China's PR Woes Continue

Obama's reference to defeating communism, as you may well know, has been censored in China. This shows the continued myopia of the government's PR battle with the world and more importantly its own citizens. Had they not censored the portions, there would be no story afterwards of how they censored the speech, and this blog would not exist, nor the plethora of news stories across the world about the incident. Reuters carried a story in which the government defended its right to edit whatever they want, but that argument gives the sense of a petulant child. Yes, it's also my right to never shower again, but I will have to live wit the ramifications of my decision. Likewise, they have every right to manipulate the media, but they must understand that such actions will have a greater impact than whatever it was they were censoring in the first place. In 2008, China learned the value of PR, even going so far as to hire a PR company, but it's clear that they still have a long way to go to understand that blatant, objectively provable control of information is in an of itself a story, and a PR black eye both abroad and at home.

The Obama Myth: One President at a Time

While many news outlets are lamenting Obama's silence over the bombardment of Gaza, at the same time they are complicit in asserting that there is only one President of the United States at any given moment.

We can clearly remember, however, a time when both John McCain and Barack Obama made public pronouncements about the Russia-Georgia conflct even prior to the White House. Additionally, Obama has made several speeches and announcements regarding financial/economic matters. Who is meant to be naive, the people or the Obama team, in believing that somehow the economy is domestic policy? How many times have we heard – quite rightfully so – that the economy and national security, particularly when it comes to "energy independence" (buzzword of the election cycle), are intertwined?

The fact of the matter is that Gaza is as much a domestic crisis as the financial crisis. America's unwavering support of a foreign government, Israel, has had consequences in the wars it is currently embroiled in, and if subjecting troops to a quagmire is not a domestic crisis, I'm not sure what is. After all, all politics is local.

Obama and Blagojevich: What They Aren't Saying

I have heard from several news outlets that Obama was not involved and knew nothing of Blagojevich trying to sell the Senate seat. At the same time, they are quoting Blagojevich about Obama not playing ball. How could he not play ball and not know anything at the same time? Surely someone in the Obama camp – if not Obama himself – must have rebuked Blagojevich, creating his frustration, and therefore someone ought to have known something.

Rules of Engagement

Josh Marshall, over at TalkingPointsMemo, recently bemoaned the fact that Congressional Quarterly bemoaned the lack of Republicans in the newly formed Obama administration.  Marshall pointed out that Obama is perhaps the most progressive ever in the lengths he has gone to choose people not firmly aligned with his own party, and I would like to expand upon why it seems that Republicans are incessantly critical and unsatisfied, even before Obama has taken office.  They are the baddies.

The Republican leadership over Bush's term in office has solidified its role as the bad guys, the rule breakers, and the cry babies.  They are known as liars and cheaters.  All of America and the world now know that the basis for the Iraq invasion was cooked up and was sold to the American people as a greasy used car salesperson sells a lemon to a naive, first-time car buyer.  If a news story broke tomorrow that *gasp*, Republicans lied, would anyone be shocked?  Therefore, they needn't follow any rules.

Progressives and liberals, on the other hand, have been trying to call out Republicans left and right for these indiscretions and have set themselves up as guardians of the constitution and fair play.  The problem is the Republicans are willing to hold Democrats to the Democrats' rules, all the while disregarding the rules themselves, because, hey, it wasn't as if they agreed to any rules.  If I can use a boxing metaphor, it's as if the man in the red trunks is simultaneously pounding the man in the blue trucks squarely in the groin all the while calling foul when the man in the blue trunks lands a punch that even grazes his belt line.  We saw this in the election: McCain and Palin would unapologetically insinuate Obama was a terrorist (or friend of), yet demanding Obama apologize for what was being said about McCain by people outside the Obama campaign.

So, after being trounced at every level in the election, Republicans are screaming foul as a means of maintaining some grip on power after the electorate clearly said, "No!"  After all, they are the baddies.  I would wager there are many in the Republican Party hoping and praying that the Obama years will be disastrous, which would equal them praying for America to further its downward spiral, all so they can reclaim power in four years.  Does that sound far-fetched to you?  Probably not.  They are the baddies.