Boehner Gets Honest for One Day

It was remarkable to see House Speaker John Boehner yesterday saying the oil companies might not need their government subsidy. With oil at $112 a barrel and profits consequently growing by leaps and bounds, their $4 billion tax windfall seemed "unwarranted," even to him. He told an ABC News reporter that to help balance the budget the government needs revenue and oil companies, "ought to be paying their fair share." How refreshing.

President Obama quickly seconded the sentiment. Seeking to capitalize on the common ground he saw in the Speaker's statements, Obama sent a letter proposing ending the corporate welfare and using the money instead to develop clean energy sources. OK, so far so good.

But all that was yesterday. Upon reconsideration, today Boehner's office began walking his statements back and "explaining" that he did not really mean what he said. Now they say the President's proposal would, "simply raise taxes and increase the price at the pump." This is the typical hypocritical tap dance Republicans pull when caught in blatant inconsistency. They say they are against wasteful spending-except when it goes to wealthy interests that contribute to them. Someone must have reminded the Speaker who pays the freight for his party. Go ahead and cut education spending for poor kids and doctor visits for seniors; those are wasteful. But don't touch subsidies for profitable multi billion dollar corporations-that's essential spending we can't do without. We all get the picture.

Nixon Library Visit

On Monday I went with my wife and grown daughters to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. It was a fascinating look at a larger than life character who unquestionably helped shape an age. You can go to Library site here. Nixon made real impacts, some negative and some positive. Ultimately, of course, his memory and place in history are tied up with the Greek-tragedy personality flaws, primarily paranoia and hubris, that led to his resignation in disgrace in 1974 to avoid certain impeachment and conviction.

The museum itself is quite attractive, as are the grounds. The entrance is nondescript but part of the overall building resembles the White House. There is a recreation of the Lincoln Bedroom and the large East Room, which seemed bigger than the actual East Room in the White House. Outdoors in the back is the small home in which Nixon was born; it came in a kit by railroad from Indiana and his father assembled it on the site. The landscaping is very attractive and includes a long reflecting pool and fountain that is reminiscent of the one at the Martin Luther King historical site in Atlanta. Among the memorable displays are the Presidential limousine he used and the Presidential helicopter that served the presidents from Kennedy through Ford. Yes, it is the famous craft Nixon rode off the White House lawn after tendering his resignation where he gave those memorable double "V" signs.

Inside you can watch the "Checkers" speech in which Nixon saved his spot on the ticket as Eisenhower's running mate in 1952 and the debate with John F. Kennedy when they ran for President in 1960. There is a huge section on his groundbreaking trips to China and Russia and an interesting room featuring life size likenesses of the 10 greatest world leaders of his time, including such people as Kruschev and Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, Mao Tse-Tung and Chou-En-Lai of China, Winston Churchill of Britain, Charles de Gaulle of France, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Golda Meir of Israel. The collection of gifts from foreign potentates was absolutely stunning. All are considered property on loan from the National Archives.

There was certainly a tendency of the Nixon Foundation displays to place the former President in a positive light. One that stuck out to me was a display that said Nixon took office after campaigning in 1968 promising to "bring us together again" in the face of division over civil rights and Vietnam, and that his landslide re-election victory in 1972 "proved he had done so." I understand the former display on Watergate was somewhat of a whitewash.

Thanks to a new Watergate section at the end of the walk-through, that is no longer the case. The National Archives put it together, and it includes an unvarnished factual treatment of the background and misdoings of Nixon and his associates. It ends playing what amounts to Nixon's own confession in his famous interview with David Frost.

The site continues to be used for important historical and political functions. To inaugurate the new Watergate display, reporter Bob Woodward and editor Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post were on hand to host an evening forum in the replica East Room. They were just arriving in the foyer as we and the rest of the paying tourists were being cleared out of the building at 5:00 P.M. They were formerly considered personae non grata by the Nixon Foundation for their role in bringing Nixon down, but since the forum was being conducted by the National Archives they were invited and were glad to come. As I bought a biographical DVD at the guest shop on the way out, the clerk told me the Nixon Foundation has "important figures" come and explain their take on history at East Room receptions and functions too. Two he mentioned were Ann Coulter and Bill O' Reilly.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Last Friday my wife Joan and I attended the annual Rose Ann Vuich Award Dinner. It's the main local Democratic Party social event and fundraiser, named for California's first woman state senator, a local woman who served from 1977 to 1993. I was surprised and grateful to be awarded the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award for my service to the party. There are many others here who have done much more over a longer period of time than have I. I received the Award from Central Committee Chair Carol Clarke and was greeted by Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, the event's keynote speaker.

We moved to Visalia, county seat of Tulare County, in 1999. The area is heavily Republican and we were unaware of much Democratic activity in the area for quite some time. After a few years, we heard of a group called the Visalia Democratic Club that met monthly at the China Garden Restaurant, and that was my initial introduction in the area.

I have been on the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee since 2008, when I was appointed to fill a vacancy. I was subsequently elected to one of the five Visalia committee seats in the primary election of June, 2010 for a 2-year term. On the Central Committee I have served on the Bylaws, Grievance and Inaugural committees, served as Parliamentarian for the meetings, have emceed some community events, served on panels and have done basic precinct work. I have been a delegate at the Democratic state convention in 2009 and 2010 and will be again in 2011. I am convinced the region will sooner or later return to the Democratic majority it once enjoyed. Tulare County is now more the 50% Hispanic, and Hispanics have been supporting Democrats better then two to one. Their registration and participation proportions are quite low, though. Once they are signed up and gotten to the polls (or vote by mail) in large numbers the local Republican ascendancy will be history. It is our task to hasten that day.

Probably my biggest contribution has been my tenure as faculty advisor of the College of the Sequoias Young Democrats. That group got its impetus from the Obama fervor among young people, forming in fall of 2008 that year. We have taken several students to the California Democratic Convention each year since. This year we have eleven signed up. The students register voters, issue forums, signature and petition drives, walk and call for local candidates and fund raise for worthy causes and to go to the convention. This year, for instance, the Club made a contribution to the Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan. They have even scheduled a debate with the campus Republican club this year. Ten Young Dems served at the dinner, checking in guests, ushering and helping with the silent auction. Current COS Young Democrats President Victoria Chung received an award as Young Democrat of the Year.

It is a pleasure to be involved in a civic cause for the betterment of the community and to help kindle interest among the young in service to others.

A Wedding Day

Joan and I are going to Jaclyn Evans' wedding tomorrow, where she will marry Russell Roben. Jaclyn's grandparents, "Boots" and Leonard Evans, came out to California from back east in that great American internal migration after World War II. They and Joan's parents Joe and Esther made the move together, plunging into the land of dreams by the blue Pacific to build their lives in the setting of the expanding opportunities of the Golden West. My parents too transplanted to sunny California in those same years. So Joan and her sisters were raised alongside the Evans children, not blood relatives but close enough that both sets of kids referred to the other's parents as aunt and uncle. They all grew up and had their own families. It seems like just a couple of years ago at Easter when our Marie and Bill and Sue's Jaclyn were both infants. We put them on a bed together and they rolled their heads toward each other, staring with rapt attention and communicating through a series of googling noises, evoking oohs and aahs from all the parents and grandparents. But it wasn't just the year before last; it was over twenty-five years ago! Is that even possible? Marie's been married a year and now it's Jaclyn's turn. Boots and Leonard have been retired for years, Joe and Esther and my parents are no longer with us and Joan and I are closer to 60 than fifty ourselves. Where could the time have gone? I guess what I'm taking away from this is to savor each moment. Each is precious and irretrievable. As we share in Jaclyn and Russell's big day and celebrate the beginning of their lives together we are also reminded of the speed with with everything changes. We are always in the process of creating new beginnings as the cavalcade of life unfolds before our eyes.