With Nick Clegg as Deputy PM?!
The coalition isn't surprising, but this is a relatively high profile (though cabinet power is yet to be seen) for the marginalized Lib Dems, which means that Cameron probably had some serious competition with Labour over government formation. I want to discuss this more in a follow-up post tomorrow, but for now suffice it to say: congratulations Nick Clegg on winning more than expected. Now, can you make it work? And keep your MPs in line? How about not alienating your center-left electorate? Lib Dems better tread carefully...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Elena Kagan is the new nominee...
...say all the (probably not far-fetched) rumors about a Monday confirmation.
She's Solicitor General of the United States, which means that she represents the government of the United States whenever a case brings the US government to the Supreme Court. She has never been a judge before, is 50 and white, and possibly represents a constituency that has probably not yet had representation on the SC before...
There's serious question as to whether or not she is gay; Republicans would be delighted if she was, but either way there's no indication that she actually is, besides Republican-reported rumors of a lesbian lover and closeted homosexuality. Wouldn't it be cool if she was, though? And came out right after she was confirmed? Zing!
...that was a joke.
But who really cares what her sexual preference is; she's a champion of gay rights issues, and is another reasonably liberal (but not fanatical) choice for the Obama administration. She's a woman, sure to bring a little more balance to the court, and will be a reliable progressive for years to come (she's solidly young).
With the political climate as it is though, it's quite possible that she'll run into a lot of problems becoming nominated. More dirt-slinging is very likely, and more allegations of homosexuality are almost certain. She doesn't have the "come up from the dirt" story that Sotomayor had, and it's unclear if Republicans will try to use her lack of judging experience against her. If she can keep a mild-mannered low profile like Sotomayor did, and let the White House sell her, she'll be fine, but who knows yet how spunky she's liable to be.
One thing's for sure though. Obama better hurry. He's only got about 6 months left to push through 3 serious legislation pieces (financial reform, immigration reform, climate reform) and get Kagan nominated. If Republicans can stall till November, they'll have (at minimum) +4 seats (-4 for dems) and maybe more, leaving Obama in a necessary conciliatory position toward the most powerful of US legislative bodies.
Push, push, push, Obama, and great call on Kagan. Very nice choice. Now let's wait and see what happens.
Republicans; your move.
She's Solicitor General of the United States, which means that she represents the government of the United States whenever a case brings the US government to the Supreme Court. She has never been a judge before, is 50 and white, and possibly represents a constituency that has probably not yet had representation on the SC before...
There's serious question as to whether or not she is gay; Republicans would be delighted if she was, but either way there's no indication that she actually is, besides Republican-reported rumors of a lesbian lover and closeted homosexuality. Wouldn't it be cool if she was, though? And came out right after she was confirmed? Zing!
...that was a joke.
But who really cares what her sexual preference is; she's a champion of gay rights issues, and is another reasonably liberal (but not fanatical) choice for the Obama administration. She's a woman, sure to bring a little more balance to the court, and will be a reliable progressive for years to come (she's solidly young).
With the political climate as it is though, it's quite possible that she'll run into a lot of problems becoming nominated. More dirt-slinging is very likely, and more allegations of homosexuality are almost certain. She doesn't have the "come up from the dirt" story that Sotomayor had, and it's unclear if Republicans will try to use her lack of judging experience against her. If she can keep a mild-mannered low profile like Sotomayor did, and let the White House sell her, she'll be fine, but who knows yet how spunky she's liable to be.
One thing's for sure though. Obama better hurry. He's only got about 6 months left to push through 3 serious legislation pieces (financial reform, immigration reform, climate reform) and get Kagan nominated. If Republicans can stall till November, they'll have (at minimum) +4 seats (-4 for dems) and maybe more, leaving Obama in a necessary conciliatory position toward the most powerful of US legislative bodies.
Push, push, push, Obama, and great call on Kagan. Very nice choice. Now let's wait and see what happens.
Republicans; your move.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
In the UK
For those of us who are political junkies, we've been following UK politics for the last several weeks or so, and now that polls have closed for the last hour or so it's time to talk about the situation.
In Britain they do elections a little differently than in the US. The election that just took place today will elect Britain's House of Commons which is kinda like the US HOR, and kinda like the US Senate, in that this legislative body is the only directly elected body and that it has significant powers to legislate. From the election results, whichever party has a majority of the seats in the HOC has had received the nod from the Queen of England to "form a government" which essentially means that that party gains the Prime Ministership and from there gains significant powers in controlling what legislation comes before the body. For the last several decades one party has successfully won the majority of seats.
Generally speaking, the Labour Party has represented the left-wing politics in Britain for the last several decades, and the Conservative Party has represented the right-wing side of the aisle. For the last 13 years, beginning with an Obama-like sweep in 1997 and PM Tony Blair (you know him as "that douche" who helped Bush invade Iraq, but in reality he's quite progressive on other issues)Labour has decisively controlled the government. But hampered by uninteresting leadership and multiple scandals, Labour has been expected to be overtaken by the Conservatives in this last election.
But in this election, perpetual third party Liberal Democrats who have always underperformed the other major parties, now led by Nick Clegg, are expected (depending on who you ask) to make large gains in the HOC. The Lib Dems are hard to classify politically; they're populist, generally anti-foreign-state-building, centrist or left leaning economically, and socially very progressive- probably some kind of left-libertarian philosophy. But mostly they are running on a platform of election reform which would allow the British people to have more power in their electoral process and possibly to allow more proportional representation in parliament based on vote. As it stands, no party is expected to receive more than 40% of the vote, (a fact that has been true for decades) and yet because of the British electoral process that favors the incumbent, Labour, and now Conservatives have been able to gain a disproportionate number of seats. Thus far, despite having 20-25% of the national vote, the Lib Dems have been shut out of the system almost entirely.
But maybe not this time. I'll keep things updated as poll results come out.
6:30pm update--
I can't believe to hear it, but UK law states that no ballot can be given out after 10pm (British Summer time) no matter what, according to the BBC, or perhaps (also according to the BBC) that the polling station doors must be locked after 10pm. The turnout looks to have been very large and significant (maybe in the thousands) numbers of people have waited for hours to vote only to be turned away. Police have even been called out to disperse crowds clamoring to vote in some areas. This will open up some areas to legal challenge; giving people like me even more to blather on about for weeks to come.
In Britain they do elections a little differently than in the US. The election that just took place today will elect Britain's House of Commons which is kinda like the US HOR, and kinda like the US Senate, in that this legislative body is the only directly elected body and that it has significant powers to legislate. From the election results, whichever party has a majority of the seats in the HOC has had received the nod from the Queen of England to "form a government" which essentially means that that party gains the Prime Ministership and from there gains significant powers in controlling what legislation comes before the body. For the last several decades one party has successfully won the majority of seats.
Generally speaking, the Labour Party has represented the left-wing politics in Britain for the last several decades, and the Conservative Party has represented the right-wing side of the aisle. For the last 13 years, beginning with an Obama-like sweep in 1997 and PM Tony Blair (you know him as "that douche" who helped Bush invade Iraq, but in reality he's quite progressive on other issues)Labour has decisively controlled the government. But hampered by uninteresting leadership and multiple scandals, Labour has been expected to be overtaken by the Conservatives in this last election.
But in this election, perpetual third party Liberal Democrats who have always underperformed the other major parties, now led by Nick Clegg, are expected (depending on who you ask) to make large gains in the HOC. The Lib Dems are hard to classify politically; they're populist, generally anti-foreign-state-building, centrist or left leaning economically, and socially very progressive- probably some kind of left-libertarian philosophy. But mostly they are running on a platform of election reform which would allow the British people to have more power in their electoral process and possibly to allow more proportional representation in parliament based on vote. As it stands, no party is expected to receive more than 40% of the vote, (a fact that has been true for decades) and yet because of the British electoral process that favors the incumbent, Labour, and now Conservatives have been able to gain a disproportionate number of seats. Thus far, despite having 20-25% of the national vote, the Lib Dems have been shut out of the system almost entirely.
But maybe not this time. I'll keep things updated as poll results come out.
6:30pm update--
I can't believe to hear it, but UK law states that no ballot can be given out after 10pm (British Summer time) no matter what, according to the BBC, or perhaps (also according to the BBC) that the polling station doors must be locked after 10pm. The turnout looks to have been very large and significant (maybe in the thousands) numbers of people have waited for hours to vote only to be turned away. Police have even been called out to disperse crowds clamoring to vote in some areas. This will open up some areas to legal challenge; giving people like me even more to blather on about for weeks to come.
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