American Politics – Page 37

Republicans: Are you ready for Romney?

August 31, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Mitt Romney is a politician. He is also an enigma. And that does not auger well for Mitt Romney, the Republican. It cannot help him become President of the United States. His basic problem is that it is taking too long to sell himself to his own political party.

This is not his father’s Republican Party. What used to be a staid Grand Old Party (GOP) made up of the comfortably off and some rednecks is now made up of crazies with everyone from the Tea Party extremists to gun nuts to anti-abortionists to anti-vivisectionists to white supremacists. What is a polite Mormon boy supposed to do with that bunch? When he was governor of Massachusetts, he only had to deal with the moneyed class. They were much more civilized.

Now poor Mitt has to carry along baggage like Paul Ryan. Mitt’s Vice Presidential running mate is one of the crazies. This guy, supposedly backing him up, has never met a fact he could not ignore. Mitt was known as a straight shooter when governor of Massachusetts and now he is forced to work to an unfamiliar script, just to please the extremists of the Republican Party.

Something has got to give in this relationship. Poor Mitt has already made enough gaffs. His trip to Europe and the Middle East over the summer was like a golf game where all you get to see is a long series of sand traps. It was a misspoke disaster from beginning to end. He hopes people forget about it.

But Paul Ryan has no trouble talking about things he seems to know nothing about. International relations is the farthest subject from Ryan’s experience and if he gets into it, he will make Mitt look like a genius by comparison.

And the bad news for the GOP is that neither of their candidates can handle their opponents, Obama and Biden. Obama is not only as intelligent as Romney but has far more political smarts. And Paul Ryan is not even in the same wheelhouse as Joe Biden, Ryan is only slightly smarter than George W. Bush—which moves him into the group that includes 90 per cent of Americans.

The GOP is trying to pussy-foot around Obama by trying to suggest that his is a failed presidency. We should try to remember that Obama managed to get the first black family into the White House only to find the nation had gone into the financial dumper. When you figure, he got in a Medicare plan for millions of Americans, saved General Motors and got the country back on the road to recovery, he bloody well deserves some credit and respect

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Handicapping America’s November Stakes.

August 13, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Okay, it’s probably a couple months too early. That hardly prevents the American fourth estate from prognosticating about Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney’s choice of running mate. The American media were bound to go after his Vice Presidential choice like vultures to fresh road kill. Just think of what they did to Sarah Palin four years ago.

Representative Paul Ryan from Wisconsin might be a few degrees smarter than Mrs. Palin but he is also a poster boy for America’s extremist right wing Tea Party Republicans. Romney was supposed to be concerned that the Tea Party nuts did not trust him. The choice of Paul Ryan is Romney’s way of showing them that he will toe the line.

From the first flub when Romney introduced him as the next President, Ryan was on the attack against Obama Care. He is promising the right wing that he has the fix for Medicare—denying it funding seems to be his solution. That is the economic solution he has relied on for the past eleven years in the House of Representatives.

Ryan draws his economic smarts from Ayn Rand’s Objectivism and his character from her novel Atlas Shrugged. His favourite economist was Milton Friedman of the Chicago School. Ryan is one of those young political idealists who steep themselves in right-wing radicalism and then never grow up.

Romney and Ryan share one crucial characteristic and that is a serious lack of foreign affairs experience. Since Romney’s gaffs in London and Poland this summer, it has been obvious that he needed a running mate with some foreign experience. Ryan is not the answer to that weakness.

This all adds up to Obama being the odds-on favourite in the early betting. He is the incumbent, he is at ease with heads of state, he has successfully negotiated more than one budget with an obdurate congress, he is trusted as commander-in-chief and he has got Medicare off the ground even if it is not really flying.

Romney and Ryan have a hill to climb. Romney has to count on Ryan to keep the crazies of the right wing in line while he works to convince Americans capable of thinking that he just might have something concrete to offer. Just what he has to offer is a good question. There are only a few months left for surprises.

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“It’s the economy, stupid.”

July 31, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was in the Clinton presidential campaign in 1992 that the slogan about the economy was supposed to keep the campaign workers focused on the main issue. If it was important back then, it is vital today. Americans and the rest of the world have gone through Hell in the past four years and it is the politician who can promise economic succour who will win the lolly this fall.

So what is Republican candidate Mitt Romney doing on a world tour? Having worked with a few political candidates who were their own worst enemy, sending the guy on a trip might have been considered the safest thing to do. Mind you, once he got to England and started to shove his foot down his throat, all bets were off. The last thing the Brits needed was another rude American tourist. Telling them what they were doing wrong with the Olympics was not a very diplomatic gesture.

His handlers got Romney out of the British Isles before he restarted the War of 1812. They obviously could not trust him to make nice with the French and the Germans have more important things to do running the European economy. So, he pops up to do some sabre rattling in Israel.

If he had known how easy it would be for the Iranians to obliterate the Holy Land with nukes, Romney would have done his sabre rattling from a safer distance. It is amazing how American politicians scramble over each other in their eagerness to show what a friend they are to Israel. It is as though the American Jewish vote is some kind of Holy Grail on the road to winning the White House.

Next thing you know is that Romney has popped up in Poland. At least he is not entertaining the locals with Polish jokes. He is one

But none of these travels have anything to do with the economy. The secret for Romney this fall will be his choice of Vice President.

If he needs any help in this regard, we would suggest that he choose Bernie Madoff. Yes, that Bernie Madoff. It makes sense. For one thing, you are saved the time and trouble of vetting him. Everything you need to know about the guy is an open book. And you always know just were to find him: in prison. After Romney has won the presidency, he can exercise a little executive clemency. After all, nobody expects Madoff to serve his full 150 years in the slammer.

And why not? Madoff has already proved that he can run the biggest illegal ponzi scheme in history. And what is the American tax system but a huge, legal ponzi scheme? Where else would you find the perfect Vice President?

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Fighting for the Canadian Pipeline.

June 24, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The June 20 editorial in the Chicago Tribune was written in the finest Col. Robert McCormick tradition. The famous 20^th Century Chicago publisher had his biases and did not like to have facts challenge his opinions. The only part of the editorial that might have raised the Colonel’s eyebrows would have been the opening that referred to ‘friendly, reliable Canada.’ Times have changed.

The focus of this editorial is President Obama blocking TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline to Texas for Canada’s tar sands crude oil. The article accuses Obama of blocking the pipeline as a sop to his eco-green political base.

The Tribune editorial writer seems convinced that the Keystone pipeline will go “a long way toward solving the problem of what to do with all that potentially lucrative and useful oil piling up in the northern reaches of North America. ” The writer says: “The U.S. could use it, that’s for sure.”

What the writer fails to understand is that the secret of being a good writer is being a good researcher. The writer forgot that. A little research would have added the reason that the pipeline wants to go to the Texas refineries is that they are on the Gulf coast of Texas and there are oil carriers that dock there that can take the Canadian product around the world. Why else is the ‘friendly’ Canadian Government trying so hard to get pipelines to the east and west coasts of Canada but to get to even more shipping points?

If the writer extended the research parameters, he or she might have better understood why the ecologically conscious among us are freaking out about concerns for the Ogallala aquifer. This source of clean water for most of the cattle and grain production area of the American Midwest could be devastated by a serious spill of tar sands crude. This is not Texas Sweet Crude. It is called tar sands crude for good reason. Any chemist should be able to tell the writer the difference. It has to be pumped at higher temperatures and at higher pressure. It needs a much bigger and stronger pipe. When it spills, it does not sit on top of your local water supply. It sinks, it permeates the soil, and it is going to be there for a thousand years. There is no effective clean-up possible.

The only way Alberta tar sands oil should be shipped anywhere is after sufficient refining that it will act like normal oil if spilled. The refining has to be sufficient to allow for mopping up the mess.

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Stephen Harper is no bridge builder.

June 22, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was the kind of announcement that has you constantly shaking your head. It cannot be real. Here (on June 15) you have the Canadian Prime Minister and the Governor of Michigan announcing that Canada is putting up the entire billion dollars to build a new bridge across the river between Detroit and Windsor. The so-called 600-pound gorilla in the room who did not take part in the announcement was billionaire Manuel (Matty) Maroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge.

Maroun is already starting to get his licks in. A petition with more than 100,000 extra signatures has been gathered to support putting the bridge on a ballot in Michigan this November. Since the majority of the Michigan State Assembly seem to be on Mr. Maroun’s patronage list, nobody expects there will be a problem putting the Canadian bridge scheme to a vote in Michigan. They just have to figure out how to say ‘get stuffed’ in more family-friendly language.

On the Canadian side of this bridge are the poor people of Windsor. And this announcement can even make them poorer. The announcement was played in the media as another beneficial employment opportunity for Windsorites.

But as they say in Windsor: ‘Been there, heard that, got screwed, had to pay for the t-shirt myself.

These poor souls are still trying to figure out Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s highway to the new bridge that is already being built at a proposed cost of $1.4 billion. This was also supposed to create jobs. They are becoming a bit annoyed that the highway project has some 100 engineers living temporarily in Windsor while University of Windsor engineering graduates have to go elsewhere to find jobs.

There is little if any problem in acquiring land in West Windsor where Mr. Duncan’s new highway meets Mr. Harper’s bridge. The problem will be on the Detroit side where the Delray Community will likely be well supported by Mr. Maroun to fight Eminent Domain (that is what Americans call expropriation). The battle on that side of the river will take years and millions of dollars for every foot gained.

But before you throw up your hands and complain to your Member of Parliament, you should take a close look at what causes line-ups of trucks on their way to America on the Ambassador Bridge. You will be quite impressed with the thoroughness of the few customs people there and especially with the limitations of the facilities they have to do their job. After all, there is no incentive for them to expedite the flow of Canadian goods into the United States of America.

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Class war in America.

June 11, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Canadians are interested spectators in things American. Americans, in turn, do not care as much about what is happening north of their border. As a former Canadian ambassador to Washington put it: there appears to be a one-way mirror along the border. Canadians look into it and see America; Americans look into it from their side and see America. With five months to go before the U.S. elections, both sides of the border are becoming more concerned about the winners and losers in November.

What is distinctive about this coming American election is it becoming class warfare. It is that intense, it is that all or nothing, visceral type of hatred in America that has not been seen since the War Between the States. The Obama versus Romney campaigns are splitting America down the middle. It is the capitalist billionaires against the hordes at the gates. It is unions taking a final stand. It is religious fanatics against the antichrist. It is the abortionists against purity. It is ghettos against gated communities.

This will also be the most corrupt election Americans have ever endured. No state is safe in the blue or red camp. The election will be mixed martial arts at its bloodiest, as all controls are removed from spending by ‘person or persons unknown.’ President Obama will remain guileless as Romney talks down to the masses and neither will address or take responsibility for the depths to which America is sinking.

This is Barack Obama’s election to lose. Even if by some strange happenstance that the Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, he cannot win a 60 per cent majority in the Senate. The American government will remain deadlocked. It will thwart Obama’s every attempt at solutions. It will be a government of revenge and animosities. It will offer no solace for America.

Mitt Romney can only lose in November. Even by winning the election, he can only lose in office. Sure, he is smarter than George W. Bush but most Americans are smarter than George W. Bush. What he cannot resolve is the conflicting wants of his supporters. He cannot combine the fanatical religious right with those who would destroy the environment for monetary gain. He cannot convince the right-wing landowners associations that oil and gas fracking is safe. He would force through the Keystone XL pipeline for Alberta tar sands crude and find there is no profit in it for America.

All Canadians can do is watch in horror as our neighbours work to destroy a country built on ideals of liberty, opportunity and justice for all.

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Comparing country’s capitols.

May 24, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was most interesting. After being in Ottawa earlier this month, we just returned from a week in Washington, D.C. We enjoyed both cities in ideal weather. Ottawa was in bloom and the Washington spring was teetering towards the grinding heat and humidity of the wetland’s summer.

You can be assured that casual breakfasts and fine dining still exist in both cities. Just take lots of money. Suspicions are easily confirmed that neither city represents its country. Neither city looks to its country for guidance. They are insular. They stand separate and apart.

The major difference is that the District of Columbia is America’s Mecca. It is a city of Ka’abas for the devout to circle and to worship. It is where Americans come for their Hajj. Washington is monuments, memorials, tributes, honours and shrines. It is America’s past and its future. It sits low in its architecture, kneeling to the Gods of the Capitol. Recognizing the power of the White House and the enormity of the Pentagon, the city lays before the hill rising to Arlington with its dead. It is the escape of the Beltway and the pleasures of Georgetown. It is one massive traffic jam.

Ottawa, regrettably, gets a bum rap. It is where Canadians come to stone the devil, not to worship. The city lacks the monuments, the tributes, the marble halls of history. The Parliament Buildings are a façade. The Senate is somnambulant. The peanut gallery in the House of Commons offers a tiresome theatre of the absurd. Debate is questionable, even in Question Period.

There is not even a marble memorial in Ottawa to John A. Macdonald, the man who imagined Canada. He is buried in a simple weed-infested family plot in Cataraqui, a town swallowed by Kingston, Ontario. His place of honour is Canada’s ten dollar bill.

Ottawa revels in its natural beauty, its restaurants, its museums, its parks and canal, its tiny lake and the majesty of its river. It is a city of pleasant summers and that thrives on the challenges of winter.

In that, it lords it over Washington, a city that has to shut down for a few inches of snow. Ottawa also lacks Washington’s pretentions. If you want to stay out of traffic jams in Ottawa, just stay out of the way of the civil servants on the Queensway in rush hour.

Ottawa might be all we have for a nation’s capital until Prime Minister Harper decides to move it to Calgary. We should enjoy it while we can.

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An American election based on bigotry.

May 11, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The reaction has been swift and overwhelming. Here it is five months to the American presidential election of 2012 and the lead issue is defined as same sex marriage. Obama has made his stand and Romney has made his. And the dogs of war are loosed.

It shames America. Same sex marriage is not an election issue. It is pandering to the puerile. It is an issue designed to divide. It heals nothing. It stands for tolerance and incites intolerance. It is live and let live in a country of judgement. Of the 100 most serious problems facing America, same sex marriage does not make the list.

And neither candidate feels the issue. It has no pertinence in their daily lives. It is not likely to even be a family issue. They are treating a human rights issue as more important than the real needs of Americans. Neither candidate is politically correct.

Mitt Romney has made no change. His view of same sex marriage is based on his religious views. He is now using it to pander to the religious right in his country. He is breaking his vow to keep his religious separate from his political positions. His position is not defensible.

And there is little honour to Barrack Obama in the issue. His Vice President Joe Biden broke the silence on the issue for him. His famous rhetoric failed him as he gave weak support to the only position open to him.

America is a country with earned enemies abroad and within. The Middle East is rife with those who would make religious jihad against the crusaders in khaki. Envy, resentment, distrust, and anger are the reality in many parts of the world. The political errors of past presidents are not the only failings as unfettered American business continues to rape and pillage in the tradition of the privateers of old.

And yet there are enough seeds of destruction being nurtured in America. It hardly needs enemies offshore. Unless there are three moons in the sky in November there will still be a divided Congress to stand intransigent against sensible budgets and honest taxation in a country where ‘what is mine is mine.’

The battle for the White House is a long and tiring tradition in America. You would think the participants would be willing to add a little common sense to the mix.

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The threat of American intransigence.

May 3, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Former New Brunswick Premier and former Ambassador to Washington Frank McKenna came to Babel the other day. He told a rapt audience of TD Bank customers about the two greatest threats to world peace and prosperity. From the way he explained the two scenarios, it was hard to say which was worse.

Since the concern about Iran is over nuclear weapons controlled by a theocracy (a country ruled by religion), he gave top billing to the Persians. People in the west do not appreciate the capabilities of Iran and believe the nuclear threat is a long way away. The problem is that Iran can easily turn off the tap on about 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply by simply closing the Strait of Hormuz. The United States would be the country hardest hit by that embargo and that country would have to go to war with Iran. In turn, America’s ally, Israel, would be bombed into a nuclear wasteland unless Israel can take out Iran’s nuclear capability first. It is a chilling story.

Luckily, McKenna believes the current peace feelers to the west from the Iranian leadership are genuine. He feels sure that tensions can be eased if the Iranians see the benefits in cooling the threats to their Middle East neighbours.

His other scenario offered fewer solutions. As the former ambassador to Washington, he is well tuned in to American politics. He sees the intransigence of American politicians as extremely serious. He explains that no matter who wins the White House, the House of Representatives or the Senate later this year, the parties will remain locked in vicious combat over taxes and spending. He sees the politicians as so entrenched in their ideological positions that they could cause a deadlock that would throw the U.S. and then the rest of the world into a bottomless recession.

He says Canada is being caught up in the U.S.problems whether we like it or not. At the same time, he sees Canadian politicians as far more flexible. He noted that we have a former New Democrat running the federal Liberal Party, a former Liberal running the New Democrats and Mr. Harper changing Canada into an oil producing country—if he can ever get the oil south to the Texas refineries or to the east or west coasts. Mr. Mckenna sees the pipeline problems as easily solved.

Mr. McKenna is obviously enjoying his role spreading sunshine for the bank. And the bank customers certainly enjoyed his presentation. He did it with humour and a confident delivery. We should also mention that the bank served coffee and cookies. The cookies were very good!

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‘Eye of Newt, toe of Mitt’ in Florida’s cauldron.

January 28, 2012 by Peter Lowry

When Canada’s Liberal Party opted for a primary-type system of choosing leaders at its recent conference, it was not thinking of the American primaries. Nor did party members envisage a witches’ cauldron from Shakespeare’s MacBeth to which the current Republican primary has descended. Liberals were obviously thinking of a much more civilized process.

It is impossible to ignore the gruesome no-holds-barred cage fighting of the current Republican campaign in Florida. It certainly attracts more interest than the somnambulant trek our New Democrats are taking to a leadership decision in March. The question in the U.S. is it really possible for the ultimate winner to recover a sliver of dignity with which to apply to American voters for the right to the White House? The Democrats in the U.S. can hardly ignore the ammunition they are being handed with which to demolish whomever might be the Republican presidential contender in November.

In the meantime, the New Democrats in Canada seem to be debating how nice each of their opponents might be. The only NDP candidate running a half-way intelligent campaign is the loser from British Columbia. And he still has a chance if he throws himself to the mercy of the party to help him fight Harper’s Northern Gateway pipeline across Northern B.C.

But we can expect the Liberal Party primary for its next leader will not be as dull as NDP love-ins nor should it be as brutal as the cage fighting of American Republicans. It will certainly help that all the voting takes place at the same time. Why the Americans have never come up with that simple solution to their primary fiascos is a mystery. The voters for the Liberal leadership will be anyone who wishes to participate and can swear that they are not a member of any other party. It not only builds your voters’ lists for election day but builds a sense of ownership in the party.

Liberals, of course, have far more scope in their arguments with each other as the political positioning of the party is of major concern to Liberal voters. If a candidate wants to be to the right of Stephen Harper, that candidate might be better off seeking Harper’s job after he loses the next election. Should a candidate want to appear to be to the left of the NDP, there is lots of room over there.

But the candidate who will receive the most attention will be the candidate who defines the broad scope of social democracy that Liberals can offer Canadians. Liberalism in Canada has never been tied to ideology but it does carry the responsibility and commitment to the individual in our society. You cannot be a right winger and call yourself a Liberal. They are anathema.

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