Danny Davis Talks on Public Affairs
Congressman Davis appeared recently on the “Public Affairs” program and spoke with host Jeff Berkowitz on a range of issues. The interview was a fairly interesting one, even getting a tad heated at moments. You can view the 30-minute video below:
The topics covered were as follows:
0:50 The Illinois Democratic Primary and Davis’ challengers
1:57 Rod Blagovich’s rejected Senate seat offer to Davis
3:10 The Cook County Board presidential race and why Davis dropped out to run for reelection
4:55 Davis’ position on the House Ways and Means Committee
5:10 Funding for local community health centers
7:38 Todd Stroger and the Cook County sales tax hike
9:55 Davis’ endorsement for the Cook County Board race
11:15 The health care debate
14:00 The effects of the stimulus spending and jobs in the 7th district
19:45 Education in the 7th district, charter schools, and school vouchers
24:55 The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act
26:00 Obama’s Afghan troop surge
27:00 The Wall Street Bailout
27:43 Davis’ controversial trip to Sri Lanka
Overall, Berkowitz did a good job of interviewing Davis and holding his feet to the fire, even when Davis tried to dodge on questions about his positions on the Cook County sales tax hike and charter schools in Chicago.
However, Berkowitz also seemed insistent on pinning some of the blame for the failure of Chicago public schools on Davis, to which the congressman rightly replied “Talk to the people who run the schools!” Indeed, public schools are largely run at the local, not federal, level.
Berkowitz also repeated tried to frame Davis’ congressional actions in a “how has this benefited the 7th?” mindset, to which Davis again appropriately countered by saying that his voters cared about the country as a whole. (I certainly do).
However, it certainly wasn’t all wisdom flowing from Davis’ lips. When the discussion came around to Obama’s proposed Afghan troop surge, Davis offered lukewarm criticism of the troop increase, but then consoled himself with the following:
“The one thing I did agree with – that I really liked – was the fact that President Obama says, ‘We’re going to go in here, we’re going to have a surge, and we’re going to start pulling out at a time certain.’ I hope that that does in fact work, but I’m not enthralled with the fact that we’re sending 30,000 additional troops.”
Unfortunately, as Glenn Greenwald has pointed out, statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have directly contradicted Obama’s promise of a fixed withdrawal date.
Things then went further down hill with Davis justifying his trust in the Commander in Chief by saying, “It’s possible that President Obama may have known something that I didn’t know.”
Of course, Congress’ role is not to trust that the president “knows best” but to act as a check and balance. Furthermore, can anyone imagine Davis applying the same logic while Bush was still in office?
