Et tu Soros

Looks like George Soros is now admits backing a flawed horse. In an interview yesterday, he's now conceded that John Kerry was not the best choice to go against George W. Bush.

Some statements:

"Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative," Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected."

...

The Kerry campaign "tried to emphasize his role as a Vietnam War hero and downplay his role as an anti-Vietnam War hero, which he was," said Soros. "Had he admitted, owned up to it, I think actually the outcome could have been different."

Alternative Needed

Soros said he also now questions "what the Democratic party stands for." Democrats need to counter "a very effective conservative message machine," he said. "There really needs to be an alternative."

Indeed, the "anybody-but-Bush" strategy didn't quite work. We'll see what the Democrats muster in 2008 when the field is still relatively wide-open. And, no, Obama won't be the savior quite yet. Give him a few more terms to season before he ends up like John Edwards.

Website: Choose The Blue

Interesting concept. This website lists out contributions to each of the political parties in order to characterize which side the company is on. The idea is to have Jeff's Blue citizens support only Blue companies. As the website states, "If each American who voted "Blue" in 2004 spends $100 in 2005 on products of a corporation that by reason of its employees' or connected political action committees' political contributions supported "Blue" over "Red," $5 billion in revenues would be shifted to "Blue" supporting corporations!"

It's even got a special explanation for NewsCorp.

The battle begins...

The Washington Post reports about the likely change to the Social Security formula that Bush intends to introduce:

Under the proposal, the first-year benefits for retirees would be calculated using inflation rates rather than the rise in wages over a worker's lifetime. Because wages tend to rise considerably faster than inflation, the new formula would stunt the growth of benefits, slowly at first but more quickly by the middle of the century. The White House hopes that some, if not all, of those benefit cuts would be made up by gains in newly created personal investment accounts that would harness returns on stocks and bonds.

Guess this is going to be the big story for the next few days (or months) or so...

Robert T. Matsui, 1941-2005

Great happiness also brings great sorrow. As we ring in the new year, we also mourn the loss of a great politican, one of those rare things in Washington. Congressman Robert T. Matsui passed away over the weekend and it's quite a blow to American politics--no matter which side of the political divide you might be on, Matsui was able to bridge it.

From the Sacramento Bee:

U.S. Rep. Robert T. Matsui, a Sacramento native who represented the region in Congress for 26 years and became one of the nation's leading Democratic voices, died Saturday night from pneumonia in a Washington-area hospital.

Matsui, 63, had been in the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., since Christmas Eve, and apparently had been in failing health since being diagnosed several months ago with a rare blood disorder that diminished his immune system.

As the nation reflects on his accomplishments today, it's amazing to hear what he's gone through from growing up in an internment camp to orchestrating reparations for the internees. Equally impressive is the litany of statements about him from such dignatirees as two presidents, a supreme court justice, and countless others.

In a world where there are constant laments about the lack of Asian-American role models, Matsui certainly fitted the bill. If only there were more.

Facts about Robert T. Matsui:

• Born: Sept. 17, 1941, in Sacramento.
• Confined in the Tule Lake internment camp with family, 1942-1945.
• Graduated C.K. McClatchy Senior High School in 1959.
• Attended UC Berkeley 1959-1963, earning degree in political science.
• Attended Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, 1963-1966, earning law degree.
• Married to Doris K. Okada, Sept. 17, 1966. Son, Brian Robert Matsui, born Feb. 16, 1972.
• Opened private law practice in Sacramento, 1967.
• Elected to the Sacramento City Council District 8, 1971; re-elected, 1975. Served as vice mayor, 1977.
• Elected to U.S. Congress in 1978, and won re-election 13 times.
• Died: Jan. 1, 2005.