It's Time

It's Time to Look to The future

All right, the election is over, the issues have been decided, and all in all, it was an easy election. No real drama, other than Proposition 8 here in California. The public has spoken pretty convincingly as to who they want to lead our country for the next four years. Let’s move on, give the guy a chance to put together his cabinet, and see how he does.

                I always love listening to conservative radio; it always helps to know what the opposition is saying. Today they are all congratulating Obama, espousing the beauty of the American system, BUT, they then go through the litany of things they don’t like Obama for saying and doing. The common grounds seems to be that they’re all going in to exile, working underground, waiting for Obama to come take the microphone from their cold, dead, hands. I really don’t think Obama is that petty or that worried about what they are going to say. He only did one interview with Conservatives all campaign long, and that was O’Reilly, the crazy.

                As Americans we need to support the guy and give him a chance to show us how he’ll solve the issues facing our world. The economy is presently in a recession that is based largely on fear. If Obama comes out with a coherent, comprehensive policy that people understand, I think that’ll go a long way towards helping fix the economy. Let’s face it, he can’t be more socialist in his leanings than the current administration that is picking who should win and who should lose in business. They’re taking an ownership position in the companies that they deem should survive, and they’re telling them what to do with the money that they invest. Never thought we’d see that in America.

                The Republicans are pretty close to being irrelevant in the upcoming Congress and I guess they need to decide if they’re going to be obstructions to the programs, or be part of the solution. I would think that they would support stuff, even if they think it’s wrong, let the Democrats hang themselves, they might be better than the gridlock that has been prevalent for the last eight years.

                Well; here I am, at the end of the campaign, I guess the lady that is rumbling around the house is the same lady I married all those years ago. She isn’t a fan of politics, so I watched TV in one room for the last 18 months, while she was watching reality TV in the other room. Thank goodness for TIVO, now I can catch up on the world I missed. Hope all of the junkies can stand the detox of no presidential politics for a couple of years. Here comes Palin 2012,I know Tina Fey’s ready, are you?
GOOD LUCK

It's Time to Make the Decision

It seems that as the Presidential campaign is winding down, the personalities of both campaigners are coming to the forefront. Obama is pounding on his policies and talking about the country coming together behind the next President. McCain is talking about his opponent and trying to scare the public by representing, and misrepresenting what Obama’s policies will be. McCain is also talking about the fears of a Congress and Presidency held by the same party. Of course, the Republicans have been in that position in the past, and they weren’t really able to take advantage of that.

I continue to be sorely disappointed by the way the McCain camp has run their campaign. The McCain of 2000 was a maverick, the McCain of 2000 wasn’t afraid to go up against his own or the other party, he wasn’t afraid to tell the public what he thought. This was a man that I could vote for; I felt that he was actually putting his country first. What happened to that candidate? It seems that he had to sell his soul to get the nomination, and once he had the nomination, he needed to please so many segments of the country to even have a chance at victory, that he was hamstrung as far as being a real maverick. He had to nominate a VP candidate that wasn’t on any short list that had been put together, he wanted to nominate people that were closer to the middle, but then the Conservatives wouldn’t let that go down. This is obviously his last chance for the gold ring, and it’s a shame to see him fold to pressure rather than remaining his own man.

I really don’t believe, or hope that Palin is the future of the party. She seems poorly prepared and she seems very much the hard-line Conservative. I have to believe that as we move in to the future, the parties are going to be forced more to the middle, where they can reach across the aisle, and address the country’s problems. Palin wants to keep the party very much to the right, we’ll see how that works out in the future.

Obama may not be the greatest manager elected to the office of President, but I really feel that he has the temperament and the advisors that will help him to govern effectively. He seems more than willing to take a breath, listen to his advisors, and then come forward with a plan. That is totally different than the cowboy currently in power, and also different than McCain, who seems to continually want to show leadership, but then lurches from one side to the other as he reassesses the issue and tries to adjust his policies as the problem unfolds.

It seems that Biden will be in the background and probably helping with foreign policy. He may be a Cheney type VP, working in the administration giving advice, and staying out of the spotlight. We’ll see.

Tuesday will be interesting, and hopefully, a new President and administration will help the public be less fearful of the future.

GOOD LUCK

It's time to take a deep breath

It’s time that we all calm down, take a deep breath, and look around the local area. Every morning, we wake up, turn on the Morning News, and hear the latest doom & gloom. It makes you want to pull the blanket over your head and not go out. I know, I’m in sales, selling to small businesses, and I feel that way every day. But let’s look around us locally, and see how bad things really are.

Step one, the stock market, yes I have a 401K, and I’ve taken a huge hit, but I’m not retiring any time soon, and as fast as the investments went down, they can come back. At this point there is nothing left to do but ride the roller coaster and wait for things to go up.

I don’t have any need to get a loan from any of the largest banks in America, and therefore, the fact that the banks aren’t loaning doesn’t affect me. The government is throwing money at these banks and trying to force them to loan, and they will start again soon. Credit card balances may be the next problem, but easy credit and people living beyond their needs should be brought under control. Many credit cards are based on the prime rate which is the lowest that it has been in years, and this should help people with good credit.

There have been layoffs in areas around the U.S, but here locally we haven’t faced layoffs. The local businesses are nervous, but haven’t pulled the trigger on layoffs. Let’s keep doing business locally and keep these people optimistic and keep them open.

Gasoline prices have dropped to the three dollar level and in areas of Northern California down below $2.89 a gallon. OPEC dropped their production and what happened, prices went down even more. The future looks as though, with the economy slowing down, oil futures are no longer attractive. The slowdown has done a better job than windfall profit taxes to put money back in the public’s pocket, and it should continue to be so for a while.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need to stop listening to the Morning News before we start our day, and actually look around our neighborhood and see what’s actually happening. The only thing that will bring America to its knees is if we all stop shopping, we stop taking vacations, we stop buying vehicles etc. I’m not saying we need to spend needlessly, but we can’t curl up and hide either, or things will go downhill locally. We are all adults and we can all look around and act responsibly. We need to temper our fear with reality.

GOOD LUCK

               

It's Time to be Concerned

Let’s change that to it’s time to be very concerned. The McCain campaign has opened a Pandora’s Box with the way they have handled Obama’s association with William Ayers. If you listen to McCain, the question that he raises is truth to the electorate and the way Obama thinks, I can buy that as a legitimate question to be raised. What has taken the argument to the edge of the abyss is Palin and the conservative surrogates who have talked about Obama “paling around” with terrorists and getting money and endorsements from foreign terrorists. Uniformed Police Officers are talking about Barrack Hussein Obama to incite the Florida crowds, this is too much.

                I really believe that even McCain realizes this; I continue to believe that McCain wants to keep this campaign on the issues, but his strategists have realized that this isn’t a winner, because they can’t solve the economic issues and keep the conservative, laissez faire base. They also realize you can’t add government and drop taxes; they’re caught in a box. Distraction is the only way out. But this gambit is way too dangerous.

                I agree that Obama starting his political career in Ayers home is a lapse in judgment. I’m leaning towards Obama, but this still bothers me. Reading Chicago papers, it seems Ayers family is Chicago elite, and Ayers has been accepted like a crazy uncle. A very dangerous, crazy uncle, but accepted, none the less. Sitting on a board with Ayers? Not so much. I’ve set on a number of boards with people that I thought had dangerous ideas, but I felt the cause was important, and I thought that it was important to have other points of view represented.

                Here comes the part I am hesitant to write, but I think it needs to be said. There are people in this country who are not enlightened and are upset that an African American could become President. The McCain campaign, with Palin and surrogates, has added the assertion that Obama is also in league with the terrorists, at the least, or a terrorist himself. Add these two factors together and I fear that there may be a “patriot” out there who feels he has to save the country from itself. Who knows how that may manifest itself?

                It’s time that McCain steps forward, makes a speech clarifying the issue, and making himself clear as to his beliefs regarding Obama. He also needs to tell his campaign that he has standards, even if they don’t, and he will no longer stand for this strategy being used in his name. It’s time for issues, not playing on the fears of the fringe, to be the strategy. This election is too critical, and the candidate’s stands too important, to let stuff like this go on.

GOOD LUCK

It's Time to Look at Our Schools

It is interesting that the Board members of the Fairfield- Suisun School District are writing articles for the Daily Republic. This usually means an initiative is about to start that will need the public on their side to get done. It will be interesting to see what they need from the public. Since they are speaking up in defense of the District, I want to raise some issues that I feel could make the District better.

Susan Heumphreus recently wrote an article in support of the District teachers. The article was a noble effort, and I applauded the attempt, but let’s be honest, the teachers of this District are like the employees of any organization, there are great employees, mediocre employees, and employees that need to find a new career. I feel that the real issue is the lack of recognition and support for each of these groups. The great teachers and the poor teachers are all treated the same. We need to demand that the administration of each school in the District take the time and make the effort to be objective and supportive of all of the staffs. Reward the good, train, and improve the mediocre, and remove the poor performances. It seems this is what an administrator should be doing. We need to demand that the District actually does their job. I know a number of Administrators feel that they would be wasting time because they won’t be supported by the District if they try to make changes that needs to be made. The District must demand and support a strong accountability program.

Chuck Woods recently wrote about how great the District’s High Schools are, and I agree with his premise. The High Schools do have great programs, great classes, and great extracurricular activities. My concern is that with all this available we are still only graduating less that 45% of our students who are ready to move on to a State University. In point of fact, in 2006-2007 43.5% of the graduates of Rodriquez High, 30.1% of the graduates at Armijo High School and 37.7% of Fairfield High students completed the classes needed to attend California State Schools. Why is this happening?

After over 15 years in the District as a parent and an activist I feel that one of the things that would help to raise these numbers is to spend the time and effort to develop counseling programs that can help and reach out to all students. I have heard from a number of students that they didn’t know the classes that they needed to go to a State College, and therefore ended up at a Community College. Nothing wrong with a Community College, but they could have moved on to a State school and streamlined their education, saving time and money. If we had Counselors who could pair up with students in Middle School and mentor them through High School, they would then have the info and could make better decisions.

The District wants us to be proud of our schools, and they have improved a great deal from the past, but we need to dig down, look at the numbers beneath the façade, and continue to prod the District to do better.

GOOD LUCK

             

It's Time to Choose

The Jet Pilot vs. The Professor   

                As we watch the campaign count down to the final days there have been clear indications as to the personalities of the two Presidential candidates, and how they’ll react to crisis as President.

                John McCain is the classic fighter pilot. He has shown time and again that he quickly makes a decision and then moves forward, like a bull to do what he thinks is right. He doesn’t seem to listen to advisors, or if he does, he chooses to go another way, in spite of their guidance. Case in point is Sarah Palin.

                It was clear to all that McCain wanted to reach to the other side and put in Joe Lieberman, or to go with Gov. Tom Ridge, who didn’t toe the line on all of the Conservative ideals, but he and McCain are friends. The brain trust says no, you can’t do it, a fight ensues and then McCain says O.K., let’s go with Sarah Palin. The Hail Mary pass of a Conservative woman who will ignite the base. Does John care if she’s ready? Of course not, he’s said all along that a VP has two jobs in any administration, to ask about the health of the President, and to attend the funerals of foreign leaders. He’s got total control of the situation and he doesn’t a Vice President. The financial crisis again shows McCain’s temperament. His first swing is to try to paper over the situation, the basic economy is sound, and it’ll all work out. Second swing is to fire the people who were in charge when things went bad, strike three is to rush to Washington to solve the problem, and then get blindsided by his own party, who have another idea and haven’t even shared it with him.

                Obama is the classic intellectual. Any time there’s a problem he calls a group of experts around him, seeks their guidance, works with them to formulate a plan, and then presents that plan. As we saw, his VP was chosen by a committee which vetted all the candidates and then presented their info, and out pops Biden. On the financial bailout, Obama calls together his experts, holds meetings and then they came forward with a plan. Obama stays above the fray in Congress, he calls Paulson and the White House and monitors the situation waiting for the final plan to come to the Senate, and then he goes to vote. Of course, he was called in to the White House meeting, and attended but said little.

                I think this is probably the best way to decide on who is going to be the President. We have seen both styles in former Presidents and we have seen how that picture comes out. Think back and make your decision.

GOOD LUCK

It's Finally Time for Answers

Finally, the candidates stand side by side and talk to each other rather than at each other. For a political junkie this was great. Of course the scoring by the pundits will take up the rest of the weekend. It’ll be interesting to see what the experts say. I felt that Obama was the clear winner of the debate. It appeared to me that Obama kept McCain back on his heels, defending his positions and trying to push forward the thought that Obama isn’t ready to be Commander in Chief. Watching the debates, I came away with the feeling that Obama is ready to be Commander in Chief. He gave thoughtful and well researched explanations of his views. I didn’t necessarily agree with everything he laid out, but I felt he made sense. McCain seemed to be stuck on the Surge and Iraq. I agree, the Surge did make things better, but I still ask the question, what is a win in Iraq? Haven’t we set up a democracy, haven’t they had elections, isn’t their economy in better shape than ours? What else do we need to give these folks ?

What I saw was a McCain who was getting clearly upset and clearly felt that he was being ganged up upon. I’m sure that tomorrow the McCain campaign will complain about the moderator, and claim that the press is in the tank for Obama. This is growing tired in my estimation. Again, if you don’t like the criticism you cry foul. When did politics become so thin skinned? If you don’t want to play hardball, don’t throw the first bean ball. Both of these candidates were going to be high minded and keep the campaign above the gutter. Obviously, they haven’t done that, they have let their campaigns throw brickbats to the right and the left. I truly believe that neither of the candidates are the authors of these ads, they may not even see them, but as long as they endorse the ads at the end, it’s their advertisement.

I was very disappointed in the way that the candidates handled the negotiations over the economic bill. McCain came in as the person that was going to solve the problem, and he left Washington with his tail between his legs. No one gave him the chance to be a leader or show his negotiation skills, he just appeared to be window dressing for the President during his meeting. Obama went and didn’t do anything except attend the meeting with the President. It would seem that something as important as this would be an opportunity to shine. It appears that they have decided they don’t want to be attached to the plan, in case it goes bad.

GOOD LUCK

It's Time to Return to Congress

It’s time that both the Presidential campaigns  suspend campaigning, return to Washington D.C. and put their expertise and oratory skills to work helping Congress sculpt the bailout plan.  Let’s face it; sitting out on the campaign trail coming up with plans is a total waste of time. As candidates they have no standing to be making a plan, if they were in their seats in the Senate, they would have a leadership position within their party and they could be reaching across the aisle, and working for consensus, which they claim in their expertise, and the reason they should be President. How better to prove their point and be Presidential.

The candidates are handling the questions on the economy with the same stumbling approach that they have used all along. The economy is a much more complicated and difficult issue .l I think both candidates are extremely unhappy that the Iraq war isn’t the centerpiece of their campaigns. They both made the war the keystone of their campaign, and now the economy has moved to the forefront, and ruined all their plans.

I really believe that both campaigns are sitting out on the trail hoping that Congress solves this issue without the candidates having to put their reputations on the line. They both realize that it’ll be political suicide to take a stand in support of the bill that comes out of Congress because it’s going to be ugly and messy, however it works.

I found it interesting to see both candidates discuss the bailout. McCain came out swinging, firing people and placing blame. Obama came out with a quiet measured response, waiting to talk to his advisors and collecting information before he came to a conclusion. McCain is no longer the deregulator, now he’s all for regulation, and wants regulations put in place, all over the place.

Obama is calling for deliberation and support for the bailout. We’ll see what direction the Congress takes.

GOOD LUCK

It's time for sanity

9/11 was a day of remembrance. We all remembered back to that day in 2001, where we were, what we saw and heard and how we reacted. I think everyone realizes that the events of that day were a game changer in the way the world works. It certainly remains a force in American politics, it is the background of almost everything that happens in politics, impinges on most decisions and programs that are put through as legislation.

9/11, this year, was also a blessed event from the view of the current campaign. All the sniping, half truths, outright lies, and facts that can make a candidate look bad were halted for the day. Both candidates were able to go out and be statesmen, and not politicians, they were able to explain their points of view on the subject of volunteerism without having to take a swipe at their opponent. Sarah Palin was able to see her son off for Iraq and not have to snipe at the Democrats or make his departure a partisan event.

You know I almost believe that the Presidential candidates themselves aren’t comfortable with the way that the campaign has degenerated from policy discussions to personal attack polemics. Both of the Presidential candidates seem to be men with a sense of decorum and they both realize that their policies are so different that they have clear visions of America’s future. I would love to see them stop letting the handlers paint their pictures of the campaign, and go from coast to coast having town hall meetings with real Americans, not prescreened sycophants manning the audience. It would help the public see the real personalities of the candidates, and it would let the candidates view what’s bothering America. It would be face to face, and not a filtered version by pollsters. It could be great.

The VP candidates were both chosen by the campaigns to be the attack dogs, again, that became important to the campaigns because the candidates weren’t comfortable doing their bidding. If we’re to believe the information that’s being passed around out there, McCain was pushing for a Democrat, Joe Lieberman, as his VP, but the campaign and the conservative right would have rebelled at that, so Palin was brought in as a game changer, and that has certainly worked.

I firmly believe that because the campaign season has been so long, and because the media has been fighting to fill hours of programming by following every word that comes out of a candidate’s mouth, we will reach the point that every attack will be declared as an off limit statement or attack, and the campaigns will be forced to address the issues. I think these personal attacks are an easy way out for the campaigns. Trying to explain real policy is dry and time consuming; an attack is quick and flashy, which would be easier? But now attacks on animals, lipsticks, children, patriotism, race, relationships, and a number of other subjects have been taken off the field, so hopefully policy will be the only thing left to discuss.

GOOD LUCK

It's Time for a Change in Fairfield

A horrible thing happened to the community of Fairfield this week. Matt Garcia was killed by an unknown assailant. This attack on Matt brings home the fact that Fairfield has become a totally different community than the town I moved to twenty-eight years ago.  I am personally angry that this could happen here. As a community, we need to find this unacceptable and press for a quick resolution of this crime.

In politics they always speak about the failure of today’s youth to be involved in the politics of the community. If you talk to youth, they will tell you that they don’t become involved because they feel that they can’t change anything. Obviously Matt Garcia didn’t share that belief.  As a person who loves to follow politics and watch players enter and leave the field, I was excited to see someone with youth and enthusiasm step up to play the game. Matt had stepped forward to run for the City Council up against a list of much more seasoned candidates. I’m sure many people believed his would be one of those Don Quixote campaigns with no hope of victory.  That didn’t come to pass. Matt was open with the community, honest, with no falseness, and built bridges that led to his being elected.

I was at a Neighborhood Watch Organizing meeting several months ago, and Matt was one of the speakers. As he spoke about the city and the improvements to services in the community it was easy to see his enthusiasm for what the Council had done, as well as plans for the future. There was a discussion about gang activity in the community and the city’s plans to try to curb it.  Garcia and John Mraz both spoke about how upset the gangs were regarding the new plans.  I hope that Garcia’s death isn’t tied to any of the gang activity that was spoken of that evening.

As members of this community we should all feel betrayed that something like this senseless death could occur here. The fact that no information that could help solve this case has come forward is disappointing. We need to remain incensed about the crime and we need to demand that all the resources of this community be put towards solving the crime. Matt Garcia stepped up as a community leader and he worked very hard to help move a number of issues forward in our community. He and his family deserve closure on this horrendous crime.

I would also hope that this crime doesn’t cause others, who may be thinking of a career in politics, to reconsider their decision. As we have seen through the politics of the last eight years, it’s time for new ideas and different ways of governing to come to the fore.  The way things have been done in the past isn’t getting it done. We need to find more young people ready to pitch in and help build the future. I want to thank Matt Garcia and his family for their work. As we grieve for Matt, in his honor, we need to celebrate and build upon the beginnings for which he was responsible.

GOOD LUCK