Ken Langone, one of the former founders of Home Depot, was a recent guest host of the CNBC program Squawk Box. His insightful commentary on this debate crystallized my views on this controversy. I loved his reference to the movie “Moonstruck”. There is a scene in this movie that reminds him of what is going on in Washington today. The grandfather enters the kitchen, which usually is the center of an Italian household. He is in the midst of a confrontation between the various generations of family members about their romantic interests and suddenly leaves shaking his head saying, “I am so confused”. Confusion is what most of us are confronted with today in listening to this debate. When I discuss this with my liberal friends, they blame the Republicans and the Tea Party for their recalcitrance. On the other hand, my conservative friends blame President Obama and the liberal left. The truth of the matter is there is enough blame to go around.
The Tea Party in my view is a movement that evolved as many people started to feel disenfranchised with the politics in Washington. Tea Party members have been concerned with run-away spending in Washington and the socialist path that our country is headed with no detour in sight. Today, this situation has become more acute. We are reaching a major inflection point where the government needs to take appropriate action to get the debt under control or our economy faces ruinous circumstances in the near future. As Mr. Langone mentioned, you don’t have to be a financial expert to realize that if the federal government is spending $.40 on every dollar spent just to service the debt, we have a problem. Furthermore, he states that since our interest rates are at historically low levels, a rise of several percentage points in short-term interest rates will add to the federal debt by $300 to $400 billion a year. He goes on to say that even the average American household is aware that you cannot continue to borrow money and spend more than your means and not ultimately face serious consequences.
I believe the Tea Party has done this country a service by bringing the spending and debt issue to the forefront of American politics. However, what the Tea Party is losing sight of is that the Republicans are not in control of the government today. They only control one-half of the congress, and the Democrats control the other half and the presidency. More importantly, we are running out of time to pass the debt limit and legislation that deals with our long-term-debt problem. It is unthinkable that we are now confronted with a possible downgrade of our AAA+ debt rating and a potential default. We are at a critical juncture, and both parties have no viable choice but to compromise in order to get passed this critical threshold. The conservative republicans cannot expect to win this battle today. This battle should be fought to secure the next presidential election and a majority in the Senate. Unfortunately, if there is no compromise, I believe the conservatives will get the lion’s share of the blame and be labeled as obstructionists. Moreover, if this were to occur, the public backlash could jeopardize their chances to win elections next year.
What is President Obama’s role in this mess? I agree with Mr. Langone. Obama is not acting presidential. He has become a divisive force in this country by promoting class warfare. This is the real issue facing the long-term health of this country. He campaigned to win the presidency on a platform of bringing change to Washington. He promised to rise above petty politics, bring more civility to the political discourse and unite this country. Instead, he has become petulant and boorish at times by promoting partisan politics. He certainly has not demonstrated good negotiating skills during this debt debate. He panders to the press for political gain by demonizing the other side, and he continually positions himself as the only adult in the room during these negotiations. We do not know what is going on behind closed doors. Nevertheless, if the other side is acting badly as he maintains, it is his role as president to rise above petty politics, and negotiate in good faith to find a solution. Instead, he is using this critical time in our history not to solve this problem but begin his campaign for re-election.
We also know by the sequence of the following events that the president was not fully engaged early on to deal with the budget impasse. During the past two years, the democratically controlled Senate has not passed a budget. He did not get behind last year’s recommendation of his nonpartisan, Simpson-Bowles commission, to deal with the debt problem. If the president was serious about dealing with this issue, the recommendations of his commission were a perfect platform to begin negotiations with Congress in order to find a solution. Finally, he introduced a budget in April that was such a sham it was soundly defeated in the Senate 97 to 0. After all of this transpired, does he get personally involved? No. Instead, he sends Vice President Biden to do his biding with Congress. This was doomed from the start since the president was not sitting at the table during these negotiations. Even Maureen Dowd, in a recent column in the New York Times, chastised the president for not being more in sync with the electorate on profligate spending. The example she used was his signing of the 2009 Pelosi budget that was loaded with earmarks. This was another violation of his campaign promise to be vigilant on wasteful spending.
Admittedly, President Obama was dealt a lousy hand by former President Bush. President Bush got the ball rolling with-out-of- control spending and having a major financial collapse on his watch. However, when it comes to spending, this president is Bush on steroids. The last time government spending was this high compared to the GDP was during World War II. So far, the economy is not responding adequately to this largesse. Employment has rarely budged, and GDP growth is anemic.
What is the president’s rejoinder to all this? He blames the rich for not paying their fair share of taxes. When 47% of the population is not paying federal taxes, and the top 1% is paying approximately 40% of the taxes, how much more can we tax the wealthy? Factually, even if we taxed the wealthy (annual income of $250,000 and higher according to Obama) 100%, it would not come close to solving the budget gap. Many of the rich, including Mr. Langone, have contributed a significant amount of money to charity. Therefore, Mr. Langone reprimanded the president for using “glittering generalities” to demean the wealthy. Furthermore, the wealthy are the job creators in this country. I have never worked for a poor person. Sadly, President Obama’s strategy is to incite class warfare in order to get re-elected. This is a very dangerous road to follow with a steep cliff at the end. It is the real issue behind this debate.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A Letter to President Obama.
Your memorial speech at the University of Arizona regarding the horrific shootings that occurred in Tucson was eloquent. We needed to hear about those people whose lives were lost and the heroism of those who survived this senseless tragedy. Your message of healing and dedicating ourselves to becoming a better country to honor the memory of those that were killed and of those who courageously tried to help them was extraordinary. Moreover, this time you made no apology for America as you had done in the past; particularly, in your Summit of the Americas Tour. Peggy Noonan, in her Wall Street Journal opinion column, crystallized your message beautifully stating: “We are not a nation of victims; we are a nation in which people work together doing brave things and achieving great outcomes.” You said, “Heroism is here, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, all around us, just waiting to be summoned — as it was on Saturday morning.” Not only was this statement “worthy of a president” as Peggy Noonan mentioned, your entire speech was presidential worthy.
While I believed your words were heartfelt, I could not help thinking about Maya Angelou who said, during a recent Oprah Winfrey interview, “If you teach, you have to live your teaching”. This is what leadership is all about. It is not enough just to be articulate. You have to be believable which is established through consistent actions. In other words, you have to walk the walk. Rex Ryan, the Jets coach, has become controversial these days because of his oratory. Nevertheless, one of the Jet’s players said he is effective because his actions reflect his stated beliefs.
I am hopeful that in the second half of your term your actions will reflect your stated beliefs. You rose to office on a tsunami of oratory that change was coming to Washington. It was not going to be politics as usual. Unfortunately, right up to this memorial service, it has been politics as usual. Your rhetoric, political tactics and sometimes strident commentary has made you a divisive force in this country. For example, you repeated the mantra that Republicans were the “party of no” and had not offered any constructive suggestions for your healthcare initiative. When some of the republicans challenged this statement at the healthcare summit, you had to repudiate your assertion. Nevertheless, the political damage was already done since your retraction was not widely disseminated by the press.
Moreover, the passage of your healthcare initiative was an ugly display of politics with backroom deals and a major violation of your campaign promise not to use the nuclear option, also known as reconciliation. This is an extreme measure rarely used in passing legislation that circumvents the 60-vote majority in the Senate that would be needed to overcome a filibuster. You were quoted many times as saying if you were elected President you would make sure there was more than a simple majority supporting any significant piece of legislation before it would get your approval.
When the Arizona law on immigration was passed, you grossly misrepresented that law by saying that now any family in Arizona could be stopped even while buying ice cream and asked for identification. This law is very specific. The police have to establish probable cause that a law had been violated before asking anyone about their immigration status. In addition, you tried to gain further political curry with Hispanics when you said, before the mid-term elections at a political rally, that the Republican Party was the “enemy”.
Finally, on your last appearance on the View, you were asked why there is so much pessimism regarding politics today. Your response was that politicians are doing too much campaigning and money raising. Yet you knew you had a full week of fund raising scheduled after this show. Did you think that we only listen to what you say and do not pay attention to what you do?
Do all of the above comments and tactics reflect “a more civil and honest public discourse…” that you evoked in your speech to “help us face up to the challenges of our nation …” and make the victims proud? Regrettably, these are just a few of a litany of disingenuous comments you have made that were not worthy of a president. I believe this country desperately wants a leader who says what he means and does what he says. We need a statesman, not another politician. We can only hope that this speech will represent a major turning point for you and this country. “We should do everything we can to make sure that our democracy lives up to our children’s expectations.”
While I believed your words were heartfelt, I could not help thinking about Maya Angelou who said, during a recent Oprah Winfrey interview, “If you teach, you have to live your teaching”. This is what leadership is all about. It is not enough just to be articulate. You have to be believable which is established through consistent actions. In other words, you have to walk the walk. Rex Ryan, the Jets coach, has become controversial these days because of his oratory. Nevertheless, one of the Jet’s players said he is effective because his actions reflect his stated beliefs.
I am hopeful that in the second half of your term your actions will reflect your stated beliefs. You rose to office on a tsunami of oratory that change was coming to Washington. It was not going to be politics as usual. Unfortunately, right up to this memorial service, it has been politics as usual. Your rhetoric, political tactics and sometimes strident commentary has made you a divisive force in this country. For example, you repeated the mantra that Republicans were the “party of no” and had not offered any constructive suggestions for your healthcare initiative. When some of the republicans challenged this statement at the healthcare summit, you had to repudiate your assertion. Nevertheless, the political damage was already done since your retraction was not widely disseminated by the press.
Moreover, the passage of your healthcare initiative was an ugly display of politics with backroom deals and a major violation of your campaign promise not to use the nuclear option, also known as reconciliation. This is an extreme measure rarely used in passing legislation that circumvents the 60-vote majority in the Senate that would be needed to overcome a filibuster. You were quoted many times as saying if you were elected President you would make sure there was more than a simple majority supporting any significant piece of legislation before it would get your approval.
When the Arizona law on immigration was passed, you grossly misrepresented that law by saying that now any family in Arizona could be stopped even while buying ice cream and asked for identification. This law is very specific. The police have to establish probable cause that a law had been violated before asking anyone about their immigration status. In addition, you tried to gain further political curry with Hispanics when you said, before the mid-term elections at a political rally, that the Republican Party was the “enemy”.
Finally, on your last appearance on the View, you were asked why there is so much pessimism regarding politics today. Your response was that politicians are doing too much campaigning and money raising. Yet you knew you had a full week of fund raising scheduled after this show. Did you think that we only listen to what you say and do not pay attention to what you do?
Do all of the above comments and tactics reflect “a more civil and honest public discourse…” that you evoked in your speech to “help us face up to the challenges of our nation …” and make the victims proud? Regrettably, these are just a few of a litany of disingenuous comments you have made that were not worthy of a president. I believe this country desperately wants a leader who says what he means and does what he says. We need a statesman, not another politician. We can only hope that this speech will represent a major turning point for you and this country. “We should do everything we can to make sure that our democracy lives up to our children’s expectations.”
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