'76 Blog

The President has failed on national security and can't credibly campaign as a tough guy, says John Andrews in the May round of Head On TV debates. Just the opposite, replies Susan Barnes-Gelt: in eliminating bin Laden and removing Qadhafi, Obama has proved the strongest commander-in-chief since FDR. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Romney's chances, Denver's budget woes, and how to help the homeless. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997 and presentation of Centennial Institute since 2009. Here are all Four scripts for May: 1. SHERIFF OBAMA? NOT SO MUCH John: Obama was deservedly condemned by left and right after he crudely politicized the anniversary of Bin Laden’s death.  This president has failed on national security. His swagger is unconvincing as well as tasteless.  He has dangerously slashed our defenses. He has been weak against Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Muslim Brotherhood.  Susan:   President Obama has consistently performed on National Security. In four years, Obama has foiled several attacks on the US, killed the 9/11 master-mind – Bin Laden - and dozens of key operatives, eliminated Quadafi and begun an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan. He’s the toughest commander-in-chief since FDR. John: I got the talking points.  Now let’s be real.  FDR knew who the main enemy was, mobilized massively and gained victory over the Axis. Reagan knew his main enemy, rearmed, and won the Cold War.  Obama seeks to disarm.  He doesn’t want victory. He’s clueless about our enemy in Iran. Susan:  I sincerely hope Willard and the Wing-nuts make the President’s foreign policy the centerpiece of their campaign.  Doing so serves a dual purpose: reengages lefty libs who worry Obama’s caved to the generals and proves beyond reasonable doubt that Romney desperate and hopelessly out of touch. 2. ROMNEY GAINING BY THE DAY John: Challenger Mitt Romney has the White House worried, and with reason.  The former governor has economic savvy and leadership that the former professor can’t match. GOP rivals are closing ranks with Romney, while key Democratic voting blocs are underwhelmed with Obama.  November will be close, but the incumbent’s in trouble. Susan:  Which Romney?  Anti-auto bailout Romney, now taking credit for US auto rebound?  Innovative Gov. Romney author of the first public healthcare program?  Entrepreneur Romney who made a fortune in the US, but has untold investments abroad?  Conservative Romney? Moderate Mitt?  Liberal Willard?  Who is that masked man? John: Cute, Susan.  Sort of Jon Stewart in a skirt.  But the problem for you Democrats is that it’s very hard to win an election like this one, where the incumbent seeks a second term amid economic distress and looming war clouds.  It’s a referendum on Obama, and Romney is gaining by the day. Susan:  It’s a long, long while from May to November – which is good for Romney who’d better figure out who he is, what he stands for and why.  Obama continues to face challenging times: a lackluster recovery, uncertainty abroad and the public’s disgust with politics.  But . . .you can’t beat something with nothing. 3. SHOULD DENVER RAISE TAXES? Susan:  Denver Mayor Michael Hancock must address structural problems in Denver’s operating budget.  Fixed expenses – largely personnel driven – are increasing faster than revenues.  He should standardize employee health care and pension formulas before raising taxes.  He must chose between pleasing and making long-term decisions. John: Susan, we’re meeting minds again.  It worries me. Running leaner on public employee pay and benefits is the right answer, even though unions will push back. Raising taxes will only make Denver a less desirable place to live and do business.  It’s the wrong answer.  Can I hold you to that? Susan:  Absolutely NOT!  Denver’s taxes are among the lowest in the region.  Efficient government and capital investments are necessary to maintain and enhance the City Denverites have built through generations. But before raising taxes and fees, the mayor must focus on more than re-election, and set measurable outcomes and priorities.  John: America is drowning in taxes, spending, regulation, entitlements, debt, unfunded pension obligations, yada yada yada, next stop Greece.  Denver’s on that train. If Hancock and the council are smart, they’ll get off the train and make the city a magnet for economic growth. Step one: No new taxes.     4.  TOUGH LOVE FOR STREET PEOPLE Susan:  Denver’s Mayor approved a tough anti-loitering ordinance - aimed at controlling the explosion of homeless, occupiers and summertime drifters overtaking downtown, Civic Center and the river.  Though well-intended, it should have been thoroughly analyzed prior to being jammed through the City Council. John:  Sometimes common sense overtakes political correctness, even with a bunch of liberals like this mayor and council, and you just want to cheer.  I’m still pinching myself that Hancock would lead the way and do this.  Denver has shelters and compassionate programs aplenty.  Enough with the street camping. Susan:  That’s the problem.  Good for Hancock for making a tough call.  However Denver doesn’t have the shelters, outreach workers, police resources or partnerships to mitigate this growing dilemma.  Time will tell if the city is able to meet the expectations of compassion and control this bold ordinance promises. John: Step one is to think about it differently.  Street people used to be called vagrants, emphasizing their chosen behavior.  Political correctness now calls them homeless, emphasizing victimhood.  Some are victims, but many chose the streets.  Denver now offers one less incentive for that dead end.  The camping ban is tough love.

The lesson already from Supreme Court deliberations over the constitutionality of Obamacare is that unlimited government makes most Americans queasy, says John Andrews in the April round of Head On TV debates. No, replies Susan Barnes-Gelt, the big takeaway is conservatives' inconsistency, suddenly favoring the very judicial activism they long opposed. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Romney vs. Obama, the Trayvon Martin shooting, Secretary of State Scott Gessler, and the urban freeway wars. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997, with sponsorship by Centennial Institute since 2009. Here are all five scripts for April:1. SUPREME COURT WEIGHS OBAMACARE John: President Obama’s takeover of the health care system, one-sixth of the US economy, will either be approved by the Supreme Court or struck down as unconstitutional in whole or in part, very soon now.  Already, it’s making us think about why unlimited government power over our lives is a dangerous thing. Susan:  You can’t have it both ways – until healthcare hit the Supremes – your chronic complaint was activist courts. Now it’s nanny-state government.  Seems to me “of the people, for the people and by the people” is the benchmark we’ve lost sight of. John: Government by the people requires a constitution that maximizes freedom and responsibility while minimizing paternalism and bureaucracy.  Lincoln, whom you’re quoting, would be horrified at how badly Obamacare violates that.  So would the Founding Fathers.  This law worsens health care and tramples liberty.  It needs to go. Susan:  Healthcare run for the benefit of insurance companies and for-profit hospitals serves stockholders not people. The lopsided costs, compared to the rest of the world are the primary driver of our budget deficits. Obama’s plan saves nearly $150-billion over the next decade and delivers better care. 2. ROMNEY VS. OBAMA, THE MAIN EVENT John: One man started as a leader in the free enterprise system.  The other started as a community organizer among the discontented.  One man makes no apologies for America’s goodness and greatness.  The other travels the world apologizing and wants to transform America.  Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama, the 2012 campaign now begins. Susan: Bring it on.  Romney is so out of touch with the typical American that his rants ring hollow.  How does a guy with an elevator for his cars relate to Americans at the gas pump?  Romney is adept at making money, lacking conviction and blowing in the wind. John: A president seeking a second term must convince voters he did well in his first.  In Obama’s case that’s hard.  The 2008 candidate of hope and change is running this time on fear and resentment.  His record of economic stagnation and foreign policy weakness leaves no choice.  America needs President Romney. Susan:  Which Willard Romney? ? The guv who set the standard for public healthcare in Massachusetts?  The one who refused to take on Limbaugh’s screed against women?  The guy who doesn’t worry about poor people, old people or the family dog?  Or the compromising, tax avoiding, entirely opaque one percenter ? 3.  TRAYVON MARTIN CASE Susan:  Florida’s Stand Your Ground law led to the slaying of unarmed 17-year old African American teenager Trayvon Martin by self-appointed neighborhood vigilante George Zimmerman.   In a travesty of racism over law, It took 6 weeks to charge Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder.  John: Much of the media has allowed speculation to outrun the evidence in this tragic case, Susan.  Not on this program.  It now appears Martin was the aggressor in the bloody brawl that cost him his life.  It appears Zimmerman was not racially motivated.  America’s liberal guilt industry has disgraced itself on this one. Susan:  The brutal slaying of an unarmed teenager is hardly a cause célèbre of the liberal media.  The unwillingness of the police to arrest this guy with a record of erratic, gun-toting behavior – is shameful to the left, the right and the center.  Good for the prosecutor for finally bringing charges. John: Evidence, Susan, evidence.  Not paranoia, proof.  Not fantasy, facts.  The country doesn’t need more reckless racial inflammation right now. The Florida authorities are moving appropriately.  Justice will be done.  Is there too much violent death in this country?  Absolutely.  Young blacks, young Latinos especially.  But they’re mostly killing each other.  4. GESSLER RECALL? Susan:  Colorado Democrats are working to recall Secretary of State Scott Gessler following his attempt to disenfranchise thousands of Colorado voters – including members of the armed services.  His claim that 5000 undocumenteds voted in 2010 remains entirely unsubstantiated.  He is a state official behaving like a partisan political hack. John: The priority for liberals is to make voting easy.  The priority for conservatives is to make it honest.  Coloradans in 2010 had a clear choice between incumbent Democratic Secretary of State, Bernie Buescher, Mr. Easy Vote, and Republican challenger Scott Gessler, Mr. Honest Vote.  Gessler is doing exactly what he campaigned on. Susan: Prior to his election, Gessler worked for a highly partisan conservative law firm. His agenda as a public official, is consistent with his partisan commitment to restrict the voting rights of the military serving abroad, minorities and seniors. And unfortunately, you’re right the voters got what they paid for. John:  Susan, come on.  Partisan this, partisan that.  Your party, the Democrats, has the trademark on voting irregularities and stolen elections down through the years.  LBJ in Texas, JFK in Illinois, Gore in Florida, Franken in Minnesota, Gregoire in Washington State.  Secretary Scott Gessler is a standup guy to protect Colorado from that. 5.  I-70 EXPANSION THROUGH DENVER NEIGHBORHOODS Susan:  The proposed expansion of I-70 through Denver neighborhoods – Globeville, Swansea, Elyria – is moving into its 9th year. Consensus by impacted neighbors remains elusive – despite attempts to buy them off with a new school, rec center and clean street lights.  Time for the Mayor and the Governor to step up. John: You liberals hate the automobile, so I initially disregarded this Globeville stuff.  But as a conservative, not just politically but culturally, I believe that big engineering projects exist to serve the human community, not vice versa.  So if we can widen the freeway less disruptively, why not?  Persuade me, Susan.  Susan:  I think you are persuaded.  The issue is efficiency, safety and economics.  Demolishing the core city with high-speed freeways is expensive, dangerous and the worst possible land use policy.  Urban corridors are key to job creation, small business development and commerce. Highways and cities don’t mix. John: Stop sloganeering, or you’ll unpersuade me.  Highways and cities do mix.  How else can18-wheelers move the lifeblood of commerce from one metropolis to another?  How else can people get around a big metro area – and don’t say white elephant transit.  Still if there’s a 270 solution for longsuffering historic Globeville, explore it.

The president rightly rebuked the GOP presidential contenders for "casualness" in regard to a potential war with Iran, says Susan Barnes-Gelt in the March round of Head On TV debates. No, replies John Andrews, Obama merely hopes to distract from his own failed policy on Tehran's nuclear aspirations. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Hickenlooper's leadership style, liberal antipathy to the automobile, a tourism tax giveaway, and the presidential race. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997, with Centennial Institute sponsorship since 2009. Here are all five scripts for March:   1. NEARING WAR WITH IRAN?   Susan: "When I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I'm reminded of the costs involved in war. This is not a game. And there's nothing casual about it." That’s the President’s response to the recklessness of the GOP presidential wannabe’s urging war with Iran.   John:  Steadily, steadily, the fanatical regime in Tehran moves closer to possessing the nuclear weapons with which it hopes to exterminate Israel and devastate America. Obama would rather scold the opposition party for sounding the alarm than forge an effective policy himself.  He missed a chance to remove the regime years ago.   Susan: A nuclear holocaust is a zero sum game for Israel, Iran, the U.S. and the planet. Consider recent events in Afghanistan – a mentally deranged soldier killed kids, women, fathers – terminating any prospects of earning the trust of the people.  The human cost of war is far too great.   John:  I understand your feelings.  But we don’t just need emotions, we need solutions.  This weak, naïve, self-absorbed man who happens to be president is day by day increasing the risk of a big conflict by failing to confront and squeeze Iran in smaller ways.  Israel must be protected.  Obama must go.     2. HICK LEADS FROM BEHIND   John: Much like Barack Obama, John Hickenlooper is long on style and short on substance.  Obama’s famous copout of “leading from behind” now has its Colorado counterpart in Hick’s statewide tour of townhall meetings, the TBD Project.  He claims that stands for “To Be Determined.”  I suspect it means “Taxed by Democrats.”   Susan: The person who thought up TBD as the brand for the Guv’s priority setting initiative, ought to be fired. Am I naïve to believe it’s the Governor’s role to set the state’s direction? Aren’t campaigns about taking the public’s temperature?  TBD is a Totally Bad Decision.   John: Hickenlooper’s townhall tour aims to manufacture a consensus for raising taxes, but people won’t buy it.  Neither the governor nor the legislature is getting any traction at present.  The alpha dogs in Colorado right now are activist judges – blowing up school finance, slapping down vouchers, and snarling at TABOR.   Susan:  No the problem is the lack of leadership and stewardship of this great but fragile western state. Shame on the legislature for funding wealthy developers instead of education, transportation and infrastructure.  Shame on us for electing people we like instead of leaders who might make a difference.   3.  OBAMA IN TROUBLE   Susan:  Can it get any worse for the GOP? Mitt Romney’s failure to condemn Rush Limbaugh calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a slut was beyond the pale. Romney’s response,  “It’s not the language I would have used” later saying it wasn’t his business?  Shame on you, Willard Mitt.   John: Coarse language from left and right is as old as politics.  It’s deplorable, but totally irrelevant to who should be the next president.  Obama’s numbers are falling.  His energy policy has doubled gas prices. His health care takeover is hugely unpopular. Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul could all beat him.   Susan:  John, no one’s approval ratings are lower than Willard Mitt’s.  Even moderate Republicans – that endangered species – are looking for the not-Mitt option.  It’s a long way to Tampa and this slugfest among wacked pundits and eager-to-please, candidates spells trouble for the R’s in November.   John:  The one in trouble is Barack Obama.  Presidents who don’t get the job done are shown the door.  It’s the American way.  Ask Jimmy Carter. They want a leader who is proud of America and believes in Americans as a free people.  People have had it with Obama’s excuses and arrogance.     4.  STOP THE TOURISM TAX GIVEAWAY   Susan:  In 2009 Colorado Concern, a private business group, sponsored legislation creating a state sales tax subsidy, benefitting their members’ interest in building a NASCAR tract east of DIA - a victory of influence over intelligence.  When the racetrack died, the giveaway should have been buried.   John: Aurora, Estes Park, Glendale, Pueblo, Douglas County, and Montrose County are pleading with a state board to subsidize tourism for two of them and not the other four.  $50 million a year is the prize.  Government playing favorites among competing localities and businesses this way is an awful idea.   Susan:  Under any circumstance, the state has no business using tax increment financing to pay for assets that benefit a private developer and only a private developer. Urban renewal tools are just that – mechanisms to revitalize obsolete, dilapidated urban property.  Not a way to reduce risk for influentials and campaign contributors.   John: I hate to agree, Susan, but amen.  For me as a Republican and you as a Democrat to unite against this tourism tax giveaway, both believing in integrity in government, illustrates how the two-party system can sometimes let the people down when powerful inside players rig the game.  It’s a shame.    5. LESS RAIL, MORE BUSES   John: Liberals will tell you they don’t like the automobile.  They object to the personal freedom it confers.  Yet they also object to high gas prices.  What a delicious contradiction.  A related contradiction is the money liberals continue throwing at light rail despite its negligible ridership. Bus rapid transit is far superior.   Susan:  Wow! John, after 8 years of jousting with me, you’re beginning to sound like a progressive!  Of course, bus-rapid-transit is the most efficient way to build mass transit. Dedicated lanes, mixed-use transit stops and cool-looking buses are the logical answer for regions as spread out as ours.   John: Progressive? No, I’m a regressive.  I’d like to run the movie back to 2004 and let people vote again on the tax hike we now is far too small to build out the Fastracks fantasy train that few commuters use.  Going forward, though, let’s agree – less rail, more buses.   Susan:  The real problem is the lack of civic and political direction guiding RTD staff and directors. Mass transit needs to be part of a regional land use transportation network, connecting people with places, jobs and one another.  Absent a comprehensive approach, we’ve all missed the bus.          

  Republicans will suffer politically from their "overreach on family planning" in response to a minor mistake by HHS, says Susan Barnes-Gelt in the January round of Head On TV debates. Nothing minor here, replies John Andrews; Obama's mandate on religious institutions is a declaration of war. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over the Komen Foundation vs. Planned Parenthood, Iran's threat to Israel, Colorado legislative ethics, and the presidential race. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for February: 1.  HHS MANDATE ON RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS Susan:  It took the Obama administration a week to acknowledge Secretary of HHS over-reached in requiring Catholic-owned hospitals and non-profits to include birth control in employee health plans.  The compromise –already implemented by 24-states - calls on insurance companies to cover the cost.  Good for Obama for addressing the problem. John: Obama personally, not some cabinet secretary, broke his promise to Catholics about insurance regulations that would respect their religious objection to contraceptive drugs.  Obama personally brutalized evangelicals with his mandate for their churches, charities, and schools, including the college where I work, to provide abortion drugs.  He has declared war. Susan:  You’re at war on too many fronts – lacking the resources to battle Repub overreach on family planning.  How is it that small government conservatives want to regulate individual choice and what happens in the bedroom.  Keep it up. The R nominee is bound to get a couple thousand female votes.  John: Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists – one thing we all have in common is cherishing America as the land of the free, a place where government won’t trample our religious beliefs.  But Obama on his left-wing power trip obviously doesn’t care.  People of faith won’t let this one stand. 2. KOMEN FOUNDATION BOWS TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD John: The issue of abortion raises two questions.  Legally, when can a woman end a pregnancy?  Culturally, how much do we value life at every stage?  America has developed a culture of death since Roe v. Wade.  The Komen Foundation knuckling under to Planned Parenthood proves it yet again.  Really sad. Susan:  I’m puzzled when small government conservatives –adamantly opposed to government overreach, passionately support government’s role in the bedroom, free choice and a very blurred line between church and state.  Shame on former Komen VP Karen Handel for politicizing a formerly worthy charity. John: This was two private organizations, not government.  Komen decided its work of saving lives by fighting breast cancer should not be entangled with Planned Parenthood’s work of taking lives by performing abortions.  The liberal firestorm wasn’t about 1/1000 of Planned Parenthood’s budget, it was about perpetuating the culture of death.   Susan:  No John.  Komen’s disgraced VP – Karen Handel is an uber-conservative Georgia Republican who lost her bid for governor.  Her single-issue platform?  Anti-choice, targeting Planned Parenthood.  Successful non-profits rely on political neutrality. Komen has done irreparable harm to its reputation and long-term viability. 3.  ISRAEL AND IRAN Susan:  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons. And the string of recent attacks thought the region - is an escalation that threatens Israel. State Dept officials believe Israel could attack Iran this spring, in order to stop Tehran from building a nuke.  Time for diplomacy – on steroids. John: The worst weakness of this weak president has been his non-resistance to Iran’s goal of nuclear blackmail.  Equally bad is Obama’s moral and strategic blindness in treating Israel as America’s adversary, instead of our ally.  Israel has stopped two other neighbors from going nuclear.  If they strike Iran, we must support them. Susan:  Pul-eeeze! The President took out bin Laden,  his key operatives;  brought the troops home from Iraq, toppled a Libyan  dictator and has strong public approval for winding down the irresolvable mess in Afghanistan.  None of his potential Repub opponents has the foreign policy chops to take him on. John: Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map, dominate the Middle East, neutralize Europe, destabilize Latin America, empower North Korea, and intimidate the United States.  In the face of this threat, Barack Obama is the Neville Chamberlain of our time – indecisive, inept, timid, and weak.  Thank goodness Netanyahu is strong. 4. PRESIDENTIAL RACE YET AGAIN John: The roller coaster of Mitt Romney and his rivals, from Perry and Cain to Gingrich and Santorum, is like nothing I’ve seen in watching Republican politics since 1960.  The weak leadership of Barack Obama is like nothing you Democrats have had in the White House since Jimmy Carter in 1980.  This year is crazy. Susan:  Every month the R’s look for a candidate, President Obama gets stronger and stronger. Flavor of the month Santorum is forcing Mitt further to the right, making it tough for him to recapture the chameleon character he’s depending on in November.  Can’t wait for Pawlenty to join the race. John: Obama getting stronger?  What planet is your pollster on?  His numbers are poor, and the DNC trails the RNC in fundraising.  Hence Obama’s sudden chumminess with the super PAC’s.  Hence the vote-buying on foreclosures and student loans.  Catholic and evangelical voters hate his mandate on abortion drugs. Even the black vote is soft. Susan:  With every Republican primary mudfest, Obama’s numbers get stronger. Right wing-nuts, forcing their potential nominees to debate birth control instead of job creation send key swing voters – center right independents – straight to Obama.  Americans want to vote FOR the future. Not fight 19th Century social issues. 5. ETHICS CASE ROILS LEGISLATURE John: Did state Rep. Laura Bradford have one too many that night? Did the Denver Police handle it badly? Those matters are soon forgotten.  What we shouldn’t forget is how squeaky clean the Colorado General Assembly is, compared to legislatures in most other states.  The ethics rules are uncomfortable, but they work. Susan:  Yes, Coloradans are lucky – our state legislators are cleaner than most, in spite of a toothless ethics code. I’d say it has to do with Colorado being a place where voters are uncomfortable with old-style backroom shenanigans.  Sadly in the case of Rep. Bradford, Denver Cops were out of line. John: Legislative ethics have teeth.  I served there and saw members get bitten.  Kudos to Speaker McNulty for invoking the process against his fellow Republican, Bradford, despite threats of a party switch.  Democrats have done likewise.  TABOR and term limits also help keep government clean.  Corruption is less when power is limited. Susan: Thank you John, for opening the garage-door of opportunity.  Let’s talk Doug Bruce’s TABOR policy.  The icon of the strangle-government movement is going to jail for cheating, lying and swindling.  Doug Bruce’s story is a cautionary tale for lawmakers who operate outside the law.  

Obama's goals and record will make a stark contrast with those of Mitt Romney or whoever the GOP nominates, says John Andrews in the January round of Head On TV debates. Hardly, scoffs Susan Barnes-Gelt:  Romney's positions are vague and the overall Republican field is weak. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over the upcoming legislative session.  Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for January:   1. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR  - HERE GOES   Susan: The economy is beginning to recover and employment is finally going in the right direction.  Obama will have a tough race this November, but so far – the Republican looks weak.  If Romney is the strongest in a weak field, your party’s in trouble.   John: Romney believes in a bigger economy for all to share.  Obama believes in a bigger government for all to support.  Romney believes in a stronger America for the world to respect.  Obama believes in a weaker America for the world to push around.  It’s a very clear choice.  Advantage Romney.   Susan:  We don’t know what Romney believes in because – despite numerous debates – he’s failed to articulate a vision for America.  Bashing the president and reciting America the Beautiful while he lies about the number of jobs he’s created and brags about firing people, is not going to win an election.   John: What you just heard, folks, is the whole Obama campaign.  Throw mud, discredit the challenger.  At all costs, distract the voters from the incumbent’s record of failure.  It’s time again for the Reagan question: Are we better off than four years ago?  We’re not, so we need a new president.   2. WHITHER THE NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW?   John: I’ve enjoyed the National Western Stock Show for over 50 years.  My son and his son have enjoyed it.  It’s a Colorado treasure and a Denver economic powerhouse.  The Stock Show must go on, no matter what.  If we can bid for the Winter Olympics, surely we can preserve the National Western.   Susan: Yes the stock show is a Denver institution.  And that’s where it belongs – in Denver - central Denver.  However, the 2-week event needs to become part of year-round job generating campus.  21st Century management and vision must refresh the 160 year-old institution.   John: Just so the whole thing is done with voluntary financial contributions and good old free enterprise.  When you say “year-round job generating campus,” I hear boondoggles and subsidies, taxpayers on the hook and special interests at the trough.  Horses and cows at the trough, fine.  Special interests, no.   Susan:  95 acres in the middle of town, used less than 3 months a year – primarily for special events – is a boondoggle.  The National Western notwithstanding – we’re not a cow town anymore.  The site needs to generate jobs, revenue and enhanced property tax – no taxpayer bailout, buyout or bond.   3. DOES DENVER NEED AN INDEPENDENT POLICE MONITOR?   John: As the father of a police officer, I am not objective about law enforcement.  It’s a good thing – hard work, dangerous work.  The dedicated people who do it deserve the benefit of the doubt.  Denver’s independent police monitor and oversight board are needlessly adversarial to law enforcement.  Why have them at all?   Susan: A handful of rogue cops, an ineffective internal review process and a series of abusive conflicts mean citizens don’t trust the police department.  That’s why Mayor Hancock took the unprecedented step of bringing in a police chief from outside the department.  Accountability is key.   John: To protect public safety, we grant government a monopoly of force.  To prevent tyranny and protect liberty, we have watchdogs to watch the watchers.  It’s a balancing act.  But the outgoing police monitor, Rosenthal, lost the balance. His call to bring in the feds, an Obama administration that’s anti-police, is wrong.   Susan:  Agreed.  The police dept doesn’t need a federal investigation.  On the other hand, the department has been rogue since Paul Childs was murdered in 2003, I expect the new chief and manager will clean things up.  But an independent monitor can give them cover and reassure the public.     4. PRIORITIES FOR LEGISLATIVE SESSION   Susan:  It’s an election year for the state legislature, so we can anticipate a lot of posturing and empty rhetoric. However, Colorado faces big challenges - K-12 & higher ed funding; job creation, transportation, human services and infrastructure – to name a few.   John: Friction between, and within, the political parties makes that big agenda all the tougher this year, Susan.  The top Senate Democrat, and two leading House Democrats, hope to take away GOP congressional seats.  Hard feelings remain from the reapportionment battle. And bitter primaries may split the Republicans.   Susan:  You’re right, John.  A serious lack of leadership and vision plagues Colorado and the same lack of civility in the US Congress, is trickling down to state and local government. The unintended consequence of legislative term limits has created a revolving door for career politicians.   John: Take it from a senator who left because of term limits. The limit is a helpful safeguard against legislators settling in forever and getting captured by the system, at the expense of our liberties and our pocketbooks.  If this legislature just concentrates on economic growth through free markets, I’m happy.   5.  Lobato & the schools – now what?   Susan:  In December a Denver judge determined Colorado’s school funding system was “irrational and inadequate.”  The state Board of Ed and the governor are appealing. If the ruling holds, the cost to state taxpayers will be enormous.  Though it’s tough to argue resources are adequate or equitable.   John: It’s called the Lobato case, and everyone watching better hope the Colorado Supreme Court overturns it.  The ruling by Judge Sheila Rappaport points the state toward bankruptcy, and in pursuit of the impossible.  Her idea of adequate school funding envisions every child above average.  The constitution doesn’t require that.   Susan:  The constitution requires fair and equitable.  Of course you can’t legislate – or fund – equality.  However, crumbling schoolhouses, insufficient digital equipment, furniture and books impact low-income districts and schools.  Well-to-do districts and schools raise money from parents. Schools serving low income kids don’t have that option.   John: All the constitution requires is, quote, “thorough and uniform.”  By no stretch does that justify the $3 billion budgetary hit demanded by teacher unions and rubber-stamped by the judge.  America has doubled real dollars per pupil in government schools since 1970 with no gain in test scores.  More spending is not the answer.

Fantasy presidential nominations for Ross Perot, Olympia Snowe, and John Hickenlooper, along with bouquets for Douglas County school vouchers and brickbats for the Denver police, enliven the air waves this month as Head On completes its 15th year on Colorado Public Television.  John Andrews on the right and Susan Barnes-Gelt on the left offer their annual backward glance at winners and sinners of the old year and gaze into a cracked crystal ball for headlines of the year to come. This month John and Susan also spar over Hickenlooper's report card, Obama's chances in 2012, and fracking.  Here are all five scripts for December:   1.  WINNERS & SINNERS OF 2011   John: Thanks so much for listening as Head On completes 15 years on Colorado Public Television.  It’s time again for Colorado winners and sinners of the old year.  Thumbs up for Douglas County vouchers, the Pat Sullivan arrest, and the amazing Tim Tebow.  Thumbs down for Aurora corporate welfare and the redistricting mess.   Susan:  Thumbs down to Curt Fentress’s faux federalist, new state courthouse at 14th and Lincoln; the clueless National Western Stock Show and the Regional Transportation District’s breathtaking incompetence.  Thumbs up to the new Clyfford Still Museum, David Tryba’s Colorado History Museum, and Denver’s new Crime Lab at 14th and Cherokee.   John: So, a crime lab connoisseur, are we?  More of my winners and sinners include thumbs up Scott Gessler and Walker Stapleton, shaking up state government, and for the taxed-out voters who crushed Proposition 103.  Thumbs down for the power-grabbing judge who ordered billions more in state aid to education.    Susan:  Sinners:  Text messaging Denver cops; Scott Gessler - a partisan political hack, not a statewide elected official accountable to every voter; Wall Street bankers who hedge against their clients;  Winners: Coloradans.  All of us are lucky to live in a state replete with natural beauty, a gentle climate and Colorado Public Television 12.   2.  FEARLESS PREDICTIONS FOR 2012   John: Goodbye, 2011.  Hello, Susan and John’s fearless predictions for 2012.  Put on your crash helmet, Barnes-Gelt.  This is gonna be a wild one.  The stock show moves to Limon, out where the cattle are.  Occupy Denver moves to Glenwood Springs for a bath.  A deadlocked Republican convention drafts Hickenlooper.    Susan: U.S. Senators and Congressionals are permanently attached to lie detector machines; the occupy movement and tea partiers form a successful third party and nominate Ross Perot; text messaging goes the way of the phone booth; the Catholic Church ordains women and pigs fly!   John: Air traffic controllers land those pigs – which is called bringing home the bacon – as Facebook buys the US Postal Service, Diana DeGette leaves Congress to replace Whoopi Goldberg on The View, and Donald Trump’s hair is enshrined at the Smithsonian.  What a year we have ahead!    Susan:  Repub’s nominate  Olympia Snowe for president; Colorado voters abolish Amendment 23, TABOR & the Gallagher amendment;  Washington DC reverts to a swamp and Denver becomes the U.S. capitol.  My button bracelets become the decade’s fashion rage and each and every one of you have a happy and healthy 2012!     3. ELECTION YEAR ALMOST HERE   John: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, politically written off last summer, was on the comeback trail as 2011 ended.  But Iowa and New Hampshire will have their say as 2012 begins, and Romney or some other Republican could jump ahead again.  The ultimate comeback would be an Obama victory in November.  Never underestimate the incumbent.   Susan: Mitt, Newt, Newt, Mitt, Newt Mitt – hmmmmmmm.  When petulant professor, 1990’s whiner Newt is the flavor of the month for the Republican – not-Mitt posse – cast about for a viable alternative to Hope & Change.  I’m betting on a third party candidate – Ron Paul?  Trump? What a circus!   John: Barack Obama will go down as one of the worst presidents in history, and he’ll lose next fall.  Economic futility and foreign policy weakness disqualify him for a second term.  Perry, Santorum, Bachmann, Romney, Gingrich, or Huntsman could all do better.  Not party, not ideology, but simple competence will decide this one.   Susan:  Competence: Huntsman’s the only competent choice and he won’t get there. Perry doesn’t know there are 9 members of the Supreme Court? Repubs who served with Gingrich say he’s unpredictable and mercurial; Romney – which one? The moderate, the conservative? The hedge fund bandit? The liberal governor of Massachusetts?  Flop! Flip!   4.  FRACKING SPURS ENERGY BOOM, BUT IS IT SAFE?   Susan:  To frack or not to frack?  Hydraulic fracking, the trendy new oil & gas production technique used in Colorado and other mountain states has been linked to groundwater pollution. Fracking pumps fluid into wells under pressure, fracturing rock and releasing oil and gas.  OOOPS – here we go again.   John: One country on earth, America, impairs prosperity, quality of life, and national security by denying its people the full benefit of their own energy resources.  Reason enough right there to fire Obama and the Democratic Senate in 2012.  The phony panic over fracking is a green hoax as bad as global warming.   Susan:  John, you’re too smart to ignore science. It’s not just the greens who worry about damage to the environment.  Maybe you don’t care if your water is tainted by fracking or the air you breath full of particulates.  Reality doesn’t go away because you chose to ignore it!   John: Hydraulic fracturing to release oil and gas reserves on a Saudi Arabian scale is producing tremendous benefits to Colorado, a dozen other states, and our whole country in terms of jobs, wealth, energy independence.  More benefits await.  Fracking only occurs with tight environmental safeguards.  Don’t let Chicken Little shut it down.   5.  HICKENLOOPER REPORT CARD   Susan:  One year into his first term, John Teflon Hickenlooper continues to be popular. His aw shucks, a-partisan, can’t we all just get along approach to governing is particularly refreshing compared to the venal and mean-spirited personalities of most partisan-pols.  His approach is good for Colorado.   John: A flat economy isn’t good for Colorado. Neither are mediocre schools and crowded prisons.  Voters didn’t hire Gov. Hickenlooper to be the likable feller in a Western movie, the sequel to City Slickers. They hired him to be the chief executive of our state, and so far he’s done zilch.   Susan:  I wish that Governor John Hickenlooper could wave his magic wand: create jobs, fix the schools and overhaul the prisons.  Sadly – neither he nor any other elected official has that power. A healthy economy, great schools and a rational penal system depend on rational people negotiating rational decisions.   John: No question Hick is probably a great guy to have a beer with.  He could brew the beer for you.  But that was two jobs ago.  After a year in his current job as Colorado CEO, the ambitious Hickenlooper has no accomplishments or vision to point to.   That’s a C in my gradebook.

  The Occupy movement is a childish tantrum that is taking on Brownshirt overtones, says John Andrews in the November round of Head On TV debates. Wrong, replies Susan Barnes-Gelt: it's an authentic protest widely echoing that famous movie line, "Mad as hell." John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over the off-year election results, the presidential race, and the decline of newspapers. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for November: 1.  THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT Susan: In Paddy Chayefsky’s movie, Network, Peter Finch’s character yells, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” galvanizing the nation.  That’s the Occupy Movement, a diverse group fed up with the narcissism and double-speak of the status quo.  Elites ignore this message at their own risk. John: America offers more freedom, more opportunity, more generosity, more openness, more participation, more creativity, more tolerance, and more upward mobility than any other nation on earth, and it offers those things to everyone, excluding no one.  The Occupy protesters aren’t making a political statement, they’re throwing a childish tantrum. Susan:  The Constitutional government of the United States includes lofty principles and practices.  On the other hand, when a handful of influence peddlers, plutocrats and special interests combine with mean-spirited, jingoistic extremists to create public policy, the people should speak out and leadership better listen. John: The extremists in this picture are not our democratically-elected policymakers. They are the radical leftists and street thugs of Occupy Wall Street and all its copycats.  This growing menace is similar to the Brownshirts who destabilized Germany in the early ‘30s, and equally purposeful.  ACORN organized it to help Obama. 2.  ON & ON IN RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE John: In starting the presidential campaign way, way early, Republicans are bleeding their finances and bruising each other in a way that can only delight the Democrats.  At least the eventual nominee will be battle-hardened -- and our side is going to need that, because Obama will have to go negative to win.  Susan: Battle hardened is one way to assess the current melee among Repub’s.  I’d say the nominee will be in intensive care, on life support.  $20+Mil in flip/flop ads against Romney will deplete his oxygen.  And the rest of the field? Even IV miracle infusions won’t work. John: After such a four disappointing years, Obama can’t run again on hope and change. His only chance this time is fear and loathing.  Democrats will try to scare us away from Republican policies and disgust us with dirt on the GOP nominee. 2012 will be ugly, but I predict Barack is done. Susan:  Nothing can’t beat an incumbent.  The only Republican with a shot at beating Obama is John Huntsman.  He’s a smart, reasonable and moderate guy.  Good for Dems that your party is lost in la la land, and will nominate a wing nut or flip flopper instead. 3. DOES NEWSPAPERS’ DECLINE DAMAGE DEMOCRACY? John: Thomas Jefferson said a free society could get along better without government than without newspapers.  The lifeblood of liberty is open debate, unfettered information, not politicians and laws and spending.  These days the latter are madly increasing while newspapers are dying.  Can democratic institutions survive in a Facebook nation? Susan: A more pointed question is whether local and state government will survive without quality local coverage?   Daily oversight of city halls, school boards and the state capitol are critical to public awareness.  Spin machines and biased blogs have picked up where journalism’s failed. That’s a problem. John: The Rocky is gone and the Denver Post gets thinner all the time.  CU closed its journalism school.  Commercial TV does some hard reporting, but a lot of frothy infotainment.  Public channels like CPT provide good analysis but little firsthand coverage.  What becomes of the media’s watchdog function to restrain government? Susan: Sadly the local daily newspaper is going the way of the pay phone.  Until the industry figures out how to attract and monetize the web, every interest from greedy corporations, K-Street lobbyists and corrupt elected’s will further inflame public distrust. 4. WHAT VOTERS SAID ON TAXES Susan: With the exception of a couple local open space and public amenity approvals, tax proposals tanked this November. Even liberal Denver said NO! to statewide proposal to fund public education.  Voters don’t trust government and won’t pay higher taxes unless they’re 100% sure the money is well spent.  BIG trouble ahead for the Regional Transportation District. John: Thank goodness for TABOR with its requirement for the spending lobby to ask permission before digging deeper into our pockets.  So many families with paychecks gone or shrinking in this endless Obama recession are not about to approve a price increase from government.  Raise taxes next year for light rail? No way. Susan:  RTD will need a complete overhaul – from senior management on down and out.  Voters might support a transit initiative if they believed RTD’s board, leadership and consultants were credible.  Taxpayers have lost faith in their institutions. Political and civic leaders better pay attention. John: Voters sent a message that the political class in Denver and Washington should pay attention to.  “Do it for the children,” a tax-increase pitch that seldom fails, fell flat.  In defeating Prop 103 by almost 2 to 1, Coloradans told the legislature and Congress, “It’s the spending, stupid.” 5.  WHAT VOTERS SAID ON SCHOOL BOARDS Susan:  In Denver, only school board incumbent Arturo Jiminez eked out a win over a slate of three reform candidates.  Backed by big dollars from a few individuals, the election was more heat than light.  Replacing Teresa Peña with Happy Haynes is a trade up and a new board chair could hold promise. John: Teachers are great, but teacher unions are a negative force, and voters are realizing that.  The union in Denver failed to recall Nate Easley earlier and now failed to take over the school board.  In Douglas County they lost a referendum on vouchers.  Only in Jeffco did the union diehards prevail. Susan:  Ah that it were so simple.  Fixing public ed will take more than demonizing unions and deifying vouchers.  Accountability from top to bottom is part of the answer. Longer school years and days, better-trained teachers, engaged families and improved instructional materials are important too. John: Eighty percent of the people tell pollsters America is in decline.  One symptom is the generation-long slump in learning performance while dollars per student were doubling.  Selfish unions, distant bureaucrats, and leftist ideology have ruined our public schools.  If you want proof, see the documentary film, “Waiting for Superman.”     

Obama's class warfare theme, learned from Alinsky and abetted by the Occupy Wall Street movement, won't save him in 2012, says John Andrews in the October round of Head On TV debates. Don't underestimate its Main Street appeal, replies Susan Barnes-Gelt. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over No Child Left Behind, the GOP presidential contenders, the PERA pension fund, and Aurora's lavish land development subsidies.  Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997, with sponsorship by Centennial Institute since 2009.  Here are all five scripts for October: 1. DESPERATE OBAMA TURNS TO CLASS WARFARE John: Barack Obama learned his lesson well from radical agitator Saul Alinsky.  If you’re losing an argument, change the subject, target a convenient enemy, and go on the attack.  His economic mess and failed flirtation with socialism spell certain defeat in 2012.  The solution?  You guessed it – vicious class warfare. Susan: “Occupy Wall Street’ is catching fire across the country.  People of all ages, political persuasions and backgrounds are demonstrating against myopic greed and corruption. Obama’s populist rhetoric is a lot more resonant with the concerns of Main Street than the vapid rhetoric of the status quo. John: Envy, resentment, divisiveness, scapegoating, and victim politics, all used as a smokescreen for the failures of Obama and his Democrats, won’t work, Susan.  This poisonous stuff isn’t the American way.  It demeans the Presidency.  Obama should be ashamed.  The Tea Party patriots, not the Occupier socialists, will win in 2012. Susan:  Oh please – you sound like a plutocrat.  The tea partiers and the occupiers have more in common than you acknowledge:  utter frustration with a corrupt system controlled by special interests and lobbyists.  No transparency, no commitment to the future –education, vital infrastructure.  Chaos reigns while the establishment dozes. 2. LATEST ON PRESIDENTIAL RACE John: I love our American system of self-government.  Incompetence can’t hide, and the people can’t be denied.  Voters get a chance to clean house.  Obama’s utter failure gives Republicans an opening.  Palin and Christie stood aside. Cain and Perry are interesting but not dominant.  The next president could be Mitt Romney. Susan:  You assume that Mitt – for universal health care; against universal health care; for Roe v. Wade; against choice; ant-school voucher; pro voucher Romney.  Will the real Mitt please stand up?  The value voters control the primaries and once they find him, maybe they’ll buy his multiple choice approach. John: Forecasting the presidential  race 7 days ahead, let alone 7 months when the Republican nominee emerges, is like forecasting Colorado weather.  Good luck.  But the awful economy, along with Obama’s weak leadership, makes any Republican formidable.  Romney, Cain, Perry, Gingrich, Bachmann – I’ll take any of them over Obama. Susan:  And don’t forget Pallin, Paul and Huntsman.  Oops – not Huntsman, the sole Republican contender who is reasonable, experienced and moderate – just like most of the country.  No wonder the guy who might be electable is in single digits with the Republican base.  Obama – 4 more years! 3. TREASURER SUES PERA John: It seems like shaky pension plans are everywhere you look.  The exception is pensions that aren’t.  Unwise decisions and the recession are to blame.  It’s not purposeful.  But Colorado pension officials should cooperate with State Treasurer Walker Stapleton for a solution.  I hope he wins his lawsuit for key information. Susan:  Amazing – you and I agree on this one.  State Treasurer Walker Stapleton has every right to ask for all the information he needs to assess the health of the state pension fund. PERA’s forecasts are hopelessly optimistic. Colorado public employees and taxpayers will pay the bill for insolvency. John: State employees not only get a sweet deal on their retirement, they also have ironclad job security and a much less competitive work environment than Joe and Jane Lunchpail out in the real economy.  No wonder the PERA board is obsessed with secrecy.  Government workers are soaking the taxpayers. Susan:  Don’t try to lump the PERA board and their secrecy in with hard working public employees.  Unfortunately, more than a decade ago when fools believed a hot economy would never cool, reckless decisions inflated benefits and softened restrictions.  Treasurer Stapleton must continue his scrutiny.   4.  GAYLORD PUBLIC SUBSIDY Susan:  The $300+ million public subsidy to Tennessee-based Gaylord Entertainment from Aurora, to build a private convention center in is the richest in the history of Colorado.  What’s the public purpose in a 1500-room private hotel/conference center? Tennessee-based Gaylord’s private facility should be built on their dime – not mine! John:  Amen, Susan.  The massive giveaway to Gaylord is not responsible government, it’s crony capitalism – as bad as anything Obama did for GE or Solyndra.  Thank goodness for elections.  Aurora voters can cancel this obscenity by electing Jude Sandvall as mayor.  The other candidates, unfortunately including Republicans, all support it. Susan:   Not one resident showed up at the public hearing September 26, when the city council unanimously approved this fat giveaway.  Whoever Jude Sandvall is, he’s completely MIA in the debate.  Shame on the citizens of Aurora for allowing Ed Tauer and his colleagues to make a deal behind closed doors. John: You can call the Gaylord subsidy crony capitalism or corporate statism.  It smells bad either way.  Hard-working Aurora taxpayers don’t belong in the hotel business. Government at every level, federal, state, and local, is way out of bounds.  I wrote the book “Responsibility Reborn” to rally Americans against this madness. 5.  NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Susan:  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, attempted to standardize public K-12 curriculum and force accountability.  A decade later, this well-intentioned effort hasn’t demonstrated results – annual improvement in reading and critical thinking.  The law needs reform. More and more states try to opt out of the program. John: No Child Left Behind was one of the worst things that Bush and the Republican Congress ever did.  Their first mistake was forgetting that schools are a state responsibility, none of Washington’s business.  Their next mistake was letting Ted Kennedy write the bill.  Waivers aren’t enough. Let’s repeal the whole thing. Susan:  Well John, you’re half right.  NCLB must be repealed and recrafted.  And yes, public education is a state mandate.  On the other hand – every student from Maine to Mississippi from Oregon to Iowa, to must meet basic standards if America is going to compete in the ever-shrinking global economy. John: Those basic standards in No Child Left Behind aren’t being met, which is why educators in Colorado are now trying to move the goalposts to legitimize mediocrity.  The next president should abolish the Department of Education, take on the teacher unions, and push for educational excellence through the free market.

Public education is in dire straits in Colorado, and good options are lacking in this fall's school board races, laments Susan Barnes-Gelt in the September round of Head On TV debates. Not at all, replies John Andrews; it's just a matter of citizens standing up to teacher unions for a change. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over Gov. Hickenlooper's 2016 trial balloon, Proposition 103 to raise Colorado taxes, the GOP presidential contenders, and Denver's lucrative cowtown image. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for September: 1. SCHOOL BOARD RACES Susan:  Our K-12 public education system is broken and needs a massive governance overhaul.  Colorado school districts including Aurora and Cherry Creek can’t even field candidates.  Others – like Denver and Douglas County – are engaged in ideological warfare – the unions versus the reformers.  Time for change. John: Citizens across Colorado – probably including YOU, watching us right now – will soon get mail-in ballots to elect a neighbor to the local school board.  Please, please, get informed and get involved.  Teachers are great, but teacher unions tend to put money ahead of kids.  Bad show.  The reformers deserve your vote. Susan:  What happens when there are NO good choices?  Choosing the lesser of two bad options is hardly a vote for progress.  Neither the reformers nor the traditionalists have a corner on truth.  The system is broken and needs to be overhauled.  Well intended citizen volunteers are ill-equipped to manage complexity. John:  Susan, Susan, get a grip.  Public education isn’t hopeless, it just needs better leadership – and the school board races offer lots of good choices to provide that.  But if the teacher unions keep electing their pawns, learning performance will never improve.  Citizens have to step up. 2. HICKENLOOPER FOR PRESIDENT? John: Being Mayor of Denver must mess with your ego.  Hancock was barely sworn in, and he launched a national celebrity PR campaign.  Hickenlooper was barely sworn out, and he launched a whispering campaign for president.  What a joke.  His accomplishments as governor so far are zip, zero, zilch, nada.  Cool it, Hick. Susan:  America loves quirky and Hick is quirk personified!  Washington is so dysfunctional – on both sides of the aisle - that Hick’s aw shucks may have traction.  As for accomplishments:  Pailn? Bachman? Perry? Newt?  Hmmmm – not sure qualifications count for much. John: I know you have to defend your side, but I also know you think John Hickenlooper was a mediocre mayor.  Now he’s a mediocre governor.  What equips him for the White House?  Does Obama run him for VP next year – the Hick Ticket?  Then is he in line for next time – Hick Sixteen? Susan;  Hick was a mediocre Mayor because he’s not comfortable taking strong, controversial positions. His aversion to exercising power made him popular but ineffective.  He is far more potent as a consensus driven bully puppeteer in the polarized world of partisan politics.  Hick in 2016! 3. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FIELD NARROWS Susan:  The first Republican presidential primary debate suggests the field is down to two candidates:  Texas Governor Rick Perry and hedge fund tycoon Mitt Romney.  Though it’s way too early to predicts, if angry tea partiers control the primaries, it looks like Perry will prevail. John: Not so fast. In September 2007, Republican polls showed Giuliani and Thompson far ahead, McCain far behind.  Didn’t work out that way.  The GOP nomination to replace Obama in 2012 won’t be settled for six months at least.  Bachmann and Palin are still in it.  And the economy makes Obama so vulnerable. Susan:  Dream on teenage queen.  Short of Jeb Bush getting into the mix, the R’s will nominate Romney. Even the heavy tea drinkers suspect Perry’s stand on Social Security.  Romney, the chameleon, will lose.  Unless Michael Bloomberg runs as an independent. John: The Bloomberg who botched the 9/11 commemoration is not headed for the White House.  Neither is anyone named Bush, heaven help us.  But no one named Obama is likely to live there after January 2013 either.  This president has made everything worse – the economy, the deficit, our national security.  Obama has to go. 4.  STATE BUDGET – TAX OR DROWN Susan: DU’s Center for Colorado’s Economic Future predicts that structural flaws in the state government combined with two recessions, mean the long-term fiscal stability of state government’s at stake.  I know you think government ought to drown in a bathtub – but a bi-partisan group of leaders disagree. John:  Governments at every level are in danger of drowning themselves in debt.  Colorado is no exception, and just like the federal government in Washington, our state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.  Raising taxes right now would hurt job creation and postpone needed reforms.  Vote no on Proposition 103! Susan:  We’re drowning alright – in our own excesses – waging two wars while we cut taxes, failing to keep up with China in infrastructure and educational investments, coddling Wall Street while we ignore Main Street.  The deficit is mounting – leadership, vision, courage and vision. John: As a free and open society with Judeo-Christian roots, I like our chances against communistic China, decadent Europe, or barbaric Islam. But we do have a responsibility deficit, and the result could be fiscal collapse.  Feeding the beast with more taxes is not the answer.  Vote no on 103! 5.  STOCK SHOW TO AURORA? John: Who will win the Stock Show tug of war between Denver and Aurora?  Ranchers, farmers, and rural Americans everywhere must be laughing at the sight of politically correct, environmentally superior big-city folks scrambling after the National Western pot of gold.  I guess being a cowtown is no embarrassment after all. Susan:  The Stock Show adds nearly $100 million to Denver’s general fund, and millions more to the coffers of downtown businesses, hotels, restaurants, bars and retailers.  Meantime the National Western spends $1 million plus lobbying to move, rather than maintain its facilities. Bad judgment I’d say. John: Mayor Hancock understandably hates to lose that revenue, hence his fight to keep it – so far consisting of one more committee.  Woo hoo.  But the bigger question for Hancock is the one I asked during his transition – can he streamline taxes and regulations to make Denver a magnet for economic growth? Susan:  Denver taxes are among the lowest in the region because the City has more commercial property and sales tax receipts than other jurisdictions.  The development of the Gaylord Hotel with a $300+ million subsidy is a much greater threat to downtown’s economy than an already streamlined regulatory system.  

Coloradans had better brace to fend off the same bad idea as President Obama wants to impose nationally: higher taxes, warns John Andrews in the August round of Head On TV debates. No, replies Susan Barnes-Gelt, the idea is a good one and indeed doesn't go far enough. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over the Tea Party, the Obama record, debt and deficit issues, and the Denver mayor's wobbly start.  Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997, with sponsorship by the Centennial Institute since 2009. Here are all five scripts for August: 1. TAX INCREASE HEADS FOR 2011 BALLOT John: Hang onto your wallets, Colorado.  The same liberal Democrats who want Congress to raise federal taxes are coming at us this fall with a sneaky ballot issue to raise state taxes.  A tax hike in this economy?  No way.  In Denver as in DC, the problem isn’t revenues, it’s spending. Susan:  Rollie Heath’s tax increase to fund K-12 and Higher ed is a good idea.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t go far enough.  Rather it solves funding problems in the short term, but not the long.  It’s a band aid when a transplant is needed. John: Fortunately TABOR makes politicians ask permission before taking our money in the belief they can spend it better than we can.  Voters aren’t likely to give permission at a time when so many are out of work and businesses are hesitant to hire because we have too much government already. Susan: We agree on the conclusion – Heath’s initiative is the wrong answer at the wrong time – but we’re far from agreement on the reasons Businesses are afraid to hire because government has failed to invest in infrastructure, education and people.  Colorado’s budget needs a comprehensive restructuring.  Until then – no more band aids. 2. TEA PARTY – HEROES OR VILLAINS? John: At a scary time in our history, the best thing America has going for us is the Tea Party.  Thank goodness for this grassroots movement of fed-up taxpayers finally demanding some fiscal responsibility from the Washington politicians.  Biden calls them terrorists.  McCain calls them hobbits.  I call them heroes. Susan:  Zero tolerance for diversity, for critical thinking, for investing in education, infrastructure or people – that’s the tea partiers.  IF they have so much disdain for government, why don’t they get real jobs – earn an honest living, pay taxes, social security and health care? John: Like the patriots of 1773 who stood against King and Parliament, the Tea Party of today is an uprising of self-reliant citizens standing against Democrats and Republicans to take this country back.  In smearing them, you discredit yourself.  If we do avoid fiscal collapse, we’ve have the Tea Party to thank. Susan: Pul EASE John! The Tea Party has been effective in persuading otherwise rational leaders that lack of investment in America, in jobs and people and not raising taxes for 1% of zillionaires is nuts.  Debt is not the problem – Fear and ignorance are. 3. IS OBAMA A FAILED PRESIDENT? John: Can it be only three years ago that Barack Obama was hailed as the second coming at the DNC in Denver?  It seems three eons.  The magic man who was going to heal the planet has turned out to be the worst president since Jimmy Carter.  2012 can’t come soon enough. Susan:  President Obama has presided over the toughest economy since the Great Depression.  Yes, he owns it now. But the debt, deregulation and tax scams he inherited from George W Bush and the Republican Congress share the blame. After all, they inherited a surplus from Bill Clinton in 2000. John: Lame excuses from the previous decade won’t help Obama win a second term.  His weird idea of “leading from behind” is what most Americans consider not leading at all.  Liberals are alienated and conservatives are motivated. The independent voters who elected him last time have had it.  Bye bye, Barack. Susan:  Compared to whom?  Mitt ‘ of course corporations are people’  Romney?  Michelle ‘Jimmy Carter & Barack Obama were responsible for the swine flu” Bachmann?  Rick ‘super pac riddled with conflicts, yet to be vetted’ Perry?  I’m with the Let’s have a better tomorrow, tomorrow crowd. Obama wins. 4.  HANCOCK’S FIRST WEEKS Susan:  Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has had a tough first weeks.  Press honcho  announced he’s focused on national press; Hizzoner’s backtracked on his stock show position  – though he hasn’t articulated one.. And his mayoral staff? Inexperienced, overpaid and naïve.  It can only get better . . . John:  Looking toward downtown from my home in Arapahoe County or my office in Jeffco, it seems the Mayor of Denver doesn’t have the stature the metro area is used to.  Hickenlooper stood tall.  Likewise Webb and Pena, agree with them or not, were leaders.  But Michael Hancock? Not yet. Susan:  It didn’t help that the campaign was defined by negative attacks and the politics of personality.  Hancock wins on narrative and charisma but his failure to articulate detailed plans and a coherent vision is a problem.  If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. John: You should have listened to me, Susan.  I said Bill Vidal should run.  I said you should run.  Or you should be Hancock’s chief of staff.  Or Democrats and Republicans should fight it out for mayor so voters have a choice.  Denver will survive this, though.  It’ll be fine. 5.  DEFICIT BATTLE Susan:  The problem is not the deficit.  It’s a failure to invest in America – roads, bridges, highspeed rail, transit, education.  With the jobless rate upwards of 10-percent, the country needs investment. Put people back to work and generate revenue and progress.  DC’s luddite view panders to the lowest common denominator. John: Bush tried a big stimulus and it failed.  Obama tried a huge stimulus and it failed.  Now you want more stimulus?  Absolutely not.  The deficit is our problem.  Red ink in the trillions, a national debt bigger than the GDP, America’s credit rating downgraded.  We need spending cuts and entitlement reforms. Susan:  Yeah and a double-digit unemployment rate, combined with a policy of not closing loopholes, addressing uncontrolled entitlements and refusing to tax the mega rich is certainly the road to a sustainable future. DC is pushing the problem down to states and cities. That’s a recipe for failure. John: Recipe for failure is exactly what Obama is cooking up, Susan.  The high unemployment is his doing.  The refusal to reform entitlements is his doing.  Tax increases won’t fix either of those.  What we need is responsible citizens and responsible leaders.  I actually wrote a book about it – Responsibility Reborn.