So it turns out that President Obama is getting a lot of YouTube views lately, but they’re not from the whitehouse channel. The latest viral craze is BaracksDubs… mash-ups of the President “singing” some popular songs. Here’s the latest video of “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber…
Maybe this would be worth a try for the election campaign? Just a thought
Well finally we’re getting some hotly anticipated news from the US Supreme Court. In yet another 5-3 decision (Justice Elena Kagan did not participate), the court has struck down major portions of Arizona’s SB1070 immigration law. Major news from this is that it preserves the right of the Federal Government to determine and enforce legal status, and it cannot be claimed by states. In that regard, today’s ruling is considered a “big win” for the Obama Administration.
From the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy read that “the national government has significant power to regulate immigration” and that states “may not pursue policies that undermine federal law.” This means that Arizona does not have the right to determine immigration status without the Federal Government.
But one key provision of the law was upheld by the court. Police officers that suspect a person committing a crime can also inquire about their immigration status. But per the decision, they cannot make that determination without Federal Authority.
So if the Obama Administration wins, there has to be a loser, right? Of course, and that loser is Mitt Romney. Lest we forget that he referred to SB 1070 as a “model for the nation”. I suspect those comments will continue to haunt him between now and November.
Game Plan
Say what you want about the Republican Party, but there are a whole host of things that they are VERY good at. The level of cohesion and consistency with which they execute their directives is admirable, if not enviable. Often times in interviews and speeches, GOP politicians sound like a “broken record” because they rarely deviate from the script, and this script comes from the party leadership. They’re also extremely sore losers.
After their decisive defeat in 2008, Republicans crafted a plan of historic proportions to make Obama a “one-term President”. The 2010 elections marked the halfway point to that conquest, and boy did it work. The approach was comprehensive, passionate, and delivered to the most minute detail.
Remember the “Fire Pelosi” bus tour? “Fire Pelosi” bumper stickers, campaign signs, pins and hats? It was a bold calculation by then RNC chairman Michael Steele to go after the Speaker of the House, and it was marvelously orchestrated. Rep. Nancy Pelosi became more hated than anyone else in Washington, and, perhaps most importantly, she bacame a house-hold name that left a bad taste in one’s mouth. The general public, even those that didn’t follow politics, knew that in order to “Fire Pelosi” you had to vote the Democrats out of the House. The phrase was everywhere in 2010, and the campaign was so successful in fact that it helped raise millions of dollars for the RNC. Even back in March of 2010, “Fire Nancy Pelosi” was trending on Google!! It’s a testament to the effectiveness with which the GOP apparatus operates. Who cares if the message wasn’t predicated in truth or facts? It WORKED.
Seen any “Fire Boehner” materials this year? That’s because that campaign doesn’t exist. Do we need to be reminded who won in 2010??
Of course even Nancy Pelosi was not Grand Ole Enemy No. 1… that will always be President Obama. Their pledge to obstruct, weaken and destroy his policies has been the main objective, even when it hurts their damages their credibility by having to abandon previous positions. As the GOP is well aware, President Obama isn’t the far-left socialist they proclaim him to be. Many of the ideas and policies he supports were started by Republicans. This is true for the Dream Act, Cap and Trade legislation, and even the individual mandate. As journalist Ezra Klein points out in a recent New Yorker column, “Indeed, with the exception of raising taxes on the rich, virtually every major policy currently associated with the Obama Administration was, within the past decade, a Republican idea in good standing.” What they know very well is that in order for Obama to be the enemy, they must oppose him at every turn. They have placed party loyalty above our struggling economy, governing our nation, and even their own moral character. The GOP game plan is above all… especially in an election year.
Hopefully the President is starting to figure this out. But what about the rest of the Democratic Party? Dems are making a big mistake by hoping that the GOP will suddenly grow a conscience and play fair. So it’s high time that they play dirty. Liberals and Democrats should be calling out GOP hypocrisy at every turn. They should encourage left-leaning media sources to give equal treatment to their fallacies. But most importantly, the left has got to fight the money, ad and social media wars. At any given time of day, it’s apparent that Twitter has “more Conservatives than liberals”. But is this really the case? Probably not… but the Conservatives are more disciplined and tweet in concert so that their arguments dominate the Twittersphere. The GOP’s game plan is effective because they have put the time and effort in to perfect it. In the age of 24-hr news and a barrage of information, Liberals can no longer rely on facts and better argument to carry them through to election day. They need to get some real skin in the political game. Just remember Dems… the game clock is ticking, and pretty soon it will run out.
Our Federal Government saw an historic move this week, as the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. This vote was related to the “Fast and Furious” scandal.
Here’s my best attempt to sum up “Fast and Furious”. The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been working undercover for years to gain intel in the Mexican Drug War. Part of this undercover intel is to run with the gangs, and that type of information gathering also involves exchanging of drugs, and guns. So yes, the United States Government has knowingly placed working guns in the hands of Mexican Drug operatives (and probably lots of other nations as well). These guns are then traced to follow the moves of the drug operatives. This exchange, known as “gun walking” was started by the Bush Administration in 2006. President Obama and his administration continued it.
In December of 2010, one of these operations failed, and hundreds of the guns were lost. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered by a gun linked to this botched operation.
So here’s the disconnect… the congressional hearings, which have now taken place over 11 months, have not been about the murder of Brian Terry, but instead focused mostly on Attorney General Eric Holder. After all, the leader of the Phoenix ATF division directly oversaw the operation, but only delivered testimony to Congress once. AG Holder just completed his ninth testimony to Congress regarding this matter. And after all of those testimonies, and the release of over 7600 documents, chairman Darrell Issa held Mr. Holder in contempt. Of course Mr. Issa claims to be only concerned about the gun-walking operation, but he wasn’t opposed to such things in 2008. The Daily Kos reports Congressman Issa voted for Project Gunrunner in 2008, eventhough during Mr. Holder’s hearings, he claims to know nothing about it. So he’s accusing the Attorney General for lying under oath, but he hasn’t been truthful himself? Hopefully the Left will take notice, and call Mr. Issa out for his hypocrisy.
Never before has a sitting AG been held in contempt of Congress. That’s the historic part.
But here are the things that happened this week that have become rather commonplace in today’s hostile Washington environment…
-The Republican-led House of Representatives didn’t pass any jobs bills
-The Republican-led House of Representatives used taxpayer money and Congressional resources on a matter that isn’t related to jobs.
-The Republican-led House of Representatives doesn’t like Obama
-The Republican-led House of Representatives staged a very dramatic vote that fell 23-17 along party lines.
-The Democratic House members questioned GOP motives and authority.
-The Republicans made political history in advancing Washington’s party divide.
How many times has this scenario played out in Washington since Obama was elected? We’ve already seen an historic number of Filibusters waged by the Senate GOP… so much so that Americans are now conditioned to believe that the Senate requires a 60-vote majority to pass legislation. No one should be surprised at the results here, but we should be unhappy. The GOP continues to “say” that jobs are their most important priority, but instead of focusing their time and energy on getting Americans back to work, they spend their time trying to persecute the Obama Administration. Even during yesterday’s hearing, a Democratic committee member tried to read a “cost estimate” for the hearings but was cut off. So the voting public is left to ask ourselves… How many school teachers could have been hired? How many more police and firefighters could be keeping our street and neighborhoods safe? How many more states could be given help in an extraordinarily difficult recovery to meet the needs of its citizens?
The murder of Mr. Terry is real. It happened, and his loved ones deserve to know the truth. But it doesn’t concern the United States Attorney General. The need of our Federal Government to have some operations take place in secret is also real. As the Executive Branch is charged to protect our nation, hundreds of thousands of employees “maintain secrets” everyday. It’s just a fact of life when you live in a world with people that are constantly trying to harm our nation. As Attorney General, many of those secrets are going to be seen by Mr. Holder, but that doesn’t automatically mean that he was directly involved. There is no reason for him to have wasted his time, resources and taxpayer money to prepare for copious inquiries for a situation which he wasn’t involved.
The rate at which Congressional Republicans are burning through our resouces? The only way to describe that is Fast and Frivolous.
It may not have rocked the Anglosphere, but on the heels of President Obama’s bold step forward for immigration reform, he also locked up a very substantial endorsement… perhaps the largest of the 2012 campaign.
Media titan Cristina Saralegui now supports President Obama. Known around the Hispanic world simply as “Cristina”, her talk show reached 100 million world-wide viewers before it’s 2010 cancellation. With the immigration announcement in tow, this endorsement certainly provided a double-whammy to the Romney campaign’s hopes to make in-roads within the Hispanic community.
Of course the presumptive Republican nominee isn’t doing himself any favors either. Mr. Romney continues to evade questions in response what he would do in the immigration situation. Though he’s certainly no longer advocating “self-deportation” as he did in the primaries (or is he?? it remains unclear), Romney is apparently stuck on a way forward. If he agrees with Obama, then he’ll alinate the fringe right coalition. If he disagrees, he’ll endanger any hope of support he may gain with moderates and DREAM Act supporters. Given his exemplary business experience, one is left to wonder why he CEO skills haven’t taught him how to handle this situation better?
Hopefully Mr. Romney will figure something out soon.
But for Mr. Obama, it is “Pa’lante” indeed.
(please note: use of the campaign video is for purposes of the article and is not indicative of an endorsement by Texas Leftist)
No, really. So now Fox News is using it’s subliminal game to suggest that President Obama “engaged in improper behavior” in 2008…
But the story that links to the tweet is about Obama’s choice for Iraq ambassador who has withdrawn from the post amid an alleged scandal. Also important to note that the nominee in question, Mr. Brett McGurk, worked for the Bush administration in 2008, when the scandal would have taken place.
So come on Fox News… why mislead your Twitter followers to suggest the President himself behaved inappropriately in Iraq. Everyone makes mistakes, but can you at least CORRECT them.
Full disclosure… I’ve asked them to correct the issue twice. Let’s hope they do.
This morning on CNN, US Congressman Blake Farenthold was pressed by Soledad O’Brien on why Congress has failed to act so often on Immigration reform. He insists that they have “acted”… after all, refusing to do anything is an action I guess.
But listen to the conversation they have around 1:20… he believes that if a child is 16, they “have a say” in whether or not to emigrate with their parents. Granted 16-yr old children are capable of a lot of things like what movies to see over the weekend or what to eat for lunch, but in the big decisions, I’m not sure I agree here.
What’s most “disturbing” about this… Rep. Farenthold’s district is on the US/Mexican Border at Brownsville, TX. Many people that emigrate illegally to the US aren’t just doing it for work permits. For some of them it’s a matter of life and death. Matamoros, Mexico is in the midst of a viscious drug war where residents are dodging bullets, grenade attacks, and being kidnapped in the middle of the night to be found the next day decapitated. No one is supporting illegal immigration here… it’s wrong. But given the realities of what some people face in their home country, I can understand why one would pick the lesser of two evils.
It sounds like Mr. Farenthold should do more than just boast about the immigration cases on his desk. Maybe he should open them up and actually LOOK at them.
