About Playing Nicely After the Election

A number of Facebook friends have posted an idea which I support in principle. The idea is that the American republic and Constitution worked as designed. We properly elected a president, who won according to the rules, fair and square.  We are being urged to support that president-elect, to play nicely and work to ensure his success. This is how it should be.

But where was this sentiment for the past eight years? Where was the support for President Obama? How many Republicans worked to ensure his success?  Which Republicans supported him in any way?

Seriously, before you read any further, answer those questions for yourself.

Instead, there was every effort to de-legitimize and undermine his presidency.

In Congress, there were unprecedented delays in the approval of nominees to fill critical government posts. Congress acted to block every legislative initiative, regardless of merit. The stated goal, expressed by conservative pundits, congressmen and senators, was to deny President Obama any legislative victory. There would be no compromise on any bill, good or bad; no attempt to improve flawed bills that were needed to address the nation's urgent problems.

President Obama's signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act, extended health insurance coverage to about 22 million Americans (including my daughter), who otherwise would not be able to obtain health insurance.  To pass this piece of legislation, the President needed support.  He begged for any Republican votes, even a single vote.  And there were many ways in which Republicans could have participated to make the ACA a better bill.  Instead, the President had to meet the demands of the most liberal Democrats, to include unnecessary bells and whistles on the legislation.  And there were problems with the bill -- to the delight of Republicans who wanted it to fail.

And finally, the Republican Senate blocked of the nomination of Merrick Garland - a judge eminently qualified and praised by prominent Republicans-- to the Supreme Court for nearly one-quarter of Obama’s second term.

Outside of Congress, efforts to undermine President Obama included outlandish lies by the hundreds, gleefully shared by email and on social media.  Stealthier propaganda was disguised as advertising or news.  This includes deeply biased newscasts on television and radio, shading every event with negative innuendo.  It includes substantive false reporting about the state of the nation, in terms of employment, crime, immigration, and taxes -- falsehoods that were repeated in Republican campaign speeches for the past year.

This isn’t about Secretary Clinton, whom I saw as a flawed candidate, but infinitely better in terms of policy and temperament than Mr. Trump.  This is about the treatment of Barack Obama.  Although I sometimes did not agree with his judgment, he is one of the finest men to occupy the oval office in my lifetime.  That is not a subject for debate.  I think his presidency was stolen from the nation by conservative partisans.  Republicans did not play nicely.

Despite all misgivings, it is necessary to peacefully inaugurate Mr. Trump as President, although I feel that he rode a wave of deception, voter suppression and propaganda to victory.  But Democratic Congressional delegation must work to preserve the policy initiatives by President Obama, and strenuously oppose President Trump in his efforts to overturn that progress.

As I said in another post, many years ago I tried to express my about relations between different societies, countries, or individuals from different cultures.   It went something like this:

Celebrate that which is different.

Learn from that which is new and unexpected.

Respect that which you cannot understand. 

Tolerate things which to you are merely unpleasant.

Confront that which is evil.

The Republican Party has come to include something that is evil.  The evil is present not in all people, but is present at all levels of the party: in the leadership, in the right-wing media, and in the common citizens who support the party.  Those evil things include suppression of legitimate voters, de-legitimizing the presidency of President Obama through an outrageous series of lies, deliberate and false slander of President Obama and his programs, spreading false news reports to a gullible audience through social media, encouragement of racism and bigotry, and denial of scientific truth.  I'm sure there is more, but that is enough.  Our political conflict, our culture war, is profound enough that it can not be tolerated, but must be confronted by whatever means without resorting to violence.

So, I feel like I’ve been kicked down by a bully who extends his hand and says, “Let’s be friends!”
NO, I don’t think so.  I don’t see why the Democratic party should play nicely any more.

Significance of the 2012 Presidential Election

The significance of the re-election of Barack Obama  in 2012 is primarily that Mitt Romney (or any other Republican) was NOT elected president.  The election of Obama marks the continuation of the status quo, rather than a hard turn to the political right.  But the opportunities and challenges of the next four years will be different than the previous four years, and the ideology of the man in the oval office will have profound and lasting impact upon the country.

The Supreme Court

Four Supreme Court Justices are over the age of 74.  It seems likely that some of these judges will retire or pass away during the next presidential term. 

Supreme Court Justices                 Age                        Philosophy

Ruth Ginsburg                                   79                           Liberal

Antonin Scalia                                   76                           Conservative

Anthony Kennedy                             76                           Conservative

Stephen Bryer                                   74                           Liberal

Clarence Thomas                              64                           Conservative

Samuel Alito                                      62                           Conservative

Sonia Sotomayor                               58                           Liberal

John Roberts                                     57                           Conservative

Elena Kagan                                      52                           Liberal

The Court is currently relatively balanced.   The following graphic shows the voting record of Justices on cases heard in 2011.   Four justices nominated by Democratic presidents form a liberal  voting bloc, particularly on important and contentious cases.  The five justices nominated by Republican presidents form a conservative voting bloc, but with Anthony Kennedy occasionally voting with the liberals.

Modified from data presented here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_term_opinions_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
Green and blue indicate judges voting with the court majority.  Red and purple indicate dissent.  Bold colors indicate written judicial opinions to be used as precedent by lower courts.

Future court cases are likely to involve abortion rights, health care and elder care, immigration, harassment of minorities, Influence by financial donors over legislators, environmental regulation, death penalty cases, police conduct, copyright law, and partisan actions of local governments.

Judges nominated by Obama will determine the philosophical leaning of the court for years, probably decades.   Given that judges can choose to retire when a president of their party is in power, control of these seats may persist even beyond the tenure of the new judges.  Obama’s power to nominate new judges will likely diminish corporate and big-money influence in politics; his nominees will be favorable with regard to women’s rights, minority and immigrants’ rights, public schools, environmental regulation and religious pluralism in America.

Foreign Policy

Obama has already demonstrated his direction in foreign policy.   Under Obama, foreign disputes are more likely to be handled through negotiation than confrontation.  Obama is willing to conduct covert operations in response to terrorist threats, but has been restrained in the use of military force.   By contrast, Romney would return to the aggressive polices of the G.W. Bush administration, confrontation with China, Russia, and the Islamic world, and unquestioned military support of Israel.    I believe the world will be a more peaceful place with Obama as president instead of Mitt Romney.

http://debatablypolitical.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-arms-race-against-world.html

Energy Policy and Climate Change

Republicans do not believe in man-made climate change.  Mitt Romney plainly declared “I like coal”.   By contrast, Democrats and Barack Obama believe that climate change is one of the most important issues facing mankind.   Under Obama, policies and taxes will be structured to favor renewable energy, and restrict the use of fossil fuels, particularly coal.

Immigration Reform and Minority Rights

The contrast between Obama and Romney is particularly striking in terms of immigration and minority issues.  Under Republicans, local governments would be given free rein to harass Hispanics and minorities in a variety of ways.  It is racism in the guise of law enforcement.  Under Obama, minority rights will be upheld.   Obama will also seek a resolution to the problem of ten million illegal immigrants living in the America.  Republicans have offered no ideas, no shred of a solution to the problem except to build a fence along our border with Mexico.   

Health Care

President Obama’s signature piece of legislation was the health care reform act extending health care insurance to thirty million Americans who had none.  With Obama’s re-election, Republicans will be unable to repeal the legislation before it is implemented and becomes part of how we live as Americans.

Taxation

Under Obama, the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans enacted under president Bush will be allowed to expire.   Tax rates for the wealthiest Americans are likely to rise, restoring these rates to levels considered reasonable in previous decades.

Barack Obama has been re-elected president of the United States.  The Democratic Party retains a majority in the Senate, and the Republican party retains a majority in the House.

Barack Obama

I am greatly relieved.  I believe that the people of the United States made the right choice about our leadership and direction.   I will write more tomorrow about the meaning of this election, and the challenges for the president and congress over the next four years.