America Betrayed President Bush

It’s almost hard to believe but Wednesday, January 20 marks exactly one year since President Bush left the White House.

During his last public ceremony as commander in chief, he was booed by thousands of Americans who simutaneously cheered for Barack Obama as he was sworn into office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Except for a June 17 speech in Erie, Pennsylvania in which Bush defended his policies and criticized Obama’s, the former president has been remarkably silent about his successor. He has not fired back at Obama despite the new administration inappropriately blaming Bush for all of their failures.

One year after taking office however, Obama has done a total reversal on his isolationist, non-interventionist foreign policy, and is now pushing President Bush’s neo-conservative philosophy as a justification for starting a new war in Afghanistan. What the Democratic Party once criticized as an over-simplified good vs. evil argument has become the cornerstone of Obama’s reasoning.

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Tags: 911 attacks, Afghan War, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Barack Obama
Posted Jan 20th 2010 at 10:30 am in Defense, Open Threads, Politics | 62902291 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jsshapiro/2010/01/20/america-betrayed-president-bush/America+Betrayed+President+Bush2010-01-20+18%3A30%3A01Jeffrey+Scott+Shapiro

Reason.tv: Worst. Decade. Ever.

Hands down, the ’00s were the worst political decade at least since the 1990s.

Reason.tv celebrates the (lack of) personalities, the scandals, and the screw-ups that made us all want to forget the first 10 years of the 21st century.

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Tags: 2000 Presidential Election, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Dennis Kucinich, George W. Bush
Posted Dec 29th 2009 at 8:37 am in Political Humor | 53270105 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2009/12/29/reason-tv-worst-decade-ever/Reason.tv%3A+Worst.+Decade.+Ever.2009-12-29+16%3A37%3A39Nick+Gillespie

How the Media Has Failed America on Healthcare Reform–Part II

In part I of this article, I provided a little background on the history of the public option, including how John Edwards was actually the first to propose it during the Democratic primary campaign. I also demonstrated how the media has largely ignored the glaring inconsistencies between Edwards’ characterization of the public option during the campaign, and how Obama has promoted it to the public this year. Edwards quite openly acknowledged that a public option could result in the entire health system gravitating towards a government-run, single payer system. Obama, on the other hand, has flatly denied this is the case saying it’s all about “choice and competition”.

I also singled out Julie Rovner from NPR as an example of a media health policy expert who has failed to fully (and fairly) report on the public option. Including the fact that many of its original (and current) proponents believe it could ultimately lead to a single payer system. Instead, Rovner has been a consistent voice of support for the Administration’s assertion that this is only a “myth”. I asked Rovner to comment on this prior to publishing part I. Here is the relevant excerpt from her response (emphasis mine):

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Tags: Barack Obama, government health care, health care reform, health insurance reform, John Edwards
Posted Oct 28th 2009 at 7:04 am in Healthcare, Media Criticism | 2185023 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrichmond/2009/10/28/how-the-media-has-failed-america-on-healthcare-reformpart-ii/How+the+Media+Has+Failed+America+on+Healthcare+Reform%E2%80%93Part+II2009-10-28+14%3A04%3A50Morgen++Richmond

How the Media Has Failed America on Healthcare Reform–Part I

Most casual followers of politics did not pick up on the debate over healthcare reform until some time this past summer. They mostly ignored the umpteen news conferences held by the President since the spring, but they couldn’t miss the broader media coverage of town hall outrage. But for a small number of media experts on health policy, and an only slightly larger number of interested followers, the healthcare debate actually began much earlier. In fact, even prior to this year, when the initial policy formulation and political posturing took place during the Democratic primary campaign.

All three leading Democratic candidates for President – Obama, Clinton, and yes, John Edwards – proposed virtually identical plans for healthcare reform. The only real substantive difference being that the Clinton and Edwards plans included an individual mandate for insurance, whereas Obama’s plan did not. (Obama has since come around to supporting this mandate.) But importantly, all the Democratic plans included the creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers. What is now called, the “public option”.

Although he was destined to be a marginal candidate, Edwards played an important role in the healthcare debate. He was the first candidate to announce the details of his plan, and really put down a marker for liberal ambition on this issue leading into the election. Especially with the inclusion of the public option. And ultimately the other candidates largely followed his blueprint, even if they failed to credit him for his leadership on this issue.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Health Affairs, health care reform, health insurance reform, Hillary Clinton
Posted Oct 27th 2009 at 12:40 pm in Featured Story, Healthcare, Media Criticism | 2162218 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrichmond/2009/10/27/how-the-media-has-failed-america-on-healthcare-reform-part-i/How+the+Media+Has+Failed+America+on+Healthcare+Reform--Part+I2009-10-27+19%3A40%3A02Morgen++Richmond