I, however, disagree that 94 was brought about just by Clinton’s screw ups. Conservatives were painstakingly building their ideology and their infrastructure for several decades and had the advantage of being a new majority in Congress after many years of control by Democrats. This is no longer the case. A lot can be forgotten in 2 years, no question about it. However, GOP will not be able to burst to power in the same way with the same kind of mandate.

A couple broken promises, more Pelosi and Reid mess ups, and not enough change and it’ll be 1994 all over again.

The middle wants results so he better bring it. If not, a lot can be forgotten in 2 years.

It will be great to see the end of cronyism, which has plagued the last 8 years of government and has defined the Bush/Cheney White House.

By getting the votes of independents, Obama got a mandate to improve the economy. Reaching beyond that will surely bite the Democrats in 2010, like gays in the military did for Clinton.

I think Obama should include people like Hagel, Powell and others like them to work with. The rest of the sour grape negative un-American, undermine-our-President-at-the-time-of-war fools should be more or less ignored. They are not helping and there is too much to be done.

B.T.W. I think the guest was making the point that Obama’s opponents were trying to tie him to the boogiemen in the minds of the ignorant of America.

Obama needs to do a post-modern, “fire-side chat,” where he can begin to undo the brainwashing of the faux-conservative media machine, and turn the national conversation to the roots of American liberal tradition.

I understand that after 9/11, it is not politically incorrect to denigrade all muslims in America. However, as a huge fan of Tom Ashbrook, I was quite disappointed by his not protesting, or for not asking the guest to clarify his remarks.
-Rokan
Cambridge, MA

Who tells us we do not need government? How, without laws, and without placing the police power in the hands of some accountable agency, do we guarantee that greed, sadism and deceit shall not operate in human affairs? How, without an institution that is accountable to and guided by the people, can we fairly, democratically, set the minimum standards of good citizenship, and enforce them? How, without an incarnation of the community, its institutional memory, and its sole possession of the police power, are we to negotiate the terms of life in society, except by violence and fear? There are yet places in the world without government, and these are dangerous places that armies avoid.

The Democrats, the Independents, and the apatheticists failed also, having no vision and no story to counter the narcissism of the Right. Democrats and Activists also failed when they lashed out at Republicans, in spiteful words. Hate radio has been baiting us for years and we needed to vent, but hate only feeds hate, so let us hope we cool off and apologize. Democrats, feeling repudiated by Ronald Reagan’s call for personal responsibility, and cowed by the ridicule heaped on the epithet “liberal”, have failed to reclaim the vision of an effective government, as a necessary fulfillment of the vision to “… form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” (preamble, US Constitution), not in denial of personal responsibility, but as a complement to it. The Democrats, like the Republicans, failed to see the validity and necessity of the vision of their ideological opponents.

The deeper philosophical error was and is to believe that one political and economic philosophy and can guide a nation and its policies. The Republican dogma of personal responsibility, keeping the government out of personal business, and minimized cost of operation, is valid only if seen in contrast with and balanced against a progressive philosophy that reminds us that we cannot live alone, without sharing our streets, homes, businesses, banks, fates, and the Earth, that we have common interests, that the well being of individuals is an inherent interest of the community, and that the government is where communities make their decisions. Likewise, the Progressive dogma that government can be a force for good is only valid when countered by the conservative abhorrence of dependence and interference. The core truth, forgotten by polemicists, is that all views are needed to find the pragmatic middle, and that no one view is sufficient for a complete vision.

We need a new vision of contest in American Politics, in which the opponent is a representative of a different way of seeing the world and our common business, whom we can question and probe for deeper understanding, and which we ourselves need, to get the policy and the philosophy right.

These writings are the sole possession of Stephen Alrich Marshall and shall not be used without attribution.

But what does it say for the average person in the Untied States today where character is rendered meaningless, where Princess Di and Paris Hilton are idolized by millions, where “Sex in the City” and the “Desperate Housewives” define the moral standards? Where greed is not only good but it is God? Where black children and white children are raised up to be thugs and lazy?

If we want to get anything done, our legislators need to re-learn the art of compromise and governance from the middle. I am to the left of center myself so I’m happy about this election result but with so much on the line I’m very concerned that it will all be wasted.

Dale.

“Obama is not a Muslim, socialist or demon”.

Is the guest equating being a Muslim to being a demon? That was a very insulting comment towards all Muslims.