We Americans have to really get out and see the world. The number of college students studying foreign languages has gone down, and fewer Americans travel overseas than do citizens in other developed countries. News coverage of foreign affairs has also decreased. Since the early 1970s, Americans have paid less and less attention to foreign events. Gallup polls from presidential election years 1948 through 1972 show that Americans used to rank foreign affairs as the most important issue facing the nation. Since then, with the exception of the 2004 elections, the economy has been ranked first.

During that same time, according to a report from the US Department of Education, in 1965, more than 16 percent of all American college students studied a foreign language, and now less then 9 percent do. There is a bunch of statistics showing Americans as less traveled and pretty ignorant of the outside world.

Only 21 percent of Americans even have passports, and most of them are used for travel to Canada and Mexico. It is horrible that with two wars going on, our growing dependency on imported oil, and our export dependent economy, we pay very little attention to the world.

If you can not afford to travel, and in this economy it is understandable, then I would suggest you finding a pen pal. With the computer, you are tapped in to anywhere in the world that you want to go, and I guarantee you that when speaking to people in other countries you learn something new everyday. I know that I do.

It makes you wonder what effect our ignorance about the world has on the world. We elect politicians to represent us in Washington. But, those same politicians are shaping the policies that affect the globe because of America’s position in the world. Is our ignorance being reflected in the global policies that we voted in?

Then there is the fear factor, where people fear what they do not understand. These countries that we see on the news seem scary and foreign and dangerous at times. But, would they seem so scary if we knew some people there and understood the culture? Isn’t it a barrier breaker to know some very good people in Russia, or some fun loving Iranians?

It’s about time to get up, get out and see something. Or at least get up, get on your computer and learn something. Maybe then we can get past all of these fear based conspiracy theories, or media driven country character assassinations. We base all of our thoughts about a country often on the actions of one or two people that represent that country on television. Would you like to have been judged as a country or a person by what George Bush said and did for his eight years?

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

How can we believe in a system of government when all we see is corruption, and nothing ends up getting done? It seems like every morning you can wake up and get new breaking news on a congressman that is corrupt or obstructing the movement of a bill. What makes it worse is that we also have a mostly uninformed public. For example, the Tea Party people, who I would like to respect, when polled were shown to say that 98 percent of them believe taxes went up or stayed the same under President Obama. A startling statistic for a group whose sole argument is taxes, for them not to know that taxes were cut for 95 percent of Americans is amazing.

We can start with Representative Charlie Rangel, a war hero who everybody likes. I like Charlie Rangel; he is a cool and informed guy who I have met several times. No time more prevalent in my mind then when outside of the Trinidad vs. Mayorga fight where he engaged me in a short political conversation. Great guy. But, he is obviously ethically challenged. The congressman who is the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, arguably the most important committee in congress because it decides tax law, has not paid his taxes. This prominent congressional leader, war hero with a purple heart, has let power go to his head and is seemingly corrupt.

Let us not forget about Senator Jim Bunning. To many he is a likeable guy, though I have to admit that I have never agreed with him on anything and am not surprised by his current display. But, this guy is blocking the extension of unemployment benefits single handedly, a measure that is largely bipartisan. The same guy who with the Republican majority under Bush more than doubled the deficit with unpaid for measures like tax cuts for the rich, two wars and Medicare part D, is making a stand against helping out of work Americans. Let me explain, the idea is that when an American is unemployed we want them to pay their bills because that helps stimulate the economy, along with the assumption that working people would like to get back to work. Former Major League Baseball pitcher turned Senator Bunning has filibustered this bill, flipped the bird to reporters, and refused to answer questions. This is not your George Washington, James Madison filibuster where you have to stand in front of the congressional body and talk till you are blue in the face; he is using a procedure and then going about his business. But, don’t worry about it America, these guys are working for you.

By far the funniest, if not saddest display of a politician is the Governor from New York. Governor Patterson has become nothing more then a spoof on Saturday Night Live. He has averaged a scandal a week, possibly too many to mention. The tenure of Governor Patterson has the state of New York missing “client number 9” who by the way has emerged again as a prominent political commentator whose exploits pale in comparison to today’s politicians.

Who do we have on our side now? The system is supposed to work for the people, where the people are accurately represented by the political figures who desire the job. Malcolm X described the election ballot as a bullet that we aim at the target of our choice. But it seems that does not work anymore with the lies and misinformation and corruption that is laced in this political system. I understand why many are not trusting of politicians, but what I would say is to not turn your back on the system that affects you, but become more informed past the talking heads on cable news.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

There is a lot that is going on in America right now, both positive and negative, but what we can’t deny is that people are out here struggling. If that is the case, then why do I keep bumping into these kids that can not read? I mean it is almost amazing to me to see these kids not know their sound blends, or their letter sounds. It makes me wonder what the parents are doing.

I can take this moment to brag that I taught my daughter to read when she was three years old. Call me what you want to, but it is time to ask what other job do you have as a parent? I don’t even really know where to go with this. All I know is that I am angry right now at this ridiculous laissez-faire (look it up) attitude towards raising children.

It can’t be hard to read to your children everyday. That is how they learn the association between how words look, and how they sound. Then, you can start having them point out certain words that they recognize. The ultimate effect will be your child reading you to sleep. It is that simple, and anytime you start to feel like the school, or television will do that for you, you have lost another piece of your child.

There are entire agencies that you can look to for help on this. Like The National Institute for Literacy, a federal agency that gives leadership on literacy issues. Check them out at http://www.nifl.gov/ and see if you can get anything from them that will help on the mission to get these children reading.

We can not blame poverty for this either because poor children do pretty well in terms of literacy. Well, as long as those poor children don’t live in America. Former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige would commonly point out that all of the generally impoverished English-speaking nations of the Caribbean have higher literacy rates than America’s. Also, studies of poor children in Africa show levels of English literacy that would make any American city just look, well, ignorant.

I think it is just time to be parents, and teachers, and advisors. It has gone on for far too long, and now children are just looking bad because of it. What a horrible time for this when we have to raise children to compete in a new global economy. Everybody in the world has the same information now, so why not at least arm the children with the ability to read and comprehend on a high level. This is just flat out bad!

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

Don’t you think it is getting just a little bit too tough to deal with people these days? I mean, lets look at it. Divorce is over fifty percent, laws can not get passed because of lack of compromise, and professional women are overwhelmingly single. Why is this though? Why is it that we can not seem to find a way to stay close to somebody without some sort of complicated unforeseeable ending?

I think (and this is just my personal non fact based opinion) that we look for too much out of people. Maybe we treat others as more of a singular minded being, then the complex multi directional souls that we all end up being. Essentially, nobody is perfect, and everybody at some point in time ends up being a hypocrite. Can we blame them though? Isn’t it our fault if we do not allow for these imperfections?

Sam Keen said that “We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” To me, that is a powerful statement that would serve us all well in following. Understanding and living with another person’s imperfections, or the ways that they are not like you can only help you grow as a person. It will be the thing that attracts more people to you as a person, because positive energy is shared and negative energy only drains.

But even in that we run into a major issue with ourselves. I mean, who can stay positive ALL THE TIME? It would be impossible. This leads us back to what Sam Keen said about the things that we reflect. As long as three parts good, the one part bad should not be the thing that defines us.

If you are religious, look at the people who God chose in the bible. Solomon had many wives, yet the bible says that God chose him to be the wisest king. Moses was guilty of premeditated murder, but was chosen to free the Egyptians and deliver the Arc of the Covenant.  Noah was a drunk, but God chose him to repopulate the earth. So obviously God knows man’s imperfections, but also that they should not limit our greatness.

Even if you are not religious at all, do you really think that Tiger Woods, the golfer, owes us an apology for cheating on his wife? Doesn’t that go too far? Isn’t he still a good golfer, and isn’t that why we know who he is?

We have arguments about arguments, bring up old fights that were already fought and reconciled, attack each other for mistakes made out of anger, monitor and read into each statement we make like the word police. Enough is enough! We have gotten crazy with judging intent, and burning some of our strongest most necessary bridges. I’m not even sure what the solution is, but I do know that it will definitely help to take a few steps back and recognize it. Think sometimes, should it really have gotten this far?

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

I am starting to think that in America, if you don’t fit into the little boxes that people mentally check off when they see you, “they” just will not accept you. We have become stuck up as a nation. Racism and classism, where everybody feels like they know what it means to be “classy” is on the rise. This goes for men, women, black, red, white, rich, poor, discrimination doesn’t discriminate.

Let’s look at how foolish we are in how we think of ourselves. If you are old enough, you remember when French’s mustard, which came in plastic yellow bottles, dominated the mustard world. Grey Poupon at the time was in the specialty section, maybe, and the company only made about one hundred thousand dollars a year. The company that made Grey Poupon then found that, if given a taste test, people only had to try Grey Poupon once to switch to it from yellow mustard. As Malcolm Gladwell says “In the food world that almost never happens; even among the most successful food brands, only about one in a hundred have that kind of conversion rate. Grey Poupon was magic.”

Of course you know what they did next. They put the Grey Poupon in a bigger glass jar, with an enameled label and made it seem more French and European, even though it was made in Hartford, Connecticut, from Canadian mustard seed and white wine.  But nothing was bigger then the commercial that they ran: “A Rolls-Royce is driving down a country road.  There’s a man in the back seat in a suit with a plate of beef on a silver tray.  He nods to the chauffeur, who opens the glove compartment.  Then comes what is known in the business as the “reveal.”  The chauffeur hands back a jar of Grey Poupon.  Another Rolls-Royce pulls up alongside.  A man leans his head out the window.  ”Pardon me.  Would you have any Grey Poupon?””

Sales jumped forty to fifty percent, Grey Poupon was now on the same shelves as French’s, and by the end of the 1980’s it was the number one brand in mustard. People were now willing to pay $3.99 instead of $1.49 for eight ounces. But, Grey Poupon didn’t change. What changed was the people’s minds about something that was different. They went from conforming with yellow mustard, to being “classy” and “trendy” with Grey Poupon. All of this was due to people seeing a Rolls Royce, and being told that this mustard was one of the finer things in life.

The New York Times’ Bob Herbert reports “An overwhelming 84 percent of the stops in the first three-quarters of 2009 were of black or Hispanic New Yorkers. It is incredible how few of the stops yielded any law enforcement benefit. Contraband, which usually means drugs, was found in only 1.6 percent of the stops of black New Yorkers. For Hispanics, it was just 1.5 percent. For whites, who are stopped far less frequently, contraband was found 2.2 percent of the time.” Only about 6 percent of stops result in an arrest for any reason.

If you are wondering what this police profiling has to do with mustard, then the answer is simple, it’s called packaging. First off, minorities are not marketed well at all. When you see a minority on television in a Rolls Royce, the intent has never been to be classy. During the Super Bowl, Doritos ran a very funny commercial where a little boy tells they guy to “stay off of my Doritos, and stay off of my momma.” After I laughed, my first question was, “are single black mothers mainstream now?” Why was the television standard for this child to not have a biological father in the house? I am completely aware that this sounds like a trivial complaint, but we have to look at the image that we portray and are portrayed as. It does not matter who we are, how much we have, or what color we are. What we also have to do is stop judging books by their covers. If we do, maybe we can find more “Grey Poupons”, or even find a black child of a single mother on welfare that is destined to be President.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

People fear what they don’t know. That is just a fact, but what is also a fact is that it is easy to break down the barriers of prejudices and misconceptions by spreading knowledge about who you are. That is the principle behind Black History Month. A month set aside to increase the understanding of a people, by the people.

Many of us African Americans grow up with no sense of what our culture really is. It is often glanced over in history books in school, and reduced to two paragraphs on slavery. So, when confronted with challenges to our race, the fall back is often a perpetuation of the images of us that appear on music videos. The cold hard fact is that MTV and BET don’t represent me. I in fact call music videos the new millennium minstrel show. The new painted face, where all of the women are promiscuous, and the men dance around throwing money and not conjugating their verbs.

That is why a month out of a year is so important to a comprehensive and diverse people who do not have a direct identifiable mother land, past a continent comprised of many countries. Black History Month began in Chicago during the summer of 1915 when Carter G. Woodson, an alumnus of the University of Chicago traveled with several friends from Washington, D.C. to participate in a national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois. This event attracted many African Americans from across the country to come and see the exhibits highlighting the progress their people had made since the destruction of slavery.

Inspired by the three-week celebration, the Harvard graduate with a doctorate, Woodson decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study of black life and history before leaving town.  On September 9th, he met with A. L. Jackson and three others and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH).

Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would transform race relations by dispelling the wide-spread falsehoods about the achievements of Africans and people of African descent. He started with “The Journal of Negro History” in 1916, which evolved into Negro History and Literature Week in 1924, which they renamed Negro Achievement Week. In February 1926, he sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week.

February wasn’t arbitrary, but was selected to include the birthdays of two great Americans who played major roles in shaping black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively. Since Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the black community and other Republicans had been celebrating his birthday.  And since the late 1890s, black communities around the country had been celebrating Douglass’.  Negro History Week was built around traditional days of commemorating the black past.  He was asking the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a new tradition.

The Negro History Week spread throughout the nation’s schools, and soon required Woodson to come up with annual themes and materials to give out. As early as the 1940s, blacks in West Virginia started to celebrate February as Negro History Month.  In Chicago, a now forgotten cultural activist, Fredrick H. Hammaurabi, started celebrating Negro History Month in the mid-1960s.  He used his cultural center, the House of Knowledge, to fuse African consciousness with the study of the black past.  By the late

1960s, as young blacks on college campuses got more conscious about links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week pretty fast. In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the Association used its influence to institutionalize the move from a week to a month and from Negro history to Black history. Since the mid-1970s, every American president, Democrat and Republican, has issued proclamations endorsing the Association’s annual theme.

This was one intellectuals dream to bridge the divide between races by introducing the races. What started as a Journal, moved to a week, then to a month of the rich history of a strong people. But what is even more important was that each generation expanded on the tradition. Instead of turning their backs, they saw the importance of the outreach. I only hope that this generation will see it the same way. That we too will be able to “say it loud!”

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

The foundation of America has been built on the backs of those willing to sacrifice and make hard choices personally, for the good of the people as a whole. This has never been more on display then during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. This movement happened in a time of Black Codes, better known as “Jim Crow” laws. These laws were meant to separate a whole race of people from the other, and later it was found that separate was not equal.

The Black Panther Party for Self Defense, during this transition of integration, emerged as the voice of all oppressed and seemingly powerless people. The party was founded in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton on October 15, 1966. The main initial focus was for the protection of oppressed neighborhoods (overwhelmingly African American) from police brutality, in the interest of justice. The times though, lead the group’s focus to drastically broaden to larger more systemic efforts.

Their initial platform statement was written in a Ten-Point-Plan that I will simplify here:

WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES

WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.

WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.

WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.

WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.

WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, All OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.

WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR All PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.

WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE’S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

These weren’t the bold assertions of some radical group, these were simple demands that are still being made today by a majority of Americans. The Panthers though, sought to force the action. They were proactive much in the way that many of us are not today. Instead of playing the blame game and making requests, they chose to use the people’s power to influence the system. Huey Newton famously said, “I have the people behind me and the people are my strength.”

The Black Panthers started developing social programs to provide needed services to black and poor people in order to promote a model for a more humane social structure. There were more then 35 of these programs that ended up being called Survival Programs, and were operated by Party members under the slogan “survival pending revolution.” The first was the Free Breakfast for Children Program, which spread to every major city in America where there was a Party chapter. The Free Breakfast Program had become so large that the federal government was forced to start a similar program for public schools across the country. The Panthers also helped create free medical centers, initiated a door to door program of health services that tested for sickle cell anemia, and encouraged blood drives, while reaching out to local gangs to get them away from crime and into the class war.

The example of the Black Panthers and their strong influence on America is a good one for us to remember. First, the people carry the power, and when organized for just causes with detailed plans, their powers will be seen and exercised. And, secondly, that it takes people willing to do something about the problems of the day in order for those problems to change. Change is hard, and it definitely will not happen if you do not make it happen.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

The President said a lot last night, and while many people will focus on the politics of it, I sort of looked at the human element. I am on my movie kick right now, so when he said that “democracy of over 300 million people is not easy,” I immediately called it his ‘The American President” moment. Who remembers the movie where President Andrew Shepard was being attacked the whole movie, then holds a surprise press conference in front of the White House press corps?

“America isn’t easy” President Shepard said in the movie. “America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.”

That’s America ain’t it? While President Obama came in with an advanced agenda, he has been fought by an opposing party that has refused to work because politically it makes sense for them. But, this is the America we want, isn’t it? The American people voted President Obama in partially because of the powers of the presidency that were elevated by the previous President.

What we are now seeing is democracy at work, and we the people, and the Congress that we have chosen to elect into office do not know how to react to it. This is the balance of powers that is the foundation of our government, but it hadn’t been seen in my recent memory. Congress is supposed to discuss issues; they are in fact called the Legislative Branch of the government. What Congress has forgotten though is how to pass a law when given back the responsibilities that are rightfully theirs. The President occupies the Executive branch of government. He is rightfully supposed to use his executive powers to delegate responsibilities, and expect those responsibilities to be met so that he can sign a bill from Congress to become law.

That’s just how democracy works, and it is what we the people have been asking for. We the people. The same people who vote these Congressional leaders into office, and the same people whose responsibilities do not end at the ballot box. Nobody in power can be in power without being checked. That is why we have a system of checks and balances. So, we the people have to continue to make sure that Congressional leaders know what we want, and do not ever feel that it is good politics to just say no (Republicans), or ask for personal favors (Democrats). Our role is to continue to write, email, or get in the face of our Congress people to let them know we will not vote for them without immediate action.

During the State of the Union, the president urged Congress to overcome the bitter partisan infighting that has paralyzed the Capitol to pass bills the public deserves. President Obama said, “I campaigned on the promise of change, change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change, or at least, that I can deliver it. But remember this; I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I can do it alone.”

Democracy is for and by the people. But, if the people are weak, then the Congress is weak. If the Congress is weak, then the President is weak. If the President is weak then the Nation is weak. If the Nation is weak, then we all fail, and in turn blame the President. The President last night concluded his State of the Union by saying that “We don’t quit! I don’t quit!” Well, I would suggest that that we hold our President to that, and hold our congress people accountable.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

Who remembers the first Batman movie with Michael Keaton, where Jack Niclaus played the Joker? Do you remember when the Joker took to the streets and wanted the people to like him, so he threw all of that money into the streets? He kept yelling “hubba hubba hubba…money money money!” Well, that is what the politicians in Washington would call Populism, and it is now what you are seeing from your government, and you will likely see more.

The Brookings Institution has a new study that says that the largest and fastest growing population of poor people in the U.S. is in the suburbs. From 2000 to 2008, the number of poor people in the U.S. grew by 5.2 million, reaching nearly 40 million. That represented an increase of 15.4 percent in the poor population, which was more than twice the increase in the population as a whole during that period. New York Time’s Bob Herbert further concludes that “the study does not include data from 2009, when so many millions of families were just hammered by the recession. So the reality is worse than the Brookings figures would indicate.”

This type of information, along with the unemployment, and the rising prices, and the real estate issues that we all know about, has thrown politicians in frenzy. Our government is now run by populists. It started with President Obama’s recent attack on the banks, ending their unlimited proprietary trading, taxing them, and attempting to break up large banks so too big to fail no longer exists. These were necessary changes and long overdue. Wall Street and Financial Institutions have been playing with the people’s money, making large bets with the people’s money, and when they failed, the people had to pay. It was…uhh…unfair. No fancy sentence needed, it just sucked! These changes immediately caused a temper tantrum from Wall Street and a large four day drop in the DOW. That drop is now over, along with the temper tantrum, because Wall Street thinks they found a way to get around the rules. We will see where this goes, but I expect I will be writing about it in a few months.

The next move, and this is all happening very fast and not coincidentally after the Massachusetts election, is the middle class pitch. President Obama increases his Populist initiative with this five part plan:

1) Expansion of the child tax credit — doubling it among families with incomes up to    $85,000;

2) Increasing funding for child care;

3) Broader support for families supporting elderly relatives, including counseling, training and temporary respite care;

4) Limiting student loan payments to no more than 10% of their income; and

5) Establishing an automatic employer-based individual retirement account plan, so that workers can establish an IRA through their workplace.

Hubba hubba hubba…money money money!! What a great thing it is to throw money at kids and old people. This is Politics at its best. But, how can you argue against babies and the elderly?

Now, for all the “deficit hawks” that think the government spends too much and that we are destroying America, the President has something for you too. A government spending freeze was just announced. President Obama plans to announce a three-year spending freeze on discretionary and non-military funds. The freeze is probably to stop the populist backlash to the soaring deficit and $787 billion stimulus bill. Spending for government agencies, from the Treasury to Health and Human Services, would not rise from their 2010 levels in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and after three years the total spent on those programs (about a sixth of the total budget) would be the lowest as percentage of the economy in 50 years. Exempt programs include Medicaid, Social Security, foreign aid, and all military and Pentagon spending.

In the middle of all of this, President Obama had increased spending on education by over a billion dollars. So, we have students, the elderly, the poor, the children, and the middle class. This is what we call Populism ladies and gentlemen, and I have to say that I actually agree with the moves on both financial and political level. It was time to regulate the banks, and focus on children’s education while helping families survive through this economic downturn. But, what I really want to see is a jobs plan. Now that type of populism will have me drinking the Kool-Aid.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins

The Democrats just had a scathing loss in the state of Massachusetts, a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one. The Democrat candidate was a very popular Attorney General in the state, maybe so popular that she thought she didn’t have to show up and could go on vacation in the middle of the race. So what does it mean for the country, and what was the political message to Washington?

First of all now Senator Elect Scott Brown, while running as a Republican, never mentioned that he was a Republican, not on his bus, not when talking to people, and not even in accepting his victory. He mentioned independence from political parties often though. So, we can obviously knock out the idea that Republicans are hot right now, matter of fact we can say the opposite. This was the same backlash that got Barack Obama elected. Throw the bums out, we don’t trust Washington, we need an outsider. But, it was even more then that, what was most important to recognize was the political message that Scott Brown ran on.

Scott Brown is a pro torture, attack the terrorists there before they can get us here politician, and he said it. The post election polls reported that the number one issue by far was not health care, but terrorism. Health care is a sexy media issue, but the fears of many Americans are still what wins elections. The state of Massachusetts already has universal health care, and 95 percent of their citizens are covered. Brown attacked the White House on trying terrorists in American courts. When Senator Elect Brown won, in his acceptance speech the loudest applause line was when he said that he believes that we should pay for bigger weapons, not for terrorists to have the rights of Americans in U.S. courts. He is for water boarding, and is upset that it is not done more often.

So what does this mean? As far as health care goes, if that is your concern, the House will have to pass the Senate health care bill so it does not go back to the Senate for a vote. If that doesn’t happen, then President Obama will have to recruit some Republican support. Facts are facts, and the Democrats still have an 18 vote majority, higher then Republicans had since 1923. The fear over having less then 60 votes is a display of the ineffectiveness of Congress and the new found fear of the filibuster.

As far as the people go, they are obviously still swayed by the fears of terrorism, but not only that, they do not know what Washington is up to. I recently got into a conversation where someone who said “Obama hasn’t passed anything.” Ridiculous and uninformed statement was my first reaction. Does this guy realize that we have never seen more done and a more aggressive agenda from a President in the modern era? Does he know how much has been done and how many changes have been made? Is this a joke? Then I realized that this is the electorate. They are not being communicated to by the man who is widely known as the best communicator of our time.

I am not saying that the President just has a message problem, because it is clearly more then that. But, communication is still very essential to the success of any politician, especially a President of the United States. The failure of government is in the congress though. A congress that is more interested in the arguments and political games then in being productive. It is time then for President Obama to take the gloves off and force congressional action. I expect a more populist, pro the people message from the President in the coming months. What I also expect to see is for the first time since the election of President Obama, Republicans will be involved in the political process. When nobody has a filibuster proof majority, there is nobody to blame, so everybody will have to get to work. For the Democrats, the election of Scott Brown was a disaster, for the nation, and ultimately the White House, it may just be a blessing.

- Brian Jenkins

Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins