Leaving This Town

I followed Sam Youngman for only a short while on the twitter. I found him to be pretty much a pompous ass promoting bad policy. As the kids say, ain't nobody got time for that. So guess I missed his metamorphosis because I was surprised his longish goodbye note to DC was so self-aware. It's Politico, so be warned, but it's worth reading in full.

Not even going to excerpt it, except this one line which captures the theme:

In Washington, a divided America is good for business.

And good for the insiders who run the place. Rare to find a insider that would say that out loud, but then again Youngman is now on the outside having successfully escaped the toxic bubble. Hope a few of his former colleagues take his advice.

President Obama takes a stand for D.C.

I imagine there was a good reason for it once, but this is 2013. It feels like it's long past time for the District of Columbia to have fair representation in Congress and unrestricted self-governance. So I was happy to see President Obama put this plate on his president limo.

[Susan Walsh photo/AP]

President Obama’s motorcade sported “Taxation Without Representation” license plates for the first time on Saturday. [...]

The White House decision earlier this week to use the license plates was considered a victory for D.C. statehood advocates. Obama had avoided using the plates during his first term as president.

“President Obama has lived in the District now for four years, and has seen first-hand how patently unfair it is for working families in D.C. to work hard, raise children and pay taxes, without having a vote in Congress,” the White House said in a statement earlier this week.

In fact, "In the financial year 2011, D.C. residents and businesses paid $19.6 billion in federal taxes; more than the taxes collected from 19 states and the highest federal taxes per capita." Yet they have no meaningful say in how it's spent. That's just not right.

Sure the limo license plate is merely symbolic support but it's a first and it's a start.