Obama's Path

President Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party with a humble, values-oriented appeal to the voters who elected him in 2008.  At one point he quoted President Abraham Lincoln, "While I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, 'I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.'

Expectations soared when the president was elected four years ago on a campaign filled with the promise of "hope and change."   To those who may be disappointed in his first term, the president said, "Hope has been tested – by the cost of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s still possible to tackle the challenges of our time."

Saying it wouldn't be easy, the president said this election was a choice between two visions,  "Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future."  President Obama said his opponents wouldn’t tell you their plan, except cut taxes and roll back regulations.  “Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another.”  The president joked, “Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”  He concluded, "We’ve been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not going back. We’re moving forward."

The president highlighted his record of adding jobs, bailing out the auto industry, investing in education, energy, dealing with the environment, national security, and taking on the deficit.  He pointed out that his opponents have no foreign policy experience.  "After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy – and not al Qaeda – unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp." the president said. " You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally."

The president offered an alternative, "In a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been tested and proven. Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead."   The president then thanked the U.S. military for their service in his address, a glaring oversight by Romney last week.

President Obama said he will never turn Medicare into a voucher, referring to Rep. Paul Ryan's plan.  He said he will not turn Social Security over to Wall Street.  He also said, "I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire’s tax cut."  The president reaffirmed his position on raising taxes on the wealthy.  And, answering a Republican theme, he said, "We don’t think government can solve all our problems. But we don’t think that government is the source of all our problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our troubles."

President Obama's speech set out a sharp contrast with his opponents.  He humbly asked for American's support,  "If you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this November."

President Obama followed powerful speeches by Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John Kerry, who was defeated in his 2004 run for President by President George W. Bush. 

The vice president spoke to the middle class and to those families who are struggling.  He identified and connected with them by relating his and President Obama's family history.  He then attacked Mitt Romney for opposing President Obama's rescue of the automobile industry.  Romney said they should be allowed to go bankrupt.  

Biden then rallied the house with his oft repeated line, "Osama bin-Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!"  He excoriated the Republican ticket on Medicare.  Saying the opposition didn't tell their audience that;  "The plan that they have already put on paper would cut for benefits for more than 30 million seniors."  He continued, "it would cause it to go bankrupt by 2016."  

On the deficit, the vice president said of the Republicans, "They didn’t tell you they rejected every plan put forward by us, or the Simpson-Bowles commission to reduce the debt."  He then jabbed Romney's talk of a "jobs tour", saying, "With his support for outsourcing it’s going to have to be a foreign trip."

He emphatically insisted "America is not in decline," and that it has never been a good bet to bet against the American people!"  In a very emotional moment, he recognized the "incredible debt we owe" the American military dead and wounded.  "We must never forget their sacrifice!"

Earlier, Senator Kerry was brutal in his criticism of Mitt Romney.  On foreign policy, he said, "He has all these neo-con advisors who know all the wrong things about foreign policy. He would rely on them--after all, he's the great outsourcer." Then he added, "This is not the time to outsource the job of commander in chief."

Playing off the "Are you better off?" riff that is used by Republicans, Kerry said, "Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago," to a rousing ovation.  In response to Republican criticism that President Obama has let Israel down, the senator noted that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said of the U.S. under Mr. Obama's leadership, "our security cooperation is unprecedented."

Finally, in a stinging shot at Mitt Romney's failure to mention American troops in his acceptance speech, Kerry said, "No nominee for president should ever fail in the midst of a war to pay tribute to our troops overseas.'

The Democratic Convention was authentic, warm and stirring, thanks to memorable speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Julian Castro and President Bill Clinton.   It overshadowed last week's Republican Convention, which was short on specifics and solutions.  But will it be enough to help President Obama overcome a sluggish economy and high unemployment?   Will voters take the president at his word, "America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder – but it leads to a better place."

Mendacity of Hope

The Republicans gained little momentum for their presidential ticket coming out of the GOP convention in Tampa last week.  In fact, the most memorable moment of the convention was Clint Eastwood's chat with the "Invisible Man."

One obvious conclusion is that Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan failed to offer viewers details about how they would fix the economy.  Another is that lying about your opponent's record on so many key issues may fire up your base, but it won't help win over undecided voters.   The convention's theme might have been "The Mendacity of Hope."

Now the Democrats convene in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a task of setting the record straight on the many Republican distortions, while, at the same time, offering a clear vision of how to move the nation forward.  For instance, the false claim by Republicans that the president has waived the work requirement for welfare.  In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services plan is designed to let states create alternative strategies aimed at improving employment outcomes by giving the states more flexibility, as long as they commit to increasing the number of people leaving welfare for work by 20 percent.  If states fail to reach the target the plan is terminated.

In an effort to court blue-collar white workers, the Romney campaign has been running a television ad that claims, "Under Obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check."   Yet, two Republican governors that wanted more control over work requirements originally requested the new policy from the White House, the same waiver then Governor Romney requested in 2005 along with 28 other governors.  

Republicans have also accused President Obama of cutting Medicare by $716 billion and hurting seniors.  But the president's actions are not cuts, they are only reductions in payments to insurance companies and health providers, and not to patients.  These are the same Medicare savings Rep. Paul Ryan called for in his budget.     

Rep. Ryan also claimed the president was responsible for the closing of a General Motors plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.  But GM announced the closing of the plant before President Obama was elected and before the president's auto bailout, which is credited with saving the industry.  

“It began with a perfect AAA credit rating for the United States. It ends with the downgraded America.” With those words, Rep. Ryan also blamed the president for the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.  But the credit rating was downgraded because Congress would not pass a debt-ceiling bill so the government could pay for money it had already spent.  Republicans in Congress held the debt-ceiling hostage in exchange for deep spending cuts.  They took America to the fiscal brink.  In lowering the credit rating, Standard and Poor's said, “the political brinkmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policy making becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable than what we previously believed." 

Rep. Ryan also attacked the president for his handling of the deficit.  “He created a new bipartisan debt commission,” Mr. Ryan said. “They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing.”  Mr. Ryan failed to point out he served on the commission and opposed their final proposals, which included some tax increases.  His opposition was a major blow to enactment of any of its proposals.  This is the same Mr. Ryan who claimed to run a marathon in less than three hours, a remarkable feat.  Now he admits that claim is not true.  

Republicans say the president's stimulus package did not work.  Yet most economists say that the stimulus package kept America from entering a second Great Depression.  And since President Obama took office, in the depths of the Bush Recession, the U.S. economy has added more than four million private sector jobs.  Economic growth remains anemic, but the world is still in the grips of a global recession.

The president was accused of conducting an "apology tour" for U.S. foreign policy.  Yet the president has never apologized for America.  In fact, when he received his Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama defended American foreign policy.  Meanwhile, the president made getting Osama bin-Laden a top priority and his policies have decimated the al-Quada terrorist organization. 

From the first day of Barack Obama's presidency Republicans, including Rep. Ryan, plotted a strategy to win back the White House in 2012.  Denounce, delay, deny, divide, and deceive.  So deep is their dislike of President Obama, that many accuse him of being a socialist, a Muslim, lying about being born in Hawaii, and about his grade point average in college.  

At their convention, Democrats must not only set the record straight on President Obama's record, they also must unite around a plan that will take this country forward.  The president must effectively communicate what he will do in a second term to reduce unemployment and rebuild the American economy.    

We are, indeed, at a crossroads.  In November, will voters reward those who will do and say anything to get elected?  Or will they side with hope and change? 

Mitt Romney: The Speech

This week the Republican Party will nominate their candidate for President of the United States, Mitt Romney.  And when Romney takes the podium Thursday night to accept his party's nomination he will be delivering the most important speech of his life. 

The Republican presidential primary campaign was brutal, as candidates fought hard for the approval of their party's largely conservative base.  Mitt Romney had to defend his previous moderate leaning tendencies, and his authorship of "Romneycare," the blue print for President Obama's universal health care legislation.   To do so, Romney aggressively attacked his opponents with negative ads, spent a ton of money, and fine-tuned some of his political positions in order to appeal to the GOP right.    

Yet, although Romney won the nomination, most Americans are uncertain about whom he is.  This Thursday night Romney will be introducing himself to America, while, at the same time, he will have to reassure his conservative party base that he can beat President Obama, and he can be trusted not to change his positions on taxes and social issues.

Romney's speech writing team has been hard a work trying to find the right balance.  On one hand, Romney will try to connect with his audience, something he failed to do very well during the primary campaign.  He will try to sound warm and likeable, not stiff and corporate.  He will add some biographical details, including a reference to his wife's ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis.  But also look for Romney to make the case the he should be elected president.  Here he will emphasize his successes as a businessman, governor, and head of the U.S. Olympics Committee, as examples of how he can lead.  

For sure, there will be plenty of quotable one-liners to stir delegates on the convention floor and appeal to the home audience.  Here's one you won't hear: "Watch my lips, no new taxes!"  Here's one you will hear: "President Obama is the only president to cut Medicare."  Of course, the president didn't cut Medicare--but why let the facts get in the way of an applause line.

Romney's speech will not be truly successful if he simply attacks President Obama's record.  He will need to offer independent voters more than the usual talking points: "Cut taxes, cut regulations and become totally energy independent."   Nor can he just simply say, "I have a 59 point plan to save the economy--it's on my website."  

Of course, the devil is always in the details, and Romney's economic plan simply does not add up.   For instance, how can he significantly cut taxes (which mostly benefits the wealthy) and increase defense spending, yet still balance the budget?  It's not possible unless he also massively cuts entitlement programs--like Medicare and Medicaid.  (Enter Representative Paul Ryan?)  So, Mr. Romney, specifically what government programs will you cut to balance the budget?  You owe Americans an explanation.  

Why will cutting taxes create jobs?  The "Bush Tax Cuts" have been in place for a decade, but they have had little impact on the job market, while making the rich even richer.   As part of his tax plan, Romney proposes eliminating tax loopholes, yet he has offered no specifics.   Does he mean offshore tax havens (I don't think so)?  Does he mean home mortgages or charity?   Details Mr. Romney, details? 

Of course, Mr. Romney will promise in his speech to end "Obamacare" to the delight of the floor delegates.  Ironically, he crafted a universal health care law that passed in Massachusetts and relies on an individual mandate, but now opposes the concept.   Mr. Romney, what is your replacement plan?  How will you close the "doughnut hole" on prescription drugs for more than 5.2 million Medicare beneficiaries who have already saved more than $4 billion since Obamacare went into effect? 

Romney has promised to eliminate Planned Parenthood if he is elected president.  Of course, conservatives hate Planned Parenthood because of its association with birth control and abortion.  But Romney is not likely to offer too many details in his speech on abortion, other than, "I believe in the sanctity of life."  Part of the problem is that in the last decade Romney has been pro-abortion, then later anti-abortion, except in the cases of incest and rape.  But the GOP 2012 platform calls for a ban on all abortions, with no exceptions.  

Romney is likely to accuse President Obama of campaign distortions and tarnishing the office of the presidency.  But Romney has been a leading practitioner of negative and misleading ads beginning in the primary.  For instance, most recently a Romney sponsored ad that says, "The president ended a provision requiring welfare recipients to work."  Wrong, but it plays well with blue-collar workers in swing states.  Or a Romney "joke" about his birth certificate.  Don't look for Mitt Romney to denounce the idiotic "Birther" movement from the dais.  

No matter how well Romney performs Thursday--and he should do very well--no mater how enthusiastically he is received, no matter how amazing all the production gimmicks are, there are still many questions that will, pardon the expression, always dog Romney.  He is, after all, extremely private, controlling and ambitious.    

Imagine:  Romney pauses in his speech Thursday to look up toward the heavens. At that point he hears the voice of his father, Governor George Romney, once a Republican candidate for president.  "Release more tax returns Mitt!"  To which he replies, "You're getting two years, and that's it!"

Zoe's Fashion Show

There is nothing more rewarding for a parent than watching your child create something meaningful.  Earlier this month, Zoe Peyronnin participated in a design and fashion exhibit at Parsons The New School of Design, here in New York City.  And Zoe's dress was a big hit.

Parsons offers summer school courses in a variety of design disciplines.  And this year hundreds of students traveled from around the globe to take classes.  Zoe's passion is fashion design.  She has been interested since a very young age, and has consistently shown a creative flair.

But this class was the first chance she had to conceive, design and create a piece of clothing.  The display would also include some sort of compatible visual display.  In preparation, her mother, Susan Zirinsky, bought Zoe a sewing machine, which she brought to school several times.  But Zoe did everything on her own. 

Zoe sensed that leather would make a very timely and elegant look.  She traveled to New York's Garment District and selected the specific leather she would use.  As you can see, the top of the dress is a solid black leather, while the bottom piece of leather has a python like design.  The two pieces complement themselves and together are a most stylish look.  One admirer was heard to say, "Where can I buy it?"

Zoe had a very fulfilling and rewarding experience at Parsons, and she has made many new friends that share her passion for fashion design.  This was the first step in what may become a wonderful career.

Romney/Ryan

"Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States," said Mitt Romney. Mitt muffed the announcement.  But, no doubt, many conservatives were thinking, "from Mitt's lips to God's ears!"  .   

Romney's pick of the youthful Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate plays to the conservative base of the GOP, many of whom are frustrated and distrustful of their party's banner carrier.  Ryan is the Republican intellectual leader on budget issues, and his selection inextricably links Romney to the Ryan budget, which calls for lower taxes and deep cuts in social programs.  

In his announcement, Romney disingenuously attacked President Barack Obama for $700 billion in Medicare cuts. It was the old misleading "Medi-scare" tactic again, targeted at senior citizens.  In 2009, Medicare spending was about $500 billion, and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare spending will grow to a budget busting $930 billion in 2020. 

President Obama has not cut Medicare, rather Obamacare calls for $500 billion in savings over the next decade through operational efficiencies and more effective care.  But Ryan's plan also calls for about $500 billion in savings.  The plan would control Medicare spending by converting some of it into subsidies for private insurance, thereby shifting more of the burden to individuals.  Ryan's plan also calls for privatizing Social Security.

The selection of Ryan turns the election into a choice rather than a referendum on Obama's presidency.  In Ryan's own words, "We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes."  To liberals, this is code for cutting social programs.  And President Obama’s campaign quickly responded saying Ryan’s selection is, “a commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy.”

Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee and a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.  He is in his seventh term in Congress, and he previously worked as a staffer on Capitol Hill before his election.  He is a Washington insider who serves a largely rural Wisconsin district that sits between Milwaukee and Madison.  Ryan supported the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq War, and TARP, the 2008 government bank bailout that was unpopular with conservatives.  

During the Republican presidential primary, then candidate Newt Gingrich said the Ryan budget plan was "social engineering", a charge he later retracted.  The CBO said of the plan that it was possible seniors would face higher costs, and its enactment could result in, “reduced access to health care; diminished quality of care; increased efficiency of health care delivery; less investment in new, high-cost technologies; or some combination of those outcomes.”  

Upon accepting the role as Romney's running mate, Ryan said, "We won't duck the tough issues, we will lead. We will not blame others we will take responsibility.  We won't replace our founding principles, we will reapply them."  Ryan is young, 42 years-old, energetic, ambitious and driven.  He is severely conservative on social issues like abortion and gun control, and a Catholic.  

Ryan's selection will only further highlight the differences between the opposing sides and charges up the party base.  But his selection may cause problems among another key group of likely Republicans voters: seniors.  Furthermore, it is unclear how his views will be received among independent voters, a group likely to decide the election's ultimate outcome.     

This has been a rough month for Romney, filled with gaffs and missteps by his staff.  Romney has been under siege to release more of his federal tax returns, including from leading Republicans.  Questions of the legality of a $100 million trust fund he set up for his sons and of the wisdom of establishing off shore bank accounts have been a constant drumbeat. The Ryan announcement is sure to provide a brief respite from all the incoming attacks.    

Romney corrected himself in Saturday's Ryan announcement, ""Every now and then I'm known to make a mistake. I did not make a mistake with this guy. But I can tell you this. He's going to be the next vice president of the United States."  And later, Ryan was earnest, "It will take leadership and the courage to tell you the truth, Mitt Romney is this kind of leader, together we will unite this country and get this done."

Now the two sides are more clearly defined for voters.  But will the vice presidential candidate matter?  In the end, the election will rest on the state of the economy on election day, and on who voters believe they can trust.  Mitt Romney still has a lot of work to do on the trust issue.   

 

Going Blue

A few weeks ago my daughter, Zoe, asked if she could dye her hair blue.  She wanted to try something different, something distinctive, something stylish. 

As you might imagine, this resulted in much discussion between her mother and father.  Working to her benefit was the fact that she actually asked permission, as opposed to attempting it on her own.  The idea of blue hair seems consistent with her passion for fashion.  She spends a lot of time looking at designs, fabrics and colors.  She is taking a summer school class in fashion design at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.  

Like many teenagers, Zoe is trying to discover her identity.  She will be a junior in a prestigious private school, which is very competitive and academically demanding.  Last year was very challenging for her, but she ended the term with a B average.  She also greatly matured and gained in confidence.

While the idea of her having blue hair didn't sit well with me, my reasons for her not to do it seemed trivial.  What would other parents think?  Would she be accepted among her peers?  And I found out that there is no school regulation against it.  So, in the end, we agreed to go along provided that we have it done by a professional.

I am not sure that Zoe had any idea of how complicated and time consuming the dye job would be.  Swaths of her hair were wrapped in foil. 

Bleach was used to remove her natural black hair color.  After two hours of arduous work, performed by a stylist and an assistant, her hair was all white.  She appeared to age thirty years!

Finally, her style team painted each hair with blue dye.  The whole procedure took nearly four hours. (And was very expensive!)

At first, Zoe seemed nervous and tentative about her hair.  And the reactions from her friends, while largely favorable, were mixed.  Nonetheless, she is now very pleased with the way her hair appears. The only drawback so far is that for a few days the blue dye rubbed off on her pillow. 

There are only four weeks remaining before the new school year begins.  It will be interesting to see how the blue hair plays among her classmates.  My guess is it will be will be no big deal.

Zoe is grateful we gave her the opportunity to experiment.  She also knows that her parents treated her with respect, value her opinions and are not unreasonable.  I think the parent-kid bond got a little tighter.

My Medicare Milestone

Today I crossed a major milestone: I now qualify for Medicare.  Yes, I am a Baby Boomer, and I am proud of it!

My first memory, I must have been two years old, was of me looking out my bedroom window watching some kids walk through the empty field next to my suburban Chicago home.  It was as if, for some reason, my brain suddenly decided to start recording at that moment.  I was briefly startled, but soon regained my composure.  From that moment the memories came flooding in. 
My first educational experience was at a Catholic school.  The nuns were very strict, and I got hit with a ruler more than once.  But my crimes were always misdemeanors, like talking out of turn in class or writing on the blackboard.

One day all of the students were administered the new polio vaccine.  Actually, some of the students got the vaccine while others got a placebo.  It was one of the earliest tests of Dr. Jonas Salk's miracle vaccine.  My parents had agreed to allow me to participate; I think I got the vaccine. 

I laugh now when I think of the air raid drills we students endured.  We would regularly practice hiding under our desks, which we were instructed to do in the event of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union.  The school also had a bomb shelter that was so well stocked with canned foods and water that there wasn't a lot of room for humans.  To convey the urgency of the situation, school officials showed students civil defense films of atom bombs going off.  "Sir, forgive me, but are you sure we'll be safe under our desks?"

Somewhere around this time I received my first exposure to politics.  I proudly wore an "I Like Ike" button on my shirt, even though I only vaguely knew who General Dwight David Eisenhower was.  I watched a bit of the political conventions on our black and white RCA television, which occupied a prominent spot in our living room.  Our favorite television newscaster was John Cameron Swayze ("and the Camel Caravan").  Edward R. Murrow was our favorite radio newsman.  But there was no television or radio while we were eating dinner.

In the early fifties television was in its infancy, but it was quickly growing in popularity. My sister and I watched Kukla, Fran & Ollie almost every day.  It was an entertaining an endearing puppet show that appealed to children but was popular with adults too.  Then Captain Kangaroo came along, and his show would air on CBS at 8am weekday mornings for the next thirty years.  

Most of my free time was spent outdoors playing in our big backyard, or in the field next to our house.  When my dad got me a bike, I was scared to learn how to ride it.  It got increasingly tense over the course of several days as my dad became impatient with me.  One weekend afternoon he ordered me to get on the bike and said he would run along side of me while firmly holding onto the seat so the bike wouldn't crash.  As we rode along, I detected that my dad had stopped running.  I glanced back and saw him standing in the distance.  Yes, I was actually riding my bike! I loved it!

Not too long after that my dad told my mother she had to learn how to drive.  Mom was scared to death of driving and resisted mightily.  Our house was in a rural western suburb where most of the side roads were a combination of gravel and potholes.  But my dad did not want to play chauffeur every time my mom wanted to go somewhere.  So he told her she had to learn to drive or she would have to walk to the grocery store, which was two miles from the house.  She got her driver's license, but she absolutely hated driving for the rest of her life. 

Our first dog was a collie, and we named her Lady.  We did not want to name her after Lassie, the first dog with a television show named after her.  Regretfully, Lady was hit by a car and killed just down the road from our house.  It was my first loss.  By coincidence, not too long after that my father moved our family to a new house thirty miles away.  And I made new friends and I rode my bike all over town. 

But, as I look back it seems that my earliest memories are all in black and white.  This goes for the  nuns, the students, the town and even the giant garden in our backyard.  There were good guys, the United States, and bad guys, the Soviet Union.  The films of atomic bomb explosions were in black and white, as was news footage of President Dwight Eisenhower.  So too was Marshall Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who had a gunfight with the bad guys in the movie High Noon.  As were the Lone Ranger and Tonto, who helped tame the Wild West, and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who hosted a television show called Life is Worth Living.  Every thing seemed so much simpler then.

While I share many memories with millions of Baby Boomers, I wonder: how could time go by so quickly, where have all the years gone?  Maybe that's not all I lost.  Shakespeare said In Much Ado About Nothing, "As they say, when the age is in, the wit is out."