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The Screaming Moderate

Melting the pot

11/18/2014

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In these days of polarized politics, I realize the knee-jerk feeling to support the leaders of one’s party. I don’t understand it, but I’m aware of it. Fact is, our elected leaders are not always right in what they want to do. Often, like the rest of us, they get so into the moment, they don’t see the forest for the trees and emotion rather than logic takes over. I think we are in one of those moments on the immigration issue.

First, a fact most of us, whichever side of the aisle, agree on: our immigration policy needs fixing. There are millions of people who have lived in this country for many years, including children who were born here, who need to have their situations resolved – meaning most need to be allowed to stay here (I only say “most” because I don’t know the specifics of each situation and there could be a few who shouldn’t be allowed to stay). We “just” need to fix the rules.

Second, immigration is a hot political issue, and has been for years. There isn’t just disagreement over the substantive details of how to fix it, there are political considerations. The major political consideration seems to be: who will control the Hispanic vote, trending as The Vote to Get, in the future. That consideration apparently contributed to President Obama putting off taking action on his own this year for fear of losing a few Senate seats. Democrats lost those seats anyway. I’m sure it also played a role on the Republican side, fear of losing seats in some areas, or, more likely, philosophical constituencies, where immigration is not popular.

Now, with a Republican Senate majority poised to enter the chamber, the president is saying, basically, you guys (well not these guys, because they haven't been in control before) haven’t taken action, so now I will. This after years of saying he does not have constitutional authority to act on his own. The GOP leaders on the Hill have warned the White House that issuing an executive order on immigration says to the Congress: screw you, I’m doing what I think is right even though I’m on record saying I don’t have the authority. The President also has said he can issue the order and then the Congress can pass a law, which would supersede his order, and he will (metaphorically) rip up his order immediately.

I’m sorry, it just seems they’re playing with fire – and the lives of millions of people – here. It’s been said a million times before, but this is no way to run a democracy. In a democracy, we don’t elect a King, we elect a president. In a democracy, we elect representatives to reflect the views of voters, not their own views all the time. We elect a president and a Congress to find ways to solve problems. It’s called a representative democracy. While we want to and need to know a candidate’s philosophy for governing when we vote for him or her, we don’t want them to represent us (at least I don’t) in a doctrinaire manner that doesn’t leave room for compromise; a way to move the ball down the field even if you can’t get everything you want this time.

If I were Obama, what would I do? He’s waited this long for immigration reform, what’s wrong with giving the Republican leadership what they’re asking for – a little room to try to make this Congress work better (or maybe work is the right way to say it) than the last. It's one way to send a message that he wants Washington to work, not stagnate. And, if the GOP does nothing, then he has every right to try to do things, within his powers.

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Post-Election Day tidbits

11/5/2014

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  • With the Democratic defeats of yesterday being blamed on President Obama’s unfavorable ratings, my Democratic friends ask how anyone can give the president a negative rating when the economy is doing so well. Ask President George H.W. Bush who experienced the same thing back in 1992 during his re-election campaign. The economy was coming back yet the voters didn’t think so and he was voted out of office because they thought he was “out of touch.” Fact is, the economy was turning around on his watch and because of his policies then-Gov. Bill Clinton got the benefit of it, winning the election. History, my Democratic friends, repeats itself. Then again "41" didn't also have the international crises (Ebola, Islamic State, etc.) that Obama faces.
  • The question I kept hearing about Scott Brown, who lost a Senate race in Massachusetts a couple years ago and lost another yesterday in his vacation-home state of New Hampshire, was “is his political career over?” I think not. There are 48 other states the carpet-bagging politician can run in.
  • Now that we have a fully divided government – Republicans controlling Congress, Democrats the White House – are we in store for at least two more years of gridlock? I think (and hope) not. Republicans now can’t declare success merely by blocking the president, they have to get something done. If the White House is serious, and the GOP on The Hill is serious, we actually could make some progress in some areas.
  • Ed Gillespie nearly pulled off an upset for a Virginia U.S. Senate seat yesterday. Everyone figured he was in it to establish positioning for a run at governor in a couple of years and figured sacrificing himself against one of Virginia’s most popular politicians ever would increase his appeal to his party. He could still pull off a Senate win in a recount against incumbent Mark Warner, but he did more than establish positioning. He showed he has the potential to win the governorship. If he isn’t a Senator instead.
  • There actually was at least one race yesterday where the voters couldn’t lose. In Massachusetts 6, Democrat Seth Moulton defeated Republican Robert Tisei. Moulton, an Iraq war veteran who won medals for valor, handily defeated Tisei, a real estate agent who lost for the same seat two years ago, by just one percentage point. Most observers say it was a race run with dignity on both sides, a good discussion of the issues, and none of the rancor seen in other races around the country. Neither candidate was a “nut case.” And each reflects what truly is the next generation of politicians, in the best sense. Moulton now becomes the “new face” in Massachusetts’ politics, the one to keep an eye on. Don’t rule Tisei out for something else down the road.
  • Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is the likely new Senate Majority Leader, a job he has long sought. Many aren’t a fan of McConnell’s, then again, many aren’t fans of the current majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. McConnell may not be my ideal choice, either, but let’s look at the alternatives – Paul? Cruz? I’ll take McConnell who actually knows how to make a deal when it’s required and who now will have to feel responsibility for progress instead of setting the goal of “defeating Obama” which was his aim the last few years.
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Mayor for Life is laid to rest

11/4/2014

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PictureMayor Thomas Menino
  The Mayor of Boston for Life was buried yesterday.

Thomas Michael Menino served as Boston’s mayor for 20 years, retiring just this year to concentrate more on his family, which he already doted on but wanted more, and to focus on his health. Unfortunately, just months after retiring, his health gave in and he passed away.

His funeral was an event to be seen. First, it wasn’t held in a majestic cathedral but in the church where he was baptized 71 years ago.  Attending were the Vice President of the United States, the Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Boston Celtic legend Bill Russell, Big Papi of the Boston Red Sox, a young black girl the mayor befriended and who was shot when she was three years old and is living her life in a wheel chair, many of his staff who served with him, leaders of every ethnic group in Boston, and, of course, his family and hundreds of friends. The people of Boston lined the streets as the hearse carrying the mayor wound through on a final tour of his favorite places – City Hall, Fenway Park, his home in the blue-collar Hyde Park section of Boston, where he was born and lived his life. Oh, and former President Bill Clinton paid a surprise visit to the mayor’s family for quiet moment as his casket was being taken from Faneuil Hall where he laid in state making the Mayor literally late for his own funeral, as mourners waited an extra half hour for his arrival.

The most touching and tear-invoking comments came not from the governor or mayor, who gave excellent eulogies, but from two of his grandchildren in their teens who somehow managed, despite no public speaking experience, to tell eloquently the more than 700 in attendance and millions more watching on TV and the Internet, personal stories about their “papa.” Speaker after speaker noted that his widow, Angela, sacrificed much so he could attend thousands of ribbon cuttings and chicken dinners during his 20 years as mayor. Oh, and he checked out of his hospital bed when the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon last year, as he consoled a city, while he clearly was in great pain. Angela did it all with a smile on her face and the knowledge that he was helping hundreds of thousands of his fellow Bostonians every day. He was doing what he loved, being mayor of Boston.

The Mayor was far from the Brahmin many of us typically think of as Bostonians. He earned the nickname “Mumbles” because he often couldn’t be understand and almost as often misspoke, like when he said Boston’s lack of parking spaces was “an Alcatraz around my neck.”

Mayor Menino wasn’t known as a visionary but a guy who could fill the potholes, collect the garbage and expand the tax base of the city. But there was never – never! – a hint of scandal by his administration during his 20 years. And during his tenure, Boston stepped ahead from being a town ripped by racial divisions and urban challenges to a world-class city that, as he would say, isn’t perfect, but way better than it once was. Give me the person who actually produces a vision – a city that has grown, expanded and improved – over someone who can eloquently give a speech about a vision any day.

RIP, Mr. Mayor.



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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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