This isn’t my title, but it is abundantly clear to anybody who has been paying attention to Washington the last few months. There is simply no other explanation for their behavior. Voting against their own bills when the President decides to support them too, voting against stimulus and then bragging about how much it will help their districts…even voting against the War Funding Authorization after admitting that it is nearly un-American to do such a thing. Do you have a better explanation? I’d like to hear it.
Well, to be honest, I can think of one other explanation that nobody else seems to be raising, perhaps because it is even less savory. However, I can’t get over how little the Republican’s flight from anything that has even touched Obama resembles their attitude toward previous presidents. What it reminds me of, being of the age I am, is how certain white folk would quickly exit a pool back 30+ years ago when even a single black person got in.
I honestly hope that’s not it, and they are just being venal and stupid. But they aren’t exactly trying very hard to give a different impression.
Tulsa’s yearly MLK commermoration march and candlelight service were last night. The Tulsa World was kind enough to provide this picture and video (pretty darn well produced, if you ask me).
For those who have gone before, they have drastically cut the service down from the marathon 4 hour ordeal it used to me to a merciful hour and a half, dramatically improving the experience (although my daughter still pooped out around 45 minutes in).
The young man reciting the speech, BerThaddaeus Bailey, won the privilege of delivering it in a citywide oratory contest. I watch this every year, and the winners are always very impressive young people. However, what really impressed me this year was not necessarily young BerThaddaeus, but his family and friends who produced him.
I don’t want to tell tales on BerThaddaeus, but he did stumble at the beginning. He isn’t the first person I’ve seen in that position at the pulpit of one of the largest sanctuaries in Tulsa, filled with people looking at him expectantly, who momentarily forgot the next line in the speech. What I hadn’t seen before was how his large group of family and friends encouraged him, buoyed him up, and once he got going, lit him back on fire. As I sat there watching, it occurred to me that with support like that, BerThaddaueus quite literally could not fail. They just wouldn’t let him.
The theme of the night was mentoring. The recipient of the Keeping the Dream Alive award was given it for her efforts in mentoring (including a young Jabbar Shumate, now Tulsa’s HD 73 rep). However, it was demonstrated live for us right there by the Bailey clan and friends. I’m sure this won’t be the last time BerThaddaeus stumbles in life, but with a support system like that, I don’t think we have to worry about him.
Any human falls down every now and then. It is also natural for someone young to lay there on the ground thinking, “perhaps this is where I was meant to be”. What truly matters is having someone there to pick them back up, brush them off, and encourage them on their way. It is very important that we apply this principle to our young people.
It is perhaps just as important that we Democrats apply it to our young politicians. In a state like Oklahoma, our young up-and-coming Democrats are going to have more than their share of stumbles and falls. It is the job of all of us to help pick them back up, brush of the dust, encourage them, and once they get going, help light them back on fire.
ABC’s Nightline last night featured an interview with Doug Hampton. To jar your memory, Doug is the husband victimized by Senator Ensign’s sexual harassment of his wife.
Understandably, most of the interview deals with the behavior of Senator Ensign. However, it turns out that Coburn features quite prominently as well. The full transcript is available here.
Coburn’s initial involvement comes when the Hamptons are trying to break off the affair, but Ensign won’t stop harrassing Mrs. Hampton. The Hamptons went to The Fellowship, a strange Christian sect that puts a decidedly unchristian emphasis on power, and that Ensign and Coburn both belong to. (The text below is from the Nightline transcript. The emphasis is mine)
Track: Back in Washington, Doug Hampton says he turned to the one place he was sure could help him. A secretive Christian group known as “The Fellowship. ” Ensign was living here—at what’s known as the C Street House…run by the Fellowship… - a meeting place and residence for Evangelical lawmakers.
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CM: What’s their first piece of advice to you?
DH: Be cool.
CM: Cover it up?
DH: No. No, not initially. No, we need help. We’re not big enough. This is a United States Senator and so even though we’re friends, we’re close, we’re brothers in Christ, we need power to confront this. Senator Tom Coburn, the hit man.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is one the most influential conservative voices in the United States Senate and also a C Street resident. Hampton says on Valentine’s Day, the C Street leadership and Senator Coburn helped him confront Senator Ensign.
DH: Tom really kind of takes the helm. Oh he’s smoking. He is one upset man. And then John kind of breaks down. I made a mistake, I really screwed up.
…of course this attitude lasted only as long as “Hitman” Coburn was in the room. Ensign is back after Mrs. Hampton before the day is out.
Eventually, after she repeatedly rebuffed Ensign’s advances, Hampton and his wife were both fired. Note that firing someone for complaining about or rebuffing your sexual advances is illegal. Hampton starts considering suing Ensign, which surely would have made the whole thing go public. That’s when Coburn steps in again.
CM: Were you threatening him…you either pay me the eight and half million dollars or I’m gonna go public?
DH: Absolutely not.
Track: Hampton claims none other than Senator Tom Coburn personally initiated and took charge of the negotiations …
Tom Coburn said ” What I would do, Doug, if I was you, is I would have them buy your home, give you a million bucks so you can start over, and that is what I am willing to help you negotiate.” He volunteered to help. He called me.
CM: And, what happened?
DH: John said: No can do, not going to happen
Track: In a statement to Nighltine Senator Coburn’s spokesman says that Doug Hampton never attempted to blackmail John Ensign nor was John Ensign trying to pay Hampton hush money.
From This Week: STEPHANOPOULOS: Is he telling the truth?
COBURN: No
Track: Yesterday George Stephanopoulos asked Senator Coburn about what Hampton told us.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You did not serve as an intermediary?
COBURN: Oh, I did. No, there’s no question. Look, my whole goal in this thing was to bring two families to a closure of a very painful episode. And there’s no question that Doug called me and said, “Will you talk to John about solving a problem?” And so I called John Ensign and said, “Do you want me to talk to him?” He said, “Yes.”
Initially, Coburn said he had no idea about this affair. Then he said he wasn’t involved. Now Coburn is claiming that, yes he did negotiate for Ensign, but now he’s saying it wasn’t his idea. Hampton, one day later, says otherwise.
It could be that Coburn is telling the truth…this time. After all the backpedaling, I’m skeptical.
At the memorial service at Ft. Hood today. President Obama gave one of the best speeches he has ever given. Some say the best.
It is a sad irony that Veterans Day is tomorrow, as much of the speech centered on the meaning of their service. This part in particular I think could be said of all Veterans, and I’m not sure I have ever heard or seen it stated better:
…here is what you must also know: your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - that is their legacy.
Neither this country - nor the values that we were founded upon - could exist without men and women like these…
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