An Interview with President Obama

Obama is a true genius. Tapper and his ilk need to lay off.

Hmmmmmmm Jake, no questions on the illegal firings of the Inspector Generals..Were these question poo pood after submitting them to Obama? another staged interview Jake? transparency please…..

So, Mr. President, should Zelaya be returned to the Presidency of Hunduras, or to the custody of the elected government? Agovernment elected by the people which ordered Zelaya to be placed under arrest for what he did and await possible impeachment!
If you actually believe what you are spewing forth here, you would allow the duly elected government of Honduras to handle this situation as they see fit!

Posted by: Mike_C | Jul 7, 2009 10:24:34 AM
If there were any “jobs created/saved” statistics, they would be plastered all over the media. The fact that there is no hoopla means there are no jobs.
This was sold to the public as a “jobs bill” plain and simple which will create 3.5 million jobs and cap the unemployment rate at 8%. The uninformed public bought this thinking the jobs would just roll off the assembly line right away.
But the “moonwalking” has already begun so we have to fight against it. Don’t let them get away with the “it’s too early” and “it’s a slow process” crap. If your representatives voted for this bill, vote them out in 2010 – no matter what party they represent!

No trip to Kenya, pray tell?
ummm, does he think we’re stupid or something? Maybe he’s skipping that little visit because he knows we’re not.
Can of worms, there. It could get a little messy…so many questions, too few electrical outlets to feed the telOprompter…
Wish he would make a quick stop. He could upstage the Jackson funeral.

Well at least President Obama can answer a question without sticking his foot in his mouth like GW did constantly for 8 years.
Tex,
Yeah, lets see….he is right on top of that heathcare thingy…isn’t he? He is not sure what the plan is, but he knows he wants it passed by the end of the summer!
He was sure that “Stimulator” was going to keep unemployment from going where its already gone….Opps, that’s right they rushed into that one and didnt REALLY know what was going on. Despite having all those “geniuses” in all those little meeting and being part of all those nice commitees….
He was REALLY REALLY clear about that whole tax increase thingy too…..Opps, now suddenly the trail balloons and such are out there because you cant spend more money than God and not raise some too!
“cap & trade?”….hmm….yeah, that one is working out REAL good too. Perfect time to be tossing that hat into the economic ring! Ohh…yeah…I forgot…according to Obama, …that’s not an energy bill or a climate bill….its a JOBs bill.
If this bunch of misfits spent half the time counting the jobs they think they have created versus talking about it, we might have some idea of how effective this “Stimulator” really is!
Yep…your right…hard for Obama to stick his foot in his mouth…considering he has already spent it!

===Well finaly Bush has found a job he’s truly qualified for.
Posted by: Texcritter | Jul 7, 2009 10:55:15 AM===
Yeah, comedian in chief. Bwahahaha!

Obama:“In North Korea what we saw was a very strong unanimity around a very strong sanctions regime that I think it’s fair to say that even two or three years ago might not have been imposed by either Russia or China,” the president said. “They might have blocked it in the Security Council. We’ve already seen a ship of North Korea’s turned back because of international effort to implement the sanctions and I think that is a positive step forward.”
Mr. Obama said that Iran’s “governing elites… are going through a struggle that has been mirrored painfully and powerfully on the streets.” He said that “the fact that we have both said we are willing to work with Iran — at the same time as we have been very clear about our grave deep concerns with respect to not just the violence, not just the detentions that have taken place — has created a space where the international community can potentially join and pressure Iran more effectively than they have in the past.”
================
Genius!
In both of these statements, Obama is saying things have gotten so bad, the international community feels they may have to do *something*.
We have NK and Iran right where we want them!

I wonder why there is new talk of a second stimulus when only, what, about 15% of the current stimulus money has been paid out.
And the shovel ready jobs?… We know what they are really shovelling, don’t we?
Does Obama consider himself part of the “governing elites” in America? I think that his choice of words is very telling.
There was a reason some of the public wanted the press to do its job and investigate Obama and his friends were all about during the election.
Words matter, associations matter. The press dropped the ball on showing the American people who Obama really was. They were too busy screaming, tingling, fainting and trying to get into his good graces.

yawn, yawn, yawn . . . bash the President . . . yawn, yawn, yawn . . . fear the President. . . . yawn, yawn, yawn . .. smear the President. . .
danita ,
LOL….whats good for the goose…..

danita says: “What a relief to have an intelligent, articulate President who actually seems to have an idea of what he’s doing.”
Umm, sure he can read well, but when he is off the cuff, he really is not that impressive. Does he have a coherent foreign policy? If so can you articulate what the Obama doctrine is? His domestic policy is much different than what he promised in the campaign, and his promise of change and transparency is laughable considering how his OLC has blocked requests for information not only on some of the same things that Bush did, but also on the firings of the Inspectors General among other things. What I really would like though is to go back to whether or not you can tell me what the Obama doctrine is in regards to foreign policy.

Yes danita, he was very clear before the great “Stimulator”.
We must pass this bill NOW or face turning a crisis into a catastrophe.
We pass the bil1… now when it obvious to everyone that it is not working, we have VP, not Obama.. coming clean about how they blew it!
So if Obama is so clear with his responses, WHY wasn’t HE the one to admit the incredibly obvious.
….
….
patiently waiting the next Bush reference instead of an answer……

danita says: “You need to do some work yourself.”
My impression of his foreign policy is to isolate our traditional allies and try and engage those who have been isolated by the US and much of the international community. It makes little sense why he would promise to talk to Iran’s leadership no matter how badly they treat their people. It also makes no sense why he would continue to put very little pressure on North Korea and anger our allies in the UK and Israel. What was the point of him going to Russia? All he accomplished was an agreement to start talking about reducing the number of nuclear warheads, but in order to get an actual treaty signed, the russians will want him to pull the missile defense shield out of eastern europe. I am betting our Senators will not approve that and this is why he floated the idea of bypassing Senate approval, which is required by the constitution. Why are we getting involved in the Honduran situation by endorsing a man who broke Honduran law, but not getting involved in Iran? Why can we meddle in Israel and Honduras, but not in North Korea or Iran? The signals he sends are that we will appease those who oppose us and spurn the cooperation of our allies. This can not be good for our national interests.

“My impression of his foreign policy is to isolate our traditional allies and try and engage those who have been isolated by the US and much of the international community.”
Huh? Beyond the right wing in Israel being upset that he would dare talk to Iran, which traditional ally has been isolated?
“It makes little sense why he would promise to talk to Iran’s leadership no matter how badly they treat their people.”
Why not? We talk to plenty of countries that have horrid human rights records.
“It also makes no sense why he would continue to put very little pressure on North Korea and anger our allies in the UK and Israel”
Why would the UK and Israel be angry about NK?
And what pressure would you like for him to put on NK? A military strike?

“Why can we meddle in Israel and Honduras, but not in North Korea or Iran?”
Again, sorry Jason, but your use of the word ‘meddle’ is biased and wrong.
As has often been the case, the United States is involved in attempting to broker peace in the middle east – you call it meddling.
Many of the major countries in the world have come out against the military coup in Honduras – as did the United Stated. Can you name any countries that have supported the military actions and the new President Roberto Micheletti. The answer to that quesion is ‘no’. This coup has been almost universally opposed.
President Obama spoke forcefully against the crackdown on protestors in Iran. He spoke repeatedly to this, day after day – far more than he commented on Honduras AND in far stronger language. He is attempting to negotiate with Iran so we don’t have to ‘bomb them back to the stone age’ killing many innocent civilians, woman and children, etc.
And Obama has been forming a strong coalition against North Korea including traditional allies of N. Korea – Russia and China. Increasingly North Korea is being viewed as isolated troublemakers. This is the whole idea. Again, this takes place before you consider ‘bombing them back into the stone age’.

The emperor has no clothes.

danita,
Many people from Obama’s own administration made firm statemnts about the great “Stimulator” Your the one here babbling on & on about how clear Obama is when he answers questions!
Was it the Presidents critics who claimed the unemployment rate would top out at 9%?
Was it the President’s critics that stated in May “the nation’s economy appears to have bottomed out”?
Was it the President’s critics this weekend who said “We misread the state of the economy” ?
Is it the president’s critics who are supporting restoration of a president in Honduras who was attempting to usurp the the will of the people by unilaterally altering the country’s constitution ?
By the way danita, in Joe bidens own words….
“So, no second stimulus?” I asked.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Biden said, “I think it’s premature to make that judgment. This was set up to spend out over 18 months.”
18 months not 36+ months!
So far, the gov’t website is STILL only showing job “estimates”…ZERO real data!
Now surely we have people who are supposed to be tracking these $$$, certainly they can tell us the number of new hires from the companies who have recieved “Stimulator” funds so far!
No one is saying that we should have full recovery at this point, but WHERE is ALL this TRANSPARENCY we were promised? Where are the number of jobs created so far? (By the way, The media should now and forever refuse to talk about the phantom phrase “saved job”)

danita asks who the US allies are who have been isolated or diminished by Obama.
I named two of them in that post. The UK has been a staunch ally since the 19th century, and we reward them by not giving Brown the respect that a head of state deserves and by sneaking terrorists into British protectorates without their prior consent. We not only gave Brown a lousy collection of DVD’s that wouldn’t play on British players, but we also made light of it and let them know that our special relationship with them has ended under Obama’s admin. Israel has been treated like it has less sovereignty than one of our own states, Obama has no problem dictating to them what they can and can’t do with settlements in Israel and warning them that they better not defend their national security by attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. They are one of the two democracies in the middle east and we condemn them and we appease Iran. What gives? Oh and don’t forget Poland, Georgia, and the other former Soviet satellites who Obama seems content to allow the Russians to dominate again. How about Honduras, where we are more willing to defend the wannabe “president for life” Zelaya, rather than the rule of law? There will be more I am sure, but that’s enough to show a disturbing trend.

From the Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2009, the day (what we will now call) The First Stimulus Plan was signed into law:
“In addition, the administration is not ruling out a second stimulus package, though there are no plans to request one now, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
“I think the president is going to do what’s necessary to grow this economy. But there are no particular plans at this point for a second stimulus package at the moment. I wouldn’t foreclose it, but I wouldn’t say… we’re readily making plans to do so.”

Not just regular old transparency Mike_C, but (again from the WSJ):
“The president also promised that his administration would provide “unprecedented … transparency and accountability.”
Oooooooo… It’s like he really meant it.

danita says: “Anyhow Mike, I’ve yet to hear you say the President has done anything worthwhile or right . .. that speaks volumes.”
I think most if not all conservatives praised the president for allowing the Navy SEALS to take out those pirates, and for putting a stop to the release of the “torture” pictures, and for learning the lesson of Iraq that the surge worked and to use that with different tactics in Afghanistan. If he has done more that I agree with I will praise him for that as well, but the vast majority of his decisions have been abysmal.

Jason . . .
“Obama only started to condemn Iran when he was pressured by the entire world”
Sorry, this is utter nonsense. President Obama did an astounding job of condemning the violence against the protestors while not giving the Iranians an excuse to blame America for outside meddling – an obvious ploy of the religious extremists in Iran.

danita says: “Sorry, this is utter nonsense. President Obama did an astounding job of condemning the violence against the protestors while not giving the Iranians an excuse to blame America for outside meddling – an obvious ploy of the religious extremists in Iran.”
Call it nonsense, but Obama did not say anything other than that he was concerned about the situation in Iran until after several world leaders including Merkel and Sarkozy condemned Iran’s mullahs, after which Obama held a quick presser to also condemn the violence, but to also reassure the mullahs that none of this was our doing and he would still engage with them once they got this thing under control. Oh yeah, and how did his no meddling policy work out? The mullahs accused the US and the UK of meddling in their affairs, which they would have done no matter what we did, so why not speak truth to corrupt power and condemn the murder of the Iranian people who only want freedom and democracy? I call this astounding as well, but I think we mean it in different ways.

“he would still engage with them once they got this thing under control.”
Well yeah. Do you think we should not engage Iran and instead continue to trade saber rattling barbs?
“Oh yeah, and how did his no meddling policy work out? The mullahs accused the US and the UK of meddling in their affairs, which they would have done no matter what we did,”
Call it the legacy of our past.

danita,
who is expecting “magical” results? We simply want them to report ANY results! According you….we are all just supposed to shut up and wait for the “Magic”!
We are DEMANDING what this man PROMISED! we are now some months into this thing, yet when i go to the recovery website and run my mouse over that map of this greast country, ALL I see is the promise of estimated jobs. Not a single state with 250 jobs created or a 1000, or 2500, or even 10 !
Billions have been allocated out and millions spent in the bureacracy to mange it, YET…no data! No, I am not counting that fictional paper that Biden produced. I am going by the measuring stick that the President claimed all of America could use. The recovery website. Still no Data!
But interestingly enough, if you go to the LBS site….it seems to have data EVERY MONTH….

“jump on any words you can find in an attempt to pretend the President promised immediate results.”
____________________________________
“In his weekend radio address, Obama said that his goal is to put together a plan that “not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term.”
NOT ANY WORDS; HIS OWN WORDS.

I’m sorry, Danita, you are blindly following a leader who backs dictators and Mullahs.
President Obama is in synch with the likes of Hugo Chavez, Daniel Orgtega and Fidel Castro in calling for Zelaya to be reinstated. Chavez even threatened to invade Honduras which was met by silence from the White House.
Why? Obama is a leftist, not a liberal and the fact that most of the MSM does not call him on his actions lets one know where they (the MSM) line up as well.
Obama’s immediate silence and lack of support (oxygen) purposefully extinguished the flames of freedom and democracy in Iran.

“As pathetically weak as the UN resolutions have been, how about starting by enforcing them with real sanctions, like complete economic isolation and seizing the accounts the Norks use in their arms sales to other countries?”
I could support that.
“How about (speaking very generally) using cyberwarfare to bypass their firewalls and hacking into their ISP filters and allowing the people of North Korea to have full access to the web?”
Probably because that would be an act of war.
“There are a large number of economic pressures that we can apply if we did so with our allies outside the UN security council where China and Russia will veto anything with teeth.”
Do you support a return to the 6 nation talks?

Timmy . .. .
“3 million, 4 million? what is the predicted number? Seems to change according to the wind.”
If you expect economic forecasting to be precise, you’re an idiot. What was being laid out was ballpark goals and intentions. We’ll see where things sit in 3 years from now.
Are you not aware this is an astounding situation that has not arisen before?
This was a world-wide economic collapse, virtually unprecedented.
You seem to think its some kind of parlour game where you get to point fingers and jump up and down.

p.s – the world is not out of this economic collapse yet – not nearly!
Millions of jobs are still being lost worldwide, factories are closing, homes are being lost. ..
The stimulus money will help, but there really are no guarantees.
It’s also worth noting that when stock markets are falling, and the economy is in virtual free fall, it is part of the job of the government to foster a positive atmosphere. Too complex for you?

Seems like nothing is working… maybe I’m not defining the plan’s timeline correctly.
June, 2009
CNNMoney
“The foreclosure problem is widespread but reaches plague proportions in 10 states; those hardest-hit areas account for 77% of all foreclosure filings. California had more than any other state with with 92,249 – nearly 29% of all U.S. filings.
“Florida posted the nation’s second highest number at 58,931, up 50% from May 2008. Other top 10 states were Nevada (17,157), Arizona (16,865), Michigan (13,891), Ohio (11,360), Illinois (10,942), Georgia (10,516), Texas (9,813) and Virginia (5,385).
“Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate with one filing for every 64 households. California, with one for every 144, and Florida, with one for every 148, were second and third respectively.”

Timmy . ..
Try to simplify it for yourself so you understand.
As the President said clearly and repeatedly to us – this is not going to be an easy fix. This is a world-wide economic breakdown. Things will improve, but things might get worse before they get better.
These things the President cautioned us about repeatedly. This is a major world-wide economic breakdown, not a parlour game.
It really is sad you didn’t listen and you choose to cherry pick a few items here and there. Same as was done under the last administration with the attack on Iraq that killed tens of thousands including our own. Cherry picking bits of information to suit your agenda.
Your phony expectations wouldn’t be so high after A FEW SHORT MONTHS if you had listened to what the President took great pains to say to us clearly.

Some Russian media have headlines saying that the Obamas were no more than foreign tourists in Moscow.

“ryan says that, of course we would negotiate with dictators who kill their people. I feel like we are on two totally different planets,”
Were you born yesterday?
Are you unaware of the United States’s relationship with many prickly characters that have what we consider to be horrid human rights records either historically or this very day?
“Obama wants to present himself in the mold of an FDR or a Kennedy, but neither one of these giants of liberalism would have ever condoned the current policy of appeasement in light of the killings and disappearances of Iranians who protest against the regime.”
Oh I see, this wasn’t about reality but a cheap set up.

Obama wants to consider another stimulus bill. The previous stimulus bill that Democrats unanimously voted for has cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs.
And, they want to do it again even though fewer jobs would have been lost if they had done nothing. That, and very little of the stimulus money has been doled out. They are, to use a Gibbism, “obviously” waiting for the 2010 elections.
With apologies to Lewis Carroll, are we having Adventures in Obamaland?
`Take some more stimulus money,’ the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
`I’ve had nothing yet,’ Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can’t take more.’
`You mean you can’t take LESS,’ said the Hatter: `it’s very easy to take MORE than nothing.’

Timmy . . .
You’ve got to become better informed on the Recovery and Reinvestment plan before you’ll be able to discuss it with any insight.
The very first wave of this bill was intended to immediately shore up programs that would provide relief to people losing their jobs.
It also provided financing to state and local governments (as those state and local budgets crumbled under lost revenue) to limit the number of layoffs of teachers, police, firemen and health care workers.
These were the first stop gap measures intended to provide some stability. Much of this is already underway. The other phases of the program are coming into play or soon will.
Timmy – that you don’t understand how this program is being brought on stream does not mean its a good or a bad program. It only means you haven’t really studied it. I can only gather this by the uninformed things you continue to say.
The Recovery and Reinvestment program is on the White House web site for anyone interested in how it is structured through to 2012.

Crack me up. Danita wrote, “Timmy . . .
You’ve got to become better informed on the Recovery and Reinvestment plan before you’ll be able to discuss it with any insight.” That’s hilarious, Danita. Timmy, you keep on keepin’ on, my man. Not being well informed on a particular subject has never seemed to slow some people around here down one bit.

Timmy, you keep on keepin’ on, my man. Posted by: moderate | Jul 7, 2009 9:42:46 PM
_____________________________________
Count on it. This country is too precious to just give it away.
I’m not a world citizen – don’t wanna be one – I’m a U.S. citizen and proud of it.

The fact is the President is now being held hostage to his own policy by the Iranians themselves.They can get away with anything with no consequence, since this admin will talk ‘without pre-conditions’.
America held hostage-again.

J House, President Obama is attempting to get international support against Iran (including the support of Russia) and negotiate Iran away from pursuing nuclear weapons so he doesn’t have to use the alternative of ‘bombing them back into the stone age’ which would kill many innocent civilians.
Having just seen the Bush administration and his neo-con think tankers kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, I think every tactic short of bombing them is worth pursuing.

danita says: “Having just seen the Bush administration and his neo-con think tankers kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, I think every tactic short of bombing them is worth pursuing.”
Hundreds of thousands. Where do you get your numbers? Never mind. This is obviously something you have bought into without any dead bodies being found that come close to that kind of a number. Are you suggesting that the US military killed people and then secretly buried the bodies in mass graves? This is one of those pathetic made up numbers, kind of like the ones where ocean levels are supposed to go up 20ft and cover NY and CA. Try telling the truth, because if the US had killed even only dozens of innocent Iraqis and then buried them secretly it would be a disgusting crime. Do you think a secret like that could be kept if it was true? If you can’t comprehend that the integrity and morality of the US military is much greater than that of our politicians then you are a lost cause.

J House, President Obama is attempting to get international support against Iran (including the support of Russia) and negotiate Iran away from pursuing nuclear weapons Posted by: danita | Jul 8, 2009 12:22:36 AM
___________________________________
You’re kidding right? What fantasy land do you live in? I certainly hope Obama isn’t as naive as you are. Behind the scenes, Russia is suppling Iran with arms and whatever else they can afford to buy. Russia is just playing us like everyone else does. International support? I suppose the U.N. wil be involved. Good grief.

Timmy .. .
“You will PLEASE note this is talking about 2 years from the start of the “Stimulator”.”
Yes, Timmy . . . we’ve got over a year and half to go before 2 years has passed. We are A FEW SHORT MONTHS into the stimulus plan.
I know you have your own personal political agenda to attack the President over and over again. You have shown that time and time again – and you’ve proclaimed Bush and Cheney as your heroes.
At the same time, your fantasy world where the Republicans (for instance) or anybody else could just wave a magic wand and instantaneously create jobs – is way beyond reality.
Try to hear the following paragraphs Timmy . . .
President Obama said clearly to us and repeatedly that recovery from this economic crisis would not be easy, nor would it be fast.
The President repeatedly cautioned that things might get WORSE before they get better.
Again, that you didn’t hear this or didn’t understand it is no reason to attack the President repeatedly.
Your fantasy world is just that – this is a REAL worldwide problem and the recovery looks like its going to be difficult as we were cautioned.

Well, that message was for a combination of Timmy and Mike . .

danita,
The only thing you stated in this entire thread that is even close to the mark…your right this is not a joke! Perhaps you should take off your Obama rosey glasses and realize that this thing is NOT performing as promised.
The day Obama signed it – “Mr. Obama touted the measure’s investments in health care, infrastructure, energy, education and, most importantly, job creation”
Wikopedia – “The impact to employment would be an increase of 0.8 million to 2.3 million by the end of 2009, an increase of 1.2 million to 3.6 million by the end of 2010″ – based on CBO analysis
I can pull up more and more examples of the fact this thing was about JOBS!
So danita, in your “deep understanding” of this thing, when will those 300,000 to 400,000+ job loss months going to reverse and show these new 800,000 to 2,300,000 jobs? July…August…Sept.?
Your the one here who is living in “Magic” land if your your going to bury your head in the sand on what this thing was supposed to do VS what is REALLY happening in the REAL WORLD.
The increase and extension of unemployment benefits WAS a good thing, BUT that does not create jobs!
You can try to float the party trial ballons all day. Your WRONG…it is that simple…YOU ARE WRONG. This is now classic spin! It failed to deliver as promised, so now you go back and change the promise!
Go back to the days leading up to the vote and then after the bill was passed. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Remember the President going for that photo op with those 25 cops? We were told this thing would indeed create jobs quickly by funding these “shovel ready” jobs.
The obvious flaw that logic was simple too. It did not take into account wether or not the construction companies that would be working these projects ACTUALLY need to hire new workers in order to accomplisg the task!
I notice you did not go to the site and realize that we are NOT creating jobs! It is now becoming obvious that the states are using the money they are getting from the “Stimulator” to prevent becoming the next California!

Danita do you work in the adminitration?
Please answer how the POTUS and the VP could be standing senators befor taking office and not know the state of the economy. They voted for budgets,sat on committees, talked with fellow lawmakers, and still they didn’t know. They travelled all over the country campainging talking with people and had no clue what was going on. Obama worked very closely with Bush before taking office and apparently didn’t learn anything, what, did they sit around and talked sports? I’m baffled by someone that is supposed to be so brillant, and o in tune with what was needed to turn things around has made things worse.

danita,
Flowerly language is not going to change the issue. You seem to want to rewrite history and claim the “Stimulator’ was not about jobs. There were many aspects to it to be sure, BUT, it was about jobs. When the POTUS says it will create 3.5 million jobs, it IS about jobs!
For some reason, you seem to think that people who are critical of this are just bashing the President. You are wrong.
you said…”I’m not at all sure they will. We don’t live in a fantasy land. The best advice at the time said this money was needed.”
Many, and I mean MANY people in the feild of economics did not think this would work from the beginning.
++++
On January 28, 2009, a full page advertisement with the names of approximately 200 economists who are against President Obama’s plan appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The funding for this advertisement came from the Cato Institute. The ad stated
… we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s… To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, savings, investment, and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.”
On March 11, 2009, The Wall Street Journal published a forecasting survey of 49 economists about the bill’s impact in regards to the Obama administration. President Obama and United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner received failing grades, in the opinion of these economists, for their handling of the economic crisis and stimulus plan. Critics were divided over the bill, with 43% saying $500 billion more would be needed, while others were “skeptical of the need for stimulus at all.”
++++
You take the position this had to be done, BUT many disagree. Just because Obama chose a certain opinion, it does NOT mean it was the best advice! Those opposing this idea had just as many accolades in the field as those who the President listened to.
On the Bank Bailout, I was not in favor of that either! Wether you were for it or against it, the problem there was it NEVER was applied to toxic assets in the way we were told it would be! It went in many different direction for many different things, but NOT to buy up toxic assets. Just like we are now discovering that the states are not using the “Stimulator” as they should be.
You say…just wait..let it have time to work. I am not willing to do that. Many of my friends who have lost thier jobs this year are NOT willing to just wait and “hope” it works. We all want the transparency that Obama promised us to allow us to see how things are working…or NOT working. If a program is not working…kill it and move the money from it to a program that IS having success.
To watch and track performance like this is the way ALL gov’t expenditures should be evaluated. Which party is in power or controlling the political agenga is not relevant
If the states are using monies that were targeted for the “shovel-ready” jobs to keep from becoming the next California, then action needs to be taken to address getting the money where it NEEDS to be to create jobs.
I dont blame the states if they are doing what they feel is best to fulfill their obligations to their citizens, but is what they are doing “wrong” based on the bill, OR is this yet another “HOLE” in the “Stimulator” similar to the AIG bonus clauses that “mysteriously” altered. Again, rushing these things thru because we think we need to has so far resulted in additional problems and not so good “performance as promised” category.
Both of these massive spending bills PROVE why I do not want the government to rush into healthcare the way Obama wants to. He is still pushing for a bill by the end of the summer! Yet we all know that any bill passed this quickly will be full of holes. That is exactly what we dont need & can’t afford to have!
Also PLEASE…
“As you know this program unfolds over 4 years through to 2012″
First off, it actually calls for dispersing the monies all the way through 2016! Second, Already 174 Billion has been made available. The majority of this 787 will be available well before 2012!
seriously danita, listen to yourself.
would you be willing to say wait until 2012 to see the results if Bush were President?
How critical were you of him & the government’s handling of Katrina? This is a very similar kind of situation. A crisis needs a solution and road to recovery. Please do not insult the rest of us by saying you would grant Bush or another Republican 4 years to make your assestment of success or failure!

Well put Mike. I can’t believe how the president and the congress are getting away with this “it’s worse than we thought” stuff. The fate of the stimulus aside, it is their job to know how good/bad it is. Not only to know but to take responsibility for the situation – the buck stops here- their ducking and dodging is not acceptable and makes them less credible.