kanesrealm

On Friday President Obama lost the vote in the House of Representatives to grant him Fast Track Authority on trade. The majority of Democrats voted no. Obama even went to the hill to meet with Democrats to try and persuade them to his side. He took no questions and by all accounts was insulting and engaged in brow beating. The question the media is asking is has President Obama lost his influence with the Democratic caucus? Here's the answer (I know they're reading) you can't lose what you never had. For all of Barack Obama's considerable talents, getting along with and influencing his fellow Democratic colleagues isn't one of them. Mostly because he really doesn't consider them his equal. He is like Zeus casting lightning bolts from Mount Olympus. In his arrogance he believes if these lesser beings would just shut up and trust him everything would be much better. Barack Obama is a formidable campaigner, you could easily argue that he loves that part of polit...

President Obama wants Fast Track Authority to move forward with the T.P.P. (Trans Pacific Partnership) the miracle trade deal that's going to shed sunshine all over the land and bring us all great prosperity. Wow, sounds great, how about a few more details Mr. President? Fast Track is not required, in spite of what the President and his allies say, to pass a trade deal. Most agreements have been done without it. What it is required for is the old Potomac two step. You pass a major deal with no debate or public scrutiny and by the time you're done there's no changing it or going back. Speaking of the President's allies, a whole bunch of them are Republicans who totally hate his guts but man have they praised him on the T.P.P. That's enough to make me nervous. The new transparency is clearly mud. If the deal is so great why not open it up for debate and scrutiny. Yes, yes I know the political argument that it weakens the President's hand and could jeopardize th...

Remember that little story a few weeks ago about Hillary Clinton's emails? Remember the White House addressing it by saying she had not followed the guidance given by the administration to assure their commitment to transparency? Remember candidate Barack Obama who spoke at length about the need for transparency in our government? Remember his promise that his administration would be the most transparent in history? Remember when he promised that every major piece of legislation and grand idea (he didn't say grand idea, I'm improvising) that his administration proposed would be posted on a website for all citizens to be able to review and comment on before it went forward? What happened to all of that? Should we be shocked about the reality of politics after the promise of campaigns? No, but we should be disappointed and expect more from those who present themselves as being more. Overall the Obama Administration has been fairly typical and business as usual. Right now t...