Obama files for President

Dallas Blog | Scott Bennett:

“The day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,' birthday, Sen. Barak Obama, African American Democrat of Illinois, filed papers to become a candidate for President of the United States. While other blacks have run for President, notably Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, Sen. Obama becomes the first black to seek the office with serious credentials as an elected official.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Serious credentials as an elected official? Are you serious? Barack Obama's inexperience is the first issue he has to overcome. It's no accident that he plans to announce his candidacy in Springfield, Illinois, home of Abraham Lincoln, who himself had only two years in Congress before ascending to the Presidency. That Lincoln is also the Great Emancipator and Obama an African-American allows Obama to deal with a second important issue at the same time — whether the country is ready for a black President. But make no mistake — lack of experience is a criticism Obama has to address early and often.

Experience is always an issue. George W Bush had to overcome charges that he was a foreign policy lightweight. In 1999, he famously failed a pop quiz that asked him to name the leaders of four countries in four hot spots around the world, one of them Pakistan. In contrast, his father, George HW Bush, came to the Presidency with arguably more foreign policy than any previous President. For how important that is, contrast the different results in Gulf War I and Gulf War II. Experience does matter.

Except the voters sometimes choose style over experience. Barack Obama has style coming out of his ears. The stars are aligning perfectly for an Obama run for the Presidency. In this campaign, his lack of experience won't disqualify him; the country's sad history of race relations won't doom his candidacy. In this campaign, Obama can even turn the doubts about him to his advantage:

• His rock star celebrity is perfectly timed for a country that's made American Idol the number one rated television program.
• His intelligence, his disarming forthrightness, his smooth speaking style and soothing demeanor are the perfect antidote to years of listening to George W Bush trip over his own tongue telling obvious falsehoods.
• His lack of political experience means his opponents will have little personal history of his to smear.
• His short time in Washington means he won't be tarnished by the culture of corruption, the lying, the incompetence, the breakdown of government that has infested that swamp for the last six years.
• His stand against the Iraq War has been consistent from the beginning, so he won't have to spin his way out of charges of flip-flopping.
• His groundbreaking ethnic background won't be the focus in a race where the Iraq War will suck all the air from any domestic issues, particularly race relations.
• His strongest challengers are, in the primaries, a Democratic throwback to the contentious era of Clinton and Gingrich and impeachment; and in the general election, some candidate from the Republican Party, the party that has brought the country nothing but Iraq, earmarks, Abramoff, deficits, Katrina, etc., etc.

Yes, the stars are aligned for Barack Obama in 2008. Only time will tell whether some fatal flaw will show itself and stop his ambition short of his goal.

Kiss-the-rich, kick-the-middle-class

MySA.com | Roddy Stinson:

“Pardon me while I spend a despairing moment contemplating the many ways that Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick and his kiss-the-rich, kick-the-middle-class Republican henchmen will find to kill any attempt to pass a sale price disclosure bill.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Without sale price disclosure, estimating market value of real estate is mostly guesswork. In middle-class neighborhoods, where the houses are similar and many sell each year, appraisal boards can usually get the information they need to make this guesswork pretty accurate. In wealthy neighborhoods, where the houses are unique and sales less frequent, it's more difficult to estimate market value. When mansions are listed, it's often discovered that the asking price is much higher than the appraised value on the tax rolls. And commercial properties often sell with complex contracts, confidentiality agreements, and other means that prevent appraisers from doing their jobs.

Roddy Stinson doesn't predict how Republicans will kill a sale price disclosure bill, only that they will. In my opinion, they'll do it by distorting appraisal reform into their preferred goal — tax cutting.

Gov Perry set up a commission chaired by Tom Pauken for the supposed purpose of reforming the appraisal process in Texas. You might think that sale price disclosure would be the number one item in their reform recommendations. No brainer, even. But no. Mr Pauken's road show is traveling Texas whipping voters into a frenzy to cap local government revenues.

Expect Perry and Craddick to accept Pauken's recommendations, push the local government revenue caps through the legislature, and claim to be reforming the appraisal process. Sale price disclosure will end up on the floor.

The result will be handicapped local government and a shift of more of the tax burden from property tax to sales tax, from the wealthy to the middle and lower classes.

And Governor Perry will thank Mr Pauken for his service, his service to those "kiss-the-rich, kick-the-middle-class Republican henchmen" that Roddy Stinson talks about.

Lack of diversity hurting legal profession

Dallas Blog | Dr. Amy L. Jarmon:

“The legal profession has provided leaders for our country since its founding. ... Unfortunately, the same legal profession is still not diverse in its membership: more than 90 percent of our legal profession is Caucasian. It is imperative that the legal profession increase its diversity so that attorneys will reflect the diversity of the client population in the United States.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Four women, a Cuban-American, two African-Americans, a Japanese-American, a Lebanese-American, a Chinese-American and a Democrat.

"If you look at my administration, it's diverse, and I'm proud of that."
-- George W. Bush

President Bush never claimed to be aiming for diversity. It's something that just happens when you overcome this country's unfortunate legacy of discrimination and prejudice. The legal profession isn't there yet, but progress is being made thanks to programs like the partnership between the Texas Tech School of Law and Estacado High School, Lubbock Independent School District, described by Dr. Jarmon. Someday the legal profession will be able to look at itself and be proud, too.

Appraisal reform battle

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“Terrence Stutz has a very fair and balanced analysis in Monday's Dallas Morning News of the Governor's Task Force on Appraisal Reform's efforts to address the problem of skyrocketing property taxes in Texas. ... State Representative Fred Hill, who has become the principle spokesman for the Texas Municipal League in the Texas House, makes an absolutely ludicrous statement in the Stutz article by saying that any such restraint on the growth of local government spending would actually lead to greater tax increases at the local level.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Definition of "fair and balanced": agreeing with Perry and Pauken (see Terrence Stutz quoting Tom Pauken).

Definition of "ludicrous": having the temerity to disagree (see Fred Hill).

Actually, Terrence Stutz does a decent job of presenting both sides of the issue without the loaded adjectives that Mr Pauken piles on. Mr Stutz gives Tom Pauken more space in his story, but at least he allows Fred Hill to respond. Mr Pauken's account of the The Dallas Morning News' story is anything but fair and balanced. My advice? Skip the Tom Pauken account and go straight to the DMN.

Tom Pauken, in Dallas Blog, calls Fred Hill's position ludicrous without ever explaining his position. Actually, Fred Hill makes sense. He argues that if you cap local government revenue increases at 5%, that's what you're likely to get, whether the need is 3% or 4%. Local governments will be tempted to build a bit of a surplus, just in case next year the need is 6% and the new law caps them at 5%. That inclination to reach for that 5% cap could very well lead to higher taxes over the long run.

So, why does the Texas Municipal League in the Texas House oppose this? Because Fred Hill is looking out for the local taxpayer's interest. He knows the law of unintended consequences can bite back when you start putting artificial ceilings and formulas in place instead of just electing good people to represent you in the first place. Fred Hill was elected just that way. The Task Force on Appraisal Reform was appointed. By an unpopular governor, no less. Who do you trust?

Bubba, we -- yes, we -- have to stop the war now

Star-Telegram | Molly Ivins:

“The president of the United States does not have the sense that God gave a duck -- so it's up to us. You and me, Bubba. ... This will be a regular feature of mine, like an old-fashioned newspaper campaign. Every column, I'll write about this war until we find some way to end it.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Give 'em hell, Molly.

Molly Ivins has returned from medical leave and has resumed limited writing while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Wish her a speedy recovery so that we may enjoy reading her feisty commentary for a long time to come. Our nation needs her plain-speaking now as much as Harry Truman's was needed in his day.

Letting the people choose rather than the politicians

Star-Telegram | Jeffrey E. Brooks:

“Perhaps the most outspoken advocate of redistricting reform is Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. For more than a decade, Wentworth has proposed bills that would create a bipartisan panel, in which Democrats and Republicans would have equal representation, to handle the redistricting process. No legislators or political candidates would be allowed on the panel, and strict conflict-of-interest provisions would be in place. Wentworth's proposed system defines the terms under which districts can be drawn. A congressional district would have to take into account the existing borders of counties, towns and cities. Most important, no redistricting plan would be permitted to purposefully favor or discriminate against any political party or other group. The days when politicians could highjack the electoral process to suit their own ends would be over.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

This noble goal is going nowhere. Because, simply put, political parties are not noble. Instead of reforms intended to strengthen representative government, Texans get commissions disguised as "appraisal reform" but whose true purpose is to cut taxes by weakening representative government in our cities, counties, and school districts.

Nevertheless, citizens should applaud the quixotic efforts of officeholders like Sen. Wentworth and public interest advocates like Jeffrey Brooks. The abuses of Tom Delay and Rick Perry to redraw Congressional district boundaries to create safe Republican districts no matter the overall will of the electorate should be publicized, no matter how long the odds that Austin will enact reform.

The Coming GOP Crackup

Dallas Blog | Scott Bennett:

“GOP activists are still seething at Gov. Perry, Speaker Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst over the passage of the so-called ‘margins’ tax to provide for a local property tax cut. ... However, if you talk to Republican voting suburbanites, who are anything but activists, you hear a different story. They want more spending on education and they want even more property tax relief.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

As a broad generalization, Democrats want quality education and believe that you get what you pay for. The Texas Republican Party wants tax cuts and public education be d*mned.

Voters, in general, want both quality public education and tax cuts at the same time. The Republican Party promised them that they could have their cake and eat it, too, which led to great electoral success. The smoke and mirrors can be hidden only so long, however, which is perhaps why Democrats are making inroads into the Republican majority.

Texan of the Year 2007: Who's Next?

Dallas Morning News | Editorial:

“Texan of the Year? If you mean 2006, that's yesterday's news. ... But we're forward thinkers and quickly turn our eyes to the horizon and march boldly into 2007. Sure, you can look back fondly (or not so much) at last year, but wouldn't you rather take a wild stab at some candidates for the next Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Why bother? None of the many potential choices listed in this editorial has a chance if The Dallas Morning News again chooses a symbolic Texan of the Year instead of a person who individually had significant impact, for good or bad, on Texas, the nation or the world.

Time magazine was rightly criticized for its choice of a collective "you" as its person of the year. The Dallas Morning News' choice for Texan of the Year was in the same vein. In effect, its recognition went to all the Texan families who have loved ones serving in Iraq. To represent these thousands of Texans, The Dallas Morning News chose a single father, who, in the newspaper's own words, "became an unintended symbol of unspeakable loss and grief after losing two sons who went off to war."

Symbolic choices are all well and good, but I suspect most readers expect and prefer a single, real person be singled out for Texan of the Year because of his own actions, not because he's a particularly inspiring representative of a class of people. A debate over whether the right person was named or not is healthy and fun, but debating whether symbols or collective pronouns are suitable choices is just a waste of an opportunity to discuss the important events of the past year. I won't be holding my breath waiting to learn who (or what) The Dallas Morning News decides to recognize in 2007.

Pots, Kettles and Black Oil

Frontburner | Trey Garrison:

“Irving-based ExxonMobil is being accused of funding dishonest ideological groups by, wait for it, a dishonest ideological group.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Trey Garrison, lately of Dallas Blog, now publishes his anti-scientific opinions on the pages of Frontburner's blog. The example above of a non-rebuttal rebuttal illustrates why his departure from Dallas Blog is not a loss for that publication and not a gain for Frontburner.

The claim cited by Mr Garrison is that:

ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in a coordinated effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.

Instead of rebutting the claim, Mr Garrison attacks the messenger. He posts an ad hominem attack that boils down to ... 'yeah, well, so's your mother.' Left untouched is the claim that ExxonMobil is using its billions in profits to create the illusion of a vigorous scientific debate about global warming.

Recently, another group, Britain's leading scientific academy, The Royal Society, asked ExxonMobil to halt support for groups that "misrepresented the science of climate change." I'm sure Mr Garrison can find links to foster the illusion that The Royal Society is also a dishonest, ideological group.

Maybe Mr Garrison is just upset that he isn't getting anything from ExxonMobil for his own promotion of their illusions. He isn't, is he?

A revitalized Christianity needed to meet Islamic challenge

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“How are we to respond to the challenge of a resurgent Islam? Through military might alone? By persuading the Islamic community of the economic benefits of our materialist society? ... Or, perhaps, instead we should recognize the need to combat the fervor of a resurgent Islam by re-establishing the Christian roots of Western Civilization and seeking to achieve greater Christian unity on matters of culture.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The United States Constitution is a shining achievement of 18th century liberalism. That Constitution created a secular nation with what Jefferson praised as a "wall of separation between church and state". That secular nation has endured for over two centuries and will continue to endure against external enemies. Whether it can withstand internal efforts to turn America into a Christian theocracy remains to be seen.

Mr Pauken gives primary credit to Ronald Reagan, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Pope John Paul II for defeating Communism. This insults the contributions of statesmen like Dean Acheson, George Marshall and Dean Truman, who, after World War II, crafted a containment strategy against global communism. That grand strategy was adhered to by Democratic and Republican administrations alike, including Reagan's, for forty years, until the Soviet Union collapsed from within due to its own rot.

Trying to primarily credit the Roman Catholic Pope is even more a distortion of history. It was the United States, a secular liberal nation, that won the Cold War. As Stalin himself once dismissively asked, "How many divisions does the pope have?"