The Moose urges the donkey to take the "multi" in multiculturalism seriously.
Peter Beinart made a profound point in a Washington Post piece yesterday arguing for Democratic outreach to the military community,
"Genuine multiculturalism is not just about race, ethnicity and gender. It's about embracing people whose culture differs from yours, in hopes of finding core principles that you share. Over the past four years, Republicans have done that. Now Democrats must too."
Beinart points out that Republicans are making serious efforts to reach beyond their traditional base,
"To understand why military voters matter to the Democratic Party's fate, consider what African American and Hispanic voters mean to the Republican Party. For four years -- through faith-based initiatives, conservative cultural appeals, Spanish-language infomercials and Cinco de Mayo celebrations -- Karl Rove has labored to bring ethnic minorities into the GOP. His calculation has been twofold. First, African American and Hispanic votes are valuable in and of themselves. Second, African American and Hispanic support helps Republicans overcome their image as exclusionary and hard-hearted -- and that wins over some moderate white voters as well."
Sunday's New York Times also reported on the Republican outreach efforts to African American churches,
"But the White House has been reaching out to sympathetic black clergy members - through its stand on social issues, its effort to give religious groups more of a role in providing federally financed social services and ideas like Mr. Bush's proposed initiative to counter gang violence, a concern of some black ministers who support him, like the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers of Dorchester, Mass."
The Moose understands that the GOP has made significant inroads into the orthodox Jewish community, as well. In contrast to these Republican outreach efforts, the Democratic Party, fairly or unfairly, appears to be doing the opposite - mired in and comforted by its self-satisfied, insular hatred for everything Bush. Can one imagine a Democratic outreach effort to the Pentecostal Community? Most Democrats would not be able to distinguish between a Pentecostal and a pretzel!
The truth is that neither party makes it comfortable for what the Moose refers to as "progressive traditionalists" - those who are to the left on economics, but are socially conservative and hawkish on defense. Before 1968, those folks formed the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Since the tumult of the anti-war movement and the counter-culture, they are up for grabs. The Republican ascendancy has been built on wooing these voters. And should the GOP be successful in making inroads among "progressive traditionalists", Democrats will only be visiting the Oval Office as tourists for the foreseeable future.
It is not simply a matter that these progressive traditionalists are deluded by false consciousness a la "What's the matter with Kansas." Cultural concerns are every bit as significant with these voters as economic ones. For them, the guard rails of tradition have been removed.
The greatest predictor of voting behavior is the frequency of church attendance. The Democratic Party is perceived as a secularist party. This phenomena is extremely costly to the party in one of the most religious countries outside the Muslim world. That is why the Moose urges the donkey to reconsider its hostility to faith in the public square. That doesn't mean merely mouthing Biblical passages in support of the minimum wage. Sometimes it appears that the only religion Democrats accept is a theological belief in church-state separation.
One of the most significant motivating factors for evangelical Christians to become politically involved is the feeling that they are the only group in America that is fair game to stereotype and vilify. There is some truth in that view. In their commendable commitment to multiculturalism, Democrats should also find a way to forcefully and visibly be seen on the side of religious folks.
Take a stand against the militant secularists as well as the religious right. Republicans shouldn't be the only defenders of the displays of the Decalogue or the Christmas creche.
Put the "multi" back in multiculturalism! -- | 
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Sunday, March 06, 2005
The Moose salutes Joe Klein.
For those watching "Meet the Press", there was quite the showdown on the Clinton legacy. The Moose scores Joe Klein with a TKO over Paul Krugman. Here is how it went,
"MR. RUSSERT: As Professor Bob Schmuhl of Notre Dame keeps reminding me, this could be the first presidential election in 56 years where an incumbent president or vice president is not seeking the nomination of either party, Paul Krugman. How do you see things unfolding?
MR. KRUGMAN: I think it's just wildly up in the air. I mean, you know, there's enormous turmoil on the Democratic side trying to figure out--there's a lot of unity but there's a lot of turmoil about what the party stands for. And I just don't know. I mean, I can't--I dread the prospect of a Clinton run just because I think that would be--it would be an attempt to recreate the politics of the '90s when you had Bill Clinton, who was a president who managed to sort of triangulate. And I think we ought to have an election that's really about what what kind of country we're going to be and we won't have that if it's Hillary Clinton running."
Following an interlude discussion of the 2008 Republican field, Klein interjected,
MR. KLEIN: Paul, I have a question for you: What was it about the peace and prosperity of the eight years of the Clinton administration that you didn't like?
MR. KRUGMAN: No, I liked the way the country ran.
MR. KLEIN: I think that he had a real governing philosophy. It wasn't triangulation. It was moving us from the industrial age to the information age, and that's where the Democratic Party is going to have to move...
MR. KRUGMAN: There's a radical right...
MR. KLEIN: ...if it wants to have any role in American politics.
MR. KRUGMAN: There's a radical right challenge to America as we know it that's under way, and I think the Democrats--I mean, maybe Hillary Clinton can do this. I'm actually not opposed to her, right? But they need to make clear that they are going to turn back that tide, not blur it.
MR. KLEIN: The answer to a radical right challenge isn't a reactionary left response."
The Moose gives Joe a hearty "Bully!" -- | Email
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Saturday, March 05, 2005
The Moose applauds the Democratic Senate Leader for not caving in to the conventional wisdom.
In Washington, too many politicians are slaves to the CW. As Michael Kinsley famously declared, a gaffe is when a politician blurts out the truth. Senator Reid did just that the other day when he referred to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan as a "political hack." This weekend, D.C. dinner parties will be all abuzz with this breach of Beltway etiquette. It as if Tony Blair had just insulted the queen. This is a moment of historic cultural importance! The Zeitgeist has shifted!
As the Washington Post reported this morning,
"Questioning the wisdom of Alan Greenspan in political Washington is akin to challenging the integrity of the pope in Rome, so figures in both parties agreed yesterday that the top Senate Democrat's description of the Federal Reserve Board chairman as a "political hack" was a blunder."
As the Moose noted yesterday, Senator Reid was spot on. The Fed Chairman lost his halo when he did not reject tax cuts during wartime. Indeed, it was his patriotic duty and obligation to speak out against the madness of reducing revenues when the nation was at war. It is now completely dishonest for him to decry the growing debt. With his silence, Mr. Greenspan is clearly culpable in its creation. For him to now bless private social security accounts only further undermines his credibility. The trillion dollar transition costs will further exacerbate the deficit problem. Greenspan is not just a partisan hack, but also an ideological one.
All Democrats should be proud of their Senate leader for his straight talk. Indeed, all Americans should be as well. -- | Email
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Friday, March 04, 2005
The Moose wonders whether NPR commentator Daniel Schorr is a secret member of PNAC.
A few days ago, the Moose suggested that progressives should embrace the advance of the spread of democracy in the Middle East even if President Bush gets the credit. Now, support for that view comes from a very surprising source, noted lefty journalist Daniel Schorr. In this must read piece, Schorr opines,
"Something remarkable is happening in the Middle East - a grass-roots movement against autocracy without any significant "Great Satan" anti-American component...
"The movements for democratic change in Egypt and Lebanon have happened since the successful Iraqi election on Jan. 30. And one can speculate on whether Iraq has served as a beacon for democratic change in the Middle East.
"During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush said that "a liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region."
"He may have had it right."
While it far too premature for popping the champagne corks, there are clearly positive developments in the Middle East. However, as Ralph Peters indicates in the New York Post, there is no justification for cockiness,
"Excessive euphoria would only play into the hands of those who wanted freedom's campaign to fail all along. If our rhetoric becomes too exuberant, even positive events on the ground could be dismissed as falling short of our promises.
"This isn't a time to gloat. Instead, we need to work harder than ever, to keep pushing, to exploit the current momentum.
"We should be encouraged our enemies are certainly discouraged but more American soldiers and civilians are going to be killed in the days ahead. The Middle East's degenerate regimes will not all go down without a fight. Nor will the many terrorists they spawned."
The Moose argues that Democrats should both champion democracy's progress and pressure the Bush Administration from the right for more resources to win the war against terror. Democrats should point out that we will need more money both for hard power to expand the military and for soft power to spread the democratic message. That means reversing the Administration's fiscal follies of providing more for the wealthy.
Democrats should be among those leading the democratic parade, not following or begrudging it. -- | Email
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The Moose wonders what planet the Fed Chairman has been living on the past four years. Adding insult to injury, our interplanetary traveler also endorsed social security privatization that would entail transition costs which would further balloon the debt. Perhaps, Mr. Greenspan lives on Planet Bushie. The Moose awards Senator Reid a hearty "Bully!" for breaking Beltway etiquette and offering the chief economic alien some straight talk, "We had a $7 trillion-dollar surplus when Bush took office. Now we have a $3 or $4 trillion-dollar deficit. That's, in fact, what Greenspan should be telling people." Then, Harry Skywalker brought Darth Vader back to earth with this choice comment, "I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington." Senator Reid, live long and prosper! Now, Starship Commander Greenspan would like to boldly go where no other Fed Chairman has gone before by endorsing a backdoor consumption tax so his wealthy cronies can further shelter their riches. It is very clear that in his dotage, Greenspan is returning to his cultish, objectivist Ayn Rand roots. Perhaps, he is now lives on Planet Atlas Shrugged. Beam me up, Scotty!
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan descended from the heavens this week to inform us lowly earthlings that we face a deficit crisis. Who would have thunk it? But, in his infinite wisdom, the man who knows all told Congress,
"Unless we do something to ameliorate" rising debt levels, he told the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, "we will be in a state of stagnation."
This is from the man who has granted his blessing on the very tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy that has created this debt mess. Perhaps Mr. Greenspan has been residing on Planet Chutzpah!
The Fed Chair has jumped the shark. His tenure as the gray eminence is over, kaput. Maybe, he doesn't receive cable in his part of the universe, but the nation has been at war at the same time the Administration has been on a tax cutting and spending binge.
Paul Krugman has it right this morning,
"Four years ago, Alan Greenspan urged Congress to cut taxes, asserting that the federal government was in imminent danger of paying off too much debt.
"On Wednesday the Fed chairman warned Congress of the opposite fiscal danger: he asserted that there would be large budget deficits for the foreseeable future, leading to an unsustainable rise in federal debt. But he counseled against reversing the tax cuts, calling instead for cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"Does anyone still take Mr. Greenspan's pose as a nonpartisan font of wisdom seriously?
When Mr. Greenspan made his contorted argument for tax cuts back in 2001, his reputation made it hard for many observers to admit the obvious: he was mainly looking for some way to do the Bush administration a political favor. But there's no reason to be taken in by his equally weak, contorted argument against reversing those cuts today." Email
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Thursday, March 03, 2005
The Moose asks the Mooseketeers to dig deep and find some empathy for the House Majority Leader.
The Honorable Tom DeLay has not had as much trouble on his hands since he got booted out of Baylor back in the '60s for his college antics against A&M. From ethics problems in D.C. to his political cronies facing trial in Texas, the Bug Man must long for the days when the only challenges he had to confront were those pesky fireants.
Now, Mike Allen reports in today's Washington Post that his political base back in the Lone Star State may be shaky,
"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), struggling to protect his Washington power base as legal and ethical issues fester, also has to watch his back on the home front.
"Though the change has received little notice, DeLay's strength in his suburban Houston congressional district of strip malls and housing developments has eroded considerably -- forcing him to renew his focus on protecting his seat.
"DeLay garnered 55 percent of the vote in the November election against a relatively unknown Democrat, an unusually modest showing for a veteran House member who is one of the most powerful politicians in Washington. Some Republican officials and DeLay supporters worry that with President Bush absent from the top of the ticket next year, liberal interest groups might target the conservative majority leader and spend millions of dollars on campaign ads to try to defeat him.
"The outspoken and hard-charging DeLay, 57, got into trouble last year when the House ethics committee admonished him three times and three of his Texas associates were indicted by a Travis County grand jury on charges of illegal fundraising related to a controversial redistricting plan that DeLay helped push through the state legislature. Testimony began this week in a civil case brought in Austin by five Democrats who allege that a political action committee begun by DeLay improperly spent about $600,000 in corporate contributions to implement the plan and unseat them."
Although it is far from clear that DeLay faces imminent defeat in '06, it would be delicious irony if he is the victim of his corrupt redistricting scheme. At the very least, he will have less time to manipulate the levers of power in Washington while he feasts on chicken fried steak dinners at diners back in Sugar Land. Allen writes,
"So when the House is tackling what DeLay calls the most ambitious agenda since Republicans took control a decade ago, he has to worry about getting face time with local officials and with business owners who turn out for Chamber of Commerce dinners in the 30 percent of his district that is new."
Meanwhile, the National Journal reported that DeLay and his flunkies were the globe trotting beneficiaries of Air Abramoff of the Indian gaming scandal fame,
"Last week, the National Journal reported that DeLay, his wife, Christine, and close aides had traveled the world with Jack Abramoff, who once was one of the Republican Party's most powerful lobbyists and now is facing criminal and congressional investigations for millions of dollars in fees he received from casino-operating Indian tribes seeking to influence the federal government. The magazine reported that the National Center for Public Policy Research, which had Abramoff as a board member, paid for DeLay's trips in 2000 to Scotland and London, where he stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel, and to Russia in 1997."
This revelation has the potential to spur yet another ethics violation. When it rains it pours!
The Moose argues that Tom DeLay has become the Republican version of Jim Wright. Although the Moose believes that Wright got a bum wrap, he was a useful foil for Gingrich to symbolize the arrogance and corruption of Democratic control over Congress. Similarly, DeLay is the poster boy for the check book corrupt culture of Capitol Hill.
And besides,the people of Sugar Land cry out for the return of DeLay Pest Control. Lone Star rodents beware, the Bug Man will return! -- | Email
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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
The Moose argues that the Democrats need Lieberman more than Joe needs the donkey.
The Moose is a ticketed rider on the anti-privatization train. If there is one remaining defined benefit in society, it should be a guaranteed safety net for the aged. Moreover, it appears that the American public agrees with this notion.
Having said that, the Moose does not believe the litmus test for remaining a card carrying Democratic elected official is that issue. It is interesting to the Moose that a film maker who suggests that the United States manufactured the war in Afghanistan to further oil interests is a celebrated figure to many in the Democratic party, while a respected Democratic Senator and former Vice Presidential nominee (who generally votes with the liberal mainstream of the party) is a primary target for a purge.
The fight against social security privatization is important but not vital to the future of the Democratic Party. While the President may get something, he most probably will not win passage of his most ambitious privatization scheme. Meanwhile, Democrats must still address the problems in their own house. And those weaknesses involve being perceived as weak on values and national security.
No member of the party can better assist the party in addressing these weaknesses than Joe Lieberman. No, the Moose is not suggesting that he run again for President. Rather, he can provide valuable counsel to the party on how to better connect with those folks who have become estranged from the party in the past years.
If donkeys believe that defense of the New Deal, however noble and necessary, is their ticket back to power, then they will be wandering in the wilderness longer than the Lord's Chosen People. -- | Email
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The Moose marvels that it is apparently easier for the President to sell democracy in the Middle East than to peddle social security privatization in Middle America.
These are trying times for the privateers. It appears that the dogs aren't eating the dog food. The Washington Post reports this morning,
"The Senate's top Republican said yesterday that President Bush's bid to restructure Social Security may have to wait until next year and might not involve the individual accounts the White House has been pushing hard.
"The comments of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), made as GOP lawmakers returned from a week of trying to sell the plan to voters, underscored the challenge facing the White House, especially in light of unbroken Democratic opposition.
"In terms of whether it will be a week, a month, six months or a year, as to when we bring something to the floor, it's just too early," Frist said.
"Frist is reluctant to put off a vote until 2006, when lawmakers will be focused on midterm congressional elections and the atmosphere will be more politically charged, aides said. But with polls showing widespread skepticism of Bush's proposal and some Republicans opposed to the approach, GOP leaders signaled yesterday that they may have no choice but to put off action.
"That a politician as closely allied to the White House as Frist would even raise the possibility of putting off the proposal until next year -- possibly dooming it -- was an unexpected blow to the administration."
Frist comments must have elicited some Senate regime change comments from the White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Have they no gratitude?
Although all of this is good news for the anti-privatization forces, it is hardly the time to break out the champagne. As the Moose has pointed out, this President has a Gumby-like flexibility when it comes to changing course to salvage a legislative proposal.
Although the social security battle has been likened to the fight over Clinton health care, there is a significant difference. Back then, President Clinton backed himself in a corner by threatening to veto any bill that didn't provide universal health care. In contrast, Bush has not limited his options.
He's not nearly as dumb as he would like you to think. -- | Email
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Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The Moose urges the Democratic Party to celebrate democracy's advance.
There is something happening in the Middle East. In the aftermath of the successful Iraqi election, there have been developments from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Lebanon to Palestine that should lift the hearts of all democrats.
That means members of the United States Democratic Party as well. Of course, we do not know the final outcome of these seemingly momentous events. There could be significant setbacks. If democracy advances, the people might elect officials that are distasteful to U.S. interests. Yet, if progressives stand for anything, it is for the advancement of human freedom. Incredibly, the Moose saw the writings of one left wing blogger who even presented a case for the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Who would ever thought it - left-wing Kissingerism - or worse, lefty Buchananites!
Yes, President Bush might get some significant political credit for these events. So what. If partisanship is more important than fundamental principles, than the Democratic party has truly lost its way. Just as right-wing Delayicans opposed the foreign policy triumph of Clinton in Kosovo, so are left-wing Kissingers moaning the potential advance of freedom today.
Remember, you're the Democratic Party. -- | Email
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The Moose warns the elephant that he shouldn't violate the tablets that were delivered at Mt. Sinai.
The GOP may be on the losing side of a social issue - social security. The efforts of the Republican front organization USA Next to link AARP with gay marriage and treason are pathetic and amusing. It truly smacks of desperation because it appears that the Bushies are having a hard time selling privatization - sorry, personal accounts.
It is ironic that the Republicans are trying to employ social wedge issues to sell social security. That is because social security may be the ultimate government "values" program. It essentially honors the injunction in Deuteronomy 5:16 -"Ka'bed et avicha v'et ee'mecha" - "honor thy mother and father" by ensuring them a safety net. Forget about actuarial statements, you can look it up in the Decalogue.
Now, it is said that Jesus may save, but Moses invests. Because the Moose is an Old Testament type he is all for private investment. But it makes sense, moral sense, that government guarantee that the most revered in our society - the old - have a basic defined benefit. In contrast, the forces of Mammon are seeking to gut the program as was evidenced by the youthful chants of "social security must go" at the recent Santorum town hall meeting.
Rabbi Moose intones that this is truly an anti-Biblical world view.
The Moose has long believed that the GOP has benefited as the custodian of order and tradition. In the case of social security, the elephant is threatening to transform a program that has ably upheld tradition - the protection of the aged.
The President is seeking to inject market-based risk taking into the social security system. That is interesting because when W. took risks when he was in the private sector, and ventures went south, there was always a Texas sugar daddy to bail him out. Needless to say, most Americans do not enjoy that luxury of birth.
So, the Moose warns Republicans - Don't mess with Moses! -- | Email
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