Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Corey Booker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corey Booker. Show all posts

Thursday, August 1, 2019

In the weeds....


we need a little more light

     After four nights of "debates" some thoughts emerge.

  • By next summer when the Trump campaign and the Democrat candidate's organization meet to discuss a debate format they should agree to avoid inviting any networks to the planning discussions.
      The Fox "Town Halls," the MSNBC Nights of Ten and the CNN Debate are not working nor are they helpful. The Fox sessions have been the most revealing. The CNN outing was  particularly goofy.
      The CNN questioners came off as more interested in provoking confrontation and argument rather than exploring issues and leadership qualities. The questions were contrived and off the point. They may think setting up "battles" and provoking challenges will hold audience, but they do little of value. And sadly most of the candidates took the bait. We are a culture showing signs of intellectual decline. 

       

  • Most of the questions were framed about issues that exceed Presidential mandate or control. 
  • Health care for example is the province of the legislative branch. A President may help shape his or her party's position, but the House and the Senate write the law and the President approves or not. LBJ exercised some influence over Medicare but he was a powerful legislative force, the likes of which no longer exist. Obamacare was the work of the House and Senate. Getting into minutia is meaningless, but it gives the candidates a chance to argue with each other.
  • Ditto immigration policy. A President's view is not unimportant, but any meaningful immigration reform will come from Capitol Hill. Does the candidate have an idea about how to fix the problem? Hear it and move on, the specifics, the details will be something other than what any of the candidates say.
  • US voters like to probe and poke Presidential candidates, but often a President's major action is in reaction, to legislation more more likely to events at home and abroad. It's good to know the measure of a candidate's mettle, but there's been more peripheral and contrived controversy in what we've seen so far. It's resembled a cattle call.


the democrat road show
    The Democrats have shown they have a wide range of candidate philosophy, from moderate right to progressive.
     Who speaks to and for voting constituencies that will control the election outcome? The long political season will help to shake it out.  
       

    Joe Biden is the target now. With his decades of service his long record is being picked apart by Harris, Gillibrand  Booker, De Blasio, and others. He has what they don't, poll numbers. As the Front runner he's a target, but that's lame politics and dangerous. 
     What debaters say now could make it a challenge to take back and/or support the eventual candidate. Taking each other apart is off target, off message, damaging, and not helpful. It is a silly sport.
       All of the Demos want improvement in the health care system and want to stop Trump's destruction of what is left of the Affordable Care Act. They argue about how to do it. A legislative process will deliver the specifics, but viewers are being given a chance to see the wide range of Democratic thinking and that maybe helpful, to a point. 
      Elizabeth Warren keeps telling us she has a plan. They all should and it would be more helpful to hear those plans than the kind of wonky food fight we've seen so far. More intelligent and less confrontationally contrived questions would help.
     
a long way up


    I heard a long time Washington insider, a veteran of Capitol Hill, campaigns and the media say if there was truly a leader of the Democrat Party, she or he would get all of the candidates in the same room and remind them the person to defeat is Donald Trump and the message should be to the public, not to play act in some silly charade game like the TV debates have been.
     Two long shots have sounded wise and for the most part stayed out of the tit for tat food fight.  Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg have appeared to be thoughtful and less combative, though Gabbard hit Harris hard on Health Care.
Interestingly, they are both military veterans and have been tested by more than political bull shit. 
    
     If I were advising a candidate I'd tell them their core audience should be working women with children and the overlay would be 18 to 45 year old working people. The outer core of voter would be women 45 plus. 
     Those groups are both urban and rural.  I may be entirely wrong. I've been covering politics since 1964 and my hunches have been both spot on and dead wrong. My gut tells me women voters are the jackpot in 2020. And, according to the Sevareid rule, I reserve the right to change my mind. 

     See you down the trail. 

Thursday, April 18, 2019

In Redaction


Mueller the cat is fine until he goes to the Barr
     Mueller the cat discovers you can't be too careful about who you believe. You trust the wrong person with the truth and it's like they steal your head.

life by headlines
   # It is no surprise, but William Barr's reputation is getting kicked like the soccer ball at the playground. Time to ponder him later. 

    The other headline is what got left out of the early "review." In journalism we call it "burying the lead." 

     Which lead, you ask? What strikes me at the moment is the summary implication of the Mueller Report.
      By way of explanation it seems that Kamala Harris, for example, could say one day-
      "China, if you have any information on the Trump regime, maybe e-mails, tell us about it." 
       She could encourage China to get active in social media and try to get her elected. Maybe she could meet with Chinese agents in Trump Tower to talk about their helping her campaign. 
     Or Kirstin Gillibrand could do likewise with Saudi Arabia, Sanders with North Korea, Warren with Norway.
     It is not illegal to meet with foreign governments who interfere in our election and who work to get you elected, and it is not illegal to deny the meetings or lie about what went on. It is not illegal to re-Tweet or post on social media, outright fabricated stories designed to sew divide in your nation.
     Oh and it's not illegal to secretly connive to build a hotel in any one of those locations, and to lie about that. So there!
     Can you picture the field of debate candidates all wearing blazer flag patches, or pins of their "interfering sponsor."       
     Can't you hear the announcer- 
     "Candidate Pete Buttigieg, sponsored by Oxford University, Betto O'Rourke running this year with interference from Mexico, Corey Booker who is meeting with agents from Canada, Joe Biden who is working on a resort deal in Sydney..."

such is the trump precedent

     The obvious question, if they did nothing wrong, why did they lie about so much? 
      There is so much more life in the Mueller report and on even more serious avenues. 
     The most immediate casualty is William Barr.
     The journeyman Republican lawyer joins a crowd of those made toxic by Trump. He was no brilliant scholar but he paid his dues as a conservative apparatchik. He was not a major player, but his reputation did not have stink on it, until he publicly auditioned to join the gang and then displayed what it  is to be a trump pimp.

wait till mueller talks

      The report is a treasure of findings and insight. Listen to the analysts as you will, but take time to read as much of the report for yourself. Read coverage from a range of views and try to ignore the obvious television yack yacks. 
      This began when Russia interfered in our election and did what they could to get Trump elected. How all of us, and some of us in particular responded to such an obvious intellectual, emotional and informational invasion draws the measure of our character. 
       Several investigations continue. The legislative branch will now exercise it's authority and role. What is toxic and flesh eating in the American body politic becomes more obvious. 
        We just may learn the faces of treason and the motivation of personal greed, and find a new bottom in integrity, capability and national fidelity. 
       
        but for now, a drive in wine country 

 Halter Ranch Winery

 it's a great year for lupine, even in the vineyards


  Oh, and Cheers! As one observer noted: as much as he tried to obstruct and rant and rave, Trump was unable to break the judicial system, because some around him refused to do what he asked or demanded. But, he tried....and now 
the ball moves to the Congressional Court. 

   See you down the trail.

Monday, June 6, 2016

COUPLING--LANDS END--REMEMBERING ALI and GILKEY

Final Acts
    Muhammad Ali was just a bit older than Boomers but he always seemed like one of us. His life arc paralleled ours. Of all that has and will be said of him and his big life I prefer to think of his legacy as courage. He was brave, in many ways.
      After boxing he lived for a while in southern Michigan and was involved in several events and causes in the Midwest including Indianapolis. It was in this context I met Ali. Even during those few years of his mid-west residency we saw the continuing toll of the disease that robbed him of so much, yet I remember his smile, his winks and his air boxing jabs that delighted kids. He never ducked a question and he always spoke with conviction.
      If you are ever near Louisville make a point to visit the Ali Museum. The scope of his life and the breadth of his influence in the world is extraordinary.
      He was tenacious in life as he was in the ring. He entertained and he challenged us and to quote his old faux nemesis Howard Cosell, Ali "told it like it was."
      "He who is not courageous enough to takes risks will accomplish nothing in life"
                            Muhammad Ali

In the line of duty
     Condolences to the family and friends of award winning photographer David Gilkey, killed with interpreter Zabihulla Tamanna in Afghanistan.  Gilkey worked for NPR and was embedded with Afghanistan and American forces when the vehicle he was in was hit by an RPG.  
      We are regular NPR listeners and web viewers and have seen Gilkey's work as well has heard his voice when interviewed by NPR correspondents and reporters. He's won many awards for his brilliant photography. The NPR news team has been emotionally shaken by the killing of one of their own. Our hearts are heavy when  fellow journalists and news gatherers are lost in the line of duty. 
     
Matchmaking
     Who are the running mates? Speculation season is full tilt.
TRUMP AND ?
      Chris Christie
    Niki Haley
    John Kasich
      Newt Gingrich
     Ben Carson
Captain America
The Incredible Hulk
Sara Palin

HILLARY AND ?
Corey Booker
Julian Castro
Wesley Clark
Tim Kaine
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren
and others
       The challenge for Trump is to find someone who gives him credibility and acceptance. It will need to be someone with his kind of bravado, but with real experience.
        The wisest choice for Hillary may be Sanders. Why?
Because of his own appeal and his millions of followers. Anyone else is a guess when it comes to getting national votes. Sanders has proven he can ignite even more fervent support than Clinton. Some of those Sanders voters may not follow Hillary, but they likely would if Sanders were VP. The Senator has pushed Clinton. A reconciliation would be a strong plus and would give a range of Democrats cause to get out the vote. It could keep millions of Democrat voters in line.
         Still, my buddy Ray has a novel ticket suggestion-
Joe Biden and Colin Powell.  Hmmmmmm!
          Stay tuned. 

On the Edge
        Environmental campers near Lampton Cliff in Cambria are up close and personal with the Pacific, ocean breezes and soaring birds. 



      See you down the trail.