Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Before you read this, scroll down and read The Big Picture's entry below. He makes a very important point. Now, to the day in politics.
FRANKEN: No more excuses, Democrats. Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court, in a 5-0 ruling, declared Al Franken the winner of the contested Minnesota Senate election. The ruling said that the trial court was correct in certifying the Democrat's 312 vote post-recount victory. An hour or so after the ruling, former Republican Senator Norm Coleman conceded, clearing the path for Franken to be sworn in when the Senate returns next week. This will give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate, to accompany its overwhelming House majority and progressive President. In theory, Democrats now control all levers of power in Washington. But, we should mention several caveats. First, any one Senator can nullify the filibuster-proof majority on a given issue. Remember, we still have to deal with people like ex-Republican Arlen Specter, McCain buddy Joe Lieberman and Nebraska's proud centrist Ben Nelson. Even if we do get everybody on board, we still need every Senator to be present and voting in order to get to the magic 60 without Republican support. This will be difficult because of health issues surrounding Senators Kennedy (MA) and Byrd (WV) (who came out of the hospital today after 6 weeks.). Despite these caveats, Franken's seating means that the Democrats have no more excuses for inaction. As Ezra Klein pointed out today, we may never have an opportunity like this again, and the Big Picture reminds us that getting strong progressive legislation will be the best way to make these majorities enduring.
A couple more points on Franken:
One thing I haven't thought about much is that Franken might end up being a debate asset for Senate Democrats. Even though Franken is sometimes written off because he was a comedian, he has a knack for making other people feel two feet small. Perhaps he can help put down Republican and centrist Democratic opposition to President Obama's proposals, and shift policy debates to the left.
Also, let's remember how far we've come. Three years ago today, Republicans held 55 Senate seats, 232 House seats, and the White House. Since then, they've lost 15 seats in the Senate, 54 in the House, and of course, the Presidency.
IRAQ: Remember that war in Iraq? It seems like we haven't heard anything about it for awhile. It's hard to believe consdering that it dominated the news from 2003 to 2007. Today, the United States military handed over control of Iraqi cities to the Iraqi military, per last year's Status of Forces Agreement. The turnover was accompanied by some violence, including a bombing that killed 4 American GIs. But considering where Iraq was two years ago, it's a pretty big deal. American troops will remain stationed outside the cities as advisors, and they will still be patrolling more rural areas. A dark chapter in American history is slowly coming to an end. The turnaround in Iraq can be attributed to a number of sources: a change in civilian and military leadership, the Sunni awakening, and the infamous troop surge. I was a major opponent of the troop surge, thinking that it was doubling down on a failed policy. While it may have been a tactical victory that allows us to start a painfully slow withdrawal, we have to remember that it still caused the death of over a thousand American troops.
Hopefully violence doesn't increase now that American troops have moved out of the cities. It is now the responsibility of the Iraqi government to ensure stability.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Daily Strike-4/9/09-War's Beginnings and Ends
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I will start out by saying that I would have much rather been at President Obama's Passover seder than my LSAT class. Let's take a look at the day in politics.
WAR: Today, the President officially requested $83.4 billion to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the fiscal year (September 30th). The funds will be needed around Memorial Day, when funds appropriated last year begin to run out. Most of the funding will be for operations and personnel. Additional funding is included for equipment and intelligence, including new money for counter terrorism operations in Pakistan. This, hopefully, will be the last time that Obama will have to request "supplemental" war funding from Congress. Bush always pretended like these wars were "emergencies" so that his budget proposals would look more "fiscally responsible." Obama has included war costs in his Fiscal Year 2010 budget request.
Remember the battles in 2007 over war funding? Democrats tried to attach withdrawal language to supplemental funding bills, Bush vetoed them, the Democrats caved, the war continued etc. Well now, the funding battle will take on a different tone. For starters, Obama at least has some semblance of an end-game in Iraq, and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan. Second, Obama is a fundamentally anti-war President at his core, so Democrats in Congress trust that he won't use this money to escalate pointless wars to further the vague and unreachable goal of "victory against terrorism."
Still, there will be some definite political wrangling over this money. I expect some serious resistance from liberals, especially in the House. These liberals are justifiably worried, particularly about increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. Iraq war critic, and Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha said today that "“I have great concern about adding any forces. I’ve said over and over again, it took me 15 years to realize that adding troops in Vietnam did not win the war for us.” Obama doesn't seem to be attaching any benchmarks to this funding (at least as of yet), so liberals may feel like they're just throwing more money down a black hole. Look for staunch anti-war Reps. Barbara Lee (CA), Maxine Waters (CA), Jan Schakowski (IL), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Ron Paul (TX-yes that Ron Paul) and Senators Russ Feingold (WI) and Barbara Boxer (CA) to vote against, if not lead a charge, against increased war spending.
I assume that Republicans won't have a problem spending this money. They seem to be less impulsively critical of Obama's Afghanistan and Iraq policies than they are of his other policies. They also never saw a war funding request from Bush that they didn't like. There are a select few Republicans, like Paul, Jimmy Duncan (TN), Walter Jones (NC), who will vote against the money because they are both fiscal conservatives and principally against the war. A few more, surely, will vote against it because it originated from the Obama White House. Ultimately, I expect the money to be approved pretty easily. I just hope that Congressional liberals hold Obama's feet to the fire, especially on Afghanistan.
VETERANS HEALTH CARE: If we continue to send troops to foreign wars, we will need a strengthened Veterans Health Care system. Today, President Obama took an important step in improving the quality of care for returning soldiers. The plan centers around new electronic records system that would track all service members, both active and inactive. The new technology will help stop delays and backlogs in the VA system. The VA has always been a guinea pig of sorts for health care policy ideas, so maybe this electronic records system can make it's way into our new public health system! I'm glad Obama made this announcement. A few weeks ago he completely screwed up by even mentioning an idea to have private companies pay for veterans' health care. It's not good, morally or politically, to have the veterans against you.
ODDS AND ENDS:
-An article in the New York Times yesterday stated that Obama plans to push for immigration reform later this year. Critics will say, again, that Obama is trying to do too much. There are legitimate concerns of anti-immigrant sentiment being more prevalent during a recession, which would make reform more difficult. As The Big Picture pointed out, though, it would fulfill the Glenn Beck/Bill O'Reilly nightmare of more Hispanics being permanently endowed to the Democratic Party. Anything that makes Beck and O'Reilly worry must be good, right?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Daily Strike-4/7/09-Surprise!
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The President is on his way back to the United States after an unexpected detour. Let's get to it.
IRAQ VISIT: The President tricked us! We thought he would be flying back to Washington from Istanbul, but instead, he flew to Baghdad to visit American troops and talk war strategy with General Ray Odierno (not exactly a DailyKos reader, if you know what I mean.) Odierno met Obama at the airport, and the two of them traveled to "Victory Hall" in central Baghdad. He spoke to about 600 troops, many of whom were very excited, according to videos. He thanked the troops for their service, and acknowledged their "extraordinary achievement" in bringing relative political stability to the US-occupied country. He told servicemen and women that the next 18 months will be "crucial" as the US transfers sovereignty to Iraqi security forces. After his short speech, the President waded into the crowd and shook hands.
The President then met personally with Odierno, and mentioned among other things:
-that he wanted to make sure that the troops were getting enough support from the federal government, specifically mental health support
-the integration of the Sunni minority into Iraqi security forces
-national hydrocarbon laws (really?)
The President also met personally with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and phoned President Jalal Talibani.
The trip was particularly interesting because of a question Obama answered earlier in the day at a Turkish town-hall meeting. The President told a questioner that even though he opposed the war from the start, he now had to make sure that the withdrawal is handled with prudence. I know some commentators will surely snark at that statement, saying things like "candidate Obama never would have said what President Obama did." I would remind them that the President repeatedly promised to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.
One last thing on foreign travel: It looks like Obama will be traveling to Israel and the West Bank in June. Should be interesting.
ELECTION MADNESS: Two election related stories to report on today, and neither of them have to do with the razor-tight race in New York's 20th District. Today in Illinois, voters go to the polls to select the replacement to former Rep. Rahm Emanuel in the 5th District. The heavy favorite is Democrat Mike Quigley, who emerged from a crowded primary in this heavily Democratic district. My one minor worry (and it seems pretty implausible) is that the election seems like such a foregone conclusion that people don't show up to vote. It sort of happened in a special election in Louisiana in December, although the loser (former Rep. William Jefferson) in that case was under indictment. One bad sign is that Rahm Emanuel admitted today on Air Force One that he himself forgot to vote. Typical of Rahm, he used some colorful language.
The other election news comes from the never-ending marathon in Minnesota, where Democrat Al Franken defeated former Senator Norm Coleman. The court ruled last week that the canvassing board could only recount about 400 ballots, far less than what Coleman had demanded. It turns out that Franken actually gained votes during that recount today, and extended his lead to 312 votes, virtually eliminating any chance Coleman had of pulling this one out. Of course, that fact matters little to Coleman. He knows he will not win this race, but he wants to drag out this process as long as possible (at the instruction of the Republican leadership) so that the Democrats don't get a crucial vote in the Senate. Expect him to make a federal repeal. Can't we stop him somehow?
That's it for tonight. Join us tomorrow when the President (for real) makes it back to the States! Remember to leave your comments! The most insightful comment will be included in Friday's Daily Strike!
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Daily Strike-Iraq and CPAC
Bon Sois from Montreal, where The Strike and Father Strike are traveling to watch the Sharks take on the Canadiens. The posts will be a bit shorter this weekend as a result.
IRAQ: Today President Obama announced a plan to draw down troops from Iraq. In the next 19 months, all but 50,000 troops will leave the region or be redeployed to Afghanistan. All troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011 according to the Status of Forces agreement made last year between President Bush and Iraqi President Maliki.
This plan comes as a bit of a disappointment to some of us who were expecting swifter action on this front. Obama made it clear on the campaign trail that he favored a 16th month withdrawal, with only some residual forces to protect the U.S. embassy and train Iraqis. 50,000 seems like a lot of troops to perform those duties. Apparently, this agreement is the result of a compromise between Obama and the Bush-appointed military brass. They may have a good idea of "conditions on the ground," but Obama must remember that he is protecting the broader strategic interests. That's why we have civilian control of the military. Hopefully Obama isn't intimidated when he's in a room with Generals.
CPAC: On a far, far less serious note, conservatives are gathered this weekend for the "Conservative Political Action Conference" in Washington DC. This is a bizzarro valhalla if I've ever seen one. In the past two days, various speakers have suggested that:
-Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States (to wild cheers!)
-Chicago could be a target of a nuclear bomb from Iran (Thanks, John Bolton)
-the best way to get out of our economic crisis would be to eliminate corporate taxes
-Sarah Palin would have beaten Barack Obama in the last election
-That Obama is a socialist (pretty much every speaker) and a communist (Mike Huckabee)
-That the only reason they've lost in recent elections is that they weren't conservative enough and were blindsided by the "liberal" media.
Ladies and Gentleman, your 2009 Republican Party. If they keep acting like this, they may be looking at extinction in the relatively near future. The more they talk like this, the more they alienate large swaths of the American public. But on the other hand, if they don't say incredibly ludicrous things, the Rush Limbaugh's of the world will criticize them for not being conservative enough.
Either way, great news for us liberals!!
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
IRAQ: Today President Obama announced a plan to draw down troops from Iraq. In the next 19 months, all but 50,000 troops will leave the region or be redeployed to Afghanistan. All troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011 according to the Status of Forces agreement made last year between President Bush and Iraqi President Maliki.
This plan comes as a bit of a disappointment to some of us who were expecting swifter action on this front. Obama made it clear on the campaign trail that he favored a 16th month withdrawal, with only some residual forces to protect the U.S. embassy and train Iraqis. 50,000 seems like a lot of troops to perform those duties. Apparently, this agreement is the result of a compromise between Obama and the Bush-appointed military brass. They may have a good idea of "conditions on the ground," but Obama must remember that he is protecting the broader strategic interests. That's why we have civilian control of the military. Hopefully Obama isn't intimidated when he's in a room with Generals.
CPAC: On a far, far less serious note, conservatives are gathered this weekend for the "Conservative Political Action Conference" in Washington DC. This is a bizzarro valhalla if I've ever seen one. In the past two days, various speakers have suggested that:
-Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States (to wild cheers!)
-Chicago could be a target of a nuclear bomb from Iran (Thanks, John Bolton)
-the best way to get out of our economic crisis would be to eliminate corporate taxes
-Sarah Palin would have beaten Barack Obama in the last election
-That Obama is a socialist (pretty much every speaker) and a communist (Mike Huckabee)
-That the only reason they've lost in recent elections is that they weren't conservative enough and were blindsided by the "liberal" media.
Ladies and Gentleman, your 2009 Republican Party. If they keep acting like this, they may be looking at extinction in the relatively near future. The more they talk like this, the more they alienate large swaths of the American public. But on the other hand, if they don't say incredibly ludicrous things, the Rush Limbaugh's of the world will criticize them for not being conservative enough.
Either way, great news for us liberals!!
That's it for tonight. See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/24/09-Pre-Speech Update
Good evening! Of course today's major event will be President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress tonight. We will cover that in depth with a Late Night Strike, with views and analysis from a few of our bloggers to the speech and the Republican response from Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. For now, let's talk about what happened earlier in the day.
SENATE: The Senate took two key votes today. The first was a cloture motion to proceed to consideration of a bill granting a House seat to the District of Columbia (and a temporary one for Utah). While the motion technically just permits the Senate to debate the bill, it's adoption makes the bill's passage a foregone conclusion. The motion required 60 votes to pass, and thus was done to test whether the bill would break a Republican filibuster. The motion was adopted by a vote of 62-34. All Democrats voted for the bill except for Senators Baucus (MT) and Byrd (WV). My impression is that both Baucus and Byrd are institutionalist and sticklers for the rules. Byrd is infamous for his strict adherence to the rules and structures of the Senate. Republicans voting for the motion:
-Cochran (MS) (That's a surprise, he's usually a mainstream conservative)
-Collins (ME)
-Hatch (UT) (He's cool with his state getting an extra House seat!)
-Lugar (IN)
-Murkowski (AK)
-Snowe (ME)
-Specter (PA)
-Voinovich
If the bill passes the Senate later this week, it goes to the House, where it shouldn't face any trouble. President Obama will sign the bill into law. The question then becomes whether the bill will withstand a court challenge. As we talked about the other day, the constitution does say that Representatives The scome from "the several states," and DC is not a state. I'll go more into the legal issues once I consult with Sister Strike about this. It looks like the final bill will mandate expedited legal consideration so the constitutionality of the bill is determined before DC would elect its first Representative in 2010.
The second key vote was on confirmation of Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor (finally!). Republicans dropped procedural challenges to her nomination earlier in the day and agreed to a vote on final passage this afternoon. Republicans had expressed concerns about her previous work with a labor rights group (that makes her MORE qualified in my view), her vague statements on The Employee Free Choice Act (a bill to make it easier for workers to unionize) and her husband's tax problems. But after all that, Solis was confirmed surprisngly easily today by a vote of 80-17. All of the "no" votes came from Republicans. I'm frankly surprised at some of the "yes" votes, which include Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, John McCain and his sidekick Lindsey Graham, and Georgia's Saxby Chambliss. Solis will try to restore a department brutally damaged during the last eight years, when it was run by Elaine Chao and big business. Solis' confirmation is a victory for progressives. She has a staunchly pro-labor record, and has an inspiring story as the daughter of Mexican immigrants.
Her confirmation also brings the number of outstanding open cabinet positions to two: Commerce and HHS. Former Washington Governor Gary Locke is expected to be nominated for Commerce tomorrow. She also will be forced to resign her seat in the House, which will bring the whole number of representatives to 432, with the Democrats holding a 254-178 advantage. The two other vacant seats are those of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and appointed New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand's seat, as we've talked about before, is the only one that will be closely contested.
HOUSE: The House disposed of many bills under suspension of the rules today. The most interesting was a bill to ban the domestication of primates. Surprisingly, 95 Representatives voted against this bill (93 of them Republicans). The House also voted to name a post office and recognize Black History month. It moves tomorrow to consideration of a bill to fund the federal government through September. The House will consider the bill under a rule prohibiting amendments. Therefore, Republicans won't be able to bring up 80 votes striking funding from Amtrak, the National Endowment of the Arts etc. The Republicans will be able to vote on their own alternative through a motion to recommit the bill to committee.
IRAQ: Obama is expected to release the details of his Iraq plan in the next couple of days. The plan will apparently have most troops out in 19 months (three months longer than his campaign promise). He also will leave behind a residual force, which will include some combat forces. This seems to be a water-downed withdrawal that is a compromise between Obama's campaign rhetoric and the demands of the Pentagon brass that the U.S. not withdrawal "precipitously." This is very disappointing news to many of us who had hoped he wouldn't budge on this issue. I realize it's a complicated issue and the state of affairs in Iraq is fragile, but he can't morally justify continuing this war. His political rise was launched by his principled opposition to the war almost seven years ago. Let's just hope he never sacrifices that strong moral compass.
That's it for now, but we'll update you all later tonight!
SENATE: The Senate took two key votes today. The first was a cloture motion to proceed to consideration of a bill granting a House seat to the District of Columbia (and a temporary one for Utah). While the motion technically just permits the Senate to debate the bill, it's adoption makes the bill's passage a foregone conclusion. The motion required 60 votes to pass, and thus was done to test whether the bill would break a Republican filibuster. The motion was adopted by a vote of 62-34. All Democrats voted for the bill except for Senators Baucus (MT) and Byrd (WV). My impression is that both Baucus and Byrd are institutionalist and sticklers for the rules. Byrd is infamous for his strict adherence to the rules and structures of the Senate. Republicans voting for the motion:
-Cochran (MS) (That's a surprise, he's usually a mainstream conservative)
-Collins (ME)
-Hatch (UT) (He's cool with his state getting an extra House seat!)
-Lugar (IN)
-Murkowski (AK)
-Snowe (ME)
-Specter (PA)
-Voinovich
If the bill passes the Senate later this week, it goes to the House, where it shouldn't face any trouble. President Obama will sign the bill into law. The question then becomes whether the bill will withstand a court challenge. As we talked about the other day, the constitution does say that Representatives The scome from "the several states," and DC is not a state. I'll go more into the legal issues once I consult with Sister Strike about this. It looks like the final bill will mandate expedited legal consideration so the constitutionality of the bill is determined before DC would elect its first Representative in 2010.
The second key vote was on confirmation of Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor (finally!). Republicans dropped procedural challenges to her nomination earlier in the day and agreed to a vote on final passage this afternoon. Republicans had expressed concerns about her previous work with a labor rights group (that makes her MORE qualified in my view), her vague statements on The Employee Free Choice Act (a bill to make it easier for workers to unionize) and her husband's tax problems. But after all that, Solis was confirmed surprisngly easily today by a vote of 80-17. All of the "no" votes came from Republicans. I'm frankly surprised at some of the "yes" votes, which include Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, John McCain and his sidekick Lindsey Graham, and Georgia's Saxby Chambliss. Solis will try to restore a department brutally damaged during the last eight years, when it was run by Elaine Chao and big business. Solis' confirmation is a victory for progressives. She has a staunchly pro-labor record, and has an inspiring story as the daughter of Mexican immigrants.
Her confirmation also brings the number of outstanding open cabinet positions to two: Commerce and HHS. Former Washington Governor Gary Locke is expected to be nominated for Commerce tomorrow. She also will be forced to resign her seat in the House, which will bring the whole number of representatives to 432, with the Democrats holding a 254-178 advantage. The two other vacant seats are those of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and appointed New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand's seat, as we've talked about before, is the only one that will be closely contested.
HOUSE: The House disposed of many bills under suspension of the rules today. The most interesting was a bill to ban the domestication of primates. Surprisingly, 95 Representatives voted against this bill (93 of them Republicans). The House also voted to name a post office and recognize Black History month. It moves tomorrow to consideration of a bill to fund the federal government through September. The House will consider the bill under a rule prohibiting amendments. Therefore, Republicans won't be able to bring up 80 votes striking funding from Amtrak, the National Endowment of the Arts etc. The Republicans will be able to vote on their own alternative through a motion to recommit the bill to committee.
IRAQ: Obama is expected to release the details of his Iraq plan in the next couple of days. The plan will apparently have most troops out in 19 months (three months longer than his campaign promise). He also will leave behind a residual force, which will include some combat forces. This seems to be a water-downed withdrawal that is a compromise between Obama's campaign rhetoric and the demands of the Pentagon brass that the U.S. not withdrawal "precipitously." This is very disappointing news to many of us who had hoped he wouldn't budge on this issue. I realize it's a complicated issue and the state of affairs in Iraq is fragile, but he can't morally justify continuing this war. His political rise was launched by his principled opposition to the war almost seven years ago. Let's just hope he never sacrifices that strong moral compass.
That's it for now, but we'll update you all later tonight!
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