Jeb, Bubba and Barack is Too Busy

We seem to have hit another pocket of headlines on the political front. None of it seems to be destined to make us feel better about the state of American Democracy.

On the local front we now know that Cynthia Dill for the Democrats and Charles Summer will be the sacrificial lambs for Angus King in the Senatorial race this fall. While it seems and is a given that King will be elected I would caution everyone that Mr. King is no savior.

In the last couple of days King has recanted his position that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire. Now Angus says that should not happen until unemployment hits five percent. Give me a break. First, that might not happen again in our lifetime. Second how many times do we have to say this. Trickle down does not work. We have so much money being held by businesses and hedge funds and zillionaries that is not doing anything to create jobs nothing government can do will do so. Certainly not in the era of tax cuts. King claims he will be the voice of compromise and that in itself is not a bad thing. However if he is going to call capitulation to the vested interests that have and continue to eat at the troth of profit at the expense of the middle class, if that becomes compromise we can do better.


On the national front Jeb Bush made headlines when he advised that he felt that Ronald Reagan would not do well in today's Republican party. Bush went on to say that Republicans had to be willing to accept some form of increased revenue, even if only in the form of reduced tax deductions. He bemoaned the fact that then ten to one spending cuts to increased revenues could not even get a vote in the Senate. In short he stated that if Republican went to Washington on nothing more than a leash from Grover Norquist then they were just puppets. The immediate reaction from the right, something that until Monday Bush thought he was a part of, was savage. Norquist stated that it was a tax increase that cost Bush the elder his Presidency. He further stated that no tax revenue increases were acceptable. This has to be the most foolish position I have seen.

When Jeb Bush is not an acceptable candidate to the Republican faithful than they are going places as a party that will, with the demographics of the country soon to be in place, make them a party with no relevance. What you are seeing is perhaps the retrenching in of those that cannot see the future as it runs at them full barrel.

Perhaps Bush can become one more of those politicians that will save this country when it is in financial ruin and needs grown ups and compromisers to solve the problems. Calling Jeb Bush a RINO indicates nothing so much as how far the party of the big tent of Reagan has fallen into a cult of right wing propoganda.


On the left Bill Clinton strayed a little off the reservation when he said that the President's plan to campaign against Bain capital might not be the best course of action. Recently James Carville stated that Obama's plan to run saying the economy has and is improving will not ring true with the faithful in key states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. In short Obama would be better suited to run against a do nothing Congress than to say ignore what you see, the recovery is here.


Obama is not a man who enjoys campaigning. One senses that he has an industrial strength jar of Purel that he uses after he walks a crowd rope after an event. This does not mean he is a bad person but I for one have to say this. I will vote for him. I think it is a terrible proposition that Romney could win as he might be the only thing worse than Obama. However we Democrats have to do a better job. Republicans do as well. Buying Obama four years ago over Hillary Clinton was nothing short of buying a pig in a poke and now we are stuck with him. It is a sad state of events.

Lindsay Graham of South Carolina now has become the latest Senator to defect from Grover Norquist. Graham is an intelligent idealistic Republican. Anyone who calls him not Conservative enough again needs to start examining themselves. Graham offers that if you go to Congress unwilling to compromise in any fashion then you are really doing a disservice to your country. I forget who but someone said never let wanting perfection keep you from getting the pretty good. That is a paraphrase but still the point is made.

Mitt Romney told a crowd that Wisconsin voters had said by voting in Scott Walker that they wanted cuts in education, fire fighters, police officers and other items in state and municipal budgets. Romney is not right, he is also not all wrong either. Poll after poll shows that people do not want education and such cut. They do want lower taxes however. It is when the cuts start happening that people get upset. In short what makes the public angriest when the politicians on the right do what they say they are going to do. They say they are going to lower taxes for the wealthy, impose cuts on services that the majority of the public support, and then Mr, Middle Class gets upset when he has to wait longer at a government office, or if his local taxes go up. Taxes slide downhill. They will always find you. The only people who benefit from tax cuts are those that have so much wealth that they save a great deal. Saving 1000 dollars a year on your federal taxes will inevitably come back to haunt you when you pay your local taxes, or register your car. Romney is wrong when he says we want fewer taxes but he is correct to be confused by the message the public is giving.

Lastly the outrage of the week, Barack Obama told an interviewer he did not go to Wisconsin because he was " too busy" Please forgive me. This is not even good political theater. It is a lie so feeble it is not even worth criticizing. It is a joke. He did not go because A. he did not want to put his political prestige on the line and B. and this is the damning one in my eyes, the President is not comfortable embracing unions, he is not comfortable in a populist setting. Obama, hold onto your hat here, at times seems like he would more comfortable with Republicans than with the dirt under your fingernails blue collar union workers that have traditionally been the Democratic base. This is never a good thing for a Democrat.

I would vote for Jeb Bush tomorrow. The question is when Jeb becomes a candidate will he recant his recent statements.