The Choate-Weinberg Report

Take A Lesson From The USS Maryland

This being our sixth Thanksgiving day issue, let me tell you what my family and I are thankful for.

Last Saturday, my wife and I were having breakfast at a local restaurant. Sitting at the next table was a woman and her father who was wearing a hat which said, "Pearl Harbor Survivor".

He said hi to me and I asked him what he was doing on that day, which would forever, live in infamy.

"I was on the USS Maryland," he said.

It happens that I traveled to Hawaii in 2004 and did a piece for this newspaper, thus I was more than a little familiar with his ship’s action during that sneak attack.

The Maryland was anchored next to the USS Oklahoma which did not survive the attack and capsized.

So sheltered, the men of the Maryland fought back.

The ship shot down one of the two torpedo planes which got the Oklahoma during the initial attack. It brought all of its anti-aircraft batteries up during the attack and continued even after she was hit by two anti-armor bombs which ripped holes in her hull. She also sent her fire-control crews to assist other ships were in worse shape.

Knowing all of this, I could only thank this 92 year old gentleman for his service to our country, because I know that whatever his job was on that ship, that day, I was in the presence of a genuine American hero who probably thought that he was just doing his job.

He was surprised that I even knew the history of his ship.

That this brave man is alive at age 92, still actively participating in the life of his country, and still serving as a reminder that freedom is anything but free; that all of the veterans of World War II including my own father who are still with us are serving in that capacity is something that I am and we all should be profoundly thankful for.

We have a new administration forming up to take office next January, after what will go down in history as the longest Presidential campaign ever.

President-Elect Barack Obama seems to be bringing many of his former rivals into his circle and seems not overtly opposed to revisiting everything he has said during the campaign with an eye towards what is actually happening today.

Recognizing that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, we would be thankful if Obama takes a lesson from the crew of the USS Maryland on December 7, 1941.

Those American heroes did what they had to do and worried about the fallout later. It is doubtful that ideology figured into the actions of the ship’s crew that day.

We are now in the middle of a war on terror, an economic recession for which everyone in government and many in business share blame and we have a sharply divided electorate on many issues.

We would be enormously thankful if President Obama could do what he promised and keep partisanship out of the national dialog while he cleans his new desk off.

He could do that effectively if he would force his subordinates—of whatever their ideology—to remember the crew of the USS Maryland and what they did when they were under attack. Great Americans can accomplish great things when they work together and do not really care who gets the credit.

One final note:

As regular readers know, I am extremely proud of my stepson who is a new member of the United States Marine Corps. When he was home on leave last week, I took care of his transportation problems and he thanked me by saying that he was just in training, that he hadn’t even been deployed yet.

I told him that going to Iraq or Afghanistan is just doing his job.

Volunteering for that job in the first place was the thing we’re most proud of and thankful for.

FRED WEINBERG

When The System Goes Stupid

By FRED WEINBERG

Editor and Publisher

I’ve been working in the media at just about every level from a small town newspaper to network television since I was 13, which would be 43 years.

But I’ve never had a story in which I, personally, was involved such as the one I am about to tell you.

My wife of four and a half years (we’ve actually been together for the last 10 years) has two children and an ex-husband. We mostly raised the son who is now a United States Marine. The 16-year-old daughter lived with her father who actually had legal custody of both children, but by agreement, the son lived with us.

The ex recently remarried and the couple had a baby.

We knew things had not been going well for the couple when he was arrested some weeks ago for domestic violence, but the two of them were at our house a few weeks back when his son was home on leave.

We also knew that there was a possibility he would soon be homeless as he was being evicted from his rental house because he had not paid the rent.

Last Tuesday night, my wife got a call from Nye County Detectives who were looking for her ex, Stephen Alarid, for kidnapping. It was a short conversation because my wife had no idea where her ex was.

The next morning, we got a call from a friend.

"Did you see Channel 13? Your ex is wanted for Second Degree kidnapping."

We turned on the TV, opened a browser on the computer and there it was.

Stephen James Alarid auditioning for America’s Most Wanted.

And there was Channel 13, with video of the baby, which Alarid had kidnapped.

The video was cute.

The accuracy in reporting the whole story—not so much.

There was an awful lot about the baby being missing.

Nothing about 16-year-old Randi Nicole Alarid.

I called the Nye County Sheriff to complain.

Your wife doesn’t have custody, I was told. Nobody but the custodial parent can file a missing person’s report.

Of course, the custodial parent happens to—even as of this writing—be on the lam.

Yet, as the story goes on, when it comes to recognizing the real mother of the child, that doesn’t hold much sway in Nye County—or the rest of the state it appears.

This went on for about a day, during which I called America’s Most Wanted to complain that there was a 16-year old girl missing and nobody was interested in that—just the baby.

Now I had always been a bit leery of John Walsh.

I have a basic problem with people (think Fred Goldman) who make a living on the death of their kids.

Walsh’s staff did nothing to impress me at 1800CRIMETV.

A young man told me essentially that unless the cops told them a girl was missing, they couldn’t do anything with it. Apparently, not even ask the question.

Well, at least they published the fugitive story on their web site, but I am left to wonder how much they miss with pigheadedness like that.

Same story at Channel 13.

Now, there, you think someone would listen. We tried to tell them.

But they were fixated on the baby—even after it had been found. Apparently Alarid left the kid on the doorstep of the mother.

And nobody in the local media thought to ask the question, what were the mother and Alarid doing together if she had an extended protective order against him and he was not to be anywhere near the child?

They certainly looked happy enough the week before in my living room.

In fact, the Channel 13 reporting centered on footage of the baby.

Now the people who did care were the folks at the Nye County School District.

Dale Norton questioned her friends and did just about everything a school official could do, but his job isn’t to search the streets for her.

So, I called Sheriff Tony De Meo.

Now, Tony is a good guy. And he explained that his hands appeared to be legally tied.

So I offered my resources.

I put together a poster, had it printed by the folks who print our newspaper and sent a copy to the Sheriff.

He said the poster was OK and I prepared to call a press conference on Friday and put them up in Pahrump.

Friday morning, I called Alarid’s mother—Nancy.

We had a civil relationship with her.

When Randi’s brother graduated from Indian Springs High School, we paid some of her expenses to attend. (She lives in Albuquerque.)

She told me that we were making the situation worse.

Worse?

Her son was a fugitive from justice, my wife’s daughter (her granddaughter) was missing and apparently in this woman’s mind calling attention to the situation is making it worse.

Fifteen minutes after I hung up with her, Alarid called and told us where Randi was.

Apparently someone else knew as well, because before we could get to Pahrump, the Nye County Sheriff’s office took her into protective custody.

At that point, I directed my attorney to file in Clark County on behalf of my wife for custody, given the fact that the custodial parent is still a fugitive and their original divorce happened in Clark County. That hearing is after this newspaper goes to press.

In the meantime, the mother of the fugitive showed up at the Child Protective Services with a note from her son, the fugitive, and the CPS people released her to the grand mother without even a phone call to my wife.

Presumably, a Clark County Judge will reverse this nonsense between the time this is written and the newspaper is distributed.

But, as this is written, Randi is still not back in school. She is on her way to Albuquerque with grandma and nobody has asked the real question which is exactly why the rights of the non-custodial parent have been trampled by the system and nobody really cares.

Now it’s hard to blame people whose hands are legally tied.

But the fact remains that Steve Alarid—as of this writing—is still on the run, charged with second degree kidnapping and domestic battery, yet a note was given to his mother granting custody of his daughter to his mother, the CPS people acted on that note and nobody asked how she got in contact and got that note.

And nobody asked the bigger question which is why would a note from a fugitive who is charged with kidnapping mean anything to anybody charged with the responsibility for the safety of a 16-year-old child?

As we who are in the news business occasionally say, enquiring minds would like to know.

We Should Take Stock In Detroit

As the guy who owned the original official radio station of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and who helped introduce NASCAR to Las Vegas, believe me when I say that I am amongst the most conflicted people in the nation when it comes to the question of bailing out the Big Three American auto makers.

The car guy in me says, "of course".

"How could we not?"

On the other hand, the businessman in me says, "wait a minute."

Giving General Motors $25-billion in whatever form we are now talking about—without seeing new management and some intelligent concessions from labor—is only pushing the problem a year, two years at the most down the road.

The fact is that Ford and Chrysler are not too much further behind GM in the race to the next chapter in their financial history—that would be Chapter 11—and we might as well deal with the entire legacy American auto industry if we’re already going to deal with GM.

There are three basic problems with the auto industry.

First, they are paying their labor around $72 dollars an hour while foreign makers—those with plants here in the United States—are paying around $42 an hour. And that has contributed to the bloated prices we now are paying for cars.

It’s easy for economists to say that as a percentage of inflation, today’s auto pricing is in line with what we were paying in the 60s and the 70s. But income is finite and a $30,000 car still requires a hell of a lot more effort to pay for than an $8,000 car.

So, we’ve come up with gimmicks to make the payments affordable. We have leasing, 72 month car loans where the car is worth less than the loan for almost 40 months, and, as a last resort, loans with payments people simply cannot afford, at interest rates that are ridicules. And rental companies which buy a lot of cars.

During a rising economy, somehow it all pencils out.

During a recessionary economy, the underpinnings all come undone.

And that is what happened to Detroit.

They are making cars people can’t afford with a planned obsolescence cycle that is way too short to amortize the purchase so that they can sell a new car every three years.

And they haven’t really figured out a way to price these cars for a profit.

To survive, they are going to have to lower their costs, lower the cost of a car or truck, make them last longer and stop looking at customers as marks.

Worse, the industry is behind about one in every twelve jobs in the United States, which makes a forced bankruptcy problematic, loaded with unintended consequences.

What should we do?

Well, for starters, whether we want to or not, we probably cannot let any of the Big Three fail.

But any bail out should come with one huge string attached. The Federal Government should take a stock position in the automakers and then spin the stock out to the taxpayers in certificate form with, perhaps, a three years moratorium on trading the stock. Additionally, we should force the United Auto Workers to empty out their strike fund of the Billion dollars it now holds and make that an investment as well.

All of that would have two major benefits. First, it would give the taxpayers and the union more than a rooting interest and an answer to the very real question, "what’s in this for me?" And, second, it would give taxpayers a very real incentive to buy American.

Remember, "Take Stock in America, Buy U.S. Savings Bonds"? Something like that.

A side benefit of such a move would be that the management in Detroit would be forced to remember who, exactly, they make cars for and why. (Could you imagine Joe The Plumber on the Ford Board of Directors?)

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Just throwing money at the auto industry meets that definition.

If we are going to try and fix the problem, at least we should remember whose money we are using.

FRED WEINBERG

Free Trade Killing Big Three

By PAT CHOATE

Contributing Editor

How did the U.S. auto industry get into its present crisis? For sure, bad management decisions and too many concessions to the United Auto Workers played a role. But in the end, the decisions of labor and management are not at the root of this mess.

Soaring oil prices, a credit freeze and the panic of consumers are the immediate causes – none of which are the fault of the automakers, their workers or the UAW.

Longer term, a number of decisions by the U.S. government has done more harm to the auto industry than corporate management and the union. Trade policy is at the top of that list. In one negotiation after another, we have allowed other nations to protect their auto companies from competition by the Big Three, even as we allow those foreign producers to ship as many vehicles as they want into the United States.

Korea, for example, shipped more than 770,000 vehicles into the U.S. market last year, but U.S. producers got only 6,500 into Korea. The anemic U.S. exports becomes understandable when one realizes that the South Korean government discourages such imports by having their Internal Revenue Service audit the taxes of anyone who buys a foreign car. How many Korean cars would be sold here if U.S. buyers knew they would get an audit the IRS?

Worse, U.S. trade negotiators knew all about this as they negotiated the recent U.S.-Korean free trade agreement. Without addressing this issue, the Bush Administration sent to Congress, where it will not be considered for this very reason. When U.S. trade negotiators tried to reopen talks to change this provision, the Koreans refused. My question, of course, is why did the U.S. agree to such a one-sided deal in the first place? The simple rule should be that if the Koreans will only take 6,500 U.S.-made vehicles, we would only take 6,500 made in Korea.

And then there is the discriminatory Value Added Tax (VAT) that so distorts auto trade. In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. wanted to help Europe recover quickly, so we agreed that those nations that used a VAT could rebate the amount of that levy on their exports and impose a VAT equivalent on all imports. Europe recovered long ago, but the VAT remains. Over the years, moreover, the VAT has been adopted by more than 150 other nations.

Thus, when German automakers export a $50,000 vehicle to the United States, the Government of Germany rebates the VAT taxes to the manufacturer. Since the German VAT is 19 percent, the Germany automaker gets a check for $9,500. By contrast when GM exports a $50,000 Cadillac to Germany, that government imposes a 19 percent VAT equivalent tax, adding $9,500 to the price.

Thus, a $50,000 car made in Germany sells for $40,500 in the U.S., which gives the Germans a real advantage in this market when competing against a $50,000 Cadillac. And in Germany, the Cadillac is again at a disadvantage because it sells for almost $60,000 against the $50,000 car made there. GM is thus disadvantaged both at home and abroad because the U.S. tolerates a massive tax discrimination against American producers.

Over the last 30 years, the United States has tried three times to eliminate this discrimination. Each time, Japan, Germany and other governments refuse to even discuss the issue and our leaders accept what should be an unacceptable response.

In sum, the management of the Big Three and the UAW leadership must change many of their attitudes and practices, but even more important the U.S. Government needs to end the unfair trade practices that are doing so much harm to all U.S. manufacturing.

Real Americans Are Rooting For Obama

Dear Mr. President-Elect:

You’ve probably gotten a few of these letters from various editorial writers in the last week or so but I hope you’ll take the time to think through what I have to say.

First, you should know that I didn’t vote for you. I voted for the wrinkly old white dude for a number of reasons.

That said, you won, fair and square, and you are about to become the face of America, whether or not you are ready.

No real American—no matter what their politics—wants to see their President fail.

The damage and fall out from a failed Presidency is far worse than any policy shift you can effect while in office and policy is why we have elections every four years.

So, take it as a given that all real Americans want to see you succeed.

My guess is that your new Chief of Staff has told you privately that you have the opportunity to become the next Ronald Reagan, the next great communicator to sit in the Oval Office. If he has, he is 100% correct.

Your problem is not the loyal opposition.

It is the tail gunners from your own party.

You ran a masterful campaign. You used a combination of rhetoric, the events of the day, a tired electorate and the elements of your party who were tired of being irrelevant to gain the office you are about to enter.

Now, all of those elements want something from you.

The unions want to eliminate secret ballot elections to make it easier to force their way into the workplace. Forgetting the concept that America was built on the secret ballot, given the economic times we are in, their timing could not be worse.

The ACLU wants to dismantle the national security apparatus which the Bush administration put in place and which has kept us safe for seven years.

Just what you need.

And, MoveOn.org wants to remind you that they own—they think—a piece of your posterior.

Much of this pressure will come from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who, frankly, have agendas which reflect their own party constituencies and not necessarily those of the nation as a whole.

I’m not suggesting that you turn on your friends.

They did, after all, help get you elected.

But, as you said the night of the election in Chicago’s Grant Park, you will be the president of ALL the people and our agendas are not those of Harry and Nancy.

We need to be able to pay our electric bills, as an example, and we don’t need an energy policy which is written by the Sierra Club which would make those costs prohibitive such as the course of action Harry wants to impose on Nevada.

And there’s a political reality to all of this.

Be a fair arbiter of the agenda and you’ll be re-elected. Kowtow to the Pelosi-Reid wing of your party and you’re Jimmy Carter because people like me will have a lot more ammunition in 2012.

I’m rooting for you, Mr. President-Elect.

So, is the rest of America.

FRED WEINBERG

Who Took My Pension Money?

I happened to notice that my 401K plan is down in value by more than one-third. My friends tell me that I am lucky. Theirs are down even further.

The question is why. Yes. I know the market is down, but why is it down so much, so fast.

The answer, of course, is we have been in the midst of a bubble created by lax credit and risky gambling by the financial industry. Such was the cause of the Great Depression some 75 years ago.

The issue is that our grandparents reacted to their losses by putting into place regulations for the finance community to prevent a reoccurrence of such abuses. And people of our generation removed those safeguards.

Specifically, the Clinton Administration revoked the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that separated commercial banks from investment banking. In the 1920s, the two functions were combined. So, when an investment of the bank went bad, the depositors on the commercial side were at risk. Glass-Steagall broke up the two functions so that depositors’ money would be safer, plus they put into place insurance through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect a minimal amount of a person’s deposits.

Though Bill Clinton kept the insurance, he allowed the two functions to be combined once again. And as in the past, bankers used monies from depositors to gamble on deals, many of which failed.

Under securities laws also put into place during the 1930s, corporations that were in the investment banking business were limited as to how far they could leverage their investments. In 2004, the major investment banks led by Goldman Sachs got the Securities and Exchange Commission to loosen their rules so that $1 of equity could be used to make a $33 bet. The leverage was great when the market was rising and deadly when it was dropping. This leverage trap killed AIG and Lehman Brothers.

And then there is the matter of allowing people who could not afford mortgages to get one. A number of decisions made in the late 1990s and early part of this century made that possible. And the decision makers were people who once held high position in both the Clinton and Bush Administration who got sinecures on the boards of government backed mortgage companies, where they made millions in salaries and deals.

When this financial house of cards collapsed, real values dropped and people such as me lost a good part of our retirement savings.

What is galling about all this is the apparent disinterest by the Bush Administration and Congress as to how it all happened. I would think that a $2 trillion bailout would elicit some curiosity as to how.

So far, we have had a couple of Congressional hearings dealing with some parties paid for by AIG and some questioning of people such as Alan Greenspan, former head of the FED and Chris Cox, Chairman of the SEC. Minor stuff.

Fortunately, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is introducing legislation to create an independent national commission to investigate the causes, consequences and lessons of all this. I think what we have seen is looting on a historic scale. If the pirates operating off the coast of Somalia understood finance, they would be perfectly at home in Wall Street under the existing rules.

We need some answers. Getting the Kaptur bill through early next year should be a top priority for all of us who got stung in this bubble.

PAT CHOATE

Why McCain Lost

By PAT CHOATE

Contributing Editor

Political analysts will be sorting through the ashes of this Presidential campaign for years to come and most of their analysis will be wrong because they cannot recapture the emotion of this moment.

Much like the election of 1980 when Ronald Reagan routed Jimmy Carter and the Democrats, the GOP was driven into the political wilderness not so much by any candidate for any office, but by a real disgust with the policies and outcomes of George W. Bush. Ultimately, John McCain, perhaps even Ronald Reagan, could not overcome that dissatisfaction. Indeed, Senator McCain’s campaign was extraordinary. Unlike Barry Goldwater, Alfred Landon and Herbert Hoover in other years of Republican debacles, he prevailed in enough states to suggest that he could have won had economic circumstances been different. But they were not and that is the point.

During the Bush era, America lost more than 3 million good paying manufacturing jobs. The size of the federal budget doubled from $5.5 to more than $11 billion. The cumulative trade deficit was almost $5 trillion. China filled out market with unsafe goods and the President cut the inspection budget for the FDA. The GOP actually pushed those policies forward.

And then there was the financial meltdown. The Dow lost more than third of its value within 2 months and virtually everyone’s savings and 401K shrunk by at least that amount. The Bush response has been to push out more than $2 trillion dollars to failed insurance companies, banks, and corporations. Even more distressing, the Administration is supporting the Federal Reserve’s grant of more than $120 billion of credit to developing nations.

To top all this off, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson is proving to be the 2^nd worst public dealmaker in U.S. history. The Indians who traded Manhattan for $24 of trinkets hold that title. But think about this: Warren Buffet, for instance, bought $5 billion of preferred stock in Goldman Sachs to shore up their capital base. He got a guarantee of 10 percent interest, a 10 percent premium if his stock and warrants were purchased before 10 years. As for those warrants, he got 42.5 million at a strike price equal to Goldman Sachs’ stock price in September 2008.

By contrast, Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, cut a deal for we taxpayers that was not quite as rich. We put up $10 billion of capital and get 9.5 million warrants, which can be redeemed at par. We get five percent interest for five years and then 9 percent for the next five. We get no premium if our stock is brought early. I think the final straw for many people was the recognition that the banks we bailed out intend to use the capital from us, not to make more loans, but to pay dividends and bonuses, plus buy other banks. Half the federal bailout monies will be used to pay dividends over the next three years.

And where was President Bush while all this was going on? AWOL.

There is a lesson in all this for the GOP – go back to your economic roots. Support with rhetoric and action the idea of a balanced budget. Borrow and spend, as done by the Bush Administration, is far more costly than tax and spend. Prudence, frugality, thrift and pay-as-you-go seem to be terms dropped from the Republican lexicon. They need to be rediscovered.

As for international relations, the GOP needs to realize that democracy is great, but it is not for everyone. America’s interests needed to be tended first and if by example others wish to follow our lead, then fine. If not, and America’s interests are not harmed, and then fine.

In the trade and jobs arena, Teddy Roosevelt often proclaimed, "Thank God that I am not a free trader." His slogan was, "A full lunch bucket." The political party that shows a real interest in putting people to work and ensuring that they have good paying jobs with real benefits will dominate elections. The Democrats seem to understand, though their ability to deliver is questionable.

Finally, today’s Republicans seem akin to the Bourbons of 18^th Century France, who were said, "To never forget anything, nor ever learn anything."

Obama won not because he is what Americans sought, but because they were disgusted with the contemporary GOP’s policies of gay bashing, anti-abortion, war, and deficits.

A new generation of GOP leaders is required who are internationalist in outlook and nationalist in their policies. The old leadership put the GOP in the wilderness and they should be left there.

America politically thrives on a loyal opposition. That is now the GOP role. Let us all hope that they can find their way back to being a responsible political party, while they rebuild for the time when they once again will lead the nation.

A New Marine, A New Commander In Chief

Last week, I had the honor of watching my stepson and 555 other fine young men graduate from basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

Stephen Alarid and his fellow members of Bravo Company joined the millions before them who have sworn to defend our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and became, officially, United States Marines.

Now there’s a myth being circulated by the far left wing of the Democratic Party that our all-voluntary military is a tax on the poor and minorities and only those groups volunteer to defend their country.

Based purely on my empirical observation last week, that is a crock.

I had a chance to talk to an awful lot of proud parents and it is my observation that Bravo Company looked an awful lot like America, most of which is middle class. It appeared that the average car in the parking lot was a BMW.

All of which says a lot for the all-volunteer system.

It has made our military the finest on the face of the earth. The new order in Congress has all kinds of plans for the military. Many of them are not happy with "don’t ask don’t tell" despite the considered opinion of the commanders who have to actually take troops into combat. Many of them think that recruiters should not be allowed on campuses of either high schools or colleges. They also don’t like ROTC programs.

The problem is that the longest-lived experiment in self-government simply would not be here without a strong military.

The Marines have been fighting radical Islam, as an example, since President Thomas Jefferson had enough of the Islamic Barbary pirates interfering in United States commerce, hence the line in the Marine Hymm "to the shores of Tripoli."

Unless President-elect Obama can pull a rabbit out of his hat, there is a strong likelihood that Stephen and his fellow Marines will get to see the Middle Eastern parts of the world for themselves.

The Marines have always been the tip of our spear and our number one instrument of diplomacy, no matter what is said for public consumption.

And, lest you think that the only lessons taught in the Marine Corps relate to killing people and breaking things, Stephen told me that he was also taught the power of the prepackaged desert in an MRE container. The combat veterans who were teaching Stephen and his company mates worked very hard on the M16 rifle, but also on the concept that giving that desert to a native in a combat zone can make you a new and valuable friend.

Stephen’s graduation and the Presidential election—even though the winner was not my choice—in one week have renewed my conviction that this is a truly great nation.

Watching careers start, history being made and good things happen to people who work hard to make those things happen has a way of doing that.

The truth is that in this nation—more than any other—you are free to make the kind of choices and pursue the careers that both Stephen and President-elect Obama are now pursuing.

While there were not any Obama bumper stickers in sight last week at MCRD, the greatness of this country is manifest in the fact that on January 20, Barack Obama will become Stephen’s Commander in Chief. It will happen peacefully, the result of an election and Stephen’s job will be to help make sure that the next such transition also happens exactly the way our founding father intended.

One final note:

If you want to see another branch of the military exhibit its best and brightest, come on out to Nellis Air Force Base this weekend for Aviation Nation. You won't be disappointed.

FRED WEINBERG

Obama Now Must Sit On Reid, Pelosi

By FRED WEINBERG

Editor and Publisher

If President-elect Barack Obama is wise, he will look towards the years 1993 through 1994 for an example of how not to govern.

It cost Bill Clinton his Congress.

If he allows Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to go native, the elections of 2010 could look amazingly like 1994 with stunning reversals.

On the other hand, if he doesn’t give his own liberal base some red meat, he might be facing down some serious opposition from his own base.

The beauty of our system is that on January 20, there will be a peaceful transition of power, graceful exits by the current administration, and, hopefully, equally graceful entrances by the new administration.

Then, we get down to the actual governing.

All of those things that Obama promised on the campaign trail?

The tax cut for 95% of America, the instant exit from Iraq, the energy policy which favors the Sierra Club, a chicken in every pot, spreading the wealth around, health insurance for everyone?

Fat chance.

It would appear that the Democrats do not have a filibuster-proof Senate which means that serious spending items won’t get cloture unless the Republicans agree.

Then, there’s the voters.

For reasons that pundits will be debating until January 19 on the end of Obama’s last term in office, America chose to make him our Commander in Chief and leader.

That sounds like a lot of power.

But it is power which must be wielded with a certain understanding that a President’s real power is largely ephemeral. Ask George W. Bush.

The voters give what power they give and can take it away in four years. Ask Jimmy Carter.

Obama, in particular, needs goodwill from both sides of the aisle.

Not because he is black, but because he is untested and a blank slate in terms of track record.

You don’t get that goodwill by allowing Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to run roughshod over everybody they disagree with which, according to the approval ratings of the Democratic Congress is a lot of people.

In many respects, Obama’s toughest challenge will be to keep his own party in line.

You see, this is America.

Those of the loyal opposition understand that a President of the United States is a symbol of the greatest nation on the face of the earth whether or not he is of your party.

If you cannot respect the man, then you must at least respect the office.

And, for his term, he is the President of all the people.

That’s easy to understand when you didn’t have the votes to change the outcome of the election.

But having those votes sometimes changes your perspective on things.

That is the current position of the left wing of the Democratic Party.

Those same voters who can toss out a President (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush in recent history) can also dispense with a Senator or a Congressman (see 1994).

If Obama wants to be able to govern from the center, sitting on Pelosi and Reid will be among his first and biggest challenges.

And, just as he is untested as a President, he is also untested as the leader of his party.

So, for those who see Obama’s election as a ticket to instant socialism, it is probable he will not go down that trail for the practical reasons of wanting to be able to actually create a consensus and get things done.

That won’t be possible if he tries to govern from the left.

One final word.

If there are any questions left about whether or not America has come a long way since Bull Connor unleashed dogs and firehoses on civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama 45 years ago, the election of Obama to the highest office in the land should serve as a one word answer.

He is living proof that any little boy (and presumably girl) can grow up to be President of the United States.

We have, for years, had blacks and other minorities win other high offices. There have been black mayors, governors, congressmen and senators of both parties. It took George W. Bush to appoint not only our first black Secretary of State but the first black female Secretary of State.

Barack Obama didn’t win because of preferences or holdbacks or any of the other kinds of "remedies" we have dreamed up in a lame and often unnecessary attempt to create equality.

He won because he did everything right.

Perhaps if we’ve come far enough to elect a black man President, we no longer need any of the nonsense which lingers from the civil rights era.

Barack Obama is living proof that all men truly are created equal.