News opinion 2008-05-19 Andanh.com

What’s going on? Mon, 19 May 2008 11:03:38 -0500
In 2006, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel had an inspiration: run culturally conservative Democrats in culturally conservative congressional districts. This doesn’t sound like the stuff of strategic brilliance, but it meant overcoming the cultural condescension of most national Democrats. In his 2006 book “The Plan,” Emanuel knocked “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” author Thomas Frank for declaring cultural issues less important than economic ones: “It’s insulting to suggest that blue-collar workers are wrong to make faith or conscience, not money, their bottom line.” Emanuel’s relatively conservative candidates carried districts in 2006 that Democrats had little business winning, and his approach is still working now. In Mississippi, Republicans just lost a special election in a congressional district they thought would be a showcase for the drag Barack Obama will have on his party. They ran ads linking Democrat Travis Childers with Obama and featuring a raving Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But Childers is pro-gun and pro-life. A local businessman, he has deep roots in the community. No one was going to mistake him for Obama. Nor were they going to hold the fulminations of the Rev. Wright against him, unless the pastor were to come out of retirement to lead the East Booneville Baptist Church, where Childers is a member. He won by eight points. In post-mortems, Republicans had a plaintive air, as if it’s no fair that Democrats won’t run down-the-line liberals anymore. Republicans have become adept at explaining special-election defeats in formerly Republican districts, after losing three in a row: in Illinois, in the seat that had been held by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert; in Louisiana, in a district they had held for the past 33 years; now in Mississippi, where Bush won with 62 percent of the vote in 2004. The typical excuse has been poor candidates. But Republicans used to win these kinds of districts even with lackluster candidates, and what does it say about the party that it can’t recruit better candidates? For Republicans, Mississippi should be a “fire bell in the night,” as Thomas Jefferson said of a sectional flare-up prior to the Civil War. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $3 million on the special elections, about 40 percent of its cash-on-hand as of March. Fundraising will be hurt by the losses, with business donors scrambling to curry favor with the ascendant Democrats. As the Politico reports, freshman Democrats in traditional Republican districts who were thought ripe for the picking during a presumed Republican rebound in 2008 aren’t facing serious challenge. And all this before Republicans face a financial onslaught in the fall from Democratic independent expenditures, left-wing 527s, the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. If Republicans lose another 20 seats in the House, they’ll be down roughly 70 overall, and if Obama wins the presidency on top of it, as the NBC political tipsheet “First Read” has noted, “it will be the biggest mandate any Democrat has had for governing since LBJ in ’64.” The chairman of the NRCC, Tom Cole, hasn’t tried to minimize the implications of the Mississippi loss. In a conference call with reporters the next day, he said so often that the public has lost confidence in Republicans that it could have been a Democratic call. Republicans readily admit that they have work to do reformulating their agenda, but are at a loss as to how exactly to go about it. For now, they’ll have to hope that John McCain finds a way to distance himself from his party and pick up independents while not losing his own base. Philippe Petit, who famously did a high-wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center, had a less treacherous course. Over the longer run, they have to become identified with a domestic-reform agenda on health care, energy and family income that addresses middle-class concerns. But renovating a party’s public standing isn’t the work of a few months. At least time in the minority provides opportunity for reflection.

A lot of independents are split on choice Mon, 19 May 2008 11:03:38 -0500
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Polls indicate Barack Obama has a good chance to become the next president, but an evening with a group of independent voters suggests he has a considerable ways to go. Members of a focus group May 12 in a county that voted Republican in 2000 and Democratic in 2004 were evenly split between Sen. John McCain, the all-but-certain GOP nominee, and Obama, his likely November foe. Most probable Obama voters cited his theme of change. But many seemed ambivalent about him personally and expressed concern about his experience and background. Some agreed with Obama critics that it was hard to know his values because of his friendship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “Obama’s catch-phrase is change, but he also changed his mind about Rev. Wright,” said Bob James, 51, a restaurant manager. “After he saw public opinion was changing about Wright, he turned against him.” But James said he favors Obama because he would bring “change from the same old, same old. He represents the closest thing to change that I can see.” Less certain about her vote in a McCain-Obama race was Susan Shaible, 49, a UPS truck loader and the group’s strongest supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s Democratic rival. During the two-hour discussion that Democratic pollster Peter Hart moderated for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, Shaible vacillated between undecided and Obama. A self-styled liberal who leans Democratic, she expressed concern about Obama’s limited experience. “If he waited a little longer, I’d feel better about him,” she said. But she added, “I’m tired of white men. I think it’s time for a change. It’s time to put a Democrat in there.” By contrast, probable McCain voters seemed more certain of their choice and the reasons, primarily his national security background. “The president’s first and biggest responsibility is national security,” said Josh Williams, 24, a college student enrolled in Air Force ROTC. “That’s the most important thing to me.” Dolores Tingley, 53, a law firm marketing director, cited McCain’s “military experience” but said she would favor Clinton over him because of her position on health care. Participants were independents who had not voted in primaries. Many were more aware of controversies swirling around Obama than some facts about him. Six of the 12 said they thought Obama was Muslim, even after an extensive discussion about the flap over Wright’s controversial views. Obama, for the record, is a Christian. Several questioned his Americanism, citing his refusal to wear a U.S. flag lapel pin. A majority agreed that his comment that residents of small-town American are bitter and cling to religion and guns showed he was out of touch with their values. Asked what Obama needed to prove in the campaign, law firm receptionist Melinda Denisenko, 39, said, “He needs to prove that he’s for America, that he’ll stick with us and not try to appease others beyond our borders.” The discussion went beyond the presidential race. The politician who drew the most positive comments was former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat now running for a Senate seat. Most expressed a negative view of President Bush and the current state of the country. Only two said they would vote him a third term, if they could. About half expressed concern McCain would be too closely aligned with the Bush agenda. But the two main concerns were his vow to stay in Iraq and possibly increase U.S. troop presence there and his opposition to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. The session was a vivid reminder that, for all the attention accorded the primaries; most Americans do not vote in them and may not have focused yet on the race.

Wearing a helmet sets example for kids Sun, 18 May 2008 23:55:00 EST
As I drove home from my daughter's spring chorus concert at Noe Middle on a recent evening, I was of course a very proud (and healthy) parent.

KCHIP is an issue in primary Sun, 18 May 2008 23:55:00 EST
Tomorrow, the race to the White House comes to the commonwealth of Kentucky. From diners to truck stops, schools to coffee shops, our presidential hopefuls will be making their way across the Bluegrass, detailing to Kentuckians and the nation their plans for the future.

Supreme conflicts Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 EST
The Supreme Court found itself paralyzed last week, unable to decide whether to take up an important class-action case against companies that allegedly aided and abetted South Africa's apartheid regime. The result is unfortunate, leaving in place a flawed lower-court decision that allows the misguided litigation to proceed.

Obama needs to win Sun, 18 May 2008 23:56:00 EST
Barack Obama needs to win this election. He strikes the country's issues with great force and without mercy. He battles the main topics, in my opinion: affordable education for Americans, energy use and the solutions for it, and finally the protection of the people and homeland security.

Of mothers, women, girls and boys Sun, 18 May 2008 23:56:00 EST
The last thing my mother gave me for safekeeping before she slipped further away in her struggle with cancer was her Social Security card. I pull it out from time to time and think about why it meant so much to her and now to me.

And a child shall lead them… Sun, 18 May 2008 23:57:00 EST
Tiny tots with pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars in their baggies, piggy banks or hands poured out of the building. Eyes widened at the sight of the fire truck, the firefighters in uniform and the television camera.

A Bluegrass blowout? Sun, 18 May 2008 23:57:00 EST
Tomorrow's primary could produce a decisive victory for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Kentucky, but many Democrats may view such a win as another reason for ending her candidacy and delivering the nomination to Barack Obama.

Bush killed off Reagan era Sun, 18 May 2008 23:58:00 EST
The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise. In this respect, it doesn't matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall.

Transparency and democracy Sun, 18 May 2008 23:59:00 EST
On what issue does The Courier-Journal agree with a free-market think tank, the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions? About what issue could Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the strongest fiscal conservative in the U.S. Senate, and Barack Obama of Illinois, perhaps its most liberal, feel so strongly that they would co-sponsor legislation to address it?

Give liberal arts research credit, too Mon, 19 May 2008 02:03 EDT
A good bit of attention is being focused on undergraduate research these days. This is a very good thing, both for students and the country in terms of development of America's future thinkers, problem-solvers and leaders.

Much of this discussion involves undergraduate experience at research universities, but it should be noted that undergraduate research and creative endeavors are defining features of many liberal arts colleges.

At Centre College in Danville, we believe that students who have an opportunity to engage in undergraduate research are transformed by their undergraduate experience. Those students who have an opportunity to really engage in their study both in and out of the classroom are poised to do great things. And these kinds of experiences are the bedrock at national liberal arts colleges.

Centre's record for seeing its students win awards associated with undergraduate scholarship is remarkable. During the past 50 years, two-thirds of Kentucky's Rhodes Scholars have come from Centre, and the college has had 28 Fulbright winners in the last 10 years, one of the highest per capita rates in the nation.

In the last two months at Centre, two biochemistry and molecular biology majors, Chase Palisch and Benjamin Gowen, won prestigious Goldwater Scholarships. In addition, we ended the year with an unprecedented six students winning Fulbright awards for the study of fish parasites in France (Lillian Tuttle) and for the teaching of English in Venezuela (Elizabeth Schildkret), Germany (Talia Harris and Katie Pfohl), Austria (Caitlin Harper) and France (Audrey Rogers). Two Centre students have just received preliminary notification that they will receive Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships for a year's graduate study abroad.

Ethics code, panel working well Mon, 19 May 2008 02:03 EDT
The Herald-Leader's article about potential conflicts of interest by state legislators in their work on various issues left many people misinformed about an important question of public policy.

When a legislator abstains from voting or participating on a legislative matter, his or her constituents lose their voice on that matter. The question is: What type of conflict should require legislators to abstain, thereby depriving their constituents of the right to be heard?

Section 57 of Kentucky's Constitution says that a legislator may not vote on any measure in which the legislator "has a personal or private interest." Does that mean a legislator who is a farmer cannot vote on issues affecting agriculture, or that a legislator with children in the public schools is barred from sponsoring bills relating to education?

Common sense, as well as the history of Section 57 and its interpretation by our highest court, say these instances would not constitute a "personal or private interest." The framers of our Constitution were well aware that the General Assembly would be made up of part-time legislators who would be farmers, business people, lawyers and others who would enact laws affecting many aspects of life in Kentucky, including laws that could affect their families and occupations.

It was not intended that they be barred generally from participating in enacting such legislation.

Invictus Maneo: What’s wrong with Obama?
Why does Sen. Barack Obama perform worst in Appalachian areas?

Chinese Dir