George W. Bush

One of my favorite things to write about in reference to today's Republican Party is the grounding of their moves in ideology, as if we've not just had eight years of failure, mounds of problems in this country, and a realigning election changing the electoral landscape. The GOP would rather rehash old arguments regarding abortion, same-sex marriage, or other topics on personal morality than give a thought to doing anything about issues that actually affect the common good. Wouldn't you know that the Republicans are providing us with yet another example of why they're not up to the challenge of leading this country out of the mess their party created.

As the swine flu story continues to develop, we know a few things. First, in Mexico, approximately 81 people have died from this flu, with about 374 being hospitalized. Masses and other public events have been canceled, along with classes at all schools and universities. Masks were distributed, with public officials asking Mexican citizens to change the way they greet each other. Other countries have also been battling the swine flu. Canada has six confirmed cases, while Spain, New Zealand, and Israel are all in the process of confirming various cases in their countries. In the United States, 20 cases had been confirmed in five states. The U.S. government has issued a "public health emergency," which actually sounds more threatening than the situation might warrant here, but such a declaration is necessary in order to move the stockpiled medications and monies to afflicted areas. Nevertheless, the situation has been described as serious. U.S. military officials and aviation officials both made clear that while it's not a time to panic, they're monitoring the situation extremely seriously.

But as AMERICAblog notes, the proper people to deal with this crisis within the United States aren't there. In fact, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security had to announce the "public health emergency" at the White House press briefing today. Why? Because the GOP is filibustering the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, the department containing the Center for Disease Control. And because Sebelius has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, the CDC does not yet have a director, which Sebelius would appoint once confirmed. In fact, the Acting Secretary of HHS is a Bush appointment, Charles Johnson, who has significant experience in... accounting. The kicker here is that the filibuster is based strictly on ideology. Because Sebelius is pro-woman, Senate Republicans, held hostage by right-wing anti-choice advocacy groups, don't have the fortitude to allow an up or down vote. Even in the middle of a public health emergency threatening the nation.

In a post I wrote in early January discussing Obama's announcement of his Chief Performance Officer, I cited something Nathaniel Whittmore wrote regarding the Millennials' preference for pragmatism. (Nathaniel is the founding director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University and an adviser for change.org.) Unfortunately the link to that post is now dead, but I'll reproduce what was written below.

Where it leaves us is as the inheritors of a tradition of American pragmatism, a skeptical idealism that believes deeply in our power to make the world a better place, but with the ability to learn, adapt, and if necessary, reject approaches to creating positive change that don’t deliver on their promise.

It is this pragmatism that gets us excited about new movements in the world of philanthropy and business like social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. And it is this pragmatism, I argued earlier this week, that is one of the most important (and overlooked) elements of our support for Obama’s candidacy.

It’s not just that his age is closer to ours than it is to John McCain’s, or that we’re seduced by every platitude about hope and change that come our way (shock!). It’s not even only that his programs – including a responsible end to the war in Iraq, new opportunities to serve our country and reduce the cost of education, and investments in cleaner energy that will be instrumental in improving our environment and our economy – are manifestly better for us.

In every measure, Obama is thoughtful, pragmatic, and fiercely committed. His life and politics embrace and reconcile what came before him to produce a deliberative, measured approach to governing that is not ideological, but at the same time not afraid or ashamed of big ideas and the power of belief. In this we see our aspirations for ourselves, we see our future, and we see America. And on Tuesday, we’re putting him over the top.

When we examine "Generation We," we see why Millennials have fallen for Barack Obama's politics -- and why they're so disenchanted with today's Republican Party. From Eric Greenberg's book Generation We:

Millennials are inclined to extend this holistic mode of thinking
beyond the natural world and into the social, economic, and political
realms. When discussing problems in our focus groups, the Millennials routinely brushed aside the boundaries between the government, business, non-profit, academic, and civic worlds. They are impatient with dogmatic or ideological “rules” about the proper spheres of action for various kinds of organizations, and instead are accustomed to thinking pragmatically about how social groups and institutions can cooperate in search of solutions that serve society as a whole. (106)

Emphasis added. A group of young people has grown up and watched eight years of our country going through one of its most tumultuous declines in history, seeing a president and his administration both fail to manage and cause this downturn, seeing said president's party comply in driving the nation into a ditch. Millennials already have no confidence whatsoever that Republicans have their interests in mind. And now, in yet another crisis situation, Republicans are prepared to place their special interests over the interest of the country. Once more, ideology trumps the common good.

Republicans are more concerned about what the Concerned Women for America and the Susan B. Anthony List feel than protecting the well-being of the United States. How's that for patriotism?

W: "All I can report is it is a size ten."

It's funny how much more relevance a "radio" address takes on when it's on YouTube. Of course, it could be that we now have a leader who has priorities that are more in line with ours. Either way, President-elect Obama's address this week is important because for the first time in a long time, we're going to be embarking on a grand effort to improve our country from the inside out.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

What's refreshing about this, of course, is the attention this president is paying to the future. Let's place this next to an example of our current president's lack of vision and stubbornness, when he rebuffed the National Governors Association's request to invest in the nation's infrastructure last February.

President Bush rebuffed appeals from the nation’s governors on Monday to increase spending on roads, bridges and other public works as a way to revive the economy.

Governors said Mr. Bush had told them at a White House meeting that he wanted to see the effects of his economic stimulus package before supporting new measures.

A bipartisan group of governors is pushing for major road and bridge projects as a way to create jobs and foster economic development. But the White House says the money could not be spent fast enough to be of much immediate help.

“There’s no short-term stimulus to the economy for some of these projects,” Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said.

Moreover, Ms. Perino said, the president will not accept any bill that raises taxes to finance such projects. Governors would have more money available, she said, if Congress ended the wasteful earmarking of billions of dollars for specific projects.

One roadblock the Transportation Department tried to put up in order to keep from doing work was the argument that the jobs don't happen fast enough in order for it to lead to any stimulus.

Brian G. Turmail, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said highway spending was not an effective way to stimulate the economy because “it takes too long to get the money into projects.”

Rather than asking for an increase in federal highway spending, Mr. Turmail said, governors should seek additional money from the private sector, including pension funds and investment banking concerns.

Obama's answer -- use it or lose it.

We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Of course I only really focused on infrastructure in this post, but Obama's overall big-picture and future-oriented thinking on these issues naturally emphasizes civic engagement among youth. You get the idea, with his Facebook/YouTube/MySpace use, that he's serving as America's dad. With a large younger audience listening intently, Obama is teaching us how to put America together again. He's showing us the priorities this country has, and he's investing his time so that when he is no longer around, we know what to do in order to keep this country safe and moving forward. He's not an authoritarian parent; he's one that empowers his family to work hard and do the right thing.

Meanwhile, Perino's/Bush's focus on short-term stimulus speaks volumes. The future is only important to this administration when it comes to some Rovian project to rewrite history. Bush was so paranoid about not getting credit for any long-term strategy that he decided to not do anything, repeatedly rejecting any sensible long-term ideas. No wonder the GOP has major youth issues.

When we've had a president as incompetent as George W. Bush has been for eight years, the thought of figuring out how many of his actions need to be corrected is probably intimidating. Luckily the Obama campaign, preparing for the win months ahead of time, stuck a few staffers in a room and had them sorting through the mounds of incompetent and ideologically-driven executive orders and policies written and approved by the Bush administration. From the Washington Post:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse the president on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

While Obama's spokesperson for the transition does note that many of these "corrections" would need to be discussed with the appropriate cabinet nominees, there are a few that could be made immediately.

President Bush's executive order restricting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, for example, would be overturned. In addition, President-elect Obama could also step in and overturn an order that prohibits the state of California from regulating carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.

With the end of Bush's term approaching, it will be interesting to see what other nonsensical orders will be issued, as Bush staffers attempt to nail down loose ends prior to leaving the White House. You can bet that Obama won't put up with it, and the transition team will be ready to go come January 20th.

The "honeymoon" each new president enjoys could be strengthened for Obama (especially if he has his ducks in a row like this) given Bush's political toxicity.

(h/t SusanG)

Here's a little Monday morning humor to get your week started on on a good note.

This Onion News Network video is proof that laughter is great medicine- though getting rid of Bush will be a lot better. Only six more months to go- lets hope he doesn't do too much more damage in that time!