Owning the tone, and other highlights
Obama's attempts to channel Reagan and FDR
Owning the tone, and other highlights
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Some tangentially connected observations about President Obama's address to Congress:
The politics of the audacity of hope. Obama was right to downplay the gloom and play up the optimism. That's how FDR did it in 1933 ("This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper"). That's how Ronald Reagan did it in 1981 ("Let us begin an era of national renewal...and let us renew our faith and our hope"). Americans - and perhaps the markets - typically react best when they are told that their best days are still ahead.
It's not just good psychology. It's also good politics. Much like FDR and Reagan, both of whom were broadly popular during the first months of their tenures, Obama has the wind at his back. Most Americans are prepared to listen to him, not to the vanquished Republicans. In the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, for instance, 61 percent said they trust Obama to best handle the economy; 26 percent trust the GOP (among, independents, the GOP drew only 23 percent). Meanwhile, in the latest New York Times-CBS poll, 79 percent said that the Republicans should work with Obama, while only 17 percent said that the Republicans should stick to their own policies.
In other words, it's an opportune time for Obama to set the tone for optimism on his own terms, to suggest (as he did last night) that America's best days are ahead only if cooperative lawmakers agree to enact his agenda - and to imply that there may be political risks for an opposition party that is perceived as being "against" optimism.
So it's all about who owns the tone. Will this work for Obama in the long run? We can't know that yet. But it appeared last night that the two Republican leaders on Capitol Hill were up to speed on public opinion, judging by how they comported themselves like declawed pussycats. Senate leader Mitch McConnell: "Working through the current troubles will require a shared commitment as we address America’s challenges ahead." And House leader John Boehner: "Republicans want to be partners with the President in finding responsible solutions to the challenges facing our nation."
As for the long run, it's a historical fact that both FDR and Reagan, those two great communicators of optimism, won their re-election races with landslide majorities in 1936 and 1984.
The expenditure of political capital. Clearly, however, Obama seems willing to spend down some of his popularity by making perhaps his hardest sell. He spent considerable time last night trying to persuade skeptical taxpayers that the banks - despite their disgraceful behavior of recent months - will need fresh huge infusions of federal bucks in order to survive for the good of all.
This long passage struck me as the heart of the speech:
"This (bailout) plan will require significant resources from the federal government - and yes, probably more than we've already set aside. But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation. And I refuse to let that happen.
"I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American taxpayers. So was I. So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you - I get it.
"But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job - our job - is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can't pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can't get a mortgage.
"That's what this is about. It's not about helping banks - it's about helping people."
He did pluck a few populist chords ("This time, CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over"), but this bank issue bears watching, if only because Obama seems so willing to risk his popularity by taking it on. He didn't exactly outline his bank rescue plan with any specificity; nor last night did he take on the dicey issue of nationalization. But, at minimum, he's apparently willing to bet that most Americans can be persuaded to accept that more federal intervention is crucial, not as a tenet of liberal ideology, but as a pragmatic necessity.
War on the books. One single paragraph, near the close of the speech, stood out. Note the passage that I have italicized:
"I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules - and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price."
Imagine, some actual non-fiction bookkeeping. It has long been an open secret in DC that President Bush always fought his wars off the books; in particular, by keeping his Iraq price tag out of the official budget, he succeeded in making his budget deficits seem far smaller than they actually were.
But Obama's move is not just a shout-out to the noble principle of transparency. It's also clever politicking.
By loading all the war costs into the official budget (along with some of the other stuff that Bush kept out, such as Medicare reimbursements to doctors), he does make the budget deficit look far worse than it did before...by several trillion dollars. But by doing this during his first year in office - while making clear, as he did last night, that this true deficit was basically "inherited" - then he gets to reap the political rewards if and when that true deficit gets sharply reduced over the span of the first term.
More specifically, by putting the Iraq war costs on the books right now, he sets up a PR triumph down the road. When those war costs decline during the next few years (as troops begin to come home, in accordance with the expected 19-month timetable), he'll be well positioned to point out how nicely the Iraq withdrawal has improved the budget ledger and reduced the deficit.
Bowling, shmowling. Read this speech passage, and then I have a question for you.
First, the passage: "If you haven't been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has - a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family...you live it every day. It's the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It's the job you thought you'd retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that's now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope."
I'll happily stipulate that cosmetics - such as connecting with one's audience at home - should not be mistaken for substance; for instance, Obama last night offered no specifics on how he would make health care more affordable and accessible.
But here's my question: Remember how everybody was talking during the presidential campaign about how Obama was a cerebral stiff that didn't know how to relate to the lives of average Americans?
Last April, Chris Matthews was asking, "Can Obama woo more regular voters - you know, the ones who actually do know how to bowl?" Last August, as Obama was preparing for his convention, pundits and many Democrats were still obsessing about his gutter balls, and about how (in the words of one Democratic National Committee member) voters "haven't been convinced that he relates to people like them." That month, Democratic pollster Peter Hart put some voters into a focus group and concluded that "this person (Obama) is closer to Adlai Stevenson than he is to Bill Clinton. There is not the sense of that visceral connection."
So, in the wake of his speech last night, I see only two explanations:
1. Spurred by the seriousness of the recession, cerebral Obama has risen to the occasion (as any alert president must do) and forged the necessary visceral connection with average Americans.
2. He was actually this way all along; and it was the '08 pundits, in their cluelessness, who were really bowling the gutter balls.
Comments (132)
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HarryErney this is a liberal column not news if you don't like it read a different column.— jwad56- Harry, you read it...who needs to open their mind? Having not seen the speech, I think DP provides a good overview and historical perspective of it. Thanks.— Master Dreamz
- I too missed the speech and I appreciate Polman's analysis. I would further suggest that in an attempt to keep those eyeballs glued to their programs, the pundits like Matthews, Olberman, et al, manufactured the inability of Obama to connect with "regular" voters.
- Hey, HarryErney, and other pea brains out there who in their infantile way like to nyah, nyah, nyah at Polman when they disagree with him that it’s his type of opinion journalism at the heart of newspapers’ decline in general and the Inquirer’s bankruptcy in particular – you are clueless and embarrassing yourselves! Look at this blog; it gets hundreds of posts a day, and multiple-times more views. And righties are loyal posters, not just lefties and liberals. So, one last time for the slow learners: The print media is suffering because they’re victims of technological change, the rise of the Internet, the move of advertising there, the comparatively high cost of producing ink-on-paper products, all exacerbated by the worse economy since the recession. So, Harry, baby – and CD – if you must continue your grade-school taunts, if that’s what gets you off in your dark little computer room, go for it. But each time you do, know that you advertise yourself as a fool and a child.— Djoko Pritza
- Cute pep rally last night by Comrade Obamachev. Let's call that speech: "you can have your cake and eat it too" or "words speak louder than actions" or "because I say so". Is Barack the Clown dumb, or just a clown? Last night he said that America invented the automobile. NOT TRUE. Germany did. Duh.— CD75
- Now, to the issue Polman raised: I'd cast a vote for the cluelessness of the pundits, especially those on cable. They have to fill 24 hours of air and they don't do much independent reporting, or thinking. So they spend a lot of time borrowing comments from critics, whether they have any merit or not, and belaboring them over and over. Four days after an event, they will still be bringing an issue up as if it were breaking news. Pathetic. People argue that one cable show or another is biased to the left or right, but the real bias is toward conflict – cable pundits will do anything to keep disagreement and division alive. And the idea that objective journalism is to have one Republican and one Democrat on at the same time, often shouting over each other … well, if quality journalism were really the issue, it would be cable news in trouble, not newspapers.— Djoko Pritza
- Sarah Palin is smarter than I gave her credit for. She let Bobby Jindal be the Repub sacrificial lamb to Obama. To have to follow the One is a suicidal job. If Palin stands back as one Repub candidate after another burns him/herself out in Obama’s flame, she may indeed be the candidate in 2012. But then …— Djoko Pritza
- Hey, my sources tell me CD was actually right about invention of the internal combustion engine -- in Germany! Maybe he did get an education after all ... Kudos!— Djoko Pritza
- Djoko, I think they are entertainers on cable, just as Rush and Hannity are on radio, and they will say what it takes to get viewers/listeners! But, should newspapers be held to a higher standard, where they are journalists and not entertainers/bloviators? That may be a way to get their integrity and their business back from the cable news channels and websites! I call it an underserved 'niche market', 'true journalism' giving both sides of the story and letting the readers decide, instead of knowing in the 1st 2 sentences the writers views on the subject they are writing about:) Naaaaahhhhh!— NEPhilly
- I am an Obama supporter and I was not disappointed in his first State of the union address. Of course, he needed to identify square one and to outline the goals he intends to meet, all of which I wholeheartedly agree with, but what impressed me most was the way this speech forced a recalcitrant GOP to stand up and cheer for these policies. Now let's see if they, by the force of political expediency, will finally start coming on board to fix the mess that rightly bears their signature. If this happens, then, Obama is truly a force to be reckoned with. PS: I played Dubya's first SOTUA in 2001. the comparison of the two clearly shows that Bush, from day one, was never presidential material. His only option in his position was to run it by (the) Dick and ask his magic eight ball for a decision (hence his self identification as the decider with no responsibility; that's the way it's done). Is it any wonder how we got here?— tiredoftheBS
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- ***We are going to get serious about “health care reform” – a process that initially, his budget director told me, is going to cost money before it has a chance (but not a certainty) of saving any. We are going to get our college-graduation rates back up to world-leading levels by 2020. We are going to find a cure for cancer. And more. We will “double the supply of renewable energy in the next three years.” Soon we will lay “thousands of miles of new power lines.” We will make sure “every child has access to a complete and competitive education from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.” We are going to create a “retooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win.” Government will “save or create” 3.5 million jobs in the next two years. And then there is the ever-growing economic rescue plan. Almost in passing, Obama dropped some news into the speech on the bank-rescue front. Even though Congress already has voted $700 billion to shore up the credit system, the rescue “probably” will require “more than we have already set aside.” Given the continued deterioraAnd thetion of global banks and bad actors such as AIG, we could be talking hundreds of billions more. We will soon find out how President Obama proposes to do all of this without making theoretical national bankruptcy a reality.*** http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29388258/— NEPhilly
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- Hey, NePhilly, did you read Maureen Dowd today? You really would like it. She excoriates the bank that just went to the Oscars and hired Chicago, Sheryl Crow and others to perform at gala dinners. No one does snark like Maureen.— NigeltheMastiff
- Oh, and did I forget to mention that the bank had taken quite a handout from all of us taxpayers as part of its bailout?— NigeltheMastiff
- DP, well said! This 24 hours of "breaking news" is too much and the need to fill the air time is in stark contrast to the print media who has to grind it out behind the scenes for long periods of time in order to bring the story to the reader. The talking heads are just recirculating minor points keeping it all on life support.— JimR
- Nice post NEPhilly. It's sad that people actually think he is going to do all that. It's also sad that people aren't paying their bills while they wait to hear back from Obama because of an email they sent him.— jwad56
- Nigel, I did read it and liked it, but it was kind of 'small time' if you ask me (the bank was made to take the $$$). I did think that Friedman's article was the better. More of a 'big picture' look at America's role in the world for the future! His best comment, **Never more inward-looking, never more in demand: that’s America today. This moment recalls a point raised by the Johns Hopkins University foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum in his book, “The Case for Goliath.” When it comes to the way other countries view America’s pre-eminent role in the world, he wrote, “whatever its life span, three things can be safely predicted: they will not pay for it; they will continue to criticize it; and they will miss it when it is gone.” ** http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion Also, Rush is bloviating on the Brooks' NY Times article I posted yesterday, how cool!— NEPhilly
- It's amazing how hugely negative and pessimistic the republicans are. NE--this country has accomplished amazing feats vastly bigger than that list of policies you quoted. Just think a moment: how could the richest country on earth not be able to afford health care and college-graduation rates equal to most other developed countries? I'll answer that: by having conservative/republican policies in place that, for whatever reason, prevent these things from happening.— liberal
- And liberal, if I may, I'd like to expand on your comment and stand on my soapbox for a moment. When did we as a country being revering ignorance and start disdaining intellect and ideas? That seemed to happen over and over during the campaign. Many didn't care whether Sarah Palin had any knowledge of current events or not -- as long as she is for tax cuts and no abortions. That horrifies me. If you read about our history -- and this notion was emphasized for me when I read the John Adams biography -- our founders and early leaders were extremely learned. The were brilliant, in fact. And they loved the exploration of ideas. Now we call people like that "eggheads" and hurl the term intellectual as though it were an insult. Why is ignorance something to aspire to? Why do we think that someone who can field-dress a moose is automatically a good political candidate? The education numbers in this country are alarming. I can rarely find someone out of journalism school who can write a grammatically correct sentence. We desperately need to change that part of our culture.— NigeltheMastiff
- Now we know that CD is a machine--no human would be capable of plucking from the rich archives of Google, within minutes of Obama's speech, the fact that the automobile (actually, it's the Otto engine, not the car itself as such) was invented in Der Fuhrer's old heimat. It's also true that the electric light bulb was invented by one of Otto's landsmen, one herr Goebel. Deutschland uber alles!— liberal
- NEPhilly, on the journalism issue, the difference is reporting, not objectivity. What the heck after all is objectivity? There are most often more than two sides to an issue. And the TV pundits don't see themselves as entertainers, but as journalists. That's what's sad. You must report -- dig for the facts -- to be a good journalist. Then tell it where the facts lead you.— Djoko Pritza
- I am, in general, an Obama supporter, but I was disappointed by his speech last night. Too many generalities and too few specifics. The stock market appeared to concur, at least in the early part of trading, with a decline. It was also interesting to watch the Republican response. Do they have some system set up so that they all look to see when they are allowed to stand/clap or not stand/clap in support of a comment? I would gather that perhaps the members of the party (whether it be Democrat or Republican) are asked to look at the party leaders and if they stand/clap, then the other members can do so as well? Lastly, I thought the Jindal speech was really bad--he advocated "letting government get out of the way", but it seems to me that is exactly what got us in this mess--the government got out of the way of Bernie Madoff, Lehman Brothers, and others such that they were allowed to engage in their shenanigans. It really seemed to me that Jindal basically gave a Jindal for President 2012 speech last night which sought to appeal to the "core" conservatives of the Republican Party.— Nalaka
- NEPhilly, on your skeptical reporting of the substance of the Obama speech last night: You have to set the bar high, you have inspire and lead, if you want to accomplish great things. This country has lacked a leader for a long time. Thank a nonexistent God that John "The Surge" McCain is not our president, with Sarah Palin in the background, maneuvering to push him off a cliff.— Djoko Pritza
- HarryErney, I don't usually look at links provided by posters, left or right, because, as I said the other day, the poster cherry-picks something to support her/his viewpoint and ignores all that doesn't, or misinterprets the link, or the link is just plain loony. Then you spend all your time arguing over what was a bogus link to begin with. But you’re new to me, so I’ll give it a shot. I hope you don’t disappoint.— Djoko Pritza
- Djoko, I was quoting Howard Fineman's article from msnbc.com, not my own comments and he is no conservative, by any means! In the 'olden days', you couldn't tell a journalist's politics from his articles! Now, it is commonplace and very sad! That is why I say maybe that is a niche market the newspapers could exploit, fair and balanced reporting:)— NEPhilly
- OK, Harry, I goggled “what newspapers are doing well,” but there wasn’t much there; you’re going to have to give me more specific info. The third story listed was, “China claims Tibetan newspapers are doing well”; you didn’t mean that, did you? Or are you referring to “community newspapers”? I hope not, as that is not at all to the point and would be another sign you’re out of your element. Let me know.— Djoko Pritza
- Nalaka, one thing the Congress members have is a TV monitor. Often the difference between standing, clapping or sitting on their hands is if their mug pops up on the monitor.— Djoko Pritza
- Here is my commentary, when Pres. Obama keeps saying there were no earmarks in the porkulus bill, when there obviously were, he looses some credibility. It sounded more like a campaign speech than a 'state of the state', with the jabs about the deficit, etc. I said before he has to lead the whole country now, not just those that agree with him or his party. On the plus side, at least he didn't say 'crisis' and 'catastrophe' over and over and over again:)— NEPhilly
- So the government that mandated that banks lend to low income people of high risk is going to ask for trillions more to bailout a problem of their making? Seems like the "fox is watching the hen house." And on top of that he is going to double down in Afghanistan after Pakistan basically surrendered their northern territory to the Taliban. I guess this will be good for the Republican party since in short order they will gains seats and take back the presidency but this is all bad for America.
- Nigelthemastiff- Let me play devils advocate for a 2nd. You wrote " eduction numbers are alarming in this country ". How can that be if government is so good at providing eduction? I mean trillions are thrown at education at all levels of government. So much so that teachers in our western suburbs now earn over $ 100,000 per year for 9 months a year of work. Please explain
- So Obama thinks America invented the car and Joe Biden thinks a website address is a series of numbers. The clown twins are amusing to say the least.
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- SMike, part of the problem with education is that we have based our system on rewarding longevity and attainment of new degrees rather than documented success in the classroom. The studies that have been done for the last 20 years or so all point to failures. If I root around a bit, I can find some of them. Yesterday I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper on behalf of the collage. I quoted a very recent study done by The College Board just this past December. Here are some critical points (and by the way, the just substantiate some studies that were done in the 1980s): 1. The rate at which American students disappear from school between grades 9 and 12 has tripled in the last 30 years. The loss of students between grades 9 and 10 is the biggest leak in the education pipeline. 2. High-school graduation rates have fallen from about 77 percent in 1972 to 67 percent today. 3. • The United States, which led the world in high-school completion rates throughout the 20th century, ranked just 21 out of 27 advanced economies in 2005. We rank near the bottom of industrialized countries in completion rates after students have enrolled in college.— NigeltheMastiff
- NEPhilly, you know what an earmark is?— Djoko Pritza
- That's OK, Harry, if you can't explain yourself, you can't explain yourself. I’m open-minded enough to accept that. Your first post of the day evidently accurately indicated a little, shall we say, mental confusion.— Djoko Pritza
- Djoko, when a legislator puts a little pork in a bill that it has no business being in. Are we going to play word games now? 'It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is', is?' Congressional earmarks are often defined loosely as anonymously authored guarantees of federal funds to particular recipients.— NEPhilly
- Nigelthemastiff- so there is a dropout problem not an eduction problem. I would ask you dig a little deeper into those statistics. But the bottom line is our eduction system is run by government. Liberals would not have it any other way.
- SMike, I so wish you could put aside your hatred for liberals for a bit and see that this is not something to politicize, but to work on. The effort is for all our children. And it's not just about drop-outs. It's also about ranking 21st out of 27 industrialized nations. Here in Georgia, the latest report showed that students are passing the state end-of-year exams in various subjects, but can't pass the national standard of required knowledge in a certain subject. Nationally, we are far behind China, India and other countries in science and technology fields. There are a variety of social, cultural and professional problems driving these issues. It's not all about liberals. And quite frankly, the Republicans have been in control here in Georgia for years, and we rank near the bottom of the U.S. in educational achievement.— NigeltheMastiff
- SWEDE: Are you ill today? The Dow is down almost 100 points, and you know for a fact that Wall Streeters saw right thru his lies, no? As Rush says everything he says is a LIE!— Talvenada
- SWEDE: Obama needs to be STOPPED from ruining YOUR country, like VP Palin of The Conservative States of American pointed out: he's not a Real American, like you.— Talvenada
- Talvenda- The dow was actually up 25 points until Obama had his statement at 4pm. Now it's down 80 points. The people with " skin " in the game are not real confident in Obama. Dow down 2000 since election night. Another 1100 since innauguration
- Nigelthemastiff- But is it politicized. Government has had a monopoly on Education. The relevant issue here is that liberals are asking government to be involved in banking, healthcare, education and who knows what else. But the track record of government run entities is not very good.. Between education, the postal service, and amtrak the results are abysmall. The point being that government isn't the solution, it is the problem. We have commonality in that we generally desire the same results but we differ greatly on how sucess in accomplished. On your dropout statistics I find those very high and they probably aren't even close to the district where my kids go. There are other factors contributing to those high dropout rates. Probably higher among certain groups than others.
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- Nigelthemastiff- To be honest I don't think our public eduction is bad. Where I live it is great. It's the one thing that unites and pulls a community together. The higher paying suburban schools tend to attract the better teachers. The incentive is to get a masters to get paid more. Where it falls apart is in crime ridden inner cities where the teachers are breaking up fights all day and risking their own well being from the minute they pull into the parking lot.
- SWEDE: WOW!! Obama speaks at 4 pm, The Dow's last numbers are 4:02 pm, and it drops 105 points in that ether. Again, WOW!! In that case, it has to be Obama, and he should resign immediately, no?— Talvenada
- But SMike, what you're saying is part of the problem. All American citizens should be entitled to a good education in a safe school with well trained teachers who produce good results. You're proposing an elitist system where only the affluent get good results. We know this can be done from test cases in Harlem and here in Atlanta at the Ron Clark Academy. We owe our children and our country a well-educated population, and not just for the currently affluent, because if we don't provide that, we will fall farther and farther behind in the global economy. If a child's parents don't care about education, that's not OK. It's not fair to make that child suffer and forfeit his/her potential. OK. Nuff said. I told you it was my soapbox.— NigeltheMastiff
- "Congressional earmarks are often defined loosely as anonymously authored guarantees of federal funds to particular recipients." Hah, NEPhilly, right out of Wikipedia (you should at least attrribute:) OK, next question: What are the earmarks to which you refer in the porkulus bill? (Hint, you won't find it on Wikipedia.)— Djoko Pritza
- SWEDE: You are so right that those traders w/ "skin" preferred The Bush no-strings BANK-bailouts. I'm sure if we ONLY bailed out the bankers w/ no oversight, they'd be much happier campers.— Talvenada
- SWEDE: That Bobby Jindal really gave a great speech to make Obama look like a clown, no? If there was an election today, Jindal would win in a landslide.— Talvenada
- swede, the government is in charge of the schools in all the countries where their kids are going to eat our lunch in this century. The question is, why are the schools so bad in this country? Babbling the usual anti-teacher conservative talking points doesn't answer this question in the least. Please note that our federal government doesn't run the schools, except for the military, whereas most public school systems in countries where the schools are more successful than here are centralized at the federal or state level.— liberal
- If conservatives think that government shouldn't try to solve our most obvious problems because "government is the problem." (an oft-quoted mantra that makes about as much sense as chanting "om") then how about some conservative solutions for healthcare, dependence on foreign oil, etc.? No republican has yet even so much as suggested legislation that would provide even remotely plausible solutions to these problems. For the sake of mollifying the public they come up with silly ideas like domestic oil drilling (notice how that one has disappeared with the end of the presidential campaign), health savings accounts (transparently a tax shelter for the rich); no republican since Eisenhower has even showed a faint interest in infrastructure problems, and the list goes on. A very bad record.— liberal
- liberal, I have solution for all those problems: Cut taxes!:)— Djoko Pritza
- Nigelthemastiff- I think Obama could have some sucess in conveying that it is a parents responsibility to be involved in a childs education. My sister teaches in the inner city but of a class of 25 only 1 or 2 parents will show up for Parent-teacher conferences. What I think you find is that the school is a reflection of the community. To keep throwing money at the problem is futile.
- So, the hapless Repubs, with nothing else to offer, put up their "ringer" Jindal, and he gets rung out to dry by his fellow Conservatives for a horrible "response" to Obama's speech. And let's not forget - this is their "best" guy, a front runner for Pres in 2012??? LOLOLOLOL!! - and NOT EVEN a member of Congress??!! - Repubs have totally lost all credibility and relevance. Please, take your idle "threats" of a 2012 comeback to your empty playground. What's next for your party - Michelle Malkin as a VP candidate? It's looking that way, chumps.— CurryFavor
- liberal, you are correct in what you say about other country's educational systems. China is cleaning our clock and all their schools are run by the government. One reason the South is doing so badly is that there is no national curriculum. They just keep dumbing everything down. That's why there's such a big discrepancy between the state test end-of-course results and the national ones.— NigeltheMastiff
- LIB: Conse 'Pubs have thee answer, which is the government gives you nothing for any reason; but does not try to regulate entrepreneurs, like Madoff, w/ even one regulation that would prevent them from having success. That success provides funds for 'Pub campaigns. However, money is no object for preemptive wars to keep us safe, because we need more soldiers, ammunition, weapons, bombs and nukes. Yes, education is important, but offense is critical to silence our critics w/ their baseless dissent.— Talvenada
- Posted by Djoko Pritza 05:50 PM, 02/25/2009 liberal, I have solution for all those problems: Cut taxes!:) Yep, that has worked so well for the past eight years. Just look how rich we all are!— mike l
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- SMike, throwing more money at anything isn't the only answer. But there are creative things being done in at-risk areas that are really working. Harlem has a safe zone that encompasses a certain number of blocks. The school opens early in the morning and stays open until evening when parents get home from work. The parents are required to contribute hours to the school for various tasks. Scores have shot up. The zone is safe and engaging for children. We need to rethink how we educate. And we must do that with government money. How else would we pay schools, and how else will we have a uniform curriculum that insures students learn at a certain level. I'm a little cranky because I have a headache, so please spare me the liberal diatribe.— NigeltheMastiff
- I think the dow dropped a point for every word Obama uttered at his " statement " today. Was up 12 before he spoke and down 80 after he spoke. If liberals think he's just going to be asking for trillions and trillions more without paying a price politically you are as foolish as the day you voted for this character
- mike 1, that cut-taxes line was like a joke, if you've been following along at all on this blog ...— Djoko Pritza
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- President Obama - A+ - Governor Jindal C-. I hope for the Governor's sake that he is ready next time he is given the chance to shine. And all complaining aside at least Prisident Obama unlike George Bush is willing to tackle the big issue. At the very least our president got the dialogue started. It was wrong of Bush to handle Iraq expendirures off budget - don't you think ???— ModerateMarge
- And Mike - we'd by and large vote for Obama again. At least our President is trying to tackle the issues one at a time. It is suprizing the GOP is not supporting our president in a time of war ! Pretty unpatriotic, don't you think ??— ModerateMarge
- Re Jindal, you know what they say: What doesn't kill you makes you better ... Of course, he may just have been killed.— Djoko Pritza
- Moderatemarge- I think Obama played fast and loose with the facts last night. But I guess all that matters is he won the teleprompter contest. Here is some discrepencies mr Obama had with facts last night in case realty and truth really matters to liberals http://news.aol.com/article/fact-check-obama-glosses-over-complex/312189?icid=sphere_wsj_teaser— ModerateMike
- Well, smike, your hate of all things Dem puts you in a box and makes you look foolishly out of touch. Although you ask that D's show respect to your side, you cannot or will not do the same. You are a composite of the typical member of today's Republican party - a party that is being rejected in greater #'s each election cycle because they have nothing to offer America after a decade of the failed policies that Obama is dealing with now. Wish for failure - go ahead - but that failure will also fall upon your house as well as the rest of ours. ALL Americans should be hoping that Obama's plan is nothing less than a full and effective success. To do otherwise is rather foul and very un-American.— GetEmGood
- Djoko Pritza I have another solution: RAISE TAXES!! Woo hoo. Try to figure out how you are going to get by on less money so the government can build a subsidized solar farm or ship some condoms to Broad and Market!— jwad56
- Marge: I must have missed the part where liberals ever supported our mission against the terrorist in Iraq or Afghanistan. Seems at though Obama is releasing them and dropping charges so we can face them again either here or back on the battlefield. Rather unpatriotic or downright idoitic. No?— ModerateMike
- Getemgood-you did nothing but wish failure upon President Bush. Along with a complicit media you were able to turns your party's fortunes around in 2006 but now you're overreaching. Don't kid yourself. Obama will not be allowed to preside over a depression without paying a political price. Eventually he will own the Obama depression, sooner that he thinks.
- SMike, throwing more money at anything isn't the only answer. But there are creative things being done in at-risk areas that are really working. Harlem has a safe zone that encompasses a certain number of blocks. The school opens early in the morning and stays open until evening when parents get home from work. The parents are required to contribute hours to the school for various tasks. Scores have shot up. The zone is safe and engaging for children. We need to rethink how we educate. And we must do that with government money. How else would we pay for schools, and how else will we have a uniform curriculum that insures students learn at a certain level. I'm a little cranky because I have a headache, so please spare me the liberal diatribe.— NigeltheMastiff
- ModerateMike - your Limbaugh-ese is hilarious and pathetic at the same time. That "aol" link is hardly an indictment of "playing fast and loose" with facts - it is more a clarification than anything. But we all know Bush was fully truthful with every utterance. Start rooting for an economic recovery - your misguided anger/willful ignorance leaves you fully flaccid, debate-wise.— GetEmGood
- Nigelthemastiff-I don't think public education is a failure as a whole. As a society we are the most prosperous in the world. We have to be doing some things right. Students from all over the world come here to go to college.
- smike - do not project on to me - I never wished or hoped for Bush's failure except at the ballot box. I wished that he'd have had better or more honest policies, but never for America to fail. Anyway, your posts here are quite indicitive of a hope for the failure of Obama's policy - and that's sad - rather than get behind the necessary effort, you continue to criticize, yet offer nothing better. Typical. You do not understand politics, obviously, or there is no way you could even contemplate a GOP rebound in 4 years. Not possible. Not aftere the damage they have inflicted - check the polls - a huge majority do not trust Repubs with the economy any more and they are willing to give Obama A LOT of effort time to get it back on track.— GetEmGood
- Getemgood- what does Rush Limbaugh have to do with the fact check results from Obama's speech last night? The common denominator with liberal comebacks lately seems to be to discredit the poster by mentioning Rush Limbaugh. Frankly I have no idea what a fact check article written by AOL has to with a radio talk show host. Can you explain anything in the AOL article that is incorrect?
- Djoko, this is a list things (some say 9000 earmarks) in the porkulus that could be construed as earmarks! I think any sane person (other than the President) knows a $787 Bil spending bill written by the Dems will have earmarks! ***In part, the answer hinges on what's an "earmark." Democrats insist they are nowhere in the plan; Republicans see "pork" everywhere. So we cribbed from criteria Congress laid out in a 2007 reform bill: language that aims spending at specific programs, states or localities, often at a member's request. Specific location? The Senate stimulus contains $50 million for habitat restoration and other water needs in the San Francisco Bay area. There is another $62 million for military projects in Guam. Specific industry? The House bill includes an amendment authored by Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley setting aside $500 million for biofuel makers, which he says, would bring jobs home to Iowa. Specific program? There's $198 million to compensate Filipino World War II veterans for their service. Most don't live in the United States.*** http://www.propublica.org/feature/welcome-in-the-stimulus-bill-an-earmark-by-any-other-name Nigel, what do you think of vouchers for use by poor inner city kids to attend a school of their choice, instead of staying in the failing public schools?— NEPhilly
- Sorry for the repeat post. As I said, I have a headache. I took a break to do some cleaning and it looked like I hadn't finished my post so I hit the submit button again. :(— NigeltheMastiff
- SMIKE - You do mean the Bush depression. When you HONESTLY look at the budgets Obama's budgets are not worse deficit wise than Bush's and at least the taxpayers get value for the spending !— ModerateMarge
- Getemgood- I think what you are having a hard time dealing with is the current economic facts. Dow is down 2000 points since election night. 1100 points since innauguration day. Sales of existing homes at a 12 year low and consumer sentiment at an all time low. Unemployment increasing every week. These are facts. It has not improved. No amount of telepromter reading from Obama seems to be changing this reality. Today the dow was up slightly until Obama went to the podium to issue a statement. The dow dropped 100 points during the speech.
- Go to grants.gov if want to see how many different ways government wastes our money
- Marge- Are you serious? Obama has asked for 1.5 trillion since innauguration day alone. On top of the first half of the tarp funds he voted for in October. At today's statement he hinted that he'll be asking for trillions more to nationalize banks. Dow keeps dropping, unemployment keeps rising, home prices declining. The Obama depression he savored so much on the campaign trail so he could get elected is here.
- swedesboromike, I think GetEmGood has a point that you're not getting. This entire economic crisis happened BEFORE the election and America sees this a being dumped on Obama & The Dem's lap to deal with (they also voted for this change so that Obama and the Dem's would deal with it in a drastic manner). All of your bleating about the economy is compartmentalized for your own arguments. Americans hear what is going on everyday and most do not react day to day. The GOP base has become a sort of sub-species as of late - speaking in terms, punditry, rhetoric so differently than the mainstream of the country - they are stuck in their anger of Obama's large win and their rejection by a large majority of the country. Even with a slow, steady uptick in the economy, through summer will be the death of the GOP for years to come - they know it - and that is why they are pushing for the failure of this policy. It is all political and it is repugnant for anyone to be on board with that.— Buzzy81
- Buzzy81- The problem with your statement is that when you look at what really caused this mess it lies more at the feet of liberal policies like the community reinvestment act. Where banks were madated to loan to low income borrowers. The shelf life on blaming bush is rapidly approaching.
- Mike, With Iraq and other expenditures off budget it would take some time to figure out a true deficit. But unless and until the proper figures are added to the deficit Obama's vs Bush's deficit is not a strict apples to apples comparison. Do you think it was honest budgeting by George W. Bush to spend off budget on Iraq ????— ModerateMarge
- smike (or is it ModerateMike now?) I dind't say the aol article had anything to do with Limbaugh - I implied that ModMike's (or your) definition of Obama playing fast & loose with facts was Limabugh-ese (very much so). The aol article was called a "fact check" but it didn't indict what Obama said in any way as you tried to imply, it merely clarified the broad statements that were in his "broad statement"/big speech - that is not NOT playing fast & loose, it is actually quite typical of "major movement" speeches by Presidents. But then again, your hate of Obama is too pathological to see that.— GetEmGood
- Getemgood- too funny. You've redefined and repackaged lies as " broad statements " Nice spin
- Marge- I agree with you. It all adds to the debt and the deficit.
- smike - see that's where you and your ilk box yourself in: The "shelf-life of blaming Bush" will last as long as the we have to face the disaterous outcome of his policies - are you willing to give Obama's plans a chance? Until then, there is plenty of blame for Bush. If not - what does your party offer except more of the same failed policies? Stating over and over that the Dem's are more to blame when most economists do not, is not debate. See - that's called being out of touch, smike.— Buzzy81
- Mike - While you are content to blame democrats for this current financial mess you gloss over many many issues which say that stance is not accurate 1) Are you proud that it took George Bush until the Democrats won back Congress to find his veto pen ??? 2) How about the GOP zeal to deregulate ??? 3) As Bush 43 took much credit in 2004 for the increased home ownership - does he and the GOP get the blame for the bubble bursting ??? Don't forget the GOP ran the Oval office and Congress for many of the years of the Bubble buildup - it is beyond the belief that a minority congressman could be responsible for the mess. 4) How about the Bush deficit ???— ModerateMarge
- And Mike that is what I could not stand about George W. Bush. He wanted the extra power because he was a wartime president but not the responsibility to use that power well or the responsibility that power came with. For me it got so I knew Bush was lying when his mouth was open.— ModerateMarge
- Please state a LIE that Obama made last night and then state it supposed fact. Just one. That aol "fact check" article didn't indicate a single lie, not one. Bush's lies on the other hand - not enough space on the internet.— GetEmGood
- Krugman - pure gold as usual: "[L]eaving aside the chutzpah of casting the failure of his own party’s governance as proof that government can’t work, does he really think that the response to natural disasters like Katrina is best undertaken by uncoordinated private action? Hey, why bother having an army? Let’s just rely on self-defense by armed citizens. The intellectual incoherence is stunning. Basically, the political philosophy of the GOP right now seems to consist of snickering at stuff that they think sounds funny. The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead."— CurryFavor
- Oh, and please put Tom Delay on TV more. Everyday, if possible.— CurryFavor
- Marge- I have said the Bush trumpeted rising home ownership in 2004. Just as Clinton trumpeted the Welfare Reform that the Democrats undid in the Stimulus plan. But Bush is no longer in office. Obama campaigned for two years as the man with all the answers. But now he is the man blaming the former administration. Honestly I think if we could prevent recessions we wouldn't have them in the first place. But you have to admit there was a lot of mandated lending that created the housing bubble.
- I think we need to pay our teachers more. We have a President who does not know where the car came from and a Vice President who can't use the Internet. If our leaders are this dumb, how can we expect alot out of our children? Please pay the teachers more! They touch the future!— CD75
- Hey, NEPhilly, if you can name the places the money is going, it's not an earmark. Earmarks and pork are different. And one peson's pork is another person's stimulus. Go with flow, my friend. We'll work our way out of this.— Djoko Pritza
- GET: Limbaugh says that everything Obama says is a lie, and national Conse 'Pubs said every turncoat Bushie, like Scott McClellan, was a liar or in it for the money. 100% w/ no exceptions!!— Talvenada
- Here we go again; ***The Democratic-controlled House approved $410 billion legislation Wednesday that boosted domestic programs, bristled with earmarks and chipped away at policies left behind by the Bush administration. The vote was 245-178, largely along party lines. Overall, the legislation would provided increases of roughly 8 percent for the federal agencies it covered, about $32 billion more than last year. After persuading lawmakers to keep earmarks off the stimulus bill, Obama made no such attempt on the first non-emergency spending measure of his presidency. The result was that lawmakers claimed billions in federal funds for pet projects -- a total of 8,570 earmarks at a cost of $7.7 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. *** http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/25/house-approves-billion-spending/— NEPhilly
- And where will it end? ***A senior administration official says President Obama's budget calls for financing the overhaul by trimming Medicare spending and limiting tax deductions for upper-income earners. President Obama wants a significant "down payment" for overhauling the health care system: $634 billion over 10 years. About 48 million Americans are uninsured, according to recent estimates. The cost of guaranteeing coverage for all could easily exceed $1 trillion over 10 years.*** http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/25/obama-seeks-m-years-revamp-health-care/— NEPhilly
- What a bunch of sissies in here!— p-diddy
- Buy em books and send them to college yet they think websites have numbers, there are 57 states, and the automobile was invented in America. sheesh. The clown twins of Obama and Biden are a laugh a minute. He question for you liberals. If were buying a vacuum or a car or a washing machine and the salesman told you the cost is 1.5 trillion dollars but there is a 30% chance it won't work, would you buy it?
- Mike, Ir wasn't the mandated loans as much as the liars loans and other loans marketed towards wealthier people rather than the fitst time home owners. The cause of the bubble are many. The simplistic blame the Democrat bs that you keep getting from Druggie Limbaugh or Half Story Hannity is so far off the mark that it will not get any other response from me. It's like you and the Pelosi plane bs - from Hannity I believe but factually deficient in many areas. Hannity and his proclivity to play fast and loose with the truth causes much hesitation to accept ANYTHING they say as fact.— ModerateMarge
- Ah, NEPhilly, you said the "porkulus" bill, but you meant the "budget" bill. Remember, "porkulus" is what you called the $780-mil stimulus package? There are indeede earmarks in the $410-bill "budget" bill. I hope that clears it up for ya. And I hope Obama makes an issue of it, to the point of a veto. Earmarks have their place. But this is not the place, nor the time.— Djoko Pritza
- SWEDE, NE PHIL, TOM, ARC & CD75: Where is the bragging about Jindal, the front runner to beat Obama in '12? No bragging about Michael Steele since his uber election victory? How about a Real American President Palin to fix Obama's mess? How about that idea man Eric Cantor? Any of these 4 are better than Obama, for certain, no?— Talvenada
- ADD TO: Obama has failed, and deserves not 1 second more of American's time. Conse 'Pubs in The WH, House and Senate will need EIGHT years to fix Obama's mess, no?— Talvenada
- Liberal....what is wrong with education in our country today? Who knows. Everybody has a different opinion. Some say teachers union, some say we have not spent enough money on the problem. However, some points. Why is it parochial and private schools do better at educating than public schools, especially when the teachers make less money. Why did Congress, in the last spending bill, kill the D.C. voucher program, which has raised test scores and helped students escape the failing public schools, that 2,000 students wrote to President Obama to keep in place? If they are for improved education, why kill a working successful program? When talking about college, why is it Democrats never try to control the costs of a college education? Colleges and universities have endowments sometimes in the hundreds of millions and billions. College and university presidents sometimes make in the millions. Many of these receive state and federal money, yet no politician seems willing to cap those CEO salaries or reduce costs so they can be more affordable. Many other countries restrict who can go to University, but here anybody who has the money or can get the loans can go...but why is the cost so high? Why did the state of Delaware refuse to guarantee a bond for the charter school "Delaware Military Academy" at the request of the union, forcing them to get it from a firm in Arizona? Politicians are for education, then kill or try to kill successful programs and schools. Until they get their act together, the schools will always fail....just like the auto industry.— tom - wilmington, de
- Let's see. Obama wants $634 Billion for universal health care (total costs could be $1 trillion over 10 years). He wants to raise the tax rate to 39.6% AND reduce itemized deductions for those over $250K from current 40 cents on the dollar to 28 cents on the dollar. Hillary has pledged $900 million, funnelled through the UN, to rebuild Gaza. He wants to begin auctioning off pollution credits for his cap and trade plan. He wants to make permanent his "making work pay" tax credits, fix the AMT (actually a good idea), and charge more for Medicare as well as reduce remibursements. This is on top of his already signed $787 Billion stimulus, possibly more money for "bank bailout two", more to the auto industry, his $50 Billion per year pledge to the UN for anti-poverty, and his increased education funding. Now, from where is all this money going to come from, and how is this fiscal discipline?— tom - wilmington, de
- Tal, I like Jindal. Like Clinton in his address to the DEM convention in 1988, this is a recoverable moment. He articulated positions very well, but Obama is a tough act to follow (as is any president in an address to Congress). Jindal is young (37), intelligent, popular in Louisiana, and successful (Louisiana was the ONLY state to ADD jobs in December, 2008). Palin is rough around the edges, but is not the moron portrayed in her most recent foray in politics. She was just ready for prime time...yet. Steele was just elected a couple of weeks ago...how about giving the brother some time. As for fixing Obama's mess....let's just hope he can be stopped with the 2010 midterms. One thing for certain, Polman will NEVER refer to Obama's term as a "failed presidency". Let's just see how deep the Obama depression goes.— tom - wilmington, de
- TOM: The brother better learn to juggle more than 1 ball. I like the govmt. only creates work, not jobs, and I'm not so sure the world is ready for a Hip-Hop Conse 'Pub.— Talvenada
- Marge- Instead of challenging me on the content of my post you mention radio talk show hosts as a means to discredit me. I have no idea what one has to do with the other. Are you denying that banks were mandated to lend to low income borrowers? If your combeback is to name drop radio talk show hosts then don't bother.
- Djoko, of course you are right! There are so many spending bills I can't keep them straight:) I'll call this one 'Porkulus 2' :)— NEPhilly
- Rather amusing that Obama believes so much in public education that he sends his own kids to an expensive private school. Oh the hypocrisy!
- Tom from Wimington- I've heard excerpts from Jindal's teleprompter reading. The disparagement is just a concerted effort to villify any Republican who has a sliver of a chance of winning the nomination in 2012. Objectively there was nothing wrong with the content or the articulation. But this playbook worked so well to discredit Sarah Palin that now anyone who has any chance of being our nominee in 2012 will be trashed by our state run media.
- s-mike, please address the issue of companies like Countrywide and New Century in the mortgage failure problem. There's about 200+ that have failed and dumped their loans into the system.— JimR
- JimR- When I hear lending istitutions like that my first question is where are those banks? What in the world are they? When government said that lenders must lend a certain amount of their loans to high risk low income borrowers it help create the mortgage broker industry. Provided the packet of paperwork was correct the broker could then sell the mortage, all with the idea it was backed by Fannie and Freddie. The zeal to lend to low income borrowers created a disconnect between the bank and the lender. Essentially no one had any "skin " in the game. The broker got paid if the paperwork was correct not if the borrower could ever pay the loan. As home ownership among poor people skyrocketed, the worse the whole industry became. And don't kid yourself- liberals like Franklin Raines and Jamie Goerlick made millions in all of this.
- JimR- Quite frankly the whole mortgage and credit card industry hasn't changed much. Just this time they actually ask for tax returns and earnings statements. We'll never be able to go back to the days when the Bank lended directly to the borrower. The mortgage broker lobby is too strong to allow them to be cut out of loans.
- Um – Yup, tom – REAL RECOVERABLE. Talk about one’s head in the sand!: “Jindal draws flak from GOP, Dems over speech … Earnest, awkward delivery earns comparisons to '30 Rock' character. “NEW YORK - Insane. Childish. Disaster. And those were some of the kinder comments from political pundits about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Jindal, 37, a Rhodes scholar and son of Indian immigrants, is considered a rising star in Republican ranks and a likely 2012 presidential candidate. “ Palin/Jindal ’12!!!— CurryFavor
- Curry...I recall in 1992, when Clinton started his acceptance speech, his first line was "As I was saying...." to which the crowd erupted in laughter and applause. Jindal did not have a good setting or the same style and panache as Obama. However, I listened to Obama on the radio and heard very little of substance something else the pundits are saying about Obama's speech). Jindal lacked style, but he had substance. I guess it depends on what you want to hear...a good speaker who says nothing, or a bad speaker who makes good points. And than you for proving S-Mike's point in his earlier post.— tom - wilmington, de
- New unemployment filings jumped 7% last week...a new record high. As for Obama's budget, that screeching sound you hear is the breaks being applied to whatever recovery his stimulus bill could have provided. I hope all realize that of the top 2% of taxpayers, I believe two-thirds are small business owners.— tom - wilmington, de
- GM lost $9.6Bil last quarter, teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and the UAW is playing hardball. I just don't understand it. By protecting their unsustainable contracts they are putting the whole company at risk, jobs, pensions, health insurance, etc.! Lingenfelter (sp) should be a little more reasonable and farsighted. Tom, vouchers would work and work well. Catholic schools in Phila are closing for lack of students and cost maybe $5000 per kid and do a good job with the basics. The public schools in the city spend almost $11k per kid and can't even take roll and know who is in school. What am i missing? Give the poor inner city kids a choice to attend the cheaper, better, more disciplined schools. Be it Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, etc. It can't get any worse for these poor kids right now and another generation goes down the drain courtesy of union protecting Dems in the govt., bottom line!— NEPhilly
- Tom and others--regarding my question what policies the republicans have to offer for our most pressing domestic policies, nobody has yet given any republican ideas relating to dependence on foreign oil or health care. As for education, the usual republican response is to talk about problems in the poorest neighborhoods, but you guys aren't getting it. Our schools are substandard even in many nonminority suburban and rural districts as well. Meanwhile, as for infrastructure, when you take a road trip in a country like Portugal, and discover that the road system is in far better shape than ours, what are you supposed to think? Somebody is stopping us from going forward with even the most urgent public needs.— liberal
- lib, the repubs in the campaign, led by Sarah Palin, suggested an all of the above approach to energy and I agree. Wind, solar, nat.gas, nuclear, coal and drilling should all be encouraged by govt. tax breaks and policies as a matter of national defense! As for Health care, there has to be a better, market based solution, to our uninsured. Maybe we could let every uninsured American buy into the federal workers insurance program. with low deductables and by sheer volume health inurance costs would go down. For the economy, I would cut the payroll tax for employees and employers to give both more $$$$ right now! Our education system is the most expensive in the world, so $$$ is not the problem. Vouchers are a 'now' solution and very workable. I think with a little competition the public schools would have to get better or close for lack of students! We should invest in infrastructure, but over many years, not all at once as a 'jobs program'! We should only let states get back from the feds, what they put in, that way no need for pork barrell spending. Term limits on those in Congress would also be on my list.— NEPhilly
- And here is the President, who denigrated in his speech the off budget war spending by W (what else is new), doing the same exact thing, this year and next President Obama plans to seek an additional $75.5 billion in war funding for rest of the fiscal year, and another $130 billion for fiscal 2010, a senior official told FOX News. The fiscal 2010 request would be in addition to what is expected to be a $534 billion defense budget for that year -- despite Obama's suggestion during his speech to Congress Tuesday that he will scale back the practice of supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.— NEPhilly
- swedesboromike: when you write "When government said that lenders must lend a certain amount of their loans to high risk low income borrowers", I'm assuming that you're referring (incorrectly, but I'll ignore that) to NEPhilly's favorite cause of the current economic situation, the CRA. Unfortunately, CRA covered BANKS, not mortgage brokers. As an aside, has anyone seen any data as to what sort of loans are failing? What % are "poor people", and what % are middle class people who bought $600,000 houses? ... As far as Jindal, it's mainly conservatives ripping into him, not the liberal MSM.— still_independent
- Teehee - Permacrank CD75 actually wrote "duh". Why don't you complain about why your wonderboy Piyush was so comically bad the other night instead. We all can see you sweat! This has to be a nightmare for you!— TP87
- poor tom, forever stuck in 1992 - along with the rest of the clueless Obama-haters. Seriously - you want to compare Jindal to Clinton, for crying out loud - Jindal isn't qualified to to lick Clinton's boots! No where NEAR the same level politician and never will be, especially after the debacle on Tuesday night, help from Rush or not. It's rather obvious you that haven't the slightest idea just how different the political atmosphere is in 2009 and how powerful the cycle of sound-bite/you-tube-clips can be. See: McCain/Palin failure, please. Your party will continue to fade into irrelevance until it realizes: A majority of Americans are FLEEING, FLEEING the Republican party and their policies because they are woefully unable identify with the average American.— CurryFavor
- Exactly. A political party with an active member who can make a statement such as this, is going nowhere fast: Scott Renfroe, opposing healthcare benefits for the spouses of gay state employees: “I’m not saying this (homosexuality) is the only sin that’s out there. We have murder. We have all sorts of sin. We have adultery. And we don’t make laws making those legal, and we would never think to make murder legal.” Way to grow the GOP!!!— xtremeTF
- Tom: You thought Jindal's response had substance? Why? The part where he complained about the federal government "interfering" with the Katrina response was cringe-inducing. He never responded to Obama's charge that the GOP is holding up the stimulus package because of a tiny percentage of the total proposed spending. The basic message was "I think government should be smaller." WTF? I think he should have gone all the way: "I think government should be non-existent, so there!"— p-diddy
- the 17% who think the gop is on the right track all whine on here daily,lol— FedupDem
- You know what you geniuses should do? Try teaching.— p-diddy
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Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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