Since the days of Harry Truman, presidential administrations have been ranked by their approval, expressed as a percentage. Looking at the approval rating of all presidents from that time forward as they left office, only two were higher than 60%. As far as greatness goes, these two men can truly be said to have been great presidents.
Ronald Reagan left office with the highest approval rating to that date, at 63%. During the eight years he was in office, the cold war ended, tax cuts for individuals increased, nuclear arms were reduced worldwide, the war in Afghanistan ended (that didn't last very long), the first female Supreme Court Justice was appointed, the Air Traffic Controllers who went on strike were fired (they would have cost the tax payers $700 million had they received their outrageous demands), a successful rescue mission was launched in Grenada and the Strategic Defense Initiative was implemented.
When Reagan left office, the country was prosperous and at peace. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 950.68 on the day Reagan took office. When he left, it was at 2,235.36.
While Reagan's 63% approval rating certainly sounds impressive, and it especially is when compared with the 34% that both Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush had when they left office, or the pitiful 24% that disgraced Richard Nixon's administration. But impressive as 63% is, it was not to remain the highest. That title is currently held by William J. Clinton who left office with a 66% approval rating. Highlights of the Clinton years included an impressive 115 months of economic expansion, 22 months of job creation, the highest home ownership in American history, the lowest unemployment rate to date, the lowest crime rate in 26 years, the smallest welfare rolls in 32 years, the lowest poverty rate in 20 years, the first female Attorney General and the first female Secretary of State and the conversion of the deficit to a surplus.
When Clinton left office, the country was again prosperous and at peace. He took office with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 3,241.95 and left when it was a staggering 10,578.24.
These two men have one very important fact in common, and it is this commonality that made them great. Reagan was a Republican, but the House was controlled by the Democrats. The Republicans held a slim control of the Senate, which they lost in 1987.
Clinton is a Democrat and his first two years saw him with a Democratically lead House and Senate. That reversed in year three when the Republicans took control of both houses and that control remained until the end of Clinton's presidency.
What each of these men had to do was work with the opposition. No president runs this country on his own. They all have to have the backing of the other elected officials in order to be successful and the truly great know that in order for this country to excel, no one political party can ever have its way to the detriment of the other party. There has to be a negotiation where each party gets some of what it wants but neither party gets it all. When we have this balance, when we work together, we are truly the United States of America and our history shows that when this happens, we can achieve greatness.
Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Governor Christie and the George Washington Bridge
By now everyone has probably heard about the problems New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is facing with a certain incident on the George Washington Bridge. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, it happened when Christie was in the middle of his re-election campaign. The George Washington Bridge connects New Jersey with New York City and enters Jersey in the city of Fort Lee. Fort Lee's Mayor, Mark Sokolich is a Democrat (Christie is Republican) and did not support Christie in the election.
A top aide to Christie (Bridget Anne Kelly) sent an email to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey representative David Wildstein, who was appointed to this post by Christie. The email said, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein replied with, "Got it." He then ordered the closure of two of the three traffic lanes going into New York and kept them closed for four days.
Estimates are that as many as 500,000 vehicles were impacted by this action, resulting in millions of dollars in lost wages and time spent in unnecessarily heavy traffic. There is also one death that has potentially been attributed to the closure.
Wildstein has resigned his position and when the cause of the closure was determined, Christie fired Kelly as his aide. In press conferences Christie has maintained that he did not know anything about this incident until long after it was done and even went so far as to personally apologize to Mayor Sokolich for the unfortunate event.
All of this is well and good and on the surface makes it seem that Christie should not be implicated in this, however there is more to it. Christie hired Kelly. He should have either done a more extensive check of her background and moral character or at the very least made sure she understood that he had zero tolerance for such political shenanigans. Christie also appointed Wildstein and he should have ensured that Wildstein was instructed appropriately as well. Obviously, this was not done.
Christie is now considering a run for the office of President of the United States. As President he will be appointing the entire Cabinet of his administration, as well as Ambasaddors and Judges, including possibly Supreme Court Judges. Given his record of hiring and appointments, I have to seriously question whether he is the best person to be given this responsibility. We don't need people like Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein running any part of our country.
A top aide to Christie (Bridget Anne Kelly) sent an email to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey representative David Wildstein, who was appointed to this post by Christie. The email said, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein replied with, "Got it." He then ordered the closure of two of the three traffic lanes going into New York and kept them closed for four days.
Estimates are that as many as 500,000 vehicles were impacted by this action, resulting in millions of dollars in lost wages and time spent in unnecessarily heavy traffic. There is also one death that has potentially been attributed to the closure.
Wildstein has resigned his position and when the cause of the closure was determined, Christie fired Kelly as his aide. In press conferences Christie has maintained that he did not know anything about this incident until long after it was done and even went so far as to personally apologize to Mayor Sokolich for the unfortunate event.
All of this is well and good and on the surface makes it seem that Christie should not be implicated in this, however there is more to it. Christie hired Kelly. He should have either done a more extensive check of her background and moral character or at the very least made sure she understood that he had zero tolerance for such political shenanigans. Christie also appointed Wildstein and he should have ensured that Wildstein was instructed appropriately as well. Obviously, this was not done.
Christie is now considering a run for the office of President of the United States. As President he will be appointing the entire Cabinet of his administration, as well as Ambasaddors and Judges, including possibly Supreme Court Judges. Given his record of hiring and appointments, I have to seriously question whether he is the best person to be given this responsibility. We don't need people like Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein running any part of our country.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Gay Marriage - Where We Go From Here
In November 2008, the voters of California passed legislation that outlawed same-sex marriage in this state. That law was immediately fought and today, June 26, 2013, four years and eight months later, it has been put to rest, being found unconstitutional. Gay marriage is once again legal in California.
One of the reasons for the passage of the original proposition was the influx of money into this state in support of the measure. One of the largest donors to this movement was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), more commonly known as "the Mormons." The Mormons were in favor of this legislation and worked hard to pass it. While the church officially recognizes donations of less than $200,000, many news sources place LDS money at closer to $20 million. Added to this was the enormous number of volunteer hours the Mormons put in going door-to-door in favor of this initiative (and who knows better about going door-to-door than the Mormons?).
Putting this in perspective, it must be remembered that in 2008 our state was still being governed by Arnold Schwrzenegger. "Mismanaged" would probably be a better term. We were hurting financially and a sudden jolt of cash was just what our state needed. Along came the Mormons to help out. We should really be thanking them for their assistance in our time of need.
In fact, we should go even farther to show our appreciation. Once gay marriages are again being performed in the Golden State, we should make Salt Lake City the gay honeymoon capital of America! Happily wed gay and lesbian couples should flock to the Beehive State to spread around our money and our unique style of mirth. After all, fair is fair.
Some newly wed gay couples may have their sites on a less domestic honeymoon site. There is a solution for those couples as well. While not as financially affluent as their Mormon counterparts, the Roman Catholics did their part to help pass the proposition. The Knights of Columbus financially backed the measure and the California Catholic Conference was very vocal in their support. As a way of saying, "thank you" to those hard-working Catholic men and women who also helped our state, we should make The Vatican our international honeymoon capital of choice. Just picture all of those angelic gay faces, hand-in-hand strolling through the Vatican Museum, looking at the gorgeous gowns and red Prada shoes worn by Popes of the Past. The scent of dust mingles with the odor of Axe as one astute young man points to his husband and whispers, "Can you believe she wore that?"
Yes, I believe it is time the gay community give back to those who helped our state in our time of need. We need to stand proudly and say, "thank you" to the Mormons and the Roman Catholic Church in a way that they will truly understand our meaning.
One of the reasons for the passage of the original proposition was the influx of money into this state in support of the measure. One of the largest donors to this movement was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), more commonly known as "the Mormons." The Mormons were in favor of this legislation and worked hard to pass it. While the church officially recognizes donations of less than $200,000, many news sources place LDS money at closer to $20 million. Added to this was the enormous number of volunteer hours the Mormons put in going door-to-door in favor of this initiative (and who knows better about going door-to-door than the Mormons?).
Putting this in perspective, it must be remembered that in 2008 our state was still being governed by Arnold Schwrzenegger. "Mismanaged" would probably be a better term. We were hurting financially and a sudden jolt of cash was just what our state needed. Along came the Mormons to help out. We should really be thanking them for their assistance in our time of need.
In fact, we should go even farther to show our appreciation. Once gay marriages are again being performed in the Golden State, we should make Salt Lake City the gay honeymoon capital of America! Happily wed gay and lesbian couples should flock to the Beehive State to spread around our money and our unique style of mirth. After all, fair is fair.
Some newly wed gay couples may have their sites on a less domestic honeymoon site. There is a solution for those couples as well. While not as financially affluent as their Mormon counterparts, the Roman Catholics did their part to help pass the proposition. The Knights of Columbus financially backed the measure and the California Catholic Conference was very vocal in their support. As a way of saying, "thank you" to those hard-working Catholic men and women who also helped our state, we should make The Vatican our international honeymoon capital of choice. Just picture all of those angelic gay faces, hand-in-hand strolling through the Vatican Museum, looking at the gorgeous gowns and red Prada shoes worn by Popes of the Past. The scent of dust mingles with the odor of Axe as one astute young man points to his husband and whispers, "Can you believe she wore that?"
Yes, I believe it is time the gay community give back to those who helped our state in our time of need. We need to stand proudly and say, "thank you" to the Mormons and the Roman Catholic Church in a way that they will truly understand our meaning.
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