Happy birthday, James Buchanan

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

James Buchanan, utterly worthless as president

Today, April 23, is the birthday of America's worst president.

Ever since historians have been polled on the issue, James Buchanan consistently rated among the top three stinkers, presidentially speaking. Lately he has been drifting to the nadir, behind Warren G. Harding, who had a nicer personality.

(It's interesting to note that two of worst three presidents--James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson--bracket the best president, Abraham Lincoln.)

In his inaugural address in 1856, Buchanan called the territorial issue of slavery "happily, a matter of but little practical purpose." Slave states, he argued, should be free to conduct their affairs as they saw fit. (Never mind the abomination of enslaving another human being.) As slave states began seceding from the Union in late 1860, Buchanan dithered. He was overjoyed to leave the issue for Lincoln to handle.

Buchanan lived to see the end of the Civil War. Just before his death in 1868, he said, "History will vindicate my memory from every unjust aspersion."

Wrong again, Jimmy.

By the way, Buchanan was the only native Pennsylvanian to be elected president. Pennsylvania has not produced a presidential nominee since then. Nor should we try, lest we embarrass ourselves again.

Judge rules against Virginia marriage law

Friday, February 14, 2014

Just a few hours after my writing about the court ruling on same-sex marriage in Kentucky, even greater news came in over the transom: As far as a federal judge in Norfolk is concerned, Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen said the country has "arrived upon another moment in history when 'We the People' became more inclusive, and our freedom more perfect."

In a 41-page opinion, the judge rejected a voter-approved constitutional amendment that bans both same-sex marriage and forbids recognition of such unions performed elsewhere.

Judge Allen opened with a quotation from Mildred Loving on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling overturning a Virginia law that forbade interracial marriages. The Loving case set in motion the train of events that is making it possible for same-sex couples to obtain marriage rights.

"Our courts have never long tolerated the perpetuation of laws rooted in unlawful prejudice," Judge Allen wrote. "One of the judiciary's noblest endeavors is to scrutinize laws that emerge from such roots."

The Virginia case is one of the priorities in extending same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Among those who helped develop the legal strategy attacking the Viriginia law were Ted Olson and David Bois, who successfully challenged California's ban on same-sex marriage. 

Mark Herring, a Democrat, switched the commonwealth's legal position on the issue, joining two gay couples in asking that the ban be struck down. Herring was just elected in November; he defeated Republican Mark Obenshain by 800 votes out of more than 2.2 million cast. Obenshain opposes same-sex marriage.

(So don't go saying your vote doesn't count. Every vote counts. If 800 pro-gay Virginians had stayed home on Election Day, Obenshain would be in charge.)

One more political tidbit: Herring's predecessor in the Attorney General's Office was vociferously anti-gay Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican. Cuccinelli has said homosexuality is "intrinsically wrong" and "is not healthy to an individual and in the aggregate is not healthy to society." He has warned that acceptance of same-sex marriages would lead to polygamy. Cuccinelli lost his bid for the governorship in November.

Although Virginians seem more receptive than ever on the issue of same-sex marriage, don't mark this one down as a win yet. Judge Allen stayed her decision pending an appeal to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. The 4th Circuit is one of the nation's most conservative appellate circuits. On the other hand, its rulings cannot deviate too far from the legal guidance set down by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. So we'll have to wait and see.

For a full explication on legal issues in the judge's ruling, consult the Washington Post or SCOTUSblog. I'm heading back outside to continue shoveling snow.

2013 wasn't all that bad; 2014 may be even better

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

In my view, 2013 had more gains than loses. One wouldn't think that was the case in the United States, where irrational Republicans in the House of Representatives forced a shutdown of the federal government and refused to act on anything President Obama proposed. But there was progress in the other two branches of government, and in the states, bypassing the obstructionists.

The Unites States Supreme Court declared the Defense of Marriage Act invalid.  The number of states recognizing lesbian and gay marriage doubled to 18, with the addition of California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico and (surprise!) conservative Utah. Today nearly 39 percent Americans live in states where marriage equality is the law.

United States Supreme Court building

Thanks to the Obama Administration, numerous benefits that were denied to LBGT couples were extended in 2013 to LGBT married couples. President Obama took these actions by administrative rules, circumventing the hostile Republican Congress.

Federally sponsored college loans are now easier to obtain. Employees of federal, state and local governments must now provide Family and Medical Leave Act benefits for LGBT married couples. For LBGT married couples making financial decisions, they now can file income taxes and joint bankruptcy petitions on the same basis as heterosexual couples. LGBT married couples will now qualify for benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federally funded program that provides limited cash assistance to families with low incomes. The ability of LGBT non-citizens to acquire immigration rights has been expanded. (For a full list, consult the Human Rights Campaign's marriage equality benefits site.)

Marriage equality comes to Utah (Associated Press)

On the other hand, private employees need not honor most marriage benefits accorded to LGBT couples. Some benefits granted to married LGBT couples do not extend to individuals. Finally, 32 states have no laws of their own granting full marriage equality to LBGT couples. The states' failure leaves nearly 62 percent of LGBT Americans unprotected. Marriage laws are governed by the states, not the federal government.

One other setback is largely beyond our control: the Russian anti-gay laws that threaten to tarnish this year's Sochi Olympics. I don't favor boycotting Sochi; I want to see our LGBT athletes (throughout the world) beat Russian athletes. 

Turning to other issues, there have been many successes in 2013.

The Obama Administration has begun extending health-care benefits to more than 30 million Americans and is providing subsidies to make insurance more affordable to those who don't have coverage in the private market. In addition, all insurers--whether they provide coverage through employers or through the individual market--must provide a number of vital benefits.

Individuals can no longer bar applicants based on pre-existing medical conditions such as HIV infection or AIDS. (About 30 percent of people with AIDS do not have any health-care coverage, according to the White House.) Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on care (further benefiting people with HIV). 

Preventive care, such as checkups, mammograms and vaccines, is available at no out-of-pocket charge to the patient. Women can no longer be charged higher than men for insurance (nor denied coverage that defined birth as a pre-existing condition). Dental and vision coverage extends to chldren. Emergency room visits must be covered. All health plans must cover prescription drugs. Insurance companies must provide patients with rehabilitative services. Mental health services must be covered. Low-income individuals are entitled to subsidies to enable them to cover insurance premiums.

Signed into law: the Affordable Care Act

My best friend (and former partner) saved $300 per month through Obamacare by locating a plan that is equal to or better than the one he had. He owns and operates a one-person business that is suffering because of the economy. This savings will enable him to pay down his line of credit or improve inventory. His partner, who recently developed Parkinson's disease, will not be denied coverage because of his pre-existing condition. Moreover, he will save money by using Obamacare to locate an insurance plan that is better than the one he had.


Many of my other friends have benefited from Obamacare. A good friend who just turned 30 will now be able to get health insurance for the first time in her life (she cannot afford private health insurance and has been tested for a medical condition, which under the old regime was a red flag for denial.)

President Obama

A major setback for Obamacare is that many Republican governors have refused to extend Medicaid coverage to low-paid working families in their states. They want nothing to do with President Obama's signature legislative achievement. Obamacare would given states 90 percent of the funding states need to extend Medicaid, but the governors are doing all they can to reject the President even if it means harming millions of their own constituents. Many of these governors are up for re-election in November 2014; we need to develop strong grassroots activism to drive them from office.

Granted, the rollout of Obamacare's online enrollment on October 1 was a disaster, but the administration has worked quickly to resolve the computer problems. My best friend and his partner, for instance, completed their Healthcare.gov enrollment online in an hour or so. (The old system was not nearly as helpful in enabling customers to compare plans among insurers.)

All in all, Obamacare is a winner, and over the years it will join Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the pantheon of human rights accorded to all Americans.

On other domestic matters, the United States economy is sluggish but growing. Unemployment has fallen to level recorded in early 2009, a few months after the collapse of the Wall Street in 2008 and the onset of the Great Recession.

The next big moral struggle is to extend one-year unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million who lost them at the end of 2013, and to increase the federal minimum wage to at least $10.10 per hour.

Over time, the value of the minimum wage has 
been chipped away by inflation. Increasing the 

minimum wage to $10.10 today would restore the 
minimum to the level that existed in 1968.

(Chart: Democratic Congressional 
Campaign Committee) 

Among those who would benefit most from a higher minimum wage are working women and their families. Women comprise a disproportionately larger share of the country's low-income wage earners. The gender imbalance is greatest among tipped workers, such as waitresses, who are guaranteed only $2.13 per hour, an amount that hasn't changed since 1991.

The current minimum wage amounts to $15,080 per year, based on a 40-hour work week. That total is $4,450 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. If that mother were earning $10.10 per hour, she would be earning about $21,000 per year, putting her above the poverty line.

The White House and Senate Democrats intend to introduce legislation in 2014 to increase the minimum wage. According to Think Progress, the $10.10 figure would restore the wage level to what it was in the 1960s. 

A higher minimum wage will be one of the major legislative battles in 2014.

The Supreme Court dealt the nation a major setback by lifting the Justice Department's power to pre-clear voting regulations sought by states with a history of racial segregation. As a result, North Carolina, Texas and a few other Southern states have whittled back voting rights that gave all voters an equal playing field in politics. 

Turning to international affairs, President Obama ended combat involvement in Iraq and adeptly avoided intensive United States combat in Libya, Syria and Iran. Actually the picture in Iran is more hopeful than ever. The deal worked out in a few weeks ago could lead to an Iranian government with no capacity for nuclear weapons. Moreover, the United States is scheduled to leave Afghanistan this year after 12 years of military combat, the longest period in United States history. 

Senator John McCain

Compare President Obama's international achievements to the proposals of John McCain, the chief Republican spokesman on foreign affairs and the 2008 Republican nominee for president. Senator McCain opposed ending military intervention in Iraq; opposes leaving Afghanistan; demands strong military actions in Libya and Syria; and wants (at a minimum) more economic sanctions against Iran. (McCain's sanctions would smash the deal the Obama administration has helped craft with Iran). War, war, war, war. Enough already!

As they say, elections have consequences. If the Republicans won in 2008 and 2012, marriage equality a reality would be stymied; 30 million Americans would be without heath insurance and millions more would be paying high amounts for substandard coverage; the minimum wage would be eliminated or at best left untouched; and we'd be at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and maybe Iran. That's why I vote Democratic. That's why I campaign for Democratic candidates. I believe in the American dream of equality, freedom, economic justice, compassion and peace.

Utter futility

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Rachel Maddow had this take on the results of Wednesday night's end to the shutdown of the federal government:

Republicans, led by the Tea Party, vowed to shut down the federal government until they got the concessions they demanded from President Obama. Of all the things they wanted, they got nothing. 

In the meantime, the Tea Party Republicans cost Americans $24 billion, according to an analysis from Standard and Poor's. The figure includes (among other things) lost wages to government workers and contractors, lost income from tourism to the national parks and denial of government services to people who needed help, such as lost daycare assistance to the spouses of military service people.

Cruz admits shutting down government to raise campaign cash

From ThinkProgress on Ted Cruz's cynical fund-raising tactic:

"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) conceded on Wednesday that he would not hold up a vote on an emerging Senate deal to re-open the federal government and avert federal default, but admitted that the three-week long budget standoff — which began with his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor — was nothing more than an effort to build up his fundraising list."

The art of compromise on the debt ceiling

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Those Republicans

Obama on Obamacare and the government shutdown

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

In a speech yesterday in the White House Rose Garden, President Obama explained what the government shutdown means for Americans and for the millions of Americans who are seeking affordable health care. Here are some excerpts about the President's remarks:

"This Republican shutdown did not have to happen. But I want every American to understand why it did happen. Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the Affordable Care Act. They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. In other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job. …

"And of course, what’s stranger still is that shutting down our government doesn't accomplish their stated goal. The Affordable Care Act is a law that passed the House; it passed the Senate. The Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. It was a central issue in last year's election. It is settled, and it is here to stay. And because of its funding sources, it's not impacted by a government shutdown. …

"It’s been a long time coming, but today, Americans who have been forced to go without insurance can now visit healthcare.gov and enroll in affordable new plans that offer quality coverage. …

"And people will have six months to sign up. So over the next six months, people are going to have the opportunity--in many cases, for the first time in their lives--to get affordable coverage that they desperately need.

"Now, of course, if you're one of the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, you don’t need to do a thing. You're already benefiting from new benefits and protections that have been in place for some time under this law. But for the 15 percent of Americans who don't have health insurance, this opportunity is life-changing. …

White House speech, October 1, 2013

"Just visit healthcare.gov, and there you can compare insurance plans, side by side, the same way you'd shop for a plane ticket on Kayak or a TV on Amazon. You enter some basic information, you’ll be presented with a list of quality, affordable plans that are available in your area, with clear descriptions of what each plan covers, and what it will cost. You'll find more choices, more competition, and in many cases, lower prices--most uninsured Americans will find that they can get covered for $100 or less. 

"And there's a hotline where you can apply over the phone and get help with the application, or just get questions that you have answered by real people, in 150 different languages. … The number is 1-800-318-2596. …

"And let me just remind people why I think this is so important. I heard a striking statistic yesterday--if you get cancer, you are 70 percent more likely to live another five years if you have insurance than if you don't. Think about that. That is what it means to have health insurance. 

"Set aside the issues of security and finances and how you're impacted by that, the stress involved in not knowing whether or not you're going to have health care. This is life-or-death stuff. Tens of thousands of Americans die each year just because they don't have health insurance. Millions more live with the fear that they'll go broke if they get sick. And today, we begin to free millions of our fellow Americans from that fear. …

"Remember most Republicans have made a whole bunch of predictions about this law that haven’t come true. There are no 'death panels.' Costs haven't skyrocketed; they're growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. The last three years since I signed the Affordable Care Act into law are the three slowest rates of health spending growth on record. And contrary to Republican claims, this law hasn't 'destroyed' our economy. Over the past three and a half years, our businesses have created 7.5 million new jobs. Just today, we learned that our manufacturers are growing at the fastest rate in two and a half years. They have factored in the Affordable Care Act. They don't think it's a problem. What's weighing on the economy is not the Affordable Care Act, but the constant series of crises and the unwillingness to pass a reasonable budget by a faction of the Republican Party.

Signing Affordable Care Act in March 2010

"Now, like every new law, every new product rollout, there are going to be some glitches in the signup process along the way that we will fix. I've been saying this from the start. For example, we found out that there have been times this morning where the site has been running more slowly than it normally will. The reason is because more than one million people visited healthcare.gov before 7:00 in the morning. 

"To put that in context, there were five times more users in the marketplace this morning than have ever been on Medicare.gov at one time. That gives you a sense of how important this is to millions of Americans around the country, and that's a good thing. And we're going to be speeding things up in the next few hours to handle all this demand that exceeds anything that we had expected. 

"Consider that just a couple of weeks ago, Apple rolled out a new mobile operating system. And within days, they found a glitch, so they fixed it. I don't remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads--or threatening to shut down the company if they didn't. That's not how we do things in America. We don't actively root for failure. We get to work, we make things happen, we make them better, we keep going.

"So in that context, I'll work with anybody who's got a serious idea to make the Affordable Care Act work better. I've said that repeatedly. But as long as I am President, I will not give in to reckless demands by some in the Republican Party to deny affordable health insurance to millions of hardworking Americans. …

"Now, let me make one closing point: This Republican shutdown threatens our economy at a time when millions of Americans are still looking for work, and businesses are starting to get some traction. So the timing is not good. Of course, a lot of the Republicans in the House ran for office two years ago promising to shut down the government, and so, apparently, they've now gotten their wish. But as I've said before, the irony that the House Republicans have to contend with is they've shut down a whole bunch of parts of the government, but the Affordable Care Act is still open for business. 

"And this may be why you've got many Republican governors and senators and even a growing number of reasonable Republican congressmen who are telling the extreme right of their party to knock it off, pass a budget, move on. 

And I want to underscore the fact that Congress doesn't just have to end this shutdown and reopen the government--Congress generally has to stop governing by crisis. They have to break this habit. It is a drag on the economy.  It is not worthy of this country."

Other views: Obamacare and the government shutdown

Monday, September 30, 2013

More notes on today's arrival of open enrollment for Obamacare:

From Zeke Emanuel, health care analyst: "According to a report released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services, premium rates for 2014 will be 16 percent lower than expected in the 48 states that have released their data--and that's before tax credits and subsidies are factored in."

From the Kaiser Family Foundation's Health News: "Assuming technical or other glitches don't impede the rollout, people without insurance can shop on the marketplaces over the next several months for coverage that will take effect in January."

From Noam N. Levey, reporter for the Los Angeles Times: " 'The Affordable Care Act is moving forward,' Obama told reporters at the White House on Monday.'You can't shut it down.' "

From Joe Nocera, New York Times columnist, on the Republicans' 43rd attempt to kill Obamacare: "They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Why is it that the Republicans in Congress seem to determined to prove this maxim?"

From Timothy P. Carney, Washingon Examiner columnist, on who is leading the Republicans in the House of Representatives: "Can anyone lead this Republican Party? The official party leadership hasn't figured out how to lead in the current political environment. And Senator Ted Cruz learned this week that he doesn't know how to call the shots, either."

From The Washington Post, on a consumer's guide to the government shutdown. "The effects of the first government shutdown since 1996 will ripple through American life on myriad levels, from the federal workers it will temporarily sideline to the citizens across the country who will feel the absence of key services."

From MSNBC's Maddow Blog: The role of gerrymandered Congressional districts has created a political atmosphere in the House that encourages radicalism and recalcitrance over negotiation and accountability.

Marriage equality gaining broad acceptance

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Nate Silver, the numbers cruncher whose algorithms correctly forecast the election of President Obama (and his re-election) and the rise of the Tea Party in the 2010 congressional elections, now foresees a surge of support for same-sex marriage throughout the country by 2020. Silver says there will be majorities in all but six states of the extreme Confederacy (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina).

If the voters had a say at the ballot box today, marriage equality would be the rule in 20 states, not just the 13 that have legalized it thus far by legislative or court action (the additional seven states being Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin).

The reversal in public opinion on marriage equality is nothing short of astounding. As recently as 2004, in an effort by President Bush to motivate Republicans to get to the polls to re-elect him, voters rejected the idea of same-sex marriage in all 11 states where the issue was put before them in the form of a referendum (Bush carried nine of the 11 states). The opponents of marriage rights were predicting that Congress soon would ban same-sex marriages (and civil unions) nationwide.

Well, that hasn't happened.

Instead the LGBT community is enjoying greater social acceptance than ever. Take note of the latest news: The Internal Revenue Service will now recognize same-sex partnerships as valid for tax purposes, even in the partners live in a state that does not recognize marriage equality. Other federal benefits and responsibilities remain out of our reach for now, but the demise of the Defense of Marriage Act in June makes it possible to down obstacles.

We're winning the struggle, but much remains to be done to place us on equal footing with the straight population. We need to redouble our activism to succeed.

Map by LandofMaps.com

Love wins

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Supreme Court of the United States have issued a pair of rulings that substantially give gay men and lesbians the right to marry and receive equal access to federal benefits and responsibilities. One ruling has the effect of allowing same-sex marriage in California, the nation's largest state. The other ruling overturns the 19-year-old Defense of Marriage Act. At a minimum it it seems to entitle couples married in equal-rights states to enjoy federal benefits, including the right to file taxes jointly and to receive Social Security survivorship benefits.

The end of DOMA does not affect states which don't already allow same-sex marriages. More litigation and more electoral actions will be needed to extend marriage rights to the entire country. In my home state of Pennsylvania, for instance, the demise of DOMA has no effect since Pennsylvania does not allow equal marriage rights.

I won't dwell on the specifics of the decisions. You can find the most thorough explanation (including the full text of the Court's opinions, an explanation "In Plain English" and commentaries by leading legal scholars from different points of view) at SCOTUS Blog. The effects of the rulings are still being sorted out, and it may be months before the two rulings are fully understood. But there is one crucial point: The change in opinion on same-sex marriage is occurring at a breathtakingly rapid pace.

Even those who believe marriage must be between a man and a woman because that is God's law are having trouble squaring their beliefs with logic. This graphic demonstrates this clearly.

With the ruling in the California case, by August 1 about one-third of the American people now live in states that allow equal marriage: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State and the District of Columbia. The number of people having access to same-sex marriage has doubled within the past year.

Nationally support for same-sex marriage has risen consistently while those opposition has begun dwindling. Nate Silver of The New York Times' Five Thirty Eight blog has tracked the trend since 1996.

Nate Silver, Five Thirty Eight Blog

Silver also examined what would happen if a ballot initiative on same-sex marriage were put to voters in each state. In 2012, two states and the District of Columbia solidly favored equal marriage rights. Seven states, all in the South, were certain to oppose the referendum. By 2016, Silver forecasts 14 states solidly in favor while just Alabama and Mississippi solidly against. The rest of the states were somewhere in the middle. 

Nate Silver, Five Thirty Eight blog

The transformation in attitudes is in part due to the widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage among younger people. An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted in March 2013 found that Millennials (people ages 18 to 29) favor equal marriage by a four to one margin. Those in the middle generations (ages 30 to 64) favor equality at 56 percent. Among those 65 and older, just 44 percent favor same-sex marriage.

So is the trend in favor of equal marriage rights going to last? Will support grow? Based on the data, it seems so. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "The arc of history bends toward justice."

However, more work needs to be done to cement the gains achieved in the Court rulings Wednesday. For instance, many states do not have laws banning discrimination in the workplace. It indeed would be a Pyrrhic victory for someone to marry a same-sex partner only to have the boss learn of the relationship and fire the employee. This problem exists not only in the South. Many Northern states, including Pennsylvania, and several Midwestern and Mountain states lack anti-discrimination protections. 

Your time is up, Sarah

Monday, January 28, 2013

It's back to Wasila, Sarah Palin!

The small-town-mayor-who-would-be-president is now without a paid news job.  

The National Journal reported Monday: "The news that Sarah Palin will no longer be a paid contributor to Fox News puts an exclamation point on the end of an era, or at least a chapter, in U.S. political history. She could land somewhere else, and she still has her Facebook friends, but it’s hard to imagine she’ll find a more visible or influential platform than Fox."

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes hired Palin three years ago for a reported $1 million a year. Ailes told the Associated Press that "she was hot and got ratings." 

Evidently her departure means that her ratings have sagged. In other words, not too many people are listening to her these days.

Not that she ever had much to contribute to informed public discourse.


Take her final appearance on Fox, in a December 19 interview with Greta Van Susteren's On The Record. As the National Journal observed, Palin's chat "was like a time warp back to 2008."

"She still makes up words ('electioning'). She still repeats sentences and phrases, padding her answers with filler. She still talks in vague generalities, leaving one to wonder how much she really knows. At a time when some conservatives reportedly have concluded it's time to challenge liberalism rather than keep trying to stoke hostility toward Obama himself, she still attacks Obama in highly personal terms ('Mr. Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning president of ours'). Her diction is still, shall we say, unusual ('I believe that it's many, many things that he would say and do being deceptive')."

There already is a growing school of Palintologists poring through her life's work. A University of Minnesota researcher, Eric Ostermeier, tallied up all the words Palin uttered during her stay at Fox, and divvied them up by the $3 million she collected in salary. His conclusion: Palin was paid $15.85 per word.

The researcher did not attempt to assess the quality of Palin's words. Knit all of them together using the best fibers you can find, and still you would lack enough garment for a fig leaf of reasoned political analysis. 

Throughout her public career, Palin seemed to learn only enough to get by. She hopped from job to job, first as a sports announcer at a local TV station, then mayor of Wasilla, then a couple years as governor of Alaska and then her brief campaign for vice president. So far as I can tell, her three years at Fox were probably the longest time she spent at any of her jobs. Even then, it was part-time work; she devoted the rest of her time to writing books, doing a "reality" TV show, making numerous paid speeches and otherwise publicizing herself.

Most pundits took seriously her flirtations about running for president in 2012. I did not. She basked in the limelight. But she dared not take the plunge. It would have required too much focus and effort on her part to make a serious run. Her utterances on Fox revealed that she had learned little about world affairs since her ill-fated interview with Katie Couric in September 2008. 

Imagine, for instance, how Palin would have handled herself in the marathon series of Republican presidential debates in 2011 and 2012. Put her on the debate stage against Mitt Romney. Or Newt Gingrich. Or Rick Santorum. She could not expose the limitations of her knowledge in a side-by-side comparison.

Still, Palin has done well for herself. She had the show to herself for a couple of years, enthralling the conservatives and giving everyone else something to talk about. And she pocketed a good deal of money from Fox and her other ventures. If she has invested it wisely, she can retire comfortably and quietly to private life. Quietly? Private? Well, perhaps that's asking too much.

Celebration!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Some people might ascribe President Obama's victory in 2008 as a fluke. An accident it was not. His inauguration for a second term serves as demonstration of what our country truly is about.

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.  

"It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. … Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, congratulated the President for his remarks:

"By lifting up the lives of LGBT families for the very first time in an inaugural address, President Obama sent a clear message to LGBT young people from the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains that this country’s leaders will fight for them until equality is the law of the land. As the merits of marriage equality come up for debate from state houses to the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, and a broad majority of Americans are standing up for liberty and fairness, the President’s unequivocal support for equality is a clarion call that all Americans should receive with celebration."

Four more years!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Some scenes from the past four years: affairs of state, a devoted husband and loving family. A vigorous president, intellectually and physically. Achievements. Frustrations. Humor. Determination. And the promise of four more years of continued progress.

Sitting in the actual bus where Rosa Parks made her stand against segregation

Signing the Affordable Care Act into law, March 23, 2010

Watching real-time video of the storming of Osama bin-Laden's compound, May 1, 2011 

President Obama and Vice President Biden confer

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a trusted adviser and ally

Swimming in Hawaii, January 1, 2012

Oval Office, February 13, 2012

Meeting with advisors during the "fiscal cliff" crisis on December 29, 2012

With Vice President Joe Biden prior to a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Mugging with Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney

"Spider Man" zaps the President at a Halloween party for children of White House staff

On the campaign trail

Campaign event at Kent State University

Having fun with volunteers at a phone bank during the re-election campaign

November 6, 2012

Reaction at campaign headquarters

Victory celebration

New White House portrait, January 2013