If I were running for office this November I'd be sure to make it clear that a vote for me is a vote for President Obama.
He has done a good (but not perfect) job over the last 6 years. Notwithstanding, his critics choose to blame him for anything that goes wrong in our country. This approach is like criticizing Eisenhower for some things that didn't go well during the invasion of France on D-Day during WW2.
Today and over recent years the US has had possibly the strongest economy in the West or possibly in the world. We've had a low inflation rate, a rising stock market and a major reduction in unemployment. This in spite of the fact that over the last decade or so globalization has inevitably moved millions of jobs overseas and State and Federal budget controls have cut civil service jobs.
We have not become involved in any new wars. We have been able to eliminate Assad's chemical weapons without the risk of starting a war with Syria. The situation in Ukraine has begun to be constructively negotiated between Russia and the government in Kiev, without our military involvement. Hopefully a new era of peace has settled in between Israel and the Palestinians, based upon some reasonable concessions and compromises on both sides. There continues to be slow, but steady negotiations with Iran aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear weapons capacity. Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat, that being accomplished by careful planning and intelligence sources, and, importantly, without Pakistan's prior knowledge, which was essential. Obama has pulled together a coalition of countries to work at controlling and ultimately removing the ISIS control of much of Iraq, although it's almost universally understood that this effort will take many years to accomplish. His foreign policies have not been without fault, but considering all the possible outcomes Obama has steered a careful course.
The Affordable Care Act, although far from perfect represents a significant improvement over the health care system that our Country had prior to the ACA. Millions more, young, old and handicapped have health insurance for the first time. Tens of thousands will not be facing personal bankruptcy due to huge medical bills. Millions of Americans will not be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions; electronic medical records will streamline our entire system; and more and more emergency and routine clinics are becoming available, and the marketplace for insurance is becoming more competitive.
Obama has done more to control our southern border than all other Presidents before him. Now there are more heading south across the boarder than are heading north. Of course a notable exception are the children who have fled, at great risk, from parts of Central America where the lives of many have been unbearable. And Obama has sought the funds needed to provide judges and lawyers to interview these children and try to determine if they qualify as refugees and can legally find asylum in the US Many of these children have family members in the US and most come with phone numbers, but all of this has to be checked out in court, and if some do not qualify, they will be flown back to their home countries. But I'm proud for America that the spirit of the words on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore ...” are being honored with our current policies regarding these children.
The US auto industry is doing well and paying back the financial support they needed to recover from the Great Recession and from a downward trend in the quality of its product. Obama has placed a high priority upon ensuring equal pay for women, who on average have been earning three quarters of the hourly rate of men for the same job. Yes, were I a candidate for office this November, I would be very proud to let it be known that I embrace the policies of our current administration.
Wallace Wolff
Souderton, Pa.
Contrary to what Elias Isquith writes (“Obama Loses the Left,” 11/1/14 TPP), I am not disappointed in President Obama. I never regarded Obama as a post-racial Messiah, However he did pass Obamacare and we no longer have 140,000 troops in Iraq. Until liberals enjoy governing majorities in the House and Senate even the revered Elizabeth Warren would not be able to improve on what President Obama has achieved.
Reba Shimansky
New York, N.Y.
I read with interest Amy Goodman's column, “A Force More Powerful in Jefferson County, Colo.” [11/1/14 TPP].
Those students and their teachers deserve praise for courageously battling the commissars of “JeffCo” who are want to censor what is being taught about the history of our country. The “citizenship” and “patriotism” that the Jefferson County School Board is promoting in their US History curriculum is, bluntly speaking, an endeavor known as propaganda.
Fostering young people to become patriots should not be the goal of teaching history. If the truth is concealed to make students unaware of our nation’s moral blemishes, they’ll be deprived of the intellectual oxygen they need to make sound political decisions. Thus, our nation’s history will no longer be an academic subject. Instead, it’ll be a cult whose devotees are pliable zombies in the hands of their masters.
Sadly, there are already many such zombies who proclaim their patriotism for no other reason than that their teachers and textbooks have taught them to believe that our government is good, noble, just, charitable, altruistic and unselfish.
What a pity! Those naïve people are unaware that in Iran, in Cuba, in Nicaragua, in Guatemala, in the Philippines, ad nauseam … our government eagerly supported the dictators who brutalized those nations.
David Quintero
Monrovia, Calif.
Some Republican senators seeking reelection have been criticizing the President's response to the threat of Ebola. They criticize Obama's appointment of an "Ebola Czar," hoping voters will forget that last March, those Republican senators refused to confirm his nominee for Surgeon General. They criticize the CDC's response to the disease, hoping voters will forget that Republicans in Congress cut the CDC's budget by 40%. They spend much time and effort blocking the modest improvements to our health insurance system while refusing to propose better remedies. They want us to believe that they have the solutions while being the ones who bring us the problems.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
Wayne O'Leary, in “The False Promise of Technology” [11/1/14 TPP] wrote a great article. It is great, that is, as far as it goes. But it does not go far enough. The problem is not “Technology.” And, in fairness, he described the problem well. What is missing in his account, however, is a reiteration of the morally proper use of technology in a democratic society — that is to serve democratic ends. This means devising technology based projects that bring together individuals from diverse groups (children, the aged, minorities), connect people to nature, and connect them to one another. And yes, size does matter. Many tech companies started out this way. But as they grew, they inevitably transmogrified into more autocratic, closed and antidemocratic institutions. In our current society, this progression is unavoidable — maybe this is the case in all societies. However, from the bottom up will constantly arise new groups struggling towards these democratic ends.
The morally defensible use of technology can be accomplished whether you are planting a garden, building a house, or designing/building anything — until size, greed, competition, and the law interfere. Only tight regulation can control this inevitable, cancerous growth. People should know this, understand this, and support politicians who vote for such regulations. We can't change human greed — but we can change the network of laws, beliefs, and social traditions that give it free rein to destroy our society. And we can pass on the values of technology as the servant of democracy to our children, families, and communities.
Scott Barton
Charleston, S.C.
Re: “Conservatives Have Little Use for Science” by Sam Uretsky, 11/1/14 TPP, "There aren’t going to be many opportunities left.” Meaning that time is running out for a livable world or that another 2010 dooms us to an inhumane era of “conservatism”? Well, in the end -- or long, drawn-out dark ages -- both results amount to about the same thing.
But when Speaker Boehner says that other countries will not (I paraphrase) impose climate-curing restrictions at the cost of economic growth, he has a point. Only the US has a chance to take the lead and influence some of the world's worst offenders. (We polluted out of ignorance; other “developing” countries know full well the consequences of excess smoking and spilling.) Obama, however, cannot explain our responsibility for the health of our planet (and us). Just as he cannot (as FDR did) teach the public about problems and solutions.
Boehner's point is made from false premises, but falsehoods of several kinds determine perception; as one Republican operative put it, “perception trumps the ‘reality community.’” Yes, we're in a post-empirical (faith) and post political (no compromise) age. The question is: for how long?
Jerry Bronk
San Francisco
After reading Ralph Nader's article about Ashraf Ghani [“Afghan voters choose a better future”] in the 11/1/14 TPP, my first cynical thought was that, in a year or two, the CIA will help finance a coup to unseat this democratically elected president of Afghanistan. It was done in South America, why not there? Peace and stability in a country that can do so much to enrich the American war machine cannot be tolerated for long.
Gayle Voeller
Carmichael, Calif.
From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2014
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