by Nicholas Beaudrot
I'm firmly of the belief that there's a gap in how the two parties address small-bore political issues where the goverment has some influence. In 2004, the Bush campaign mounted a direct-mail campaign to registered snowmobile (which is what they're called outside of Alaska) owners claiming that John Kerry would make more wilderness areas off limits to snowmobilers. In the opposite direction, rather and leave the auto loans at the abstract level of preserving America's manufacturing base, the idea that Bob Corker wants to take away your Chevy Silverado packs a lot more punch. So count me among those who think that the Obama Administrations decision to delay the digital TV transition for another six months is looking better than his decisions on contraception. I have long joked that the Failed Obama Presidency would begin on Feburary 17th, when Republicans would seize on the tiny number of households that couldn't get their converters properly and begin denouncing the failure of Big Government to handle the DTV transition properly, even though most of the legwork was done under the Bush Administration, and that Barack Obama just took away your TV programming. Remarkably, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appears to be one of the few competent Bush appointees, and things seemed to be going smoothly. But the program to dish out coupons for converters has run out of money, meaning an abrupt transition would likely leave millions without television.Now comes word from a soon-to-be-unemployed staffer that Cliff Stearns (R-FL) asked Obama to reconsider the decision to delay the DTV transition. So if you live in one of the fourteen million households without cable or satellite, if Cliff Stearns has his way you might not get to see Dancing With the Stars, or the Oscars, or the final episodes of E.R unless you pay for the converter box yourself.Photo by Flickr user Paul-W used under the Creative Commons License.
I'm firmly of the belief that there's a gap in how the two parties address small-bore political issues where the goverment has some influence. In 2004, the Bush campaign mounted a direct-mail campaign to registered snowmobile (which is what they're called outside of Alaska) owners claiming that John Kerry would make more wilderness areas off limits to snowmobilers. In the opposite direction, rather and leave the auto loans at the abstract level of preserving America's manufacturing base, the idea that Bob Corker wants to take away your Chevy Silverado packs a lot more punch. So count me among those who think that the Obama Administrations decision to delay the digital TV transition for another six months is looking better than his decisions on contraception. I have long joked that the Failed Obama Presidency would begin on Feburary 17th, when Republicans would seize on the tiny number of households that couldn't get their converters properly and begin denouncing the failure of Big Government to handle the DTV transition properly, even though most of the legwork was done under the Bush Administration, and that Barack Obama just took away your TV programming. Remarkably, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appears to be one of the few competent Bush appointees, and things seemed to be going smoothly. But the program to dish out coupons for converters has run out of money, meaning an abrupt transition would likely leave millions without television.Now comes word from a soon-to-be-unemployed staffer that Cliff Stearns (R-FL) asked Obama to reconsider the decision to delay the DTV transition. So if you live in one of the fourteen million households without cable or satellite, if Cliff Stearns has his way you might not get to see Dancing With the Stars, or the Oscars, or the final episodes of E.R unless you pay for the converter box yourself.Photo by Flickr user Paul-W used under the Creative Commons License. 
