I’m Still in Love with President Obama

Content: So far, President Obama is running the perfect presidency. He made genuine, good faith efforts to involve the Republican party in the stimulus package, he has initiated plans to close Guantanamo and immediately put a halt to the prosecutions happening there , he is allowing us to see where our billions will go through unheard of transparency . There have been a few missteps, notably with some of his cabinet choices, but what manager hasn’t made a bad hire or two in his time? He has even put a stop to the traditional sketchy accounting practices that have made the deficient appear smaller.

I even like that he holds (so far) regular cocktail gatherings at the White House. This is my president.

I’m still worried, mind you. Unemployment continues to grow, Washington State has a large budget deficit, transit is threatened, Afghanistan is still in deep trouble (and if the fragile situation in Iraq regresses… but let’s hope the positive trends there continue) and North Korea has plans to test rockets. I know it’s only been a month, but I sure hope we get some real, solid wins

Barack Hussein Obama

I'm a little embarrased to admit that I didn't understand that President Obama's middle name really was 'Hussein' until last week. I thought it was a ploy by some right wing nutjobs to try and discredit him, similar to the "Obama is a Muslim Extremist" rumors.

Fiscal Conservatism?

Does anyone else get the sense that the fiscal conservatives have all retreated into hiding? I don’t understand the nuances of all these bailouts, but I do know that the federal government is borrowing a lot of money and giving it to companies in crisis. So far, I have little faith that an injection of cash is all these folks need to right their ships, and the distribution of cash has, as yet, included little in the way of governmental oversight.

How are we going to pay for this? Is throwing money at our problems going to pull us out of this recession?

The other problem I have is that I don’t really understand what we’re getting for our money. I understand President-elect Obama has public works projects planned, and that’s grand. What are we getting for the $350 billion already distributed? I understand that it’s supposed to strengthen our banking system, blah blah; that’s not much to hold onto though. It’s a little abstract for me, and it feels like we’re throwing that money into a pit. And in that pit is an ancient cash eating dragon.

Some Libertarian voices have questioned the constitutionality of November’s bailout, and I guess that’s something. Normally the only thing the Republican Party is good for is keeping the recurrent liberal impulse to throw money at problems in check. I don’t see that tension right now, and I’m concerned.

Smile

Click the link.

Two Thoughts for the Day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7305023.stm

Just as it is too early to declare the Iraq adventure a failure, it is far too early to declare success. I agree that it’s been a relatively successful several months, and there are reasons for optimism. Violence has declined, and the government is becoming more stable and capable.

What follows is some self indulgent processing. It wasn’t written to be read, it was written to help me think.

Lately I’ve been pondering the tension between respect for the Tao, the infinite harmony of the universe, and my belief that the universe is essentially uncaring and we are self determined beings.

I clearly see that bad things happen to people for no reason. I also see that hard work often leads to success; oftentimes success is only found after long battles that seemed pointless midway through.

This reminds me of the importance of the journey; if the battles are purely distressing, if the journey is miserable, perhaps the adventure should be abandoned, at least on a personal level. This ties in with the Buddhist path of ‘right livelihood.’ It also ties in with the thesis of “First Break all the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Connecting the right employee with the right job is the essential skill of management. From the employee’s side, finding a job that fits right is an essential component to happiness and harmony.

Placed in a goal setting context, it is important to choose goals that will be satisfying to attempt. If the journey is positive, it matters less if the outcome is achievable.

The True Crime of the Invasion of Iraq

During the preparation for the Iraqi invasion, I tended toward the hawkish side. I never expected to find weapons of mass destruction, and didn't really think Hussein had the giant stockpiles the Bush administration alleged.

Instead, it came down to two relatively simple things:

1) During the years following the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks, the United States had a primal need to smash a bad guy. We had already smashed the Taliban, and that might have been enough under different circumstances, under a different administration. The problem with our actions in Afghanistan was that we didn't get to do much smashing. We mostly used air power, with some special forces units, to help the other factions. We weren't allowed to Impose Our Will. As a result, we turned our attention to Iraq.

2) Even without new weapons of mass destruction, Hussein's administration had it coming. He used chemical weapons on his own people. He invaded a neighbor just a few years prior. He defied as many of the ceasefire agreements as he could get away with. Considering only what we absolutely knew about him, he was a Bad Guy.

I stand by these assertions. However, I had no idea that the post-war rebuilding would be such a disaster. I'm no expert in these things, and I knew much less then than I do now about these things.

A few years after the invasion, I would have (and did) said that it wasn't worth it. The chaos was too much, too many people were dying. We should not have invaded. Then I learned that the chaos of the post war period had been predicted, that there is an art and science to rebuilding nations during an occupation, and that the Bush administration was completely negligent in its planning for and execution of the post invasion phase.

That's what we should be angry about. That is the truly heinous crime committed by this administration. These people had the experts, they had the warning, they had the resources. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died because of hubris of the Bush administration. These people died because our elected leaders didn't do their jobs.

Washington Caucus

Yesterday was the Washington Caucus. Like all good Democrats, Nora and I attended, along with 1500 of our neighbors. We all packed into a high school cafeteria, divided by precinct and worked through the process for choosing delegates on behalf of our precinct.

The caucusing process reminds me of Unix. Whereas a primary would accomplish the same outocme (selecting delegates toward the goal of picking a Democratic nominee), the caucus in out in the open, kind of grubby, more work, and somehow more satisfying. At least, I imagine Unix is satisfying for those who use it. I can't be bothered myself.

Our precinct had over 60 people attend, which made for nearly impossible discussion, and no real debate. Four years ago the caucus was also very robust, but only about dozen people from my precinct of the time attended. That allowed for a more relaxed discussion and for some reasonable strategizing.

Our neighborhood was very Barak Obama oriented, with a handful of Hillary supporters. Of our six total delegates, five went for Obama, the other for Clinton.

Personally I never found the final lever that led me to a decision. That reminds me, I need to see who won Washington.