Sunday, January 20, 2013

A New and Quieter Tone on the Sunday Talk Shows One Day before Inauguration Day


Sunday, January 20th, 2013


My Dear America:

It is Sunday, One day before Martin Luther King Day and also One day before the Re Inauguration of President Barack Obama.  

On the Sunday News/Talk Shows there was a noticeably quieter and less confrontational tone than is normally the case.  Certainly part of the reason for this quieter tone was that many of the normally combative commentators were not sitting at this Sunday's News/Talk Roundtables.  Noticeably absent were people like Newt Gingrich, as well as both Democratic and Republican Party Constituent Stokers.

Rick Santorum was on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolis but from what I could gather, even he seemed to be a bit more controlled as is normally the case.  

On The Bill Moyer's Show Larry Cohen of the Communication Workers of
America showed Bill a preview of a CWA sponsored Television Ad which advocates for a changing of Congressional Rules in the Senate that has made it extremely easy to "Filibuster."  In the old days Filibustering meant that a Senator who wished to tie up or stand in the way of a bill that they didn't want to pass stood up in the Senate and talked and talked and talked to keep  the Senate from voting on the bill one way or another.  

Today, Larry Cohen pointed out, a Senator just needs to make a phone call and doesn't even need to be identified when he or she Filibusters and ties up a bill for as long as they like.  Cohen pointed out that this painless (at least to the Filibustering Senator) process ends up tying up legislation, including approvals of Judicial Appointments, Administration Department Heads and Cabinet Officials and has lead to a Congress that has been one of the most dysfuntional, uncompromising and unaccomplished Congessional bodies in the history of The United States.

Following Larry Cohen on The Bill Moyers Show was Martin Espada, a Veteran Legal Services Lawyer and a Poet who read a very powerful poem which he wrote after visiting Fredrick Douglass's grave in Rochester, New York 3 days after the election of President Obama in 2008.  It was a very powerful and deeply moving poem which expressed the pride Mr. Espada felt following the Election of the First Black President of the United States of America.  

Considering the history of Slavery in the United States it is even more astounding to think of the fact that the United States has progressed so far that it has come from a Society in which Slavery was not only tolerated but was, in many respects, a building block on which this Country was founded, to become a Country which, not only elected a Black Man President one time, but also Re Elected this Extraordinary Man to a Second Presidential Term.

I think the President, under extraordinary conditions, has done an exceptional job in keeping the American Ship of State on track and going in a positive direction.  I, like most Americans, look forward to four more years of exceptional Leadership by President Obama in the long run and also look forward to a Great Speech by the President and some Fine Re Inauguration Festivities tomorrow as we Celebrate with the President as he prepares to give us Four More Years of Dynamic and Outstanding Leadership.



Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

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