“On Being Partisan”

The following is a section from Paul Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal. The book is full of excellent insights and provides a brief history of the twentieth century political economy. One of the major claims of the book is that universal health care–one with a mandate for coverage–is the essential step in reducing social/economic inequality.

I like this section–actually the final one in the book–as it expresses the need for a strong candidate who can argue for her (ahem!) policy proposals and fight off the conservative attacks. We don’t need a message of uniting the country–as if Dems and GOPs could agree on the need for universal health care–but we do need our own strong partisan.

On Being Partisan

The progressive agenda is clear and achievable, but it will face fierce opposition. The central fact of modern American political life is the control of the Republican Party by movement conservatives, whose vision of what America should be is completely antithetical to that of the progressive movement. Because of that control, the notion, beloved of political pundits, that we can make progress through bipartisan consensus is simply foolish. On health care reform, which is the first domestic priority for progressives, there’s no way to achieve a bipartisan compromise between Republicans who want to strangle Medicare and Democrats who want guaranteed coverage for all. When a health care reform plan is actually presented to Congress, the leaders of movement conservatism will do what they did in 1993–urge Republicans to oppose the plan in any form, lest successful health reform undermine the movement conservative agenda. And most Republicans will probably go along.

 To be progressive, then, means being a partisan–at least for now. The only way a progressive agenda can be enacted is if Democrats have both the presidency and a large enough majority in Congress to overcome Republican opposition. And achieving that kind of political preponderance will require leadership that makes opponents of the progressive agenda pay a political price for their obstructionism–leadership that, like FDR, welcomes the hatred of the interest groups trying to prevent us from making our society better.

If the new progressive movement succeeds, the need for partisanship will eventually diminish. In the 1950s you could support Social Security and unions and yet still vote for Eisenhower in good conscience, because the Republican Party had eventually (and temporarily) accepted the New Deal’s achievements. In the long run we can hope for a return to that kind of politics: two reasonable parties that accept all that is best in our country but compete over their ability to deliver a decent life to all Americans, and keep each other honest.

For now, being an active liberal means being a progressive, and being a progressive means being partisan. But the end goal isn’t one-party rule. It’s the reestablishment of a truly vital, competitive democracy. Because in the end, democracy is what being a liberal is all about. 

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Debate Watch Party

Join Ohio for Hillary tonight at Sully’s downtown to watch the debate!

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A Good Question

The long advocacy for universal health-care coverage by Democrats has earned a base of public support, but it has also provided an easy focus for political attacks. Although universal coverage will protect businesses and families from unmanageable costs, it will also increase government spending considerably and increase government involvement in health care.The strategy you have adopted as candidates is the same one that Democrats have used for decades without success (including in 1993, when I was a health policy adviser in the first Clinton administration). You have both designed plans that aim to minimize government costs and to minimize changes for Americans with good health coverage, while still constructing a safety net of coverage for the growing millions without insurance.This approach, however, inevitably increases the complexity of our Rube Goldberg health system. It has made your policies difficult to explain. It has failed to prevent charges that you are promoting “socialized medicine.” And it has cost you the enthusiasm of Americans who want a simpler, tax-based, Medicare-for-all system.

How do you persuade supporters of single-payer health care that your proposals are worth fighting for? And how can you assure the rest of us that the costs and complexities of your plans are actually manageable?

— ATUL GAWANDE, a general surgeon, a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of “Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance.”

Tonight marks possibly the final debate between the Democratic candidates. As I’ve said all along, health care is the issue I’m voting. That said, I wouldn’t support a candidate only on health care; s/he has to be the whole package. Hillary Clinton has said that a single-payer system would be best, but she doesn’t think it’s politically possible. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that her alternative proposal is more ambitious and far-reaching than her opponent’s. But the truth is that we don’t know what either candidates’ plans will look like; we can only go on what policy experts predict.

Ralph Nader’s announcement Sunday morning throws a wrench in the whole election. Nader represents my political views far better than the Dems (I’m not really a Democrat–they’re often the lesser of two evils), and he supports single-payer (Medicare for all) health insurance. I imagine that some of the fervor over the Dems–especially the candidate of empty signification–will ebb over the course of the election, and support will weaken significantly when the Republican attack dogs come out (particularly among youth, who may be tireless, but certainly can’t focus very long on one thing, especially if that one thing becomes difficult and substantive).

So what will those of us who want more than empty promises of change, more than a rock-star-like icon, more than the probable front-runner could deliver do? We won’t have to make that decision until after next Tuesday–there’s still a chance to do the right thing–but if the tide of media hype pushes the celebrity into the position of nomination, there is a choice.

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“Bitches Get Stuff Done,” Or, The Return of Tina Fey

So glad SNL is back, so glad their guest host helped dedicate the show to bitches, so glad to hear some sense about Hillary!

Tina Fey is my hero.

Update: The video has been removed from YouTube, but you can see the whole “Women’s News” clip here.

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On mandates, free riders, and “covering everyone”

Today’s Times article, “2 Plans and Many Questions,” takes a serious look at the health care policies put forth by the Dems. From the details currently available, the major difference is on the issue of mandates: whether every American should be required, by law, to carry an insurance policy. If you read my posts, or know anything about me, I’m all for mandates. Without them, I don’t think the necessary policy provisions will be in place for everyone to truly be able to obtain coverage.

Even Obama’s own people deny his claim that his plan would cover everyone:

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, maintains in a television advertisement that his plan will “cover everyone.” That claim is disputed by some of his own advisers, including Mr. Brown, who recently calculated that the Obama plan might leave behind two million free riders.

“That’s the number we would expect to continue to be uninsured unless they’re forced to buy coverage,” Mr. Brown said.

While two million is certainly different from the Clinton camp’s claim that the number of uninsured could reach fifteen million, there’s clearly an established problem with such a plan.

The notion of “free riders” is one of the most interesting elements of the article. Free riders are people who choose not to buy health care coverage, even though they technically could afford to do so. Here’s an example:

Ms. Coons, a 23-year-old waitress who rents a room and rarely eats out, said she could probably afford a high-deductible policy if she gave up her gym membership and spent less on her amateur photography. But she chooses instead to gamble against the odds of confronting a bankrupting catastrophe.

“I’m young and in pretty good shape,” Ms. Coons said one recent afternoon, on her way to the treadmill at the Fitness Factory in Midtown Atlanta. “I looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield. But the only thing I could see myself really needing it for are prescriptions and dental because there are so many free clinics, or a hospital visit really isn’t all that expensive.”

She continued, “The insurance premium was more than what I would pay for my prescriptions, so I just decided not to deal with it.”

Ms. Coons, in this case, talks about free clinics and emergency room visits–health care options that are being subsidized so that the truly poor–the people who can’t afford, or have been rejected for an insurance policy for any number of reasons–can receive care.

Many free riders, including Ms. Coons in Atlanta, never consider that the care they receive in community clinics and emergency rooms is subsidized by taxpayers and private policyholders. “I still pay for everything,” Ms. Coons said, “and I certainly pay taxes.”

Obama denies that people like Ms. Coons exist.

I pay more for car insurance than I do on car repairs, or damage to any person or any property that I’ve ever done (I’ve never even had a ticket), but is that any legitimate excuse for canceling my policy?

Tomorrow I’m going to blog about the fetish of children and health care. Obama wants a mandate for parents to buy insurance for their kids, but there are currently numerous options for children to receive coverage. They’re not the biggest–or most expensive–group of uninsured.

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Hillary in Cincinnati

Tomorrow–Saturday, February 23–Hillary Clinton will host a Town Hall meeting at Cincinnati State Community College. Doors open at 8:00 a.m., and the program begins at 9:00 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

In other Hillary news, she rocked the debate last night. Even though I’m a supporter of her, I went in with an open mind–after all, we need a Democrat to win in November. I was surprised at how disappointing Obama was. He seemed to merely echo everything she said, and to ham it up when he didn’t want to honestly answer a question. Plaigiarism isn’t funny; it’s not the end of the world, if you acknowledge the mistake and move on. How am I supposed to convince my composition students that plaigiarism is ethically wrong when the possible Democratic candidate for president says that he’s been giving speeches for two years, so what’s a couple of lifted lines in a couple of speeches? Shameful. And the whole business of health care? Parents need a mandate to buy health care for their children or else the system won’t work, but adults don’t need a mandate to purchase it for themselves? She really trounced him there, and I was thrilled that neither candidate would let the moderators move on from the topic of the election. The moment was a clear example of the media resisting real politics, and the candidates–for just a moment–not allowing the media to control the discourse.

But I had a clear favorite moment in the debate. Hillary promised to end discrimination of the ill. Thank you for calling it what it is. Insurance companies are legally permitted to discriminate against anyone who has a pre-existing health condition. And that means ill people can be refused health care. If you read my blog you’ll know that this is an issue I am personally invested in and affected by. I was very lucky in 2004 to be on a company health care policy; I was under 25 and still a full-time student. The number one requirement to be eligible for a lung transplant was health insurance. If my quick decline in health had happened a year later, there’s a real chance I wouldn’t have been eligible for the surgery, and that means I wouldn’t be here today.

Another moment in which Hillary proved herself to be the stronger debater–and the better candidate–was her closing statement. After Obama bumbled on about himself, displaying an arrogance that veers on disgusting at times, she brought the message right back to us:

Vote with your head on March 4th.

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Debate tonight

Watch the debate tonight at 8:00 on cnn.com (for those of us who don’t have cable TV)!

If you feel like braving the snow and cold, members of Ohio for Hillary are meeting at J. Alexander’s on Edmondson Road at 7:00, and members of SW Ohio for Hillary are meeting at Crowley’s Irish Pub in Mt. Adams at 7:30 to watch the debate.

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A New Apartment

Last night (Wednesday night), at 1:30 a.m., loud music suddenly blasted from our neighbors’ apartment. We live next to a building that rents cheap rooms to undergrads, and though they’re in a separate building, we share a single brick wall between us. My pounding on the wall did nothing, my beau’s pounding on their front door did nothing, so finally the cops shut them up. This is one of many reasons we’re planning to move this spring.

Other reasons, since 2005, include:

• vandalism of both of our cars
• both of our cars getting wrecked into while parked on the street
• too much traffic on the street
• foot and auto traffic to the market next door
• one robbery/shooting in the market next door
• a drunken visit from one of our landlord’s employees on a Monday night at midnight a few weeks ago
• more noise and parties next door
• a tiny kitchen with no counter space or drawers
• a 30+ year old refridgerator
• neighbors on our roof
• once, a Spanish version of “Achy Breaky Heart” blaring (from next door) at 3 a.m.

The apartment–aside from the kitchen–really isn’t that bad, and heat is included in the rent. If only we could pick the space up and move it somewhere else. But I could use a change of environment.

Something like this would be ideal:

Or a space like this would be nice:

But since most downtown condos are pretty much out of our price range, we’ll keep these in mind on down the road a bit. (Note: these photos are from properties I visited last fall during a tour of living.) I wouldn’t mind living downtown, though. Or in a neighborhood other than our current one. I’m looking for a place that’s quiet, dog-friendly, in a neighborhood in which I can walk the dog and walk to some things (specifically a cafe or two), with office space (in the form of a den or additional bedroom), an updated kitchen with a dishwasher, hardwood floors, and, preferably, some utilities covered in the rent. Any tips?

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On Barack Obemo

Note: This is a guest post

Since my politics are socialist and I live in the U.S., I’m basically up shit creek when it comes to electing a presidential nominee. My only option seems to be strategically voting for democrats who might be able to pull things leftward (although from where we’re sitting right now, this pull would probably still leave us right of center). I’m confident that a democrat will be in the Oval Office come November (just follow the corporate money). However, I’m not confident that this democrat will come close to doing even a pale impression of FDR if his name is Barack Obama. Lately, the paranoid style of my American politics has me wondering if Obama is even as liberal as John McCain on some issues.

Entertain an analogy with me. You’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the band Dashboard Confessional. I saw Dashboard in 2000 when Chris Carabba screamed infidelities in a tiny venue near the University of Pittsburgh. I remember loving this newcomer to the independent scene. I also remember one perspicacious friend telling me that Carabba would soon be MTV-huge. Two short years later we saw the band again at a festival in Louisville, and returned despising Dashboard Confessional. Why? Because we were surrounded by swarms of tweens and teens singing along to Carabba’s emotastic lyrics.

Which brings me to the tune Barack Obama’s been singing. Obama’s campaign feels like a Dashboard Confessional concert: a man on stage passionately stirring up youthful, romantic, idealistic emotions with insubstantial words. Although by now this is a hackneyed observation about Obambastic Barackstar, I haven’t found any evidence against it. What I have found evidence against is the absurd claim that a Barackracy would look exactly like a Hillacracy because their agendas are, for all intents and purposes, the same. This claim is truly an Obamination.

Case in point: Barack is running an ad in Ohio called “Enough” which many of you have probably seen:

Contrast this ad with one that Hillary is running in Ohio:

I think the quality of these commercials actually reflects the quality of the respective candidates. Where Barack appeals to pathos by talking about the negative effects of globalization in a locally owned restaurant while proposing tax breaks for companies that stay at home, Hillary appeals to logos by raising a series of interconnected socioeconomic issues while her agenda appears in text on the screen. Not only does Hillary’s commercial ask its audience to critically think about the relationship between these issues, its convincing. It tells me not to go all emo on March 4th.

So to all of you Barackatoos, Barackingbirds, Baracknids, Baractopuses, Obamazons, Obamafiosi, and Baracker Spaniels Barrackupied with your Obamage, awake from your Obamatose Obamania, step out of Obamanation, drop the Obamaly, quit falling for the Barackismo, and vote with your Primary mind, not your Obamamatic feelings. Vote Hillary, not bleeding-heart liberal.

Sincerely,

kbama

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Snow Day!

Just yesterday I said to Wanda that if it’s going to be this cold, it might as well snow six inches. Well, not quite six inches, but enough for this:

 

 

  

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Something We Can All Agree On

…especially now that we’re in the final year of GWB.

Here are the top 50 stupidest things George W. Bush has said (at least on record). Some are genuinely funny slips, but most remind us how terrible these years have been.

Enjoy!

50. “I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn’t here.” -at the President’s Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

49. “We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” -Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

48. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” -Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

47. “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.” –Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

46. “Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. I mean, you’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.” –Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004

45. “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah.” –at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

44. “You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” –interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006

43. “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th.” –Washington, D.C., July 12, 2007

42. “I’m the commander — see, I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president.” –as quoted in Bob Woodward’s Bush at War

41. “F*ck Saddam. We’re taking him out.” –to three U.S. senators in March 2002, one year before the Iraq invasion, as quoted by Time magazine

40. “Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.” –discussing the Iraq war with Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson in 2003, as quoted by Robertson

39. “I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me.” –talking to key Republicans about Iraq, as quoted by Bob Woodward

38. “I hear there’s rumors on the Internets that we’re going to have a draft.” –presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004

37. “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” –Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

36. “Do you have blacks, too?” –to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

35. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” –as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

34. “My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we’re going to run out of debt to retire.” –radio address, Feb. 24, 2001

33. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” –on “Good Morning America,” Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

32. “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” –Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

31. “I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake.” –on his best moment in office, interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006

30. “They misunderestimated me.” –Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

29. “Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those — changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be — or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It’s kind of muddled.” –explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005

28. “For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to do something about it.” –Philadelphia, Penn., May 14, 2001

27. “This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite — I call you my base.” –at the 2000 Al Smith dinner

26. “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.” –LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

25. “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right.” –Rome, Italy, July 22, 2001

24. “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” –Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

23. “People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you.” –Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

22. “I wish you’d have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it…I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn’t yet…I don’t want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I’m confident I have. I just haven’t — you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.” –after being asked to name the biggest mistake he had made, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2004

21. “You forgot Poland.” –to Sen. John Kerry during the first presidential debate, after Kerry failed to mention Poland’s contributions to the Iraq war coalition, Miami, Fla., Sept. 30, 2004

20. “We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” (Laughter) –touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

19. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” –State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003, making a claim that administration officials knew at the time to be false

18. “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” –Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

17. “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” –Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

16. “Can we win? I don’t think you can win it.” –after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, “Today” show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

15. “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.” –Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002

14. “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.” –to a group of Amish he met with privately, July 9, 2004

13. “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” –speaking underneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

12. “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories … And we’ll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they’re wrong, we found them.” –Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003

11. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!” –joking about his administration’s failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents’ Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004

10. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” –Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000

9. “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” –on the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007

8. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” –Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

7. “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense.” –Washington, D.C. April 18, 2006

6. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on –shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” –Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

5. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” –Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

4. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” –Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

3. “You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.” –to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

2. “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” –to FEMA director Michael Brown, who resigned 10 days later amid criticism over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

1. “My answer is bring them on.” –on Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003

Any favorites? I’m partial to #28 and #21.

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This is amazing.

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This perfectly describes my students this quarter…

toothpastefordinner.com

And, none of them are such piss-poor writers that I’m ashamed to be alive.

They’re really starting to freak me out.

They must be robots.

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