Happy Birthday, Clyde Pidcock
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By RORY RYAN
The Highland County Press
Three of my favorite people have birthdays this week: Clyde Pidcock turned 93 on Sept. 17; Mike Royko would have been 79 on Sept. 19 (if my arithmetic is correct); and my niece, Claudia, turned 6 on Sept. 16.
I spoke with Clyde this past Thursday and am happy to report that the World War II Navy veteran is as cantankerous as ever in Springfield. He sends his best to everyone in Highland County, too.
I'll share a few of my "Clyde-isms" in a future column, I promise.
Now, for a bit of political satire, just for fun, of course.
Is the honeymoon over for President Obama and the majority of his once-loyal supporters?
A number of influential Democrats are suggesting that it is. There's even rumors – gasp! – of a Democratic presidential primary election. Don't bet on it, though.
Unless Obama takes a page from the 1968 LBJ playbook and chooses not to seek another term, Democrats are going to have to dance with "the one they brung," to borrow a phrase of my hillbilly heritage (twice removed).
Sure, there are the premature reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ought to challenge her boss. Clinton's most likely too calculating to enter those political waters, though. Why risk a bitter and divisive Democratic campaign that could leave both candidates bruised and battered? Best to leave such battles to the GOP contenders.
Besides, even if her boss were to lose his re-election bid, Clinton could easily return to the Senate. Just a pick a state in need of a candidate. After all, she had no trouble leaving Arkansas with her carpetbags in tow for the Empire State.
Frankly, I can't see an Obama vs. Clinton primary. Sure, there may be the occasional crackpot challenge (for some reason Dennis Kucinich comes to mind). But I cannot envision a serious Democratic opponent for the sitting president.
Unless…
The president's hometown newspaper keeps the Solyndra Scandal under the Hot Lights.
A few days ago, John Kass wrote the following in the Chicago Tribune: "The Solyndra scandal cost at least a half-billion public dollars. It is plaguing President Barack Obama. And it's being billed as a Washington story. …
"The FBI is investigating what happened with Solyndra, a solar panel company that got a $535 million government-backed loan with the help of the Obama White House over the objections of federal budget analysts. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being 'green.' But then Solyndra went bankrupt. Americans lost jobs. Taxpayers got stuck with the bill. And members of Congress are now in high dudgeon and making speeches."
Of course, Solyndra does not have the same easy-to-remember flow of Watergate or Whitewater, so maybe it won't catch on in time to inflict serious political harm.
But it is funny to see the Obama administration squirm whenever the missing $535 million comes up. Yeah, they're all about being green. (It is the color of money, isn't it?)
Hass continued: "This is not a new kind of politics. It's the old kind. The Chicago kind. And now the Tribune Washington Bureau has reported that the U.S. Department of Energy employee who helped monitor the Solyndra loan guarantee was one of Obama's top fundraisers. Fundraising? Contracts? Imagine that."
The horror.
And then there's this from A. Barton Hinkle, a columnist at the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch: "The Obama administration fast-tracked Solyndra's loan guarantee through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — i.e., the stimulus — perhaps because Solyndra's principal backers just happened to have donated huge sums to the Obama election campaign. Washington guaranteed more than a half-billion in loans to Solyndra on the promise of 4,000 jobs. … The result of those loans now? Solyndra has shut its doors, its 1,100 former employees are jobless, and the taxpayers are on the hook for perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars."
Hang on, for another moment. The story gets better.
"The Solyndra story sounds like the same old, same old," Hinkle said. "Except it isn't. The Solyndra story encapsulates a much bigger issue than mere crony capitalism, bad as that is. Because Solyndra is not alone. The Obama administration has sunk billions into loan guarantees for dozens of other renewable-energy companies as well.
"This is known as the political allocation of economic resources, and it entails all kinds of problems. The first and most basic: It's wrong. Government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace."
The old Chicago newspaperman Mike Royko (maybe with Studs Terkel sitting on a nearby bar stool) would have had more fun with the Obama presidency than he had at the Billy Goat Tavern during Happy Hour. (And, just for the record, Royko was no fan of Republican politics, either.)
We can thank Obama for bringing Chicago style politics to Washington. Lord knows they didn't need any lessons.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
The Highland County Press
Three of my favorite people have birthdays this week: Clyde Pidcock turned 93 on Sept. 17; Mike Royko would have been 79 on Sept. 19 (if my arithmetic is correct); and my niece, Claudia, turned 6 on Sept. 16.
I spoke with Clyde this past Thursday and am happy to report that the World War II Navy veteran is as cantankerous as ever in Springfield. He sends his best to everyone in Highland County, too.
I'll share a few of my "Clyde-isms" in a future column, I promise.
Now, for a bit of political satire, just for fun, of course.
Is the honeymoon over for President Obama and the majority of his once-loyal supporters?
A number of influential Democrats are suggesting that it is. There's even rumors – gasp! – of a Democratic presidential primary election. Don't bet on it, though.
Unless Obama takes a page from the 1968 LBJ playbook and chooses not to seek another term, Democrats are going to have to dance with "the one they brung," to borrow a phrase of my hillbilly heritage (twice removed).
Sure, there are the premature reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ought to challenge her boss. Clinton's most likely too calculating to enter those political waters, though. Why risk a bitter and divisive Democratic campaign that could leave both candidates bruised and battered? Best to leave such battles to the GOP contenders.
Besides, even if her boss were to lose his re-election bid, Clinton could easily return to the Senate. Just a pick a state in need of a candidate. After all, she had no trouble leaving Arkansas with her carpetbags in tow for the Empire State.
Frankly, I can't see an Obama vs. Clinton primary. Sure, there may be the occasional crackpot challenge (for some reason Dennis Kucinich comes to mind). But I cannot envision a serious Democratic opponent for the sitting president.
Unless…
The president's hometown newspaper keeps the Solyndra Scandal under the Hot Lights.
A few days ago, John Kass wrote the following in the Chicago Tribune: "The Solyndra scandal cost at least a half-billion public dollars. It is plaguing President Barack Obama. And it's being billed as a Washington story. …
"The FBI is investigating what happened with Solyndra, a solar panel company that got a $535 million government-backed loan with the help of the Obama White House over the objections of federal budget analysts. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being 'green.' But then Solyndra went bankrupt. Americans lost jobs. Taxpayers got stuck with the bill. And members of Congress are now in high dudgeon and making speeches."
Of course, Solyndra does not have the same easy-to-remember flow of Watergate or Whitewater, so maybe it won't catch on in time to inflict serious political harm.
But it is funny to see the Obama administration squirm whenever the missing $535 million comes up. Yeah, they're all about being green. (It is the color of money, isn't it?)
Hass continued: "This is not a new kind of politics. It's the old kind. The Chicago kind. And now the Tribune Washington Bureau has reported that the U.S. Department of Energy employee who helped monitor the Solyndra loan guarantee was one of Obama's top fundraisers. Fundraising? Contracts? Imagine that."
The horror.
And then there's this from A. Barton Hinkle, a columnist at the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch: "The Obama administration fast-tracked Solyndra's loan guarantee through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — i.e., the stimulus — perhaps because Solyndra's principal backers just happened to have donated huge sums to the Obama election campaign. Washington guaranteed more than a half-billion in loans to Solyndra on the promise of 4,000 jobs. … The result of those loans now? Solyndra has shut its doors, its 1,100 former employees are jobless, and the taxpayers are on the hook for perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars."
Hang on, for another moment. The story gets better.
"The Solyndra story sounds like the same old, same old," Hinkle said. "Except it isn't. The Solyndra story encapsulates a much bigger issue than mere crony capitalism, bad as that is. Because Solyndra is not alone. The Obama administration has sunk billions into loan guarantees for dozens of other renewable-energy companies as well.
"This is known as the political allocation of economic resources, and it entails all kinds of problems. The first and most basic: It's wrong. Government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace."
The old Chicago newspaperman Mike Royko (maybe with Studs Terkel sitting on a nearby bar stool) would have had more fun with the Obama presidency than he had at the Billy Goat Tavern during Happy Hour. (And, just for the record, Royko was no fan of Republican politics, either.)
We can thank Obama for bringing Chicago style politics to Washington. Lord knows they didn't need any lessons.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]