Episode 79/Episode 2: Obama’s Peace Prize

Before I begin, I have a new format. For now on, when a post has a corresponding L Comment radio show topic, there will be two episodes posted. That way, when you leave comments, I will respond to them on the radio show! I’m figuring out how to do a live broadcast, but that’s still some time away, so this will have to do!

Now, moving on to the story, I will begin by saying, congratulations Mr. President! Look, the Nobel Peace Prize is not just an achievement award. It is also a political tool to promote peaceful agenda. Obama is the leader of the free world. No matter what our shortcomings are as a nation, we are the ones the world looks to first for answers. We have a president who is willing to listen to all sides of the argument, no matter who is delivering it. That kind of mentality goes a long way towards breaking down years of mistrust. We’re already seeing better cooperation in Russia and China.

Name calling is a bit out of my character, but I have to say, the Republican Party is a joke. Why is every single thing in this political landscape about scoring political points? The right wing in this party is so far out of touch with the way the world works it’s incredible. Forget Rush Limbaugh, as far as I’m concerned, if Obama ended world hunger, he’d spin it as a leftist big government controlling the food supply. I’m talking about the Boehners and the Steeles of the party who fail to recognize the challenge the Nobel committee bestowed upon the country. In fact, the republican game ball goes to John McCain when he said "we're proud when our President receives an award of that prestigious category… but I think part of their decision making was expectations, and I’m sure the President understands that he now has even more to live up to.”

Way to go McCain. That’s really being a maverick. A damn shame, when being a maverick means doing the right thing. Of course the right wingers will say “well John McCain isn’t a real republican… he sold out.”

This peace prize in my eyes is the world asking America to step in and take charge of the global peace initiative. What better icon than arguably the most popular man in the world to lead the charge. Can we for once, as Obama said in his inauguration, set aside childish things, and come together as one nation and help our president lead the way to a safer America and safer world? Or would you rather bicker and argue until it’s too late to get things done?

Agree with me? Think I’m full of crap? Leave your comments below, and they will be addressed on tomorrow’s show.

read more...

Episode 70: Change We Could Believe In

There is a problem in America. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to live these days. Food costs too much, money is hard to come by, if you’re sick and uninsured, you’re screwed, and every solution seems to be a short term fix. There is a lot of talk in the Obama administration about looking into the future, and I do believe they are doing that. However, their eyes are so far down the road sometimes, it seems they lose track of the short term goals that need to be accomplished in order to achieve the long term goals. Let’s look at some things that have happened in my short absence:

Cash for Clunkers
A government program to entice people to trade in their cars to buy fuel efficient ones by receiving a $4500 credit on a trade for an old car. The program cost $1 Billion dollars, and it ended a few days ago. Ford, Chrysler, and GM reported their inventory was, for the first time in a long time, very low which is great news. Is it likely those sales figures will sustain with the closing of the program? Probably not. If you give a mouse a cookie, it will eat it. In essence, we spent $1 Billion dollars to make far less than that on sales and fuel savings.

Healthcare
This debate is just about over. The democrats lost control of the message and never got it back. During the campaign, Obama made it personal. He told the story of his dying mother who was arguing with insurance providers on whether her treatment would be covered because of pre-existing conditions. That was a great place to start the debate. During the campaign, Obama weathered the accusations and slander storm by sticking to the personal matters – the single mother with 3 children who works three jobs and attends all the PTA meetings, the elderly couple who saw their life’s work vanish in the stock market crisis, the teacher who has to teach 45 children in a small classroom that is 60 years old and in terrible repair. Now, he is going on the attack, playing the blame game, pitting democrats against republicans, and pretty much abandoned the spirit of cooperation he promised.

While I’m thinking of it, wouldn’t make a lot of sense to give small businesses the money for healthcare? They could split the costs of healthcare to make it more affordable to small businesses, offer free healthcare to Americans 18 and under who have social security cards, and provide unemployment health insurance like we do with jobs. That way, every business HAS to have a healthcare plan (which would be private) so every working American has healthcare. Unemployed Americans file for free healthcare using the same conditions for unemployment – showing they are actively looking for work, make less than X amount of dollars, etc.

The Economy
Jobs are still being lost at alarming rates. He campaigned to create or save 3 million jobs by creating more jobs at home, reinvesting in our infrastructure, rebuilding our schools, paving the way for 21st century innovations, and getting broadband access to every American. Yet he wants to tax the rich, tax businesses (mostly the larger ones), and still hasn’t fully addressed the banking situation that makes it difficult for small business owners to operate their businesses. Let alone effectively tackling the healthcare issue to ease the burden off small business. There is no shame in a democrat lowering taxes for businesses, especially small businesses, as long as we make provisions to reform the system and close the loopholes that help people to unfairly and unjustly benefit from the system.

The War
I have a deep post coming up on the war very soon. I’d like to ask my readers, on a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the highest, how much do you care about catching Osama bin Laden at this point? Personally, he has been downgraded to a “Target of Opportunity.” We lost 76 of our brothers and sisters in arms since the new Afghanistan plan. The exit strategy is just as non-existent as it was with Bush. While I’d never suggest they are fighting this war for nothing, Obama is going the absolutely wrong way about this war. Oh yeah, we’re STILL in war aren’t we…

I’ll defer to Nate Silver and his bulls-eye-accurate polling abilities for the actual numbers, but living in New York again, I live amongst the richest and poorest in the country. Going strictly by unscientific observation, I have concluded:

There is an inverse relationship between those who favor Obama and those who don’t, such that the less money one makes the more they love Obama and conversely, the more money one makes the less the like Obama.

For the middle class, it depends on your region and socio-political philosophy. While I’m upset with Obama, I do think that with much fine tuning he can regain control of his agenda, because I personally believe in doing things for the common good. However if you are of the belief that one’s treasures are his own, and it is solely his choice to decide who to share with, you probably don’t like Obama. The good news is Obama’s policies are consistent with his actions for his whole political career. He has spent his political life as the defender of the little guy, trying to get them to a point where they can compete with those of higher socio-economic status. He was especially successful with this approach early in his career as a community organizer, and was able to translate those results in the Senate. However as president, he must realize that diminishing the socio-economic gap is not the way to long-term economic prosperity and longevity, it is instead a by-product of invigorating the middle class. We saw this in the 90s with Bill Clinton. Part of the reason why crime was so low in my city of New York was a lot of people had jobs! It wasn’t catering to the poor class that generate jobs, it was creating opportunities for lower-middle class people to create the jobs that employed the poor class, thus lifting them up into the middle class, and lifting the once lower-middle class up a bar as well!

Such government programs like clunkers for cash, or local city programs like Jobs Corps do stimulate movement in the lower echelon of the socio-economic chain, but government programs have never been a suitable way to garner long term improvement of unemployment. They were intended to be ways to train employees for better jobs in private enterprise. When a government program is not used as it was intended, it becomes a serious drain on the state, which is exactly the opposite of what we need right now. In order for Obama to achieve his vision, he needs to get the middle class in action and now! No more arguing, finger pointing, and partisan crap. I think we all want the same thing, so let’s put our heads together and make it happen, starting with getting private enterprise back in the fold.

read more...

Episode 62: The New Economy

060409.2122

The economy is messed up. Really bad. And it is never going to come back – at least back to the way it was pre-recession. The jobs that were lost in all likelihood won’t be coming back anytime soon at best, or more likely, never again.

In order to fix this problem, we have to approach the economy like a business would, by simplifying and diversifying. How do we do this… first we have to put our American ego aside for a bit. I love America as much as the next guy, and think our country is the greatest country since sliced bread. But we can’t do it all. It costs way too much money to do it all. I agree with conservative opinion when they say programs like healthcare and education are exorbitantly expensive. And while I 100% agree with Obama’s vision, I cannot logically deduce how we can make it happen, at least within his timeframe. With the lack of debate on Capitol Hill, my biggest fear about progressivism is coming to light – without true conservative dissention and debate, progressive thought is like a runaway train. The last major progressive movement, the civil rights movement, took 10 years and three presidents to be realized. What most progressives fail to realize is you have to give a little to get a lot. Giving a little, when it means asking people to sacrifice what they don’t have (from Obama’s speech regarding GM) while noble, and the absolutely right thing to do, is a wholly unrealistic proposition. Here’s a plan to get ourselves back on track, using Ideas borrowed from a great book I read by Daniel Pink called “A Whole New Mind.”

We Need To Simplify Our Economy

I believe an economy is built upon three parts: developers, builders, and distributers. America is the world leader in developing the most innovative technologies we have. Over the years we have deemphasized on building – aka. The manufacturing sector – and are pouring billions into bailing out that industry. Finally, we are the leaders of getting that technology and innovation to the people because our Constitution is arguably the least restrictive with personal freedoms and freedom to access. However, trying to take the lead on all three factors is incredibly expensive, especially considering how complicated the modern economy is. I argue that America should play a more cooperative role in the global economy. Rather than lead the world economy poorly, we should instead focus on one aspect, development.

In Pink’s book, he argues that the next revolution will be the information revolution, and that it is innovation, not manufacturing that will bring us the jobs of the future. I whole-heartedly agree. The new economy is going to consist of innovators and entrepreneurs. Private enterprise is the key to revitalizing our recessed (depressed) economy. Thus the government’s role should not be to endlessly prop up old businesses, but provide funds for new business. We need to get our best minds out in the forefront, creating the enterprises that the rest of the world will use. However, we will not be the primary makers of this technology in the new economy.

In the new economy, we will defer manufacturing responsibilities to developing nations like China and India. They have the manpower (both with over a billion citizens) and drive to become global leaders. However a manufacturing based economy loses money over a course of time, because as the manufacturing process becomes more efficient, and technology becomes smaller and faster, it becomes cheaper to produce. Idea – intellectual property - - has incredibly high value. Consider Apple Inc. The iPhone itself is not what makes Apple its huge profits, it is the intellectual property. It is the smooth touch screen interface, the app store, and the innovate architecture that makes its profits. Before the iPhone, there was no product of its kind in existence. The actual manufacturing of the iPhone is pretty cheap. China makes a knockoff iPhone that is nearly identical to the original that costs only $50 brand new without a contract!

How does this simplify our economy? We pour in resources one aspect of the economy, and save money by outsourcing the rest, while at the same time, dramatically increasing our revenue. What does it do to people in manufacturing now? Well, naturally, they will lose their jobs, the way they are now. Thus instead of endlessly propping up old businesses, the government should focus on helping these displaced workers retrain to perform the jobs of tomorrow. Instead of manufacturing, which I consider the mass production of goods and services, the blue collar working class of yesterday becomes tomorrow’s engineers, specializing in the development of new technologies. Thus the old assembly line worker is now specializing in building prototypes which require a specialized knowledge. Because there would be a high demand for the specialists, these jobs would pay higher wages.

Over the long term, I’m calling for the shrinking of the working class. Of course there would be some room for the working class as it is today, but under my plan, there would be a massive expansion of the middle class. The ultimate result is the average American could legitimately live the American dream without having to resort to subprime mortgages to emulate a lifestyle they could not sustain. All the while we are creating brand new industries, and improving existing ones at breakneck pace. This leads to part two of the new economy, Diversity.

Diversity Ends “Too Big to Fail”

With increased emphasis on development, there will be a lot of competition for the best idea. I am a firm believer that American competition is the single most important reason we have the #1 economy in the world. When someone in America has a great idea, our version of capitalism rewards one for it with a huge bankroll. When other companies vie for the best version of that great idea through competition, the consumer wins and the industry wins.

What is missing from the economy today is diversity in competition. AIG was pretty much the only insurance company performing the tasks it performed, so in failing, they would single-handedly bring down the economy with them. With an emphasis in development, there is inherently many players in the game who are finding ways to things better, faster, and cheaper, while still maintaining high quality. Thus is should be the responsibility of the government to legislate and enforce tough regulation to ensure that there is an equal chance for every company to succeed. One government department I think does a good job with good regulation is the FCC.

In the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for example, the DMCA “issued six exemptions to the DMCA last year, one of which allows consumers to unlock their cell phones "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network." (source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/know-your-rights-is-it-illegal-to-unlock-my-iphone/). Though the legislation is kind of open to interpretation, the idea is that so long as one unlocks their phone (modifying a phone to allow it to access multiple compatible networks) for the sole purpose of connecting to a wireless communication network, they are protected under the DMCA because it promotes competition. This is precisely what regulation should do: stay out of the way enough to let businesses grow, yet create rules to promote fair competition and just punishments for breaking the rules. With the big field of entrepreneurs and regulation that promotes competition and diversity, a “too big to fail” scenario cannot exist. Though corporate Darwinism will be alive and well, the constant flurry of new ideas will protect us from another AIG meltdown.

In order to simplify and diversify our economy, the single most important the government can make is in education. We NEED to completely overhaul out education system for this plan to work. Without an academic class, none of this can happen. I fear if we keep on our current course, we will be stuck between eras, and it will only be a matter of time when we are overtaken by Asia, namely China, who is already positioning themselves to capitalize on our economic catastrophe.

Love him or hate him, Obama is well aware of this notion of the new global economy (though I suspect he’d disagree with my thought on manufacturing to some extent). Conservatives may call him fool hearty, and there is much debate on whether he’s doing the right things in the right order, but don’t think for a second that Obama isn’t preparing America for the long term plan.

The next few episodes will consist of a series of posts I call “Road to the 21 Century. In these posts I will outline what I believe America needs to do fix the economy, and secure our lead as the #1 economy in the country, starting with education, which will be part two of “Education.edu.” Grab some popcorn and bring all your friends to these debates because I think as a blogosphere we can do what politicians are not doing: debating the hell out of these issues and perhaps we can find a way to get our middle ground consensus to Washington. Lofty? Maybe, but I enjoy a good challenge!

read more...

Episode 53: 100 Days and WTF??

042809.2018


Yahoo! Obama has been president for 100 days! I wasn’t sure if this was a worthwhile post because the answer is quite obvious: Lefties gives him an A, moderates give him a B, reasonable conservatives give him a C, and the far right gives him an F. So all I have to say is I am happy with Obama’s progress, and I really think he will make good on his campaign for change. So whatever the hell it means, I’ll give him an A.

Now perhaps this 100 day milestone may have been a longer post, diving back into the economy, and presentation and style, and collaboration with world leaders, healthcare, and others, but in a The L Comment first, I’m making a double post!



WTF?! Arlen Spector is a democrat now? My political half is thrilled and my moral half is not. Once the Minnesota stuff is over and done, the democrats will have 60 seats, which means the healthcare, energy, and education fight becomes incredibly easier. Which is good and bad. As I have argued, the lack of true debate makes for lopsided legislation, but I strongly feel we have to get these things done now.

The circumstances under which he left are a bit fishy. He knew he didn’t stand a good chance of winning the 2010 midterm elections, so he jumped ship. I think if he firmly believes what he is doing is right, then he should be able to convince his constituency to continue following him, if for no other reason than loyalty.

But examination into why he left the party reveals a pretty damning indictment of the state of the Republican Party. The republicans has successfully rallied the base of the party, creating an even more partisan divide than what existed 5 months ago. This makes the election bid an uphill fight for a moderate republican. The irony is, the likely scenario (assuming Obama remains successful) would be a Spector would lose the primary, and the winner (Toomey) would likely lose the general election, because the republicans do not have the moderate constituency. So politically, the move makes plenty of sense. Morally, not really. Will I take him loving into my arms? Not lovingly, but I’ll take him.

read more...

Episode 40: What a Difference a Month Makes

0225.0148

Post Presidential Address Thoughts



Wow. Last night’s address was truly something to behold. It is amazing how the face of our nation has changed so much in such a short time – women leaders, blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in the cabinet, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Obama exchanging kisses on the cheek… it is a good time to be an American. I can’t help but think that the world is watching this event and think “how does that country, despite all its flaws, continue to progress as they have?”

From the moment the thunderous applause began as the president was announced, I knew this address would be different. And President Obama rose to the occasion, with oratory and candor we have not seen in a very long time – and one I have never seen in my lifetime. Throughout the campaign, I have criticized Obama for lacking that “fire.” I knew he was an incredibly intelligent guy, but I wanted to see a more impassioned performance. I was rewarded tonight with a speech full of hope, frankness, a bit of reserved aggression, and that “fire” I’ve been waiting to see.

What I found most impressive about this speech is Obama touched on most every campaign promise he made, and seems very sincere in his determination to make good on his promises. As an educator, I was extremely happy to hear a real commitment to education reform we so very badly need. I am excited to see real healthcare reform within a year so I no longer have to worry about getting sick and not having the money to get treatment. He is firmly committed to green technology that I believe can free us from foreign oil in less than the ten year timeline Obama has outlined.

Pundits have made some fuss over Obama’s pledge to raise taxes on the top 2% wealthiest Americans. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal – if you make $20 million dollars a year, you already make more than 10 families make in a lifetime. I think that we all have to assume more responsibility for ourselves and each other. And the tax increase is simply going back to the Clinton era tax code – a time when America was arguably at its most prosperous.

It was refreshing to see members of both sides of the aisle giving standing ovations for hot button red vs. blue issues like Iraq and healthcare reform. Agin, the teacher in me swelled when I Obama said (paraphrased) “not graduating highschool is not only a disservice to yourself, it is a disservice to your country.” That statement was met with the loudest applause of the night, and made me stand up and clap as well!

I can’t help but think that the GOP is a little bit more open to post-partisanship after this speech. They need to do a better job participating in government instead of opposing it. I think the next time around, democrats will be more inclusive when designing the next bill. It was a rocky start, but I think now We are all on the same page.

On a sadder note, Bobby Jindal’s response was nothing short of disappointing, and perhaps embarrassing. His tone to me sounded very disingenuous, especially after mocking the monorail train that does NOT run to Disneyland. The response to Katrina is considered to be one the republican’s biggest failures – I would think evoking that name would be taboo in red country. But to use Katrina as an example of responsible government is just another sign of how out of touch some members of the GOP are. Furthermore, there was a serious disconnect between the speech, and Jindal’s response. It seemed to me as though he wrote his reaction to the speech before even seeing it. There was a line in the speech where Obama says he doesn’t want big government, and Jindal’s response was we have to keep the money out of the hand of the hands of greedy politicians – something to that effect. It’s early, and Jindal’s story is another great example of the American promise at work, but too many performances like those will knock him out of presidential position.

read more...

Episode 35: My First Obama Beef

012709.0134

Week one is over and done. All in all, I’m happy to see that the change we can believe in is actually starting to take shape, and very early on too! The hot button topic of the moment is the economy and for the most part, I agree with much of the proposals I have heard. So far, coming out of academia, there isn’t much in the stimulus package that is helpful for me, but I really like the idea of investing a lot of money into shovel ready projects: building and fixing roads, bridges, tunnels, schools etc. I LOVE the idea of investing into Green Tech. (check out http://lifekills.wordpress.com – a great new blog that is a nice resource for finding out more about green technologies). In order to compete with Asian countries, we NEED to upgrade our network infrastructure as we are light years behind them in that department – quite literally too, with their fiber optic network, they can download DVD sized files in a few minutes in opposed to several hours to a few days in the States. And we need to lay the ground work for reducing the cost of healthcare so we may begin to provide universal healthcare. Anyone who finds faults with these plans just doesn’t get it. However, one portion of the stimulus I think is not necessary – $2.5 billion dollars to be allocated for sex education and contraceptives.

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Democrats are a party of a million agendas. I knew Obama was the man for the job because somehow he was able to unify the party under one banner during the ELECTION. Now that the democrats won, we have regressed into old ways, trying to pass all these progressive agendas into law. It’s not that I don’t want progressive agendas to be passed, but I feel as if we’re not pacing ourselves for a marathon, but rather for a 100 meter dash. I agree with the logic, that investment into family planning *may* increase awareness, and some kind of free clinic to offer contraceptives, or perhaps a tax credit for companies that make contraceptives, may decrease unwanted teen pregnancy that may in turn save hospitals money from fewer patients. However, the effect of such a bill is so far into the future, so contentious a political battle, and so unrelated to the immediate task at hand, that it is not a battle worth fighting – now.

Obama will get the votes for this bill whether or not he gets the blessings of the republicans as the bill currently stands. However, if solidarity is the theme for this administration, then burning his political capital on the fight for family planning is PC not well spent. He gave the GOP what they wanted with the tax cuts. Take it one step further and knock the family planning out of the bill and the GOP will take that as a major gesture that he is willing to hear both sides out. Spend this political capital wisely now, and his return on investment will grant him even more capital to fight that battle later on down the road.

**NOTE** The blog I plugged had the wrong URL. It has been corrected now.

read more...

Episode 33: The Obama Factor

011809.2345

I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about Obama’s inauguration. It is like my New York Jets winning the Super Bowl… an event I didn’t think I’d ever get to see in my lifetime (the Jet’s however still have a ways to go…). Though it is true that we have made great strides in racial equality in America, electing a Black man into office seemed like we had a ways to go as a people (and in this case I speak on the behalf of Black Americans) before we’d have a leader the nation would elect.

Obama’s victory is so surreal, that old school Black comedians are having a tough time adjusting. All of a sudden, “ghetto mentality” punch lines seem so passé and irrelevant. From D.L. Hughley’s Breaks the News on CNN, where the punch line of Obama’s victory was a house party, poppin’ bottles of Cristal with raunchy rap music, to David Alan Grier’s advice for Obama to “ignore the parts of your Black half that may make you wanna… smoke crack with a hooker in a DC hotel, text message booty calls to your chief of staff, while having a stripper party…” – these types of hurdles among many other examples that made me wonder who in our culture could possibly become the face of the nation, when we are still so bound to the wounds and mentality of the past. But here we are, with the most unlikely of candidates – a politician with relatively little experience, a man whose history embodies the American experience, whose wife is the direct descendant of slaves, and a man who epitomizes class, character, and eloquence. He is the new face of America.

As a Black American, perhaps the thing I’m most excited about is what the future of the minority class will look like. I believe Obama’s mission to end the divisiveness that has pitted Americans against one another, and instead unify us under one banner will invoke a new dialogue amongst minorities. No more Black vs. Whites, but character vs. character. And this appeal is more far reaching than just one ethnic community; he is challenging all Americans to be held accountable for their actions, and to hold Obama accountable as well. We cannot be the voice of hope to the world until we are practicing what we preach. Finally, I believe we will see an America where we value shared responsibility, sacrifice, and a renewed sense of patriotism.

Gone are the days of Blue vs. Red. Perhaps, even my own blog subtitle “politics and the world through a blue lens” is passé and irrelevant in the Obama era. We have spent so many decades, these past eight years in particular, consumed with the notion of left vs. right, Black vs. White, Straight vs. Gay, that we feel compelled to polarize our points of view. Obama calls for bipartisanship, but I think it’s safe to say Obama would rather call it nonpartisanship if the term didn’t sound so utopian. Already, he has made it clear that all points of view will be considered, and all ideological figures will be brought to the table. The president is not supposed to represent the left or the right, but instead the best interests of the American people. Our politically polarized lens labels this stance as moderate, but his world view is far more complex. Through debate and intellectual discourse from all perspectives, he will draw a conclusion based on the best answers he hears, and from his own vision for America. I trust his vision, and I trust that better days are ahead. Yes we can.

read more...