Here’s a question for this week’s panel.

After permitting him a bit of time for celebrating this historic moment, as well as allowing him the respect and space needed to lay his grandmother to rest, will the fourth estate then begin to apply a consistent, dispassionate standard in its coverage of President-elect Barack Obama?

According to Politico.com, here are some basic examples of what’s still missing:

1. Will the press compel him to release his small donor list from the $600 million campaign? Sen. McCain released his.

2. Will the press compel him to release his medical records (beyond the one-page letter of assurance from his doctor)? Sen. McCain released more than 1,000 pages of his actual records.

3. Will the press compel him to release his client list from the law firm he worked for in Chicago? Sen. McCain’s military records were scrutinized long ago.

4. Will the press compel actual college records from his days at Harvard Law, Columbia and Occidental? Sen. McCain’s performance at the Naval Academy (near the bottom) has been known for quite some time.

I haven’t seen the entire list of 17 economic advisors, but I haven’t heard any talk about Paul Krugman being on the list. Why?

That was a very negative comment by one of the guests:

“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.

I fear that the new (emboldened) Democratic Congress will try to overreach with a far left agenda. They have numbers in both houses but let’s not forget that there are quite a few moderate Democrats that may not be willing go go far left - and almost no moderate Republicans (except McCain).

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.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The words or MLK were never so true if Obama was elected on the basis of his character and not on the basis of his color.

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?

Thank you to your guests and to you for addressing Proposition 8. Yes. It is a shame that rights have been taken away while we move forward in other civil rights arenas. Yes. It is a civil rights issue and it was a vote for bigotry.

Obama would be wise to avoid putting or even receiving advice from the “neocons” of the Left in his administration, we don’t need the likes of Madeline Albright, Dennis Ross and Richard Holbrooke. We need a fresh start, get rid of the Clinton people, because the way the Neocons ruined the Bush administration, the “neocons” of the left will bring down the Obama administration.

Entitlement, to the prerogatives of power, and the spoils thereof, was and may still be the flaw of the Republican mind. Feeling the right to dictate moral coda and to concentrate wealth in fewer hands, there was and must be a righteous “us”, and a flawed, perhaps evil, “them”. Having already split the world into friends and enemies, they could speak softly to their friends the truth, and they could lie and distort facts and ideas to anyone else, as needed, to acquire the power to which they were, after all, entitled. And which they needed to effect their agenda. In a consummate irony, their vision to destroy government was so effectively implemented that they laid the ground work for a complete repudiation.

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.

Everybody should get a transcript of Charlie Rose’s conversation last week with Tom Brokaw and then again this week with John Meecham of Newsweek, about the fear they now feel all of a sudden reflecting on how little the press knows about Sen. Obama, and about the cult of personality that was the psychological underpining of his campaign. Remember not all Democrats supported him, there was a Hillary Clinton. And if half the stuff of the little we know about Obama had the press done their job to expose during the primaries he wouldn’t be where he is. And remember he won with more or less 51% of the total electorate not 100%.

Stephen Alrich Marshall, well said!

In today’s program, the editor of Dallas Morning News was apparently assuring a segment of the American people that Obama is “not a Muslim, socialist or a demon”! Oh, don’t think it is bigoted comment? Ok, let’s replace “muslim” by Irish, Jewish, or Catholc and see how it sounds.

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

America is not, ‘center-right,” it’s, Center-RIGHT ON!!! YEAH BABY! YEAH!

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.

As I listened to the potential high level positions/cabinet considerations on the show yesterday I think I must have heard NINE MEN’s names in a row! Emanuel, Kerry, Powell — and the list went on!! I was so disgusted I called from SC not even remembering the show wasn’t live!!! WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?????????? My heart dropped. I’m thrilled to have a Democrat back in but bitterly disappointed with the conversations thus far. This is what I feared ……….

Elections have consequences. Remember? Republicans’ favorite phrase from just 4-6 years ago. Now they are trying to talk their way out of it by saying it is not a landslide, he needs to rule from center and some other crap like that. I love to read their comments now. I think Jon Stuart will have a lot of fun for years to come. Just pull any republican quote from the last eight years and play it side by side with what they are saying now - the complete opposite.

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.

During this program and in the comments here it was recommended that the new president keep people informed with a weekly ‘fireside chat’ on radio or tv, but that was deemed unlikely and not feasible by the programs guests. However, true to the competence and foresight evidenced throughout the campaign, the Obama team has anticipated this need and there is now a web site that appears designed to do just that: http://www.change.gov. The same tech-savvy constituency that stayed in touch to get the man elected is now positioned to keep the stories straight and keep Americans informed at the source.

If Stuart were inclined he could pull any comment from the Democrats from the last eight years when they were protesting the condition of being the oppressed minority. They will be exactly the opposite as well.

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.

Clinton won two terms even with all the problems and mistakes he had. Obama is smarter then Clinton and one hopes he will bring in people who will be right for the job. So far it’s looking pretty good.

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.

Judging by early appointments, Podesta and Emanuel, and the talk of Kerry, Summers, etc; Obama I looks like Clinton III. So much for change.

“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.”
—
Jeff, I’m not so sure that cronyism is the exclusive domain of Republicans, and neither did it start 8 years ago with Bush. While the Democrats may be “better” than Republicans in some areas, please don’t try to pass the former off as Shinola. Thanks.

It is no longer 1994 when Republicans could BS their way into the majority with a phony contract with America. People have had a chance to see what that means. Another republican comeback like that is very unlikely. Obama has mandate to govern the way he sees fit. While several decent Republicans would be valuable addition to his administration, for the most part I would ignore their baloney about free markets, taxcuts and foregin policy with no results for decades. I paid $90K in taxes last year and I do not want a single penny to go to Haliburton, Blackwater or Goldman Sachs. I’d rather feed 100 welfare mothers. They are at least harmless.

94 was made possible by Clinton and Congress screw-ups.

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.

I agree Majawill. In fact, I think dems in Congress should replace their leadership with new personalities. I believe Pelosi and Reid are simply not effective in advancing anything. Obama probably has no control over that, but I think he should work towards that end.

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.