Obama's Cure for America? Only Time Will Tell

What a political week it was. In just the span of a few days, Americans watched as President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time; defended his $787-billion stimulus plan; and presented his massive $3.6-trillion budget. Oh, and we also witnessed the cartoon-character-like implosion of once-rising GOP star Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana.

Let's start with the fun stuff and Jindal, who gave the requisite Republican response to Obama's speech to lawmakers. In a performance that could've been mistaken for a guest spot on Sesame Street, the Governor's delivery was jarringly over-animated. He came off kooky and sounded like he was explaining the birds and the bees to a bunch of 1st graders. Sorry, but after this on-air trainwreck, the only way Jindal's gonna ever occupy the White House is if he and Dennis Kucinich stage a coup.

What Republicans are up in arms over is the unprecedented spending plan Obama's presented to lift the country out of its economic woes. Now this may come as a shock to our friends on the right, but America's in the middle of the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression. It's a perfect-storm: consumers aren't spending, banks aren't lending, and the Fed's standard monetary policy fixes have failed. What's required is a swift and aggressive shift in the government's fiscal policy, the road on which Obama's daringly embarked. What we're dealing with here is not some run-of-the-mill recession nor, as some conservative talking heads like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh would like us to believe, is it a creation of Democrats' imagination. Our economy is in crisis. Dire straights. We need to stop the hemorrhaging and begin a recovery soon or the economy will sink into an abyss so deep and not seen in 80 years.

In his radio address to the nation Saturday, Obama reminded voters of one major fact: "I didn’t come here to do the same thing we’ve been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November."

And that's precisely what the president's doing with both his stimulus bill and the budget. He's operating in full-blown Keynesian mode, using the power and resources of the federal government to stimulate the economy, increase demand for goods and services, reduce unemployment and avoid deflation. Republicans almost uniformly disagree with this strategy, but they've had the better part of the last 22 years to experiment with Reagan/Bush/Bush's supply-side/trickle-down policies. Judging from the current state of the economy, simply giving tax breaks to the rich because they're the engine that supposedly drives the economy is a misguided, unproven and self-serving strategy.

George Bush took eight years to wreak havoc on the nation's economy. Americans, especially Obama's harshest critics on the right, would be best served if he were given more than just his first month in office before the 'nattering nabobs of negativism' claim his failure. He's simply doing what he was elected to do and what he said he would do. Will it work? Who knows. To be sure, he is banking his presidency and therefore his legacy on it. But if history has taught us anything, it's that America's greatest presidents have been true visionaries. Neither Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln or FDR played it safe or by the book. In due time we'll know whether Obama's big-government solution will put him in such excellent company.

Ostroy on FoxNews' "Strategy Room" Monday March 2nd

Had a good time over at FoxNews last week. Was a lively, spirited roundtable discussion on Obama, Iraq, health care, the budget and more. I'm headed back into the "Strategy Room" studio tomorrow... Monday March 2nd.... for the 1-2PM EST hour. The program is available live at www.foxnews.com/strategyroom. I hope you'll tune in....

Ostroy on Thursday Morning's "Strategy Room" on FoxNews.com

Please tune in Thursday morning, Feb. 26th, as I'm scheduled to appear for the 10-11am hour of FoxNews.com's "Strategy Room."

I'll be representing the rational voice from the Left in what is sure to be a very lively, spirited roundtable on the hot political topics of the day. You can stream it live at www.foxnews.com/strategyroom. Stop by and check it out....

The Party of "No"

In response to President Obama's agenda for the country, Republicans have borrowed former First Lady Nancy Reagan's mantra from her 1980's anti-drug campaign: Just Say No! Get used to it. This is the strategy the GOP's gonna employ for the next four years as it attempts to bring Obama down and win back the House and Senate. And what a boneheaded strategy it is.

We recently saw the Senate pass the president's $787-billion economic stimulus bill with just three GOP moderates--Maine's Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter--breaking ranks to vote for it. The measure previously passed in the House with 177 Republicans marching in lockstep to vote against it. Not one single vote from the right. Smells a little fishy, right? After former President Bush and Republicans gave Wall Street and the banking industry $2-trillion last Fall in bailouts and guarantees, don't tell me the January 29th vote on the Hill was anything more than pure partisan politics at its worst.

Make no mistake: Republicans are pissed off. They got trounced in November, and their response has been to act like spoiled, petulant, whiny 4-year-olds. The geniuses in the Party have decided that the road back to power is paved with defiant, unified opposition. That's a very calculated strategy that's going to backfire big-time.

Americans mandated change when they elected Obama president and gave Democrats greater majorities in both houses of Congress. Obama currently enjoys a 68% approval rating, higher than when he was campaigning for the job. And Democrats hold a 12-point approval lead over their colleagues across the aisle. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll out Tuesday morning shows 74% of Americans believe Obama is "trying to work with Republicans to get things done" while 59% said no to the question "Are Republicans trying to compromise with Obama." After eight miserably polarizing years under Bush, Obama's attempting to bring a new bi-partisan civility and tone to Washington, and Americans clearly recognize and support that. But he's wasting his time. For Pete's sake, his former rival Sen. John McCain on Monday challenged him over his use of a helicopter! Can it get any more trivial and petty than that? In that one little 'copter comment from McNasty we got to see just what these guys are all about.

With regard to the stimulus bill, wouldn't it have been more politically prudent for Republicans to rally around the president in a show of unity as they together attempt to lift the American economy out of its current abyss? Wouldn't it have been better to show voters they're part of the solution, while at the same time denouncing parts of the bill but promising Americans to "keep Obama and the Democrats in check" as the watchdog party these next few years? I'd call that a win-win for the GOP. But that's not what Republicans have up their crisp white sleeves. What they want is to giddily roll into the 2010 midterm elections with a smug "I told ya so" campaign theme. To be able to proudly declare, "we didn't vote for this bill." There is the right's unwavering hope that Obama and the Democrats fail in its efforts to jumpstart the economy. They see that as their ticket back to victory.

But what Republicans fail to grasp is that Obama's plan must succeed. It has to succeed. It simply cannot fail, period. Because if it does, and we're still racked by this financial crisis in 2010, we're all gonna be bankrupt and on breadlines...and that includes House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Opposer-in-Chief John McCrusty himself. If these GOP clowns believe that America can withstand another 20 months of recession, credit freezes, layoffs and stock market declines, it's truly delusional and drunk on it's own Kool-aid. Poison Kool-aid. The kind that kills political parties for good...

Guess What? Cheney's Still a Dick!

It was an eerie foreshadowing of things to come perhaps. Former vice president Dick Cheney, at President Barack Obama's inauguration, looking an awful lot like a cross between the Grim Reaper and Mr. Potter, the sinister banker from the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life."

Well, he hasn't disappointed. The world's most infamous dick proved yet again that he never tires of scaring the bajesus out of Americans. The human Orange-Alert gravely warned that because of Obama's policies there's a "high probability" that the United States faces "a 9/11-type event where the terrorists are armed with something much more dangerous than an airline ticket and a box cutter – a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind" targeting a major city. Boo!

Cheney warned that the proposed closing of the Guantanamo prison, along with greater restrictions and limitations on interrogation tactics, puts the nation at severe risk of terrorist attack: "The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes."

It seems Darth Vader believes the Obama team's simply gonna sit arm-in-arm with our enemies and sing Kumbaya while America's targeted for a horrific attack: "When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry."

Let it be known for the record that the biggest terror attack in U.S. history occurred on Cheney and Bush's watch, and that acts of terrorism around the world increased significantly while those two fear mongers were at the controls. Lastly, that seven years passed since the 9-11 attacks is not necessarily something Americans should rest assured by. Keep in mind it was eight years between the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Maybe it's still a bit too early for Cheney's self-aggrandizing.

Cheney defended the harsh tactics he and his former boss employed in the war on terror. Protecting America is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business," Cheney asserted. "These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek."

And he ought to know. He's the toughest, meanest, dirtiest, nastiest most evil person to ever hit Washington.

Why Obama Must Drop Daschle

President Barack Obama wants former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. There's just one snag: Daschle hadn't disclosed that he failed to pay $128,000 in taxes on the car and driver provided for him by Alston & Bird, the D.C. law and lobbying firm where he served as Special Public Policy Advisor to various health-care clients since 2005.

Then there's Tim Geithner, Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary, who is a former executive (2001-2003) of the International Monetary Fund, where he failed to pay $15,000 in Social Security taxes; taxes he was responsible for paying the government directly, since the IMF did not withhold them from his paychecks. He recently paid the tax plus almost $2000 in interest, but no penalties.

And in an effort to cleanse Washington from its diseased influence from special interests--rampant under the Bush administration--Obama announced strict new rules limiting lobbyist activity, promising that "no political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." The only problem was that just 24 hours later he appointed William Lynn III, a former lobbyist for U.S. defense contractor, Raytheon, to be a Deputy Secretary of Defense.

With these questionable appointments, the prevailing White House justification has been that each candidate is "uniquely qualified" for the job. But is that really good enough? Is that what Obama meant when he promised America that he was bringing a new moral and ethical standard to Washington in the post-Bush era? Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his fist month in office; a message that it's ok to break or skirt the law just as long as you're a good guy with a special skill-set? Or that it's ok, as in the case with Lynn, to bend your own rules when it suits you?


The answer, of course, is no. Obama has an opportunity with Daschle to get his mission back on course, and to to deliver on his promise to hold his staff to higher standards. He should lead by example, and that means withdrawing the former Senate Majority/Minority Leader's nomination immediately before the soup gets too thick and he gives Republicans too much ammo in their opposition role.

Let's face it, there's plenty of folks who can fill Daschle's post. He's an extraneous piece of the Obama puzzle. He's simply not worth the fight; not worth the potential damage to Obama's reputation. Unlike Geithner, who's former role as head of the New York Fed makes him supremely qualified to help steer the nation through this deep economic and banking crisis, Daschle is expendable. Now don't get me wrong: I'm not justifying Geithner's appointment because he is "uniquely qualified.". The point is, if Obama wants to score points with voters and immediately shift the PR momentum, he can do so and still end up with the guy he really needs by casting off the one he doesn't. It's a smart political move.

The Right Wing Media Has Not Learned its Lesson from Nov 4th

In the election of 2008, Senate and House Democrats virtually swept their Republican opponents and appreciably increased their majorities, while Barack Obama won the presidency on his message of hope and change. The takeaway? Voters were fed up with the status quo; tired of partisan politics and all the nastiness and inertia that crippled Washington. But did Republicans get the message? If listening to conservative radio is any indication, the right has completely missed the wake-up call.

The crop of right-wing talking heads is quite a shameful bunch. Remarkably, after their precious party got its ass kicked on November 4th, they're engaging more than ever in the same rude, divisive smear tactics that brought them down just three months ago. They act like a bunch of sore-losing spoiled brats who only seem able to express themselves through derisive name-calling and ad hominem attacks. They cloak themselves in God and country yet are so sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, intolerant and polarizing that it would make Jesus' and the Founding Fathers' heads spin.

These hate-mongers are also delusional, as if they've been living in a bubble for the past eight years. They still cling to the standard GOP rhetoric about how giving tax breaks to the wealthy--"those who create the jobs," as Sirius's Andrew Wilkow insists--will save the economy despite the fact that this strategy has so clearly not worked. They claim, as does Fox's John Gibson, that "Bush won the war," and call anyone who disagrees with them "morons." They ridicule the climate change movement because we've recently had sub-zero temperatures, as if global warming is supposed to mean an end to Winter. They claim that America has shifted further to the right, despite every election and polling statistic proving otherwise. They suffer from classic projection, claiming, as does WABC's Mark Levin, that "libs are hate-mongers and propagandists...who reject evidence and reason." Sounds more like Republicans he's describing, doesn't it?

What it all boils down to is that their message of cynicism and hate has been soundly rejected by voters. They're like the angry, resentful high-school nerds who didn't get invited to the cool party. So they bash and trash. Makes them feel better. But it only serves to keep them further on the outside looking in. And it's killing them.

So who are these evil-doers of the airwaves? There's Mike Church, the self-proclaimed "King Dude," whatever the heck that means. A more appropriate moniker would be "King Whiner." This guy is one of the nastiest, mean-spirited, bigoted and ignorant spinheads there is. He calls Democrats "commie lib bastards" and regularly spews a littany of derogatory pet names for those he so clearly despises: "Nazi" Pelosi, "Wrong" Emmanual, Diane "FrankenFeinstein," Katie "Whoric," Claire MamaCaskill" and "Franklin DelanObama." Of our new president, Church "wishes that Obama becomes an absolute undeterred miserable failure." Nice. Church is a pathetic Rush Limbaugh-wannabe who sounds as if he spends half his days obsessively studying his obnoxious blowhard hero's speaking style and mannerisms.

Then there's Wilkow, the Sean Hannity-wannabe who, like Church, has thankfully had his partisan blathering limited to Sirius Satellite, radio's equivalent of Siberia. Wilkow is such an angry, resentful guy that he has no idea how embarrassing he comes off when he bashes talk show hosts with national fame and major network programs. He claims to be above the fray and repeatedly promises not to engage in "snark and sarcasm" but then seconds later trashes people like Jon Stewart and Rachel "Meaty-Fingers" Maddow. Pretty safe to assume he disparages them so often because he is incredibly jealous of their mainstream accomplishments. I cringe for him when he rants about all the "network opportunities" he's been offered but has turned down. Yeah, why host the Oscars or have a nightly program on MSNBC when you can do the morning show on Sirius?

Wilkow also shamelessly crucifies the Obamas, declaring that Michelle looks like transvestite entertainer RuPaul and that "it's just a matter of time before Barack Obama cheats on his wife with one of those P.O.A. (piece of ass) interns" running around the White House. He has a general disdain for "intellectuals," and defines them as "someone who sips fancy wine with his pinky out." That's a pretty narrow view of people who have depth of knowledge and intellectual curiosity. I recently emailed Wilkow to ponder how awful his childhood must've been for him to harbor such hostile, narrow-minded, racist views of anything or anyone with a brain.

Next on the list is Mark Levin, who screams and yells like a shrill schoolmarm. If ever there's a radio host who seriously needs a sedative it's Levin. Obama's officially been in office four days and Levin's already deemed him "a failure." Nothing like giving our new president a chance.

On Friday's program a listener challenged Levin to explain how the country's still tilted to the right despite the electoral college and popular vote results and increased House and Senate majorities for Democrats. Like a cornered rat with his back to the wall, Levin unleashed a vicious diatribe against liberals about how they hate their country, love taxes, are faithless and support terrorism. Hey Mark, we're sorry we let our facts get in the way of your outrageously small opinions. Levin also has a thing for Maddow, referring to her as Rachel "Madcow." He calls our new Secretary of State "Hillary Rotten Clinton, AKA Her Royal Thighness." What are we, in the eight grade here? And in an act of supreme hypocrisy, he ends each program--after vilifying everyone on the left--by playing ten minutes of "America the Beautiful" and other patriotic songs. Sorry Mark, the music doesn't make the man. You're a horribly mean-spirited myopic little bully who's about as truly patriotic as Timothy McVeigh. The bombs you drop are just not as lethal, but you have the same hatred for the establishment and for anyone who disagrees with your ignorant, bigoted views.

Stepping up a bit in recognition are Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Is there really anything left to say about the oxy-contin-addicted Limbaugh that hasn't already been said? Wait, I got it: he played the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro" on his show last year. The old bloviator even topped himself with that one.

Hannity's drive-time syndicated radio show and nightly television program make him and Limbaugh the grand-poobahs of conservative hate-speak. He and his listeners nauseatingly greet each other with "You're a great American" but together they'd strip liberals of their rights and freedoms and send them all off to Gitmo if they could...all while Hannity's theme song, "Let Freedom Ring," played in the background. Nothing like denigrating your fellow Americans while cozily draped in the flag.

Hannity also bizarrely still drinks the Bush kool-aid: "George Bush was principled and history will prove him to be a great president...at least he didn't sell his soul." No, but he sold ours.

Despite his outsider approach, it's the in-crowd that Hannity clearly craves. He was genuinely upset recently when he learned, on-air, that Obama held a luncheon for America's leading conservatives at the home of George F. Will. In attendance were the pillars of the right-wing's Fourth Estate, including David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, Lawrence Kudlow, Rich Lowry, Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan. Hannity was extremely offended over not having been invited. But what does he expect with his penchant for partisan hectoring and incendiary rhetoric. Hannity belonged at that table as much as Perez Hilton. With his ego terribly bruised, he accused Obama of "targeting wishy-washy conservatives." But oh how he wishes he were one of them.

What Hannity doesn't get is that it's a new day in Washington. In American politics. Obama's lunch mates, whatever their viewpoints, comprise the Republican intelligentsia; they're creative, curious thinkers who make Hannity look like the debate team's waterboy. They're the kind of people Obama's wisely enlisting in his quest to bridge the partisan gap, help spread his message, and help him ultimately get things done. Hannity, like Limbaugh, Levin, Wilkow, Gibson, Church etc, offer nothing constructive. Nothing productive. They're yesterday, and as their hardline conservative bases get smaller and smaller, so too shall their voices become more and more obsolete.

And that's the whole point. The gathering at Will's house was another "cool kid" party that Hannity and his angry, polarizing cohorts weren't invited to. They should get used to it because, in this new Obama spirit of bi-partisanship, where hope and change rule the day, there's gonna be plenty more parties like this where their polarizing little cold, wet noses will be pressed up against the window.

There is at least one redeeming value to all these right-wing rebel-rousers: they've given me a newfound appreciation for Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who by comparison actually does sound--and I can't believe I'm saying this--fair and balanced. Wow, there is hope for us all yet....

It's Official in NY: Sen. Gillibrand It Is

As we predicted here Wednesday, New York's Gov. David Paterson will appoint upstate Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate. Paterson will make the announcement at a press conference Friday at noon in Albany.

Gillibrand, 46, represents the state's 20th Congressional District, which serves all or part of Columbia, Dutchess, Delaware, Essex, Greene, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties. Much speculation circled around Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but the Governor went with the relatively unknown Gillibrand, who's proven she can be an aggressive campaigner who can defeat Republicans on their own turf, skills which the Democratic Party will be expecting when she runs for re-election in 2010. It's no small feat that she was the first Democrat in 28 years to be elected in her district. Other candidates included Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, teachers' union president Randi Weingarten and Congressmen Steve Israel.

Gillibrand, who was elected in 2006 in a stunning upset against 4-term incumbent Rep. John E. Sweeney, currently serves on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees. She opposes gun control, social security privatization, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the government's bank bailout (TARP), and a measure that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer introduced to give drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. She supports extending tax cuts for the middle class, stem cell research, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, and the 2008 Farm Bill.

There's been some chatter about Gillibrand's stand on gay marriage, but Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Cappelle fully supports her selection as NY's junior Senator: "After talking to Kirsten Gillibrand, I am very happy to say that New York is poised to have its first U.S. Senator who supports marriage equality for same-sex couples."

Gillibrand is a smart, effective and passionate Democrat; a woman who will give honor to and build on the accomplishments and legacy of her successful predecessor.

Caroline Kennedy to Withdraw from NY Senate Run. Will Gillibrand Now Get the Nod?

The NY Times reported Wednesday evening that Caroline Kennedy will remove herself from consideration for the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, who is about to be confirmed Secretary of State in the new administration of President Barack Obama. Kennedy is reported to have cited her uncle Ted Kennedy's health problems as her primary reason for exiting the process. Analysts are speculating that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will soon be named by Gov. David Paterson to replace Clinton.

Cuomo's a likely candidate for sure, but my money's on Kirsten Gillibrand, the 46-year-old two-term representative of the state's 20th Congressional District, which serves all or part of upstate's Columbia, Dutchess, Delaware, Essex, Greene, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties. She's a formidable politician and aggressive campaigner. She was the first Democrat in 28 years to beat a Republican in the district. And she's the first woman to win the seat. She's clearly demonstrated an ability to win. Running for re-election in 2010, she'd almost certainly carry the five boroughs, Long Island and her native Upstate. This surely makes her a very attractive candidate for Paterson and the Democratic Party.

And besides, we plugged her and she was a great guest back in 2006 on The Ostroy/DeLaite Show on Manhattan's Time-Warner Cable, so we're pulling for her.

Stay tuned....

I Want to Be Black!

I want to be black. There. I've said it. After 49 years of relatively uneventful yet loyal Caucasianhood, I'm ready to trade in my membership card in this increasingly obsolete club. I mean, is there anything duller than being white right now? Now black....that's the new white!

Think about it. In today's America, Blacks dominate sports, and black culture rules in movies, television, music and fashion. And now, with our newly sworn-in President Barack Obama, blacks own the White House too and have become the welcome new face of politics. As a white kid growing up in NY's outer borough of Queens amid the racial turmoil of the sixties and seventies, I never thought I'd live to witness this incredible day; this awe-inspiring, historic new era in our nation's great evolution. And I'm damned jealous. Seems like black folks are having all the fun! I want to be black! Being white these days feels about as relevant as being at a Sunday night bingo session at a rural Elks Lodge. I want to be in the fun club!

In all seriousness, blacks truly deserve this exciting moment in the sun, for they have been crapped on in this country for hundreds of years. My God, how far we've come. Just 50 years ago blacks we're hung from trees, beaten in the streets, and denied access to "white" restaurants, bathrooms and other public establishments. Jump to 2009 and we have a 46-year-old black man named Barack Hussein Obama elected president while iconic symbols of black culture past and present--Beyonce, Usher, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin to name a few--perform for our new leader on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The same steps where, 46 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during a most violent and tumultuous time in America's history, delivered his plaintive plea for racial equality and unity in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

As I watched the inaugural festivities Tuesday I couldn't help notice the faces of older blacks--some crying--and wondered just how incredible this day must be for them. I noticed the young black Secret Service agent smiling proudly--uncharacteristic of the typically emotionless presidential protectors-- as Obama winked as he walked passed him on the Capital steps as he shook hands after his swearing-in. I noticed all the children, and thought how wonderful that they get to grow up in a new America, one where they will be largely free of the racial stereotypes and limitations that generations before them so painfully endured.

Yes, on this joyous, emotional and historic day and on those to come, I want to be black. I feel black. Today we are all black. And I'm very proud of our great nation in its pivotal moment in history. Once again, as it has so many times in the past, America has demonstrated its true greatness. Better days are ahead...

Need We Say More.....

Madoff and "Sully" Sullenberger: Paradoxical Symbols of the Past and the Future

It's being called The Miracle on the Hudson. A commercial jet with 155 passengers lands in the middle of the Hudson River after allegedly hitting a flock of geese, sucking them into and destroying both engines. Incredibly, the plane remains intact, everyone aboard survives, and its heroic captain, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, is hailed for his selflessness, and for being the most calm, cool and collected dude since Sean Connery's James Bond.

But the events that transpired in the frigid waters off Manhattan last week transcend more than just a near-tragedy. They've come to represent the greater paradoxical symbolism of disgraced financial Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff and our wretched past, with that of the new American Idol Sullenberger, and the brighter future that lies ahead. The fairy-tale saga of US Airways Flight 1549 is about how one crisis-plagued year ended an era of unprecedented selfishness, corruption and greed, with President Bush and Madoff leading the way, while a new year and a new dawn begins with change, hope and heroism, ushered in by Sully and President-elect Barack Obama. Call it fate, kismet, or any other New Age-y tag you prefer, but there's some sort of higher power at work here. And Sully's not just a courageous pilot who brilliantly saved his passengers' lives. He's the new poster-child for everything that's good about America. About what America stands for. And what our great nation can be when led by men and women of honor, integrity and valor. Yes, America is about the Sully's, not the Madoff's.

Since 2001 when Bush & Company took control of America's political system, the nation's been plagued by a debilitating disease. A crisis of confidence both at home and abroad. The U.S., under the Busheviks, became morally, ethically, politically and financially bankrupt. And in what seemed like a most fitting end to this miserable chapter in our history, Madoff bid us adieu with his unfathomable $50-billion Wall Street crime of the century.

And then along came Sully, who biblically glided onto the Hudson like a religious superhero who's charges seemingly walked on water as they defied death. Who will ever forget the imagery of that comatose plane floating so peacefully on the fatefully tranquil Hudson while its freezing, frightened passengers stood on its outstretched arms-like wings as they awaited their rescue. To be sure, this was so much more than just a heroic pilot and a disabled jet avoiding disaster. The whole miraculous episode serves as a metaphor for the hope and change we'll be celebrating Monday on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, and the dream he had for America, as well as the historic Obama inauguration the following day, and the long-overdue realization of King's dream that his ascent to the presidency symbolizes.

NY Post Demands Death to NY Geese

The NY Post on Saturday called for the extermination of New York's geese population as an airline safety precaution in the wake of Thursday's ditched US Airways miracle jet in the Hudson River. In an article with a blaring headline "Hey, Geese, Get the Flock Out," the conservative newspaper blamed the near-tragedy on what it called a "double-goose hit," and irresponsibly challenged officials to "Round them up and get rid of them! Or even kill them if you like....Kill the geese before they down another NY jet."

As expected, New York-area geese expressed outrage, and are calling for the immediate resignation of editor-in-chief Col Allan and Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

"This is a highly offensive overreaction to the extremist behavior of a few radical geese believed to be affiliated with the terrorist organization FPMB (Fowl Play Martyrs Brigade), whose bird-strike suicide missions seek to bring down jets," said Anser Shelduck, spokesman for VAGINYA (Violence Against Geese in New York Area). "The majority of NY's geese are decent, law-abiding fowl. They have a general respect for anything that flies and make a point of staying out of airplane flight paths. Calling for the wholesale extermination of an entire species, as the Post has done, is reprehensible and, well, really sucky."

Negative reaction to the Post's inflammatory piece was loudly heard across America, and has attracted the attention of several celebrity activists.

"I'm not exactly sure why, but I've always loved those birds," said actor Ryan Gosling. "I feel a special kinship with them. Shame on the Post."

"This is horrible," said NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

"I hope the ASPCA's all over this," said former NY Yankees reliever Goose Gossage.

The Post's Allan and Murdoch declined comment.

Bush Urges GOP to be Inclusive. Texan Please.

So after eight years of presiding over one of the dirtiest, nastiest, most divisive partisan political machines in U.S. history, President George W. Bush has decided it's now time for Republicans to make nice-nice and not offend anyone, especially those pesky immigrants conservatives love to hate. Bush apparently believes he can repair his disastrous legacy by blathering on in a last-ditch PR campaign consisting of a series of meaningless interviews to softball-throwing stooges on Fox and other friendly outlets. Spare us the parting wisdom, George. No one gives a shit about what you have to say. Just leave already.

"Look, obviously we got whipped in 2008, and there will be a new wave of leadership arriving on the scene," said Bush in an interview with Fox News' Brit Hume which aired over the weekend. "But it’s very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward-looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent." Oh, there's that word compassionate again. Didn't we hear it ad nauseum during the 2000 PR campaign? Unfortunately, the only compassion the Busheviks seemed to have was for those who lied, manipulated, abused, tortured, and trampled on the Constitution. All in the interest of preserving power.

How dare Bush suggest what the GOP should be doing now to help heal American politics. From day-one, he was the chief architect, surrounding himself with other corrupt, self-serving egomaniacal war-mongering oligarchs who drove a partisan wedge so deep into America's political system that it will take much of Obama's time in office to undue the damage. The names Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Ashcroft, Gonzalez, Fleisher, McLellan, Abramoff, Libby and countless others will go down in history as the most inept team since the '62 Mets. That Bush, who tapped Lee Atwater protege Karl Rove to lead the administration's junkyard-dog political operation, now offers the "inclusive" olive-branch is infuriating.

In his chat with Hume Bush took time to pat himself and his Dr. Evil henchman, VP Dick Cheney, on the back for its success both in Iraq and with fighting terrorism. "I would hope that the team that is, has the honor of, serving the country will take a hard look at the realities of the world and the tools now in place to protect the United States from further attack. They will find that with a considerable amount of care and concern for civil liberties, for example, that I have put in place procedures that will enable the professionals to better learn the intentions of Al Qaeda, for example."

Exactly what type of crack is this dude smoking? You wanna talk "realities of the world?" True, it's been 7 years since the 9-11 attacks on U.S. soil and there's been no incidents since. But let's not forget it was eight years between the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and the second, catastrophic one. Al Qadea has certainly proven that it's slow and methodical in its planning. That said, there's been a significant increase in major acts of terrorism all over the world, and Bush's vanity war in Iraq has been a PR nightmare, creating much anger and hatred towards the United States as well as serving as a recruitment tool for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Throw in some good old fashioned Bushevik torture and illegal wiretappings and I suppose you have the "care and concern for civil liberties" that Bush bragged about to Hume (have I mentioned yet that I can't stand this president and obsessively count the minutes until January 20th?).

The Bush Self-Aggrandizing Tour continued with his defense of his resoluteness and certitude over the war: "During the darkest days of Iraq people came to me and said, you’re creating incredible political difficulties for us. And I said, oh, really, what do you suggest I do? Some suggested, retreat, pull out of Iraq. I didn’t compromise that principle for the sake of trying to bail out my political party, for example." Yes, of course, Bush & Company would never have put politics and party before country. Texan please....

Why Israel Is Right to Invade Gaza

Unlike any other nation in history, Israel was founded after millions of its brethren, Jews, were butchered in mass genocide by another nation. No people have suffered 2000+ years of brutal persecution--including Pogroms, the Crusades, the Holocaust and Arab terrorism--like the Jews. And no nation besides Israel has on or within its borders enemies who publicly avow its absolute and violent destruction.

The mantra "Never Again" is something Jewish people live with every minute of every day, especially those living in Israel. Jews of every age, even those born after WW II, are haunted by images of concentration camps, ovens and mass graves. They remember how the world stood idly by and watched as six-million were slaughtered like animals. "Never Again" means that Jews would no longer be a passive partner in their own death. The existence of Israel in particular would come to symbolize strength and survival, and ensure that the enemy of the Jewish people would be dealt swift and decisive blows. Which is why Israel's invasion of Gaza is completely understandable and justifiable. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni describes the conflict in the Gaza Strip as "the right of self-defense of a state."

The violence in Gaza is not borne out of a new found crisis. Rocket and missile attacks into Israeli border towns by Hamas, the terrorist group elected to power in Palestinian elections in January 2006, have been ongoing since 2001, increasing over 500% since that time. Hamas's mission is clear: its charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, to be replaced with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There's no gray area here. Destruction. How do you negotiate with an enemy who will only accept wiping you off the face of the Earth?

Criticism of Israel's strikes into Gaza centers on proportionality. The debate is over how much retaliation is necessary and/or justified. To quote a very smart and concerned young college student I had the pleasure of meeting this week, "when you get shot in the foot, do you shoot them back in the head?" Yes, that's exactly what you do when your enemies have been trying to literally annihilate you for centuries. How exactly should Israel proportionately address this non-stop barrage of rockets into its country from a terrorist group hellbent on its destruction? How should Israel attempt to protect its people, long-term, if it merely acts defensively in a tit-for-tat manner, minimally answering each rocket with another rocket of its own? That would be a horribly naive response given history.

Colin Powell, a decorated war hero, four-star Army general, and former Secretary of State has outlined in what has informally been recognized as "The Powell Doctrine," that when a nation is engaging in war, it should harness every resource and tool to wage decisive military action against its enemy so as to minimize U.S. casualties and achieve a quick resolution to the conflict by overpowering the the weaker force into capitulation. That's precisely what Israel is attempting to do now in Gaza. Strike quick, strike hard and eliminate the enemy threat in an effort to secure its homeland. It's terribly unfortunate that civilians are getting killed, but I suppose that's the collateral damage when a cowardly enemy uses it's citizens as human shields. Israel is striking at Hamas's base of operations. But if that stronghold is centered in densely populated civilian neighborhoods, only Hamas can be blamed for the resulting casualties.

Let's keep in mind history. It is not the Israelis who blow up buses full of innocent people, detonate suicide bombs at restaurants and nightclubs, kill school children or throw old people off of cruise ships. To the contrary, no nation has made more concessions over the years to its arch enemies than Israel. It's given the Sinai back to Egypt, and returned parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank to the Palestinians. It was also ready to make peace with Yassir Arafat and the PLO in a historic deal with then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton at Camp David in 2000, a deal which would have created a Palestinian homeland with its capital in Jerusalem. A deal which Arafat was widely criticized for rejecting. But in order to achieve real peace, Israel needs a rational, committed statesman-like partner in the process. That partner is not Hamas.

The situation in the Middle East, in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been volcanic since the Jewish state was founded 60 years ago. There's been periods of relative calm, followed by frequent violent and deadly eruptions, including many multi-nation wars. The current escalation is no exception. It is just another example of the cyclical tumult that faces this region of the world. Let's hope President-elect Barack Obama can enjoin the parties in a substantive negotiation process that can ultimately, and finally, lead to a lasting peace...if that's truly possible given the centuries-old emotional and cultural schisms that have plagued these nations like a disease. The question is, what will Obama's position be towards Israel and its desire and need to defend itself, and will he support this new action in Gaza...and if so, for how long? And if not, can Israel go it alone without the U.S. behind it? Interesting times ahead....

Ostroy on Air America Radio's Lionel Show Monday w/ Guest Host Nancy Skinner

If you can, check out my interview tomorrow morning, Monday 12/29, at 11am EST on the nationally syndicated Lionel Show on Air America Radio (which airs from 9-12). Subbing for Lionel will be radio host and former U.S. Congressional candidate Nancy Skinner. We're gonna talk about the RNC and it's outlandishly racist "Magic Negro" song, Blagojevich and the general state of nasty GOP partisan politics. In New York tune in to WWRL 1600 AM. Check your local listings for other stations across the U.S.

Who the Hell is Brian D'Arcy?

Check out this very funny, star-studded spoof video produced by The Adrienne Shelly Foundation.

So, just who is this legendary mystery-man Brian D'Arcy? Stay tuned....

If you like the video and wish to support our mission of supporting women filmmakers, click here to make a donation. Thanks.

For the GOP, Blagojevich is the New Ayers

The statement Wednesday from RNC Chairman Mike Duncan made it crystal clear that conservatives are going to do everything in their power to connect President-elect Barack Obama to embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the "pay for play" corruption scandal centered on his attempts to sell Obama's vacated Senate seat:

"President-elect Barack Obama's carefully parsed and vague statements regarding his own contact and that of his team with Governor Rod Blagojevich are unacceptable. Considering the severity of the allegations against Governor Blagojevich, the President-elect should immediately disclose any and all communications his transition team has had with the governor's office along with any Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials involved in the matter. Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested."

Watch out Democrats, as we're about to witness the morphing of former 60's radical William Ayers--the GOP's hand-picked poster-child for Obama's alleged "radicalism"--into the crooked Blagojevich. And we're likely to hear the name Tony Rezko again. A lot. The indicted Chicago real estate developer and former Obama supporter is also embroiled in this new scandal including allegations that he paid for an addition on the Governor's home. During the election, Rezko was used as another pawn in the GOP's Obama witch-hunt.

But here's a big message to Republicans: you lost. Get over it. Clearly, voters rejected the GOP's campaign mudslinging, and it's utterly pointless, and quite frankly embarrassing, to start that nonsense up all over again. Let me repeat myself: Barack Obama won the election and in just about six more weeks he will become the 44th president of the United States. That's not gonna change. So to try now to clip Obama to Blagojevich's dirty coattails is a supreme lesson in futility, and an indication that Duncan, the RNC, the GOP and the conservative talking-heads apparently have learned little since November 4.

One thing's certain: Obama should not in any way, shape or form dignify the politically-suspect statements or challenges from Duncan or anyone else which shamelessly attempt to drag him into this mind-boggling shitstorm.


On another subject, we could use your help at the Adrienne Shelly Foundation. Our mission is to support women filmmakers. Click here to make a contribution. To learn more about us and to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit our website. Every contribution helps preserve Adrienne's legacy, allows us to help others, and creates something positive out of the tragic loss two years ago of an incredibly loving and talented woman.

The Butcher of Bundy Finally Goes to Prison. Thoughts on O.J. Simpson From the Husband of a Murder Victim

O.J. Simpson has many labels: football star, actor, Madison Avenue pitchman. But the one moniker that sticks most in the minds of many is murderer. But despite reams of DNA, physical and circumstantial evidence proving that on June 12th, 1994 he savagely butchered and killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, the disgraced former legend was fully acquitted thanks to a lame jury, an inept LAPD, a star-struck judge and a masterful carnival-barker of a lead defense attorney with a magic glove "that would not fit." This tragic tale had no Cinderella ending.

I will never forget that sick feeling of revulsion in the pit of my stomach as the jury foreman announced not guilty. Nor will I ever forget the look of horror and utter disbelief on the faces of the 100 or so others packed in the bar to watch the verdict be delivered as if it was New Year's Eve and we were about to watch the ball drop in Times Square. But this was clearly no celebration. There was stunned silence. Our collective hope that good would prevail over evil, that justice would be served, was shattered in that chilling moment. On October 3, 1995, Simpson walked out of the LA County Courthouse a free man. He was the storied villain who literally got away with murder. And I wanted to puke.

All I could think about was the profound sorrow and grief, and shock, that the Brown and Goldman families must've been experiencing. Or those two little children whose beautiful mother was brutally ripped away from them forever. I felt sadness like I had never felt before, and it made me angry. I hated Simpson. I wished on him the same sort of violent fate that befell his innocent victims. I wanted him to know firsthand the kind of suffering that he dealt to Nicole and Ron. And I was disgusted by a criminal justice system that horribly failed.

For me, the most haunting and lasting images from that whole ghastly saga are those of Fred Goldman, who bravely and tearfully faced the media and the entire country night after night, and how we wept along with him as we shared his pain, anguish and heartbreak over the devastating loss of the handsome, promising son he loved so much. So to have Simpson, the murderous beast, get off scot free was simply unthinkable.

Watching the Goldmans and the Browns live out this horrific nightmare so publicly, I could not imagine what it must've been like to be them. It was all so unfathomable to me. Until the night of November 1, 2006, when I was thrust into my own nightmare when I found my wife, the actor/writer/director Adrienne Shelly, the love of my life, brutally murdered in her Greenwich Village office. And in that split second, as Joan Didion wrote in The Year of Magical Thinking, life as I knew it was over. I no longer had to imagine what it was like to be Fred Goldman. I was Fred Goldman.

I will skip the gory details, which are just a mouse-click away for anyone who's interested. Though Adrienne's killer, Diego Pilco, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and received a sentence of just 25 years without parole--not the murder conviction and 25-to-life we hoped for--justice was served on some level. While there's no such thing as true closure, and one can never truly ever forget such tragedy, my family and I could at least begin to move on with our lives knowing that our soulless, murderous beast would be locked away in prison, in solitary, for a very long time. The Goldmans and the Browns were not afforded this peace of mind. That is until December 5th, 2008.

For the past thirteen years we've had to endure a cocky, arrogant, defiant and delusional O.J. Simpson who thumbed his nose at the law and acted with impunity as his criminal streak continued with various assaults and episodes of road rage. In between, we were treated to his uber-bizarre interviews, books and overall rantings. Though a civil jury in 1997 awarded the families $33.5 million, Simpson had cleverly, and legally, sheltered much of his assets and retirement income and the Goldmans and Browns got virtually nothing. In those painful years and in those since, Simpson got to play a whole lotta golf, while the families of his victims mourned. There truly was no justice.

But then Simpson's outrageous behavior took a very fateful turn on September 13, 2007 when he and a posse of thugs stormed a Las Vegas hotel room and robbed two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint. The Juice claimed he was merely retrieving his stolen property. He was charged with 12 felonies including kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, and was convicted October 3rd on all counts. For the first time in his life, Simpson was soon going to face the music.

Last Friday, Judge Jackie Glass threw the proverbial book at this monster, serving up a sentence of 9 to 33 years. Simpson will be at least 70 when and if he's released on parole, and could very well spend the remaining years of his violent, wretched life incarcerated, exactly where he should've been all along.

And once again in an O.J. courtroom the tears flowed, but this time they were Simpson's. In what has become all too familiar these past thirteen years, this savage killer and pathological liar offered up pathetic, delusional, I-am-the-real-victim-here excuses and shamelessly begged for leniency:

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal anything from anybody. And I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. I thought I was confronting friends and retrieving my property. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."

Sadly, I know the heartache of losing a loved one at the brutal hands of a violent animal. I get to live each day with a young child who was tragically robbed of her loving mother. And I know what it's like to witness the inequitable trade of a beautiful soul's precious life for a relatively small prison sentence. But though it's certainly no consolation, as it will never bring back Nicole and Ron, the Goldmans and the Browns can at least breathe and sleep a little easier now that justice has finally, on some level, been served for them as well. The Butcher of Bundy will likely and hopefully die in jail a broken man. Payback for 1995, some say? Who cares. A cold-blooded murderer is off the streets and behind bars, where he belongs, and that's all that matters.


On another subject, we could use your help at the Adrienne Shelly Foundation. Our mission is to support women filmmakers. Click here to make a contribution. To learn more about us and to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit our website. Every contribution helps preserve Adrienne's legacy, allows us to help others, and creates something positive out of the tragic loss two years ago of an incredibly loving and talented woman.

Hillary Should Quit!

Politics surely makes for strange bedfellows. President-elect Barack Obama will officially announce on Monday his choice of New York Senator Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, a position that will make her the nation's, and the world's, top diplomat. It's an appointment that for some comes as no surprise, as some sort of Obama/Clinton marriage always seemed inevitable. But to others, this decision is sure to be truly unfathomable.

Just turn the clock back to early Spring, when the cries of "Hillary Should Quit!" first rang out. Do we remember how relentlessly Hillary was vilified for the next several months as nothing short of the anti-Christ by the legions of rabid Obama supporters who's overall sense of entitlement after a string of early primary and caucus wins left them anointing their candidate the rightful heir to the presidency?

I can't tell you how many emotionally-heated verbal slugfests I had with decades-old friends who argued that Clinton was not just ripping the campaign apart and ruining Obama's chances for winning in November, but was singlehandedly destroying the Democratic Party for generations to come. How dare this women stay in the race and create such political heresy, they shouted. But the winds of change swept through the election and Clinton was winning the big contests and gaining momentum, while Obama was losing steam. Bravely, despite the endless barrage of angry, derisive calls for her early departure from the race, Clinton pressed on right down to the very end, amassing a booty of 18-million supporters.

Cut to November 4th, the day Sen. Barack Obama created history by becoming the nation's first Black president, doing so in an electoral college landslide. Obama was also the first Democrat in decades to win traditionally red states such as Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina. His masterful campaign--perhaps the best-run presidential campaign in U.S. history--pulled together an impressive coalition of the young, old, white, black, Hispanic, male, female, catholics, Jews, affluent and the heretofore elusive "white working class." So much for the anti-Christ.

What a fairy tale indeed. Obama ended up not just winning, but trouncing his opponent, Sen. John McCain. And a month later, Hillary Clinton, his arch-nemesis and Judas-incarnate, was bestowed with the Secretary of State portfolio. And Hill's man Bubba's even agreed to play nice as well, restricting his various speaking, travel and financial/fundraising activities. It's just one big happy family now.

The moral of this story? As Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over till it's over." And in the case of Obama and Clinton, it wasn't even over when it was over.