Meet The Press, or What I Learned Today

Meet The Press is a show I enjoy.  David Gregory does a better than fair job.  And, perhaps even more important are his guests and panelists.  They tend to be balanced between people on the left and on the right.

The issues this morning were the economy, immigration policy, and the use of drones.  David Gregory did a good job keeping the focus on the economy.  What I found especially interesting was the difference between the politicians and the analysts.  The politicians were Eric Cantor, Dick Durban, and one board member, the mayor of Atlanta.  The analysts were two Republicans and a lady with a British accent who leaned liberal.

On the economy,  Eric Cantor expressed the Republican position; namely, we need to cut spending and that Republicans have put bills on the table to do this.  Democrats have done nothing.  Dick Durban took the position that we can't do the spending cuts in one "lift."  We have to bring in more revenue and then whittle away at spending bit by bit.  Republicans call this kicking-the-can-down-the-road.

The fearsome word, "sequester", was raised.  Obama created this concept to further intimidate the parties if they couldn't come to an agreement on the budget.  The Dems describe sequestration as a nightmare -- cutting all budget items proportionately across the board -- something only Republicans would consider.  Cantor agreed that sequestration would not be a good thing, but if it's the only way to cut spending and the Dems choose not to work with the Rep on something better, then so be it.

I've come to sympathize with Dick Durban.  I have learned that he, as much as anyone else, is keenly aware that that  spending must be cut.  Nevertheless he has little choice but to hold aloft Obama's banner.

On immigration:  The rightist analyst on Meet The Press said that the Congress was working on a bill to deal with this problem.  Maybe they wouldn't deal with 100% of the problem, but they would begin with a major chunk of it.  In light of the many Americans who are concerned that illegal immigrants are taking their jobs away, it's not an easy piece of legislation to get passed.  However, the time is right and it looks quite favorable to getting a bill passed.  The analyst had one major caveat; namely, if Obama remains on his soap box and continues waggling his finger at the Republicans, he makes it that much more difficult for Republicans, like Marco Rubio, to get the support needed for such legislation.  It could kill any progress in the Congress.  That might actually suit Obama, but it would very much hurt the interests of millions of illegal immigrants now in the U.S.

Drones:  This is an issue which must be addressed by Congress in terms of safeguarding the American principal of checking the power of any one branch of our government.  Setting up a suitable board to approve the decision to take out one of America's enemies would not seem a difficult thing to do.  But, as far as using the drones to take out America's enemies -- the American people, as I see it, have no problem.  And, if the enemy happens to be an American citizen, who has joined with our enemy, that's no problem either.