“He was trying to get elected”

Sen. Byrd was laid to rest last Thursday after a long service to his country in the Senate. Many notable politicians, including Obama, Biden, and former President Clinton, came out to show their gratitude and honor the late Sen. Byrd. Now, we have been discussing the KKK, NOI and NAACP mission and push for their own agenda's based on race. In the latest update to the KKK website, which I posted previously, displayed their understanding that violence will not get their agenda push forward. Former President Clinton said in his eulogy for Sen. Byrd, "He once had a fleeting association with the Ku Klux Klan, what does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. He was a country boy from the hills and hollows from West Virginia. He was trying to get elected. And maybe he did something he shouldn't have done come and he spent the rest of his life making up. And that's what a good person does. There are no perfect people. There are certainly no perfect politicians."

President Clinton is correct that Sen. Byrd, who led the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act, ties to the KKK was foolish but I am not so sure he spent the rest of his life trying atone for it. Sen. Byrd voted against and attempted to block the confirmations of Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall. While no one will deny Sen. Byrd's fondness and knowledge of the U.S. Constitution but let's be honest about the man. For President Clinton and President Obama to overlook Sen. Byrd's connection to the KKK because of his long service to the nation is a slap in the face to everyone that fought for Civil Rights. To say it was okay for Sen. Byrd to have ties, and they were very strong ties, to the KKK in order to get elected displays an attitude of our current political state of mind.

How many minorities out there believe that it would be okay for a man or woman to run for office on the sole basis of saying anything to get elected? I know this is America and we all have the right to hold our own views and say our own opinions but for two Presidents of the United States – one anointed the First Black President and the other actually being the First Black President – to wash away the sins of a man because "he was trying to get elected" is ludicrous. Thomas and Marshall were not the only non-white confirmations he voted against. He also voted against Condoleezza Rice. To say he made strides that overshadowed his racist start in politics is intriguing since this is the same man that used the term "white nigger" in a 2001 interview with Tony Snow. While his run in the Senate and the good he did for West Virginia is remarkable, I struggle with the notion for two presidents to forgive a man of his sins because "he was trying to get elected." Does no one else see the hypocrisy here?

Czar Obama

While the use of Czars have been in Washington for several decades now, but President Obama is taking it to new heights. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Vir., is concerned by the expansive use of Czars under President Obama. Sen. Byrd is seeing the use of Czars as for President Obama to skirt Congresses Constitutional power. Czars do not have to go through Senate confirmations since there is no Constitutional requirement.

Rep. Ernest Istook stated that, “If Barack Obama thinks that the executive branch is badly organized, and you could make a great case for that, then he ought to present a coherent system.” The trouble Rep. Istook is that President Obama is not calling the shots if you believe Rev. Wright. The latest Czar is Kenneth Feinberg who was appointed as “Special Master of Compensation” to keep track of compensation paid to executives.

Neil Braithwaite warns, in his article “Beware the Czar’s of Obama!”, that President Obama is laying the groundwork that mirrors the Office of Price Administration (OPA) that was instituted during FDR’s administration to ration goods and control wages all in the guise of the war effort. Mr. Braithwaite concludes his article by saying, “Once Obama realizes he needs a real war to fully implement his plans to “stabilize” the economy, he will reinstate the “war on terror”, and get busy resurrecting the full powers of the OPA. For the sake of all America is and stands for, let’s all hope Obama’s administration and historians continue to stay mired in the last eight “Bush” years.”

A report today in the Star Tribune, I believe the article was a transplant though, stated that Al Qaeda is heading to Yemen and Somali as efforts from drone attacks are taking their toll in Pakistan. But I digress. The Czar count is 20 and if a cyber Czar is established the list could grow. David Rothkopf writes in the Foreign Policy, Its official: Obama creates more czars than the Romanovs. In his article, Mr. Rothkopf mentions that, “all this czarism is a risky business that ends up producing bureaucratic bottlenecks, tensions and inefficiency when not managed extremely carefully.”

As the Health Care reform debate rages on in Congress, the potential of a Health Czar is likely especially if President Obama sees his vision of a single-payer government run system hits the wall. The establishment of a Czar of Health will be Presidents end run on Congress if they fail to pass his plan.