Category Archives: Politics and Culture

Romney’s Rovian Strategy

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Regarding, Romney’s speech to the NAACP on Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi told Bloomberg Television, “It was a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention.”

She wasn’t the only one to see it that way.  Many pundits have by now made this assertion as well. It’s hardly a tinfoil hat theory, but rather stating the obvious.

Breaking it down for the more gullible, here’s the scam:

Romney knows he’s not going to get more than the smallest fraction of the black vote.  Yet, going to the NAACP, the nation’s oldest, and most respected civil rights organization, is what one is expected to do. So how do you make it pay?

You use it to excite the base.  That’s Rovian politics and the Southern strategy.

Romney stood up and said what he “believes” in, showing the right-wing of his party he’s not afraid to say something that won’t be popular (to people who wouldn’t vote for him anyway).  But beyond that, referencing the Affordable Healthcare Act in particular was important.

Since the Supreme Court ruled that mandates are constitutional, the popularity of health care reform has risen.  The more people learn about what’s in the Act, the more they like it.   Immediately after the ruling, Republicans tried to portray mandates as a “tax” on the middle-class.  But that’s a hard sell. Most voters already have  some form of health insurance and won’t be subject to mandates.  Those who are ineligible for Medicare, Medicaid or employer health insurance welcome the low-cost options which the Act will bring them.  Everyone is  excited by the idea that they won’t be dropped because of pre-existing conditions,  face “caps” on needed services, or have to drop their children when they turn eighteen.

The Affordable Healthcare Act is the biggest legislative success of Obama’s first term.  As the Act becomes more popular, so does Obama.  Making his biggest success into a liability is necessary.   One way to do it is through a strong visual showing a group of prominent black people booing Romney for deriding “Obamacare.”  The term itself implies not an act of Congress, reflecting the will of the American people, but rather something imposed on them by a usurper (and one with a funny “foreign” name).   Adding the audio-visual of a group of NAACP members  booing Romney for being against “Obamacare” reinforces the message that this government “giveaway” will take something away from hard working whites, something that black people want.  It portrays Romney as standing up for the beleaguered white taxpayer who is sick of supporting “entitlement programs.”  It references Reagan’s “welfare queens” as well as  his challenging  Gorbachev to tear down the wall.

That the Affordable Healthcare Act is so misunderstood may seem truly shocking to people who live in countries like England or Canada (or most of the developed world for that matter) where health care is understood to be a basic human right.  However, the idea that this legislation was a threat to “ordinary” Americans has been a major part of the strategy against it and has been exploited ruthlessly, with false claims that it would lead to taking away Medicare, the very successful single-payer system of health insurance for elderly Americans.

The NAACP gig offered Romney a chance to face down a group  (the blacks) and show white southerners and teabaggers that he was one of them, despite his elitist background, magical underwear and flip-flops on issues most near and dear to them.

In case he didn’t rile the NAACP crowd enough with his reference to Obamacare, he also managed to say other things designed to not exactly endear him.  He specifically referenced his defense of “traditional marriage.”  While much has been made of the opposition to gay rights by some black churches, the NAACP has come out strongly for marriage equality, and then there was his reference to his “kitchen cabinet” in Massachusetts which  included  African Americans.  The mostly older crowd he addressed remember too well the history of blacks in the kitchen, and of white politicians meeting with black leaders on the down-low.

More evidence that this was staged came when it was spin time.  At a fundraiser later that same day, Romney quipped, “. . . if they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff.”  This is a line that he’s used before when talking about contraception as part of health care and even student loan reforms.  While the Republicans scream class warfare whenever the conversation turns to ending the millionaire tax cuts started by President Bush, they never miss an opportunity to imply that cuts to program that benefit the majority of Americans — healthcare, student loans, education, even essential services, are necessary, and anyone who implies differently is looking for a “giveaway” or “free stuff.”  Deregulation of corporations (which are “people too, my friend”) and tax breaks for the ultra-rich must be retained at all costs if we are to be truly “free.”

Will this strategy work to defeat Obama?  The scary thing is maybe it only has to come close.  Coupled with a massive effort to disenfranchise likely democratic voters in swing states, and unlimited campaign spending, Romney has a good shot at winning, no matter what the polls say. And that’s without even taking into account the possibility of actual fraud via faulty recording by electronic voting machines that leave no paper trail.  While a Romney “victory” might look suspicious if the polls show a 10-point Obama lead, they won’t if it’s close.  In a land of paperless ballots, close may be good enough.

Supreme Court Ruling on Health Care May Be Too Late for Stricken Middle Class

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Obituary: Democracy in America, July 4, 1776 – June 25, 2012

While some might argue that it never really existed, Democracy in America, which had been comatose since January 21st 2010 when the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations, succumbed to its injuries on Monday.

D.I.A., as it was known to friends, had been in poor health, arguably mortally wounded since December 12, 2000, when the Court declared George W. Bush the winner of the United States presidential election despite the fact that the votes in Florida still hadn’t been completely counted, and that tens of thousands of people who believed they were voting for Gore had misunderstood the ballet and unintentionally voted for Pat Buchanan.

The final blow came on Monday when when the Court refused to review its Citizens United decision.

In Related News, The American Middle Class Holds on Despite Continuous Death-Threats

The massive influx of money to buy elections, proved not only too much for Democracy in America, but has continuously threatened its  longtime companion, the American Middle Class, which has been in fragile health since the 2008 financial crisis.  While the economy had appeared to be making a come back, thus rallying the Middle Class out of a deep depression, the Citizen’s United decision has placed it in a precarious position.  Unlimited spending by a few crazy billionaires is leading to the  destruction of unions and collective bargaining rights.  Government layoffs and threats that even “teachers, policeman and fireman” will be gleefully fired by President Romney  (whose election has already been paid for) is creating a sense of hopelessness and panic.  The promised destruction of Medicare under the Ryan Budget has further solidified the feeling that the end is near, and Middle Class survival at stake.

While the Middle Class has cheated death before, coming back stronger after many serious attempts on its life, this time, faced with massive personal debt owing to student loans, a continued housing slump, increased medical expenses, and a stagnant economy, it appears it may only be a matter of time before the end, which is expected to occur within a few months of Romney’s inauguration.

Breaking News — THIS JUST IN

While waiting for news from the Supreme Court regarding its ruling on the Affordable Health Care act, the American Middle Class suffered a massive heart attack.

Fortunately, at 10 am, the Court announced it had narrowly decided to uphold the Affordable Healthcare Act,  holding out the possibility that maybe the Middle Class would be saved.

However, the pre-existing condition clause in the law will  not go into effect for adults until 2014, so it appears the Middle Class is still shit-out-of-luck.

Forget About Soda, Real NYC Food Reform Starts in School

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Mayor Bloomberg’s recent proposal for a ban on super-sized sugary sodas has been met with wisecracks by the chattering class on both the right and left.  Rare is an idea that unites Fox News, Comedy Central, and MSNBC in its derision.

Yet, the problem of childhood and adult obesity, along with an alarming rise in related health conditions, is not a joke.  In poorer sections of New York City, such as the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, obesity rates among the adult population top 20% and are rising.

The Mayor’s call for a ban on the sale of sugary sodas sold in quantities of more than 16 ounces at delis, restaurants, movie theaters, sports stadiums and other such venues, is well intentioned. However, even if passed, it would do little to remedy the growing problem, particularly of childhood obesity among New York’s economically struggling families.

Families in New York City living near or below the poverty level rarely have the opportunity to buy 32-ounce soft drinks at movies, ballgames, or even fast-food restaurants.  Expensive family outings are beyond their means. On the rare occasions when they do splurge, a super-sized drink is likely to be passed around and shared like popcorn, not consumed by one very thirsty individual.

The danger of exposure to empty calories and overly processed foods isn’t at stadiums and cinemas, it’s in the schools.  68% of New York City public school children qualify for free school lunch.  The percentage in high-poverty neighborhoods is much higher.

Many high-poverty schools offer free breakfast as well as lunch.  Every school day, five days a week, two thirds of each child’s daily meals are served in the school cafeteria. These are not wholesome healthy meals cooked onsite, but processed foods delivered to be heated and served.  Recently, there was an uproar over the “pink slime” meat-by-product served to children, but less talked about is the high fat/high carb content of most offerings.  In neighborhoods where childhood asthma is endemic and fatalities are not unknown, an often served “breakfast sandwich,” includes azodicarbonamide, a respiratory sensitizer, banned as a food additive in the UK. While foods with transfats are now forbidden in New York City restaurants, they are daily fare in our schools.

The effects of this “diet” will be seen long-term in increased obesity, heart disease, and type II diabetes.  Short term, teachers and children themselves identify the difference in students’ ability to concentrate or even stay awake after lunch.  While these observations are anecdotal, they are backed up by empirical evidence that better food leads to better educational outcome.

Unlike a soda ban, changing school foods is not a quick fix.  Currently, New York City public schools receive all their food through School Food Services, a division of the New York City Department of Education, which buys in bulk from specified vendors.  Principals are able to allocate additional funding from their budgets to supplement the regular fare with healthier offerings such as salad bars, but have little control over the menu.   In contrast to charter schools, individual public schools are not able to receive direct federal and state reimbursements to buy food.  While Mayor Bloomberg has supported educational policies to make principals more effective school managers, principals still have almost no say in the staffing of their cafeterias, menu planning or purchasing of food. In fact, schools cannot even use their kitchens (including the ones actually equipped to cook food) to offer cooking or nutrition classes to parents after the school day unless a hefty fee is paid to School Food Services to staff the kitchen with a School Foods employee at all times while the kitchen is open.

Community Health Academy of the Heights, (CHAH), a New York City public school in Washington Heights and its founding partner, The Community League of the Heights are trying to change this system.  The school will be moving to a new state-of-the-art building in February 2013.  The building features a full-service cafeteria with a “cooking” kitchen.  Parents and students have organized to ask for better food options.  CHAH is proposing a Smart Food/Healthy Community program.  The objective is not only to provide children with higher quality food, but to create lifelong healthy eating habits and increase nutritional awareness throughout the community.  The program’s goals encompass (1) students understanding where their food comes from and how it arrives at the table, (2) getting healthier food to students, including less processed, locally sourced, fresher food prepared onsite in the school’s kitchen, and (3) innovative usage of the kitchen for educational purposes, including for adult and youth cooking and nutritional programs after school hours as part of CHAH’s vision for community programming.  The goals sound simple; achieving them through the current system is not.

Certainly, additional funds will be needed.  These could be raised through private funding and grants as they are at charters, but the real issue is how far will CHAH be allowed to go by the DOE and School Food Services?

If the Mayor truly wants to change the unhealthy eating habits of New Yorkers, supporting school food reform and efforts like this one would be a great start.

Palin-lite’s New Reality

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Exciting news, Bristol Palin’s “much anticipated” new reality show, Life’s a Tripp, will be premiering in June on Lifetime.

The program will show Palin-lite’s day-to-day struggles as a single mom. Palin-Lite has “dedicated her life to being an advocate for the prevention of teen pregnancy.” Of course, she has it much easier than most single teenage mothers who barely graduate high school at age 19 (although saying so probably constitutes class warfare).  Her speaker fees range up to $30,000 a shot. She has appeared on previous reality ventures, plus Dancing with the Stars, and her memoir (published when she was twenty) was briefly a New York Times bestseller.

So what exactly will this show do to “prevent” teen pregnancy? How exactly does she not glamorize it? In addition to financial security without really having to work much, she is also blessed with a supportive family and a healthy child. There really couldn’t be a stronger advocate out there for teen motherhood. She’s made a career of it.

The premise of Life’s a Tripp really doesn’t sound very different from any number of “reality” shows about privileged young women, except for the baby part. If Bristol really wants to show the reality of having a baby while you’re still in high school, why not actually live it — the way most teen mothers do in real life?

Here’s an idea for the producers: Give Bristol a makeover — a new hair color and style, maybe even throw in a mole or something temporary to change her appearance. Change her name. Send her out in the world without ghost writers or handlers and take the fancy speaker gigs and television appearances off her resume. Take away her money too. Okay, to be fair you could give her two grand to start off. Let her rent a place with that and make a budget and a plan. What suspense! Let’s see how far a girl with a toddler with no college or training can go! I’m sure her gumption and optimism will help her succeed. Then we can watch her handle a budget, somehow figure out how to pay food, rent and childcare on minimum wage. Will she need government assistance? Not, our Bristol. It’ll be so exciting to tune each week and find out what Bristol will do next.

And, if you really want some drama, how about Bristol Palin in Trading Places? A non-celebrity teen mom who is surviving on minimum wage could switch with Palin-lite. It would be a Cinderella story, but one based on merit where viewers could vote to decide which one gets to be America’s sweetheart and keep the fancy house, which one is most qualified to speak to struggling teens.

I’m sure Bristol would win. After all, it’s her talent, abilities and hard work that have gotten her to where she is today.