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THE TIMES LEADER
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SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2011
OPINION
KEVIN BLAUM
E. THOMAS MCCLANAHAN
IN THE ARENA
Republicans being cautious about 2012
Arena poses questions to candidates
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S approval rating is above water, but only barely. He’s two or three points below 50 percent in the Real Clear Politics average, with those disapproving a couple of points behind — hardly an impressive reading, but after the turmoil of the last two years you wouldn’t have thought it possible. This president still exerts an undeniable tug on the public. But dig a bit deeper and the picture, along with Obama’s chances for re-election, looks much more complicated. Earlier this month, a Gallup poll found that only 27 percent approved of Obama’s handling of the deficit. More than 60 percent think the country’s on the wrong track. Columnist Sean Trende, a numbercruncher at Real Clear Politics, reminds us that a president’s approval rating can be a poor predictor for how well he’ll do on Election Day. In 1956, President Eisenhower’s popularity was a full 17 points higher than his vote share — something that undoubtedly causes concern among Obama’s campaign strategists. Here’s another: People otherwise inclined to support the president have noticed that in certain respects, he’s the Nowhere Man. Rush Marcus of The Washington Post wrote that we’re living through the “Where’s Waldo Presidency.” Obama, she wrote, can be “strangely passive” and “unwilling, reluctant or late to weigh in on the issue of the moment.” He gave only scanty marching orders to Congress on health care. With his recent budget, he abdicated on the deficit and entitlement reform. He all but ignored the recommendations of his own deficit reduction commission. More recently, he has had little to say about the uprising in Libya and what he said, he said late. Americans have watched as European countries have taken the lead in the scramble to devise effective options to aid the rebels. The Marcus column could well be a harbinger — a notice to others in the media that it’s now acceptable to begin unloading their own frustrations with this president. Despite all this, many Republicans surveying their party’s prospects for 2012 remain cautious or downright glum. Incumbent presidents are notoriously tough to unseat. Obama will draw from a very deep campaign war chest. He’ll be campaigning with the full trappings of his office, which comes with a large retinue and a big impressive airplane. “Republicans underestimate President Obama at their own peril,” former Bush adviser Karl Rove told Politico. Still, Rove rated Obama only a “slight favorite.” What has Republicans most worried is the lack of a clear champion. It’s very early, but the contenders most-often mentioned have obvious liabilities. Mitt Romney was beaten last time out by John McCain, a deeply flawed candidate, and as governor, implemented an Obamacare precursor — the disastrous Massachusetts health plan. Mike Huckabee doesn’t strike me as someone likely to unseat the incumbent, and whatever you think about Sarah Palin, she has high negatives and remains divisive. The candidates you’d like to see in the race aren’t running, at least not yet: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana. Still, Daniels gave a great speech recently on the dangers of debt and is looking more probable. Obama may be formidable, but he’s not unbeatable. In two years, unemployment will probably remain high, Obama will still be playing defense on health care as well as taxes — the current Bush rates expire in 2012 — and more voters are likely to be fed up with the Where’s Waldo Presidency. Memo to candidates still playing coy: 1. Victory is a real possibility. 2. Carpe diem.
THE INTREPID 49ers will compete for 11 available seats on Luzerne County’s new county council. The 49 contenders, 33 Democrats and 16 Republicans, will be whittled to 22, 11 from each party, in the May 17 primary. This does not include independent candidates who might file to run in November unattached to either party. In addition, 16 attorneys will vie for six vacant seats on the all-important Court of Common Pleas. This year it is especially important that voters know who the candidates are and for what they stand. Therefore “In the Arena” will pose a series of questions for all candidates seeking public office this year in Luzerne County. Be it county council or city council; township supervisor or school board member; district attorney or district magistrate; judge of the Court of Common Pleas or mayor of our smallest town, we want to hear from you. Candidates, please respond to the following questions, adding whatever additional information you believe voters should know. E-mail your answers to kblaum@timesleader.com. The voters and I thank you for your participation, your commitment to our region and your willingness to serve, in the arena. 1. Name? 2. Address? 3. Phone Number (Day and, yes, evening)? 4. Age? 5. Occupation? 6. Employer? 7. Position you are seeking? 8. Why do you seek the office? 9. Have you previously served in elected or appointed public office? 10. If so, what position did you hold, for how long and what were your meaningful accomplishments? 11. What is the extent of your formal education and how has it prepared you for the responsibilities you seek? 12. Have you previously been active in politics? If so, how? 13. In the coming campaign will you be accepting campaign donations? 14. If so, is there a dollar amount beyond which you will not accept from a single donor? 15. Is there an aggregate figure beyond which you will not accept from donors representing a single company, corporation, firm, business, partnership, etc.? 16. If offered, would you accept contributions from the gaming industry, its lobbyists or PACS? 17. If offered, would you accept contributions from hydraulic fracturing gas drilling companies, their lobbyists or PACS? 18. If elected but for one term, what will you hope to have achieved? 19. If elected, what two agenda items will top your list, fill your brain and interrupt your sleep until complete? 20. If you are a candidate for Luzerne County Council, what are you looking for in a candidate for county executive, and how far and wide are you willing to search? 21. If you are a candidate for Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, what distinguishes you from your fellow candidates? And for which two of them would you be voting had you not decided to become a candidate yourself? 22. Is there a vote, position, project, program or issue that you consider so important that you would be willing to lose the election because of it? If so, what and why? Congratulations on your candidacy and thank you for your participation in the democratic process.
E. Thomas McClanahan is a member of the Kansas City Star editorial board. Readers may write to him at: Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108-1413, or by e-mail at mcclanahan@kcstar.com.
By MICHAEL MATZA
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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HILADELPHIA — Twelve years ago, Lizbeth Ramos and her common-law husband, Juan, left their hometown near Puebla, Mexico, and set out on foot across the desert for the Arizona border, to slip into new lives as illegal immigrants. • He found work in a produce market in the Philadelphia area, she in a boutique. They saved up to start a family.
Now 30, she lies on an examination table in Pennsylvania Hospital, at a weekly obstetrics clinic for immigrant women, no status questions asked. As a doctor slides an ultrasound wand over her bulging belly, her eyes are transfixed by the monitor. She is carrying twins. The moment they enter the world, they will be what their parents are not: U.S. citizens. Such is their birthright, granted by the 14th Amendment to an estimated 340,000 babies born annually to undocumented immigrants. But in the marathon fight over immigration control, that 143-yearold constitutional guarantee has become the latest target and the delivery room the new front. The pejorative “anchor babies” already is in the lexicon. “Once a child is born here, the
parents make the argument that they should be allowed to stay as that child’s guardian. They are using that child as an anchor (to) play on our heartstrings,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Butler County Republican who has built a national reputation as a crusader against what he calls “illegal alien invaders.” Immigrant advocates dismiss his contention as myth, and point to a recent study that found that undocumented immigrants generally “come for work and to join family members.” The Washington-based, nonprofit Immigration Policy Center concluded “they do no come specifically to give birth” and game the immigration system. Such assertions have not temSee AMEND, Page 7E
Will health care law raise states’ Medicaid costs? By TONY PUGH McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The nation’s Republican governors are raising a new complaint against the 2010 national health overhaul: They say it would drive up their Medicaid costs dramatically at a time they’re already slashing their budgets to cope with debt. There’s no question that the health care law will force states to expand their Medicaid services, but how that ultimately will affect states’ costs is a matter of considerable dispute. The 2010 law requires that state Medicaid programs in 2014 begin
The 2010 law requires that state Medicaid programs in 2014 begin covering all non-elderly people who earn up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which would comprise people with incomes of up to $29,400 for a family of four this year.
Medicaid, which now provides health coverage for about 60 million low-income Americans. Childless adults and parents who previously earned too much to qualify for the program will make up the bulk of the new enrollees. Currently, the federal government pays about 57 percent of Medicaid costs on average, while states pay the rest. Under the new law, the federal government will pay the entire cost of the new enrollees for the first three years, after which it will scale down gradually to 90 percent in 2020 and
covering all non-elderly people who earn up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which would comprise people with incomes of up to $29,400 for a family of four this year. By 2019, that expansion is expected to add 16 million people to See MEDICAID, Page 7E
Kevin Blaum’s column on government, life and politics appears every Sunday. Contact him at kblaum@timesleader.com.