Category: Florida

In his town hall meeting at St. Petersburg’s historically black Gibbs High School, Sen. Barack Obama fielded questions ranging from the treatment of Iraqi war veterans and his assessment of “No Child Left Behind” to a national catastrophe fund and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Important stuff with broad appeal.

Unless, that is, you’re an activist with the International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement. Then what really matters can be summarized with the curt, direct-address banner unfurled by some of their members: “What about the black community, Obama?”

To his credit, Obama handled the grievance brigade adroitly. They were chastised for their boorish interruptions but given an opportunity – via a single member – to ask a question, essentially a rebuking restatement of the banner. Basically, it was an opportunity for a racial vent about oppression and an opportunity to more than imply that Obama was still not black enough.

Another day, another racial crucible — regardless of the predominant venue color. From the Irreverent Wright to primary code language to Jesse Jackson’s vulgar, marginalization fit to the audacity of mopes.

For the record, Obama said — OK, lectured — that he has, indeed, spoken out on matters of race, even if it wasn’t in Uhuru-approving fashion.

Even more telling — in front of a largely black gathering — was that none of Obama’s responses elicited louder, more enthusiastic applause than his pointed comments on education and the key, NON-governmental factors inherently involved.

First, the good news. Due to a lawsuit filed by a group of Florida travel agents against the state of Florida, there will be a temporary lifting of the law that requires them to post a $250,000 bond and disclose the names of clients in order to continue their business of booking flights to Cuba. Before the law was signed this June by Gov. Charlie Crist, all agents, including those providing such legal trips to Cuba, were required to pay a $25,000 bond.

The bad news is that such a Cold War, time-warp piece of legislation was even sent to Crist and that he, indeed, signed it. Obviously the oft-championed “will of the people” was easily subordinated by the will of the usual hardliners in the Cuban exile community. Those whose priorities are not in the best interest of the United States or of Cuban-Americans trying to return to Cuba for their once-every-three-years visit.

The rationale supplied by State Rep. David Rivera, a Republican and Cuban-American who sponsored the bill, is vintage in its disingenuous Administration-speak. Rivera says the law is an “anti-terrorism” bill. Increasing the bond 10 fold, effectively putting people out of business, is an ostensibly appropriate price to pay to expedite passage to any country on the State Department’s list of “state sponsors of terror.”

And, sure enough, Cuba makes the State Department’s hit list. Right there with fellow traveling terrorists such as Iran, Sudan and Syria. What next, a sinister link between Raul Castro and Al Qaeda? Fidel and Hamas? Che and 9/11?

A federal judge will ultimately decide if the Florida law oversteps the bounds of state authority by, in effect, regulating international travel. Too bad overstepping the bounds of fairness and decency doesn’t count.

Charlie Crist ought to be ashamed, for that bill-signing was also a signature veepstakes event.

It’s a small step, but maybe the new law imposing restrictions on how schools prepare students for the FCAT will prompt a pendulum swing back to pedagogical reason.

If anything, the FCAT has proved that bad things can be done in the good name of accountability, a concept nobody is against. But teaching to a test, pep rallying for a test, attaching inordinate significance to a test and tying school funding to a test should be indefensible.

The new law won’t eliminate all FCAT prepping, but it should curtail the most blatant abuses of practice sessions superceding regular curricular course work. Moreover, high schools’ grades will now reflect other factors, such as graduation rates, in addition to FCAT scores.

It’s a start.

At least one prominent, Florida GOP insider thinks that if Gov. Charlie Crist were on the John McCain ticket (instead of, say, Mitt Romney), it would actually backfire here in the Sunshine State.

The sense that Crist hasn’t meaningfully dealt with the state’s major issues, property taxes and insurance, and the understandable perception that he has spent an inordinate amount of time courting the veep slot, will boomerang on the Republicans, he says.

In short, having a blatant opportunist on the ticket, bipartisan, nice-guy persona notwithstanding, helps no one — but Barack Obama.

Enough of the speculation about Gov. Charlie Crist’s chances to be John McCain’s vice presidential running mate. And that includes trying to interpret the environmental tea leaves over his comments about oil drilling off the coast of Florida and any calculated offset by the state’s purchase of U.S. Sugar and Everglades’ restoration. And it also includes critiques of Crist’s California stump speech from hell.

There won’t be a Vice President Crist, even if McCain secretly thinks Dan Quayle was the best veep choice ever.

Crist would be a fatal distraction, just the sort of thing a poll-challenged candidate trying to find a niche – other than faux maverick and conservative light – couldn’t live with. Crist’s track record as governor would be scrutinized – and then everyone would know that on the two biggest Florida issues — property taxes and insurance — he had turned into a glib empty suit, albeit a well-tanned, bi-partisan one.

And that bachelor status — and all that can connote — would be an affront, however outrageously unfair, to all those GOP evangelicals who block vote.

Charlie needs to concentrate on his day job – and worry more about a Gov. Iorio scenario.

Fidel Castro’s departure from power and the prospect of a different foreign-policy approach to Cuba by an Obama Administration have led to increased speculation about American claims against the Cuban government over lost property. According to the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, there are about 6,000 certified claims of Americans who had lost property or other assets to nationalization. The claims, most of which involved commercial land or debts, are valued at about $6 billion.

Some salient points:

>Under U.S. law, the 46-year-old trade embargo can’t be lifted absent a settlement of the certified claims.

>The claims of exiles were not certified. Certification only applies to those who were American citizens at the time of expropriations.

>Cuba has settled all of its property claims with other countries.

>Realistically speaking, we’re talking pennies on the dollar here.

>Moreover, the Cuban government has some interesting counter-claims. It figures the economic damages from the embargo amount to $190 billion.

>And President Bush recently filled an FCSC opening. The new commissioner? Cuban exile Ralph Martinez, the brother of Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.

Susan Bennett is a white Tampa lawyer and an early Hillary Clinton backer. She was among the 15,000-plus who attended last week’s Barack Obama rally at the St. Pete Times Forum.

“I supported Hillary, but I’m also a realist,” said Bennett, 58. “When I saw him speak (at the Democratic Convention) in 2004, I remember turning to my husband and saying, ‘This could be the next (2008) president.’ We need to unite the party, and we need a new direction that starts with bringing troops home from Iraq and doing something about health care. It was an easy transition.”

Then there was Chris, a software engineer. He’s a 36-year-old black man who didn’t want to give his last name. That’s because he was at the Obama rally – when he should have been back at work.

He called it an “extended lunch hour.” He also called it an invaluable experience.

“I wanted to see for myself,” said Chris, who was with a younger, black colleague who craved even more anonymity. “Sometimes on TV, what you see is manufactured, either by editing or by the crowd shots they show.

“I mean, I get the intelligence part, and I get the well-spoken part,” explained Chris. “But I wanted to see the inspiration part for myself. Maybe get involved in the campaign.

“Now I might,” added Chris. “This is good to see. The crowd is so diverse. This looks like America.”

The multi-racial and multi-generational gathering of true believers, Clinton converts and the idealistically curious had come to see the return of the candidate — now the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. He hadn’t, shall we say, been around in a while. This is, in part, what they saw and heard:

*Frank Sanchez, the erstwhile mayoral candidate and key Obama operative, did the early audience warm-up. “Take a look around,” intoned Sanchez. “This is change!” The crowd ate it up. “As goes Tampa Bay, so goes the nation!” The crowd had another helping. Sanchez never looked this animated in his run against Pam Iorio five years ago.

*And speaking of, Sanchez urged the crowd, already at full “Yes We Can” and “O-Bam-A” throttle, to “give it up” for Pam Iorio. The mayor, who’s politically parsimonious when it comes to endorsements, then told her listeners that Obama was “My choice for president, and I know he’s yours.”

The support of the I-4 Corridor’s female anchor mayor has obvious value to Obama. And Iorio more than hinted that — if the political planets properly align — she may have finally found a federal partner for some Tampa priorities, notably mass transit.

*You can tell something about a campaign by the music it chooses. The Clinton-Gore ticket chose “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” by Fleetwood Mac, and it successfully symbolized a generational shift and a commitment to a better future. John McCain uses Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode – but it doesn’t really resonate.

The Obama folks like Aretha Franklin’s (outdoors) “R*e*s*p*e*c*t,” The Temptations’ (pre-Obama appearance) “The Way You Do The Things You Do” and Stevie Wonder’s (post-Obama) “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” Seems to work.

*Rep. Kathy Castor of South Tampa, who has made everybody’s short list for Congressional rookie of the year, was accorded the honor of introducing Obama.

*After his deus ex machina entrance from the Forum wings, Obama would soon get down to the tricky business of looking unflappable while firing up a crowd. He pulls this off with uncommon aplomb.

With microphone in hand and crowd in thrall, he served up familiar refrains on Iraq, health care, outsourced jobs, poorly paid teachers and the special interests bogeymen. But never has boilerplate been punctuated by so many “We love you!” hosannas. Nor literally responded to with “I love you back” retorts.

In more detail, he cited such platform staples as an annual $4,000 college-tuition credit as a quid pro quo for community service; the elimination of income taxes on Social Security payments; the reallocation of ($10 billion a month) Iraqi war resources into infrastructure needs and jobs; and a $150-billion investment in alternative energy sources.

The loudest boos were reserved for mentions of a “Bush third term,” and the loudest applause line was prompted by a reference to America’s fighting men and women — and the respect and help due them when they return.

*Obama continued his diplomatic offensive vis a vis Hillary Clinton. It’s now a discernible no-boo zone. He praised her as someone who has run “an outstanding campaign” and “deserves our admiration and respect.” He noted that she had “broken through barriers and will open up opportunities for people including my two young daughters.”

It’s a sensible tact to help hold on to the hordes of ardent Clinton followers, but Obama also sent a message of comity and unity to others. He indicated he would be reaching out to “independents and Republicans, a lot of whom don’t recognize their own party.”

He didn’t declare victory but nuanced his majority-of-elected-delegates milestone with a “threshold of nomination” parse.

*Obama ended with a biographical touch, one intended to undercut the elite image of an Ivy League intellectual. It’s effective in such settings. The single mom

Just when you think Florida couldn’t possibly complicate things more when it comes to presidential primaries, there’s a bill starting to generate bi-partisan interest in Tallahassee that could do just that. Through the efforts of state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and 10 other legislators from both sides of the aisle, we have Senate Bill 2776, which would open presidential primaries to all voters.

On its face it sounds fine, even ideal. Very democratic — with a small “d.” Florida has about 2 million voters without party affiliation. If SB 2776 passes, they could choose a party primary and vote in it. “This would end disenfranchisement,” reasons Sen. Dockery.

Maybe what we need is a moratorium-on-disenfranchisement-rhetoric bill. If ever a term begged for context — and not a knee-jerk response — it’s “disenfranchisement.” We’re not talking Jim Crow poll taxes and literacy tests here.

We’re talking about only those who willfully choose to affiliate with a political party being eligible to participate in said party’s choosing of its presidential candidate. Is that somehow anathema to democracy? If you have willingly opted not to join a party, why should you be accorded the right to influence its decision regarding its nominee? Or worse yet, the right to possible mischief – depending on your agenda.

Those who are precluded from voting in a given party’s primary by virtue of their non-affiliated status are not being disenfranchised. In fact, it gives sophistry a bad name.

Want a primary vote? Join a party. What a concept.

Don’t look for a John McCain-Charlie Crist GOP ticket in ’08, even though the governor presides over a critical swing state and is owed something for his key Florida primary endorsement of the presumptive GOP nominee. McCain is a soft-core conservative admired for his well-earned war-hero status. Crist, who is Republican Light, doesn’t give McCain much more of what he already has – appeal to independents.

Plus, Crist is a cheap-shot “bachelor” innuendo and a bad hurricane away from image implosion.

When it still mattered, Charlie Crist endorsed John McCain and arguably helped the senator win Florida and thus gain stature and momentum for Super Tuesday. Here’s hoping his reward might yet be a more favorable McCain view of, say, the national catastrophe fund bill should the Arizona senator become president.

What the reward won’t be is a Crist vice presidency. No matter how much national barnstorming he does with the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Of course, being governor of the country’s biggest swing state is huge, but in a general election Crist doesn’t give him much more of what McCain already has – appeal to independents. McCain is a soft-core conservative and admired for his well-earned war-hero status. Crist is Republican Light – and a cheap-shot “bachelor” innuendo and a bad hurricane away from image implosion.

McCain’s long-time appeal to independents is moot if he can’t at least seriously placate – energizing is off the table – conservatives with one of their own on the ticket.

Now if Fred Thompson were at the top of the ticket