Democratic News Chatter 4-13-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, the President and Vice President will visit the Department of Transportation - they will talk about how the Stimulus bill is creating jobs in this area. Over 2000 projects are underway and president Obama is expected to say they are "ahead of schedule and under budget." You can read more here.

Yesterday, the Obama family attended Easter services at St. John's Church where they took Communion. This is a church many presidents have attended over the years as it is located conveniently a block away from the White House. President Obama and Michelle are still discussing which Church to join in Washington. You can read more here.

Today, the traditional White House Easter Egg Roll will take place and thousands are expected to participate.

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Navy Seals free U.S. Captain from Pirates - in what almost seemed like a scene from a movie ( it most likely will be one in the future), Navy Seal Snipers shot and killed the three pirates who were holding the captain hostage on board the lifeboat. It certainly made for a very happy Easter for Captain Richard Philips and his family. CNN.com has more here.

The OK for this action came from the very top - President Obama. While this may not have the same magnitude as the Bay of Pigs fiasco or the ill fated decision to attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran, it was a command decision with a successful outcome. This will only aid President Obama in his future relationships with the military.

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UN to finally issue statement condemning N. Korea missile launch - the security council had been mixed in their reaction to the launch with Russia and China saying it was only an attempt to launch a satellite. Their fear was also that N. Korea would break off any further 6-party discussions on the dismantling of their nuclear-arms program. The U.S. and Japan had pushed for sanctions. the UN statement is expected to be released today. the Wall Street Journal has more here.

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Panetta and Hagel pass on being Ambassador to China - this is a position once held by President George H.W. Bush. Chuck Hagel is a former Republican Senator from Nebraska and Leon Panetta was the White House chief of staff under President Clinton. Former Iowa Representative Jim Leach (R) is currently under consideration for the position. Politico.com has more here.

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Senator Evan Bayh explains why he was only one of two Democratic Senators to vote against Obama's proposed budget - interestingly, Bayh was on Obama's Vice President short list. He is from the moderate state of Indiana and says he feels the proposed budget does not lessen the national debt and yearly deficit as much as he would like to see. The other Democratic Senator to vote against the budget was Bill Nelson of Nebraska. TheHill.com has more here.

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Frederick Co. MD "Up and Coming" Young Democrats

Elizabeth Plant Bio

Supporting the NEA Makes Sense

I was all ready to write about the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this weekend. I was going to write about how the NEA is a worthwhile investment, and how it make sense for them to get some money from the stimulus package. (the money goes to grants, for theatres and museums and the other 14 disciplines of the NEA which makes it able for them to employ people). I still am… but not in the way that I had originally planned.

Instead, my dad said something that made me think. I was flying out the door to the "Young Dems" meeting, which I was running late for, and as I was putting on my shoes and coat being questioned by my family as to where I was going.

"Young Dems meeting!" I called as I hit the hallway. "Be back by 8!"

And to that, my father, who was facing the computer getting things done just says. "Go change the world." I replied, "don't worry."

I continued through the door and out to my car and finally recognized what my dad and I had just said. It made me stop which is why I was later than usual to my meeting. As I stopped at the bottom of the hill, I actually realized that's what I'm doing… well what I'm trying to do.

With the help of my friends I'm trying to do what I can to change the world. To make the world a better place, to show the area there are people who they need to recognize no matter how old they are. That there are people who they have to answer to and we're not going to be placated and sit by and watch them do things we don't like quietly.

Which is how I end up back at the NEA. As a person with a degree in Fine Arts, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I'm a major fan of the NEA. How awesome is it that we have a place who's mission is for them to be "a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education." (From the NEA website.) The NEA gives grants to a lot of different things from literature to dance, theatre and musical theater to reading initiatives, from folk and traditional arts to opera, on top of many other things and arts education. It makes it possible to have amazing arts life because that's what we need.

The arts are here to help us express the parts of our experience, whether it's a writing and putting up a play or writing a book or designing something that takes form or painting or sculpting something that evokes how someone feels about the time. Arts can change the world. The way cultures are remembered is by their art and their wars. There needs to be a movement to engage the people who are our artists, and for people to stop thinking about art and culture as optional. As Bill T. Jones (a choreographer) said in the LA Times Arts Blog last week "We must move past this notion that the arts and culture are somehow frivolous."

It makes sense to give economic recovery money to the NEA, to give money to theatres, artists, writers, museums, weavers, and other people who are capturing the emotions of the time or creating things that evoke the emotions that tell people how we were feeling.

But there is more than paintings that are subjective or a theatre project that doesn't move past off-off Broadway. Sesame Street, Julia Child, the Electric Company, Arthur, Car Talk, Wait… Wait Don't Tell Me!, and all those other amazing shows and programs on public television and radio. People don't realize how the NEA works. They are not just about the artists like the "NEA Four," who for those who don't remember were the four performance artists who had their grants vetoed in June of 1990, on the basis of their subject matter after passing through a peer review process.

Maybe this doesn't make sense to some of you. Why I want to change the world, why there arts are important, and why they are the same to me. I feel like the arts change people. It's a way that we can answer the call that is in front of us, a way to change the world. I will stand by that until you all hear me, because it is how I will do just that.

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Democratic Chatter 3-6-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama will be in Columbus, Ohio - He will speak at a police graduating ceremony where recruits will be able to keep their jobs due to the Stimulus bill. The Washington Post has more here.

At the conclusion of the Health Care Summit yesterday at the White House, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) spoke of the time is now. Kennedy has long been a supporter of health care reform. ThePage.time.com has a video of his remarks here.

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Sanjay Gupta withdraws from consideration for U.S. Surgeon General - He informed the President he will be staying on as CNN commentator and as a practicing neurosurgeon. He is a very good communicator for those who have watched his reporting on CNN and would have excelled in this area as Surgeon General. The stated reason he gave was a standard line of being able to stay closer to family, etc. Politico.com has more and a video here.

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Two candidates for high level Treasury department positions withdraw from consideration - This can not help Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner whose roll out on how the remaining TARP funds would be spent was less than spectacular. Annette Nazareth was under consideration for deputy Treasury Secretary and Caroline Atkinson for International Affairs undersecretary. Both had been vetted but had not yet been nominated. Reuters.com has more here

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Yesterday, the Dow dropped again - the Dow dropped 281.40 to close at 6544.44. To put all of this into perspective, the Dow high was reached on October 9, 2007 and was 14,164.53. So, in less than 18 months, the losses have exceeded 50%. This shows the seriousness of the current global economic crisis. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Unemployment hits 8.1% - further illustrating the tough times Americans are experiencing, the Labor Department released figures today that unemployment has risen to the highest level in 25 years. 4.4 million jobs have been lost since December 2007. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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410 Billion spending bill stopped in Senate - the house had voted earlier on this bill to not only continue, but also increase the funding of government agencies through the end of this fiscal year which is September 30, 2009. Democratic Senators Russ Feingold (Wisc.) and Evan Bayh (IN) both were against the bill and wanted time to review the many amendments. In what has now become a routine practice, the house will have to submit a continuing resolution bill to the Senate and have them agree prior to midnight tonight in order to keep funding government agencies. TheHill.com has more here.

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