The Democrats Clean House

Well, as I get ready to ship out tomorrow morning and mingle with the international community for the next two weeks, I hold my head up a bit higher, walk a little prouder as an American. I'm starting to once again recognize my government in action after the last six years of being trapped in the dark abyss.

The new Democratic majority in the House held true to their word and beat the 100 hour deadline easily, passing great legislation about stem cell research, lower interest rates for student loans, increasing the minimum wage, etc. All good things. Now let's see what they do about the war.

I know the conservatives love to attack Speaker Pelosi, but I think she's off to a great start. From today's headlines:

"The House wrapped up the Democrats' "100 Hours" legislative sprint Thursday with time to spare, voting to recoup billions of dollars in lost royalties from oil and gas companies and roll back industry tax breaks.

The energy bill capped a two-week drumbeat of votes on legislation that, while popular with voters last fall, awaits a sketchy fate in the Senate.

The House bill, approved 264-123, sets a conservation fee on oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico, attempts to recoup royalties lost because of a government error in drilling leases in the late 1990s, and rolls back several oil industry tax breaks.

"In the November election, the American people signaled their wish for change — a wish for our country to go in a new direction," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. "Democrats promised that we would, and these past two weeks, we have delivered on our promise."

Democrats accomplished their early legislative goals in 87 hours, adopting new ethics rules and passing bills raising the minimum wage, expanding taxpayer financed research into embryonic stem cells, forcing more homeland security measures, directing the federal government to negotiate for cheaper Medicare prescription drugs and lowering interest rates on subsidized student loans."

Obama Fever

First, I want to thank Carson Britz for filling in this week for Tom. That's not an easy gig, but Carson is a heck of a nice young man and I'm enjoying working with him. He also produces the morning show on KSTT FM with Bill and Amy. Enjoyed the chance to talk to pop singer Melissa Manchester tonight. Wish I was going to be in town this Saturday to catch her concert at the Clark Center, but, alas, the penguins call.

Also met Connie O'Henley, the new director of the Clark Center, the sixth in five years for those of you keeping track at home. Nice woman with a solid background in nonprofit work. Hope she works out. The Clark Center deserves stability.

If you're looking for a PR job, you might think of contacting Cuesta College. They sacked their public information officer, Tim Chanel (sp?), after only a few months on the job. Cuesta just seems to be stumbling without Grace Mitchell as president. Very sad.

Meanwhile, the big news today is Barack Obama inching closer to running for the White House. I heard Sean Hannity go nuts on him today, which means I like him already. I understand and share the concern that he's relatively inexperienced and untested, but after eight years of Bush-Cheney (or Cheney-Bush), the country might just need an outsider, someone who truly is a uniter and not a divider. And now in the 21st century, we might welcome a president who is not another white male.

So it's not an endorsement, but I think if I have any money left over from Antarctica, I'm going to kick it to Obama and help give the guy a chance to run a competitive race. To me, John McCain sold out and can't be trusted. I really like Chuck Hagel from Nebraska and find him to be a Republican I can support. Hilary is too gun shy and those pantsuits are starting to get to me. I can't take John Edwards seriously.

So do you have Obama fever? And how do you explain the magnetism?

Republican Strategy in Iraq

Several people have been tossing this theory my way these last few weeks -- that the Republicans are merely trying to forestall the inevitable in Iraq until after the 2008 elections so it doesn't cost them the White House.

Rosa Brooks, writing in the LA Times, tries to make the case. What do you think?


"IF YOU THINK the growing similarity between Iraq and Vietnam is tragic but inadvertent, you're not being cynical enough.

During the first years of the Iraq war, any resemblance to Vietnam was the result of the Bush administration's disastrous miscalculations. But today, the Iraq war is looking more and more like the Vietnam War because that's exactly what suits the White House.

It's clear that Bush knows perfectly well there's no possibility of "winning" anymore, so apparently he's seeking in Iraq exactly what Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger sought in Vietnam before the 1972 election: a face-saving "decent interval" before the virtually inevitable collapse of the U.S.-backed government.

By 1971, Nixon and Kissinger understood that "winning" in Vietnam was no longer in the cards — so they shifted from trying to win the war to trying to win the next election. As Nixon put it in March 1971: "We can't have [the South Vietnamese] knocked over brutally … " Kissinger finished the thought " … before the election." So Nixon and Kissinger pushed the South Vietnamese to "stand on their own," promising we'd support them if necessary. But at the same time, Kissinger assured the North Vietnamese — through China — that the U.S. wouldn't intervene to prevent a North Vietnamese victory — as long as that victory didn't come with embarrassing speed.

As historian Jeffrey Kimball has documented, Kissinger's talking points for his first meeting with Chinese Premier Chou En-lai on the topic of Vietnam included a promise that the U.S. would withdraw all troops and "leave the political evolution of Vietnam to the Vietnamese." The U.S. would "let objective realities" — North Vietnamese military superiority — "shape the political future." In the margins of his briefing book, Kissinger scrawled a handwritten elaboration for Chou: "We want a decent interval. You have our assurance."

The "decent interval" strategy worked. By declaring that "peace was at hand," Kissinger took the wind out of antiwar Democrat George McGovern's sails, and Nixon won reelection. And though Nixon himself later fell to the Watergate scandal, the Republican Party successfully used the "decent interval" to cast the Democratic Party in the role of spoiler.

In December 1974, tired of hemorrhaging funds to prop up the failing South Vietnamese government, the Democrat-controlled Congress finally pulled the plug on further U.S. financial support. The following April, Saigon fell, just as Kissinger and Nixon had privately predicted. But enough time had elapsed for Republicans to pin the blame on South Vietnamese missteps and, most important, on the perfidy of the Democratic Party.

In the end, the Vietnam War was a terrible tragedy for the both the U.S. and the Vietnamese — but it was a great success for the Republican Party. Nixon and Kissinger's "decent interval" created the myth of the Democratic Party as weak and anti-military and helped keep the White House in Republican hands for all but 12 of the last 30 years.

Bush's "surge" is the "decent interval" redux. It's too little, too late, and it relies on the Iraqis to do what we know full well they can't do. There is no realistic likelihood that it will lead to an enduring solution in Iraq. But it may well provide the decent interval the GOP needs if it is to survive beyond the 2008 elections.

The surge makes Bush look, as Goldberg suggests, like he really wants to win, even as he refuses to take the necessary and honest steps to mitigate the terrible damage we've already done. The surge buys time — and meanwhile, the Democratic Party is placed in the same untenable position it was in during the last stages of the Vietnam War.

If it backs Bush's feckless plan, it loses credibility with the voters, who hate the war. But if it opposes the escalation, it will be attacked for undermining the military. Ann Coulter offered a preview last week: "Democrats want to cut and run as fast as possible from Iraq, betraying the Iraqis who supported us and rewarding our enemies — exactly as they did to the South Vietnamese."

At this point, the Republicans win by losing in Iraq — as long as they can blame the loss on the Democrats. And unless they find a way to refuse to play the game, the Democrats will just lose."

Countdown to Antarctica

Things are going to be sort of different on Hometown Radio for the next couple weeks. Tom will be away all this week, enjoying a special family reunion up north to celebrate his 75th birthday. I'll be working with Carson Britz -- a heck of a nice young man -- and we'll do live shows through Thursday. On Friday, there will be a "Best of" playing.

Tom is back on the 22nd, but I'm gone until February 5th, off on my adventure to South America and Antarctica. We'll have a series of guest hosts in to cover, including SLO police chief Deb Linden, Dr. Scott Robertson, Betsey Nash, Pastor Doug and, yes, Santa Maria Bill. You'll hear a diversity of guests and topics covered in my absence.

To be honest, I'm not sure what will happen with this blog while I'm away. I'm assuming Internet access on board the ship, so I'll continue to post, if possible. Or I may ask King Harris to sit in as Head Blogger for a few sessions. Either way, I want to keep our dialogue going, but don't panic if new posts aren't as frequent.

Meanwhile, those of you into "date nights" will want to listen Tuesday at 5:05 when I interview pop singer Melissa Manchester. We'll be giving away some pairs of free tickets to her Clark Center concert next Saturday. On Monday, historian Roger Hall talks about California history and Henry Edward Huntington. On Wednesday, Pat Renshaw and Angie King talk about women's rights in 2007 and Si Tetenberg needs help in putting together CARE packages for the troops. On Thursday, we'll wade into the Charter TV public access mess and find out if anyone is really watching.

Stay warm out there. This weather is starting to remind me of the Midwest. Brrrrrr.