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President Obama: Stay Progressive in the Fiscal Showdown Talks by Richard Kirsch, nextnewdeal.net | December 19, 2012
That didn’t last nearly as long as I had hoped. I put on my Obama baseball cap – the one I picked up from a street vendor walking to the inauguration four years ago – a few weeks before the November election. I’ve worn it every day since, to both celebrate his victory and cheer on the president for keeping to a progressive promise in the fiscal negotiations. Part of that promise was telling the DesMoines Register that Social Security benefits should not be cut. But it looks like my cap is going back on the shelf if reports that Obama is willing to cut Social Security benefits prove to be true. read more »Obama's Guns Task Force by Michael Tomasky, thedailybeast.com | December 19, 2012
Appointing a task force on guns seems a little mealy-mouthed to me. Obama is putting Joe Biden in charge, and this is the kind of thing that a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee just might be able to do with aplomb, but still...Strike while the iron is hot, sez I. Obama's style is to be deliberative, gather evidence. It's a lot better than shooting from the hip on general principle. But sometimes there's a public mood out just waiting to be caught and exploited before it dissipates and before the opponents can confuse and redirect it. Right now, there is an opportunity to make a very simple and straightforward statement: We need far, far tougher regulations on the kinds of guns that exist only to kill large numbers of human beings very quickly, and the ammunition that goes in them. read more »Don’t Be Afraid of NRA Bullies by Bill Boyarsky, truthdig.com | December 19, 2012
Despite the horror of the Sandy Hook Elementary School slaughter, politicians approaching proposals for stronger gun regulation remain stricken with caution and fear of the National Rifle Association and its allies. Wary of the NRA and its deep-pocket gun and ammunition-manufacturing supporters, gun control advocates are offering only mild proposals. Yet, despite the fear the organization generates, the NRA’s reputation as a political juggernaut may be overrated. It lost big campaigns in the last election even though it poured millions of dollars into them. read more »The Real Barrier to Better Gun-Control Policy by Scott Lemieux, prospect.org | December 19, 2012
The horrific mass killing of elementary schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut has served as another reminded that the United States is an unusually violent country. And the evidence is overwhelming that lax regulations of private firearms plays a major role in this unnecessarily high rate of violent death. And yet, it is very unlikely that any federal legislation will be passed in response to the Newtown killings, let alone regulations comparable to those in other liberal democracies. To many progressives, the reason for this is clear: the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which must be repealed for any real progress to gun control to take place. But to blame the Second Amendment for terrible American gun control policies is highly misleading. The Bill of Rights is not the primary political barrier to better gun control policies, and in any political universe in which repealing the Second Amendment was even thinkable such a repeal would be superfluous. read more »Putting the Common Good Above Individual Rights by David Callahan, policyshop.net | December 18, 2012
An emphatic belief in individual rights is one of the greatest strengths of America, and also its greatest flaw. In any rational society, my neighbor shouldn't be able to keep a small arsenal of high-powered automatic weapons sitting around the house. And certainly not if she is living with her disturbed son. That is a threat to public safety, as we learned horribly on Friday. But if it seems obvious to some of us, in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, that individual rights have gone too far when it comes to guns, this reality is not yet a starting point for public policy. We'll hear a lot in coming weeks about assault rifles, background checks, waiting periods, magazine clip size, and so on. Yet to really win the argument for stronger gun control, we need to question the underlying belief that individual freedom is more important than the common good. read more »First, Get Rid of the Guns by Eugene Robinson, truthdig.com | December 18, 2012
We are not helpless to stop the massacre of innocent children. We must begin—today, right now, this minute—taking guns out of the hands of madmen, and the first step should be a ban on military-style assault weapons such as the rifle used to turn a Connecticut school into a slaughterhouse. That won’t be enough to end all the carnage, but it will save some lives. It is admirable that President Obama, members of Congress and other elected officials are deeply horrified and saddened by what happened Friday in Newtown. But the moment calls for action, not words, and politicians who are too craven or stupid or ideologically rigid to finally move forward on gun control will have the blood of future victims on their hands. We must begin with the guns. read more »What We Parents Must Do by Jim Wallis, Huffington Post | December 18, 2012
We are hearing advice from child advocates, counselors and therapists to talk to our kids, love them, hug them and tell them that they are safe. We've done a lot of that -- loving, hugging and talking with our boys Luke and Jack over the weekend. And I know many other parents are doing the same thing. But... we really can't honestly just tell our children that they are safe. This year, children have been so randomly and unexpectedly shot in their schools, in movie theaters, at malls and on street corners across the nation -- places that any of our kids could be at any time. They are not safe. This crisis will not be healed or solved until parents begin a national conversation about what will keep our children safe in this country, at least more safe than they are today. read more »The Price of Our Freedom by George Lakoff, Huffington Post | December 17, 2012
"Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?" That sentence, uttered by President Obama in his Newtown Address, may turn out to be a turning point in American history. The president, in one sentence, turned the beautiful faces of the 20 first-grade children murdered brutally by assault weapons into the moral measure of our nation. Conservatives have argued that guns = freedom, and that there should be no limit on such freedom. The president trumped their argument: The price of not protecting the nations' children is too high. Permitting the mass murder of our children is not freedom. read more »The Meaning of Minority by Charles M. Blow, The New York Times | December 13, 2012
America’s white majority just bought itself another year. According to census figures released Wednesday, 2043 is now the year that whites will no longer make up the majority of Americans. That’s one year later than previous projections. But one year is nothing in the grand sweep of things. We as a society must begin to consider now what this change will mean for a nation mired in a majority/minority swamp of privilege, expectations, historical benefits and systematic discrimination. The browning of America is very real and unrelenting. Our task is to find a way to move into this new Ecru Era with as much ease and grace as we can muster. read more »He's Only Stuck If He Lets Himself Be by Mike Lux, Huffington Post | December 11, 2012
There was a headline in the Washington Post on Sunday that completely summarizes the Republicans' fondest dreams as well as the expectations of the D.C. establishment's conventional wisdom: "Debt Crisis Expected to Define Obama's Second Term." It's a reminder of something I learned when I first came to D.C.: the conventional wisdom in D.C. is almost always wrong. Indeed, it is hard to think of one big time over the last 20 years when the conventional wisdom turned out to be right. This isn't to say deficits won't continue to be an issue -- the House Republicans will make sure of that. And Democrats and progressives should certainly engage in the debate over how to bring deficits down over the long run. At the end of the day, though, it is Barack Obama who will determine whether, as the headline suggested, debt and deficits will define Obama's second term. That will only be true if he lets it be. read more »
The Latest
Holder Confirmed, CNN | February 3, 2009
The U.S. Senate confirmed Eric Holder as attorney general, voting 75-21 to place him in charge of the Department of Justice. Holder, 58, is a former federal prosecutor and served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration. His confirmation makes him the first African-American confirmed to the post, though he held the job on an acting basis in early 2001. more »
Democrats Pass Pay Equity , Reuters | January 23, 2009
The new Democratic-led U.S. Senate flexed its expanded muscle by overwhelmingly passing a bill to reverse a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it tougher to sue for pay discrimination. Approved 61-36, the measure is similar to one that Senate Republicans blocked last year, complaining it would lead to an explosion of lawsuits and be a bonanza for trial lawyers. more »
Obama Sworn in as 44th President, The Washington Post | January 21, 2009
Barack Obama took the oath of office today as the 44th president of the United States and pledged to "begin again the work of remaking America." Addressing a huge throng estimated at nearly 2 million people on the capital's Mall and millions of others watching on television, Obama somberly recognized the multiple crises now afflicting the nation at a time of war abroad and economic turmoil at home more »
Senate Confirms Six Cabinet Secretaries, Associated Press | January 21, 2009
The Senate swiftly approved six members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet, but put off for a day the vote on his choice of Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state. more »
Obama Justice Picks Break with Bush Path, iht.com | January 6, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama has tapped four Clinton administration lawyers, whose records signal a sharp break from the legal policies of the last eight years, to fill four top Justice Department posts. more »
Democratic Congress Convenes, uk.reuters.com | January 6, 2009
The new U.S. Congress convenes on under pressure to deal with a worsening economy by passing a stimulus package that Barack Obama could sign into law soon after being sworn in as president. "We are in a very difficult spot," Obama told reporters between meetings with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. more »
Americans Focused Beyond Economy, The Washington Post | December 21, 2008
Most Americans are optimistic about the policies that Barack Obama will pursue when he becomes the country's 44th president next month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and there is a widespread public desire that he quickly expand his focus beyond the economy, the dominant issue facing the country. more »
Obama: More Financial Sector Regulation Coming, mcclatchydc.com | December 19, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama signaled that he plans to put Wall Street on a tighter leash, saying that he'll soon unveil plans to intensify and perhaps restructure regulation of the financial sector. more »
Obama Pledges to Work With Governors, CNN | December 3, 2008
Plagued by rising unemployment, falling tax revenue and increased demand for state services, the nation's governors met with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to press for federal money to ease their fiscal strain. more »
Obama Will Move to Veto Bush Laws, The Guardian | November 9, 2008
Barack Obama will move swiftly to unpick many of what he sees as the most egregious acts of the Bush administration when he enters the White House in January, including restrictions on stem cell research and moves to allow oil drilling in wilderness areas, a leading member of his transition team said yesterday. more »
