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Embattled Democrat Calls for Obama to Fire Economic Team
Tweet Share on Facebook August 30, 2010 Comment (15)CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Rep. Tom Perriello from Virginia’s Fifth District is one of the most targeted and endangered House Democrats in the country and he knows it.
In his quest for re-election, Perriello has been traveling his district nonstop and talking to just about anyone who will listen to him, including a Charlottesville Tea Party group last week. There might not have been five votes in the room for him, and Perriello had to listen to people stand up and say they couldn’t wait for him to be defeated, but he kept his cool.
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Lindsey Graham: Only Independents Can Fix the Political System
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2010 Comment (6)Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday with Candy Crowley, had some harsh words for his Senate colleagues and for a system that thwarts any real bipartisanship. He said it’s up to the voters to let their members of Congress know enough is enough.
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Pennsylvania, Kentucky Results Show Voter Anger at Failed Politics
Tweet Share on Facebook May 19, 2010 Comment (1)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The anger and anti-establishment, anti-Washington sentiment that voters displayed Tuesday isn’t new. The wave has been building for several election cycles and both political parties had better take heed. The tsunami of dissatisfaction with the current state of politics in this country is still building and has a long way to go before it crests.
The most vivid repudiations of both party’s political leaders were the Senate primaries in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
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Indiana Rep. Souder's Affair Is a Lesson for Angry Voters
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2010 Comment (6)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
So, another one bites the dust. This time it’s Mark Souder. Yet another unseemly scandal has taken out a Republican member of the House Class of ’94, one of the most celebrated and historic classes in congressional history. Souder, a nerdy, intense conservative who once described himself to me as a policy wonk, admitted Tuesday to having a relationship with a part-time staff member and announced his resignation from Congress effective Friday.
Souder is an Evangelical Christian who grew up in the Apostolic Church and is extremely conservative on social issues. He made seven references to God in his brief resignation statement.
Not of course, that someone who believes in God can’t transgress, but there is a certain amount of irony in the fact that the woman he was involved with recorded a daily radio spot for a Christian radio station in Ft. Wayne with Souder. She also made conservative issue-related videos with Souder including one on teen abstinence. Obviously, there wasn’t much abstinence going on with this couple.
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Politics Trumps Bipartisanship on Immigration, Campaign Finance
Tweet Share on Facebook May 1, 2010 Comment (19)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
When the Democrats announced campaign finance reform 3.0 Thursday on the steps of the Supreme Court, their answer to the court’s Citizens United decision allowing corporate funding of political activity, one man was noticeably absent. John McCain, whose name is on the 2002 campaign finance reform measure which was the focus of the court’s decision, was nowhere in sight.
When I asked Sen. Russ Feingold, the legislation’s other namesake, where McCain was, he quipped that McCain was a little busy fighting off a primary challenge in Arizona and would probably ultimately support the legislation.
Feingold was probably trying to be ironic, but his comment was closer to the mark than he may have meant it to be. McCain’s personal political situation, and that of many others this election year including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are inextricably linked to major legislation dealing with some of the most difficult issues this nation faces. -
To Fix the National Debt, 'Everything Is On the Table'
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2010 Comment (23)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
A dizzying array of political and financial luminaries of both parties appeared in Washington Wednesday to discuss the U.S. government’s dismal fiscal situation. There was unanimous agreement that if something isn’t done soon this country faces a serious debt crisis.
The Fiscal Summit, sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, brought together former President Bill Clinton, OMB Director Peter Orszag, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Co-Chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, along with commission members Alice Rivlin, the former CBO and OMB director, and GOP Sen. Judd Gregg and Rep. Paul Ryan, as well as many others.
The focus of the summit and of the commission is to take a look at the ever increasing U.S. deficit and debt, and the impact they will have on the nation’s security, competitiveness, and standard of living and to make recommendations for how to fix what is quickly becoming a crisis of major proportion.
“We have to solve these big problems, and we have to solve them now,” said Bowles. “Otherwise we are going to be facing that big word: Bankruptcy.”
One bit of news that came out of the day was the declaration by Simpson that when it comes to recommendations for cuts or action by Congress, “Everything is on the table.” Simpson was including the recently passed Democratic health care reform plan, which came up frequently at the meeting and drew harsh criticism from the Republicans in attendance.
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General David Petraeus for President?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 14, 2010 Comment (8)By Linda Killian, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Just hours after returning to the United States on an overnight flight from Afghanistan Tuesday, General David Petraeus appeared at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars to talk about the U.S. Central Command he heads and U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, looking not the least bit jet lagged.
Petraeus is intelligent, well spoken and polished, and his comments about the challenges facing the United States sounded more like those of a politician or diplomat than a general. He often speaks about his job in political terms and is keenly aware of the local political pressures, which have a huge impact on successful military outcomes.
He talks about having “a constituency” in Iraq and Afghanistan of local residents who will “tolerate” the U.S. presence as long as they believe their future and those of their families will be improved by it. He also has a keen instinct and appreciation for the essential public relations aspects of his job and says the U.S. military should always “be first with the truth” when it comes to their actions abroad.
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General David Petraeus Says It's Iran That Keeps Him Up at Night
Tweet Share on Facebook April 14, 2010 Comment (9)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Barack Obama’s Tuesday announcement that the world leaders participating in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington have agreed to destroy or secure all nuclear materials over the next four years is welcome news but not totally reassuring, There are still plenty of threats to U.S. and world national security and this non-binding agreement doesn’t address them.
However, the summit of 47 nations, the first ever large meeting of world leaders focused on how to keep nuclear materials away from terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, was a good first step. According to the State Department, it was the largest gathering of government leaders called by a U.S. president since the United Nations was founded in 1945. Experts say there is enough nuclear material in the world--2,000 tons of plutonium and highly enriched uranium--to make more than 120,000 nuclear weapons.
“It is increasingly clear,” Obama declared, “that the danger of nuclear terrorism is one of the greatest threats to global security.”
"Nuclear materials that could be sold or stolen and fashioned into a nuclear weapon exist in dozens of nations," Obama said. "Just the smallest amount of plutonium--about the size of an apple--could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
It’s a real and frightening possibility and the sobering truth is that whatever the countries attending the summit try to do to secure their nuclear materials, two of the world’s most dangerous rogue states--Iran and North Korea--weren’t in attendance and probably aren’t very interested in limiting the spread of nuclear materials. In fact, they are working as fast as they can to develop them and are the most likely suspects to deliver nuclear materials into the hands of al-Qaeda or other terrorists.
The same day that Obama was meeting with the world leaders, General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, was across town at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars discussing other security threats facing the United States.
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Republican Bondage Club Party Should Cost Steele His Job
Tweet Share on Facebook March 31, 2010 Comment (24)By Linda Killian, the Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Whoever thought we would be using the phrase "topless bondage themed nightclub" and Republican National Committee in the same sentence? You just couldn't make this stuff up. Obviously, it's not called Grand Old Party for nothing.
The escapades of the RNC staffers and donors at the Voyeur nightclub in West Hollywood and the subsequent $1,946.25 expense account submission to the RNC is a perfect, albeit crude and somewhat hilarious, example of what so many people around the country are thinking right now--people in Washington just don't get it.
Even David Letterman, no slouch in the inappropriate behavior department, gets it. His Top 10 list Tuesday featured the RNC incident and one of the reasons he listed for the RNC's actions was--"If we can't spend donor money at a strip club the terrorists have won."
Late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson said that in one week, the Republicans have gone from the party of no to the party of "no don't stop."
This really is too easy, but sadly, this is not just fodder for blogs and late-night comics. It actually reflects a serious problem.
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Meet the Coffee Party, a Kinder, Gentler, More Liberal Tea Party
Tweet Share on Facebook March 15, 2010 Comment (32)By Linda Killian, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Over the weekend I attended a meeting in Haymarket, Virginia. It was one of an estimated 350 such gatherings in 44 states around the country organized by the Coffee Party, whose mission is to promote civil discourse and compromise in the political system. The two dozen people gathered at the Haymarket Town Hall on that rainy Saturday morning for coffee, donuts, and discussion were a pretty diverse group with different party affiliations and political philosophies.
What they all seemed to have in common was a frustration with the current political situation and a feeling that they are not being well served by the system. But it was a quiet frustration expressed at a simmer rather than a boil. Coffee Party rules don't allow for raised voices, name-calling, or rudeness.
Still, I heard plenty of populist frustration over a ruling class of politicians and business leaders who seem to be doing well while everyone else is struggling.
