SUNDAY,  JULY 26,  2009

AREN'T WE LUCKY? - AT 10:17 P.M. ET:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea says it is open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons program.

The statement Monday from Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry appeared to refer to direct talks with the United States, though it was not specific.

COMMENT:  Let's see how the Obama administration handles this one.  North Korea has made statements like this, not for years, but for decades.  But every "offer" of negotiations has ended with some great proclamation of victory for the "dialogue," some kind of paper agreement, and then North Korea violating that agreement but offering to get it back on track if only we'd make further concessions.

If we jump at this like amateurs, we'll look like fools...except to the left-wing base of Mr. Obama's party.  Watch Hillary carefully on this one.  I suspect she'll make known her views privately to friendly journalists, then in effect challenge the White House to override her.

July 26, 2009   Permalink

TOWEL THROWING-IN TIME - AT 9:05 P.M. ET:  Thoughtful Democrats, and there are some left, are starting to realize that their approach to health-care reform hasn't exactly clicked, either with their colleagues in Congress or with the public.  The Politico reports:

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Democrats cannot go it alone on health care reform because the numbers aren’t there – despite the party's 60-vote majority in the Senate.

"There are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle," Conrad said on ABC’s “This Week.”

"It's just not possible to have a Democrat-only bill?” host George Stephanopoulos asked Conrad.

"No, it is not possible, and perhaps not desirable either,” Conrad said. “We're probably going to get a better product if we go through the tough business of debate, consideration, and analysis of what we're proposing."

COMMENT:  Here, as a great general once said, is an opportunity to excel.  In this case, an opportunity for the Republican Party - not an organization always known for imagination.

In effect, Conrad is saying that Republican help is needed.  Republicans should give that help, in the form of creative, practical ideas to cure the problems in our health-care system.  No clichés.  None of this endlessly boring stuff about "the great Amurikan free enterprise system."  No scare stories about "gumm-int."  But good ideas.

People don't realize that Ronald Reagan came to office on the power of ideas, not just opposition.  Newt Gingrich led the GOP to victory in the 1994 midterms on the power of a contract with America. 

Now the GOP, following on a faltering Democratic Party, has a chance to shine by showing how problems can be solved.

Do it.  Do it.  Do it.

July 26, 2009   Permalink

SARAH STEPS DOWN - AT 8:10 P.M. ET: 

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-center coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid.

Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter.

Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at a crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded "some seemingly hell bent on tearing down our nation" and warned Americans to "be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn't come free."

COMMENT:  Whether she seeks office again or not, she can become an effective spokeswoman for conservative values, and she can be a thorn in the side of an ever-more-irresponsible press.  But she must prepare herself, be thoroughly familiar with the issues, and not try to wing it. 

Democrats fear her, and they will attack.  She must be ready, emotionally and substantively, to respond effectively to every blow.  That will be her first test.

July 26, 2009   Permalink

TOUGH TALK FROM HILLARY - AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  Secretary of State Clinton, having apparently read the latest public opinion polling on President Obama, talks much tougher on the Iranian nuclear program than she was talking earlier in the week.  Is she staking out her own turf:

WASHINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and major powers were united to prevent that from happening.

"Your (Iran's) pursuit is futile," she told NBC's "Meet the Press" program, adding that Iran did not have the right to develop a nuclear weapon.

COMMENT:  I wonder if she's told Obama about this new, rigid "not allow" stand.  A note would do.  Maybe an e-mail.  She should tell Biden, or tell someone to tell Biden.  Or put a "Dear Joe" message in the personals.

The question, of course, is how she's going to enforce her words.  The president barely made it to a microphone to denounce the violence against freedom demonstrators in Tehran.  Will he develop some spine?  The secretary speaks of major powers being "united" in preventing an Iranian nuke.  Really?  Russia, too?  Will Germany surrender its lucrative trade with Iran to stand with us?

We have a critical five months coming up.  Obama has given Iran until the end of the year to show progress in curtailing its nuclear program.  What happens then?

July 26, 2009   Permalink

THE CONTINUING SLIDE - AT 9:50 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen is today reporting Obama's worst ever showing in Ras's presidential approval index, the gap between likely voters who strongly approve and those who strongly disapprove of the president's performance.  Today that gap stands at minus 11, with 40% strongly disapproving, and 29% strongly approving.   As recently as the end of May it was plus 10.  It was plus 28 on the day after inauguration.

Today's result reflects reaction to the president's comments about the Cambridge, Massachusetts, case at his press conference earlier in the week.   Certainly didn't help him.

The White House has to be concerned, not about one day's results, but about the incessant downward slide in recent weeks, starting with the president's indifferent handling of the opposition mini-revolt in Iran.

July 26, 2009   Permalink

SEND IN THE CLOWNS - AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  This was inevitable.  The usual suspects are starting a "dialogue" about race in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to the Washington Post:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The town where a white police officer and a black scholar ignited a national conversation on race and law enforcement has begun to open the dialogue that President Obama invited.

Before summer's end, the mayor, district attorney and police officials will convene a forum to grapple with the controversy over the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Sgt. James Crowley -- which exploded into a divisive debate that drew in the president.

And...

Obama, who spoke to both men last week, called it a "teachable moment" for the nation on a "troubling aspect of our society." Gates said in an e-mail statement that he accepts Obama's invitation to begin talking and wants to work with the Cambridge Police Department. Crowley has not publicly responded to the invitation.

This, of course, is a farce.  When Obama speaks of a "teachable moment," he's speaking about a one-way street.  Teach it from the politically correct perspective. 

There's no doubt there is racial profiling in some areas.  There's no doubt that some police officers are bigoted and should be rooted out.  The racial history of the country is troubling, to say the least.  Whoever doubts that might try to answer President Kennedy's question:  What white American would prefer to be black?

At the same time, these "dialogues" about race are never honest because every white participant fears the label "racist" if he dares to bring up the pathologies within minority communities that add to the tragedy.  Some 80% of the children of Harlem don't know who their fathers are.  Many minority families are unsupportive of schools and teachers.  There are poisonous messages sent through hip-hop performers and others.  Too often, "programs" set up to help minority youngsters wind up helping only the people running the programs.  When questions are asked, the questioners are labeled "culturally insensitive."

And of course, in covering this "dialogue," the press will be in the tank for the political left, adding to the dishonesty.  We can have a true dialogue if we're determined to solve problems, not just add to the chatter of the salon class.  Will that happen?  Much may depend on President Obama.  How will he introduce this "dialogue"?  He gave a thoughtful speech to the NAACP several weeks ago, declaring that the age of excuses was over.  Will that be taken seriously?  Or will those who benefit from the excuses continue to rule?

The most important weapon in this "dialogue" will be a calendar.  It is 2009.  It is not 1965.  Will that be understood?

July 26, 2009   Permalink

SATURDAY,  JULY 25,  2009

MAY WE NOT HAVE BARBARA BOXER TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE - AT 10:55 P.M. ET:  There is political news from California, a state that, although broke, still votes:

Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has taken heat in recent months for clashes at Senate hearings, is facing a potentially tough election challenge from prominent businesswoman Carly Fiorina, who is within striking distance in a recent poll.

Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO and top economic adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign, hasn't said yet whether she'll throw her hat in the ring against Boxer for the California Democrat's Senate seat next year. But it already could be shaping up to up be one of the most closely watched Senate contests.

A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released July 24 shows that Fiorina is trailing by only 4 percentage points behind in a hypothetical head-to-head with the three-term incumbent. The poll put Boxer's support in such a face-off at only 45 percent, with 7 percent of survey respondents saying they're undecided.

COMMENT:  It's hard to think of anything that Barbara Boxer contributes to the Senate.  Maybe she brings nice chocolates on some days, or an orange.  But there's not much beyond that.  She's so weak that even liberal Democrats in her own delegation are afraid to let her handle one of their prime pieces of legislation, the one on alleged climate change.  She recently embarrassed herself - not the first time - by demanding that an Army general call her "senator," whereas other senators are often called mister or ms. or mrs.  President Kennedy would often get on the phone and say, "This is Mr. Kennedy."  But Barbara likes the title.

Carly Fiorina has no experience as a political candidate, and her reign at Hewlett-Packard was bumpy.  She would be running in a heavily Democratic state.  But if she could pull it off, she'd be a major national figure overnight, and give the California congressional delegation some balance.

July 25, 2009   Permalink

SARAH SAYS FAREWELL - AT 3:40 P.M. ET:  Sarah Palin is holding a series of picnics to say farewell to the people of Alaska as she leaves the governorship.  Yes, I said picnics.  Can you imagine how that goes down in the salons of Georgetown or Beverly Hills, or the real seat of our current government, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the police are ridiculed for doing their jobs?  "My gawd, is this woman holding picnics, with unhealthy foodstuffs, without a dietician?  Is she inviting a proper number of people from igloos?"

The Politico reports on something Sarah said last night:

She told the hundreds gathered in a military “Honor Garden” that she wanted to “do something… more worthy than speaking politics” before sharing a story about a reporter who had asked her about how she handles difficult days.

“I said, ‘Oh no,’ it is not a down day – my son called this week from Iraq,” Palin recalled, referring to her son, Track, an Army enlistee. “He is safe, he is sound. It is always a good day when my son calls.”

Interrupting the applause, Palin said: “I wish that some in the media would keep things like that in perspective, what is really important in our country. And what is important is our freedoms, America’s security, our liberty.”

Later, citing military families that have lost loved ones, she again drew loud applause by saying: “Let us continue to love our country, be proud of our country, never apologize for our country.”

COMMENT:  You can hear the laughter, sneers and ridicule from the crowd that pines for the 1960s.  But words like that resonate with the great majority of Americans. 

I especially liked "...never apologize for our country."  Clearly, that was directed at President Obama.  Does that line hint at future political plans for Sarah Palin?  I don't know.  We've said here before that needs to improve some aspects of her approach - to get up to speed  on more issues, to develop a sound and appealing program.  But she has that gut appeal that can, if properly developed, move mountains.  She is ever interesting, and we'll be following her.

July 25, 2009   Permalink

OH SAVE US FROM THIS, PLEASE - AT 11:01 A.M. ET:  The saga of the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard continues.  Now we have big-time escalation, the ultimate weapon, the top of the "healing" heap - an invitation to the White House.  CNN has some details:

Obama also spoke briefly with the arrested professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is a friend of the president, the White House reported. He and Gates had a "positive discussion" about his call to Crowley on Friday afternoon, the White House said. Obama also invited Gates "to join him with Sgt. Crowley at the White House in the near future."

Oh, no, no.  Can you just see that White House session in the Oval Office, with the president of the United States presiding?  "Now how do you feel about this, Henry?  And you, Sergeant Stupid, I mean Crowley?  Do you both feel greater comfort with each other?  You do?  Okay, how about a big hug?"

Watch.  The next stop will be Oprah.  Another hug.  A book deal.

In an e-mail Friday to CNN's Don Lemon, Gates wrote, "I was very pleased that the president called me today, and I was pleased that he proposed that I meet with Sgt. Crowley at the White House, since I had offered to meet with him since last Monday.

"I am eager for this to be used as a teaching moment to improve racial relations in America," said the e-mail. "This is certainly not about me."

Oh really?  Then why did you say you wanted to keep the incident alive and do a documentary about it?

His attorney, Charles Ogletree, told Lemon that he applauds Obama's intervention and "I look forward to working this out with all parties amicably."

Asked if he plans to file suit, Ogletree said, "It depends on the response from everyone involved as to how we'll proceed."

Translated:  Please invite me to the White House, too.

I wonder if they'll allow wall-to-wall TV coverage of the visit.  How about a theme song?  Something, maybe, from "Law and Order."

Yuch.

July 25, 2009   Permalink

COMMENT ON THE DECLINE - AT 10:42 A.M. ET:  I've often written that some of the best commentary on American politics comes from British observers.  Nile Gardiner, a British conservative analyst based in Washington, dissects the elements of President Obama's decline, something we really hadn't expected to occur until much later:

To add to Obama’s woes, unemployment in America now stands at a staggering 9.5 percent and rising (the same level as the Euro area), compared to 7.2 per cent in the UK and 5.2 per cent in Japan, with the U.S. economy continuing to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs every month. According to figures cited by The New York Times, over 3.3 million jobs have been lost since January of this year.

They can't blame it on Bush forever.

As recent Gallup surveys have shown, the United States remains a largely conservative nation, and Obama’s brand of high spending, high taxing neo-socialism is increasingly rejected by the American public. While much of Europe, including Britain, is moving rightwards, America is the only major country in the Western world whose leadership is dramatically moving to the left. Although he ran for the presidency largely as a centrist, Obama’s government is without doubt the most left-wing administration in American history.

That nails it.  The Europeans are learning their lesson, and we're forgetting what they've learned.

If he is not careful, Barack Obama may end up as one of the least popular presidents in American history. His dream of re-making the world’s greatest power into a large-scale version of modern-day Germany - with high taxation, dominant trade unions, overbearing government bureaucracy, stifling employment regulations, low defence spending, de-nuclearisation, a naive emphasis on soft power, and a constant desire to apologise for the past – is a nightmarish vision that fortunately is opposed by a growing majority of Americans.

COMMENT:  This is clear-headed thinking, and a sharp warning to a president who spent a good chunk of his formative years being tutored by people who either don't understand the American spirit, or despise it.

Crunch time has come early for Barack Obama.  The direction he takes, and the good or bad luck he has domestically and in foreign affairs, will determine the fate of his presidency, and whether he gets that coveted second term.

July 25, 2009   Permalink

DOWNWARD, DOWNWARD - AT 9:36 A.M. ET:  To keep President Obama up at night, just give him the daily Rasmussen reports.  The trend for the president in Ras's daily tracking poll is down and down.  Today, for the second day in a row more respondents - likely voters - disapprove of presidential performance than approve.  The gap again is 51-49, negative.

Even worst for the president is what Rasmussen calls his presidential approval index - the spread between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove.  Today that index sets a new negative record, and stands at -9.  Only 30% strongly approve, but 39% strongly disapprove.

It is extraordinary, this early in a presidency, for 39% of likely voters to strongly disapprove of a president's performance.  Now, again, we stress, as we always do, that a poll is a snapshot in time, has a margin of error, and does not predict conditions a year from today.  But the numbers cannot give Mr. Obama's political advisers a nice day.

The particular danger for Mr. Obama is not disapproval of this policy or that.  Policies can be adjusted.  But I just get the gut feeling - and at this point that's all it is - that a number of voters are starting to have negative personal feelings about the man.  Up to know, it has been Mr. Obama's personal popularity that has sustained him, even as growing numbers doubted his policies.  But his performance at his news conference this week, with constant references to himself and his appalling remarks about an arrest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought out some of the worst in Barack Obama, an imperious quality, president as ultimate judge and father of us all.  Some viewers may not have come in way feeling the love they'd felt on the previous date.

The president is in trouble.  But remember that other presidents have been in trouble and have bounced back.  Mr. Obama is a consummate politician.  Those around him brought an unknown African-American politician from obscurity to the White House.  And the press is too often his loyal and devoted servant.

Keep your guard up. The forces of reason, sanity and greatness still have much work to do.

July 25, 2009   Permalink