Good Food on KCRW’s Neighborhood

 

Patriotism; Is Obama Shifting to the Center? John McCain's Campaign Shakeup

 A substantive discussion amongst the panelists about what patriotism means. Bob Scheer expounds on George Washington’s farewell speech; Tony Blankley talks about how the theme plays out politically; Matt Miller shares thoughts by Peter Beinart in Time Magazine that the right says “America’s great,” the left says, “Here’s what would make America great;” and Arianna Huffington mentions the USA Today poll that says 2/3 of Americans think that protesting is patriotic. Are Barack Obama’s moves to capture the hearts of swing voters going to win him votes or just the animosity of his base? And will John McCain’s campaign recover its footing with new guy, Steve Schmidt, at the helm. That's him, pictured above

Matt mentioned Peter Beinart's piece, The State of Patriotism, in Time Magazine; here's the link:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818195,00.html

 

Bob spoke about George Washington's farewell address, with some pithy quotes that define his idea of patriotism: find the whole speech here:

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html

(This is an excerpt he read on air:)

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

Tony wrote about Obama and McCain this week, it appears in the Washington Times:

BLANKLEY: Barack Obama's patriotism

Arianna offered free campaign advice to Obama at Huffingtonpost.com, here's the link for that:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/eight-things-barack-obama_b_110549.html

 

And here's that USA Today poll about patriotism that she also mentioned:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-02-patriotism_N.htm USA Today also wrote about the backlash to Obama's perceived centrist shift (I found this one!): http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-07-02-Obama-centrist_N.htm

 

Okay, your turn!

 

Here's what we're thinking about talking about on the July 4 edition of Left, Right & Center:

The Patriotism Debate [Obama speech, Wesley Clark questioning John McCain's military credentials, Independence Day), The Fight Over Obama's Move to The Center, and McCain's Campaign Shake Up.  

KCRW locals will have to listen ONLINE this week (www.KCRW.com/ live stream at 2:30 and 7 pm PST) -- we're pre-empted for all-day holiday music programming on July 4th, a wonderful 10-hour doc on the history of Rockabilly (Details here: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mx/mx080704whole_lotta_shakin

But pick up the LRC podcast or listen on-demand here: www.KCRW.com/news/programs/lr

Your homework: listen to Obama's speech on patriotism and review Wes Clark's comments:

Wes Clark:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080629/pl_politico/11425

Obama Patriotism speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMbBuEoEYnk

Then DISCUSS! You can start without us. Happy 4th! Exercise your liberty!

To all who posted and found themselves cut off, here is the reply from VOX. If you can provide the info re: your browser, please post it along with your Vox name and we'll get the info to the right people at Vox.
Thanks,
Sarah, LRC producer

Hi,

Krissy from the Vox team contacted us and passed on your inquiry about comments. We apologize that some of your comments are cut off. Although we haven't been able to reproduce this yet, we are continuing to look into the issue. The problem only seems to affect people on their first comment when they are signing up with Vox. It might help us to know what browsers people were using when they experienced the problem, so if any people have given you this information, please let us know.

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Vox Help

Matt Miller mentioned a bunch of articles in the show: catch up on your reading:

Robert Novak: The Obamacons Who Worry McCain

Steven Pearlstein: The Bottom is Up Ahead

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/04/22/DI2008042201947.html

Wall Street Journal, Aramco Dueling Dialogue:
Global Oil Spike Worries Fuel Debate in Saudi Arabia

Paul Krugman in the New York Times: Fuels on the Hill

  

June 27, 12:35 pm PST
FIRST Update

We just finished recording the show
Initial notable quotables as noted by our guest bloggers Marisa Bojiuc and Michael Shaw:

Bob Scheer on Supreme Court and guns:
About Obama's lack of flag lapel pin:"Now they'll have to have a gun strapped on to show their patriotism."

Jim Antle on SCOTUS and guns:
"Activism is in the eye of the beholder. Democrats stand up for states rights in the more liberal states but are reluctant to challenge ingrained gun culture in conservative parts of the country."

Matt Miller on SCOTUS and spate of 5/4 decisions:
"As a lapsed legal mind myself, whoever thinks legal decisions are distinct from political ideals, that's really a fraud."

Bob Scheer on North Korean Nukes:
"I don't know why everyone is down on Bush for acting reasonably. I don't know why people are slamming Obama for wanting to negotiate with people. Why not negotiate with Iran? North Korea is going the way of Vietnam and China. Game is over for totalitarianism of that nature. I suspect Iran will go that way."

Jim Antle on North Korea:
When you take Iraq out of the equation, foreign policy support for Bush collapses. Bolton, Cheney disagreed with Bush on this. Realists are not happy, liberal internationalists are not happy, neocons are not happy. No wonder he's at 23% approval rating."

Arianna Huffington on Bush approval ratings:
"Who makes up the 23 percent?????"

Bob Scheer on Saudi Arabia:
"Those SOBs couldn't open the spigot...that could help us out in a time of crisis."

There's plenty more. Tune to KCRW's Left, Right and Center.
Pick up the podcast and listen on our MEDIA PLAYER.

Links to articles mentioned on the show coming soon.

Update at 11:25 am Pacific Time.

Jim Antle has an interesting article on Obamacons that appears in The Guardian

8:14 am Pacific time, Friday, June 27, 2008 (can't believe the new year is half over)

Surprise visit at KCRW from Jeff Dowd -- aka The Dude of The Big Lebowski--who stopped in to do KCRW's Guest DJ Project; he dropped by my desk to say he's a huge fan of Left, Right and Center. Little known facts about the so-called "laid-back" guy: he's no slacker, he's got a monster sized brain, a huge amount of film production activity going on and is a political activist of MAJOR proportions! Check the real DUDE out here: www.jeffdowd.com. What a trip!

PS: Tony's traveling today; special guest on the Right is Jim Antle, associate editor of The American Spectator magazine, and a contributor to Politico.com and many other old-media publications. Tune in today for KCRW's Left, Right and Center -- and while you're at it, sign up for the podcast and check out our cool media player!

By the way, pictured above are Jeff Dowd giving KCRW's Guest DJ Project producer Rachel Reynolds a Big Squeeze; he'll be doing his Guest DJ spot with music host, Jason Eldredge, pictured below. All pix by the station's Gregg Lewis. Fun place to work, doncha' think? It's not all politics, all the time!

 

LRC 6.20.08

Obama/Public Finance; Offshore Drilling; China Economy

Obama announces he won’t take public funding-- is campaign finance reform dead? Is it good news or bad news when more Americans add their dollars to elections? Would offering every voter a voucher to apply to whatever they support make Goldman Sachs’ money less influential? Should we start offshore drilling to offset the increase in oil prices? Or is that just more backward thinking, promoting further environmental ruin for not much of a difference in supply or demand? And finally, does China’s Communist-party controlled economic growth prove that America’s liberal capitalism is no longer a role model for the world’s developing powers? Tony’s just back from a trip there and shares his observations.

Tony Blankley says Obama’s decision not to accept public dollars is potentially strategically decisive. Putting aside his honor, he’ll pay a small price for that, otherwise it’s a good idea. Bob Scheer defends public financing and thinks this decision is disastrous for the party and US democracy in general. Matt Miller revived an idea put forth by Bruce Ackerman of UC Berkeley: give voters vouchers of $50 each, to spend as they wish, and see where the money’s influence would go. Is that more democratic than a taxpayer check-off box or 527 campaign smear tactics? Would their dollars trump Goldman Sachs and other influence peddlers' bucks?

Though my headline doesn’t say it, we talked about the wiretap decision and War Spending bill – Tony said the twin bills were a buy-off for some Democrats in an election year, and the last significant victory that the legislature will hand W for the rest of his term. Bob called Pelosi’s spin phony and outrageous, a serious failure of representation when significant portion of voting public wants US out of Iraq.

Re: Offshore Drilling. Tony says Obama’s on the wrong side of this one. Will American public change its view now that prices are so high? He says McCain moved to pro-drilling side; and he recently spoke to a Democratic consultant who’s advising his candidates to come out in favor of drilling. He thinks there’s a better than 50-50 chance that Obama will move closer to that position.

Bob says more drilling’s a joke, the payoff’s small and too far in the future. Desecrates our natural resources, environmental safety and beauty. Says USA Today notes that driving habits are changing and once again points out that it’s not consumption causing this fivefold price increase but W’s mishandling of the oil-producing nations with whom relations have been completely mismanaged. he say Saudi Arabia could open the spigot – the fact that they haven’t after US has protected them all these years is an obvious indictment of Bush’s mismanagement.

Tony disagrees, saying the drilling is deep water 50 miles offshore, therefore not visible from coast. Technology has been vastly improved. China, Cuba, Norway are all engaging in this, the mere announcement of US drilling would put a big dent in speculative oil markets. Says 2-3-4 million barrels a day would make a difference.

Tony just returned from a trip to China where more and more, there are questions about America’s version of capitalism, which appears to be melting down. Tony met with Chinese officials and academics, and says they’re very nationalistic and proud of their 8 to 10% annual economic growth. Says even with the requirement of Communist Party approval of all economic enterprises, they’re succeeding (you can’t start a business, get a loan, etc, without CP approval). And they don’t care much if they have firewalls preventing them from getting CNN, Yahoo or Google – that politics doesn’t matter to them as long as they are prosperous, He says more developing countries are paying attention to their model than America’s.

Tony’s rant raises a very important and under-covered issue: China is involved with Sudan in its oil production. China’s Red Army troops are rapidly becoming a substantial military force in Sudan – ostensibly to protect their oil interests but a large military presence regardless.

Bob says imperialism doesn’t pay, China’s growing and they’re not occupying countries the way the US is.

Matt says to keep your eye on Obama’s Social Security donut plan…says it’s dangerous for entrepreneurs.