The Great Republican Hope: Mr Rush Limbaugh

I have avoided the political car crash of radio demagogue Rush Limbaugh (pictured) featuring himself as the standard-bearer of the post-Bush Republican Party, primarily because any comment just Feeds the Beast.

I was taken down memory lane, however, when Crooks and Liars brought back this Rush-ian success from 1990. It comes from his short-lived and ill-fated television show. Limbaugh's formula of reducing a complex issue (abortion) to a simplistic bashing of an "enemy" group (the "FemiNazis" of the National Organization for Women) works well with his radio Dittoheads. However, here it goes badly awry with an audience ready to challenge him until we're left with Rush's ultimate solution: Clear the Audience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNK4byQkn7w[/youtube]

Mr Obama's Piggy Bank: The Stark Reality of the US Budget

When my daughters were young children, both had “Piggy Banks”. These were for coins which they had been given and which would not be spent on sweets. One day, my eldest told me she wanted to save money for a Care Bear, the rage of the times. I suggested she use her Piggy Bank, but she replied that it was for other things. What she needed was a Care Bear bank.

I was reminded of this story as I looked at the principal features of the 10-year US budget proposed by the Obama Administration. The figures are mind-blowing. About $3.55 trillion has been requested for the Fiscal Year commencing October 2010. In excess of $2 trillion of that amount is required for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Let us be clear about this. This spending is mandatory. The decisions of previous Congresses dictate that such sums must be spent.

Two issues arise from this simple requirement that taxpayers funds have to be spent on healthcare and the equivalent of old age pensions. One issue is the Piggy Bank.

During President Clinton’s second term, the federal budget went into surplus. Rather than refund the surplus to the taxpayer, Clinton decided it would be placed in a “Lockbox” to fund Social Security. One of George W. Bush’s first acts was to undo the lockbox and give a tax refund, which benefited his wealthy friends.

In Franklin Roosevelt’s day, 45 workers funded one retiree. Last year in America, two workers funded one retiree and the position may be even tighter now, as US unemployment rises. Much has been said of the third rail of American politics – touch Social Security and you die – but one thing is abundantly clear. The funding of Social Security from the outset was, effectively, a government-approved Ponzi scheme as new contributors paid for those who were retiring. This form of funding has now failed.

The other issue is that it is illogical for Republicans to hold fast to an ideology that seeks to outlaw universal healthcare. It is patent from the figures that healthcare funded by federal government has not only arrived; through Medicare and Medicaid it has been in place for the past 43 years. Since the White House has been in Republican hands for 28 of those years, I must ask why Republicans, who have effectively accepted a form of universal healthcare for decades, are building up a head of steam to object to Obama’s healthcare proposals. They should concentrate instead on making sure the proposals are in the best interests of the taxpayer and will work to benefit as many as possible.

When it comes to  “entitlements”, whether Americans believe in Republican free market orthodoxy or Democratic tax and spend is irrelevant. If Americans --- "left" or "right" --- want entitlements for which they may have contributed for years, they cannot expect a series of Piggy banks to be available to help them out. They have a stark choice. Either entitlements remain, in which event the national debt will continue to rise, or the entitlements are reduced, which will hurt the poor and the blue-collar community, i.e. the people least capable of defending themselves.

Since there's no Care Bear bank in sight, who would be Obama right now?

Obama: Finding the Right Word for Russia

Related Post: Space War - Russia and US in Satellite Shoot-out?

The media are going ga-ga over an incident at yesterday's showpiece meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Before their working dinner, Clinton handed Lavrov "a small green box with a ribbon. Inside was a red button with the Russian word peregruzka printed on it."

For many of us older than 35, it was a jaw-dropper in post-Cold War humour. Ohmygosh, Clinton just handed the erstwhile Soviet Commies the nuclear button! Go on, Sergei, push it. Push it with a smile and blow us to oblivion.

All right, it was meant to be a reassurance that Dr Strangelove and Mutual Assured Destruction is so yesterday. But the media, who must be younger than 35, were focused on some inadvertent humour.
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With the gift, the Americans meant to indicate unsubtly that they wanted to "reset" relations with Russia. However, when Clinton asked if peregruzka was the right word, Lavrov --- obviously not just laughing about annihilation comedy --- replied, "You got it wrong. It should be perezagruzka. This says peregruzka which means overcharged."

Great. We'll now have days of bad political gloss upon the jokes --- Clinton already started it with, "We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an overload of work." Are we screwing the Russians by giving them the wrong change from the relationship? Will the US-Russia talks get too electric over issues like Georgia (the country, not the US state), Iran, and missile defence?

The right word, in fact, is the very boring realpolitik. Clinton's visit with Lavrov yesterday, and Obama's forthcoming meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev at the start of April, fulfil the long-expected Administration approach. The Bush policy, trying to ensure Russian co-operation by putting Moscow in a corner, is scrapped. The white elephant of Missile Defense is gone, although Washington will try to get some Russian reward for the "concession". NATO will not be pushed further onto Russia's doorstep with the entry of Georgia and Ukraine; indeed, the separation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia will be quietly accepted.

Instead, Washington will be looking for Russia's assistance on a number of issues. Immediately, there will be hope that Moscow will help the US get supplies into Afghanistan. The bonus of Russia pull political, economic, and technological support from Iran is still envisaged, even if was not in the Obama letter to Medvedev sent last month. And the US will look for Russia to cause no problems over political and economic development in Eastern Europe.

All very sensible, but all obscuring the realism of realpolitik. Russia holds most of the political cards at the moment. Indeed, Moscow has been showing one of those cards on Afghanistan over recent weeks: no, you can't have your airbase in Kyrgyzstan, yes, you can have our support for non-military supply lines in Afghanistan, maybe you can have assured military routes if there are clear limits on the American bases in the region.

Vladimir Putin, the former Russian leader and still more than a political shadow, even had the cheek this week to point to the card up his sleeve. You know, he said quite loudly, we could hold up energy supplies to the Ukraine.

But you don't even have to look that far to see Moscow's smiling manoeuvres in the new relationship with the US. Hey, Mr Lavrov, now that we gave you that joke gift, how about cutting off Russian supplies for Iran's nuclear programme? The unfunny answer: The decision "will be made exclusively on the basis of law in accordance with Russian law, and will be under expert control, which is one of the strictest in the world and of course in accordance with international agreements."

That would be a No then. And, by the way, Sergei added, "We want our partners to act the same way and show restraint in military supplies to those countries where, including very recently, those weapons have been used very close to our borders."

That was the statement which led to the real comedy moment of the day --- watching State Department staffers burble that in no way was Lavrov thinking of Georgia. Nope, nope, nope.

There will be some screeching from Washington babble-ocracy today --- from some Congressmen, shout sheets like the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard, think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute --- that the Obama Administration has sold out to the Russians, handing them our new Eastern European partners, letting them off the hook on Iran. And some of those folks will pull out the argument that the Russian economy is in no shape to withstand a US kick-back against Moscow's intrigues.

Sorry, folks. The Russian economy may be shaky, but it's a very large shaky economy. There's no way that the world, including the US, can afford for it to collapse, especially when Russia --- with its control of key resources --- can take some folks with it.

Welcome to the Reset of the New Realism. Somewhere Henry Kissinger is giving a chuckle, and not just because it's 21st-century leaders who have to deal with charges of war crimes.

Obama and Brown: So long, and thanks for all the DVDs

There is perhaps no stronger indictment of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's recent visit to the White House and Congress than this morning's slow-news-day-controversy over President Obama's gift to the PM. Brown's presents for the new president were carefully considered, symbolic offerings- a pen holder carved from the oak of HMS Gannet, which took part in anti-slavery operations (and whose sister ship became the Oval Office's desk), and a first edition Churchill biography. Obama, on the other hand, gave Brown some DVDs- the diplomatic equivalent of Marks & Spencer vouchers. Brown's visit to Washington wasn't a failure, but it was about as meaningful and thought-provoking as that DVD boxset.

Some are suggesting that Brown was snubbed by Obama, pointing to the brevity of their meeting as well as the lack of a formal dinner and the cancellation of a joint press conference. The truth is that the Obama administration, up to its eyeballs in economic and foreign policy crises, has no use for a lame duck British Prime Minister with close ties to the Bush-loving Tony Blair. Like an unwanted if generally affable houseguest, Brown was politely greeted, dispatched, and forgotten about.

Much the same happened at Congress. If you have a spare 34 minutes you can watch Brown's address:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W-AJRo5G4I[/youtube]

If you don't, let me summarise: "America is wonderful!" (applause). "We're knighting Ted Kennedy!" (applause). "America was a staunch ally in World War 2!" (applause). "We stood together after 9/11" (muted applause). "Terrorism and Iran are grave threats!" (applause). Then, the riskier content- "The economy and the environment must be fixed" (cautious applause). "America landed on the moon!" (baffled applause). "End the dictatorship of oil and tackle climate change!" (silence). Brown closed with a linkage between the Rwandan genocide, African poverty and- weirdly- "expensively funded madrassas teaching innocent children to hate us." Not Rwandan children, surely? No explanation was offered, but neither was one required. And Brown signed off (applause), ending what could be his last official visit to the US.

Josh Mull Joins Enduring America Team

We're pleased to announce that Josh Mull will be a regular blogger on Enduring America.

Josh has already posted a number of guest analyses, most recently "Mr Obama’s Doctrine: US Grand Strategy in Pakistan and Beyond". He has lengthy experience as an underground citizen journalist, including work with TheUptake.org covering the 2008 Presidential Elections, and is now a Contributing Editor for Small World News’ Alive in Baghdad and the Co-Creator of Alive in Gaza. He has pioneered the use of microblogs during political debates, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, including the recent violence in Mumbai and the Gaza Strip.

Josh, like Mike Dunn and Scott Lucas, will also be updating for Enduring America on Twitter.