Proper Role of TENAC

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Written by JMG Monday, 12 January 2009 21:58

TENAC AND POLITICS!

Answering Critics of Our  Political Endorsements

Some distinguished members of TENAC and others in the community at large have criticized TENAC's political role in general and our candidate endorsements in particular, and believe we should be "apolitical." We respect but disagree with their views, hence this response. True, for the first time, we endorsed at the national level - enthusiastically endorsing Barack Obama for president, for which we make no apologies. At this time of grave economic peril for our nation, we could do no less.

TENAC deliberately organized as a nonprofit entitled to lobby and make political endorsements. We believe that inability to do so in Washington, DC would relegate TENAC to an ineffective second-class status. TENAC's political role has made us a key player on issues of critical importance. It has given us an effective voice on every key tenant issue in the District, including rent control, affordable housing, tenants' rights, evictions, submetering and building code violations, among many others. We strongly believe this is the way to go.  Should we abrogate that responsibility and become a "paper tiger"?

REPUBLICANS LOVE DEPRESSIONS!

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Written by JMG Wednesday, 14 January 2009 15:08

 "Drop Dead Detroit" is Their Merry Christmas to America!

Too bad poor people, homeless, disabled, low-income, fixed-income, and struggling tenants, all striving to keep their heads above water in this economic deluge will bear the burden of the epic stupidity of the White House and Republican Congressional leadership. It reminds one what was said of the Bourbons of old: "They never learned anything, and they never forget anything."

After spending a trillion dollars on the most asinine war in history, which the same Republican leadership raced to support, a second trillion to bail out Wall Street, half of whose recipients should be behind bars, they have the chutzpah to tell us $15 billion (less than 1% of that sum) to save Working Class America would be "pouring money down a rat hole."

To Senate Republican Leader McConnell, who sounded more "McCarthy" than McConnell during the presidential campaign, huge job losses and suppression of organized labor sound like Jingle Bells. How strange Republican elders seem far more attuned to Toyota, Honda and Nissan than Chrysler, Ford and GM. They all sound like honor grads of the Herbert Hoover Institute of Non-Applied Economics.

We suggest the American people start making a list, and checking it twice, and put at the very top Senators McConnell, Shelby, and Corker, et. al.

McCain or Obama? OBAMA Of COURSE!

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Written by JMG Wednesday, 14 January 2009 15:15

It is baffling to us after eight years of Bush, how anybody can seriously think of pulling the Republican lever for President. It is not simply that George "Herbert Hoover" Bush has put the U.S. economy into a coma, or that he has plunged this country into a senseless, endless, catastrophic war in Iraq; it is that he is not even dimly aware of his horrendous mistakes. He reminds one of the Bourbons of Old: "They never learned anything; and they never forget anything."

John McCain, Bush's strongest acolyte, seems more "McCarthy" than McCain with his jingoistic attacks on Obama. In the same vein, Ms. Palin has become "Ms. Apalling." Three cheers for Mr. Obama's intelligence and coolness under fire. He is one of the best Democratic nominees in history.

McCain claims Teddy Roosevelt as his hero. There is a big difference, however, between Roosevelt's "bully pulpit" and McCain's "pulpit bully."

OF COURSE OBAMA!

McCAIN'S POLITICAL FAMILY TREE: BUSH-NIXON-McCARTHY

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Written by JMG Wednesday, 14 January 2009 15:22

John McCain complains about linkage with George Bush, but his political family tree actually goes back even further than that - to Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy in fact. Early on, Nixon pledged to "Bring Us Together," then skillfully played the "divide and conquer" game -- pitting blacks against whites, young against old, and demonstrators against "hard hats." Bush's "I'm a uniter, not a divider" played the same cynical game. McCain and "Appalling" Palin go further, and resurrect Joe McCarthy when they say Obama is "willing to lose a war (Iraq) to win an election," and that "he pals around with terrorists."

How can anybody pull the Republican lever for anything after eight years of Bush, his endless, catastrophic war and an economy put in a coma? The choice of Obama, the most gifted candidate for president seen in a long time, is obvious. He will end two great national nightmares: Bush's War and the last gasp of lingering racism in this country. His victory will also provide the necessary post-Bush convalescence, healing, and recovery this country needs, even as do our gravely wounded soldiers in military hospitals.

On January 3, 2008, the people of Iowa enacted the second Emancipation Proclamation. Obama's nomination strikes an enormous blow for freedom. It transcends a great historic sin and tragic flaw in our national character, and blazes a trail for all of those heretofore excluded.

OBAMA OF COURSE!