[C]an we think of a recent example in the United States where helping to preserve an industrial cluster was an important policy consideration? Indeed we can: the auto bailout. A key argument for the bailout was that if the major US firms were allowed to go bankrupt, a whole industrial ecology would be lost with them. And the auto bailout has been a huge success, not least because it did preserve that ecology.
Aren't you glad that Obama didn't listen to the other party on this issue?
Right on cue, immediately after President Obama listed his administration's foreign policy achievements, he pointed out the success of the auto company bailout in his State of the Union speech.
On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.
We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.
What's happening in Detroit can happen in other industries.
In the same post in which Krugman praised Obama for bailing out the auto companies in the name of preserving the industrial ecology supporting auto manufacturing in the U.S., he posted this graph of the Michigan's unemployment rate.
That's quite a recovery, although it was interrupted by the short-lived slump that accompanied the rise in oil prices during the first half of the year. In fact, the following graph from Calculated Risk displaying the unemployment rates of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia shows that it was the best recovery of all 51 reporting.
Unemployment has fallen nearly 5% since Fall 2009, when Michigan had the highest unemployment rate in the Union. Now, Michigan is below 10% after three years of double-digit unemployment and is out of the ten worst states at 11th. Both Krugman and Bill McBride of Calculated Risk are showing that what happened in Detroit (actually all of Michigan) is indeed worth emulating. Isn't that a pleasant surprise?
Okay, so it's late at night and I'm waiting for my Ambien to kick in, so maybe my eyes are deceiving me. Susan Demas just wrote a scathing opinion piece about the state of the Democratic party this election year. And, unless I'm too sleepy to see straight, I think she totally nailed it.
Democrats worst enemy isn't the red-faced tea partiers. It's the fact that a good chunk of their base, which turned out in droves in 2008, is planning to stay home. You would think they would be motivated to stand up against truly crazy GOP candidates. But most liberals seem more content to crucify Barack Obama than devise any semblance of an electoral strategy.
As someone who has worked on most of President Obama's major legislative campaigns over the past year, I am in a unique position to say that he has caved in and allowed some truly murky issues to seep into his sweeping policy initiatives. But in that acknowledgment, we are missing the point. The point is that he actually had the balls to try to implement sweeping change in the first place. And that he got many of his initiatives to pass.
Health care, Wall Street reform, equal pay for women, expanded coverage for children, pulling out of the war in Iraq, and streamlining student loans. These are all huge policy issues that no political leader since Lyndon B. Johnson ever had the guts to take on. So Obama came up a little short in some areas. So what? At least he tried. The man is the President, not the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Polls overwhelmingly show that Americans hate tax breaks for the rich. Why Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid haven't held votes repeatedly on these George W. Bush tax cuts that are set to expire is beyond me. Is it class warfare? Yes, and an extremely popular form of it. But Wall Street can breathe a sigh of relief that Democrats are too [pussy-foot] to exploit it.
The bottom line is, if we are too weak to win, we deserve to lose. This isn't your grandmother's sewing club. Its not kids soccer. It's the NFL. Politics is a blood sport. If you can't take a couple of hits, don't put on the uniform. Saddle up Democrats. It's time to win or be governed by witchcraft.
WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 1865 (FNS)-The Civil War ended yesterday with the surrender of General Lee's Confederate Forces to Ulysses S. Grant, the Union Commander, at Appomattox.
Although most observers are generally happy with the surrender, many of President Obama's most loyal supporters are livid with the Commander-in-Chief because of the concessions he made in order to obtain the future support of the Southern Senators who will rejoin the body when the next Session begins.
At a media event this morning, Press Secretary Dick Timoneous expressed the President's hope that the formerly Confederate Members of Congress are looking forward to changing the political culture and steering the Nation in a better direction:
"It's time for the opposition to realize that what really matters is putting America first. The President is certain that by offering some concessions now, Southern Senators will look beyond their own parochial interests and do their part to move this process forward."
Adrienne Campbell, 26, recently found out she has ovarian cancer and she is uninsured. Her emotional story caught the attention of the attendees at the Dearborn Health Care Forum.
OK, America, so I pulled a tiny prank tonight—and it was so classic that I have to tell you all about it.
It involves freedom of speech, a friendly message to one of those crazy Republicans we all know—and it forced that crazy Republican to get up at three in the morning because he could not handle the threat to his world view.
Wanna hear all about it?
Then come along and follow the story...because it’s worth it.
In 2004, George W. Bush broke the record for the most votes ever received for President of the United States: 62,040,010. For the worst President in our history.
This tells us something about half of the country.
Four years later, his successor, Barack Obama, received AT LEAST 63,112,000 votes from the other half of the country.
Went out to volunteer today and got sent off to Flint, where my task was to walk the streets and hand out door hangers. Easy stuff.
The last precinct we did over by Hurley Hospital...damn. All I can say, is...damn. Empty lots, abandoned houses all over the place, phone boxes ripped open and stripped of copper...The stuff that makes you wonder: "what country am I in?"
Yet with this and all of the bad news that's come out of Flint over the years it was refreshing to see that there's also still some very vibrant, neatly-kempt - downright beautiful - neighborhoods in the city too. It was a great time walking these streets and talking to folks.
Had my first visit to Angelo's Famous Coney Dogs for lunch. Absolutely classic...and deliciously horrible for one's health.
Everywhere we went, Obama signs all over the place. Just about everyone was gung-ho Obama, Obama, Obama. That's Flint. Hopefully it translates into a knockdown margin tomorrow.
(Headed into the home stretch. - promoted by Eric B.)
I hope you read my blog post today at mi.barackobama.com. With only four days left until the most important election of the last eighty years, I'm doing everything I can do to help create the change we need by electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Please join me in working hard these last four days to elect Barack Obama president, and read my blog post to learn about all the reasons why Senator Obama will be a partner for Michigan in the White House. Eight years of Bush policies are enough
(It usually takes a couple cups of coffee to angry up my blood in the morning... - promoted by Eric B.)
When historians look back at the 2008 Presidential election, they will recount with disgust the GOP attempts to convince the public that the Democratic candidate--a sitting Senator--was a 'terrorist' and a 'socialist.' It is with great dismay, therefore, that I wake up this morning to find the editorial board of the Detroit News parrotting this offensive GOP campaign under the guise of an 'endorsement' of John McCain for President. The editorial has the right to endorse whichever candidates it chooses, but their decision to pluck langauge and arguments directly from the GOP box of rotten rhetoric is cowardly and cynical in the extreme. When a newspaper echoes political propaganda in the form of an 'endorsement,' it represents more than the failure of journalism. It is the failure of civic responsibility itself.
If you're like me, you've been meaning to get down to your local Obama office and do something useful in this here election cycle. But things just keep getting in the way: kids, work, home repair projects, [insert excuse here] or maybe you're just too tired.
Well, here's the plain truth: if we're going to do something besides write checks or type stuff into a computer, the time to act is now. In less than two weeks this thing is going to be over.
Yeah, things do seem to be going pretty well for our side...especially here in Michigan. But don't let that make you complacent. You never know what last-minute evil tricks the Republicans have their sleeves.
And anyway, this isn't just about winning. It's about delivering a massive body blow - the most emphatic rejection possible - to the drown-government-in-a-bathtub, trickle-down philosophy that's paralyzed this country for years (virtually my entire life). We desperately need to throw them to ground - and we may never get a chance like this again.
So here's what I'm going to do. For four hours on the Saturday and Sunday before the election - and for eight hours on both Monday and Election Day - I'll be at Lansing Obama HQ making phone calls and going door-to-door. I'd like to do more, but at least it's something.
If you're in the Lansing area, the campaign is especially looking for folks those last four days before the election. If you can help, Chris Lewless is your man (a Michlibber from w-a-y back). Contact him here:
Chris Lewless
christopher_lewless@yahoo.com
517-974-6072
BTW, the Lansing office is located conveniently in the old Michigan Catholic Conference building, right in front of Saul Anuzis and Republican state headquarters (seriously!):
505 N. Capitol Ave.
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 485-4124
And if you're located outside of Lansing, your local Obama office can be found right here.
After we're done and accomplished our task, you shall find me running joyously through the streets of the 'hood, waving my American flag and yelping with pure delight. We've waited eight years for this. Eight. Long. years.
Just a few months ago, the Bush Administration sent me a $600 Economic Stimulus Payment. By sending such payments to taxpayers, this Administration thought it could jump-start the economy.
This stimiulus program has proven to be a miserable failure. I put my stimulus payment into the bank,where it has drawn a paltry interest, far less than the rate at which price inflation is eating it away. Thank goodness I didn't put it into my mutual fund, where it would have lost far more of its value.
I have decided that the only way I can help stimulate the economy is to help Barack Obama get elected, and bring real change to our economy and to our nation. So, yesterday I took that stimulus money out of the bank and I donated it to his campaign. I hope all his supporters will consider doing the same.
Governor Granholm appeared today on Face the Nation with Bob Sheiffer, Roy Blount, Heather Wilson and Diane Feinstein discussing Presidential politics.
And here, in case you haven't seen it yet, is a perfectly swell little slideshow from Governor Granholm's debate prep sessions with Joe Biden (h/t dKos).
Okay...here's my story...
So there we are at Barack's rally in East Lansing: Charlie and Rachel (my twins - Bear and Bird, respectively) and my godmother Carol (Joanie had an appointment). A Great rally; great speech; great crowd. Weather was lousy with a cool, brisk wind and occasional sprinkles of rain. Didn't matter though - between 10 and 20 thousand people braved the elements to fill what is a rather small, but picturesque field in the old part of the MSU campus.
When the speech ended, I picked up Charlie and Carol carried Rachel toward the rope line with hopes of shaking the hand of the pres-to-be. Somewhere in here Carol and I got separated.
Anyway, the Bear and I got within reaching distance and my arms ached as I held him up high, waiting for Barack to make his way around the circuit. Charlie was, of course, being his regular 14-month old charmer self, flirting with the ladies and giggling and grabbing at everything in sight - including an Obama sticker worn by a guy next to us. In an act of goodwill, the man took his sticker and put it on the Bear's shirt. The Bear was very happy about this.
Securing the votes in Congress to pass real immigration solutions into law isn’t going to be easy. The next President – no matter who wins – will need to lead his own party first to get it done.
(West-siiiide in the house! - promoted by PerfectStormer)
This is Chris, from the Michigan Federation of College Democrats reporting live from the MFCD Make It Happen Bus. Thanks to a newly purchased verizon internet card, look out for live updates throught the course of the week. Friday, the Make It Happen tour, which is graciously sponsored by Lt. Governor John Cherry kicked off forcefully. With a stop at Monroe CCC and then a huge kickoff event with the UofM Dems Friday, MFCD continued to crawl over to the sunny 7th CD.
