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A DRIVING FORCE

President Obama's Motorcade Gets Washington 'Taxation Without Representation' License Plates

He expresses support for D.C. voting rights

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

The presidential motorcade will be sporting new Washington D.C. license plates that say "Taxation Without Representation," when it rolls down Pennsylvania Avenue for the inauguration Monday.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said President Barack Obama decided to put the plates on the cars as a sign of solidarity with district residents. Since Washington, D.C., is not a state, but instead a special federal district, it does not have full voting rights in Congress. It has a representative but no senators. The Washington D.C. delegate in the House of Representatives, currently Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, can debate and vote in committees, but is not allowed to vote on the House floor.

"President Obama now has lived in the District for four years and has seen firsthand 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," Carney said. "Attaching these plates to the presidential vehicles demonstrates the president's commitment to the principle of full representation for the people of the District of Columbia and his willingness to fight for voting rights, home rule, and budget autonomy for the District."

District officials say they hope Obama will do more to help them gain statehood than just display the license plates, the Washington Post reports. Former President Bill Clinton had the "Taxation Without Representation" plates on his car toward the end of his second term, but then President George W. Bush removed them when he took office.

Via Politico and the Washington Post

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Should Washington, D.C., be granted statehood and gain full voting rights in Congress?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • o
    thejimbo
    !
    As a DC resident, I know that not having voting representatives in the Congress is not new, its been true since the establishment of the District. Several generations of residents have passed since this was established. If voting were truly important to them the easy option is to choose to move into either of the neighboring states, not the federal district, less than ten miles away. The other reasonable option is to pursue retrocession like the other half of the district did more than a century ago. Perhaps becoming something that either Maryland or Virginia would want to incorporate might help, but with the crooked liberal city government headed by "Mayor" Vincent "The Varmint" Gray, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
  • o
    thejimbo
    !
    One possible bright spot for DC is the widespread feeling that Vincent Gray has been doing a good job as Mayor, even after a rocky start, even if he won the office running a campaign as crooked as the Potomac River.

    Some crummy editorial in the Washington Post a couple months ago claims that Gray has been performing well as Mayor. By what standard? The D.C. city government remains dysfunctional, inequitable, racially segregated, substandard and it's not getting better anytime soon -- especially under Gray.

    The Post has become so unbelievable with their poor quality reporting and commentaries, that I often find myself reading from The Washington Times as an antidote....smh
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    Ahh, but politically it is genius for a democratic president. Considering the liberal leanings of the district it would add a democrat to the house, and two democratic senators.

    It is congressional equivillent of FDR's court packing idea. A effective response to what repubs did by gerrymandering in redistricting through out the nation, by adding a two senator cushion it would keep the balance of power at least equal (house repub; senate) for the forseeable future.
  • Fishbone345
    !
    "all people's have no defense against the Washington tax and spend machine"
    Yes they do, its called their "Elected Officials".
    If you keep sending the same people back to Washington DC and expecting a different result, you are part of the problem.
  • Penn1699
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    @Fishbone345 Well when you vote the same that's what you get? Hmmm. I don't vote the same, yet losers continue to send these old leeches back to a J O B they never complete.
  • o
    thejimbo
    !
    It is surely worth a serious study on how the conservative posts on Slate have now become far more extreme in rhetoric since the Sandy Hook shooting together with the lobbying by the NRA to ensure no restrictions on guns.
  • martydotcom
    !
    Thanks the article. I think the re-activation of the campaign organization is a clear indication that Obama intends to take on the GOP as suggested. Better to declare war on a leaderless, disorganized opponent than to give them an opportunity to get their act together The biggest problem he faces is where to strike first, Boehner has been rendered impotent by tea party radicals. Mitch McConnell doesn't know if should worry more about being primaried if he does anything, but obstruct or having to run against Ashely Judd on an obstructionist record. No doubt the GOP brand is in big trouble with a 30% favorable rating and no leadership

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/335580/p...
  • frigginhell
    !
    I was under the impression a state of war already existed between the GOP and Obama that started when he was elected the first time and they stated openly, publicly, and proudly they'd make sure he was a one term president. Well they succeeded in making our economy look like it was bombed. They failed to win the war. The GOP already declared war and lost. Or course, so did the rest of us but we're just their collateral damage.
  • martydotcom
    !
    @frigginhell there is a difference between trying to work in a bipartisan fashion and watching them fold like a deck of cards
  • Bobolinsky
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    @martydotcom and frigginhell-- So do you want democrats to go for the actual throat or are you rooting for a Jared Loughner to come along and shoot republicans in the head?

    So violent rhetoric from you two. Where does that come from?

  • View all 21 replies >

  • texas_cutie75
    !
    As much as it pains me to do this, I agree with DARSB. This is news to me. Tax the heck out 'em them like everybody else and give 'em representation. Most of those living in D.C. got us in this mess to begin with.

  • View all 9 replies >

  • Ashstop
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    Your right! I think it should be on airforce1 everywhere he goes!! Who needs representatives when he bypasses them with exec orders
  • frigginhell
    !
    Wow, didn't have to scroll very far to find this very predictable repsonse. Did you vote? Then you're represented. At least, that's the line they feed us. It wouldn't have changed regardless of the outcome between Obama and Romney. You're represented just as diligently one way or another. That's also a freudian slip not a freudian error. I'll give you a B+ for the effort trying to appear smart. You should have gone with the just as predictable "ironic". It's more befitting the situation.
  • Quantummist
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    @frigginhell ... Well you should work on your efforts to appear smart as you seem to have Missed the points entirely.... No One said a word about being represented at this time... The word "Wish" is the operative word in that response... Also a Freudian Slip refers to a miss wording to a verbiage that speaks to what you are thinking. In the Case of the Lic Plate it was to highlight the call by some to give DC the status of statehood but was a Freudian Error since it also could be seen as a Future Wish by a National Socialist ..... I would give you a C but I stopped grading papers for young whipper snappers long ago... Ironic isn't it....
  • Quantummist
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    @Ashstop .. Any Executive order that applies regulation and penalties to the general public are Unconstitutional and should be considered am impeachable offense since they would violate the Oath of Office to Uphold and Defend the Constitution...
  • frigginhell
    !
    @Quantummist but it's a freudian slip because...... because you invented a new phrase to hide the fact you made an error. how very palintastic of you.

  • View all 9 replies >

  • malpaso
    !
    one more expression of liberal stupidity. When the District of Columbia was begun, it was not a state so as to never have a state be able to claim the federal government was in their jurisdiction. If these people are so upset, move from the overpriced DC to more reasonable places! another tempest in a obama's mind
  • u
    Cheenoguy
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    You mean the Americans who are no English citizens largely because colonists viewed it as wrong that they were taxed but had no representation?
    Still waiting on that common sense your name promises.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    I don't know about this. Between the thugs hanging on the streets everywhere you look and the thugs in Congress I'm sure that D.C. has anything to offer in terms of statehood. Maybe we can talk them into seceding?
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    @jessejaymes
    I don't care about statehood, but it seems like there was a pretty significant war fought over taxation without representation. It's un-American that we now do the same.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    @jessejaymes
    I could, but it require my fellow Hoosiers to vote for someone other then R or D.
    Currently I would say we have poor representation, but representation nonetheless.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Cheenoguy D.C. was set up in an effort to tell the country that the federal govt wasn't biased in favor of the state in which the seat of govt exists. You can't have it both ways. If they pay no taxes at all then every single rich person in America will claim primary residence in the zone. If they become a state then it's obvious there is bias. I don't think everything in the world has to be "fair". Not as long as people can leave and D.C. has some of the worst poverty in the nation. They don't pay taxes anyhow. I think it's a moot point except to try to create a tax free zone for the ultra rich.

  • View all 8 replies >

  • jessejaymes
    !
    As someone who has been to almost all the states and D.C. several times, I would have to say that despite the monuments and the museums, the rest of D.C. is about as offensive a city as I've ever seen in this country. The splendor and wealth of the Govt is ringed by some of the most abject poverty in this nation. We got lost in our rental car driving in our first visit and ended up on street where we could see the Govt buildings a few blocks away and took off for them. We drove through literally hundreds of guys standing around in the streets in T-shirts and sagging pants who threw bottles at our car and yelled to get our "honky ass out of here" (despite my wife being asian). The car was kicked and every obscenity I know was yelled. Hell of a deal within a stones throw from the palatial building in which our criminal congress and govt works. I think they should declare D.C. a terrorist nation and give everyone 24 hours to get out and torch it again.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @stepped_in_it I'm on the west coast and I have an alibi. You do whatever you think is in the best interests of the country.
  • o
    thejimbo
    !
    @stepped_in_it I remember his re-election slogan after he was released from prison:

    "He May Not Be Perfect, But He's Perfect for D.C."

    Yeah, perfectly AWFUL!

    RE-ELECT NOBODY 2014 (especially at the local level)
  • o
    bigblock
    !
    Hey. is the Kenyan driving around the "murder capital" in one of his sweet electric cars yet? Or is he still riding around in those gas hog Caddy' s? What would Hugo do?
  • JoeJared
    !
    The 10x10 mile section of land known as Washington DC should be annexed back into the states it belonged in prior to 1871 and the government for that area abolished. It is actually no longer in any way complying with the constitution and is well past what any legitimate company would consider viable and has proven itself a threat to peace world-wide.
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    HMMM.......maybe when we get down to about 25 states after all those succession statements.....we can add D.C as a state. And maybe we can change it's name to DC Comics, 'cause everything coming out of there is a cartoon....IMO
  • USConstitution
    !
    Absolutely NOT. The tag is not truthful. NO ONE is being forced to live in D.C. If you choose to live there you take away your own representation by doing so. The President should not be promoting partisan political issues on the Presidential Limo fleet. If D.C. wants representation in Congress, it should be reabsorbed back into Maryland where the land originally came from. This is what happened to the portion of land that Virginia ceded to the creation of D.C. No way should one single city, not even the largest city in the country, be allowed to become a State unto itself. Being returned to Maryland would give them their Senator and Congressman.
  • FollowTheMoney
    !
    It can be said for the entire country, but Obama is only one very small part of the problem. The only people represented are the legislature and those who can afford to buy laws. Now, who's fault is that?
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