PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 15, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Obama promised hope, but...
By MICHAEL GERSON
Now let us praise laundry lists.
Every year at State of the Union
time, the president and his staff say
the speech will not include them.
But the laundry won’t keep track of
itself. The union is varied and ex-
pansive, and so are the responsibili-
ties of its chief executive. Enumerat-
ing accomplishments and objectives
amounts to lists, which Obama had
in plenty Tuesday night.
The interesting thing is why this
particular laundry was chosen. By
what principle does the president
want personalized medical treat-
ments, paid leave, pre-K for all, the
cure for cancer, a transition away
from dirty energy, and the Trans-
Pacifi c Partnership?
Obama advanced no ideological
claim of what government should
do; no technocratic vision of how
its performance might be improved.
The lists exist because Obama, who
sees the “next frontier,” chose them.
His person unites his agenda—not
quite in the leadership league, he ad-
mits, of Lincoln or Roosevelt, but he
has obviously thought hard and long
about the comparison.
This was the way Obama was in-
troduced to the country eight years
ago. His victory in the Iowa caucus-
es had little to do with an ideologi-
cal vision or policy agenda (which
was, in fact, the utterly predictable
liberalism of a backbench senator).
That giddy night, he claimed that a
“divided” and “disillusioned” coun-
try found “a common purpose.” His
38 percent in the caucus proved “we
are one people.” We would “move
beyond the bitterness and pettiness
and anger that’s consumed Washing-
ton.” “This was the place,” Obama
said, “where America remembered
what it means to hope.” Elsewhere
he would say: “I have become a
symbol of the possibility of America
returning to our best traditions.”
Obama would bring balance to
the Force. Prospectively, with eight
years ahead, this was inspiring. Ret-
rospectively, with seven years behind,
the same claim comes across as self-
centered and a little sad—a world-
historic fi gure picking through the
refuse of the years for this shiny
accomplishment and that. His so-
lutions to 21st-century problems
look suspiciously like 20th-century
liberalism. And where has Obama
actually left his party and American
liberalism?
Obama is the fi rst Democrat
since Franklin Roosevelt to win
back-to-back electoral majori-
ties. But members of his party who
venture beyond the 18 acres of the
White House will fi nd political ruin.
Since taking offi ce, Democrats have
KPAC, SKEF work
for student art
lost 13 Sen-
ate seats, 69
House seats,
11 governor-
ships, 30 state
leg islatures
and more than
900 state leg-
islative seats.
In border states that not long ago
produced national Democratic lead-
ers—such as Arkansas and Tennes-
see—the Democratic collapse is es-
pecially pronounced. Few presidents
have done better for themselves and
worse for their parties.
And perhaps most disturbingly
for America’s liberal party, trust in
government to do the right thing is
near historical lows. According to a
Pew Research Center average, just
19 percent of Americans trust gov-
ernment to do the right thing all
or most of the time. The whole of
the Democratic agenda, the whole
of Hillary Clinton’s agenda—from
gun control to immigration reform
to reducing greenhouse gases—re-
quires some modicum of trust in the
capacity of government to act in the
public interest. What is liberalism
without public trust in government?
A college class.
Declining trust in government is
part of a larger decline in the trust
of institutions generally. But it is fair
to say that the launch of Obamacare,
the Veterans Affairs hospital scandal
and the IRS political targeting scan-
dal did little to halt the slide. Obama
was either complicit in the trend, or
helpless against it.
The same could be said of po-
litical polarization—which Obama
eventually decided he could not
fi ght, and joined with enthusiasm.
Or the rise of an angry, anti-estab-
lishment populism. More than 10
years of belief that America is on
the “wrong track” has hardened into
outrage and cynicism, and left some
Americans vulnerable to ideologues
and demagogues. These will be re-
membered as the characteristics of
the Obama era —not hope, but an-
ger and cynicism. It was a time when
many Americans learned to rage.
The president and the future
nominee of his party now have one
advantage. Somehow these trends
have produced another cult of per-
sonality, on the other political side
—untethered to ideas, offering only
himself as the solution to our prob-
lems, turning bitterness and pettiness
into a previously undiscovered po-
litical art. This might be the strangest
turn: a Republican Party that copies
and amplifi es the worst tendencies
of our time.
other
views
(Washington
Group)
letters
To the Editor:
Regarding the article re-
garding the All Student Art
Show (Questions arise over
student art show at KPAC meeting, Jan.
8 Keizertimes) I want to clear up any
perceptions that the Salem Keizer
Education Foundation (SKEF) or
Krina Lee were in any way part of
the concern. SKEF and Krina have
been nothing but gracious, patient
and fl exible in working with Keizer
Public Arts Commission (KPAC),
our citizen volunteer committee,
and the City of Keizer.
Our Community Gallery is only
a few months old and KPAC is
having growing pains determining
processes and procedures that ac-
commodate each unique situation
and art show. We want to be a great
community partner with SKEF and
serve all of our kids by providing an
exceptional location for their annual
Post
Writers
art show. That said, we do
not have all of the pro-
cesses in place to accom-
modate this in a seamless
fashion.
We feel we have ac-
complished this now and that the All
Student Art Show will move forward
and become a great success. As the
chair of KPAC, I want to personally
apologize for the frustration, fi ts and
starts that getting to this point has
caused any of our public educators,
SKEF staff and students.
Please forgive our inexperience
and growing pains while we endeav-
or to serve the people of Keizer and
local artists by providing an excep-
tional public art gallery for their use.
In a related note, there is a fabu-
lous show by the Mid-Valley Quil-
ters Guild up now at the Keizer
Civic Center. Please stop by and see
the extraordinary artistic work.
Lore Christopher
Keizer
Keizertimes
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Who encourages Harney militiamen?
Kate Brown became governor by
Oregon’s law of succession. She wants
to be governor in her own right by
the election this year. However, she
has not impressed this voter by her ap-
parent reluctance to do anything that’s
not in her electable interest. Case in
point here has been the standoff in
Harney County by a bunch of crim-
inally-minded invaders from other
states.
The dispute is mainly about the
use of federal lands by out-of-state
ranchers out for private gain. Any
Oregonian or any American living in
or visiting Burns or Harney County is
not necessarily living on federal land
and therefore should be looked after
for their safety by Gov. Brown. After
all, Brown’s in charge of the Oregon
State Police and the Oregon National
Guard.
Meanwhile, letter writers to news-
papers all over the state are writing to
say they are fed up with what’s going
on in Harney County. Here are but
a few examples from the Oregonian of
what they are writing:
“This collection of traveling gun
nuts is just looking for a reason to
go into their ‘government-is-after-us’
paranoid psychosis that fuels their in-
sanity.”
“Ammon Bundy and his self-styled
militia cohorts are misinformed, mis-
guided and mistaken. Their occupa-
tion of the Malheur (r)efuge has noth-
ing to do with the Constitution.”
“I’m writing to express my frus-
tration and anger over the ongoing
armed robbery and theft of public
lands by the Bundy gang of terrorists
and traitors.”
“You cry patriotism as an excuse to
shield your true intentions which are
to turn over our public land jewels to
mining, logging,
fracking
and
grazing interests.
You have at-
tacked the Unit-
ed States in an
act of war and
should be dealt
with as such, by
government entities.”
Negative reactions to this takeover
can be found all over the media and
yet no action from the capitol by Gov.
Brown. It ia all very disappointing
and leads me to believe Kate Brown
is just another partisan who will take
no action—no matter how serious the
matter—to avoid controversy in her
attempt to be elected.
So how did we get to a place where
a bunch of goons takes over south-
east Oregon? Taking over a refuge
and leaving the nearby citizens ner-
vous should not be happening to the
Malhuer Refuge or any of the other
51 refuges around the country, al-
though the Bundy tribe got away with
the same thing on a related matter in
Nevada.
Clues abound as to how we got
to where lawbreakers believe all they
have to do is occupy whatever fed-
eral “ground” they want. Kim Davis,
of Kentucky county clerk fame, re-
fused to recognize same sex marriages
and wouldn’t issue the licenses for it.
Canadian-born Ted Cruz identifi ed
her jailing as “judicial tyranny” while
Mike Huckabee encouraged her
with all his political strength. Donald
Trump says, if elected, he will not per-
mit Muslims into the country due
to their religious preference. Marco
Rubio stands by his motto, “God’s
rules always win and take precedence
over man’s.” Rick Santorum signed a
pledge “not to respect an unjust law
that directly confl icts with higher law.”
Nevada’s Cliven Bundy refused to
pay grazing fees for his use of federal
land. He received the support of Cruz,
Trump, Huckabee, Rand Paul and Ben
Carson. It’s been reported that Rand
Paul met with Bundy earlier this year
for nearly an hour, even after Bundy
was discredited for his racist remarks.
Now, when the son of Cliven, Am-
mon Bundy, a man who says he’s un-
der God’s instructions, took over the
federal compound at the wildlife pre-
serve a couple of weeks ago, only John
Kasich, among the aspiring GOP con-
testants for U.S. president, protested it;
the others were silent where silence
condones and, further, hints that as
president each would surrender all
that we want protected and preserved
to mining, logging, fracking, grazing
and, possibly, hunting preserves for the
wealthy, upscale retreats for the rich,
and golf courses.
Whatever the case, Gov. Brown fi -
nally sent out an electronic message
from her offi ce a week after the oc-
cupation got underway, calling the
action “unlawful” and demanding the
group “decamp immediately.” A no-
budge pledge was the Bundy group’s
reply with nothing more from Sa-
lem as consequence. Am I surprised
by Brown’s lack of attention? No.
She’s also been ‘at sea’ over Syrian ref-
uges to Oregon among which, most
certainly, include ISIS terrorists.
I’m remind of a proverb from a
1930s: A democratic government that
allows anti-government forces to rule,
soon has no democracy at all.
It is 2016 and we’re doomed to a
full nine months of presidential elec-
tion campaigning. There will be no
avoiding the hip-deep toxic sludge
of campaign ads but I wonder if we
might at least set one or two basic
ground rules. The fi rst and most ba-
sic rule ought to be that you can’t say
stuff that’s not true. There should be
some consequence if you do.
Donald Trump claimed in an
interview that he saw, (from Man-
hattan), thousands and thousands
of Muslims in Jersey City, N.J. cel-
ebrating the fall of the World Trade
Center towers on 9/11. That never
happened and the televised coverage
he claims to have seen doesn’t exist.
When confronted with those facts
he simply doubled down and said
yes, it did. So he is either a liar or
has invented a memory. Why is he
still viewed as a serious candidate?
Why was he ever? More than any
other candidate he has been factually
incorrect and more than any other
candidate his fabrications have been
just shrugged off.
As a reaction to the Black Lives
Matter movement a War on Cops
campaign has surfaced. Two thou-
sand-fi fteen was the second safest
year in history for police fatalities by
gunshot, and one of the safest years
overall for fewest police giving up
their lives in the line of duty. Gov.
Chris Christie’s analysis of this wel-
come news was blaming Obama for
“police offi cers being hunted.” In ac-
tuality, traffi c accidents claimed more
law enforcement lives than armed
miscreants. Mike Huckabee said this
War on Cops was responsible for “a
surge in crime.” Ted Cruz has a little
more Con-
gressional heft
and was able
to convene a
Senate Judi-
ciary hearing
titled “War on
Police.” He
blamed Obama for “creating a cul-
ture where the men and women of
law enforcement feel under siege.”
Even though facts support a com-
plete opposite reality this overheated
rhetoric somehow wins converts. In
a September Rasmussen poll 58 per-
cent of Americans believed there is
a war on police in the United States
today. If we don’t insist on candi-
date’s sticking with the facts then it
is our added responsibility as voters
to dig through the muck to fi nd the
truth.
Another rule we could use is that
if you dislike something one candi-
date is accused of then you ought to
dislike all candidates accused of the
same. We
often hear
people
say they
could not
support
a liar like
Hillary
Clinton.
How then
could you
support
a liar like
Donald
Tr u m p ?
Much is
made of
Clinton’s
use of private email servers for gov-
ernment business. Nothing is men-
tioned of the thousands of emails
never recovered from the Bush ad-
ministration’s use of private emails
during the Alberto Gonzales trou-
bles. Lastly, it’s hard to see that Don-
ald Trump has a healthier attitude to-
ward women than Bill Clinton. The
difference being that Bill Clinton is
not running for president.
With no facts to support it, I keep
thinking there is a broad section of
the electorate between the left wing
and right wing extremes. We must
count on this majority to prevent
the election of a candidate indebted
to either of these extremes. The real
worry is that a moderate candidate
would be incapable of saying some-
thing outrageous enough to be heard
in Campaign 2016. Truth is usually
dressed plainly and has no need to
shout.
gene h.
mcintyre
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)
New rules for 2016 presidential races
a box
of
soap
(Don Vowell gets on his soapbox
regularly in the Keizertimes.)