Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Monday, August 06, 2012

White House Doesn't Do Too Bad In My Hope Versus Reality Thought Experiment from Last Night

Last night, after a long fraught day, I posted a last blog entry, writing: "A day begun scrolling tweets about the awful shooting in Wisconsin and ended scrolling tweets about the awesome landing of Curiosity on Mars, tears shed at both ends, I find myself dreaming of a world in which I could wake up to word of a Presidential speech at first light bravely advocating common sense gun regulations and a reversal of NASA spending cuts, all in the name of Americans coming together to solve shared problems through the agency of government of, by, and for the people."

Here is what the day actually brought:

via NASA:
THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary, August 6, 2012, Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars: "Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history. The successful landing of Curiosity -- the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet -- marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future. It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination… And tonight’s success reminds us that our preeminence -- not just in space, but here on Earth -- depends on continuing to invest wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research that has always made our economy the envy of the world. I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality -- and I eagerly await what Curiosity has yet to discover."
And via TPM:
President Obama supports reinstating the assault weapons ban, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday, on the heels of back-to-back shooting rampages in the United States… “He does support renewing the assault weapons ban,” Carney said at his press briefing, one day after a shooter killed six people at a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin. In response to several questions, he added that “there has been reluctance by Congress to pass that renewal.” The top Obama spokesman reiterated several times that the administration intends to push for gun safety “under existing law” and “not infringe upon Second Amendment rights of citizens.” Evoking Obama’s recent speech in New Orleans, he said the president wants to improve background checks and enforce laws to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of criminals.
Words without push behind them amount to fine sentiments but not much more, and it is fair to say both that common sense gun regulation will continue to languish in the face of hysterical right-wing push back obstructing the least movement toward sanity and that NASA cuts are likely to be a result of the willy-nilly hatchet cuts in the fiscal cliff, though it is fairly clear that without Republican obstructionism both of these stories would have happier endings, which is close to the most the President can do with things being as they are. Give him a Congress he can work with this November and the chances for change for the better here as in so many other arenas of progressive struggle will improve for the better.

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