Two Nerds, One Big Idea

Compromise and election-year messaging are often lightning bolts streaking in opposite directions. Congressional Republicans, intent on uprooting President Obama from the White House, have felt the tension. And so has Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who teamed with House Budget Chair Paul

Congressional Republicans buckled to election pressures as they agreed to a compromise last week to extend a payroll tax cut, continue jobless benefits and block a Medicare fee cut to doctors.

But Wyden has no reason to buckle. A Democrat, he was re-elected comfortably in 2010 and remains one of Oregon's most popular political figures, in part because he is willing to work across the political aisle. Seeking bipartisan solutions on controversial issues is viewed today as the act of a political maverick in much the same way as Senators Wayne Morse and Mark Hatfield opposing the Vietnam War.

The Potomac Watch column in the Wall Street Journal ran a piece describing what it called the Democratic establishment's "War on Wyden” for his Medicare collaboration with Ryan. It noted New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called Wyden a "useful idiot" to Mitt Romney's presidential election bid. House Democrats, according to WSJ, "hissed the plan would end Medicare as we know it." And a former Senate staffer complained Wyden undercut a key argument for Democrats regaining control of Congress.

Even Ryan's Democratic opponent jumped on the pig-pile. The WSJ quoted Ron Zerban as saying Wyden's co-sponsorship of a Medicare plan with Ryan gave the controversial Republican political cover. Zerban added, "Wyden is no longer a Democrat."

Not following party orthodoxy is nothing new for Wyden. Branded a young liberal when he brashly defeated sitting Congressman Bob Duncan in 1980, Wyden immediately set about building a reputation centered on job creation (a new lock at Bonneville Dam) and health care reform. The former head of Oregon's Gray Panthers knew a lot then about the strengths and weaknesses of Medicare, gathered by talking personally with hundreds of men and women covered by Medicare.

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Red Carpet in the Corn Belt

The diplomatic red carpet rarely extends as far as Muscatine, Iowa, an industrious town of 23,000 on the banks of the Mississippi. But it did this week for Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who paid a return visit to the town where in 1985 as a provincial official he led a trade mission to learn more about American farming practices.

Xi appears to be the heir apparent as leader of China, which is why he was given star treatment in Washington, D.C. with visits with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

But in Muscatine, the visit was described by the mayor as a reunion of old friends.

Xi stayed two nights in the small Iowa town a quarter century ago, sleeping on the floor of a local boy's bedroom festooned with Star Trek figurines. Eleanor Dvorchak, Xi's host and breakfast companion in 1985, now lives in Florida. She flew back to Muscatine for Xi's return trip, bringing with her a copy of "Obama on the Couch" with an inscription she had written in Chinese.

Other Muscatine residents recalled the 1985 visit exuded an exotic quality because China was just emerging from its international shell. Then, as now, most Muscatine residents were white. Just a handful of Asian Americans live there. The visit this week had a different complexion as U.S.-Chinese relations have grown and at times clashed.

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Half-time with Chrysler

A 120-second ad aired at half-time of Sunday's Super Bowl featuring Clint Eastwood talking about Detroit's comeback sparked a sharp debate among political partisans. Was it a covert pro-Obama re-election ad? Was it part of the payback for massive bailouts that kept Chrysler afloat? It depends on who you talk to, and plenty of people were talking.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said the ad had zero political content.

Eastwood, who described himself as leaning more toward libertarian fiscal views and has been quoted by the Los Angeles Times as opposed to the auto bailout, said the ad was about job creation. 

GOP high priest Karl Rove told Fox News the ad offended him and smacked of Chicago-style politics. 

Obama campaign staffers in Michigan called it "another great Chrysler ad," while the President's political advisor David Axelrod extolled it as a "powerful spot."

And then there are all the tweets and Facebook mentions arguing one side or the other. Thousands of them, which continued on into this week.

Most of the commentary seemed to bypass the policy choice behind all the brouhaha. Commentators and tweeters apparently left that for actual politicians to duke out. Obama touts the bailouts, which actually started under President George W. Bush, as the savior of the U.S. auto industry. Or as one wag summed up Obama's re-election pitch, "Osama bin laden is dead, but GM is alive." Republican presidential hopefuls pan the bailout, calling it an unfortunate intrusion by government into the free market.

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Bonamici Scores Lasting Victory

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici cruised to a double-digit victory over Republican Rob Cornilles in this week's special election to replace Oregon 1st District Congressman David Wu, who resigned last year amid a sex scandal.

Bonamici's convincing win didn't surprise many people, but explanations for her success don't always ring true. Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner, dismiss the 1st District and Oregon generally as a liberal-leaning part of the Left Coast.

That generalization overlooks the fundamentals that have turned Oregon's 1st Congressional District into a Democratic bastion since 1974, when in the wake of the Watergate scandal Les AuCoin became the first Democrat in state history to capture the congressional seat since it was created in 1893.

Voters in the 1st District, which in the 1970s included Lake Oswego, Lincoln City and more rural areas than now, didn't suddenly change their political philosophy. What happened was the growth of a working Democratic majority, backed by an effective political apparatus that gets out voters who support Democrats.

The 1st District encompasses Northwest Oregon, generally from the Willamette River west to the coast and from the Columbia River south to Yamhill County. With the exception of Yamhill County, this is one of the most pro-choice parts of Oregon. Republican candidates, especially when they are males, who run with the endorsement of Right to Life, can face tough sledding holding onto Republican women and fiscally conservative, but socially liberal independent voters.

The district includes King City, one of the state's largest enclaves of senior citizens. King City is home to a lot Republicans who have deserted their party's candidate if he or she talked about dismantling Social Security or cutting Medicare.

Northwest Portland and the western suburbs are comfortable homes for many of Oregon's prominent and politically active gay and lesbian citizens.

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The Digital Divide

Digital freedom and privacy are surging onto political platforms, legislative agendas and court dockets, with sometimes overlapping impacts.

In the wake of a massive online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) last week, U.S. congressional leaders shoved the "online piracy" legislation favored by traditional media interests into a broom closet. Protecting the intellectual property of movie makers and book publishers was trumped by cries for Internet freedom.

Meanwhile, many of the same online giants who backed last week's Internet blackout protest may be looking at tougher online user privacy legislation in the European Union. The New York Times reports the EU will introduce a measure requiring Amazon, Facebook, Google and others to obtain explicit approval from their users before sharing personal data with advertisers. They must also scrub personal data permanently from their databases at a user request or face heavy fines in what one EU official called a move toward "online transparency."

The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in with a narrow ruling, with vast implications, indicating law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant before placing a GPS device on a suspect's vehicle. Justices hinted it may be time for Congress to act to clarify just how much privacy citizens can expect in an age when banks, retailers and social media sites routinely mine online data. The court's ruling pumped new life into legislation Oregon Senator Ron Wyden introduced last summer to clarify privacy protection involving police use of electronic surveillance equipment.

The specter of Big Brother tracking your whereabouts by tapping into your smartphone signal is scary. But it is in some ways just a police app for FourSquare, which allows a user to note where they are so friends can find them. Yes, the intent is different, but not a 180-degree difference.

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