Obama's Tire Tariff Smacks of Special Interest

Barack Obama won the election on a platform of change with particular reference toward minimizing the role of special interests in politics and he did some great work early in his term to reduce the influence of lobbyists, but whats up with his recent decision to impose a 35% tariff on Chinese tire imports?

The AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers pushed for the tariff but the Tire Industry Association (TIA) strongly opposed it. Shouldn't the TIA have more say in tire trade than the AFL-CIO or the United Steelworkers? The issue isn't 100% clear cut because the the United Steelworkers do represent some tire factory workers and some of the tire manufacturers did want protection, but it sure seems like the special interests won at the expense of the general public.

Obama Speaks but will Bill Maher Listen?

Earlier this evening on 60 Minutes Barack Obama said:

"In the era of 24 hour cable news cycles that the loudest shrillest voices get the most attention... And so one of the things that I'm trying to figure out is how can we make sure that civility is interesting... And that hopefully I will be a good model for the fact that you don't have to yell and holler to make your point and to be passionate about your position."

Hopefully this is a wake up call to fans of Bill Maher, John Stewart and Steven Colbert. Although rarely subjected to the same level of criticism, their influence degrades the quality of political discussion equally as much as their more notorious conservative counterparts, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. Everyone could benefit from taking more time to understand the complex issues that we face today and the manipulations, sound bites, jokes and polarization that these pundits rely on are not helpful. Lets turn them all off and pickup a newspaper instead.

An Auspicious Start

Barack Obama starting his first day in office by increasing government transparency and erecting barriers to lobbyists was a great move. The more secrecy and the more lobbyists the more distorted the politics becomes. Now this could lead to real change.

Best & Worst of Obama's Inauguration Speech

Barack Obama is unquestionably a fabulous speaker and while his election night speech was much better, his inauguration speech didn't disappoint. The best line from his speech was:

"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

And the worst:

"Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms."

...not only super cheesy but don't gathering clouds happen before raging storms rather than at the same time?

Obama & the Status Quo

Barack Obama's inauguration represents "change" in several important ways. However, it is equally important to recognize several key ways in which his election victory also represents the status quo:

1. The candidate that raised the most money won
   
2. Charisma was exponentially more important than policy
3. Change was a key campaign promise of non-incumbents

Not a Republican, but Impressed by McCain

I was impressed with John McCain on 60 Minutes earlier this evening. I really like McCain's willingness to take an unpopular position on Iraq. I don't really know what to do about Iraq, but Hillary Clinton's "plan to bring our troops home starting with the first 60 days of her Administration," strikes me as populist policy making at it worst. Look, I didn't support going to war with Iraq and I don't like the human lives that have been lost or billions that have been wasted on the war. But we can't undo the war, so the question is what is the best course of action now? We have to balance the following requirements:

• Responsibility for starting the war and at least some level of debt to the Iraqi people for the upheaval that war has caused them
  
• Protecting American troop's lives
  
• Keeping the Middle East stable enough not to collapse into a regional war
  
• Preventing Iraq from becoming an terrorist state funded by oil revenue
  
• Keeping oil flowing freely
• Stopping the bleeding of military spending
  

Given how much of a mess Iraq is today, I really can't see how starting to pull troops out in March of 2009 is going to accomplish any more than 2 of these 6 objectives. I'm tired of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama manufacturing positions based on what they think people want to hear rather than what they believe in. How does pulling troops out of Iraq help promote stability in the Middle East? How does a chaotic Iraq, potentially governed by Al Queda, reduce terrorism? Don't get me wrong, the war in Iraq has probably done more to increase anti-American terrorism than anything else in the last 50 years. But whats done is done. The questions is "how can we improve the situation from the position we are already in today."

Democracy is about giving the people what they want. But democratic leaders with integrity will find a way to communicate why they are making unpopular decisions and I don't see any signs of Obama or Hillary doing this.

I also like McCain's commitment to campaign finance reform. Ultimately, campaign finance reform is the single most important political issue. Campaign finance distorts the political process towards special interests like wealthy and/or organized groups like oil companies, defense contractors, unions and senior citizens. The United States loses when any special interest (including unions and senior citizens) distorts the political process.

Lastly, I like McCain's willingness to address the Republican party's terrible record on government spending under the Bush administration. This is another example of McCain's willingness to stand up for what he believes in despite potential political consequences.

Reasons against voting for McCain are:

• I strongly dislike the Republican Party
• Barack Obama's message is inspiring some people, which is a good thing even though I personally find it to be quite shallow
  
• Electing Barack Obama would send a great message Internationally and domestically about how tolerant the United States really is and what kind of opportunity exists for all citizens
  
• Electing a Democrat (i.e. regime change) would send a message about how the Bush Administration's actions are not acceptable
• McCain's environmental stance does not seem strong enough
  

I'm not sure where I will end up, but I am leaning towards McCain for now. I am formulating my vote on a handful of issues essentially in this order:

1. Conservative economics (low spending & low taxes)
   
2. Protecting the environment and making tough choices about climate change
   
3. [UPDATE:]Liberal foreign policy ...not the same as liberal in the domestic sense follow the link for more info (can't believe I forgot this in the original post!)
   
4. Liberal social policies (free personal choices, tolerant immigration policy, preserving separation of church & state)
   
5. Perceived personal integrity... but this is a very slippery slope so I don't put much stock in it