Courtesy Glenn McCoy
Let's see--how improbable is this? Some politician is an obscure state senator, likes to play hoops (basketball), is elected to the US Senate despite being an underdog in the race, and decides to run for President after a couple of years in office... No, we are not talking about Barack Obama but--Senator-elect Scott P. Brown!The speculation is premature; I think that any senator-elect goes through a honeymoon period, and I suspect that the media conservatives, after celebrating the apparent death of the Democratic Party Health Care Bill, will inevitably apply the same ideological litmus tests to Scott Brown. For example, they may object to Scott Brown's acceptance of elective abortion and gay marriage in Massachusetts as settled law or his support of RomneyCare, with mandatory health care insurance requirements. But it's highly unlikely an ideological conservative could have won the Massachusetts Senate seat, all conservatives would have regretted the election of Martha Coakley, and I'm hopeful fellow conservatives will adopt, as I have, a Big Tent philosophy.
Supreme Court Rightly Decides Citizens United v. FEC
As the race to succeed George W. Bush was getting underway, a conservative non-profit organization Citizens United wanted to promote a film critical of Democratic Presidential contender Hillary Clinton available via cable video-on-demand. McCain-Feingold campaign laws prevented any documentary, funded in any way for-profit corporations, from being shown during the election season. In essence, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that this amounted to de facto government censorship.
In fact, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has adroitly noted, the status quo had maintained an unconscionable double standard, allowing some entities but not others (e.g., for-profit corporations) to advocate their politically-relevant messages or maintain restrictions (e.g., 30 to 60 days bans) on any corporate-funded political or campaign ads. If corporations are taxed and regulated, they should not be arbitrarily excluded from advocating their point of views; after all, the interests of their stakeholders (their owners, employees, customers, etc.) are at stake.
Obama predictably used his bully pulpit to lash out at banks (which, after all, are being singled out for taxes after most of them have already repaid the Treasury--with interest--for TARP loans, some of which were taken only under political pressure), big energy, insurance, and other popular scapegoat corporations. (When it comes to talking about special interests, Obama has chutzpah, given the wheeling and dealing he has done with Big Pharma, health insurers, unions, etc.) Once again, he threatens legislation (i.e., just like he did with the AIG bonuses), seeking to bypass the ruling, but short of an Amendment, that's unlikely. And a Constitutional Amendment on this issue is unlikely to pass because conservatives are likely to block any on the basis of principle (an amendment requires at least two-thirds votes in each house of Congress).
Air America Goes Bankrupt
Well, everybody knows that the ideas of progressives are bankrupt anyway. I guess they didn't qualify for a bailout from the Obama Administration. That progressives can't run a profitable business, even in the Age of Obama, speaks volumes.
Political Cartoon
I would tweak Mike Luckovich's cartoon; I would say Obama ordered the cake, without first checking to see if the ingredients or the bakers were available, the Democrats would allow the Republicans to pay for the cake, but refuse to consider their suggestions or let them into the kitchen, and then the Democrats argued how to pay for it: the House considered private-sector cakes too expensive and hence wanted to build a public bakery in order to make Obama's cake; the Senate wanted people whom ate the biggest pieces of cake to pay more, unless they could show proof of residence in the states of Louisiana or Nebraska or proof of union membership.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Beatles Love Song, "Here, There and Everywhere"
I have to admit a partiality to the early period of the Beatles, dominated by love songs. There are the obvious songs, e.g., "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Michelle", "And I Love Her", "In My Life," and my personal favorite:
To lead a better life I need my love to be here...
Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there
There, running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but she doesn't know he's there
I want her everywhere and if she's beside me
I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there
I want her everywhere and if she's beside me
I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there
To be there and everywhere
Here, there and everywhere.
