Once again the Treasury and Congress are working on shifting the bailout plan or augmenting it. At this point it doesn't really seem like they've had much of a "plan" to begin with. Every week policy-makers are calling for new additions to the plan further demonstrating the lack of preparation the first package had. As we continue to add to the bailout, policy-makers fail to step back and formulate a "plan" that will have an overreaching and long lasting effect. Until they do, each attempt at solving the crisis will have no true direction or effect.
It looks like it may back to politics as usual. Since the election of Barack Obama both parties have begun reassessing who and what roles will be kept within in each party. While the Republicans struggle to find a new face for the party, the Democrats are trying to get rid of old ones. Among those old ones, is Senator Joseph Lieberman.
Lieberman created quite a problem for himself in endorsing Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, for presidency. Now that Obama has won it seems that many democrats are looking for blood. They want to strip him of his chairmanship of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. But to mee it seems vengeful. Lieberman has amost always voted witht he Democrats. He is no right wing Republican nor was Mr. McCain who he endorsed.
Sure many Democrats are angered but they must realize although Mr. McCain lost he has had a past of bipartisanship, which is the reason he was able to become such a close friend of Mr. Lieberman. And for this reason Democrats should realize that their friendship was based on this ability to work together even though they were on opposite sides. Many democrats in the caucuses may be too short sighted to see that they are already undermining Barack Obama's message of unity but I feel that it is his duty as the leader of his party to speak out on the subject and make peace with Mr. Lieberman. Otherwise, the era of bitter politics which we have been through for the last eight years will continue.
It's been a long eight years since the Bush administration took power. In order to move forward, we must look back and see what characterized the failure that was the Bush administration.
For too many years Bush and his team used division through fear to maintain their power. The politics of fear proved to be effective in winning votes but its longevity as many are predicting, will be short-lived. In a time of crisis our country is no longer looking to be frightened but rather they're looking for a way out and someone who will instill that feeling of hope in them.
The one trick pony that was the Roveian political theory failed to adjust to the times. McCain seeing that these tactics worked in 2004, has chosen this route once again. Unfortunately for McCain, the political landscape has changed. Obama on the other hand has seized the opportunity and has stuck to his positive message of "change" through the duration of his campaign.
The latest example of this was in Obama's infomerical that aired earlier this week. The 30-minute special did not mention President bush, nor John McCain or Sarah Palin. Rather than using the half hour special to deride his opponents, Obama focused on the same positive message that he has pushed for the last two years, "change." Below is the video:
McCain who began his campaign with a message of "change" in the way which political campaigns were run, did not stick to his promise and his scope of "change" was too narrow. His narrow scope led to his initial failure in motivating voters. The lack of success led to desperation for McCain and prompted party leaders to push his campaign into the good old Bush formula, Fear Fear Fear.
The formula has become all to obvious to the media and American voters. Lies began to seep out of the McCain campaign saying Obama was a "muslim," a "terrorist," and the most recently a "socialist." One by one the media knocked down the claims as none were factually based.
Not only was McCain's reputation tarnished but it was clearly revealed how his campaign was using the same tactics of our beloved president, George W. Bush (approval ratings now soaring at 20%) A bit ironic as Mr. McCain was attempting to distance himself from the president throughout the campaign. You can't distance yourself if you turn into him.
While McCain clamors to find next negative message, Obama maintained the moral high ground as he has scoffed at the remarks made by the opposition and continues to hammer in his message of "change and "hope."
As McCain has failed to see that "hope" is the new "fear," Obama has begun to set the platform for his presidency's legacy. No longer will our government endorse "division through fear" but instead "Hope through Change."
Fear and division can no longer be a part of our political system. We have to much to recover from the last eight years. Whether its our reputation globally, the strength of our army, our volatile economy our decaying infrastructure ( just a short list) the public has awoken.
They've realized that this climate of fear has divided them and the government. Nothing has been done in the last eight years that has moved our country forward. A politician like Obama had to come in and capture this disillusion and infuse our nations politics with hope. hopefully the new politics that Senator Obama, if elected, will bring will change the direction of our nation's progress and restore our confidence.
