Obvious or Discrete, but Always Intentional

It may not come from him directly, but his advisors are certainly the type. Rahm Emanuel in particular is definitely conscious of the implications. In some cases the actions are bold, in some case more discrete, but they all seem to have one aim.

A second term.

Watch the actions. Read the fine print. Think of the implications.

While the whole stimulus debacle was going on something very subversive and intentional happened. Did you catch it? Oversight of the upcoming 2010 stimulus was moved into the White House, actually, put under the direction of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel himself.

Why should we care?

There are several ways to perform a census. Do you count each person? Do you perform a statistical sampling? If so, what is your process for picking your sample? Will the same process yield accurate results in all areas? Do you count residents that don’t currently reside in their district?

Census counts determine the number of Representatives a state will have in the House and how many votes they will have in the electoral college. In 2000, Mormon missionaries out in the field were not counted and Utah missed having an additional representative by a few hundred people. Of course the Clinton administration was running the 2000 census. Why would they want to add another Representative to conservative leaning Utah? If the number of Representatives in a state changes, then the district lines in the state have to be redrawn. If you have three districts that can go either way, then you would want to redraw the lines so that you can move two of those districts solidly into your column. If you can weaken a solid holding of your opponent, then you redraw the lines to include some faithful areas from your party that aren’t needed in another strong district. Instead of being a nonpartisan, scientific enumeration of Americans, it becomes a partisan chess match.

Of course when it comes to the general election the country is very closely split 50/50, so how do you try and edge that to 55/45? How would you convince at least 5% of the people that they need to swing in your favor?

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Obama’s new budget plan increases the number of Americans who pay no direct, personal income tax from 38% to 50%. Now he can tell 12% of the population that he is the reason they are getting a bigger paycheck, a bigger income tax return, or even a “refundable tax credit” on taxes that they never paid.

In only six weeks on the job, President Obama has made two strong moves to try and secure a second term for himself and future majorities for his party. I can’t say they are good moves for the country, but I would definitely have to say that the President and his advisors are forward thinking when it comes to self preservation.