Cancel-Outs

I admit I’m beaming these days.  I am so happy with Barack Obama as President and I think the country is headed in the right direction again.  I love what he’s done for our international image.  America is now marginally more popular, but in the Arab world Obama is now more popular than our country.  Yes, I’m beaming.

But I’m not oblivious to the arguments of the opposition.  In fact, I’m not like most of my friends.  They’re happy to feast on the spoils of political war.  Obama won, Democrats control Congress, end of story.  I’m not so sanguine.  I think government works better when it governs from the middle, not when one side wins and takes all.  That strategy just jerks us back and forth from one extreme to the other.  So I’m willing to listen to complaints from the right, with a warning.  Stick with real arguments.  Avoid the “cancel-outs.”

“Cancel-outs” are the arguments that cancel themselves out in the interest of fairness and logic.  Don’t bother with them if you want me to pay attention to your concerns.

The biggest cancel-out going around these days is the Republican concern over the Obama spending.  He calls it stimulus and it’s running up the federal debt, no doubt about it.  Sadly, the Republicans can’t utter a peep without appearing like hypocrites.  During the Bush years, our national debt doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion.  If you’re keeping track, most of the first $5 trillion came from Reagan and Bush One. 

Don’t buy the GOP whining about sticking our kids with the bill, either.  This is exactly what Bush did to fund the Iraq war.  He passed the bill on to our kids.  So don’t buy the outrage over the spending; it’s bogus.

Also bogus is the Hugo Chavez flap.  Much was made in the conservative circles about Obama shaking hands with the Venezuelan leader recently.  Please don’t be fooled.  Here’s what counts.  America’s four largest oil suppliers are, in order, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.  We send Venezuela billions of dollars every year.  If Chavez were so bad we’d buy our oil someplace else, but we don’t.  No matter whether Obama shakes his hand or cold cocks him, it’s all empty symbolism.  Money talks.

Most recent is the so-called attack on Rush Limbaugh at the Correspondents’ Dinner.  Sorry, also bogus.  No matter how richly Dick “Always Wrong” Cheney and a few others might wish it, Rush is not an elected official, he’s an entertainer.  If you insult a politician, by extension you insult his or her constituency.  Rush was the butt of numerous jokes in front of a who’s who of national reporters.  I would have gone into hock to buy a fraction of the attention he received.  Any radio host would.  Rush wasn't insulted, he was elevated.

Sadly, Rush reminds me that Republicans have serious image problems going forward.  When asked, Dick Cheney said that Rush Limbaugh was closer to his ideal of a Republican than Colin Powell.  In other words, the party of national security likes a 4-F mouth over a decorated soldier and national leader.  Or do they?  Dick Cheney reminded me of the lost soul of the Republican Party.  And he’s not the one who has to choose between Rush Limbaugh and Colin Powell, anyway.  That’s the job of Republicans, what’s left of them….    .