No biggie, we'll just blow it up further

By now you have probably seen the photo of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and President Obama. If not, we have it right there for you to see. The argument and/or finger pointing stemmed from the way Jan Brewer retold an incident between she and President Obama in her book. She described it in a way that painted the President to be cold and aloof, after initially saying something complete different.

Governor Brewer later would say that she felt a little intimidated by the President. Governor Brewer said that the President was being "professorial" and "condescending". If you look at the picture you can get that vibe from it. But, if the picture had been reported to the tune of "President Obama and Governor Brewer spar over the Phoenix Suns vs. Chicago Bulls game" you would get that vibe as well. However, President Obama has said that the row was no big deal. Unfortunately, the way he said it comes off "condescending" and patronizing. "I think it's always good publicity for a Republican if they're in an argument with me", President Obama said, adding, "But this was really not a big deal". The President has charm and charisma to spare. But, when he uses them from time to time it can come off condescending. That is not to place all of the blame on his shoulders, Governors need to have a bit of decorum in public and wagging your finger in front of someone else, let alone the president breaks that mannerly code. But, we shall place more blame on the buzz being stirred by the press over the incident with the introduction of racism. The picture is open to interpretation and if you want to go out of your way to making it out to be somehow racist, you can.

Joy Ann-Reid wrote an article questioning what she could be intimidated by. She pulls out the white woman was afraid of the black man meme while criticizing the unfair black man is threatening meme. Of course racism exists and too often are men (and women) of color discriminated against. This was not such a case though, or at least we cannot possibly get that from a picture without a little invention on our parts.

Charles Blow, a New York Times columnist tweeted "Brewer said she felt 'a little bit threatened' by the President - CNN < Oh my. Was it his sagging pants or the way he was eyeing ur purse..."

The blogger New Black Woman wrote: "Sigh... really, Jan Brewer, threatened by a super, skinny intellectual black man serving as president of the United States? Nothing like the convenience of using the big, scary black man stereotype to excuse one's racism and lack of deference to the person holding the highest office in the land..."

Mr. Blow's rhetoric is about as helpful and insightful as many of my posts. It takes quick perception shots and creates a whole story around them. This is fine, but that is why we've posted our blog as entertainment and satire. We don't pretend to be newsmen. Ok, we do, so we're being hypocritical. But, in response to the New Black Woman's quote, you have used a stereotype to accuse Jan Brewer. There was certainly a pretty inexcusable lack of deference for President Obama by Governor Brewer, but to assume that she was intimidated by the color of his skin would be as ignorant as someone being intimidated by skin color in this century.

However, if Governor Brewer did this as a stunt to promote her book (which we won't name here in case she did, we don't want to give her the satisfaction), then she is an evil genius and no amount of optimism can be injected to cure such blatant cynicism.

An Obligatory post on the State of the Union

At one point in his speech President Obama said, “Most Americans are thinking the same thing right now: Nothing will get done this year.” One thing that certainly shall not come to pass this year is President Obama's sweeping tax reforms.

President Obama kept harping on fairness and greater income equality. This was largely rebuffed by Republicans as wealth redistribution. Regardless of the merits of the arguments or counter arguments it points to the fact that the American government is still deeply divided over taxes. Considering that America was largely founded because of not wanting to pay taxes this should hardly be surprising.

Let's face the facts. Nobody likes to pay taxes. When tax season comes around it is generally a depressing time. More so for those who make the most money because they have to pay the most. We aren't talking about percentages here. 10% of of $25,000 is $2500 and a burden to those who make so little. But 10% of $2,500,000 amounts to people having to write a check for $250,000 dollars and regardless of how much you make that hurts to write. We know. We've seen pictures on Flickr.

Given this revelation that we've just dropped on you, we figure we ought to look at what $250,000 dollars could buy if it weren't wasted in paying taxes to a government that will argue over how to spend it to the point that the money will inevitably end up as salary for some bureaucrat somewhere, probably in China. I learned that from Glenn Beck's monumental work entitled Scare Tactics 101.

$250,000 can buy you the steering wheel and gearshift of a Bugatti Veyron.

$250,000 could buy you an experience in which you give out hundred pound notes to the homeless in Manchester with Mario Balotelli. In other Italian news it could buy you twenty minutes at one of Silvio Berlusconi's parties.

$250,000 could buy you 25 or more houses in Detroit, though the property taxes would be prohibitive.

$250,000 could buy you one thousand shares (give or take) of National Bank of Greece. If Europe can satisfactorily avoid a Greek default this investment could make you a millionaire many times over. If not, you could use the shares as wallpaper for your 25 Detroit houses.

$250,000 could be spent in record time by Terrell Owens. It would make your head spin to see him rifle through the cash.

If you and 19 of your friends got together you could bet against Birdman's $5,000,000 bet on the Patriots to win the Superbowl. My gosh that is a gambling problem....

Or, if you are like me, you could purchase 125,000 copies of the Kindle version of the Monadology by your philosopher of note.

It seems as though we must wear the hair shirt tonight....

President Obama invites the huddled masses to tourist attractions

President Obama has garnered the applause of the travel industry today because of a speech he made at Disneyworld. He has launched an initiative in coordination with Brand USA that will focus on creating new jobs at national parks, monuments, historic sites, wildlife preserves and cultural sites all over the United States. Las Vegas was especially happy with the president's speech as the city has faced increasing competition, and dwindling visitors (thus dwindling revenue) from cities like Hong Kong and Macau.

The initiative will focus on Brazilian and Chinese travelers. President Obama made his speech in conjunction with Mulan, the Disney Chinese princess. It was quite verbose and sing-songy in delivery, though not as a excellent of work as President Obama gave in redoing Lady Gaga's "born this way". This boon will hopefully help places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC, perennial hotspots for international travelers. But people in Hammond, Indiana at the John Dillinger Museum, Dillon, South Carolina at the South of The Border place, and folks in Great Falls, Montana are hoping that the international travelers will look to them to see a slice of Americana. Realistically though, not much will come of this other than some grandstanding from Las Vegas convention centers. Maybe the Star Trek and Star Wars geeks will get some international flavor at Comic Con 2012.

A long awaited post on John Boehner

It has been the goal since the inception of Leibnizian Ramblings way back in December of 2011 to highlight the movers and shakers of this world. As America remains a prominent player in that milieu we have focused a lot of time and energy on her. Two of the main players we've focused on have been House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama. However, we have been wrapped up in hipster quarrels and the much more serious Urban Outfitters v. IKEA struggle for the control of the world and have been neglecting a calling we feel from you the reader. We apologize that so we come to you with a bevy of Boehner and an omnibus of Obama in this post.

John Boehner has chimed in on the popular SOPA and PIPA debate that we highlighted early. We are certain that we were the only ones covering the Wikipedia blackout so trust only us and what we write. Everyone else is pirating our investigative journalism and opinion spinning. In a logical and wise move Mr. Boehner has decided that there will be no vote on the piracy acts in the near future given today's push back by the public. This measured approach towards building a consensus seems to show that Mr. Boehner is learning a bit. What has he learned from? Well, how about the sloshing that his and other house Republicans' reputations took when they pushed the fight over payroll taxes? In true political fashion Mr. Boehner apologized without apologizing for that whole fiasco. He said that he and his fellow Republicans had picked the "wrong timing" for the mess. Given a second chance I'm sure he would have done it in sunnier times. People would have been paying less attention as there isn't a whole lot going on towards of the end of December...

But alas, he was not all conciliatory and consensus minded this week. He and the House Republicans have decided to take a vote to deny the debt ceiling to be raised. This however, is political theater because the bill that will undoubtedly pass the House will never be debated in the Senate. With all of the theatrics going on in Washington we are beginning to wonder if they are taking an idea out of Disney's playbook. Remake and redo the same things and create sequel upon sequel based on seven minute rides. It's the same thing over and over again. I'm beginning to understand the depths of the perplexed 1955 Doc when Marty came running back to him at the end of Part II and the Beginning of Part III. Great Scott! You just keep coming back with the same thing!

Lastly, President Obama has, through the State Department, blocked the Keystone XL pipeline. There's a whole lot of spin going on around this issue. The biggest ones coming from Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner. Mr. Boehner used scare tactics like the Bogeyman China and the President is vetoing jobs. Nancy Pelosi said that the Republicans were to blame for the project being axed because they gave the President only 60 days to decide the matter (never mind that this project has been talked about for years and that the 60 days were set to expire February 21). I'm not going to offer opinion about who is wrong and who is right. Besides, my opinion will not sway yours, you've made up your mind already based on previous political positioning. I'm sorry, that was condescending and assumptive of me. You could be Canadian and just annoyed with both sides in making shipping your dirty oil another way.

We here at the Leibnizian Ramblings strive for optimism. When that proves to be impossible we try to serve out the harsh criticism equally. In this case there is plenty of scorn to go around.

President Obama's reelection campaign is out in full force

As the election season continues on with Republican primaries (here is our assessment of the winnowing in Iowa and of the shocking outcome in New Hampshire), their opponent and incumbent President, Mr Obama is beginning to get the engine going. President Obama proved himself an incredible campaigner in 2008 and there is absolutely no reason why he won't be able to capture that same campaign magic again this time around. However, conditions may or may not be the same as in 2008, so whether or not his campaign can prove to be so insurmountable has no bearing on his skill on running a campaign and excelling at it.

According to CBS Chicago a few days ago, President Obama touched down in Chicago, visited with his election campaign staff and went on to a number of fundraisers. The first was a little get-together on the campus of University of Illinois-Chicago where President Obama spoke to 800 upbeat supporters after making his way through a few dozen detractors from the Occupy Chicago movement. At this point I do think it is worth noting that CBS Chicago might gave President Obama a little bit of a pass with their coverage of the protesters. CBS Chicago stated that, "there were also a few dozen unfriendly faces outside the UIC Forum, as Occupy Chicago protesters voiced their displeasure with Obama and the Washington, D.C., status quo." Maybe the protesters are upset with the status quo of Washington, but they were protesting a President Obama rally. They were protesting President Obama and his policies at that moment, not some vague anti-status quo. But, then again, many of the Occupy protesters are made at je ne sais quoi and this might only be something that FOX news or Michele Bachmann would point out.

After his short little speech at UIC, President Obama went to where the big money was at, a dinner on the North Side of town at the house of media mogul, Fred Eychaner. The cost of the dinner was a whopping $35,800 per couple. Obviously, the 99% were not invited. It is unknown whether Occupy Chicago was outside of Mr. Eychaner's house eating their $2.09 Portillo's beef hot dogs. After the dinner President Obama had a soiree at Bear Stearns executive Stuart Taylor's home that was significantly less expensive, ranging from $7500 per person to $20,000 per couple. This invitation was extended to the 1.3%, leaving the remaining 98.7% of us out. You see how arbitrary numbers can be!

Beyond the glitzy dinners and galas at Universities though Mr. Obama has had some celebrity help in promoting his 2012 reelection campaign. MTV reports that Beyoncé has designed a tee shirt to sell for the campaign. That's it right there in the corner. Priced at $45 a pop the 99% can certainly afford it. Other people who have designed tee shirts for President Obama's campaign include Diddy, Russell Simmons, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs and others. Among the others is Rag and Bone, and if their tee shirt sells for only $45 it might be time for fashonistas of all political stripes and creeds to pick one up. Neiman Marcus sells Rag & Bone plain white tee shirts for $80.

In addition to the President having a bevy of designers and celebrities who think they are designers putting together collections for him, President Obama is out their hobnobbing it up with some A-List supercouples like Brad and Angelina. While this visit was meant to highlight Angelina Jolie's work as a humanitarian, it can't hurt his popularity amongst voters.

Throw the full weight behind it Mr President!

In a speech recently President Obama has called for American businesses to bring home jobs from overseas to aid the American public. He has called, not for an end of outsourcing, but rather an end to the tax breaks that companies get for outsourcing jobs. This is a type of protectionism that should not be done. Make the tax code simpler. But, targeting multinationals for being multinational will hurt American business in general and by proxy, the American workers that President Obama is looking to help. However, the Obama administration has pushed through some good ideas on the revitalization of the American job market that the government should continue forward with, regardless of who is at the helm come January 2013.

For years many countries around the world have had national agendas to bring jobs to their countries. It has worked tremendously. For all the talk about ideas whose time has come that the 99% and Occupy movements keep chanting about the idea of Globalization has come and is entrenched now to the point that there is no real utility in arguing against it. But, as other countries have created effective national plans to draw companies to them, the US government has deferred this power to the State level. Monster economies like California, Texas and New York probably have the firepower to compete with emerging markets like Brazil, India and some of the African growth nations. But how does Delaware fare in a battle against Russia for an information software company? If the Russian government can offer its whole commitment to a company, the company would be foolish to take the scant resources that Delaware might be able to offer it. By no means however is this to be skewed as some sort of besmirchment of The Small Wonder, only a realization that the playing field is not level. But, when a federal American government is able to push forth a bid against Russia (and the bids are not judged by Sepp Blatter and his cronies) the fight is fairer.

One thing I would say about this modus operandi. The American federal government must actively pursue the interests of the American people as a whole. Pushing for one state is not the best way forward. The American government should pursue the multinational corporations in a way that makes the most sense. If a company were to need a large place with access to fresh water the American government should not be offering major tax incentives to the company to open a plant in the Mojave Desert. It should work with states to get them the best fit of companies. Then people can move to where the jobs that best suits their talents exist. One of the things that has made America the great nation that it is, is the mobility of its people. Today people look to live in areas where they get the most amenities or entertainment that suits them, rather than searching for the jobs that best suit their talents. Of course this mobility has been made more difficult by the astronomical cost of owning a home, but that is an entirely different topic.

John Boehner offers a comparably light rebuke of President Obama

While congress was recessing President Obama appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board and appointed Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The whole separation of powers thing that Montesquieu wrote about and America subsequently adopted is what has people upset about President Obama's appointees. Most of the time when a president picks someone to do something congress gets to vet that person and ok or disallow the appointment. This way the President doesn't get to install unelected leaders to hang on to their posts after he has left office.

I'm not going to say that President Obama has done some political chicanery here. I'm sure that what will happen is that the Republicans will gather enough fury to make this an issue and then President Obama will go out on the campaign and point this out to Republican obstructionism and win some points. But, the National labor Relations Board is something that deals a lot with unions. Republicans were going to block anyone that President Obama appointed to it, even if it were a janitor, unless of course the janitor was non-unionized. Also, the Dodd-Frank law demands that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have a head. Since congress has been unwilling to approve President Obama's appointee, congress in some sense is acting against the spirit of the law. If you don't like the law, rewrite it. You're congress.

Some of the Republican Presidential candidates have had some strong words about President Obama's usage of congressional recess to appoint the people to their positions.

Ron Paul has called for the president to be taken to task for his "clear disregard of the constitution".

Newt Gingrich calls President Obama an "imperial president" and urges congress to defund the National Labor Relations Board.

Mitt Romney has an even scathier scathing word for President Obama, "President Obama has wasted no time in returning to one of the top items on his agenda: doling out favors to his big labor political allies and giving them a dangerous level of power over businesses and workers". Ouch! Cronyism and corruption. Bam.

On the other hand John Boehner has offered a bland criticism of the president's actions saying, "This action goes beyond the President’s authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate". Obviously the recess was not long enough because Mr. Boehner seems to be exhausted from all the smackdown he has been receiving from House Republicans. Or its possible that the short vacation from those meanies has allowed him to return to a more demure and moderate self. Either way I'd expect some more venom from the mouth of John Boehner in the coming days, even if it is written by his Tea Party puppeteers.