Messages to run on in 2016 and other musings

 

 
I still don't quite understand MSNBC’s programming decision to allow Joe Scarborough to unleash his rants, screeds & diatribes against Barack Obama and the Clintons every morning before 7 AM…? Mr. Scarborough represents everything that is wrong with the polarizing and snide nature of punditry.

He couches most of his vitriol with qualifiers such as, “I said the same thing about the Bush administration” or “This is not a partisan criticism on Barack Obama.”
Yes, it is. You are extremely partisan, Mr. Scarborough, and your message extends to working behind the scenes to ensure that most of the guests are not allowed to finish their sentences while other right-wing pundits are allowed to simply sit and ruminate.

Most of the questions are framed in terms such as, “Why do you think Barack Obama is the worst President ever?” He has been allowed to run roughshod over an extensive time block on MSNBC for years. I don’t understand the reasoning, as he isn’t knowledgeable or particularly insightful or witty. He simply pontificates as blowhards often do. Where’s the beef?

 

 

 

*Hillary’s message seems to be: Slow & steady wins the race. Be careful what you wish for, GOP haters. Do you really want to pile on Hillary about her age, and attack her en masse? Possibly it could backfire badly as you all form a circular firing squad around each other in upcoming debates.

As I see it: The messages for all successful candidates to run on in 2016 are:

* Income inequality: It's the Number One problem of our time. Congress used to be able to reach a compromise on the amount of money needed to incrementally raise the minimum wage. Until the partisan wrangling ends, we are going to hear more of the same.

·         Civil rights & voting rights: We have seen countless examples of young men of color being denied basic rights. And with an election year looming, the need to emphasize the role of one man-one vote and the power of every person's vote is paramount.

·          Our role as a Global Superpower: America is still the only real Superpower in the world. What should our role be? Should we try to police the world? Should we use drones to enforce our military might? Does Might always equal right?

·          The Military Industrial Complex expanded: How much is too much power? Should we continue to fund the Defense Department at the rate of over ten times the mass of the nearest national military? What are we doing and where does it lead?

·         Our crumbling infrastructure: One of the many elephants in the room. Our bridges and roads are crumbling and we have to find a way to fund the projects of the future.

·          The too big to fail banks unchecked: What happened to the Tea party? Somewhere along the way they were high-jacked by Dick Armey and company. Dodd-Frank is continually being chipped down to a toothless entity, while the banks that failed our country are still running unchecked by any meaningful constraints.

·         Dark money in politics & Super- PACS: Here’s another 800 pound gorilla in the room. Citizens United has grown up, and now we are seeing the parade of billionaires funding candidates as if they are running a horse in the Kentucky Derby. Will we need to witness a revolution in the streets to end the type of rampant greed and unchecked power that is currently running Washington?

·         A 21^st Century plan forward: At the end of the day, we, the American People, are still a bunch of cock-eyed optimists. We elected Jimmy Carter at a time when our belief in Government was tested by corruption and the downfall of a President. We elected Bill Clinton, the man from Hope, a man who was raised in a middle class town and  went on to become a Rhodes Scholar. We elected Barack Obama, a young and idealistic Senator from Chicago. Obama was raised by a single mother and later became the President of the Harvard Law Review. Many of our leaders are still men who started their lives with humble backgrounds. Who will lead us forward into the 21^st Century?

·         Our still shaky healthcare system: What’s the plan going forward? The best discussions have been non-partisan and realistic notions of what works with ACA and what needs to be fixed. Until the Congress decides to stop playing partisan politics with our health care system, we may be in for more of the same.

 

There's no mystery about what needs to be done. The question is who do we want to lead us forward into the 21st Century?  Will we choose some person advocating a return to the morass of chaotic endless war and mindless partisan bickering or someone who believes in a vision for the future? That's the real question for us, the American People.