The Note, 3/9/09: Full Plates: Flurries of Action Bring Risk — But Promise Momentum For Team Obama
EmailBy RICK KLEIN President Obama is starting just about every week of his presidency like he’s not getting a second trip to the buffet. (And he might not.) He could be trying to do too much too soon. Washington is overstuffed with action, and the president is right that there is little luxury in doing all the things he is trying to do, all at once. But there’s a flipside to doing just about everything and doing it promptly: It means doing enough to make plenty of people happy. More significantly, it signals action at a time where the public wants to see its government moving. There’s a calculation here that makes “all-in” not quite as bad a bet as it might otherwise seem. It gives the opposition plenty of opportunities to say “no” — and may set patterns that will make it harder for Republicans to start saying “yes.” The broader construct — that a popular president is acting, with or without (and it’s mainly without) the cooperation of the GOP — is taking shape, with thanks to the Obama message machine. “The American people want you to take on big issues,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel tells The New York Times’ John Harwood. “It’s only Washington that says, ‘You’re going too fast.’ ” Writes Harwood: “Surmounting reservations of philosophy represents only part of Mr. Obama’s challenge. Another is the sheer volume of what the president has asked lawmakers to digest.” Republicans may or may not be rooting for Obama to fail, but they don’t have to apologize at Rush’s altar to risk being cast in the just-say-no mold. (How fine is the line between saying banks should be allowed to fail and looking like you support the notion?) Fresh action this week includes Iraq troop withdrawals, a national-service plan moving its way through Congress, and a stem-cell research executive order, to be signed Monday at 11:45 am ET at the White House. And, with the delayed omnibus finally moving through the Senate, we’ll be back on the economy before Tony Perkins can say “snowflake baby.” For Obama, one emerging theme is that he had no choice but to move, and fast. Is he even moving fast enough? “Many economists, myself included, actually argued that the plan was too small and too cautious. The latest data confirm those worries — and suggest that the Obama administration’s economic policies are already falling behind the curve,” Paul Krugman writes in his New York Times column. “There’s a real, growing danger that it will never catch up.” The just-right diagnosis: “He doesn’t want precipitous action in the midst of an economic collapse to come back to haunt us all. But sometimes excessive caution can be as dangerous as impetuousness,” E.J. Dionne Jr. writes in his column. “The president has no choice but to be bold. If there is one thing he should fear, it is fear itself.” For his critics, too predictable? “Most of the carping is either irresponsible — a business news cable network demagogically sought to frighten people — or the same old stale alternatives: more tax cuts for the wealthy, smaller government and more deregulation. It’s as if the last eight years have been expunged,” Bloomberg’s Al Hunt writes in his column. “That’s why [Rush] Limbaugh has emerged as such a force and why prominent Republicans beg for his blessing.” Monday’s messaging (as rolled out deftly on Friday): “President Obama will sign an executive order Monday lifting limits on human embryonic stem cell research and will direct federal agencies to ‘restore scientific integrity’ to decision-making, White House aides said Sunday,” Dan Vergano writes for USA Today. The decision will be cast as “part of a wider move to return scientific integrity to policy-making,” ABC’s Jake Tapper reported on “Good Morning America” Monday. And setting up Congress for more action: “While lifting the Bush administration’s restrictions on federally financed human embryonic stem cell research, President Obama intends to avoid the thorniest question in the debate: whether taxpayer dollars should be used to experiment on embryos themselves,” The New York Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. On national service, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter reports that Congress is ready to act: “By early April, Obama will sign landmark legislation expanding AmeriCorps from 75,000 participants to 250,000 over the next few years,” Alter writes. “This will take the national-service movement to a new level, create thousands of jobs and help young Americans pay for college. It’s another sign that the president and his allies on Capitol Hill intend to redeem the promise of last year’s campaign a helluva lot earlier than even his most ardent supporters expected.” Is it “circuit overload,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asks: “President Barack Obama has been on the job less than seven weeks, but already he has proposed sweeping changes — a $787-billion stimulus package, the beginning of a bank plan, improvements in information technology, a cap-and-trade system to cut global warming, and a down payment on health care reform. Some in Washington wonder if he is taking on too much, too fast.” “Obama . . . is in a race between the desire to use that capital, fueled by public-approval ratings at 60 percent, and a still-deteriorating economy that has seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop more than 1,300 points since his inauguration. The risk is that his efforts prove to be too much, too soon, leading to a backlash that erodes his current support,” Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman and Michael Tackett write. So much depends on the economy — and the president has gotten that message: “I don’t think that people should be fearful about our future,” Obama told The New York Times. “I don’t think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions.” The argument for trying to do too much: “The first seven weeks of the Obama administration have been a gusher of major policy initiatives with huge price tags, one after the other. Change, as expressed in the opening days of this presidency, is more whiplash revolution than incremental policy building,” Julie Mason writes for the Washington Examiner. On how to get it done: “President Obama is facing misgivings about his policy agenda from inside his own party, with prominent Democrats objecting to parts of his taxation and spending plans and questioning the White House push to do so much so fast,” Peter Nicholas writes in the Sunday Los Angeles Times. “Obama’s party is peppered with legislators from conservative districts who are wary of a budget proposal that includes tax increases and deficit spending, even if tax cuts are also part of the plan. . . . Complicating matters, Obama is asking the political system in Washington to absorb a slew of legislation and policy shifts rivaling what President Franklin D. Roosevelt put forward 76 years ago. Going all in, in poker terms, puts a strain on a legislative system accustomed to a more incremental approach.” A reminder that the stimulus battle is far from over: “As tens of billions of dollars in stimulus funds begin to flow across the country, states and federal agencies are gripped by disputes over whether the money is being used in ways that violate the letter or spirit of the legislation, battles that raise new questions about precisely what the intent of the legislation was and that threaten to delay the infusion of funds into the staggering economy,” Alec MacGillis writes in The Washington Post. “Debates over the law’s intent are also taking place within federal agencies. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar instructed his division chiefs last month to focus their spending on renewable-energy projects. This took some of them aback, because the law lays out clearly what the money is to be spent on — things such as reclaiming abandoned mines, maintaining trails and upgrading volcano-monitoring equipment,” MacGillis writes. Not enough? “President Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a ‘break from a troubled past.’ But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama’s bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars,” the AP’s Tom Raum reports. And the budget battle has barely begun: “Barack Obama is a great pretender,” Robert J. Samuelson writes in his Newsweek column. “He constantly says he’s doing things that he isn’t, and he relies on his powerful rhetoric to obscure the difference. He has made ‘responsibility’ a personal theme, and the budget’s cover line is ‘A New Era of Responsibility.’ He claims that the budget begins ‘making the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline.’ It doesn’t.” Not to mention the omnibus: “The bill is laden with earmarks for parochial projects that candidate Obama denounced as wasteful, politicized spending, and that have slowed approval of the bill in the Senate, where Republicans have attacked earmarks even as many in the GOP have benefited from them,” the Los Angeles Times’ Janet Hook writes. “Among Democrats, the bill has set off new concerns and thrown the party on the defensive about the overall level of federal spending — the cost of this bill plus the $787-billion stimulus package and billions more to help homeowners and to revive the financial system.” Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., to McClatchy’s David Lightman: “Do people understand the nuances of the legislative process? Probably not. But do they understand when we say the budget is going up 8 percent? Then they ask questions.” On the banks — the new GOP talking point: Let the bad ones fail. “I don’t want to nationalize them, I think we need to close them,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” “Close them down, get them out of business. If they’re dead, they ought to be buried,” he said. “We bury the small banks; we’ve got to bury some big ones and send a strong message to the market. And I believe that people will start investing [again] in banks.” “I don’t think they’ve made the tough decisions,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on “Fox News Sunday.” “Some of these banks have to fail.” And on automakers: “House Republican leader John Boehner said Sunday he doesn’t support handing over more federal money to keep General Motors afloat unless the automaker develops a viable and long-term business model and can pay back government loans,” per the AP. Boehner, on “Face the Nation”: “Anything short of that is just throwing good money after bad.” Wall Street Journal editorial you don’t see very often: “Obama Channels Cheney.” “Anyone interested in President Obama’s actual executive-power policies . . . should look at his position on warrantless wiretapping. Dick Cheney must be smiling. . . . The Obama Justice Department has adopted a legal stance identical to, if not more aggressive than, the Bush version. It argues that the court-forced disclosure of the surveillance programs would cause ‘exceptional harm to national security’ by exposing intelligence sources and methods.” Who’s enjoying this fight? Yet one more Rush Limbaugh ad, from the left: Civil war on the right. David Frum really doesn’t like the GOP’s chances in this battle: “On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims,” he writes for Newsweek. “And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as ‘losers.’ ” Donna Brazile agrees that this isn’t a fair fight: “As this two-ring circus unfolds further between Mr. Limbaugh and the GOP, Democrats should remain seated and silent, safe in the bleachers. Why fire your gun again when the first shot caused your opponents to form a circular firing squad?” she writes in the Washington Times. Profile time: “Behind a president defined more by his oratory than any political figure in a generation is chief speechwriter Jon Favreau, whose work with Obama began soon after the Illinois senator arrived in Washington four years ago and who knows the president’s ideas and rhythms so well that Obama has called him a mind-reader,” Mike Dorning writes in the Chicago Tribune. “The White House denied a request for an interview with Favreau. But aides said Obama’s speeches often begin with the president dictating his thoughts to Favreau and the speechwriter shaping them into a draft that is then passed back and forth between the two men.” The New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny takes on David Axelrod: “It is known as the Wednesday Night Meeting, an invitation-only session for a handful of advisers, nearly all of whom played a key role in paving Mr. Obama’s path to the Oval Office. The location varies, but on a recent evening Mr. Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, was feeling under the weather, so a group that he says is ‘like family to me’ met at his place,” Zeleny writes. “The two-hour sessions are just one way in which Mr. Axelrod is making the transition from Chicago political consultant to the White House. His title does little to capture his full importance to Mr. Obama. His voice, and political advice, carry more weight than most anyone else’s on the president’s payroll.” (And Favreau was allowed to speak on-the-record about Axelrod, and Axelrod could speak about himself and about Favreau, but Favreau couldn’t speak about Favreau?) Politico’s Michael Calderone looks at Team Obama’s efforts to shape opinion-makers’ opinions before (and after) they offer them. And: “[Bill] Burton said to expect more such meetings in the future, including a presidential sit-down with prominent bloggers,” Calderone reports. The Kicker: “Happy birthday, dear Teddy.” — President Obama, singing, in a surprise appearance at the Kennedy Center, to honor Sen. Ted Kennedy. “I never thought I’d be in a room with so many senators.” — Caroline Kennedy, honoring her uncle. Follow The Note on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thenote Bookmark the link below to get The Note’s daily morning analysis:
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Mitt Romney's Full Speech at CPAC 2012 
Romney Makes His Case to Conservatives at CPAC
Americans demand action from the government in a time like this. And if he was taking things slowly, we all know the Republicans would be hammering him as a “do-nothing” president.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | March 9, 2009, 8:46 am 8:46 am
Only 26% of Americans registered in a party are Repbublicans. Tell me why anyone needs their “cooperation” in changing the country, especially considering how they treated the Democrats who cooperated with them over Bush’s eight years, or, more particularly, how they treat the few remaining moderates in their own party? Who is afraid of these loons?
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 9, 2009, 9:05 am 9:05 am
Obama has no morals. Reversing stem cell research is a very serious thing. Obama has no conscience, but GOD does and I will certainly be afraid for him. You can’t play God with people’s lives. Where is the cure? God knew when you were born when you would die, and stem cell will not keep you alive.
Four years and he is out of there, God is still in control.
Posted by: Jane | March 9, 2009, 9:27 am 9:27 am
This President is doing a good job, with the amount of “mess” we have inherited as a country. Healthcare and a broken education system is part of this “mess”. President Obama understands there are many components of this “mess” and is attempting to fix it. Will he do it in 10 weeks, I doubt it. Will he do it in the next year, we’ll be able to see the process. Having Geithner is a Blessing. This man may not be a good communicator, but he is the Man for this economic Mess. So naysayers, asking for the failures of these banks, didn’t McBush stop his campaign to fly to Washing to save the very banks he is now saying, “Let them fail”? Message to the GOP, shut up, and remember the past 8 years that you were a part of. A complete Failure of the nation.
Posted by: sngeorgia | March 9, 2009, 9:28 am 9:28 am
God doesn’t neccessarily love “hypocrites” either. Or “haters and fear mongers”. Who died and left you neocons the moral compass of our nation? He’ll be re=elected by even a larger margin than this year. Shame on the Republicans that deny children healthcare (SCHIPS), and shame on the idiots for having inferior schools and claim that America is “STRONG”. The country has become weaker with the policies of the Republicans. So narrow minded that they think only the Military makes us Strong.
Posted by: sngeorgia | March 9, 2009, 9:34 am 9:34 am
I agree with sngeorgia!
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 9, 2009, 9:44 am 9:44 am
George Bush had no morals, sending thousands to their deaths in a country that wasn’t a threat to the U.S. No morals for “captured” suspects held without charges and trials, bound and tortured. No morals for the wiretaps of fellow Americans. No morals for outting a “CIA” operative that may have caused her death. No morals to “cook the books” and lying to the American people about the financial woes of our nation, knowing full well, but denying we were in a “recession”. Hypocrites have no credibility at all.
Posted by: sngeorgia | March 9, 2009, 9:44 am 9:44 am
President Obama is trying to take on too many things at once, while allowing his parties Congressional leaders to pay off political favors and provide funds to their supporters for re-election campaigns in 2010 and 2012. The media is failing to breakdown each Bill before Congress for proper scrutiny by the citizens of this country who are going to pay for it. Several bills, thousands of earmarks, dozens of extremely expensive projects…but only a small percentage of Americans actually know what they are and very, very few have understand them. Congress is ramming them through with very little time for elected officials and citizens to look them over and weigh the pros and cons. Where’s the democracy?
Posted by: Gary | March 9, 2009, 9:46 am 9:46 am
Obama Daily Tracking Poll
Down and falling agian this morning.
The market really doesn’t like this Obama guy and it shows.
Posted by: Justin | March 9, 2009, 9:49 am 9:49 am
You people are very simple-minded. Of course, President Bush kept us safe and he probably will be reelected by idiots like you that do not understand anything except idol worship. He is not God, you better be careful.
Posted by: Jane | March 9, 2009, 10:01 am 10:01 am
The country has been in a “recession” since 2001. Do you Really think, President Obama or anyone is dictating what the world markets are doing? If you do, then this thinking is what go us in this Mess. Thanks Bush.
Posted by: sngeorgia | March 9, 2009, 10:13 am 10:13 am
If He works to fast You complain, If he does Nothing you Complain. But then again No one is use to Having a President W Was MIA For 8 Years!
Posted by: Angie in PA | March 9, 2009, 10:19 am 10:19 am
All I’ve heard most my life are public and journalists’ complaints that Congress and the bureaucracy move way to slow to be effective. That nothing gets done in Washington. Now the reverse is true, and the objection is that too much is being done too fast. That it’s harmful to the Republic.
I’ll take moving too fast any day. Particularly with the mess we’ve got on about a dozen fronts.
Posted by: John Luma | March 9, 2009, 10:28 am 10:28 am
Jane, Jane, Jane
George W. Bush kept us safe – except for that one time, eight months into his presidency, when three planes controlled by hyjackers hit the Pentagon, the Trade Center and a Pennsylvania field. Then there was the time he insisted we attack Iraq, even though Iraq was the enenmy of Iran, and antithetical to Islamic militancy (Saddam’s government was secular, not religious, did you know that?) Sure, Bush kept us safe, while losing 13 billion dollars to fraud in Iraq, looking the other way while crooks multiplied on our financial system, but I don’t blame Bush for our economy’s collapse, and more than I blame Obama for not fixing it within eight weeks!
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 9, 2009, 10:33 am 10:33 am
I don’t blame Bush for our economy’s collapse, any more than I blame Obama for not fixing it within eight weeks
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 9, 2009, 10:36 am 10:36 am
The economists who advocate to borrow (or print) large sum of money and spend fast in order to revive the economy do not seem to understand that ” haste creates waste”. The large amount of spending in a short time leaves room for lack of planning and mismanagement by the government and the industries which receive the funding. We don’t need to build road and bridge to nowhere which may be rare , or to somewhere which stimulate more real estate development or damage the environment. The construction for road and bridge and others infrastructure may not be ready to hire those who lost their jobs which are mostly related to assembly line or office works.
Posted by: austin | March 9, 2009, 10:58 am 10:58 am
I’ve been watching Obama at work and have figured out his style. I’ve done my part and all of you are obligated to do the same. I spent my children’s inheritance and next year’s net earnings this weekend. By Wednesday the economy will feel the impact and be pronounced cured if you’ll all just follow suit. Live it up. Spend as if there’s no tomorrow.
Posted by: mmonroeliveson | March 9, 2009, 11:05 am 11:05 am
What a bunch of hypocrites, he moves slowly and he is a do nothing president, do something and he is moving to fast….WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT????? WE HAVE A MESS THAT WAS CREATED BY THE LAST ADMINISTRTION. If we drag our feet it will get worse. Wake up and smell the coffee
Posted by: BSKI | March 9, 2009, 11:25 am 11:25 am
Jane – who the hell are you to judge Obama’s morality? You are not God and stem cells are not people. Just shut up with your stupid medieval superstitions already. The rest of us are tired of you ignorant, backwards, false Christians holding our civilization hostage with your stupid nonsense. Go to hell.
Posted by: Bartlett Rules | March 9, 2009, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
Just kidding… I totally blame Bush and the GOP’s failed deregulation policies for our economy’s collapse. The GOP knows nothing about fiscal responsiblity or how to run an economy.
Posted by: Amy in Maine | March 9, 2009, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
You people are very simple-minded. Of course, President Bush kept us safe and he probably will be reelected by idiots like you that do not understand anything except idol worship. He is not God, you better be careful.
oh Jane…..God?….who?….’Get Outta Dodge’ is not exactly the answer the U.S. public is looking for right now. Oh, I forgot, that’s Rush’s job. Question: is that before or after the coronary??? I’m sorry, Bush who? Is someone Rush-ing to the Bush-es…Wow, that’s a concept.
Posted by: Jenner | March 9, 2009, 12:30 pm 12:30 pm
Justin – anyone who thinks that the market is an accurate measure of the President’s poplarity or effectiveness is an idiot. The market reacts to more than just the President or his policies. If you don’t understand that, then you should definitely not be investing in the market.
Posted by: Kalthauser | March 9, 2009, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
Meanwhile cranky old man McCain and the rest of the GOP brain trust advocate a lame “do nothing and let the banks fail” policy that will destroy the economy completely and screw every American that’s not already a billionaire. Could the GOP be any more irrelevant? Sorry, but given the options, I’ll stick with Obama. The GOP has gone completely insane in defeat.
Posted by: Bonjour Toujours | March 9, 2009, 12:35 pm 12:35 pm
Wow Rick Klein – that’s some brilliant analysis. Obama is taking risks and those risks could or could not backfire? Wow! That is SO incisive! Did you come up with that on your own? Must be a slow news day, huh? LOL
Posted by: Dewey | March 9, 2009, 12:39 pm 12:39 pm
This country, and capitalism overall, will greatly benefit if barry’s socialist agenda is stalled.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
Thank God Obama is doing SOMETHING – the obstructionist Republicans want to do NOTHING and let America fall apart. I guess this is in line with the conservative movement’s traitorous agenda to “drown the government in a bathtub”. I suspect that Republicans have wanted to bankrupt our country all along as part of a larger agenda to destroy the United States as we know it and replace it with a right wing Christian theocracy. Thank God Obama and the Dems are fighting the GOP’s anti-American agenda.
Posted by: Former Marine | March 9, 2009, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
Dave – in case you missed it, the capitalists are all lining up for government handouts. You need to get a new script, son, because your old talking points are irrelevant now. Stupid Republicans – when will you ever learn? The rest of us are all laughing at you.
Posted by: El Capitan | March 9, 2009, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
Obama is doing the right thing – the time for bold and decisive action is now. Everyone’s is always complaining that nothing ever gets done in Washington – and if Obama was too overly cautious everyone would be calling him a “do-nothing” President. Instead he is successfully pushing through the agenda that he was voted in to promote – and he’s outflanking the GOP at every turn. Good for him – this is what America needs right now. And the obstructionist Republican whiners can go suck a tailpipe – they had their chance for bipartisanship and they chose to spurn it. So they can go to hell. They are officially irrelevant now. Go Obama!
Posted by: Kate in Laramie | March 9, 2009, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
A very Interesting short article in the “Talking Points Memo” this morning;
The GOP Plan for the (Economy – Delete) GOP
I mentioned a few days ago that congressional Republicans were simply not part of the conversation on saving the American economy. The policies they’re pushing don’t even amount to conservative. In most cases they’re pushing stuff that’s just transparently ridiculous. Like a federal spending freeze in the face of massive economic downturn and possible deflationary spiral.
And now Greg Sargent has dug up a quote where a leading Republican admits that this is in fact their strategy. It’s not about coming up with policies to save the country; it’s all about pulling down Nancy Pelosi’s and her caucus’s favorability ratings.
“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
That’s not really surprising. But it’s a bit stunning, though perhaps also refreshing, to see them say it out loud.
–Josh Marshall
Posted by: bobj72 | March 9, 2009, 1:13 pm 1:13 pm
Wow bobj72 – that’s amazing, incriminating stuff – and it shows you what the GOP is really all about: character assassination and naked power grabs, not good governance. Thanks for posting that and make sure to post it again and often – America cannot afford to let the GOP win this message war.
Posted by: Kate in Laramie | March 9, 2009, 1:33 pm 1:33 pm
Anyone interested in the “Talking Points Memo”, the website is talkingpointsmemo.com . Josh Marshall is the editor.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Joshua Micah Marshall (born February 15, 1969 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American Polk Award-winning[1] journalist[2] who founded Talking Points Memo,[1] which The New York Times Magazine called “one of the most popular and most respected sites” in the blogosphere.[3] Marshall is a graduate of the Webb Schools of California and Princeton University and earned a Ph.D. in American history from Brown University.
Posted by: bobj72 | March 9, 2009, 2:38 pm 2:38 pm
There is a lot to be done and it needs to be done now. Alot was left undone for years and so many things are collapsing down around us as we speak. Why would our president not want to respond accordingly to each issue? The voices that want him to slow down are the same voices that thought we had a good response to katrina. Solider on President Obama.I and the millions that voted for you wanted change and you are working in so many areas to give us that.
Posted by: TV | March 9, 2009, 2:50 pm 2:50 pm
Republicans want America to fail because they hate our government. The GOP has been hostile to our government for years – always talking about wanting to drown the Federal Government in the bathtub, etc. It’s time that we stopped indulging these idiots and called them out for what they really are: disloyal traitors who want to destroy the United States of America.
I think it’s time that the GOP answer for what they’ve done to this country and I think all Republicans need to think long and hard about what they really believe in – and if they really hate our government as much as they always claim to, then they need to get the hell out of our country and go someplace else.
How can these sick fools claim to be patriots while they hate our government and everything it stands for?
Disloyal traitors!
Posted by: Common Sense | March 9, 2009, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
The obamabots on this post will continue to sing his praises as Rome continues to burn.
The fact that Barry actually has no leadership skills and is currently undergoing on-the-job training isn’t even the scariest part of this whole situation. The scariest part is barry’s motives. All he knows is that America is a TERRIBLE country and must be completely reshaped.
Barry is reverend wright only with much better marketing behind him.
He will continue to cripple the economy with his doomsday rhetoric and socialist policies (which has been his intentions all along), so that America can be rebuilt under his marxist principles.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
“Jane – who the hell are you to judge Obama’s morality? You are not God and stem cells are not people. Just shut up with your stupid medieval superstitions already. The rest of us are tired of you ignorant, backwards, false Christians holding our civilization hostage with your stupid nonsense. Go to hell.”
Seriously. I suppose vaccinations are playing God, too? What a freak.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Liberal patriotism is an oxymoron. period.
All of the people saying that the GOP is anti-American and that the democrats are the party of patriots are seriously delusional.
The democrats are the party of bill ayers, jane fonda, reverend wright, mike moore, and the rest of the blame-America-first crowd.
They call our soldiers terrorists (john kerry, john murtha)
They “seek out the marxist professors in college” (barry obama).
They make anti-American films where America ALWAYS is portrayed as the evil manipulating force in the world (hollywood).
They go and hang with Hamas to get their take on how things are going (jimmy carter)
They invite the Holocaust-denying terrorist, Ahkmadenijead, to speak at a prestigous college in America (Columbia University faculty).
They have never been proud of their country (michelle obama).
Wow! That is some patriotism, huh?
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
Favreau’s been interviewed so many times, especially in Chicago, I don’t know why Mike Dorning wanted to do a repeat in the first place. I expect that’w what was behind the WH ‘refusal’ for the interview.
Posted by: Tom J | March 9, 2009, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
It amazes me that so many think this is Former President Bush’s fault…when the pillars that created this mess have been in existence for decades and neither Democrats or Republicans have attempted to reel them in…not even the current President. I also find it disturbing that anyone would blindly allow politicians to hastily pass legislation that very few people understand what it is and what’s in it…not even our elected representatives! The majority of Americans repeat soundbites without knowing if it’s true or not. Political blindness is just plain stupid…no other way to describe it.
Posted by: Gary | March 9, 2009, 4:05 pm 4:05 pm
Kate –Wow bobj72 – that’s amazing, incriminating stuff – and it shows you what the GOP is really all about: character assassination and naked power grabs, not good governance”— Did you really just say that?? Character assassination is a “republican” trait.. this when the democrats called the war lost with boots on the ground to make Bush look bad.. from those who accused him of lying to go to war AFTER they all voted to go.. OR the party who slammed a republican senator for doing something inappropriate in a public restroom all while Barney Frank was sleeping with a prominent member of Fannie Mae, chairing the committe charged with overcite of Fannie and Freddie, and telling the republicans there was no problem as the mortgage industry crashed and took the banks with it.. Naked power grabs?? you mean like when Pelosci wouldn’t even let the republicans have any say in the reconcilliation of the stimulus bill? Her comment was that the republicans should be happy with what imput we allowed them to have… How about the pressure to add long standing democratic “power plays” like CCHIPs (making 25 yr olds “children”) or laying the groundwork for national healthcare without open debate?
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
Gary — well said…
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 4:30 pm 4:30 pm
“Liberal patriotism is an oxymoron. period.”
Patriotism is a phenomenon often misunderstood by those who consider themselves the most patriotic. It’s not about breaking out the pom-poms, dave.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 4:41 pm 4:41 pm
snGeorgia–Wow,congratulations, the democratic party must be very proud of you… you successfully worked 6 differenct democratic smear statements into one single opening statement..
Lets see, “Sending Americans to their deaths..” Congress voted yes on bush’s War Power’s Act request.. so didn’t THEY send the soldiers to their death as well? “No morals for captured suspects” So, waterboarding (which is done to our own troops in survival training) is a no-no but Obama just brought back rendition (just like Clinton)- I guess its okay for us to send them off and let other countries torture them for us? Valarie Plame was NOT a CIA operative.. the woman who actaully wrote the law testified that she did not qualify as being protected since she only worked at the pentagon and had not been out of country for over 6 years.. ever wonder why the person who actaully outed her was never charged.. because it wasn’t a crime.. Wiretaps.. NO, he didn’t… phone records were reviewed and taps were requested if and only if possible terorist activity was indicated.. Cooking the books?? You mean like Barney Frank did when he let Fannie and Freddie ruin the economy?? wait.. Frank is a democrat, so is Maxine waters, and Chris Dodd, and Harry reid.. in fact everyone on the oversight committee for the mortgage industry was a DEMOCRAT…hummmm
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
arkie vet – so, um, basically you just assassinated the characters of Dems to demonstrate how you Republicans don’t engage in character assassination? Nice job, son – there’s nothing funnier than the marriage of stupidity to hypocrisy. How damn stupid can you Republican extremist nutcases get? LOL
Posted by: Truth Squad | March 9, 2009, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
Silky
Actually, patriotism is about showing reverence and a general appreciation for one’s country. The democrats haven’t done that for years. They have been too busy blaming America for every problem in the world. Have you heard any of rev wright’s sunday “sermons”?
Barry obama is your typical anit-American, anti-capitalist liberal. Liberals are socialists and very anti-American.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
arkie vet – nice try, but always remember that Bush and Cheney presented Congress and the American people with false information on Saddam’s WMDs. Congress and the American people were misled by the White House. Bush and Cheney must bear responsibility for that, and so must the GOP.
Now before you start ranting and raving and accuse me of being a Democrat, I want you to know that I am a Conservative Republican who voted for Reagan, GHW Bush, Bob Dole and GW Bush in his first term.
But enough is enough. Stop clinging to lies and partisanship and take some responsibility.
Posted by: John Newcombe | March 9, 2009, 4:50 pm 4:50 pm
Dave – actually, it’s Conservative Republicans who go around hating our government and saying how much they want to drown it in a bathtub, etc.
If the GOP hates our government so much (remember when Ronald Reagan said government was the problem, not the solution?) – then maybe they should stay the hell out of it and stop trying to sabotage it from the inside?
The GOP claims to be a bunch of patriots, but they aren’t. They’re a bunch of America-hating fascists who want to destroy our government and replace it with a facist theocracy.
As a true American patriot and a veteran, I will defend my country AND my government against disloyal Republican scum until my dying breath.
Posted by: The Sarge | March 9, 2009, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
Silky– vaccinations are not playing God.. but their is a lot to be said for the ban on embrionic stem cell research. First, there is precedent that it leads to increased abortions under the umbrella of “scientific research” which a majority of Americans oppose. Second, there have been over 40 documented treatments and cures from ADULT stem cell research while there have been exactly 0 from embrionic stem cells. In fact, the transplantation of embrionic stem cells often creates a mass type tumor not seen in the implantation of adult stem cells that is extremely life threatening because the body often sees embrionic stem cells as parasitic. — So lets see, it can be life threatening, may lead to more “voluntary” abortions, and has to date a medical success rate of 0. QWhile adult stem cell research still has boundless possibilities..
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
Dave – you sound like a paranoid nutcase. You need to grow up and get past stereotyping your fellow Americans and seek help. Questioning the patriotism of others is a sure sign that you’ve lost the plot. Let go of your rage and anger and hate and try to look at life through a less partisan lens. Right now your partisanship makes you sound crazy.
Posted by: John Newcombe | March 9, 2009, 4:57 pm 4:57 pm
“They have been too busy blaming America for every problem in the world.”
Not true. And patriotism is not unconditional. A lot of people get to office and do things that stain the flag.
And please tell me why I give a crap what Rev. Wright thinks?
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 4:57 pm 4:57 pm
the sarge– Thats your right i suppose… I take it you have no problem with the left who want to take a 233 year old, constitutionally sound, free market form of government that is ruled by the people and turn it into a government owned, operated and controlled socialist state where the majority of the population is dependent on government hand-outs and programs to survive. Where did you earn the rank of sarge? Does ACORN have a rank structure?
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
“Character assassination is a “republican” trait..”
uh, yes.
examples:
Swiftboat Veterans against John Kerry.
The email campaign to convince Americans Obama wasn’t born in the U.S, that he was a Muslim, “palled around with terrorists”, is a socialist, wants to take away your guns, has a wife who hates America, etc.
The Bush campaign spreading rumors John McCain fathered a black child.
The conspiracy to tell the media Joe Wilson’s wife was a CIA agent and claim sent him to Niger, in order to discredit him. (Who’s bright idea was that, anyway?)
Millions of dollars spent to prosecute Bill Clinton for…having sex with an intern, a prosecution that was strictly politically motivated.
The rumor that Barney Frank’s relationship with a Fannie Mae executive lead to a lack of oversight over that company…is another Republican character assasination. You see lies like that all over the Internet, spread by the lying rightwingers.
Posted by: They stole my good name | March 9, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
arkie vet – um, you’re totally full of crap. Why do you Republicans insist on repeating talking points that were debunked YEARS ago. Do you really still believe this nonsense or are you like those Japanese soldiers stranded in the Pacific after WWII – still willing to fight to the death for a failed cause because you never recieved new orders to stand down? The battle over stem cells is over. You guys lost. You can wait all day by the radio for new RNC talking points from Rush or Hannity, but the rest of the world has moved on. LOL
Posted by: Ambrose Sideburns | March 9, 2009, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
John Newcombe
When will people spit out the kool-aid and think for yourselves? Clinton said numerous times during his tenure that “saddam had WMD’s and was trying to acquire more”. Clinton was just too busy playing hide his cigar with monica, auditing paula jones and bombing aspirin factories in the sudan to do anything about it.
The british intelligence thought he had them also, and france’s opinion simply doesn’t matter- ever.
Saddam himself said that he had WMD’s, but that they were all destroyed.
He played cat and mouse with weapons inspectors for MONTHS.
When will you liberals ever acknowledge that saddam murdered 700,000 of his own people with chemical weapons, that he supposedly never had, according to the mainstream media? Let alone the countless torture chambers where iraqis olympians fingers were chopped off if they missed a goal. Not like in guantanamo where we drop water down the terrorists’ noses.
You people protested vietnam, which lead to the murder of MILLIONS of south vietnamese at the hands of north, and of course, you opposed the iraq war.
I can’t wait til’ you all band together to prevent American from taking any action against the holocaust denying, nutjob ahkmadenijead. He’s a good guy, right? He’s just been misunderstood.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 5:02 pm 5:02 pm
arkie vet – damn right I’m right. And you need to cut the crap already – mischaracterizing the President’s economic reforms as “socialism” just makes you look stupid, son. Do us all a favor and educate yourself about what socialism actually is, while the President and the majority of the country take the necessary steps to restore capitalism and rescue the free market when the market couldn’t rescue itself.
Freedom isn’t free – and neither is the free market. Both need to be protected.
Dismissed.
Posted by: Ambrose Sideburns | March 9, 2009, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
Truth Squad–”arkie vet – so, um, basically you just assassinated the characters of Dems to demonstrate how you Republicans don’t engage in character assassination? Nice job, son – there’s nothing funnier than the marriage of stupidity to hypocrisy. How damn stupid can you Republican extremist nutcases get? LOL”– actaully I just quoted what THEY said and did, I didn’t engage in any type of character assination. lets see I respond to a generalized statement about character assassination with specific examples of character assassination from the other side and i am “twice guilty” by your standard. Lets see, that would mean that in order to NOT engage in character assassination, i would have to let democrats say what ever they want and say nothing myself ( by your definition).- In other words, if dems say repubs are guilty, then repubs are guilty because a dem said so. If repubs say a dem is guilty, then repubs are guilty because they said so.. nice circular logic there my friend.. and you called ME STUPID..
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
Dave – so where were the WMDs?
Nice try, dude, but it’s been well documented that Bush and Cheney presented and relied on false evidence to make their case for war against Iraq.
All your whining isn’t going to change that.
You die-hard Republican dead enders are never going to win another election until you take some responsiblity for your failures and crimes.
Posted by: John Newcombe | March 9, 2009, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
Can people stop calling each other son? It’s incredibly obnoxious.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 5:10 pm 5:10 pm
dave…they lied. Our Congress would not have approved the invasion without the lie. That’s all that matters. You really should let this one go, because it’s the ugliest mark on the Republican party in a long, long time. It’s not something you want to keep reminding people of.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 5:11 pm 5:11 pm
I’m glad Obama is taking the bold and necessary steps to fix the GOP’s messes – besides, if he didn’t act decisively, the GOP obstructionists would be whining that he was a “do-nothing” President.
The bottom line is that the GOP isn’t driven by principles, morals or ideology any more – it’s driven by sheer partisanship, spite and hatred. Republicans don’t give a damn about fixing America’s problems – all they want to do is undermine President Obama. They have no new ideas or solutions – just complaints and objections to everything.
So since there is literally no pleasing GOP whiners, I think that Obama should just ignore Republicans completely. After all, he gave the GOP a real chance at bipartisanship and they spat in his face.
The hell with the GOP – they suck anyway. Let them all rot.
Posted by: Shane | March 9, 2009, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
arkie vet – oh please. Give it up. You’re a big old partisan hypocrite and we can all see right through you. Stop whining and spinning your pathetic lies. Nobody is buying it.
Posted by: Truth Squad | March 9, 2009, 5:14 pm 5:14 pm
Ambrose – “Do us all a favor and educate yourself about what socialism actually is, while the President and the majority of the country take the necessary steps to restore capitalism and rescue the free market when the market couldn’t rescue itself.” Socialism is the existence of government for the primary purpose of equalizing the economic landscape across the spectrum of the livelihoods of those it is charged with governing. To put it simply, it is to provide for each based on their needs FROM each based on their ability. While a free market simply allows each man to succeed or fail based on their own ability. I consider myself to be well studied on it, but enlighten me.. If you can explain how “redistribution of wealth” based on need is NOT a socialist tennent, then I will concede point, since our current president has made it a formost element of his campaign. And by the way… tax breaks generally restore consumer confidence and rebuild the markets within about 6 to 8 months, we are now in the second month of the current “stimulus” package and while most of its elements are not yet in place, the market usually responds based on a 6 month anticipatory period.. Currently the market has fell 50% in 6 months and continues to plummet even after the stimulus has passed… somehow, i don’t see capitalism being restored here.. just the opposite…
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
Dave – still fighting the Vietnam war, dude? Give it a rest. We had no business being in Vietnam OR Iraq and everybody but you paranoid wingnut chuckleheads knows it. Stop trying to rewrite history with your lies and just admit that you were wrong. Not like I care anyway… you angry rightwing baby boomer types will die off soon enough and the rest of us can ignore you and fix your damn mistakes.
Posted by: Karen Oh | March 9, 2009, 5:17 pm 5:17 pm
Ambrose-”arkie vet – um, you’re totally full of crap. Why do you Republicans insist on repeating talking points that were debunked YEARS ago”– Sorry, back up YOUR statement with some sort of fact instead of just saying my statement is crap.. Name ONE significant medical breakthrough documented from embrionic stem cell work.. Just one… You can’t because there isn’t any..even after Bush relaxed the rules to allow research on exicting lines of embrionic stem cells, not one single breakthrough was made.. all while adult stem cells continued to reap benefits… YOU saying my statements have been debunked does not debunk them…
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
John–”Nice try, dude, but it’s been well documented that Bush and Cheney presented and relied on false evidence to make their case for war against Iraq.”– really, then perhaps you can explain how john kerry wrote a letter to bill Clinton expressing the need to stop Hussains illicit weapons program (based on intellignce evidence) with military force in 1998 – TWO YEATRS BEFORE BUSH AND CHENEY WERE ELECTED????
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:24 pm 5:24 pm
Silky…Democrats on the Intelligence Committee saw the same information and Senator Clinton, who supported her husbands claim that Saddam possessed WMD just a few years earlier, backed President Bush’s claims…as did President Clinton. You can say Democrats were lied to, but that isn’t really the truth. Also, if you recall, CIA Director George Tenet, who put oversaw the intelligence that was given to both the President and the House Intelligence Committee, was also the CIA Director for President Clinton. The real truth is, none of the world’s intelligence agencies knew then what we know now, but you “time-warpers” constantly replay the same bad information for political gain…and you call others ‘liars?’ Check your facts, because you’ve been lied to.
Posted by: Gary | March 9, 2009, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
“really, then perhaps you can explain how john kerry wrote a letter to bill Clinton expressing the need to stop Hussains illicit weapons program (based on intellignce evidence) with military force in 1998 – TWO YEATRS BEFORE BUSH AND CHENEY WERE ELECTED????”
That has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
Arkie Vet
You are absolutely correct.
Barry’s actions throughout his life, the company he has kept, and his own words completely reveal his socialist beliefs.
The reality you are facing is that most
liberals still love barry because they are socialists themselves. They hate the free market and America in general.
They blame America for all the world’s problems and have no problem refering to Bush as an evil terrorist, but will give hugs to ahkmadenijead hugs all day long. God bless those “open minded” liberals!
Barry is destroying this country on purpose, because he believes it is hurting the world. Only when it is rebuilt under his marxist principles will the world be at peace. Yeah right.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
Karen –”you angry rightwing baby boomer types will die off soon enough and the rest of us can ignore you and fix your damn mistakes.”– better fix your own first since this economy is a problem created by DEMOCRATS NOT REPUBLICANS..
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
arkie vet – um, you’re not very “well studied” if you continue to confuse “socialism” with social democracy as practiced by almost every other industrialised nation on the planet.
True socialism would include a fully-nationalized command economy and the abolition of private property – and neither is on Obama’s agenda except in the most fervid imaginations of paranoid wingnuts.
Most democracies have evolved away from the deeply flawed notion that “each man succeeds or fails according to his own merits” – since that’s an extremely simplistic and inhumane take on an extraordinarily complex world. There is always some form of “wealth redistribution” in a modern democracy – it’s simply good public policy. This isn’t the age of Charles Dickens when the destitute and disabled are left to rot on the streets.
Your view of the world is childish at best. It’s difficult to take extremists like you seriously when there are real problems in the world. You don’t offer any sensible solutions – just nonsensical objections.
Posted by: Ambrose Sideburns | March 9, 2009, 5:27 pm 5:27 pm
“The real truth is, none of the world’s intelligence agencies knew then what we know now, but you “time-warpers” constantly replay the same bad information for political gain…and you call others ‘liars?’ Check your facts, because you’ve been lied to.”
Watch “The Dark Side” and “Bush’s War” and then get back to me. Both are non-partisan PBS Frontline series.
Posted by: Silky | March 9, 2009, 5:28 pm 5:28 pm
arkie vet – you’re nuts, dude. You Republican true believers must live in bizarro world if you’re seriously trying to blame the Dems for the Republicans’ economic mess. Remember this all started because of the creation of a market for unregulated credit default swaps – which was created when Phil Gramm (R) led the charge and sponsored the bill to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, which specifically prohibited just this sort of speculation in credit markets. This was all part of a larger, longterm Republican deregulatory agenda that removed consumer and investor oversight left and right. Foolish Republicans believed that the “invisible hand of the free market” could regulate itself – and they let their fantasy harden into ideology, and made that ideology into policy.
Now some Republican revisionists are trying to blame the whole mess they caused on the Dems – falsely claiming that the meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae or ACORN and Dems’ attempts to secure housing loans for the poor. But that’s nonsense, because this meltdown was caused mainly by speculators trying to game the housing market, not by single family buyers living beyond their means as Republican liars like to claim.
Posted by: Cammy | March 9, 2009, 5:34 pm 5:34 pm
LOL… This blog cracks me up. The crazy comments on here are why nobody takes Republicans seriously anymore. Too funny.
Posted by: Onward and Upward | March 9, 2009, 5:36 pm 5:36 pm
they stole my good name…
Your examples have a few flaws…
“Swiftboat Veterans against John Kerry”– they were fellow veterans not necessarily republicans, in fact some were democrats…
“The email campaign to convince Americans Obama wasn’t born in the U.S, that he was a Muslim, “palled around with terrorists”, is a socialist,..”
That campaign was no different than the one waged against McCain because he was born off base in Panama (though the hospital was run by military members), Obams did have Muslim grandparents, he announced his candidacy in the home of a man convicted of bombing the pentagon and the DC police headquarters (sound like a terrorist to me. Wealth distribution that Obama so proudly touts IS a socialist strategem, so is nationalized healthcare, and many of his policies to increase the welfare state ( like repealing Clinton’s welfare training initiative) are socialistic.
“The conspiracy to tell the media Joe Wilson’s wife was a CIA agent and claim sent him to Niger, in order to discredit him.”– First, she DID request that he be the one they sent to Niger, and second, she was NOT an operative so, no laws were broken..
” Millions of dollars spent to prosecute Bill Clinton for…having sex with an intern, a prosecution that was strictly politically motivated.”– Clinton was not prosecuted for having sex with an intern, he was prosecuted for lying under oath and swearing out a falsified affidavit and submitting it to a grand jury as fact..
“The rumor that Barney Frank’s relationship with a Fannie Mae executive lead to a lack of oversight over that company…is another Republican character assasination. You see lies like that all over the Internet, spread by the lying rightwingers.”– Hummm, Mr frank openly addmitted to being gay and to having a long standing relationship with a gentleman named Hughes who was a member of Fannie Mae’s board of officers. he even introduced them as “spouses” at washington get togethers.. and as far as his role in the crisis is concerned, there is video tape from CSPAN in which members of the republican party addressed his oversight committee in 2004 and He along with Maxine Waters, and other prominent democrats publically dressed them down for trying “to prevent lower families and minorities from owning homes”.. saying further that franklin Raines was doing an excellent job and that there was NO PROBLEM with the mortgage insustry. Thisis not rightwing smear, its a mattter of public record…
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 5:43 pm 5:43 pm
Arkie vet
The obamabots on this post have abandoned all rational thinking long ago. They still believe he can solve America’s problems with a well-scripted/rehearsed speech. They also refuse to believe that he is creating most of the problems with his doomsday rhetoric and socialist agenda.
It has been the WORST post-election sell-off of the stock market in its history! (You can even see the slumps in the market start back in may 09′ when barry pulled ahead of hillary in the primaries). Apparently, the DOW can recognize an anti-American socialist far better then these obamabots can.
Posted by: Dave | March 9, 2009, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Cammy– Phil Graqmm did co-sponsor that bill.. It was voted on in 1998 and passed the house by a vote of 92-8 ( the 8 dissenters were mostly republicans and the most noted one was McCain). Clinton eagerly signed the bill and declared it to be a bipartisan effort to help more american own their own home by relaxing outdated restrictions. Unfortunately those 8 folks who opposed it, had their reservations bear out. Between 2003 and 2004 Bush addressed the Senate committee on commerce oversight either verbally or by coorispondance on 12 occassions expressing concern that the deregulation might possibly be subject ot abuse and deriding congress for pushing companies like Freddie and Fannie to push major banks to relax the rules even furtrher to take out more loans.. In late 2004 – 8 republicans address the oversight committee chaired and administered completely by democrats democrats(Barney Frank was chair and Maxine waters was 2nd). the republican basically calle for a re-regulation of the process to prevent industry failure that could impact the economy.. they were harshly turned away by the democrats (as I stated before – this is a matter of congressional record and archived on CSPAN video tape). Franklin Rains received 60 million in 6 years that Fannie spiraled downward while Democrats defended his work. barney frank received 400,000 in lobby money from the mortgage giants while sitting on the committee that was charged with their oversight.
While speculators did play a role the main problem was what industry giants like Freddie and Fannie did to cover their loans.. Loand were rated A, B, or C – A beeing a safe loan, B marginal, and C a high risk loan.. A loans would be grouped with C loans and sold to the banking industry with a B rating. When the C lons in these groups failed, the entire package failed.. (sort of a junk bond issue on mortgages).. Bottom line.. the senate committee knew this was happening and did nothing to stop it.. when senate republicans complained they were ignored…Raines, along with the folks at freddie and the senators who were getting lobby money from the mortgage giants made a fortune while WE all eventually took the hit for it…the repeal of Glas-Steagal was not the problem, Clinton himself thought that the repeal if handled intelligently, could help a lot of people and some republicans shared this opinion.. the lack of oversight and corruption in Pelosci’s Senate was what caused this problem….
Posted by: arkie vet | March 9, 2009, 6:03 pm 6:03 pm
arkie vet… “Pelosci”‘s Senate?
Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House.
You have proven how little you actually know.
Posted by: dassis | March 9, 2009, 7:53 pm 7:53 pm
When will the President finally release the original “vault copy” of his birth certificate. Mr. President, what could you possibly have to hide?
Posted by: Terry | March 9, 2009, 8:55 pm 8:55 pm
“You people are very simple-minded. Of course, President Bush kept us safe and he probably will be reelected by idiots like you that do not understand anything except idol worship. He is not God, you better be careful.” Posted by: Jane **************************************************************** Thank you Jane for your public service announcement. I think we know Obama is not God. Sheesh I think you are the idiot. Maybe you should read the Bible a little closer. You are being judgemental when you should not be as God commanded you. Why don’t you spend more time reading your Bible instead of pointing fingers at people and judging them when there is no need at all for you to do so??. We don’t need you to tell us what it is we need to do. I believe God is doing just fine doing his job there. Thank you.
Posted by: lkinopfl | March 9, 2009, 9:38 pm 9:38 pm
Can you believe that our own Government (Bush) would lead us into war strictly for the purpose of creating military contracts for his rich cronies?? Believe it folks.. all the facts point to the truth. Bush lied to us all and I do believe it was a conspiracy. Sorry but 9/11 could have been avoided. Bush had all the details and DID NOTHING!! WHY???? 5,000+ American men died.. many more Iraqi and foreign civilians. The blood is on Bush’s hands!!
Posted by: why? | March 9, 2009, 9:43 pm 9:43 pm
Maybe if he’d worried more about actually stimulating the economy and CREATING jobs in the private sector rather than SAVING jobs in the public sector we’d be seeing more of an impact. THe guy hates U.S. business, always has and always will. His entier deal is to grow govt., grow social programs, grow govt. unions and shrink private enterprise. If you didn’t get that yet you better start paying attention.
Posted by: Radical Joe | March 9, 2009, 9:53 pm 9:53 pm
Don’t you see if everyone’s 401K and IRS’s get wiped out where do they turn. Oh yeah, the savior obama and his big giant govt. nanny & pappy govt. It’s sickening. They’re going to have their noses up our azzes and in every bit of our business all in the name of equality. His disdain for American business couldn’t be more apparent.
Posted by: brent | March 9, 2009, 9:58 pm 9:58 pm
If they wanted to jumpstart this economy they could start with housing. There have been plenty of ideas floated around. Giving everyone a homebuyer credit, reducing rates for everyone across the board to 4%. But NOOOOOOO. Good lord we can’t give the avg. Joe a good deal. Heaven forbid that someone who acutally PAYs taxes get a break. He11 no. ONly the non-producers are allowed any tax benefits or govt. benefits. No way they’d give small businesses struggling under the weight of the eonomy and battered from midyear fuel costs. No such thing as a break for them. The Dems are so damnm afraid a business may benefit financially that they’d rather have a tanked economy than give some support to the people who acutually create jobs and wealth. obama thinks profits are evil.
Posted by: Jane Doe | March 9, 2009, 10:25 pm 10:25 pm
A few voice ask now… Why won’t the President, who promised the most transparent administration in history, even release the President’s original birth certificate. What could he be hiding? The few voices will soon become a multitude… seek information now..
Posted by: Terry | March 9, 2009, 11:29 pm 11:29 pm
EVERYONE knows what he is hiding – he is NOT a citizen.
Obama is a Marxist Socialist from another world and it shows badly…
Posted by: John Hancock | March 9, 2009, 11:47 pm 11:47 pm
All our hard work down the toilet.
Enjoy the $ 13 America and Obama’s big ears.
You voted for both.
Posted by: Paul Revere | March 9, 2009, 11:49 pm 11:49 pm
Silky…I can watch “your” choices, but I don’t know the facts based on “specials” or “series” from television, but rather in-depth, daily analysis since August 2, 1990 (the day Saddam invaded Kuwait to make it the “19th Province of Iraq”). The truth is, no one knew what Saddam had or didn’t have (Saddam himself might not have known), since there was no transparency…so any reports stating any definitive facts about whether he had WMD or not, were purely speculative, at best. I could spend months teaching and debating the Persian Gulf War (to include Operations from Desert Shield to Operation Iraqi Freedom), but due to the lack of space and time, you will have to do a ton of research on your own, if you want the truth. I know you, like most of the world, aren’t willing or able to dedicate yourself to learning the truth and understanding the massive, complicated “big picture” that got us from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait to the present. Even further from the real truth, is taking all the massive knowledge and reconstructing what “probably” would have happened if we hadn’t removed Saddam (I have some grim analysis of that, to include a budding nuclear arms race between Iraq and Iran…but historians can play with that one decades from now). My point is, you don’t know as much as you think you do and if you took the time to understand ALL the information, you would know why you have been misguided, and how.
Posted by: Gary | March 9, 2009, 11:49 pm 11:49 pm
Why?,
Why are you in the country you coward. How long until you get tired of blaming all YOUR problems in life on Bush. Just because nobody owes your welfare butt a car or a house or a job…you play the peacenik dork. Terrorists don’t like you, fool. They want to kill you. Why don’t you go hang out with Hamas for a while?
Posted by: Real American Anti-Liberal | March 9, 2009, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
Silky is a PAID MARXIST SOCIALIST OBAMA blogger.
He openly supports communism and re-distribution of wealth.
He Obama hero worship personified.
How’s it going Silky old buddy?
Posted by: Sam Adams | March 9, 2009, 11:54 pm 11:54 pm
Acorn does outstanding work. You can see it on TV everyday.
I am a socialist Marxist and I openly support Obama.
Posted by: Community Organizer | March 9, 2009, 11:57 pm 11:57 pm
if you consider swirling around the toilet moving then team Obama is definately moving. And so is our investments are going with him. And the media still treats him like the messia
I myself thinks he’s from much further south. He has to be the anti-christ everything he touches dies just like our economy . watch he will drive us to 30 years lows.He out spent 8 years of Bush in 1 month.he you think he’s saving US. G-D HELP US THE STUPID
Posted by: Phillip Bias | March 10, 2009, 12:50 am 12:50 am
I find it funny that most of the posts point thje poisen finger at bush and I didnt like him either but NOW we have Obama who has spent more than BUSHES 8YEAR WAR IN TWO COUNTRIES AND DID IT IN 1 MONTH.
bUT I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT EVERYTHING THAT OBAMA HAS DONE HAS MADE IT WORSE, NOT A BI=SPARTISN ISSUE. HE BAILS AND THE MARKET FALLS, HE BAIL AGAIN ,AND THE MARKET FALLS FASTER HE BAILS AGAIN, AND IT DROPS TO 13 YEAR L0WS WE ARE AT THE EDGE OF BANKRUPTSY AND THE DRIVER ( obama ) HEADING FOR THE CLIFF AND THE IDOITS ON THE BUS ( we the people )ARE SCREAMING ABOUT THE LAST DRIVER===== help someone save us.
Posted by: Phillip Bias | March 10, 2009, 1:04 am 1:04 am
Tea parties planned all over the country on April 15th. Go to taxdayteaparty.com for the events planned in your state. Come on, let’s all tell Washington that enough is enough, and they are mortgaging America’s future. Lobbyists are calling Obama’s stimulus bill the FYGC bill. The first word is not one I can use here, the last three are Your Grand Children. Nice, Obama.
Posted by: Babs | March 10, 2009, 1:32 am 1:32 am
The house in on fire and Obama is in the bathroom flossing his teeth.
Posted by: Babs | March 10, 2009, 1:34 am 1:34 am
Actually, Babs, the ship is sinking and he’s on the Lido deck re-arranging the deck chairs.
Posted by: Publius | March 10, 2009, 2:02 am 2:02 am
Obama is doing a horrible job———all he does is spend spend spend with no clue or plan..unless his plan is to destroy the US. He needs to be impeached.
Posted by: PresGov | March 10, 2009, 6:17 am 6:17 am
Mr. Obama IS the right man in the right place at the right time. He carries the intellectual curiosity required to look deeply into the many issues facing this country and understand them both incrementally as well as how they influence each other.
He also has more on his plate than any new President in modern history.
He IS correct in working the economic crises on multiple front concurrently, given that our economy’s elements are not mutually exclusively but mutually interdependent.
That said, he also carries the responsibility to direct – redirect our country in many other areas with education reform right behind health care reform. So i agree with his vision, sequencing etc.
I would caution Mr. Obama not to get too far away from the details of this economic crises while it is still so fluid.
Dig into the management levels of the policy’s with respect to the economy’s needs. It is ONLY then we can assure the policy outlines and program requirements are/will be met.
Yes Sir, yo are correct, Education desperately needs revision, just get the economy hitting on several cylinders before you pivot your resources.
Posted by: Darryl the Contractor | March 10, 2009, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
President Obama and Democrat Leaders in Congress are spending money on a level that will be unrecoverable; especially if another major disaster or unforeseen conflict arises in the next couple years…and chances are good that something is going to happen in the not-so-distant future. While they will get blamed for their economic and foreign policy disasters, it will be the American People who will personally pay the price. Everyone agrees that something has to be done, but my not focusing on the economy and trying to paint health care reform, social security reform and other programs as being directly linked to economic recovery, is plain foolish. We have recovered from economic recessions in the pass without these massively expensive program reforms, but this time we can’t?! These reforms are nothing more than a way to “cash in” on this crisis for themselves and their supporters. Even Stevie Wonder can see that!
Posted by: Gary | March 11, 2009, 6:11 pm 6:11 pm