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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2015)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 Germany, a can-do refugee nation Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Power goes to the political spenders D Voters need to let elected leaders know they are watching etails continue to emerge about the 2,242-page gr- ab-bag of a budget passed by Congress in the waning hours of its ignominious 2015 session. Secretive political contributors turn out to have been a key ben- H¿FLDU\ RI ODZPDNHUV¶ IDVW DQG furious deal-making. When citizens learn a bud- get has been passed, we mostly imagine a straightforward docu- ment detailing how many dollars will be spent on national defense and a cornucopia of govern- ment programs. But beyond this, members of Congress stuff it full of other goodies and baddies, many with only a tangential rela- tionship with spending. Thanks to a couple of these sneaky maneuvers, the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission will be blocked from making new rules to force more public disclosure of the anonymous campaign contri- butions that are warping the American democratic process. The ability of “dark money” groups and corporations to in- ÀXHQFH SROLWLFLDQV ZLOO UHPDLQ unchallenged at least through the 2016 election. University of California, Irvine, law Prof. Rick Hasen, writing at electionlawblog.org, notes “these provisions will en- sure that the American public has much less information than it needs to make informed and responsible choices about who is funding the groups that are spending hundreds of millions of GROODUV WR LQÀXHQFH RXU IHGHUDO elections.” In the online news source Vox, reporter Andrew Prokop concedes that Democrats won some important victories in the budget deal, but notes they either agreed to defending dark money RUGLGQ¶WFDUHHQRXJKWR¿JKWLW ³,W¶V QRW HQWLUHO\ FOHDU ZKDW went on behind the scenes here. But it is clear that though dark money spending has overwhelm- LQJO\ EHQH¿WHG 5HSXEOLFDQV in recent years, Democrats are learning fast,” Prokop observes. Hasen agrees: “Democrats have not been the leaders on the LVVXHRIFDPSDLJQ¿QDQFHUHIRUP that Democratic leaders would like the base to think it is. And that failure of leadership starts at the top, with President Obama. Nothing much will change about any of this until voters realize political spending deter- mines who wins and loses in our economy, courts and corridors of power. Pay attention and take every opportunity to tell elected leaders that you are watching and will vote based on what they do to make sure all citizens get an even break in elections. By ROGER COHEN New York Times News Service T KHUH¶VDQHZFDQGRQDWLRQ ,W¶VFDOOHG*HUPDQ\ The United States, fear-ridden, has passed the torch. Throughout the extraordi- nary process that has seen roughly 1 mil- lion refugees DUULYH LQ *HU- many this year, Chancellor An- gela Merkel has had a consistent Roger refrain: “Wir Cohen schaffen das” — “We can do this.” The gesture in question is the most extraordinary redemptive act by any European nation in many years. *HUPDQV RQ WKH ZKROH KDYH XQ- derstood. They have understood that WR ÀHH 6\ULD WKURXJK ,VODPLF 6WDWH checkpoints, place your family in ÀLPV\ ERDWV RQ VWRUP\ ZDWHUV DQG trudge across Europe in search of a home is not a desperate decision. It is a reasonable decision if the alter- native is to see your children blown up by a barrel bomb or your daugh- WHUUDSHGE\DMLKDGLVW3RVWZDU*HU- mans are reasonable people. The United States would have had to admit about 4 million ref- ugees this year to take in a similar proportion of its population. It has fallen more than 3.9 million short of that mark. 0RVWRIWKHUHIXJHHVLQ*HUPDQ\ are from Syria. The United States has admitted about 1,900 refugees from Syria over the past four years. Yes, you read that right. President Barack Obama has now pledged to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees — a decision WKDWKDGPHWGH¿DQFHIURPPRUHWKDQ two dozen Republican governors ea- JHUWRFRQÀDWHWKHZRUGV³0XVOLP´ or “Middle Eastern” with terrorist. Whatever happened to “the home of the brave”? Set aside the fact that the Syrian crisis cannot be disentangled from the spillover of the Iraq war, and VR $PHULFD¶V GLUHFW UHVSRQVLELOLW\ is engaged. Set aside the fact that Obama said in 2011 that President Bashar Assad must step aside, and so $PHULFD¶VUHVSRQVLELOLW\LVHQJDJHG Set aside the presidential “red line” not upheld in 2013. Even then, by any reasonable measure, the U.S. response to the Syrian refugee crisis has been pitiful. For a land of immigrants peopled RYHU FHQWXULHV E\ IDPLOLHV ÀHHLQJ war, famine or hardship, it has been especially pitiful. Mexican immigrant in his labeled himself “a clean employ. hands freak,” called hand- You have to hand it to shakes a “terrible custom” him: He divines character and said that the obliga- verybody pees. ÀDZV ZKHUH QR RQH HOVH tion to engage in them was 7KDW¶VDFWXDOO\WKHQDPHRI could or would. Through one of the great curses of a public service campaign by the celebrity like his. KLV ZDUSHG OHQV WKHUH¶V 1DWLRQDO .LGQH\ )RXQGDWLRQ DQG , VKDPH LQ -RKQ 0F&DLQ¶V Even so, a kidney doc- thought it a needless statement of the imprisonment in Vietnam, WRU,NQRZZDVEDIÀHGE\ obvious until Donald Trump brought KRUURULQ&OLQWRQ¶VXVHRID his latest outburst. “Urine is sterile,” toilet, dysfunction in each me to my senses. Frank Maya Rao, an assistant EHDG RI 0DUFR 5XELR¶V Bruni Apparently some people think sweat. professor of nephrology WKDWWKHODZVRIXURORJ\GRQ¶WDSSO\ at Columbia University, Those last two items to them. Apparently Trump is in this underscore his bizarre obsession SRLQWHG RXW ³,W¶V QRW µGLVJXVWLQJ¶ category. ZLWK DQG REMHFWLRQ WR ERG\ ÀXLGV :RZ,OLWHUDOO\IHHOOLNH,¶PGHDOLQJ Last week, he said this of Hil- In early November, Daniel Lippman with an elementary-school child and ODU\ &OLQWRQ¶V PLGGHEDWH EDWKURRP of Politico noted that Trump had ZH¶UHWDONLQJDERXWFRRWLHV´ Trump is routinely — and rightly EUHDN³,NQRZZKHUHVKHZHQW,W¶V ³UHPDUNHG RQ 5XELR¶V SHUVSLUDWLRQ GLVJXVWLQJ,GRQ¶WZDQWWRWDONDERXW at least eight times in the last seven — tagged as a playground bully, but LW1RLW¶VWRRGLVJXVWLQJ´ weeks.” On two of those occasions, WKDWSKUDVHGRHVQ¶WGRIXOOMXVWLFHWR +H GLGQ¶W VSHFLI\ ZK\ %XW LW¶V Trump suggested that sweating his arrested development, his potty GLI¿FXOWWR¿QGDQ\WKLQJLQGHFRURXV would put Rubio at a disadvantage mouth and the puerile nature of his DERXW&OLQWRQ¶VEHKDYLRUXQOHVV\RX in negotiations with Vladimir Putin, vulgar bleats. He taunts people for being un- see it as entirely volitional and utter- ZKRZRXOG¿QGKLPWRRVRJJ\ ly controllable — something you do 7KH ÀXLGV RI ZRPHQ LQ SDUWLF- popular, for being unattractive, for to indulge yourself, something that ular rattle Trump. When a lawyer physical disabilities. The altitude of can be put off for hours or forever, an who was questioning him during a his debate vocabulary is only milli- emblem of your weakness. I guess in 2011 deposition asked for a break so meters above “I know you are, but 7UXPS¶V ZRUOG RQO\ that she could leave ZKDW DP ,´ ZRUGV WKDW KH¶OO VXUHO\ “low energy” people room and pump utter before this is all over. Apparently the Last week, he not only cringed at need to go. breast milk for her &OLQWRQ¶VEDWKURRPYLVLWKHPRFNHG That would make 3-month-old daugh- some sense, given how ter, he was unhinged. her loss in the 2008 presidential elec- fantastical his cos- ³<RX¶UH GLVJXVW- tion by substituting a phallic verb for people PRV LV ,W¶V D SODFH ing,” he berated her, the word defeated. think that according to a story This, ladies and gentlemen, is where thousands of Muslims in New Jer- in The Times earli- \RXU 5HSXEOLFDQ IURQWUXQQHU ,W¶V the laws sey publicly cheer er this year by Mi- probably too late to teach him man- the fall of the World Barbaro and ners but maybe not to teach him bi- of urology chael Trade Center; where Steve Eder. Then he RORJ\:KHQ\RXLPELEHÀXLGV\RX a stretch of the Poto- don’t apply stormed out of the H[FUHWH ÀXLGV VRPHWLPHV WKURXJK sweat, often through urine. mac River alongside deposition. to them. And while “the typical person a Virginia golf club More famous- of his magically be- O\ KH UHÀHFWHG RQ goes to the bathroom every three or comes a Civil War site; where his 0HJ\Q.HOO\¶VLQWHUURJDWLRQRIKLP four hours,” said Matthew Rutman, own net worth changes by an order DW WKH ¿UVW 5HSXEOLFDQ SUHVLGHQWLDO a urologist at Columbia, that fre- of billions from one moment to the debate by saying that “you could see TXHQF\LQFUHDVHVIRUVRPHRQHZKR¶V next, in accordance with his need to there was blood coming out of her ROGHU ZKR¶V HQGXULQJ VWUHVV ZKR¶V puff up his chest. eyes, blood coming out of her wher- ingesting caffeine. In other words, for most presidential candidates. :K\ ZRXOGQ¶W LW DOVR EH D SODFH ever.” (YHU\ERG\SHHV%XWLW¶VWKHUDUH where people relieve themselves &OLQWRQ¶V EDWKURRP EUHDN ² RU RQO\ LI WKH\¶UH ORVHUV DQG WKH\¶UH PRUH SUHFLVHO\ 7UXPS¶V UHYXOVLRQ PDQFKLOGZKR¿QGVWKDWZRUWK\RI intent on a messiness that they can toward it — lies at the intersection ULGLFXOH$QGLW¶VXSWRYRWHUV,VWKDW DYRLG"0D\EH7UXPSUHDOO\GRHVQ¶W of his misogyny and his fastidious- the kind of exceptionalism you want pee. Maybe he outsources that to a QHVV +H¶V D JHUPRSKREH ZKR RQFH in the White House? As Cubans lag, our E UHODWLRQVKLSÀRXQGHUV here are many ways of sum- ming up Fidel Castro and Cuba. One way would be: Fidel and Raul Castro were good at running a revolution, but they have failed utterly at running a country. Or, Fidel Castro peaked GHFDGHVDJRDQGLW¶VEHHQGRZQ- hill ever since. The New York Times reported on Dec. 20 that Raul Castro is upset that Cuban physicians are leaving for the U.S. in consider- able numbers. Castro wants to change that in the next round of negotiations. 2QH RI &XED¶V VXFFHVVHV LV in educating physicians. Cuba has exported them to other Latin American countries, which pay Cuba in oil and cash. One Cuban physician told the Times it was “modern-day slavery” for the Cuban physicians. %XW WKH QDWLRQ¶V HFRQRP\ LV so anemic, with a declining pop- ulation, that Cuba has physicians with little to do. And the disparity between what a Cuban physician makes at home or would earn in a developed economy is wide. The Times reported that, “The number of Cuban medical profes- sionals who defected for residen- cy in the United States reached a record this year, putting a crimp in the newly restored relations be- tween the two countries and forc- ing Cuba to scramble to stop the exodus.” One year after President 2EDPD¶VRSHQLQJWR&XEDKHLV being pummeled from both ends of the political spectrum — to revisit his Cuban policy. The Times editorial page urges that the opening to Cuban physicians be narrowed. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia 2¶*UDG\ DUJXHV WKDW 2EDPD¶V opening to Cuba has done noth- ing for Cuban dissidents and that Cuba is being intransigent on talking seriously about money owed to people and businesses whose property was seized in the Cuban Revolution. There are at least a couple mes- sages in this. One is to Americans who are convinced their own nation is heading to ruin. If that is that case, why are so many Cubans, Mexicans and refugees from other nations so eager to reach our shores? Like all totalitarian societies, &XED¶VHFRQRP\LVKRVWDJHWRDQ ideology the party elite in power. Even within the framework of Communism, Cuba is hopeless- O\ FDOFL¿HG 7KLV LV QRW &KLQD whose pragmatic despots built an economic engine. If Cubans can- not see prosperity or the opportu- nity for growth, its relations with the U.S. will be lopsided. *HUPDQ\ KDV VWHSSHG LQ :LU It is a personal matter. The last time schaffen das — we can do this. The Europe was awash in millions of ref- can-do spirit has made a trans-Atlan- ugees was in 1945 as the Third Re- tic crossing. ich collapsed. It is a historical matter. 0HUNHO¶V SODFH LQ WKH KLVWRU\ *HUPDQ\FRXOGQRWWXUQLWVEDFN6WLOO books was already assured. She was the decision required statesmanship the woman who over a — that quaint, almost forgotten word — and decade steered a united *HUPDQ\ WR D VHOIDV- Whatever the conviction that any risk of terrorism could surance striking for a country that, even at the happened be managed. One million refu- turn of the century, was to ‘the gees change the land- still uncertain if it could scape. They are in su- allow itself a modicum home permarkets. They are in of pride. But with her of the hospitals. They are in decision this year to ad- *HUPDQV KDYH mit Syrian and other ref- brave’? VFKRROV been accepting, despite ugees, she has become a the huge cost. A far- WRZHULQJ (XURSHDQ ¿J- ure, certainly the equal of such post- ULJKWSDUW\PD\EHQH¿WEXWWKHFRQ- ZDU *HUPDQ JLDQWV DV .RQUDG$GH- sensus is this had to be done. As a result, over the next genera- nauer, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut .RKO ² SHUKDSV HYHQ VXUSDVVLQJ WLRQ*HUPDQ\ZLOOEHFRPHDVWURQ- WKHPEHFDXVHKHU*HUPDQ\LVLWVRZQ ger, more vital, more dynamic, more master whereas theirs was still under open country. Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian immigrant known as John, degrees of American tutelage. “She does not want to be — she was the biological father of Steve refuses to be — the person who wit- -REV 3HUKDSV D IXWXUH 6\ULDQ*HU- nessed a serious fracture of the Euro- man Jobs has just entered school. *HUPDQ\ KDV VKDPHG LWV (XUR- pean Union,” Julian Reichelt, the ed- itor in chief of Bild Online, told me. pean partners, including Britain. A “She will throw money at a problem, Europe-wide program for refugees DV ZLWK *UHHFH 6KH ZLOO DGPLW DQ LVQHHGHG*HUPDQ\FDQ¶WWDNHLQDQ- unlimited number of refugees. And other million in 2016. “There is no real plan beyond she will go down in history as a great European who defended the Union buying time to get the rest of Europe on board,” Reichelt said. no matter what.” In a grim year, Merkel has re- When Merkel decided last sum- mer to admit the refugees, she avert- deemed the Europe that once closed ed violence that might have spilled LWV IURQWLHUV WR -HZV ÀHHLQJ *HUPD- out of control. Critics within her own Q\:KHQDWXQL¿FDWLRQ.RKOVSRNH Christian Democrat party portray her of a “blooming landscape” in the for- as emotional. But for a leader com- PHU(DVW*HUPDQ\KHZDVGHULGHG mitted to preserving the European %XWLWFDPHWRSDVV*HUPDQ\FDQGR WKLV$VIRUFDQ¶WGR$PHULFDWKDW¶V idea, her decision was rational. 5DLVHG LQ (DVW *HUPDQ\ VKH another story. Fear and electoral pol- owes her freedom to European unity. itics constitute an explosive brew. Blood, sweat and Donald Trump By FRANK BRUNI New York Times News Service T Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a round table meeting an EU summit in Brussels, Dec. 18. Throughout the extraordinary process that has seen roughly 1 million refugees arrive in Germany this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel has had a consistent refrain: “Wir schaffen das” — “We can do this.”
