Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest news story burning up the blogosphere today.




Today's question:

How is the Obama administration handling national security?

Last weekend our family had the privilege of joining colleagues from both political parties on a walk through the historic sites of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. We will never forget the experience. I served as co-leader of the 10th Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage sponsored by the Faith & Politics Institute.
 
We arrived in Montgomery on Saturday afternoon and made our way to the home church of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sitting in the front pew at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, we heard from Dorothy Cotton about her years working with Dr. King. She spoke of the faith that sustained their work and the historic importance of music and singing to the movement.
 
We then made our way to the Civil Rights Memorial, where our kids were given the privilege of laying a wreath to honor those who had lost their lives in the struggle for equality, and into the nearby museum with its inspiring displays of history. But it was the personal stories of segregation, told by the people who lived it and peacefully fought against it, that were most moving to us. Hearing firsthand accounts of how African Americans in the South were systematically denied the right to vote, intimidated, beaten and even killed fighting for that right will never leave us.

The president recently renewed his efforts to pass his version of health care reform and called on America to “make your voice heard.” Apparently he hasn’t been listening for the past year or just didn’t like what he heard.

From Town Halls to Tea Parties—people all over the nation stood up against the Democrats’ plan for a government take over of health care. You packed auditoriums and church halls and flooded congressional offices (including mine) with phone calls and letters—thousands of voices with one message, “hands off our health care!”

We turned that passion into results and the legislation stalled in Congress.

How far we've come since last June when I first committed to you that I would do all I could to work toward repeal of the corrosive policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Since then, I've worked hard to whip support for an amendment to temporarily halt the enforcement of the policy; I secured the commitment of Chairman Levin to hold the first Senate hearings on DADT, the first of which, I'm proud to say, was held early last month; and just last week, I was thrilled to stand with my colleagues as an original co-sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010, which will repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and prohibit discrimination of servicemembers based on their sexual orientation.

We are now closer than we've ever been to repealing this unjust and discriminatory measure that both hampers our national security and violates the civil rights of some of our bravest Americans.

At a time when we're fighting multiple wars abroad, we need all of our best and brightest serving.

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Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today. .




Today's question:

What does all of the chatter surrounding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel say about the White House?


Some background reading here.

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During the past year I've had conversations with thousands of people from all parts of Colorado, and I've heard a common refrain: Washington isn't working. Last week, the obstructionist actions of Republican senator Jim Bunning left no doubt that the people of Colorado are right -- Washington is broken, and it's getting worse.

The filibuster was originally intended to protect minority rights and encourage meaningful debate on the Senate floor. Today, this important rule is being abused at an unprecedented rate, and it's grinding the business of the Senate to a standstill.

That's why I am introducing new legislation to reform the Senate's rules -- to reform the filibuster in a responsible, practical way. My bill protects minority rights, while allowing the Senate to more efficiently conduct the people's business and put an end to pointless delays.

It’s my hope that both Congress and the Administration will continue to fly the Space Shuttle until either Constellation, America’s next generation space craft, is ready to launch or a domestic based company is certified to take humans to the space station. It’s critical to our national security, our economy and our technological edge that we maintain our leadership in space and our ability to send humans to the space station.
 
Several weeks ago the Administration put forth a NASA budget proposal which is seriously lacking in vision and mission. It appears to have been developed “on the fly” with little coordination between public and private stakeholders. And what NASA fails to fully understand, or at least obviously does not take into account, is the much broader military, industrial, and economic implications of their proposals.  It would be irresponsible for Congress to embrace this “plan” without further scrutiny.

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Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today.


 .

Today's question:

Should the White House change its stance and hold military trials for the Sept. 11 suspects?

Why or why not?

(Read today's answers after the jump.) Read more...

On September 11th, 2001, America changed.  Since then the United States has been at war with violent Islamic extremists who plot and plan against us every day.  We have sent American troops to Afghanistan and Iraq to defeat them in combat.  Our intelligence and special operations forces have fanned out across the globe to disrupt terrorist networks and deny them safe havens.  And we have cooperated with friends and allies to reinforce existing counterterrorism resources and build new coordinated capabilities.  While these actions are necessary to defeat the jihadist threat against the United States, they are not sufficient to do so.

To truly defeat terrorism, we must also wage and win the war of ideas.  Success in the debate between moderate and extremist voices within Islam is necessary if we are ever to secure a lasting peace.  Unlike traditional kinds of diplomacy, such as education and cultural exchanges, the goal of the war of ideas is not to persuade people to like America and its policies.  Instead, the aim is to make sure negative attitudes toward America and its allies do not take the form of violent extremism.  These efforts are often called “strategic communication.”

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