OPINION:
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
It’s easy to become so distracted by what’s going in the swamp until you can’t control your breathing or appreciate what’s going on in your own hometown or state, huffing and puffing as you read the reaction to the reaction of the news of the day. Huddled masses who dare not yearn to breathe free.
So it’s time to set the first alarm, not on whether Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh rises to the Supreme Court bench or collapses into the arms of his loving wife and daughters.
The bells right now must toll for you to remember to vote in your local and state elections. Washington pols, as usual, take care of themselves.
Begin looking to your left and to your right as soon as possible. Do you know who’s running and what they’ve been saying about issues that affect every living and breathing American, such as education and housing?
We’ll get to former President Obama’s picks, which number far more than the average voter’s. But, hey, he remains the titular head of the Democratic behemoth, so he gets to have his hee-haws, too, and you should know who is on his list and why. You, after all, have a right to disagree.
With apologies to Alaska, let’s first head to America’s far left coast, where Californians will mark their midterm ballots Nov. 6 on Proposition 10. The state’s summary of Prop 10 says the initiative would repeal “state law that currently restricts the scope of rent control policies that cities and other local jurisdictions may impose on residential property.”
The Sacramento Bee posted several takes on the pros, cons and in-betweens of Prop 10. Here are two:
• Said Maria Salinas, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce: “To improve California’s shortage of affordable housing, the state and local municipalities need to ease the approval process and change current zoning regulations to allow for more density, particularly around transit-rich areas. Prop 10 goes too far. Expanding rent control and vacancy control provisions will lead to less investment in housing construction, as well as units being taken off the market for conversion to condos or short-term rentals. Prop 10 will make housing more expensive.”
Ms. Salinas took her Chamber office in August.
• Said former California Gov. Pete Wilson: “The state needs to get real about this crisis and needs to put these additional costs and burdens on housing to one side, and start building without these additional costs until we bring supply in line with demand. As for Proposition 10, it will have a disastrous impact. Every objective review by the LAO and credible economists agree that it will cut further into the low number of units being built each year and accelerate the number of units withdrawn from the rental market.”
Mr. Wilson served as governor from 1991 to 1999. Note the difference in their points of view.
For education, let’s head to Texas and then Florida, where “school choice” aren’t dirty words.
The chief thing to remember is that every member of Congress has a voice on education appropriations, and D.C. residents have long been clear-eyed regarding that congressional role.
In Texas, voters have two high-profile candidates in their sight lines: incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz and his challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Yet school choice supporters do have a bone they can pick: Mr. O’Rourke voted against reauthorizing the D.C. school voucher program in 2015. Mr. Obama opposed vouchers, too, recall?
Speaking of Mr. Obama, he poured nothing but pure honey over the man he hopes will become Florida’s next governor, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is in a toss-up race with Republican Ron DeSantis, a former congressman and military veteran.
“Andrew,” Mr. Obama said in his endorsement, “is a proven fighter with the courage and determination to stand up for Florida families. As governor, Andrew will expand access to affordable healthcare, protect Floridians with pre-existing conditions, invest in education, protect the environment and build an economy that works for all.”
Said Mr. Gillum on his own behalf: “It is truly an honor to receive the endorsement and support of President Barack Obama. He exemplifies true patriotism and characterizes the American values that both the country and Florida are striving to recapture. As governor, we’ll build on his legacy by making healthcare a right, not a privilege, investing in our children’s education, and protecting the environment for our future generation of Floridians.”
One Democrat to another disagreeing in front of cameras, microphones and the “fake news” folks. Not a chance.
In fact, on cue, the former president and the wannabe governor read from the ingrained cheat sheet about “investing” in education as if there is a resist Trump manual that proposes shouting back that “now is the time to disinvest in public education.”
Yet that’s where we are, dear readers, with the current president and the former president making pre-midterm rounds, all bets are on the table — and I’d take one or two.
Then there’s the Ben Jealous vs. Larry Hogan race for governor in Maryland.
Understand, Mr. Hogan is the kind of centrist Republican, a commonsense, forward-thinking, winning politician the Democratic Party would love to have as a teammate.
And in case you’re wondering, Mr. Obama also endorsed Mr. Jealous, who leans so far left he’s still rubbing salve on his shoulders from feeling “the Bern.”
Mr. Jealous was all in for Bernie Sanders in 2016.
• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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