Obama Makes a Great Pick in Rahm Emanuel

The reaction of some conservatives against Obama's selection of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff is leaving me scratching my head. Sure, he is a Democrat and a fierce opponent. I also get the angle that this does not represent 'change' and they are preparing to underscore by each and every selection that Obama's administration will be a bunch of old guard hacks. I get it.

However, the Emanuel pick has its positives. The Chief of Staff according to Wikepedia is "the second highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President." It says they are often dubbed "'The Second-Most Powerful Man in Washington' due to the nature of the job." So in theory Emanuel will have the most influence on the Obama Administration than anybody else.

Guess what? Rahm Emanuel is a very strong supporter of Israel. WorldNetDaily has a fascinating article on the selection called "Obama's chief a closet hawk?" Consider the following nuggets from the article:

- He has strong roots in Israel
"Both Emanuel's parents are citizens of Israel. His Jerusalem-born father, Benjamin Emanuel, fought for Israel's independence, even helping smuggle guns to the Israeli underground. He later served as a medic in the 1948 Israeli battle for independence."

"...served as a captain in the Israeli army"

- He is a strong supporter of Israel
"Emanuel also staunchly believes in Israel's right to exist and is not as conciliatory as Obama on the issue of Palestinian rights."

- He supported and continues to support the Iraq War, the War on Terror and the removal of Saddam Hussein

"Asked in 2005 by late NBC host Tim Russert whether he would have voted to authorize the war knowing that there were no weapons of mass destruction, Emanuel replied yes. (Emanuel was elected to Congress after the authorization vote.) 'I still believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do, OK?' he added."

"In his 2006 book, 'The Plan,' Emanuel devotes a whole chapter to 'the War on Terror,' in which he asserts that Democrats should not be afraid to 'take the fight to the enemy.' 'We need to use all the roots of American power to make our country safe,' he added."

"Among other things, he proposes creating a new domestic counter-terrorism force like Britain's MI5 to protect the homeland."

Rahm Emanuel was selected by Obama because of his positions, or in spite of them. Either way, his selection is a poke in the eye to groups like Code Pink. It is certainly a back hand at the radical Islamic groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda that offered their endorsements prior to the election and their congratulations afterward. Like I have maintained, the Obama victory is an oppotunity for unlimited fun for the conservative blogger. This is only the beginning.

Political Spinach: Political Discourse

Post-election there are two camps of thought: one camp wants to focus on Unity and the other wants to focus on their agenda. The Unity camp looks at the divisiveness created during the terms of the last two presidents and wants that to go away. The picture here is the desire for all the country to get together, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. The Agenda camp looks at the 50% (or so) that disagree with them in this country and wants to keep shoving their agenda until it successfully goes down the throat of the opposition. The picture here is two people arguing, screaming and swearing at each other with neither listening. Both camps tend to disgust me.

For the Unity camp I would dispel the notion that there are many truths. Usually there is one truth for each and every issue in life. Sure there are areas that may not be worth fighting over, but there are some areas that are worth engaging in debate to determine the one truth. As a conservative, I too often find that those promoting Unity are merely pushing conservatives to be more like liberals. Randall Hoven recently stated:

"There's a joke where the husband wants a dog and his wife wants a cat, so they compromise and get a cat. With Democrats, every "compromise" is a cat."

So it is when it comes to unity in Washington, the conservatives / GOP are always considered the ones that need to compromise. There are two components to governance: ideology and application of ideology. The purpose of political discourse should be to determine ideology. Upon solidly determining ideology, the next step is the application of ideology.

It is in the application of ideology that as a last resort compromises may be made. The Unity camp wants to compromise right out of the starting gate. Instead of a last resort during application, they push for compromise during discourse. Only when one believes there are many truths can they compromise during the discourse stage. When the ideology is properly communicated, one can then say "This is the best course of action. We have been unable to convince everybody of that fact, so for now we have reached a compromise to step toward the final goal". Compromise must only be to implement a portion of the ideology, not a mixed and corrupt ideology.

For the Agenda camp I would also point to the value of clear political discourse. There is no room for venomous division during the discourse stage. Both sides of the isle have been guilty of venom when debating ideology. This makes it very unlikely that any actual listening will occur. The most venom usually comes from the side of the isle out of power. So it has been over the last eight years. The Left literally became Unhinged when they were continually denied power. Sometimes the Right responded in kind. Other times they took the high road. Now that the Right is completely out of power, it may be seducing to follow the same path and substitute political discourse with venom and rage. Now is the time to continue to take the high road. With the Left in power, it is conceivable their rage and invective will subside a bit and if we retain civility, there is a good chance more listening will take place.

If somebody has a clear sense of their ideology and succeeds in applying it, there is no reason for venom, hatred or attack on that person. It is like many sports games. There may be players or teams that have cultivated their talents and enjoyed success in implementing those talents. There is no reason to hate those players or teams, but rather it is better to cultivate your own talents and compete to win.The last eight years, political discourse has greatly suffered. The Bush Administration had many political victories. However, usually they were not preceded by strong successful political discourse by the administration. The most successful example of the proper approach is Ronald Reagan. Reagan communicated ideology to the American people and then implemented it. "This what I want to do and why I want to do it and this is what I expect to happen when I do it." Only during the process of productive political discourse can we clearly educate the people what and why decisions need to be made. After they are made, we can look back to the discourse and see if the communicated result actually occurred or not. Only by political discourse can we make history and later see which history is worth repeating.

One good way of maintaining civility is to give credit when it is due, regardless of party. The Left chose the last eight years to deny George W. Bush any point of credit whatsoever for anything. We cannot repeat that low performance. If Barack Obama does well in any area, I hope to be there granting kudos. By remaining civil, we can raise the level of political discourse and educate the people on good and bad policy. That is more powerful than the electoral success of your party. As we have seen, a party can succeed in becoming elected but the people who supported them can lose.

Political Spinach: Introduction

I am introducing a new concept on this blog called "Political Spinach". In keeping with my Popeye theme I am using spinach as a symbol for something good that will make us stronger. I have entertained the thought for over a year now to create a website (not a blog) called Political Spinach that would contain more static types of information and theory instead of posts being driven by current events. Blogging is great, but it is always a moving picture and often that which is written is virtually lost soon after posting. Most posts will never be read by anybody after about a month or so.

For now instead of the website I will be adding posts. The Political Spinach Posts are designed to be referred to again and again. It is like putting up a tent. The stakes hold various portions of the tent in place. Without good stakes, the tent can come down in one or more areas. These posts are designed to be good stakes to solidly keep various positions I support nailed down so that the rest of the tent can be fully supported. Hopefully this will make more sense as I begin posting. I will still, of course continue with my current events driven posts, but I hope to have a good mix. Since I will be adding a 'Political Spinach' label to each of these posts, it will be easy to find them in the mix with the others by using blogger's label functionality.

Congratulations President-Elect Barack Obama

Today I offer a sincere congratulations to the new President-Elect Barack Obama. He was not my choice, but I offer my hope and support that he may somehow turn out to be a good President. The things I fear about an Obama Presidency have not yet occurred. Until they begin, I will not attack him personally. I am not fool enough like some to be willing to cut off my nose to spite my face. I do not wish bad on this country so that Obama looks bad. If good comes from Obama shown by clear cause and effect principles, I will give him credit.

I believe the margin of victory both in the electoral count and the popular vote give Obama a modest mandate to implement the things he clearly defined - not a blank check. For instance, he ran as a tax-cutting moderate and he has the mandate to be a tax cutting moderate as President. He ran as a friend of Israel, he has a mandate to be a friend of Israel. He ran as a supporter of Nuclear Power and Clean Coal as part of his energy plan, he has a mandate to expand Nuclear Power and Clean Coal. He ran on building a stronger military, he has a mandate to build a stronger military. He ran on reconciling faith and politics, he has a mandate to reconcile faith and politics. He ran on securing our borders, improve legal immigration, and require illegals to pay fines, learn English and go to the back of the citizenship line; he has a mandate for this approach. He ran on restoring fiscal discipline to Washington, he has a mandate to balance our budget (while keeping all his promises on national defense and national security). In short, he has a mandate to govern from the Center-Right as this is where he ran his campaign regardless of past record and in spite of many of his supporters.

There are good things I expect from an Obama Presidency and Democratic Congress. I expect the Left and the World Body to knock off their venomous rhetoric that has filled our political discourse for years. I expect the media to knock off the gloom and doom reporting on the economy filling consumers with fear instead of confidence. I expect either the people in general or the Left to feel betrayed when President Obama chooses whether he will govern from the Center or the Left. I expect some to feel the same disappointment I have felt at the results of my preferred party "getting it all". I expect some fun when there is conflict between Reid, Pelosi and Obama when Obama tells them the way it is going to be and they disagree. I expect to have some fun watching how very long it will be before Obama gets out his veto pen in the same way George W. Bush was criticized at the length of time it took him to use his. I expect it to be more fun to go on the offensive against liberal policies than defend conservative policies that rarely exist. I expect it to be fun to observe others try to defend poor decisions. I expect it to be fun when the new administration does things the old administration was heavily criticized for and suddenly it will be ok. Overall, though, I expect at least a small time where divisiveness in politics takes a break. How brief that break is depends mostly on the actions of the new leadership.

In summary, today it is congratulations to Barack, Nancy and Harry. I congratulate all Black Americans who see hope in this man's ascension. I celebrate the offical end of racism in America and all the silly charges that accompany it. Sure there will always be one yahoo or another trapped in prejudice, but today any last vestiges of institutional racism and bigotry can be offically declared dead. Black America can now break free of the surly bonds of oppression. They can now embrace the power of individual achievement and discard the false notion they need the government to accomplish their desires. As a whole they can look to those of their brothers and sisters that took their destiny in their own hands and broke free years prior this moment. They can look to their fellow minorities in the Hispanic, Asian, Indian and Arabic communities for the template to achieving the American Dream by their individual efforts. I truly wish them well.

Others are already declaring war. I choose to give them their days of celebration. I hope I do not have to join, but just in case I will sharpen my tools and prepare in private. In public I will hope for the best and that somehow good can come of this until proven wrong. Country First and May God Bless America.

NObama 08 Blogburst

I am going against the grain for this week's NOBama Blogburst. I feel we have said all we can say on the matter and the decision is in the hands of the American people. But before you vote, take a look at this video:



Before you pull that lever, think about the next four years. Think about the unprecedented power you will be handing over to a greenhorn, an upstart with no resume. Think about the lack of checks and balances we will be missing, if the Democrats control Congress and the White House.

Who will be able to stop them from making more bad decisions?

Win or lose Tuesday, let me say, it has been my honor to participate in this blogburst with such a fine group of bloggers. And always, thank you for reading PYY.


Participants: Always on Watch; And Rightly So; Big Girl Pants; Cheese In My Shoe; Chuck Thinks Right; Confessions of a Closet Republican; Defending Crusader; Farmer’s Letters; Fore Left; GeeeeeZ; Has Everyone Gone Nuts?; Learn Something Today; Long Range; Palace for a Princess; Papa Frank; Mind of a Misfit; Paleocon Command Center; Political Yin and Yang; Pondering Penguin; Praesidium Respublicae; Right Truth; Social Sense; The Amboy Times; The Bitten Word; The Crank Files; The Jungle Hut; The Logic Lifeline; The Merry Widow; TSOFAH

ADDENDUM: Thanks to Mustang and LA Sunsett for their efforts in providing the blog burst posts this election season. They have been carefully researched and extremely well worded. I hope these efforts have helped a few uninformed voters to see the light.