural history, that the words, gay, Medicare, Medicaid and climate change were ever used.

The Republicans are out in full force telling everyone within earshot" see I told you he was a liberal” as if it was a social disease. I never knew how liberal or moderate the president was because of some of his previous appointments and stances. For instance, he never fully endorsed the public option and during the debates he bragged of all the drilling for oil we’ve done. He set deportation records and kept all the Bush methods of fighting terrorism except for the enhanced interrogation methods. After four years, he has become wiser and has learned that you won’t win many battles if you're always playing defense and on your opponent's home turf.

The voters want the parties to compromise to get something done but that can’t happen unless the lines of distinction are known by both parties. For example, it is highly unlikely that a grand bargain will be made because the president barely mentioned the deficit or the debt. The Democrats could be persuaded to raise the retirement age to age 66 for the elimination of the oil subsidies and the parties can continue working on things that can be passed with bipartisan support. Like anything else, bipartisanship can be habit forming.

The GOP is starting the new legislation session after a three- day retreat to strategize but their opponents did the same in a less informal way. The Democrats know that they are only 17 house seats away from taking over that legislative chamber. They think if they keep laying out mainstream positions, they will be bait the GOP to oppose; thereby keeping their extreme Tea Party at  9% approval. The GOP has a 26% approval, and Speaker Boehner has a 18% approval compared to Obama’s 52 % which gives them the confidence that their strategy is working. Things can change overnight but right now I don’t see the president moving one inch away from the stand he took yesterday. In his upcoming State of the Union speech in two-weeks, he will say what legislative accomplishments he thinks can be accomplished in his second term.