Obama's Tone Shows Respect Even for Opponents

The 2012 election campaign for president is going to be a tough one, but the tone that President Obama is trying to set is worlds-apart from the one Republican Mitt Romney is using.

President Obama showed that in his remarks during an appearance in Dearborn on Wednesday (April 18, 2012).

Obama, of course, drew a stark contrast with Romney's views.

"The last thing we can afford to do is to go back to the policies that got us in this mess in the first place. That's what other people running for this office want to do. They make no secret of it," he said.

But then he added, "I've got no doubt they love this country, but they are wrong (about their policies)."

Admitting that his opponent loves America is not something that Obama's foes have ever done for him. Romney himself uses code words like Obama doesn't "understand" America or Obama "apologizes" for America -- words intended to put Obama outside the mainstream of America, to make him seem foreign to us.

Romney has also tried to paint Obama as a socialist, without actually using the words, telling one audience, "he takes his political inspiration from Europe, and from the socialist-democrats in Europe.”

Romney leaves most of the dirty work to others who question Obama's citizenship or call him a "Kenyan" or a Muslim -- all ways to make Obama seem foreign, un-American, not like us, an outsider, someone who doesn't belong. In 2008, Sen. John McCain rebuked a woman at an event who called Obama an "Arab." It remains to be seen whether Romney will have the courage to do that.

Going along with the idea that Obama is an outsider, not one of us, is more than a matter of a lack of civility. It is dangerous for the nation. In times of national disasters or attacks in the past, the nation rallied around its leader. If, God forbid, something happens to our nation between now and the election, will Americans rally around someone the opposition has been telling them for years is an outsider?

Obama is willing to portray his opponent as someone who belongs. It would be better for the country if the other side would return the favor.

Livingston Dems -- Come Out for Obama on May 5!

Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest of the cyberspace tools that the political world has adopted are great ways to engage voters. But sometimes, sharing a link, clicking "Like" or even posting a comment just aren't enough. You have to actually BE there.

One of those times is Saturday, May 5, when Michigan Democrats will officially nominate Barack Obama for a second term as president. Democrats will meet in caucuses all across the state to raise their hands and show their support for the president. No absentee ballots, no clicking "Like," -- you have to be there.

Livingston County Democrats will meet in three caucuses, based on where you live. The sites are:

Village Manor Retirement, 9501 E. Highland Rd., Howell, for residents of the City of Howell and the townships of Cohoctah, Conway, Deerfield, Handy, Hartland, Howell, Oceola, and Tyrone.

Livingston County Democratic Party Headquarters, 10321 Grand River Road, Suite 600 of the Fonda Place Office Park, Brighton, for the residents of the townships of Brighton Charter, Genoa, Green Oak, Iosco, Marion, and the city of Brighton.

Hamburg Public Library, 10411 Merrill Road, Whitmore Lake, for the residents of the townships of Hamburg, Putnam, and Unadilla.

Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and the show-of-hands voting will take place at 11 a.m. In between, we will have speeches from state and local candidates, information about how you can get involved in the 2012 campaign, information about coming events, opportunities to sign up to be precinct delegates, and so on. And we'll have some Obama bumper stickers and pins available for donations so you can make your support visible.

You do not need to be an official member of the Michigan Democratic Party, but you will need to sign a statement that you are participating as a Democrat. You do not even have to be registered to vote to participate. You only have to be 18 and registered to vote by election day. That mean high school students can participate, too! Spread the word among your young friends!

If you have questions about the caucus process, please call party headquarters, 810-229-4212 or email livcodems@gmail.com.

Barack Obama has been there for us so many times in the last four years. Now it's time for us to be there for him.

'Road We've Traveled' Puts First Term in Perspective

The public's memory is short. In the days of the 24-hour news cycle, Facebook, and Twitter, news stories come and go in hours.

Faced with that fact, President Obama's re-election campaign isn't banking on his supporters and the general public remembering his accomplishments. "The Road We've Traveled," the new 17-minute video by Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim
is a not-so-subtle reminder of how deep the recession was when Obama took office in January 2009 and how far we've come since then.

"When we look at today's headlines, do we remember what we as a country have been through?" asks Tom Hanks, who provides the voice-over for the film.

The film reminds viewers that the economy Obama inherited was in free-fall until his economic stimulus package revived it and turned it in a positive direction. Then it proceeds to an "Obama's Greatest Hits" run-down of key moments in his administration -- the auto industry rescue, , passage of health care reform, winding down of the war in Iraq, the successful hunting down of Osama bin Laden,repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and reform of the college loan process that has saved students millions of dolllars.

That, and much more, is all packed in to the 17-minute film. Michigan comes in for its share of attention, with the "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" headline. That opinion piece, written by Republican Mitt Romney, is the only reference to one of Obama's potential 2012 opponents.

Share the video with your friends and undecided voters. Ask them if they can imagine Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, or Mitt Romney doing half of what Obama accomplished.

Let's Not Forget Michigan's Tar Sands Disaster

Nearly two years ago, an oil pipeline burst and spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River. Two years is an eon in the days of the 24-hour news cycle so most of the media in Michigan has forgotten about it.

Leave it to Rachel Maddow to not only remember the mess, but to tie it to one of the national issues of the day -- construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which Republicans are trying to pressure President Obama into approving.

On her MSNBC show Friday (March 9, 2012), Maddow noted that the national already has tar sands pipelines like Keystone and they have created messes of the kind that opponents of Keystone warn about. Her case in point was the spill in the Kalamazoo River. At the time of the spill, officials said the mess would be cleaned up in a mere month. But here we are nearly two years later, and work is still on going. Turns out, oil from tar sands is heavy and rather than floating on the top of the water so that it can be skimmed off, it sinks to the bottom of the river bed.

But let's let Rachel explain, as only she can. (The most relevant part of the clip starts about six minutes in.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Why Iowa Matters and Why It Doesn't

Here's something you might now know about the Iowa Republican caucuses, even though the event has consumed political reporters and bloggers for the last eight days.

No matter who comes in first tonight, none of the candidates will have a lead in the number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination for the presidency. That's because tonight's "balloting" has no connection whatsoever with the actual awarding of delegates for the nomination. Zero. Zip. Nada.

The Republican caucuses are merely a straw poll of the presidential preferences of those who attend the party meetings held in every voting precinct in Iowa. They don't count in the awarding of the state party's delegates to the Republican National Convention. Not at all.

That's different from the Democratic caucuses that Iowa also holds every four years. Democrats in Iowa use the caucuses to start the process of awarding delegates to candidates. Republicans don't.

Either way, the caucuses still matter because they demonstrate whether a candidate has put together an organization to carry him or her the distance. The caucuses give candidates a chance to test drive that organization, their message, their appeal to voters, and so on. And since Iowans traditionally responded more to retail, face-to-face politics than to big, expensive advertising buys, candidates who had few resources could campaign in Iowa and hope that lightning would strike.

That's changed somewhat this year, as most candidates made little attempt to woo voters in person or build a grssroots organization to get supporters to the caucus sites and chose to spend big on advertising. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were the exceptions and late polling shows it is paying off for them.

While Democrats don't have a contested caucus this time around, they are still having party meetings in every precinct in the state in order to begin electing the delegates who will officially nominate President Obama next September. This is a chance for them to build their organization for identifying supporters and getting them out, a dry-run for next November.

The Obama campaign reminded its supporters of that with an email Tuesday (Jan. 3, 2012) that included a video done by the New York Times highlighting the work of Obama volunteers in the state. You'll have your chance to turn out for Obama in Michigan on May 5, when the Michigan Democratic Party holds its caucuses so mark your calendars.

Debt Ceiling Debacle Really Did Hurt

Right after the contentious debate over raising the debt ceiling last summer, I had the feeling that the recklessness of that debate had helped slam the brakes on the recovery underway in the U.S. economy. I know I personally felt less confidence about the direction of our nation, given the willingness, even eagerness, of so many Republicans to gamble with our nation's financial stability for the sake of politics.

Now there's a little bit of evidence to back up how I felt. In a column in the Sunday Detroit Free Press, Tom Walsh wrote of the impact the debate had on hiring in the view of Carl Camden, the CEO of Kelly Services.

Hiring of temporary workers was up 10 percent in the first half of 2011 compared to the previous year. But then came the debt ceiling debate an the Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. By August, the growth had melted away.

Walsh quoted Camden as saying:

"'That's the time of year when Kelly's part-time hiring usually goes into a cyclical upswing. It had been true for 60 years, but this time it was not true,' Camden told (Walsh). 'We moved sideways instead of seeing a cyclical boost. A lot of employment momentum was lost.'"

Walsh didn't blame Republicans directly, referring to partisan squabbling. But Camden makes it pretty clear what he meant.

"It wasn't the debate itself, it was the tone of the debate," Camden said. "People actually believed they might do something crazy, or crazed -- like saying it's OK for the U.S. government to default on its debt."

It wasn't President Obama or Democrats advocating a default on the debt. It was the party that supposedly knows so much about the economy that was engaging in the "crazed" talk about defaulting. Maybe people like Camden will have that in the back of their minds when the 2012 campaign heats up.

Payroll Tax Cut is Classic 1 Percent Over 99 Percent

Mike Rogers' Republican Party just can't help itself. Right now, they seem to be doing everything they possibly can to help millionaires and billionaires instead of working people. And they aren't even hiding it anymore.

That's clear from the debate over extending President Obama's payroll tax cut, which expires at the end of this year. The tax cut has saved working families an average of $1,000 a year. With the economy slowly recovering, now is not the time to take money out of the pockets of working people.

President Obama has proposed extending the current 2 percent payroll tax cut and increasing it 3.2 percent. That would mean up to $1,500 a year in the pockets of working families, giving a further boost to the economy.

Rather than add to the deficit, President Obama would pay for the tax cut with a surtax on the wealthiest sliver of Americans. You can click here to find out what the tax plan means for you.

So far, Republicans in the Senate have voted against the payroll tax cut in order to protect the 1 percent richest Americans. Let's hope Mike Rogers gets his chance to vote on the payroll tax cut for his constituents in the 8th Congressional District, even if it means Congress is still in session on New Year's Eve.

Where Were the People in GOP Debate?

Something was missing in last week's Republican presidential debate. It took me awhile to notice it, what with Perry's 53-second brain freeze and the drama over the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain.

That "something" was the main thing that matters in all these debates and the general election itself -- people.

I can recall few instancfes in which a candidate talked about a real person he or she had met while campaigning, someone who told them a story about his or her life that the audience could relate to or that illustrated the impact of the policies these candidates support or oppose. This debate should have been full of such stories. After all, it was supposed to be about the economy and jobs, and we are in need of more jobs. But the closest anyone came to talking about real people was Newt Gingrich talking about Henry Ford.

There are a number of possibilities. Perhaps these candidates are doing very little actual campaigning of the kind that candidates used to do in Iowa and New Hampshire and instead are spending their time in private fund-raising, media interviews, and speeches to special interest groups. They may be running a version of a "virtual campaign" in which they never really have to talk to voters so they don't have any examples of how voters are suffering.

Or it may be that the Republicans' positions -- against government actually doing anything to help people and in favor of dismantling regulations that protect people -- just doesn't lend itself to telling stories about how those policies would impact real people. At least not stories that most voters would want to hear.

Who's going to tell a story about a 1 percenter who can't redecorate a yacht if the government raises his taxes? Not a real sob story?

Who's going to tell a story about a doughnut shop owner who's mad about "government" regulations after food inspectors found rat feces in the flour?

The truth is policies Republicans favor hurt the average person so much that it is hard to illustrate them with stories that convey the idea that the candidates care about us. This will be a much bigger problem in the general election. If President Obama illustrates his policies with stories about people he met in Ohio or Michigan or Pennsylvania, he'll be connecting with voters while the GOP candidate praises the virtues of the "free market." Free markets don't vote. People do.

Romney Shuns Michigan in Announcing For President

Mitt Romney, who grew up in Michigan as the son of an auto executive and won the state's presidential primary in 2008, announced Thursday that he was running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 in a staged event far away from his Michigan roots.

Sure, Romney wanted to announce in New Hampshire because of its first in the nation primary status, apparently deciding he doesn't care that much about Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.

But it's not unusual for candidates to double-up on the announcements, stopping at more than one place to announce the "news." But Romney made no bid to get any media in Michigan for a very good reason -- an opinion piece he penned titled, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

After basically telling the state to kiss its major industry good-bye and that President Obama's attempts to aid it would spell the demise of the auto industry, Romney can't very well come back here and ask for Michiganians' votes. Especially with Michigan automakers picking up market share, posting profits, repaying federal laws early, and buying back federally-owned stock.

Now, of course, Romney is trying to take credit for the auto industry rebound, yet another Mitt flip-flop.

So as President Obama prepares to visit an auto plant on the state's borders to announce the Chrysler stock buy-back, Romney is choosing to stay away.

Dick Morris In My Living Room

Rick Snyder has taken time off from taxing poor people and old people and stealing money from local schools to tell local Republican parties in Michigan whom they should have as guest speakers.

Snyder didn't like the idea that pollster and Fox News contributor Dick Morris was going to speak at an event he was attending so somehow Morris got uninvited.

The rest of us, however, have to put up with Dick Morris not just at a fund-raising event, but in our living rooms. Morris is starring in robo-calls to Michigan voters masquerading as a presidential poll. In reality, the poll is nothing more than a gimmick to ask people to donate $200 to something called the "Presidential Coalition for America."

At the start of the call, Morris tells the listener that "solid conservatives" and "Tea Party members" like them are needed to "stop Obama." And if the listener would just donate $100 or $200, they will receive a signed copy of Morris' latest book and have their name added to a newspaper ad attacking President Obama. Then the listener is invited to name the conservative leaders best able to lead the country. No list is provided and that seems to limit the usefulness of the poll for gauging support for this cycle's GOP presidential wanna-bes. According to the coalition's website, "other" topped the list, followed by Ronald Reagan, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Donald Trump. And three of those four are now unavailable for various reasons.

But the real purpose of the "poll" is to raise money, so when someone calling herself Michelle Jenkins from the coalition came on the line, her job was to get my conservative blood boiling by attacking Obama's "socialist agenda."

Somehow, I found Jenkins' script unconvincing so when she asked for my presidential choice I said no conservative leader was capable of restoring our country and that I thought President Obama was doing an excellent job. He had taken care of Osama bin Laden, restored the auto industry and created thousands of jobs right here in Michigan, demonstrated by the fact that Chrysler was repaying its federal loans that very day.

Michelle was very quiet as I calmly laid out Obama's accomplishments and she realized she wouldn't be making a sale on this phone call.

I don't know how many other Michigan residents will have Dick Morris inflicted on them in coming weeks as he tries to unload copies of his book and raise money. But I suggest rather than hanging up, any Democrats who get such calls spend as much time as possible telling the Presidential Coalition exactly what President Obama has done for this state.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due -- George Bush

Conservative talking head Michelle Malkin was in Livingston County Wednesday whining that George Bush hasn't been given enough credit for things that President Obama has done.

OK. Let's give him more credit.

Let's give George Bush full credit for the economic meltdown that started in 2008 and from which the nation has had to recover during the first two years of President Obama's administration. Every single ounce of credit. Would that make Malkin happy? We'll give him credit for the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, the near death of Michigan's auto industry, the millions of homes foreclosed on, the billions of dollars of wealth Americans lost in the values of their homes and their retirement plants, and the shrinking of not just the U.S. economy, but the entire world economy.

George Bush, I hereby promise that I will always give you 100 percent credit for that. Not "joint credit," which is what Malkin wants for the successful raid authorized by Obama that killed terrorist Osama bin Laden.

No, I will give George Bush 100 percent pure and unadulterated credit.

Feel better?

I doubt it. People like Malkin and the Bush administration minions that appeared on Sunday talk shows demanding that George Bush get credit for bin Laden's death only want credit for things that go right after they leave office. They want credit, not responsibility, which means accepting blame when things go wrong.

Here's what I mean.

Suppose information that was key to Obama's decision to launch the raid that killed bin Laden had actually been developed under Bush's administration. (It wasn't, but let's pretend that it was.) And let's pretend that President Obama authorized the raid, knowing that there was only a 55 percent chance that the information was correct. (Which there was.)

And let's say that the intelligence turned out to be wrong. It wasn't bin Laden in that compound at all. It was some Saudi prince who had the compound built as a hide-away. And instead of killing bin Laden, the Navy SEALS killed the Saudi prince and a huge international incident resulted that threatened U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and our oil supplies.

The nation would be in crisis.President Obama would be in major trouble. But since the faulty intelligence that led to the raid was developed under Bush's administration, George Bush and members of his administration would step forward to claim "joint credit" with President Obama for the fiasco.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they would. I'm pretty sure Malkin would come to Livingston County and demand, yes demand, that George Bush be given "joint credit" for the fiasco.

I'd pay money to see that.

Five Things We Have Learned About President Obama

The daring raid that resulted in the U.S. putting a bullet in the head of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden will be analyzed and re-analyzed, hashed over in newspaper columns, written about in books, studied in the military academies, and made into movies. In coming days, its political significance will be debated as well. But based on what we know right now, we have learned at least five key things about President Obama's governing style and leadership abilities.

1. President Obama is not afraid to take huge risks. Success on a mission such as this is no guarantee, no matter how precise the intelligence, how skilled the combatants, how careful the planning. Failure could have taken many forms -- many Pakistani civilians killed by accident, a leak that tipped off Pakistani military who might have fired on U.S. helicoptors, an escape by bin Laden, the shooting down of U.S. helicoptors even as they made their escape. Look at what happened to President Carter's image in 1979 after a helicoptor sent to rescue Iranian hostages crashed. Despite the high stakes, Obama was willing to take that gamble, knowing the future of his presidency, the prestige of the United States, and the lives of American military personnel were on the line. That takes guts.

2. President Obama can multi-task. Over the last several months, President Obama has participated in nine secret meetings reviewing the intelligence that made the raid possible and deciding on the exact plan for the raid. At the same time, he was negotiating over the budget, trying to prevent Republican extremists from shutting down the government, reviewing tornado damage in the southeastern United States, attending a planned shuttle launch with Tucson shooting victim U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and answering critics about his birth certificate. Yet he remained focused on this key goal without waivering from it.

3. President Obama and his administration can keep a secret. Nobody outside a handful of people had any inkling this was going on. Such secrecy was crucial to the mission's success and Obama and his people kept a really big secret for a long time, no small feat in this age of instaneous communication in a town full of journalists dedicated to ferreting out secrets.

4. President Obama is one cool customer. The president authorized this mission on Friday. On Saturday night, he went to the White House Correspondents Association dinner and cracked jokes about his birth certificate and Donald Trump's decision-making. What must have been going through the president's mind when he delivered the dig to Trump about the heavy decisions Trump makes on "Celebrity Apprentice," such as whom to fire when the steaks aren't cooked right? Those are the decisions that keep me awake at night, Obama said without a hint of irony, a day after making a decision that would bring a mass-murderer of Americans to justice at last.

5. President Obama is very patient. In 2009 President Obama made getting Osama bin Laden the nation's top national security priority. He did not bluster about it and make idle threats, but just kept the focus on a top priority. Nor did he strike back at critics who called him weak, but merely bided his time and let the professionals do their planning.

This is a set of leadership traits that has served Michiganians and all Americans well.

How to Talk About the Budget

Budgets are not just about numbers. They are a numerical reflection of a state or a nation's priorities, its choices about what is important, what is right and what is wrong. They are a moral statement. They show the world what a state or nation believes in.

That's why George Lakoff, a University of California linguist known for his work on the differences between liberals and conservatives, says President Obama's April 13, 2011, budget speech was such a landmark address.

Lakoff, in a post on Huffington Post, says Obama expertly laid out America's moral vision. Lakoff's post does an excellent job of explaining, in simple terms, how Obama supporters should start talking about budget issues.

"The basic idea is this: Democracy is based on empathy, that is, on citizens caring about each other and acting on that care, taking responsibility not just for themselves but for their families, communities, and their nation. The role of government is to carry out this principle in two ways: protection and empowerment."

Obama quoted Lincoln's belief that government was a way "to do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves." Everyone, Obama said, eventually needs some help, and a great country provides that help to each and every citizens through programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Lakoff also praised Obama for speaking in terms of "systems" and not simple direct cause and effect. "Under the Republican budget plan, the president would get a $200,000 a year tax break, which would be paid for by cutting programs for seniors, with the result that 33 seniors would be paying $6,000 more a year for health care to pay for his tax break. To see this, you have to look outside of the federal budget to the economic system at large, in which you can see what budget cuts will be balanced by increased in costs to others. A cut here in the budget is balanced by an increase outside the federal budget for real human beings."

Lakoff urged Democrats to start talking about the budget as Obama did, in terms of Democratic moral values and systems, how tax cuts for the wealthy affect real human beings.

The reason goes back to Lakoff's basic argument -- that independent voters have two sets of frames for looking at the world, one that is mostly progressive and one that is mostly conservative. Each of those frames can be actitvated with the correct language and the more it is activated, the less active the other one begins. Democrats' goal should be to activate the progressive frames in independents.

Lakoff, therefore, says progressives should talk about the progressive moral view whenever possible when talking about the budget rather than merely refuting conservative arguments point by point.

Lakoff's post is easy to read and understand, but it is crucial for progressives to start thinking and talking this way. Read his post and start practicing.

Which State of the Union Line Galled Livingston GOP the Most?

If there were a contest to decide which part of President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night (Jan. 25, 2011) Livingston County Republicans hated the most, I think I might go with his suggestion that Americans should respect teachers.

For some reason, teachers are the group Livingston County Republicans love to attack. More than immigrants, more than Muslims, more than trial lawyers. Their dislike of teachers shows over and over again in letters to the editor, their on-line story chats, in school board elections, in many school board members' relations with teachers, you name it.

I've never been able to figure out why. Perhaps it's simply because teachers insist on being paid in cash now, instead of being given free room and board at a parent's house for a month at a time. Or maybe because they're allowed to keep teaching after they get married. Or maybe because so many of them are now men.

Probably it has something to do with Republican disdain for education in general, their insistence that facts don't matter, and if they just insist something is true, it will become true -- George Bush's "we make our own reality" blah, blah, blah.

Whatever the reason, disrespect for teachers by adults filters through to students, who fail to take academic achievement seriously. Which of course Republicans blame on teachers.

Other countries in the world do things differently. In Japan, teachers are highly respected. Students do well in school compared to American students. Is there a connection? Let's try it and find out.

Doing Taxes? Your Refund Probably Bigger--Because of Obama

As the deadline for filing federal income taxes approaches, you'll probably be hearing a lot from the teabaggers about the terrible burden of increased taxes under President Obama.

Don't believe it, because it's a lie like everything else they scream.

Thanks to the recovery act passed a year ago (and opposed by Rep. Mike Rogers) 95 percent of Americans got a tax cut. Yes, a tax cut.

The recovery act contained a cut in federal income taxes that will amount to as much as $800 a year for a married couple. That's a real cut, and you probably have been receiving it throughout the year as your withholding rate was cut. And if you bought a home you probably took advantage of either the first time home buyers tax credit of up to $8,000 or the long-term home owner's credit of $6,500.

But there are more. There also is a a tax credit of up to $2,500 for college expenses for you or your child. Did you make energy improvements to your home -- 30 percent of the cost, up to $1,500, is available in a tax credit.

If you bought a new vehicle, the sales tax and other fees are tax deductible, for a vehicle costing up to $49,500.

If you received unemployment benefits, the first $2,400 were exempt from taxes last year, thanks to the recovery act.

And a $1,000 per child tax credit was made available for more families.

The savings can up to thousands pretty quickly. If you want to see how the recovery act applies to you, visit this Obama site.

And remember, these are tax cuts that Mike Rogers opposed.

Levin Is Right: Filibuster Must Fall

Sen. Carl Levin is right -- the days of the filibuster in the Senate should be numbered.

Levin was speaking after two separate incidents of Republican shenanigans regarding the U.S. Senate's filibuster rule. The first was Sen. Richard Shelby's attempt to hold up all of President Obama's nominee until a French company received a military contract that would help his district. And the latest is an attempt to block an Obama appointee to the National Labor Relations Board, Craig Becker. Becker had a majority vote in favor of his routine appointment, but not the 60 required to break a filibuster.

Levin told the Huffington Post that this abuse of the filibuster can't continue.

"I think it will either fall of its own weight -- it should fall of its own weight -- or it will fall after some massive conflict on the floor, which has happened in the past where there have been rulings from the chair that have led to reform," Levin said.

Republicans, of course, complained to high heaven that George Bush's appointments to the highest court in the land deserved "an up or down vote" but now they have no qualms about holding up the lowest level appointees about whom no questions have been raised, except that Obama appointed them.

Levin is right. Senate rules need reform. But hoping something will fall of its own weight someday isn't good enough. Somebody needs to give it a stiff push.

Join Local Dems at Memories for State of the Union

President Obama will make his State of the Union speech Wednesday and you have a chance to watch it with fellow Obama supporters.

Local Dems will gather at Memories Lounge and Restaurant, 1840 S. Old U.S. 23, Brighton, at 7 p.m. You can order off the menu and watch the speech in a private room on big screen TV.

See you there!

Saturday in the Fall--Marxist Football Day!

It's a gorgeous-looking September morning and if it stays this way, it will be a perfect afternoon for that great American tradition -- college football.

But I imagine the crowds at the stadiums of the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and so on, will be much smaller this year. What with President Obama now in office and everything related to government suddenly becoming marxist and socialist and all.

I don't expect any of those tea baggers will be sitting in those stadiums cheering the teams from the "government schools."

Guess we'll have to cheer for Notre Dame and Northwestern from now on.

Joe Wilson--a Republican Doing What Republicans Do

Anyone who watched President Obama's awesome speech last night couldn't miss the Republican behavior -- highlighted by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina's shouting that the president was lying.

As we know from the last few weeks, that is all Republicans have to offer in this debate about rising health care costs -- name-calling and shouting. Now that it has been done by a member of Congress in a formal setting, Republicans can no longer disassociate themselves from the right-wing fringe. This is the heart of their party. If Republicans can't act civilly in one of our democracy's most hallowed chambers, do they belong there at all? Why should anyone take them seriously as people trying to solve the problems our nation faces?

Rep. John Dingle put it best when Huffington Post asked for his reaction to Wilson's rudeness. "Well, you've got to understand: They're Republicans. They're just doing what comes natural," he said.

Wilson apologized afterwards, but it's too late.

Independents and moderate Republicans need to ask themselves why they want to be associated with people like that.

When President Says Work Hard, Livingston Parents Say Don't Listen

Things have sunk pretty low when parents don't want their kids to listen to anything the president says.

Not even work hard, do your homework, try to make something of yourself even if you don't have much money or think you don't have any opportunities. (The text of the speech is here.)

That's pretty much the classic Horatio Alger story that America is supposed to be built on. But if it comes from a Democratic president who happens to be half black, Livingston County parents label it "indoctrination" somehow aimed at destroying our freedom.

What next -- no photos of President Obama allowed in classrooms because it encourages hero worship?