Now that we know there will be ZERO change (pun intended) in the White House for the next four years plus, it’s time for me to make a few changes of my own.
I began RezkoWatch at the end of January 2008 just as the Tony Rezko trial was starting, then moved on to RBO (The Real Barack Obama) in June 2008, when the Rezko trial ended. I closed down RBO and launched rbo2.com in spring 2011, then re-opened RBO for the presidential election. I have permanently closed RBO to public access and rbo2.com will likewise be shut down in a few days.
My most recent blog is at Hoocoodanode.com.
You can still follow me on Twitter @BrendaJElliott and, if you do not already have my email address, you can contact me via direct message there.
The 2012 election results point to unchanged in Washington. A re-elected partisan Democrat for POTUS, a dominantly Democratic Senate that leans more left with the addition of Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin, and the House more Republican, more conservative, more confident, all this adds up to a much more divided government than ever with no incentive to compromise or even confer in order to raise money for the next election cycle.
The witty and tireless Zero Hedge writes that this is the Titanic, and we have just chosen the new captain and crew. In the first 31 days of Fiscal 2013, we have added $200 billion in debt, on the way to the next Trillion. Meanwhile, ten thousand people per day have started receiving mandatory entitlement payments. Raising taxes does not move the story no matter how it is presented, because the rate will remain approximately 17.7% of GDP. What is to be done?
This is the scale of the fiscal cliff that is so much mentioned. Will Washington change course? Nah.
The Unchanged Election is now the problem that will not be solved. In POTUS Obama’s victory speech, does this sound like a man ready for compromise: “And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.”
This is a wonderful version of the exuberant captain carrying on to the passengers while the lookouts shout to no one in particular, “Ice! Dead ahead!”
Shiloh Church
I began the Election Night broadcast with a tale from April 6, 1862, when Ulysses Grant rested his bad leg while seated under a tree in the pouring rain along the Tennessee River. Grant’s Union Army had been mauled that day, and there was reason to give up and retreat. However when Grant’s friend, General William T. Sherman, approached in sympathy, Grant said, “We’ll lick ‘em tomorrow.”
What this story means to me is that 150 years later, we have succeeded as a nation thanks to the sacrifice and daring of the Americans who have shaped and preserved our democracy, such as Grant and Sherman, so that we can resolve our differences in the ballot box and not on the battlefield.
All those men and women of the Civil War, and all the struggles since, have purchased our Election Day for us, and we are lucky men and women to celebrate a new government without violence. It is a long way from Shiloh Church, and there is far to go to a more perfect union.
What is to be done? Remember how we got here, and who did it, is a start.
