Wyoming Almanac of Politics

January 22, 2012

I have no interest in Newt's personal life, but I resent his utter hypocrisy. Voters ought to realize that when a Republican makes the claim that her/his party is "the party of family values," Newt's success in South Carolina proves it is a total lie.

January 11, 2012

As the campaign season gets underway in 2012, this commentator will make political observations about the state of Wyoming politics and, occasionally, comment on national issues. . Check out the other categories listed in the above boxes for interesting features on Wyoming.

General Observations on National Politics

Mitt Romney, in his New Hampshire primary victory speech, kept stating that the U. S. should not "be like Europe." He then made a series of points that clearly demonstrates his desire that we be "less like Europe" and more like Somalia. Destroy the social safety net in the U. S.? No such thing exists currently in Somalia. Eliminate public school education? No such thing in Somalia these days. Make the military forces answerable to no one? That's the case in Somalia.  Let rich people do what they choose without taxation or regulation? That's how it works in Somalia. Everyone has a gun; no one has to follow any rules. No government regulation--indeed, noi government! That's Somalia.

Rather than advocating that the U. S. emulate Somalia, why doesn't Romney take his supporters and just relocate to Somalia? The place would suit him well, given what he advocated last night in his victory speech--and It is likely that he could access his off-shore bank accounts from there and no one would question him about it.

Stupid Idea 

Bill Keller of the New York Times is advocating what is the stupidest idea of the campaign season--at least, on the Democratic side. He is advocating that Hillary Clinton replace Joe Biden as Vice President.

Is there is a better reason for the Obama supporters from 2008 to sit out the 2012 election than to cave in to Clinton again?  Frankly, if it were to happen, it would be hard for me to vote in the general election.It might be a time to sit back and watch.

Frankly, I supported Obama in '08 because I was sick and tired of Clintonian triagulating--the kind of behavior that enabled the Bush/Cheney non-election in 2000. (Where was Presidential leadership with respect to the theft of that election? Shouldn't it be obvious that already Obama has relied too much on the old Clintonites (Rahm Emanuel, Bill Daley) and the results have been diastrous for Democratic Party principles. OK, in all fairness, Hillary Clinton has done an adequate job as Secretary of State, but I think someone else needs to be running the State Department in the second Obama administration. Demoting her up into the second-slot is NOT the solution.

The Clintonites are anxious to have Hillary very close to the Presidency, apparently with the hope that something might happen to Obama or, in 2016, she'll have a leg up on others in the party. I understand that. They're still resisting progressive proposals and trying to reshape the Democratic Party into something vaguely like Republican-Lite. 

Back in 2004, I was impressed by the young state legislator from Illinois who was a Senate candidate and making a speech at the Democratic National Convention. I said then, I'll work for that guy if he runs for President next time--and I did. He won't let us down by selling out to the right-wing like Hillary Clinton would (and like her husband did with such things as repeal of Glass-Steagall), I said at the time. What a disappointment Obama has been, by and large!

I'm less gullible now. Now, my choice for the Presidency in 2016 is a Senate candidate in Massachusetts with an existing record of progressivism--something that had been lackking in Obama's background at the time and I naively had overlooked. Elizabeth Warren represents the future of the Democratic Party. Once she is in the Senate, I hope there will be sufficient progressives to push Obama back from his Clintonesque center-right perch and more toward the middle. (I've given up hope he will show any progressive inclinations).

We don't need to return to the center-right triangulations of the Clinton era--not this year and not in 2016.

About the Writer

This page is entirely the opinion of Phil Roberts. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the other editors of Wyoming Almanac nor does it state any "official" position of Wyoming Almanac.

Phil Roberts has been active on the Wyoming political scene for several decades. He has written about and spoken widely on Wyoming politics and history.

Weekly observations on national and Wyoming politics