Television news has reached the point where it is hard to watch. I recently came close to throwing a coffee cup through my television set. I was watching Good Morning America and unfortunately the body of a seven-year-old girl had been discovered in a garbage dump by investigators from Clay County, Florida. The next thing you know a neighbor is being interviewed. The question was asked: “How does the family feel?” How in the devil do you think the family feels? That is one of the dumbest, most insensitive questions asked, but you hear it over and over and over again when a tragedy is involved. The next day they had the mother on and the same kind of questioning took place. The T.V. producers must think that all of us are absolutely stupid and uncaring. Most all of us have suffered the loss of loved ones. They ought to be ashamed of their actions, but I guess ratings come first.

For some months I have been telling anybody who would listen that there is going to be a Health Care Bill. President Obama needs to have a bill for his political survival. He would like a bill with most of his ideas included, but that is not nearly as important as having a bill. When the bill passes, no matter what is in it he will proclaim that he has achieved his goal, we have health care legislation and he and his administration delivered as promised.

The leadership of the Democratic Party in the House and Senate is putting tremendous pressure on those who might vote against it. The problem many Democratic members of the House have is that they have districts which were won by Republican presidential candidates in either the 2000, 2004 or 2008 races. There are 53 Democrats in these swing districts. They have been pressured to vote on the cap and trade legislation earlier, which in many districts did not sell well. They are once again being asked to vote on a bill which at this point nobody knows what is in it or how much it is going to cost. As with all Presidents, President Obama is more concerned with his re-election than the re-election of members of the House and Senate. President Obama’s staff’s one goal is to get him re-elected. It’s going to be the members of the House and Senate who are questioned when provisions in this bill turn out to be controversial. Remember, elections for all House members is in 2010 and the President not until 2012. The President will say any problems can be fixed in the future. He is sorry that the Congress created these problems, but isn’t it wonderful we have health care reform. The issue now isn’t about philosophy, it’s about politics. When that happens, the public is the loser.

Several weeks ago, the 14th Frey Symposium took place at the University of Central Florida. The title was New Generation New Economy New Opportunities. The symposium was built around the millennials who in a few years will have 85 million of their generation eligible to vote. They will be the single largest block of voters. They were the critical vote for Obama in the 2008 election. They registered and voted much more than anybody expected or predicted. Furthermore, they voted for Obama by an incredibly large margin ensuring that he won. Many of the speakers were members of the millennial age group, such as Ms. Maya Enista who has been in the political world for the last seven years and presently is the CEO of Mobilize.org. Her organization has a network that educates, empowers and energizes members of the millennial generation. Ms. Anya Kamenetz graduated from Yale University in 2002 and in 2004. The Village Voice nominated her for a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for her work on the series “Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young.” In January 2005, the series became a biweekly column and Kamenetz became one of the youngest columnists in the paper’s history. Today, she reaches millions with her “Generation Debt” online column as a personal finance expert for Yahoo! Finance. She feels this generation is too dependent on credit cards and loans and is not experienced in saving money. It is clear that this generation is computer literate and uses Facebook and Twitter as a matter of course. Which way they go and what issues are important to them will define over the next 20 years who wins the presidency.

My new book Political Rules of the Road; Representatives Senators & Presidents Share Their Rules for Success in Congress, Politics & Life has been out for several weeks. The Former Members of Congress and the Frey Institute are the co-publishers. I have been promoting the book because I think it is insightful and a fun read. I can promote it shamelessly because I am getting no money from the sale of the book. I have donated all the proceeds to the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central Florida and the Former Members of Congress for teaching civics. You can get the book online at Amazon or  Barnes & Noble.  In the Orlando area, you can purchase it at the following bookstores: Borders-Winter Park, UrbanThink!-Downtown Orlando, and Barnes & Noble. If you like it, please tell others about the book and write a book review on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. Charles Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report said about the book: “I can’t imagine a freshman Member of Congress or newly-arrived staff member not learning an enormous amount and being wiser for having read this. For that matter, there are important lessons that many veterans could learn too. This is a great contribution to the understanding of Capitol Hill and how it works and how to succeed.” President Ford wrote me over three pages of his rules before he passed. The rule that is my favorite is “Do what is best for the Country no matter the cost personally.” Ford goes on to explain how he followed that rule to pardon President Nixon. He states: “The election [Carter] ended up extremely close. Many historians have written that the pardon of President Nixon was the decisive factor in the election. I know I did the right thing and have appreciated over the years how this has been recognized by many people on both sides of the aisle even receiving an award from the Kennedy Foundation. I would hope all Presidents and future members of Congress understand that they take an oath to the Constitution and not to a political party and that our Country comes first. God Bless America.” God Bless Jerry Ford.