It is funny how the American people get caught up in all the glamour of this year’s Presidential election. While this year’s Presidential election has been historic in many ways with the first African American receiving the nomination of a major party and having a woman winning primaries and caucuses. The continuous of history will be front and center this November with either the first African American President or the first woman as Vice President. Nonetheless, what is being lost in all of this is that this isn’t the first time a Presidential election has been historic or about change. Many people want to say that what Obama is doing is changing the electoral map but the reality is that the electoral map has been changed before and the change Obama speaks of in terms of a Presidential candidate inspiring the people and working with both parties to accomplish things has occurred before. How soon do we forget people?
In 1992, when President Bill Clinton was elected, the Democrats had control of both breaches of Congress only to lose it in 1994 and the Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since God knows when. However what many people don’t remember about the Clinton Presidency is that a Democratic President worked with a Republican Congress to reform government and many social welfare programs and passed legislation that protected many Americans. Also the American budget was balanced and a surplus was created. That was historic seeing a Democratic President reach across party lines to accomplish many measures with a Republican controlled Congress that if you let the history books tell it hate the Clintons for everything they stand for. Also what isn’t being discussed is that Clinton brought new faces to the Democratic Party and was the most liked Democratic President since JFK amongst minorities—African Americans, Hispanics, and Women—and other important election groups—elderly, young, Jews, and Catholics. Does this sound familiar to what we are experiencing today?
I’m not saying that what Obama is doing is not phenomenal but it has happened for to a degree but the way Obama is doing it is historic in terms of breaking all types of fundraising records and getting more people involved in the election process is unique but it should be expected with now a 24 hour news cycle like never before. The news cycle was not 24 hours and more new technology and more internet sites have revolutionized politics as we know it forever. Now Clinton and Obama both inspired people in ways that could be linked back to JFK or Robert Kennedy. JFK and Robert Kennedy inspired not only Americans but the world as well. If you look at world history, the Kennedy impact on the world and on America was powerful. Young and old just loved both Kennedy’s and they were truly the first real populist candidates that spoke to a core of Americans like no other. In fact if you take a closer look at JFK’s first Presidential run particularly the Democratic Primary, he was in a hotly contested race against LBJ. Does that sound familiar to what took place in this year’s Democratic Primary between Obama-Clinton? Well it was, LBJ and JFK fought a long hard battle against each other with each having its own base of supporters but JFK knew that he needed LBJ to win and needed LBJ to mend the fences of the party which ultimately lead to JFK being elected President by a very slimmest and closest of Presidential victory margins. While Obama didn’t choose Clinton as his running, it is not a sign to worry because Obama is writing a new page of history in his own right.
However John McCain has hope for himself because Republican Presidents have shown that they are willing to work with not only their own party but Democrats too. Does Ronald Reagan ring a bell? President Reagan is the last Republican President to win the state of California and he appealed to not only his own Republican base but to Democrats and Independents as well. In fact Reagan won both of his Presidential elections in landslides to a degree. Reagan was able to work with Democrats back than to end the cold war, to improve the economy (although some of the blame for today’s housing crisis could Reagan economics fault), and to fight the war on drugs. Nonetheless Reagan appealed to several minority groups and many blacks believe it or not voted for Reagan like never before. Reagan brought many blacks back home to the Republican Party. Also President Abraham Lincoln worked with both parties to not only save his own image but to save the United States of America. While many say Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation but in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation was a political move that allowed for slaves to become free from bondage months and years later but at the time, it signaled a unite for hope that the North would win and that the south will become a part of the United States making the United States one America again. Abraham Lincoln helped to work with Southern Democrats and Republicans to make sure that the United States of America was not destroyed because of the slavery debate. No matter how you view Lincoln and Reagan’s Presidencies, any historian will tell you that both of them worked with not only their own party to accomplish feats but worked with the other party as well as their own enemies. Sound familiar to what we are hearing from our current Presidential candidates.
Thus it is hope that both Obama and McCain can bring about great legislation that helps all Americans. However the real issue that many people don’t understand is that both parties are to blame for the failed policies of the last 8 years. While the Democrats are quick to point out that under President Clinton’s watch, the economy was booming, the budget was balanced and life was a whole lot easier for the American families to pursue the American Dream. However what isn’t said is that in Clinton’s first 2 years in office, he didn’t produce any real results so in the midterm elections, the American people wanted change in Congress so they spoke like never before by voting for Republicans instead of the Democrats thus rewriting history as Republicans grabbed seats usually held by Democrats in a historic 1994 midterm election year. So in President Clinton’s last 6 years in office, he worked with a Democratic minority and a Republican majority to accomplish the balanced budget, the booming economy and life being much easier for the American family. I’m not saying that President Clinton could not have got a whole lot more accomplished if he had a Democratic Congress such universal healthcare but the reality is that many Democrats blame the Clintons for not being able to accomplish some form of universal healthcare.
Despite all of that, my point is that both Republicans and Democrats succeed when they work together rather than against each other. However neither party is willing to accept the failures that come with the job but always want to taunt the successes. For example, under President George H.W. Bush, the three strikes, you out law was started but signed in to law by President Clinton and a Democratic controlled Congress. Is that funny or what because that law has locked up many African Americans for life and the Democratic Party is the party that passed the law and a Democrat President signed the law? A law that impacts a large chuck of the Democratic Party voting base, that is truly ironic. Also the current epidemic of getting more prison time for crack than cocaine started under a Republican President and a Democratic controlled Congress. If you let one party tell it, they will blame this epidemic on the other party rather than accepting responsibility for it or better yet, will ignore the issue altogether. The same thing could be said about the hundreds of thousands of mothers who were kicked off welfare in the 1990s under a Democratic President and Republican controlled Congress. Neither party accepts responsibility for it but instead blames the other party which is not what America is about.
So how soon do we forget this people? We have seen what can happen when Democrats and Republicans work together but we have seen what can happen when they work apart as well. Let’s be real, the last 8 years are not President Bush’s fault and the Republican controlled Congress because the last 2 years the Democratic Party has controlled Congress and while the Democrats taught their record of passing historical legislation that hasn’t been passed in over 20, 40 or 60 years, we as people have forgotten that the Democratic Party has controlled Congress for majority of 60 years and longer. How soon do we forget people? Also how soon do we forget that President Bush signed each of these legislations into law and didn’t veto them because the Democrats can’t override a veto in the Senate with the slimmest of control in recent Senatorial history 51-49 or 49-49-2 (with two independents). Either way you slice it, Democrats worked with President Bush on some things and when President Bush was re-elected to office, instead of the Democratic Party trying to work with him to reform social security and coming up with a solution to fix the broken system of social security that still is in jeopardy of being bankrupt by 2020 or sooner. So despite all of that no solution from Democrats or Republicans is being drawn up to fix social security as we speak so it is still yet another crisis we will have to deal with as Americans like the baby boomers are expecting to retire real soon in the next couple of years. Instead of the Democratic Party working with President Bush on immigration, they decided not to. I can go on and on about how the Democratic Party has failed to bend a little or find a middle ground but the same could be said about Republicans.
Nonetheless, only when the issue of gas prices became a political issue did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi say she is willing to have a debate on drilling for oil. Then Obama said the same thing. Now the reality is that 10-15 years ago under President Clinton and the Republican controlled Congress, Democrats did not want to drill for oil while Republicans worked to make it happen only to get their pass of legislation vetoes by President Clinton and the Republican controlled couldn’t muster enough votes to override the veto cause Democrats did not want to bend. Now drilling for oil is not the answer but it would have helped a little with the gas price crisis many Americans faced this summer. Thus my point is that Democrats and Republicans cannot be reactive to issues all the time but they have to be proactive. Democrats and Republicans need to really listen to the debate on many issues and not just shot it down without looking at the long terms of implications of the decision. Some decisions might look good immediately but what about the long term effects. I would take a long term solution over majority of short term issues any day. That’s way the debate on energy has been one that both Democrats and Republicans have failed the American people because of being too close minded.
In fact many of the issues that are plaguing us today are a result of staled policies and the unwillingness of both parties to stop demonizing each other in order to make their own party look better or in a better political position to win mid-term races or the Presidency. How soon do we forget people? It was Ted Kennedy who recently said at the 2008 Democratic National Convention that the fight for his life has been universal healthcare but it was in 1980 during Kennedy’s Democratic Presidential run against Democratic Presidential incumbent Jimmy Carter that he vowed to bring us universal healthcare. While the view as not popular with all Americans, it was popular with many. In fact Kennedy first spoke about universal healthcare when he was first elected a United States Senator during the 1960s. Now 28 years later, no universal health care and even with an Obama Presidency, the debate of universal healthcare is vague because we need affordable health care. There are many programs that offer health care to those who don’t have it but some of those programs that offer it are still too expensive for those of us to have to make a decision about paying to go see a doctor or feeding our kids or paying to see a doctor or keeping our lights, gas and water on. Health care is just too expensive for many Americans even with government assistance programs existing. That’s why Obama’s message of universal healthcare has changed in the general election to simply being we are going to get universal healthcare instead of the primary message that we are going to get affordable healthcare for all Americans. Now McCain has no message on healthcare except it can’t be on the backs on employees.
I ask you, how soon we forget. We can’t sit back and look at this year’s Presidential election and the years after and think that Democrats and Republicans have never worked together because that is so far from the truth. We can’t look at this year’s election and blame the entire 8 years of failed policies on President Bush and the Republican Party but give praise and credit of the previous 8 years of prosperity to President Clinton and the Democratic Party because that is not the entire truth. Just like we can’t say that JFK & LBJ and the Democratic Party helped to fight for and pass civil rights legislation when it was Dixiecrats now Democrats who were oppressing African Americans in the south by putting the dogs on them, hosing them with water and keeping Jim Crow laws alive & well as they oppressed the African American vote at every corner in the south. Part of the reason civil rights and voting rights legislation was passed was because many Republicans fought for it to be passed and prior to JFK’s election, many African Americans had voted Republican not Democrat. So how soon do we forget? How soon do we forget people? President Clinton’s prosperity years are a result of Republicans working with President Clinton to balance the budget and create a booming economy.
Part of Reagan’s success as President is a result of Democrats working with him. Parts of JFK’s and LBJ’s Presidential successes are a result of Republicans willing to work with them to accomplish many international feats as well as domestic feats like civil rights and voting rights. Part of Lincoln’s Presidential success and keeping the United States of America united was due to both Democrats and Republicans working together not just one party. Therefore as we look at this year’s historical Presidential election, we cannot think for one minute that all that ails us is one parties fault because that’s not how America works. We are a team in America no matter what party has control of Congress or the Presidency. If we don’t start thinking as team than we will continue to produce failed policies that damage not only the current generation of Americans but future Americans as well. We must not simply debate one another or have a dialogue on the issues but we need to start finding solutions and find middle ground to solve many of the issues that plague America. We cannot forget our history people. We cannot forget how far we have come as Americans because of Democrats and Republicans but must keep in mind that we have much farther to go as Americans not as Democrats or Republicans.
In 1992, when President Bill Clinton was elected, the Democrats had control of both breaches of Congress only to lose it in 1994 and the Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since God knows when. However what many people don’t remember about the Clinton Presidency is that a Democratic President worked with a Republican Congress to reform government and many social welfare programs and passed legislation that protected many Americans. Also the American budget was balanced and a surplus was created. That was historic seeing a Democratic President reach across party lines to accomplish many measures with a Republican controlled Congress that if you let the history books tell it hate the Clintons for everything they stand for. Also what isn’t being discussed is that Clinton brought new faces to the Democratic Party and was the most liked Democratic President since JFK amongst minorities—African Americans, Hispanics, and Women—and other important election groups—elderly, young, Jews, and Catholics. Does this sound familiar to what we are experiencing today?
I’m not saying that what Obama is doing is not phenomenal but it has happened for to a degree but the way Obama is doing it is historic in terms of breaking all types of fundraising records and getting more people involved in the election process is unique but it should be expected with now a 24 hour news cycle like never before. The news cycle was not 24 hours and more new technology and more internet sites have revolutionized politics as we know it forever. Now Clinton and Obama both inspired people in ways that could be linked back to JFK or Robert Kennedy. JFK and Robert Kennedy inspired not only Americans but the world as well. If you look at world history, the Kennedy impact on the world and on America was powerful. Young and old just loved both Kennedy’s and they were truly the first real populist candidates that spoke to a core of Americans like no other. In fact if you take a closer look at JFK’s first Presidential run particularly the Democratic Primary, he was in a hotly contested race against LBJ. Does that sound familiar to what took place in this year’s Democratic Primary between Obama-Clinton? Well it was, LBJ and JFK fought a long hard battle against each other with each having its own base of supporters but JFK knew that he needed LBJ to win and needed LBJ to mend the fences of the party which ultimately lead to JFK being elected President by a very slimmest and closest of Presidential victory margins. While Obama didn’t choose Clinton as his running, it is not a sign to worry because Obama is writing a new page of history in his own right.
However John McCain has hope for himself because Republican Presidents have shown that they are willing to work with not only their own party but Democrats too. Does Ronald Reagan ring a bell? President Reagan is the last Republican President to win the state of California and he appealed to not only his own Republican base but to Democrats and Independents as well. In fact Reagan won both of his Presidential elections in landslides to a degree. Reagan was able to work with Democrats back than to end the cold war, to improve the economy (although some of the blame for today’s housing crisis could Reagan economics fault), and to fight the war on drugs. Nonetheless Reagan appealed to several minority groups and many blacks believe it or not voted for Reagan like never before. Reagan brought many blacks back home to the Republican Party. Also President Abraham Lincoln worked with both parties to not only save his own image but to save the United States of America. While many say Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation but in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation was a political move that allowed for slaves to become free from bondage months and years later but at the time, it signaled a unite for hope that the North would win and that the south will become a part of the United States making the United States one America again. Abraham Lincoln helped to work with Southern Democrats and Republicans to make sure that the United States of America was not destroyed because of the slavery debate. No matter how you view Lincoln and Reagan’s Presidencies, any historian will tell you that both of them worked with not only their own party to accomplish feats but worked with the other party as well as their own enemies. Sound familiar to what we are hearing from our current Presidential candidates.
Thus it is hope that both Obama and McCain can bring about great legislation that helps all Americans. However the real issue that many people don’t understand is that both parties are to blame for the failed policies of the last 8 years. While the Democrats are quick to point out that under President Clinton’s watch, the economy was booming, the budget was balanced and life was a whole lot easier for the American families to pursue the American Dream. However what isn’t said is that in Clinton’s first 2 years in office, he didn’t produce any real results so in the midterm elections, the American people wanted change in Congress so they spoke like never before by voting for Republicans instead of the Democrats thus rewriting history as Republicans grabbed seats usually held by Democrats in a historic 1994 midterm election year. So in President Clinton’s last 6 years in office, he worked with a Democratic minority and a Republican majority to accomplish the balanced budget, the booming economy and life being much easier for the American family. I’m not saying that President Clinton could not have got a whole lot more accomplished if he had a Democratic Congress such universal healthcare but the reality is that many Democrats blame the Clintons for not being able to accomplish some form of universal healthcare.
Despite all of that, my point is that both Republicans and Democrats succeed when they work together rather than against each other. However neither party is willing to accept the failures that come with the job but always want to taunt the successes. For example, under President George H.W. Bush, the three strikes, you out law was started but signed in to law by President Clinton and a Democratic controlled Congress. Is that funny or what because that law has locked up many African Americans for life and the Democratic Party is the party that passed the law and a Democrat President signed the law? A law that impacts a large chuck of the Democratic Party voting base, that is truly ironic. Also the current epidemic of getting more prison time for crack than cocaine started under a Republican President and a Democratic controlled Congress. If you let one party tell it, they will blame this epidemic on the other party rather than accepting responsibility for it or better yet, will ignore the issue altogether. The same thing could be said about the hundreds of thousands of mothers who were kicked off welfare in the 1990s under a Democratic President and Republican controlled Congress. Neither party accepts responsibility for it but instead blames the other party which is not what America is about.
So how soon do we forget this people? We have seen what can happen when Democrats and Republicans work together but we have seen what can happen when they work apart as well. Let’s be real, the last 8 years are not President Bush’s fault and the Republican controlled Congress because the last 2 years the Democratic Party has controlled Congress and while the Democrats taught their record of passing historical legislation that hasn’t been passed in over 20, 40 or 60 years, we as people have forgotten that the Democratic Party has controlled Congress for majority of 60 years and longer. How soon do we forget people? Also how soon do we forget that President Bush signed each of these legislations into law and didn’t veto them because the Democrats can’t override a veto in the Senate with the slimmest of control in recent Senatorial history 51-49 or 49-49-2 (with two independents). Either way you slice it, Democrats worked with President Bush on some things and when President Bush was re-elected to office, instead of the Democratic Party trying to work with him to reform social security and coming up with a solution to fix the broken system of social security that still is in jeopardy of being bankrupt by 2020 or sooner. So despite all of that no solution from Democrats or Republicans is being drawn up to fix social security as we speak so it is still yet another crisis we will have to deal with as Americans like the baby boomers are expecting to retire real soon in the next couple of years. Instead of the Democratic Party working with President Bush on immigration, they decided not to. I can go on and on about how the Democratic Party has failed to bend a little or find a middle ground but the same could be said about Republicans.
Nonetheless, only when the issue of gas prices became a political issue did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi say she is willing to have a debate on drilling for oil. Then Obama said the same thing. Now the reality is that 10-15 years ago under President Clinton and the Republican controlled Congress, Democrats did not want to drill for oil while Republicans worked to make it happen only to get their pass of legislation vetoes by President Clinton and the Republican controlled couldn’t muster enough votes to override the veto cause Democrats did not want to bend. Now drilling for oil is not the answer but it would have helped a little with the gas price crisis many Americans faced this summer. Thus my point is that Democrats and Republicans cannot be reactive to issues all the time but they have to be proactive. Democrats and Republicans need to really listen to the debate on many issues and not just shot it down without looking at the long terms of implications of the decision. Some decisions might look good immediately but what about the long term effects. I would take a long term solution over majority of short term issues any day. That’s way the debate on energy has been one that both Democrats and Republicans have failed the American people because of being too close minded.
In fact many of the issues that are plaguing us today are a result of staled policies and the unwillingness of both parties to stop demonizing each other in order to make their own party look better or in a better political position to win mid-term races or the Presidency. How soon do we forget people? It was Ted Kennedy who recently said at the 2008 Democratic National Convention that the fight for his life has been universal healthcare but it was in 1980 during Kennedy’s Democratic Presidential run against Democratic Presidential incumbent Jimmy Carter that he vowed to bring us universal healthcare. While the view as not popular with all Americans, it was popular with many. In fact Kennedy first spoke about universal healthcare when he was first elected a United States Senator during the 1960s. Now 28 years later, no universal health care and even with an Obama Presidency, the debate of universal healthcare is vague because we need affordable health care. There are many programs that offer health care to those who don’t have it but some of those programs that offer it are still too expensive for those of us to have to make a decision about paying to go see a doctor or feeding our kids or paying to see a doctor or keeping our lights, gas and water on. Health care is just too expensive for many Americans even with government assistance programs existing. That’s why Obama’s message of universal healthcare has changed in the general election to simply being we are going to get universal healthcare instead of the primary message that we are going to get affordable healthcare for all Americans. Now McCain has no message on healthcare except it can’t be on the backs on employees.
I ask you, how soon we forget. We can’t sit back and look at this year’s Presidential election and the years after and think that Democrats and Republicans have never worked together because that is so far from the truth. We can’t look at this year’s election and blame the entire 8 years of failed policies on President Bush and the Republican Party but give praise and credit of the previous 8 years of prosperity to President Clinton and the Democratic Party because that is not the entire truth. Just like we can’t say that JFK & LBJ and the Democratic Party helped to fight for and pass civil rights legislation when it was Dixiecrats now Democrats who were oppressing African Americans in the south by putting the dogs on them, hosing them with water and keeping Jim Crow laws alive & well as they oppressed the African American vote at every corner in the south. Part of the reason civil rights and voting rights legislation was passed was because many Republicans fought for it to be passed and prior to JFK’s election, many African Americans had voted Republican not Democrat. So how soon do we forget? How soon do we forget people? President Clinton’s prosperity years are a result of Republicans working with President Clinton to balance the budget and create a booming economy.
Part of Reagan’s success as President is a result of Democrats working with him. Parts of JFK’s and LBJ’s Presidential successes are a result of Republicans willing to work with them to accomplish many international feats as well as domestic feats like civil rights and voting rights. Part of Lincoln’s Presidential success and keeping the United States of America united was due to both Democrats and Republicans working together not just one party. Therefore as we look at this year’s historical Presidential election, we cannot think for one minute that all that ails us is one parties fault because that’s not how America works. We are a team in America no matter what party has control of Congress or the Presidency. If we don’t start thinking as team than we will continue to produce failed policies that damage not only the current generation of Americans but future Americans as well. We must not simply debate one another or have a dialogue on the issues but we need to start finding solutions and find middle ground to solve many of the issues that plague America. We cannot forget our history people. We cannot forget how far we have come as Americans because of Democrats and Republicans but must keep in mind that we have much farther to go as Americans not as Democrats or Republicans.
We are not African Americans, We are Americans!
We are not European Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Catholic Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Muslim Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Jewish Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Christian Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Young or old Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Hispanic Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Asian Americans, We are Americans!
We are not Arab Americans, We are Americans!
We are not educated Americans or uneducated Americans, We are Americans!
We are not poor Americans, rich Americans or middle class Americans, We are Americans!
WE are not Democratic Americans, Republican Americans or Independent Americans, WE are AMERICANS FIRST!
WE ARE AMERICANS FIRST NO MATTER OUR RACE, ETHNICITY, AGE OR RELIGION! WE ARE AMERICANS FIRST AND THAT’S WHY WE MUST NOT FORGET OUR HISTORY AND WHERE WE HAVE COME FROM!
WE ARE AMERICANS FIRST AND FOREMOST!
WE ARE AMERICANS FIRST, SECOND, LAST AND FOREVER!
ONE AMERICA UNITED TO HELP ALL AMERICANS SUCCEED & PROSPER AS WE ALL PURSUE THE AMERICAN DREAM!
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