The Meek Are Getting Ready

Blessed are he meek; for they shall inherit the earth.

- Matthew 5:5

I loved this so much, I got it on a t-shirt.

Holly Near wrote a song about it. You can listen here (click the arrow to the left of the title).

Jock vs Nerd (updated)

In light of Chipsticks' homage to our President's jockishness, I feel the need to counter with this:

Obama the Nerd



Oh, and by the way, Steve Benen and Ezra Klein (certainly the definition of nerdiness) are with me on this one.

For the record, President Obama has collected Spider-Man comics; he knows the name of Superman’s father; he’s a fan of Star Trek; and can, rather effortlessly, offer a Vulcan salute. I distinctly remember laughing shortly after the ‘08 election when Ezra Klein wrote, “Obama is by far the most culturally awesome president this country has witnessed…. Forget beers: This is a president I could play Halo 3 with.”

As further evidence...





I rest my case.

;-)

UPDATE: I found some more photographic evidence.













OK, so that last one is photoshopped. But don't tell me you haven't heard it before.

The empathy deficit

Nicholas Kristoff wrote a powerful column yesterday.

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.

It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.

This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.

The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.

So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it’s Pakistan.

You might say that he is engaging in a good bit of hyperbole. And Kristoff admits that he is. But the question remains, where is it the Republicans want to take this country?

The long trajectory of history has been for governments to take on more responsibilities, and for citizens to pay more taxes. Now we’re at a turning point, with Republicans arguing that we need to reverse course.

And where is that taking us?

Police budgets are being cut, but the wealthy take refuge in gated communities with private security guards. Their children are spared the impact of budget cuts at public schools and state universities because they attend private institutions.

Mass transit is underfinanced; after all, Mercedes-Benzes and private jets are much more practical, no? And maybe the most striking push for reversal of historical trends is the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare as a universal health care program for the elderly.

There’s even an echo of the electrical generator problem. More and more affluent homes in the suburbs are buying electrical generators to use when the power fails.

For years now I've been suggesting that David Simon is a prophet of our times. This piece by Kristoff reminded me of a speech he gave 4 years ago about the message of his show "The Wire."



He speaks about the growing divide between our urban areas and the gated communities on their fringe. And then he explains why this is happening.

We are in the postindustrial age. We do not need as many of us as we once did. We don’t need us to generate capital, to secure wealth. We are in a transitive period where human beings have lost some of their value. Now, whether or not we can figure out a way to validate the humanity of the individual, I have great doubts...

I didn’t start out as a cynic, but at every given moment where this country has had a choice - its governments, institutions, corporations, its social framework - to exalt the value of individuals over the value of the shared price, we have chosen raw unencumbered capitalism. Capitalism has become our god. You are not looking at a marxist up here, but you are looking at somebody who doesn’t believe that capitalism can work absent a social framework that accepts that it is relatively easy to marginalize more and more people in this economy. Capitalism has to be attended to. And that has to be a conscious calculation on the part of society, if that is going to succeed. Everywhere we have created an alternate america of haves and have-nots. At some point, either more of us are going to find our conscience or we’re not.

Simon was speaking primarily about urban America. And the truth is, much of the country didn't care. But what has happened in the last few years is that this reality is now catching up with working class suburban white America as well.

Over the course of this decade (2000-2010), two economic downturns translated into a significant rise in poverty, nationally and in many of the country’s metropolitan and non-metropolitan communities. Suburbs saw by far the greatest growth in their poor population and by 2008 had become home to the largest share of the nation’s poor. These trends are likely to continue in the wake of the latest downturn, given its toll on traditionally more suburbanized industries and the faster pace of growth in suburban unemployment.

When Simon says we are going to have to consciously attend to capitalism in a way that validates the humanity of the individual, I believe that is the question of the hour. And from listening to President Obama over these last few years, I am convinced that he is very aware of that.

Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.

I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.

I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.

The cynics amongst us will surely point out what a "squishy" concept empathy is. They're right...you can't legislate it or command someone to be more empathetic. All you can do is live it yourself and let that be the call that invites others to join you.

When President Obama refuses to join in the demonizing of his opponents, that's exactly what he's doing. But we should never make the mistake of misreading empathy for weakness. It takes an incredibly strong person to put out that invitation. And as we're seeing with the Republicans, a divide and conquer mentality makes all but the most rich and powerful weak.

First Family Travels

President Obama will make a historic visit to Puerto Rico, fulfilling a promise he made when he went there during the 2008 primaries.

President Obama will visit Puerto Rico on June 14, the first official visit by a sitting president since John F. Kennedy stopped there, in 1961. “Since the beginning of my administration, we have been working in close collaboration with the president and his administration to make this historic visit a reality,” Gov. Luis Fortuno, of Puerto Rico, a Republican, said in announcing the trip. President Gerald R. Ford visited in 1976, but he was there as a member of the Group of Seven economic summit, not on an official presidential visit.

A week later Michelle, Sasha, Malia, and Marian Robinson will go to South Africa and Botswana.

First Lady Michelle Obama announced that she will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa and Gaborone, Botswana during an official visit to Africa from June 21 – 26 focused on youth leadership, education, health and wellness...

In addition to advancing her international youth engagement agenda, the First Lady’s events will amplify the President’s support for democracy, development and economic opportunity across Africa. During her trip, Mrs. Obama will deliver the keynote address to a U.S.-sponsored Young African Women Leaders Forum in South Africa. Forum participants include young women from across sub-Saharan Africa who are leading or involved in social and economic initiatives in their own countries. The Forum will build on the Obama Administration’s ongoing engagement with the next generation of African leaders and the momentum of the August 2010 President’s Forum with Young African Leaders held at the White House.

Republicans continue to shed support

From New Hampshire:

Two local legislators have resigned their leadership positions in the House.

Six-term State Rep. and House Deputy Majority Leader Matt Quandt, R-Exeter, and House Whip Tim Copeland, R-Stratham, gave their resignations in opposition to what they called attacks against public employees...

"I just couldn't do it anymore. Delivering their message goes against my grain, so I did the right thing and resigned," he said. "What they're doing, going after the public employees and pensions just isn't right."

Harold Meyerson looks at the big picture.

For even as Republicans have imperiled themselves on the national level, they also seem to be committing political hara-kiri in one statehouse after the next. Republican governors who took office this year or last — the ones as determined as Ryan to do a wholesale rewrite of America’s social contract — have approval ratings that we normally associate with strains of bacteria. What’s more, they’re tanking in many of the swing states that will be key in next year’s presidential election...

Admittedly, it’s a tough time to be a governor, in an economy in which being a governor means having to whack some popular programs. But the Democratic governors of the nation’s two biggest blue states — California’s Jerry Brown and New York’s Andrew Cuomo — both have approval ratings higher than their disapprovals.

The 2010 election brought my home state of Minnesota a Republican legislature and a Democratic Governor (Mark Dayton). At this point, Dayton is standing firm in stopping the kind of havoc other states are experiencing.

After laying waste to the GOP's fiscal agenda by vetoing the entire budget, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton followed up by punching a hole in their social agenda.

On Wednesday, Dayton vetoed restrictions on abortion and symbolically vetoed a move to put a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the 2012 ballot.

At this point, we're facing a government shut-down on July 1st, but Gov. Dayton is holding tight to his promise to solve the budget problems in a balanced way that includes an increase in taxes on the top 2%. Polling shows that the people of the state are with him.

Yesterday, Public Policy Polling released their latest survey which found that 51 percent of Minnesotans approve of the work Governor Dayton has done so far...

Holder orders new episodes of "The Wire" ;-)

Speaking on a panel with cast members from the HBO series "The Wire," Attorney General Eric Holder tried to throw his weight around a bit.

"I want to speak directly to Mr. (Ed) Burns and Mr. (David) Simon," Holder said during the panel presentation. "Do another season of 'The Wire.' That's actually at a minimum. … If you don't do a season, do a movie. We've done HBO movies, this is a series that deserves a movie. I want another season or I want a movie. I have a lot of power Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon."

Unfortunately for fans of the show, it is not constitutional for Holder to order a new show.

But the series, which was lauded for its accurate portrayal of the war on drugs and poverty in inner-city Baltimore, is still a favorite around the Justice Department. National Drug Control Policy czar Gil Kerlikowske said that episodes of the show are used to educate people about the plight of children caught up in the drug trade, the Washington Examiner reported.

President Obama has also previously said that he's a fan of the show.

If you've never watched this show - I recommend that you do so at your earliest convenience. There were a total of 5 seasons and so summarizing the powerful messages portrayed would be difficult to do. But one thing the show did accomplish was to explain the plight of children growing up in urban America - especially during the 4th season when the focus was on four 8th grade boys. The message is captured pretty well by Anthony Hamilton's "Ain't Nobody Worryin."



The reason AG Holder participated on this panel was to discuss DOJ's Federal Interagency Task Force on Drug Endangered Children. If this effort is informed by what folks learned from watching "The Wire," then I suspect it will be pretty well grounded.

Do you really want to play poker with this guy Speaker Boehner?

Perhaps Speaker Boehner didn't read what Matthew Norman said about Obama after watching him at the White House Correspondent's Dinner - knowing he'd just OK'd the plan to go after Osama bin Laden.

But no flicker in the eyes hinted at a pending decision behind imminent insomnia, and the first thought on reviewing the gag is that you really, really wouldn't want to play poker with this guy.

Obama is said to be a strong player in the tight-aggressive style, which means that he doesn't play a lot of hands or bluff much; but that when the potential return justifies the risk, he isn't scared to push all his chips in.

Maybe Boehner's been spending too much time listening to members of the frustrati who keep reinforcing the theme that Obama needs to "man up" because he doesn't strut around like a previous blowhard occupant of the White House.

I say all that because the Speaker seems to be loosing his cool a bit when it comes to playing hostage with the debt limit.

Frustrated by the logjam on Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner is increasingly pressuring President Barack Obama — in public comments and private meetings — to step up to the negotiations table and offer some real ideas.

The Ohio Republican, who helped cut the deal with Obama that kept the government open earlier this spring, is now accusing the president of “failing to lead” on the high-stakes negotiations on the debt limit and is criticizing him on foreign-trade agreements and military action in Libya.

The uptick in rhetoric from the speaker reflects how much pressure he feels from all sides. Conservative freshmen don’t want Boehner cutting friendly deals; Democrats are attacking his party for being too “radical” on deficit cuts, and the Democratic Senate has been passive, at best, on the debt limit and other major issues.

I suppose that Boehner expects something a little more dramatic from the President when he threatens to blow up the entire global economy if he doesn't get his way.

But Obama is once again demonstrating his nerves of steel in being willing to play this particular high-stakes game of chicken with the Republicans. The reason would be that he is very aware that Boehner isn't likely to challenge his masters on Wall Street who've let him know that the deal must be done.

President Obama knows who has the winning hand in this round. And he's shown that when that's the case, you don't want to bet against him.