POTUS: ‘We’re Gonna Have a Signing.’ WH: Not a Public One

He can say all he wants about members of Congress putting their earmarks on their websites, but the fact is the only power he has as President is to veto or not veto.
He has shown his weakness and his inability to direct Congress. Heaven help the taxpayers.

“This is utter lunacy.”
After Geithner’s weird appearance on Charlie Rose, and the public appearance with Obama in which one of them should have been sitting on the other’s lap, you’d THINK Der Leader would keep Geithner in the closet, along with His secret signing of the spending bill.

“He can say all he wants about members of Congress putting their earmarks on their websites”
That’ll be sooo illuminating for those living in tents, in cars, under bridges, etc.

de Nies and Miller quote Der CHANGEling:
“a whole host of steps that have already been taken, and a number of steps that we intend to take in the future.”
He said “a whole host” of steps AND “a whole host” of POLICIES? And He’s dispatching Geithner, fresh from the secret-signing-statements caper on Cuba, to organize a “global” consensus??
This is madness, n’est-ce pas? Did somebody elect Geithner/Obama planetary emperor, while we were watching “House”?

“Now Obama redefines and OK’s earmarks. His very brief election conversion on earmark reform was just that. Lies, all lies.”
Obama defines earmarks correctly. And they are not always bad. He never said he wanted to eliminate them – that was John McCain. (boy, obsessing over earmarks worked out well for him, huh?) He said he wanted to reform the process. And that’s what he outlined today.
As for a public signing – why? This isn’t his bill. It’s not based on anything he ran on or proposed. Presidents don’t publicly sign every bill – they publicly sign the ones they feel ownership over. I’m sure when his budget is passed by Congress – and there will be PLENTY in it for you conservatives to hate – he’ll have a public signing. Y’all think he should be ashamed of the stimulus package but there was a public signing for that one.

Obama defines earmarks correctly. And they are not always bad. He never said he wanted to eliminate them – that was John McCain. (boy, obsessing over earmarks worked out well for him, huh?) He said he wanted to reform the process. And that’s what he outlined today.
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Yes, he implied one thing and now has wordsmithed his way out of it. Like Clinton..”it depends on what the meaning of the word is is”
No one said he wasn’t clever.
Bad or good earmarks are unnecessary spending and there is no place for this now. Even those designated as worthy such as money for “community organizations” (ACORN) are corrupting as kickbacks and influence buying.
We cannot afford this now.
How many taxpayers for how many years for just to pay for this omnibus 8 billion in earmarks? Then he wants to raise taxes. NO NO NO, clean your own house first before you continue your assault on mine.
It is indefensible!

Obama is a coward.

This IS his bill, just give up that fight already. Its old. He’s signing it, that makes it his. He could veto it if he wanted. He doesn’t want to so he’ll sign it and blame Bush. He was elected to do a job and he better start. He was in the senate last year when this bill was being put together. He has pork in it. He is the president now not Bush so he needs to take responsibility. I am so tired of hearing how he inherited this problem. Did he really not know what he was getting into. If not, how come he was elected? Think the person running for president of the US should make it his business to know whats going on. What a laugh this Obama is.

Once again, a pre-hyped big policy announcement goes pfffft.
President Obama was scehduled to make an announcement about earmark reform, and he had nothing. A few suggestions for Congress that nobody’s agreed to, that’s it.

More broken promises and Obama lacks the courage to answer questions and explain why.
He seems more concerned about being called a socialist than being called a liar and hypocrite.

Why is he so embarrassed since this bill belongs to Bush?
Maybe because Obama didn’t have the guts to keep his word and veto earmarks?
Maybe because he allowed billions in earmarks to be added to the original bill?
He’s a total fake. Pelosi is the president.

won’t be signing it in public, probably scared to!!!!!!!!!

So much for transparency.
Obama is a liar.
This man will serve one term.

Nice to see Obama is keeping that transparency pledge along with the no earmarks and no lobbyist pledges.

I like the public signings — how they have a whole series of pens..it’s a nice touch.

“won’t be signing it in public, probably scared to!!!!!!!!!”
Scared of what? Scared that people will know that there’s a $410B spending, of which 2% is allocated to earmarks? Scared that people will know he signed it? The media has spent the last 2 weeks talking about nothing but earmarks (wouldn’t it have been nice if they spent some time talking about the non-earmark spending in the bill?) The bill can’t become law until Obama signs it so it’s not like he can hide the fact that he signed it.
Again, presidents don’t publicly sign every freaking bill. They publicly sign bills in which they feel they have some stake in ownership. Yes, presidents ultimately own every bill they sign, but this omnibus spending bill, leftover business from last year, isn’t like the stimulus bill, which Obama asked for and did sign publicly. Y’all hated that one but he mustered up the bravery to publicly sign it.

Obama is a huge disappointment and I predict within 4 months, people will realize they have elected a man who’s promises were without merit (lies.) Not only has this man weakened our dollar, he has weakened our national security. We cannot blame George Bush for the actions of President Obama’s left hand. Transparancy has been buried and it is a very sad time in America when our government votes on a stimulus package without even reading it. Shame on Obama!

“Earmarks are now Ok, if someone deems them worthy.”
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Originally, we were assured only WORTHY homeowners were to receive mortgage bailout funds. When the official plan was revealed, worthy was off the table.

How do you get an earmark directed to your organization or project? With a grant, you have to apply for that. To get an earmark, do I just call up my congressperson and say ” hey, I need $3 million for this study we’re working on?
For example, my organization, The Sigmonde Cloud Research Organization has been studying cloud formation and how clouds affect climate warming and cooling. An important study affecting the planet.
We need a few million for a three year study of clouds in the southern France area and then a five year study of cloud formation in the area of Waikiki Beach in Hawaaii.
So, who do I see and who do I pay to get the earmark because the grant process is too complicated.?

“Obama is dangerous and needs to go before he causes more damage.”
I assume you will be initiating impeachment proceedings in the House this afternoon.
Listen, I don’t think the ground the Obama walks on is hallowed. I don’t think he’s the most specialist, bestest leader in the history of the planet. He’s a very talented politician who happens to be a Democrat and who happens to support a lot of the things I believe in. I’m much more interested in stimulating the economy and fixing the banks and reforming healthcare and ending our dependence on fossil fuels and improving our education system and making sure the unemployed among us get the the benefits they need to keep them afloat during this crisis than I am in $7.7B in earmark funding in a $410B omnibus spending bill. If earmarks were such a problem, if the public were so up in arms about them, John McCain would have won in a landslide last fall. That didn’t happen. And earmarks didn’t cause this financial crisis, not by a longshot. My point is that y’all are making it sound like Obama’s position on earmarks was and is exactly the same as John McCain’s. It wasn’t and it isn’t. And earmarks aren’t always bad or unnecessary.

Signing the pork bill in private.
Maybe that will help hide his lack of integrity.

WOW…talk about having No B@lls at all !!!!!
Make a public display of just about everything so far, but not this one.
Talk about “transparent!!!!! He wants NO part of having a public record or pictures & video of him openly breaking his earmarks campaign promise!
Good One ‘O’

About 1% of the bill is earmarks. 1% – get a grip people. That’s hardly “pork-packed”. About 40% of them were inserted by Republicans. This includes people who are now yammering about earmarks – talk about hypocrisy! But, that’s never mattered to Republicans. Some earmarks were inserted by the Bush Administration, for crying out loud.
This is hardly a thing to be calling for armed insurrection about. Earmarks are not all bad – it’s actually transparent what the money’s being spent on. In fact, Ron Paul has called for MORE earmarking!

If earmarks were such a problem, if the public were so up in arms about them, John McCain would have won in a landslide last fall.
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If Obama hadn’t misled/lied about his earmark position, maybe he would have.
If Obama had said in spite of the economic collapse/emergency I am not going to focus on that I am going to make sure to enact all my social programs and not worry about the “poll” that is the Dow, I am sure McCain would have won.
THE ECONOMY IS JOB ONE. EVERYTHING ELSE CAN COME LATER, IF AT ALL.
What they are doing now is in their own words “not letting a crisis go to waste” and in that vein are scaring the public into passing these mostly fake stimulus bills, this mega omnibus bill and so on.
The economy is job one. The dow is not a poll it represents years of hard earned savings for most of the public. Obama does not care. To him it is a poll. If he had told us this before the election I agree he would not have been elected.
OBAMA LIED THE ECONOMY DIED

“Can you please verify the FoxNews Carville story please”
Are you asking MSM that question?
That’s like asking a forger to tell you if your signature is real.

“Can you please verify the FoxNews Carville story please
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This isn’t limited to Fox, or Carville. It included pollster stan greenberg at a press conference the two requested to present focus group information.
This is not a fake. But Carville isn’t the only one. A Poll done in 2006 showed that more than half the democrats wanted Bush to fail.
LOOK IT UP IF YOU DON’T Believe , don’t immediately dismiss because the info isn’t approved for distribution by the Obama-media

“His promise was to reform the earmark process. NOT to eliminate them.
He just broke that promise! He could easily have forced this one into he light of day from January 20th by telling the Congress to get to work on posting ALL the earmarks onine!”
You mean the earmarks database on the OMB website
This database provides more information on earmarks in one place than has ever been available through the Federal Government. It is part of an effort to bring greater accountability and transparency to Federal spending. This step is also consistent with changes in the House Rules and Senate legislation during the 110th Congress, which requires more disclosure for earmarks.
The lesson as always? Right wingers lie.

” I’m much more interested in stimulating the economy and fixing the banks and reforming healthcare and ending our dependence on fossil fuels and improving our education system and making sure the unemployed among us get the the benefits they need to keep them afloat during this crisis than I am in $7.7B in earmark funding in a $410B omnibus spending bill. If earmarks were such a problem, if the public were so up in arms about them, John McCain would have won in a landslide last fall. That didn’t happen. And earmarks didn’t cause this financial crisis, not by a longshot. My point is that y’all are making it sound like Obama’s position on earmarks was and is exactly the same as John McCain’s. It wasn’t and it isn’t. And earmarks aren’t always bad or unnecessary.”
OG,
Im glad to know you dont care about this 7.7 B. It is nice to know that Chuckie Schummer was talking about you.
Your missing the point here completely. Obama ran on changing the way Washington works! REMEMBER that big sign we saw everywhere….”CHANGE”
Now, this was a perfect oportunity to do exactly what he promised the American People. To do EXACTLY what is written on HIS website!
He choked on it and he does not want any pictures or videos that the Republicans would use in campaign ads of him breaking that promise.
Now,
“I’m much more interested in stimulating the economy and fixing the banks and reforming healthcare and ending our dependence on fossil fuels and improving our education system and making sure the unemployed among us get the the benefits they need to keep them afloat during this crisis”
hmm….since the stimulator” already handled the last of your points, thats off the table for now.
Improving the education system starts with cutting some government spending…namely the Dept of Education!
It is not needed and has caused nothing but grief since Carter shoved it up the collective publics behind!
Ending our dependence on fossil fuels…
now thats a good one….care to elaborate on your plan, and when in the next 50 years it will be affordably in place all across our great country?
Reforming healthcare…Another good one, and your plan would be…what?
Now at east on the the first one we do agree a little. We do need to fix the banks. OBAMA NEEDS TO FIGURE OUT THAT IS THE TOP DOMESTIC PRIORITY!!! Healthcare, Eduacation, all these other issues are secondary right now! He needs to go kick his wonder boy, Geithner in the @ss! The American people & the markets NEED to see the administration’s PLAN to do this. Roght now, no one has any confidence that Geithner has a clue what he is doing.
If “Timmy” can’t get it done, kick him out and lets get some people who really understand the real world in there!

[[[On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: "I certainly hope he doesn't succeed."
Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.
"We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I'm wanting them to turn against him," Greenberg admitted.
The pollster added with a chuckle of disbelief: "They don't want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails."
Minutes later, as news of the terrorist attacks reached the hotel conference room where the Democrats were having breakfast with the reporters, Carville announced: "Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!"
The press followed Carville's orders, never reporting his or Greenberg's desire for Bush to fail. The omission was understandable at first, as reporters were consumed with chronicling the new war on terror. But months and even years later, the mainstream media chose to never resurrect those controversial sentiments, voiced by the Democratic Party's top strategists, that Bush should fail.]]]
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Rahm Emanual lived with Greenburg in DC during his time in congress.

“A Poll done in 2006 showed that more than half the democrats wanted Bush to fail.”
51% of Democrats along with 35% Indies answered no when asked if they wanted Bush to succeed.
They were not asked if they wanted to see Bush fail.
The same poll shows Bush with an 88% unfav from Democrats and 61% unfav from indies.
The same poll also rambles on and on about important issues like Mel Gibson’s drunk driving.

It is clear that Obama is a disappointment to those who voted for him as well as those like me who did yet hoped that he would at least govern from the center.
I am certain that Obama will not have a second term an will be Carter 2.0.
We must reach out to those ignorant voters who made his election possible and help them become informed.
Obama’s campaign did nothing did nothing use youth and moochers to exploit his message of hopenchange. they were obviously too blinded by Kool aid to see that his laundry list of promises were being made out both sides of the mouth and any other open cavity.

“It is clear that Obama is a disappointment to those who voted for him as well as those like me who did yet hoped that he would at least govern from the center.”
ROFLMAO
His approval ratings are still quite high.
Gallup just announced that Congressional approval just hit 39%, its highest since 2005.
Democrats are primarily responsible for that but Congress approval rating has been improving with Indies as well.
2010 could end up being the death kneel for the GOP.

“ROFLMAO
“His approval ratings are still quite high. ”
Compared to what?
At this point in the Presidencies of Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama, the approval polls were:
Carter 70%, Reagan 57%, Bush1 65, Clinton 63, Bush2 65%, Obama 62%.

I have voted for Democrats and Republicans.
If someone is doing a bad job, they are doing a bad job. Had McCain won and I was not satisfied with his performance I would say so.
That is the problem with these Obama fanatics, their allegiance is to a person, not America.

“Wait till it dips again. ”
Hint: It’s been dipping for a while.

“Since the stock market is ticking up they are out to lunch.”
yeas, Citi shares are now $1.30 each! Hysterical. Ticking up indeed…

hmmmm where are all those stock market hounds today.
Since the stock market is ticking up they are out to lunch.
Wait till it dips again. They will crawl back from under their rocks and try to link it to confidence in Obama again
freaks!!!
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LOL….The markets are gpoing to do this little jumping bean act until Obama gets Geithner to get his plan out into the public arena!
It is not rocket science Omentum. Yesterday they went up on some positive news from Citigroup.
Nothing significant is going to happen until Geithner gets his plan out…so be ready for a bumpy ride for a few more weeks i guess…
“Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner repeated his pledge to release new details about his plan to rid banks of their toxic assets in the coming weeks, saying he has moved deliberately to minimize risks for the taxpayer. Geithner, who was interviewed Tuesday by PBS’s Charlie Rose, has been heavily criticized for announcing a plan that lacked specifics, adding to the uncertainty on Wall Street.”
Obama has not helped by running around like the Flash and not keeping the focus on fixing the banks! Healthcare, Education, etc can wait until we get the financial system plan in place. There is no need to roll out a 300 to 500 billion dollar program every 5 days!
The people do not believe things are moving in the right direction, FOCUS on the problem. Geithner was only guy for the job, but he can’t even fill the offices he needs to get to work on the problem. I do hear some of those treasury positons are finally beginning to get filled

“So “just like a poll” does not equate to “like a tracking poll”"
For the purposes of spreading the new GOP talking point that Obama does not care about the stock market? No.
Obama is clear that long term thinking is what is needed.
But hey what do you care, you insisted the earmarks weren’t online when they are.
That’s what happens when you post talking points vs thinking for yourself.

“Obama is President. The Dems have congress.”
Gallup: Congressional approval ratings at now at 39% thanks to largely to Democrats’ but also Independents’ improving view of Congress.
2010 is gonna be fun.

“So “just like a poll” does not equate to “like a tracking poll”"
For the purposes of spreading the new GOP talking point that Obama does not care about the stock market? No.
Obama is clear that long term thinking is what is needed.
But hey what do you care, you insisted the earmarks weren’t online when they are.
That’s what happens when you post talking points vs thinking for yourself.
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Ryan C,
“Cut Pork Barrel Spending:
Obama introduced and passed bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. Obama and Biden believe that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public”
Now, exactly what part of this process was followed?

Four states have more than 10% unemployment based on January numbers.
California
South Carolina
Michigan
Rhode Island
The national average is just over 8%.
Let’s hope things trend differently very soon.

“Everybody is all in a hissy because they are overwhelmed from a president who hit the ground running.”
Yeah, running around like a chicken with its head cut off!

I would have preferred that he veto it but as maybee and I discussed, its hard to remember the last time a President vetoed a budget from a Congress controlled by the same party.
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But Ryan, this is president HopeandChange. He is postpartisan, remember? And he is unique among all politicians because his motives are pure as Ivory soap. So why not break the mold here?

Omentum, you wrote of the president, “This is someone who can multi-task.” To which I reply, yeah, when it suits him. He wants to multitask in terms of stimulus, education, health care, and a host of other issues, expanding the scope and expense of the federal government at every turn. Yet he does not want to multitask to solve the problems with the omnibus spending bill just past while doing those other things. Selective tap-dancing is not something to celebrate.
And of course you didn’t miss an opportunity to bash bush, opening with “Be it know that this is not “Dubya” the wonder one-trick-pony we are dealing with here.” Nope, we are not dealing with former President Bush, who multitasked just fine, thanks. And I think more folks will miss him than expected to by the time Obama leaves office. Love him or hate him, with President Bush you knew that what he said was what he meant and what you saw was what you got.

Obama just used one of his “rarely used” signing statements to sign the Omnibus Bill..lol…Good thing he’s only going to do that “rarely”, huh?

So Much for the Shake Up and Change Washington! So Much For the Transparent Government!

“We are doing a good job stimulating our economy here at home,” President Obama said.