(Pundits interview President Obama aboard Air Force One. From left to right, E.J. Dionne, Washington Post; Bob Herbert, NY Times; Ron Brownstein, National Journal; the president, Jennifer Psaki, a White House staffer, Kathleen Parker, Washington Post Writers Group. Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary is in background. Chicago Tribune photo by Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune.)
by Clarence Page
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - If he was exhausted, he didn't show it.
Barack Obama had pushed to completion one of the most impressive, if lopsided, legislative triumphs in the first three weeks of any president in history.
Before he sat down with me and four other columnists late Friday afternoon on his first trip back home to Chicago aboard Air Force One, the House approved his $787 billion economic stimulus package.
(For a closer look at the Obama family's trip home aboard the world's most famous jetliner, see my blog, Page's Page later today.)
Despite vigorous outreach that included a bipartisan Super Bowl party at the White House, no Republicans voted for it, just as none approved its earlier version that cleared the chamber in January.
And while Obama chatted with us in the luxuriously furnished military version of a Boeing 747 somewhere over 30,000 feet the Senate began a vote that would approve the package with support from only three Republican senators.
Drama for Obama? No problem. He stepped into the conference room of the presidential jet as unruffled as a no-iron shirt.
(Chicago Tribune photo by Clarence Page.)
During almost an hour-long chat, much of the time was filled with our pressing different versions of the same question: What have your first three weeks on the job taught you?
Not to be seen was the self-effacing candor that had led him to say "I screwed up" after backing a cabinet nominee who had to withdrew under a cloud of tax troubles.
And the Republican rebuke of his stimulus package, despite his energetic outreach efforts, may have taught him to define bipartisan as a change of tone, not by the number of Republican votes he won. But he didn't say that either.
No, after a few minutes of explaining the economic thinking and long-range policy aims of his stimulus package, he used the question to congratulate his "great team" of allies and experts who made it possible.
"In terms of what I've learned on the politics of it," he said, "I think what I've learned is that I've got a great team because we moved a very big piece of legislation through Congress in record time."
His bragging rights were easily justified. You'd have to go back to Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s or Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s to find a more sweeping, more expensive and more quickly enacted package of what Republicans call "new spending" and Democrats call "new investments."
"And that was not easy to do."
No, it wasn't. Not even when the vote fell almost totally along party lines, despite sacrifices by the Democratic majority of about $100 billion of pet Democratic projects and programs.
"And I think the end product is not a hundred percent of what we would want, but it is a very good start on moving things forward."
As for bipartisanship? "I made every effort to reach out to Republicans early to get their input and to get their buy-in," Obama said. "I think that there were some senators and House members who have a sincere philosophical difference with the idea of any government role in boosting demand in the economy. They don't believe in (John Maynard) Keynes and they're still fighting FDR.... I think we can disagree without being disagreeable on that front."
In other words, the president appears to have found that, given a choice, members of America's conservative major party tend to vote like conservatives.
"I also think that there was a decision made that was political and tactical on their part where they said, 'You know what, if we can enforce conformity among our ranks then it will invigorate our base and will potentially give us some political advantage, either short term or long term,' " Obama said. "And whether that's a smart strategy, I think you should ask them."
And it is not hard to imagine what they would say.
"The last point I would make, though, is that given the urgency of the situation right now, my consistent goal throughout this process is: Are we getting the most immediate, most effective relief possible to American families who are losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their health care?," he said. "I welcome Republican participation in that process, but ultimately I'm answerable to the American people. And my determination was to get it done, and I think that we're going to get it done."
Obama is the third president in a row to come to Washington promising to bring more bipartisanship, then fail to close the deal. Did he make a mistake? Should he have defined bipartisanship as warmed relations between the parties instead of actually winning Republican votes? Obama did not say.
But he did say that he thought the GOP party-line vote was a fait accompli long before it was taken. "Look," he said, "once a decision was made by the Republican leadership to have a party-line vote -- a decision that I think occurred before I met with them -- then I'm not sure that there was a whole host of things that we were going to do that was going to make a difference.
"But again, my bottom line was not how pretty the process was; my bottom line was am I getting help to people who need it."
"Going forward, each and every time we've got an initiative I'm going to go to both Democrats and Republicans and I'm going to say, here's my best argument for why we need to do this."
Asked whether his experience had changed his expectations of winnable Republican support or how he might win it, he responded sagely. "You know, I am an eternal optimist," he said. "That doesn't mean I'm a sap."
As our laughter subsided, he described his goal? "Assume the best, but prepare for a whole range of different possibilities."
That's not an original thought, but it's durable.
Asked if he foresees a time when more drastic action might be required to save the financial markets, like the Japan or Swedish models, Obama explored the positives and negatives of each. Japan failed to intervene forcefully enough in the 1990s- "they sort of paper things over and never really bit the bullet"--and fell into an economic "lost decade."
Like many economists on the left, Obama found a "good argument" in Sweden's model, which temporarily nationalized its failed banks, then sold them off one-by-one. But here, too, he found a big problem: "They only had a handful of banks; we've got thousands of banks. The scale, the magnitude, of what we're dealing with is much bigger."
"But here's the bottom line," he said. "We will do what works."
Later he elaborated, "I think what you can say is, I will not allow our financial system to collapse. And we are going to do whatever is required to get credit flowing again so that companies and consumers can do their business and we can get this economy back on track."
With today's economic storm looking as though it's going to get worse -- before it might get even worse - he'd better keep his options open.
Comments
It helps when Obama still has the public overwhelmingly on his side. But the economy is now his problem, and the vultures will surely come if the stimulus is showing signs of lagging or simply isn't effective in turning around the recession.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | February 15, 2009 7:55 AM
Under the headline "What's the Rush", the NY Post wonders why Obama pushed Congress to pass the bill prior to this weekend, if Obama was going to take a vacation and not sign it until he got back. See http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152009/news/nationalnews/whats_the_rush__155255.htm
Maybe Obama wanted the rush to make sure nobody actually READ the bill ...
Posted by: Inconvenient Truth | February 15, 2009 8:19 AM
Ha,,ha, ha...ho, ho, ho....just got back from Tulsa, Ok. Some conservatives are going to make big bucks on the Obama porkulous. Ole' wind farms are a great idea! Forget oil, you lefties hurry out and buy those new electric cars and crank up those AC, gotta keep cool during "gold'da warming". Thank you very much Prez. Obama! Ha, ha, ha...ho, ho, ho....you lefties enjoy your 13 bucks a week.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | February 15, 2009 8:25 AM
So many deciding whether the stimulus package will work or not and it isn't even law yet... it will be decades before the effect can be properly judged... and the New Deal is still being agued after all these years. This one will be too. It's too bad the repubs continue to think "our team against yours". It's almost like the game is more important than the condition of the economy. The next thing I would like to hear the President say is that we'll send half the amount of foreign aid we send now and keep it here at home, where we need it. Think that would ever happen? As far as Israel and Palestine go, there would only be half as many Jews and Muslims killed that way... it is insane to be giving money to both sides and calling it humanitarian aid. Who thought of that anyway....
Posted by: irene | February 15, 2009 8:28 AM
I don't think an eternal optimist would use words like castrophe, dire consequences, etc... in ordwer to scare tghe American Public into a piece of lard-ridden legislation.
.
Inconvient Truth has a great point, why rush to get this voted on Friday, if he isn't going to sign it until Monday? Part of it has to the flatliner democrats not wanting teh bill to be read, but also many of these same flatliners have vacations and junkets to go on. Can't hold up the party for work.
Posted by: Terry | February 15, 2009 8:29 AM
"Maybe Obama wanted the rush to make sure nobody...."
And maybe you're an idiot....
I think it was Congress who wanted to get it done by the weekend.
Posted by: gladys | February 15, 2009 8:37 AM
Great stuff, Mr. Page. What candor, what honesty and forthrightness !! No, I'm not referring to George Bush, but President Obama. A good beginning to his tenure as our President. I hope he is able to bring along, some more, reasonable Republicans, but the question is : Do they exist, in numbers, other than the three Senators, who showed up, when America called !!? Unfortunate for America, the " do nothing " Republicans will now work to make sure America doesn't right itself, soon enough, if at all, in order to prove their ideological position, was the correct position to take, concerning the stimulus package !! The Republicans have sold out America for a tired, old and failed ideology, but in doing so, they may have hurried their own demise, politically, in today's America.
Just as in last November's election, the American voter will not accept lies, distortions and ideologies that put America second and a disintegrating Party, and its failed ideology, first !! Not now, not ever !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 15, 2009 8:56 AM
Not a sap, only a cullusionist for a one world government and one world religion!
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 9:32 AM
Stimulus or ideology? Did you know that in this so called stimulus package, that neatly tucked away is a provision for an emergency immigration? That's right and who do you think Obama and the other socialists are giving it to? Hint, they danced in the streets when 911 happened. Obama and his comrades have allocated 20 million dollars!!
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 10:08 AM
You're such a blowhard, Bubba Porter, I'm sure your wind farm will do well. If it gets us off oil, it's a good thing, and there's nothing wrong with capitalism and government working together, as Lincoln, FDR and Obama like it.
Posted by: Flo | February 15, 2009 10:23 AM
Great photo of Obama, meeting with his key supporters.
Posted by: Inconvenient Truth | February 15, 2009 10:36 AM
Not a sap, only a cullusionist for a one world government and one world religion!
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 9:32 AM
And what would be wrong with that? No more wars to fund your rich buddies in the republican party? No more jihadist suicide murderers killing innocent woman and children for 72 virgins? Imagine.....
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | February 15, 2009 10:39 AM
But the economy is now his problem, and the vultures will surely come if the stimulus is showing signs of lagging or simply isn't effective in turning around the recession.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | February 15, 2009 7:55 AM
Matt.......I think the vultures were out before the bill was even a thought. I find it amazing how the republicans critizised Obama for using fear to sell this plan when they have done exactly the same thing since this bill started. It all opinions and you know what they say about opinions. I also find it unbelievable that Obama now "owns" this. I'm sorry......were the republicans absent for the last 8 years?
Posted by: bill r. | February 15, 2009 10:44 AM
This bill is not all pork.
The part that's not is really, really bad.
http://ewebsmith.com/gov/newlaw.html
Posted by: Web Smith | February 15, 2009 10:55 AM
And what would be wrong with that? No more wars to fund your rich buddies in the republican party? No more jihadist suicide murderers killing innocent woman and children for 72 virgins? Imagine.....
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | February 15, 2009 10:39 AM
What you fail to realize is this jihad will not disappear until every knee bows or is beheaded in the name of Alla. Sounds like your a Muslim perhaps?
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 11:29 AM
You have no clue, "Eyes"
If Scott were a Muslim he would not need your explanation. You're a fraud,
Posted by: mort | February 15, 2009 11:44 AM
Brag, Brag - Where do they all end.
Posted by: Inky | February 15, 2009 11:52 AM
You are a sap for letting Pelosi and her thugs craft this HUGE OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING spree of supposedly legislation. Either you are a sap or plain ignorance. Now President Hussein wants to address the deficit? We all know how he's going to address tax increases on the middle class and wealthy people who create jobs. I have absolutely no problem with him raising taxes on the Hollywood liberals who are more than willing to pay more than their fair share since they support this guy. Go for it. He demonstrated absolutely no leadership when it came to passing this grotesque piece of legislation that places a high price tag on my children and theirs. He is a one term president and I can't wait to campaign for someone else.
Posted by: Jo | February 15, 2009 11:54 AM
It sounds like Scot S. Blakely is one of the millions of college kids who voted their rockstar into office with little or no knowledge of what Obama is really all about. They just listened to the Tina Fey's and Sean Penn's of the world and voted in their messiah.
Posted by: VikVega | February 15, 2009 11:57 AM
Maybe if Obama brought Reps and Dems together to write the bill he would have had more bipartisan support. Instead he had super liberal Pelosi and Reid write the bill loading it with tons of liberal pork. Obama is going to be just another corrupt politician like all the other ones. Nothing in our political system is going to change except a different set of rich people are going to get rich.
Posted by: Not fooled | February 15, 2009 12:03 PM
I'm not sure if the stimulus will help that much. Economies go through cycles and recession is part of the cycle. I read a good article on the history of cycles at, I think,
http://www.recessioninfocenter.com
Posted by: Jeff | February 15, 2009 12:08 PM
What you fail to realize is this jihad will not disappear until every knee bows or is beheaded in the name of Alla. Sounds like your a Muslim perhaps?
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 11:29 AM
Soooooo.....all Muslims now must be killed? Who is the jihadist and who isn't?
Posted by: bill r. | February 15, 2009 12:09 PM
It amazes me when I hear you liberals supporting this plan and criticizing Republicans for not playing on the team. Pelosi, Reid and their comrades did everything they could to shut the Republicans out.
You are praising a plan based on the freebies and “feel good” programs the Dems are spoon feeding you. None will move this country forward.
Obama isn’t the sap. It may end up the real saps will be the people who voted for him. Hope I’m wrong.
Posted by: Mark B | February 15, 2009 12:17 PM
Jeff gets paid each time he posts that worthless website on here.
Posted by: Flo | February 15, 2009 12:26 PM
It's amazing Republicans remain as arrogant, polarizing and devisive as they were five years ago when they had their hands firmly on the steering wheel (Bush in the White House, Republican majorities in Congress) and drove America's economy into the sinkhole that President Obama and the Democrats have to once again rescue America from.
You'd think Republicans would more humble and cooperative. Instead, they fall back on their base nature of being hate-mongering (Rush Limbaugh) obstructionists who are like crows on a perch waiting to swoop down and savage all things Democratic.
I like that Obama had the character to reach out to the Republicans knowing they were going to toe the party line and trash his Stimulus Plan.
You don't even have to criticize Republicans any more. The state of this economy sells itself. Republican ideology is about as un-American as steroid-use in professional sports. Bush's Iraq policy was the purest example of 'roid rage.
Republicans do not care about America. They're only concerned with serving themselves, lining the pockets of their supporters and using genicidal economic policies that jettisons the middle-class, the poor and minorities further away from the American dream.
Democrats aren't perfect but its not an accident that America flourishes when Democrats are running the show and America sinks like quick-sand when Republicans at the wheel.
Posted by: Kent | February 15, 2009 12:30 PM
Scot,
Will you share whatever it is you're smokin'?
Posted by: Roy S. | February 15, 2009 12:34 PM
It's amazing Republicans remain as arrogant, polarizing and devisive as they were five years ago when they had their hands firmly on the steering wheel (Bush in the White House, Republican majorities in Congress) and drove America's economy into the sinkhole that President Obama and the Democrats have to once again rescue America from.
You'd think Republicans would be more humble, conciliatory and cooperative. Instead, they fall back on their base nature of being hate-mongering (Rush Limbaugh) obstructionists who are like crows on a perch waiting to swoop down and savage all things Democratic.
I like that Obama had the character to reach out to the Republicans knowing they were going to toe the party line and trash his Stimulus Plan.
You don't even have to resort to bashing Republicans any more. The state of this economy sells itself.
Republican ideology is about as un-American as steroid-use in professional sports. Bush's Iraq policy was the purest example of 'roid rage.
Republicans do not care about America. They're only concerned with serving themselves, lining the pockets of their supporters and using genicidal economic policies that jettisons the middle-class, the poor and minorities further away from the American dream.
Democrats aren't perfect but its not an accident that America flourishes when Democrats are running the show and sinks like quick-sand when Republicans are calling the shots.
Posted by: Kent | February 15, 2009 12:37 PM
"What you fail to realize is this jihad will not disappear until every knee bows or is beheaded in the name of Alla. Sounds like your a Muslim perhaps?
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 11:29 AM "
"Eye's" seems to be forecasting jihadist patellaectomies....
Posted by: Bill Brock - Chicago | February 15, 2009 12:48 PM
You feel that you are not a sap, but you are a puppet of Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and Dodd!!
And you fools voted for and cried over this moron on Election night. It is 1936 Berlin, all over again.
Posted by: BDD | February 15, 2009 12:50 PM
Why is it such a problem that we got this passed? Bush passed one and no one was complaining. Now Obama does and the Repubs can't support him as we the people do. It's funny the people didn't trust Bush and passed a stimulus bill with suppirt of Congress and Obama passes a bill with no from Congress but from the people.
Posted by: Roy | February 15, 2009 12:59 PM
So Obama's an Optimist wonderful, what he lacks is common sense and the use of logic.. We had 8 years of fear mongering and overspending so what is his solution? Fear mongering and more unnecessary spending.. we are NOT talking about the parts of this bill that might actually create jobs for AMERICAN citizens. and that is MIGHT since the 2 parts of the bill that would ensure jobs went to AMERICAN CITIZENS - Buy American and E-verify were STRIPPED from the bill. it is Pelosi and Reed putting in things that WILL not create jobs. Also those parts aimed at repaying those special interest groups that got them re-elected and elected.. such as Acorn and I am sure there is money in there that will go to La Raza.. Lets see JUST how much transparency there really is about the spending.. if it's like the behind the door meeting that were going on we will know the truth.. By the way I want to let all those Blue Dog Democrats KNOW we appreciate them not drinking the koolaid and selling us down the river as I guess we should also thank the Republicans who stood fast.. One thing people seem to keep saying is Obama is such a good speaker what a wonderful thing after Bush,. Well Con men are good speakers too remember that.. we have a whole hill of them in Washington..
Posted by: Helen Pratt-Saulinskas | February 15, 2009 1:06 PM
I hope this stimulus helps and I think it will. About time this country spend some money on OUR infrastructure instead of Iraq's. As to the republicans, they should come to the table or find themselves irrelevant to Americans. I would support a party that is actually based on the stated Republican party ideals, but they have strayed so far from that so as to be unrecognizable. In the meantime, I guess I am stuck being a Democrat for the time being until the Repbulicans can get back on track. I feel entirely unrepresented by any of the current republicans in office.
Posted by: notsayinitsthebestbut | February 15, 2009 1:07 PM
I'm not sure if the stimulus will help that much. Economies go through cycles and recession is part of the cycle. I read a good article on the history of cycles at, I think,
http://www.recessioninfocenter.com
Posted by: Jeff | February 15, 2009 12:08 PM
Agree- May add-
The Politicians
around the country will benefit the most.
Posted by: Inky | February 15, 2009 1:11 PM
Jeff still pushing his web site, Bruce still crying media bias, John D. and his ilk still in denial of the gravity of the situation. Read this article on Toyota if you thing this is just "another recession":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/business/15toyota.html?hp
We gave the Republicans ample opportunity to show what they were made of, and all they could deliver is war, degradation of the environment, and the collapse of the world economy. Thanks for nothing, Pugs, it's time for some adult leadership now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15rich.html
Posted by: dt☢ | February 15, 2009 1:12 PM
Jeff still pushing his web site, Bruce still crying media bias, John D. and his ilk still in denial of the gravity of the situation. Read this article on Toyota if you thing this is just "another recession":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/business/15toyota.html?hp
We gave the Republicans ample opportunity to show what they were made of, and all they could deliver is war, degradation of the environment, and the collapse of the world economy. Thanks for nothing, Pugs, it's time for some adult leadership now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15rich.html
Posted by: dt☢ | February 15, 2009 1:13 PM
Right now there are some very positive looking things happening.
Obama's stimulus package is an impressive achievement, but politically it's stunning. The right wing has been out there spewing it's usual garbage, but polls are showing that folks just aren't listening. They've lost credibility it seems.
This is stunning. The right wing noise chamber is over with. We're not going the way of Nazi Germany. Obama's the president, not the messiah, and Limbaugh is a marginal boob.
Let's all give a big secular hossanah!
Posted by: joe | February 15, 2009 1:57 PM
Obama wants to help the retarded so he allocated a $13 boost in take home pay so the Joe Sixpacks can drown their sorrows in cheap beer while they listen to Rush Limbaugh rant about socialism.
Posted by: Hector | February 15, 2009 2:09 PM
Americans are basically undereducated, stupid people. They don't think they are stupid because they look to the left and look to the right and see people who may be a little stupider and think "you know, I'm pretty smart." But in the end, they are stupid, selfish people. Oh yes, you will trot out your philanthropy once a year, usually at Christmas time, and say "see how magnanimous we are?" But in the end, you are stupid people. Just llok at some of the thinking and spelling in these comments. This is the last American century and it's largely because white people like me are so scared that they would prefer to see the whole ship sink before losing one inch of advantage over others. Our time has passed and we di not make the best use of it. We did okay, but too often we did not do good. we killed natives, we held slaves by color, we raped the land and poisoned our own people for the sake of a few more dollars. We embraced foreigners to supplant our own workers in our own country. And now ... Sic transit gloria mundi.
Posted by: Aaron | February 15, 2009 2:13 PM
Soooooo.....all Muslims now must be killed? Who is the jihadist and who isn't?
Posted by: bill r. | February 15, 2009 12:09 PM
Great questions Bill. Your first question if answered by a Jihdist would be to kill all infidels. My answer is no because thats barbaric and thats not the way we raise our childre. Second question is certainly a tuff one but I certainly wouldn't spend 20 million dollars to immigrate potential terrorists into this land because it makes a mockery of having border guards, and the good people of this land who requested protection.
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 2:42 PM
President Obama was elected to find solutions to our nation's pressing problems that were caused by the Bush Republicans. Obama and the majority Democrats need to implement the best possible solutions to those problems. If Republicans have genuinely good ideas (i.e., not their tired "tax cuts!" crap, especially now that Democrats have passed the largest tax cut in American history with zero Republican support), then fantastic. They can bring them to the table for due consideration. Otherwise, they shouldn't get a second thought from the adults actually trying to clean up George W. Bush and his Republican enablers messes.
Posted by: Hamburglar | February 15, 2009 3:20 PM
Amatuer hour in the Obama . Yup he is a SAP and an impostr
Posted by: jimbo | February 15, 2009 3:22 PM
Something tells me that it's a good thing our President doesn't just sign off on any Congress bill without reading it. I get the feeling he's also waiting til after the weekend to sign it so that he can make sure there aren't any unnecessary or harmful items.
As for the "pork-laden" argument, I think it's been made pretty clear that this bill does not include any specific earmarks for project (which is pork) but sets money aside for purposes that will be decided by other agencies (like the DOT deciding which highways or railways get built for example) or by states.
Besides, even if it were pork, isn't that the kind of spending that creates jobs? Or are tax cuts really supposed to help make jobs? Especially with more and more people unemployed?
Posted by: Juan Sebas | February 15, 2009 3:31 PM
Mr. Page, don't you realize that you, your children, your wife and family are on the plane this guy is flying? Your article is OK, but your disinterested, cynical, "I don't care the outcome" stance, so entirely typical of what calls itself Media today, is distracting and destructive of your credibility. Who would believe someone so cavalierly disinterested in the fate of this country, of its greatest president, of the world?
Posted by: Start Loving | February 15, 2009 3:45 PM
I found the stimulus bill a disappointment. For all their pain, recessions allow economies to restructure and redirect resources to much of which have committed to particular activities.
During the real estate bubble more resources were committed to housing than were needed. It has been widely reported for years that we have too much auto assembly capacity. Yet this stimulus bill, with its aid for first time home buyers, money for highway construction and tax breaks for buying cars strikes me as propping up sectors of the economy which were overbuilt during the last two (four?) decades and which need to be scaled back.
"Only" eight billion seems to have been appropriated for high speed rail, a small amount compared to what is to be spent to prop up the old economy.
Posted by: Paul | February 15, 2009 3:49 PM
Republicans will be judged by the voters again in 2010. If they want to obstruct and filibuster while the economy is in free fall, President Obama and the Dems should call their bluff and let them go for it.
In the first four years after F.D.R. took over from Hoover, the already decimated ranks of Republicans in Congress fell from 36 to 16 in the Senate and from 117 to 88 in the House. If the Greedy Oil Party is so insistent that the New Deal was a mirage it probably means that they also have convinced themselves that their own sorry record back then didn’t happen either.
Posted by: Doug Vader, son of Darth | February 15, 2009 4:05 PM
Money, money, money, America's mantra !! The Corporations have won, for, at one time, it might have been, freedom, freedom, freedom !! We have the malfeasants of Wall Street grabbing our taxpayer dollars and riding home in their Rolls, if not flying off in their Leers !! Oh, that we could round them all up and herd them into Sing Sing prison and allow them, the pleasure of their own company !! That is the most compassionate scenario that I can allow myself to entertain, for these miscreants and petty thieves !! They have undermined everything noble about this nation and these cheats are raising families, at the expense, health and integrity of honest families, whose children are suffering, exacerbated by their age and the loss of their innocence !! That is the ugliness, these cheats and liars have given America and now, we must bail them and their corrupt institutions out of trouble. We must make sure this never happens again. The new American mantra shall now be: Regulate, regulate, regulate !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 15, 2009 4:07 PM
Look at it realistically. The bill had to be rushed because of the situation with the Nation's economy. Leave out the past, including the TARP funds, and think....then, since it's a long weekend, members of the Senate didn't want to have to stay this weekend and read it. There were several who said outright they weren't planning on reading it because it would take too much time. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had to nix vacation plans at the last minute because of an emergency, so that BS doesn't fly with me.
Something had to be done, and the Republicans refused to cooperate when the were asked and did nothing but stall, and then claim they had an alternative at the 11th hour. Everyone has had plenty of time to think about it. Not only that, very few Republicans wanted to work on this bill. The Democrats removed a lot of funds from the bill at the Republicans 'request', and even added in some of their favorite thing - tax cuts - and still all they can say is that Obama didn't try to be bipartisan.
The American people in dire need of help (and yes, GOP, there are people who need help - not everyone is a 'welfare cheat') need it NOW, as does our economy. Stop with the playground tactics - the bill is passed, move on and help or get out of the way.
Posted by: Andi | February 15, 2009 4:10 PM
The Republicans continue to act like children and continue to contribute absolutely nothing but hate, invective and partisanship.
Thanks for Obama. It's going to be a long slog, due to the mischief, mistakes, greed and incompetence of the Republicans for the past 29 years, but Obama is a great one to start to lead us out of this mess.
Posted by: Sonny Drysdale | February 15, 2009 4:31 PM
No matter how many times I read this stimulus package, I can't find anything that addresses American Military Veterans. Is it just me? Am I missing something? I realize we are considered "disposable," but with a draft seemingly inevitable, shouldn't they at least make an appearance of concern for American Servicemen/women and Veterans?
Posted by: Quick Joey Small | February 15, 2009 5:39 PM
The stock reaction by Republicans is disputing the President's bipartisan effort, characterizing it as mere choreography, window dressing. One prominent member has been quoted as complaining that not one word of the bill was written by a Republican. So, we're right back to Congressional party-line politics, with votes that match. Either, probably both, are guilty of playing the partisan game.
I believe President Obama genuinely wanted--and still wants--Republican support. My sense is he has been thwarted not just by Republican opposition, both ideological and less noble, but by fellow Democrats as well, also both ideological and less noble.
As a result, I think he has been unpleasantly surprised by the ingrained rivalry in Washington, a product, I'm afraid, of his little time in the senate.
Pelosi, Reid, and other leading Democrats have taken advantage of the opportunity to pad the stimulus with every conceivable program they could deliiver, regardless of job stimulation (Pelosi protest notwithstanding), and Republicans have responded in like kind with tax cut and accusations of "excessive spending" rejoinders, just as expected.
Reminds me of the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Posted by: Richard Palzer | February 15, 2009 5:45 PM
I think the kid's in over his head. If Geithner is the one to inspire confidence and Obama is the leader then let's start building confidence instead of telling how bad things are going to be----forever!
Posted by: mj loehrer | February 15, 2009 5:47 PM
FOUND IT!
[Federal Register: February 4, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 22)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 6115]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04fe09-106]
Presidential Documents
[[Page 6115]]
Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27,
2009
Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs
Related To Gaza
Memorandum for the Secretary of State
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, including section
2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of
1962 (the ``Act’’), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I
hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the
Act, that it is important to the national interest to
furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to
exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency
Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose
of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration
needs, including by contributions to international,
governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and
payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of
Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department
of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian
refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.
You are authorized and directed to publish this
memorandum in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, January 27, 2009
[FR Doc. E9-2488
Filed 2-3-09; 8:45 am]
Billing code 4710-10-P
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 5:49 PM
Obamas plan for America is spend, spend, abortion, gay marriage, release the terrorist, and spend.
The stimulus bill will not help us. It will push us further into debt.
No chance for this plan to help. It is a payoff to the unions, Hollywood, and poor black people for getting him elected.
God help US.
Posted by: Democrats for Truth | February 15, 2009 5:50 PM
Republicans are still having trouble coming to terms with the collapse of their ideology as they plot their resistance to President Obama’s economic recovery plan. They still have faith that tax cuts for the rich and a deregulated free market will revive the economy, despite the evidence that tax cuts for the rich and deregulation of financial markets fed the current troubles.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate rejected Obama’s pleas for bipartisanship. Instead they put up their own amendments to replace the Democratic version with an alternative consisting mainly of tax cutsfor the rich. When those amendments failed, Republicans unanimously voted against the $819 billion economic recovery bill in the House; only three of 41 Republicans were finagled to vote for the $838 billion Senate version.
The GOP opposition held up when the House and Senate approved the $787 billion compromise bill Friday -- with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) forced to fly back from his mother’s funeral services to cast the 60th vote to satisfy procedural rules.
The US economy has lost 3.5 million jobs since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. President Obama hopes to save or create as many as 4 million jobs over two years through the stimulus and other economic measures. But Republicans have not bought into the sense that there is an emergency. They believe that their electoral recovery depends on the stimulus having limited effect and the recession lasting through the November 2010 midterm elections. And that's it in a nutshell, the Republicans are hoping that the American people and the American economy fail because they see that as their only way to win back some seats in congress.
2009 Republican party - "Party First, Country Last"
Posted by: jccullen | February 15, 2009 6:11 PM
Obama isn't a Sap, but we're all suckers.
Posted by: Bill | February 15, 2009 6:22 PM
Do "optimists" regularly employ such terms as "worse than we thought", "catastrophe", and "disaster" to scare legislators into passing misguided $800B spending binges?
That's a new one on me-
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Reaganite Republican | February 15, 2009 6:38 PM
Prez Obama is starting to show tendencies in his sly flavor and tone of his political tactics that revolve around him: degrade the right; bsatisfied with the tone of popular culture; degrade the process with the excuse tha virtuous rhetoric can suffice for the actual preference for secretive backroom dealings. "Our banks"? A politician of the Establishment or the disenfranchisement? Tha president is already nearly lost, Clarence.
Posted by: PROGRESSIVE | February 15, 2009 6:41 PM
"No matter how many times I read this stimulus package, I can't find anything that addresses American Military Veterans. Is it just me? Am I missing something? I realize we are considered "disposable," but with a draft seemingly inevitable, shouldn't they at least make an appearance of concern for American Servicemen/women and Veterans? "
Posted by: Quick Joey Small
This is a jobs bill, Quick; not the budget bill or the VA bill or the health care bill.
Posted by: Flo | February 15, 2009 7:12 PM
Lets dance in the streets and sing songs and pass out candy (911) and enjoy 20.3 million dollars from the stupid Americans.
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 7:18 PM
I'm not sure if you are a bigger sap than your supporters.
Posted by: truthurts | February 15, 2009 7:21 PM
Eye's, you need to work on your grammar; also your sanity. That's just a funding mechanism; it ain't going in your pocket.
Posted by: mort | February 15, 2009 7:47 PM
Not a sap? Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid sure played him for one!
Posted by: Groucho | February 15, 2009 8:28 PM
What / Who is a sap?
Posted by: RAJIV | February 15, 2009 8:34 PM
Sonny Drysdale posted "The Republicans continue to act like children and continue to contribute absolutely nothing but hate, invective and partisanship."
What do you think the Democrats did to Bush for the last 8 years? But you probably approved of their behavior, right?
Posted by: Stand the Heat | February 15, 2009 8:50 PM
Not a sap? Guess he hasn't heard how Burris played him.
Posted by: Jorge | February 15, 2009 8:51 PM
He sure was taken for one by the house and the senate
Posted by: Independent Voter Joliet | February 15, 2009 8:52 PM
Kathleen Parker? There's a waste of ink and oxygen, not in that order.
Glad to see President Obama making himself for available to the public, even if it is through a questionably competent press.
Posted by: Hopeful | February 15, 2009 9:02 PM
Jeez Louise , where did all these Rushbots, trolls and GOP spruikers slide out from? And isn't it great to say those two words~ President Obama.
Posted by: waldo | February 15, 2009 9:35 PM
Eye's, you need to work on your grammar; also your sanity. That's just a funding mechanism; it ain't going in your pocket.
Posted by: mort | February 15, 2009 7:47 PM
You have no clue, "Eyes"
If Scott were a Muslim he would not need your explanation. You're a fraud,
Posted by: mort | February 15, 2009 11:44 AM
mort, YOU have not read anything being discussed here, personal attacks and lack of intelligence are as persistent in you as is in this so called stimulus package there laying out on the table! You need to go back and reread this again and by the way, I know you can't understand it, so get a tutor and once youve passed the dumb test, Im sure humanity will be happy to listen to you. As for the funding that comes out of tax payers pocket. Im sure we can find a little funding for YOU to get a life. Don't get hung up on words such as Stimulus which turns out to be nothing more than a reparation bill and you could certainly use some stimulus for your brain. I know this is a bit too much for you to handle but once you get the education you need, I'm sure you will understand.
Good Luck
Sincerely
Eye's Wide Open
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 15, 2009 9:53 PM
Sure the stimulus will help. It will help some that need it and a lot of others that don't deserve it. And then the party will be over and we will be worse off than before.
Obama is a good socialist. All he knows how to do is spend.
Posted by: Tim | February 15, 2009 9:59 PM
OK, lets attack the Republicans, tell me you guys sent back the money that was handed out to the people in the first stimulus package RIGHT! Hey, Bush, at least thought about us and did the best he could in the situation and he didn't include emergency funds for so called terrorists to be able to enter our country, with free housing and benefits. Oh, hey, its an emergency, I'm out of bullets and human shields. I'm hurt and need aide. Great going Obama, there are plenty of both here! Get ready folks, cause they wont need to fly the planes this time. Welcome to America courtsey of the Obama administration. free guns and ammunition to all emergency recipients. No need looking for a place to live, we have plenty of housing since the people who owned them couldn't afford to stay there, thanks to our wonderful governent, the democrats as well as the republicans are both to blame! Face it, we've been sold out and soon enough we'll be well on our way to slavery, Including our kids and grand kids, that is if they can live long enough.and don't get there heads cut off. AMERICA LAND OF THE?
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 16, 2009 12:31 AM
I see the ridiculous Republicans are getting desperate, again, they're beginning to use all their nasty strategies, again, even though the Republicans lost the presidential election.. We don't need any more race-baiting. President Obama is trying his best to help America get back on her feet, but there are those, who will use every, and any, trick in their book to undermine President Obama's message. We witnessed it during the presidential elections and, even though the Republicans lost that election, they continue with their dirty tricks, lies and distortions. The heck with America and the crater the Republicans left her in, they could care less. They will use any issue, including the racial issue to further there search and destroy mission. Just ask the former Senator from Georgia, Max Cleland, about their, the ridiculous Republican's, " honest and noble ways "!!
The ridiculous Republicans have shown themselves to be anti-American and less than honest citizens of this great nation, or, at least it was great, until the Republicans and their incapable leader were finished with it !! Come, America, let us show these poor losers, how America can work together and make her an even greater nation, than she was, before these greedy Republicans got their grubby little mitts on her !! Go, President Obama, you are off to a great start and with the lessons gained from FDR's policies, you will do even better !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 16, 2009 1:58 AM
After seeing what is called a stimulus package rammed through the halls of D.C.'s holies, and the more that comes out about said package, the following seems apparent.
Pres. Obama is not an optimist, he's an opportunist, who with the gentle guidance of his Leaders in the Halls of Congress, fashioned a stimulus plan that will as he said "get the help to those who need it". Apparently, those who need it were not the American People or the economy as a whole, but rather the special interests and those in Congress who had a 'Project in mind'. All the American People will get is to pay the added Bill with no new jobs.
Maybe we need to acquire and fill the halls with conservative independents after enforcing term limits, no retirement packages and no mansions in the D.C. area.
Some may scream that is heresy, however it is painfully apparent that the government we have is not acting in the interest of the people from the President down. I'm afraid that time will prove me right.
Posted by: Brumbar | February 16, 2009 5:51 AM
Posted by: bill r. "Soooooo.....all Muslims now must be killed? Who is the jihadist and who isn't?"
Yes Bill where have you been during the last three decades? This is a good start and then we load all the lawyers on busses and drive them over the same cliff.
Infidelz
Posted by: Mr. Infidelz | February 16, 2009 6:48 AM
Maybe we need to acquire and fill the halls with conservative independents after enforcing term limits, no retirement packages and no mansions in the D.C. area.
I agree with that....and I AM one.
Posted by: Laffing at Lefties | February 16, 2009 8:02 AM
Maybe we need to acquire and fill the halls with conservative independents after enforcing term limits, no mansions in the D.C. area.
I agree with that....and I AM one.
With term limits you don't need retirement packages.
Posted by: Laffing at Lefties | February 16, 2009 8:05 AM
Obama has adopted the Mussolini political/economic strategy. he has adopted it almost word for word.
The Black Il Duce.
Criminal.
Posted by: Prepare for the Gulags | February 16, 2009 8:24 AM
The Republicans have solved one of the great mysteries of our earth. We finally know why the dinosaurs vanished eons ago. Future scientists will one day unearthe bones of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Linday Graham, and John McCain nestled against a Tyrannus Rex. I can hardly wait.
Freddie
Posted by: Freddie | February 16, 2009 8:55 AM
The Republicans have solved one of the great mysteries of our earth. We finally know why the dinosaurs vanished eons ago. Future scientists will one day unearthe bones of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Linday Graham, and John McCain nestled against a Tyrannus Rex. I can hardly wait.
Freddie
Posted by: Freddie | February 16, 2009 8:55 AM
This is not about democrats or republicans, black or white, it's about the color green, and the greediness of those who control it,and they are lining their pockets at our expense,.and giving it away for global expansion, while we sit here and bicker over politics. We are being sold out and we have become socialistic nation. Are freedom is being striped and countries are being taken over in the name of globalization, one world government, one world leader and who do you think is going to be the leader surely not a democrat or a republican. They have taken over Netherlands, Britain and half of eroupe and now are wanting a piece of Italy.Terrorists of Islam.WE are paying to have them pick off our soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq and else were. We are so screwed that if something major was to happen here, we don't have no defense to protect us we are just sitting ducks looking for a pond of water. I say bring our troops home, keep the money here close our borders, drill our own oil, put our people back to work, buy U.S. products and take a stand and keep whats left of this once great nation. Stop sticking our nose in foreign affairs, before their noses are so far up our asses, we have no country left!
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 16, 2009 10:21 AM
All nations are based in socialism ! Pool resources and share the expenses of maintaining the cost of the nation. The question should be: When will we become tired, and angry, with the oligarchy, that has left us in this economic crater ? They are sharing their debt, their toxic debt, and hoarding the gains, of our stock market, our Treasury and our Labor !!! How's that for " capitalism " ? Also, please put away the fear-mongering, it didn't work during your lose, in the Presidential election and it certainly will not work, in President Obama's attempt to get us out of the toxic crater, your dimwit leader, ex-President Bush, parked us in !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 16, 2009 11:18 AM
President Obama has thrown the American People under the bus just like he did to his grandmother with this foolish bill. The only reason he pushed through so fast, so no one would realize how bad the bill is for the American people in the long and short run! The republicans actually showed backbone and stuck to their ideals (finally, which is why they lost both congress and presidency). McCain is a very poor Republican and those three RINOs that voted for this mess. Obama is socialist pinhead and will ruin our nation for his radical ideals.
Posted by: Eric M | February 16, 2009 11:51 AM
Wow. This is pure adulation. Could have been a White House press release.
How tough was it, really, to get the Ds in congress to vote for a spending bill they got to write themselves with hardly any constraints from the President as to what it would or would not include?
Posted by: Mark G | February 16, 2009 12:04 PM
This on-line discussion offers a wonderful teaching opportunity. The current polls consistently show high approvals, sometimes in the 70's, for President Obama. They also now show public approval of the stimulus package to be at around 60%.
With that in mind, people should at least skim the above discussion and notice the high frequency of conservative whiners and phony "concern trolls" with only negative complaints and little else to say. Conservative whiners ALWAYS make more noise than most people, whether or not their chosen representatives hold office. There will ALWAYS be a disproportionate amount of noise coming from conservative whiners. In this case, it's almost pathetic considering how they have gotten repudiated at the polls lately.
Posted by: Bill Batten | February 16, 2009 12:17 PM
Hey, Frizti, are you even from this country? You have missed the whole point! What are you? A DO DO BIRD! the problem with folks like yourself, is you lay your eggs out on the sand instead of burying them and protecting them and that's why their now extinct. You moron, If someone breakes into your home they don't care what color you are, what religious prefrence is, or what you're political agenda you have, all they want to take whats yours, and hope you're not home because they may kill you so you wont talk. repubicans and democrats are both responsible for this mess. Fanny Mae ACron and the rest of those shysters are sitting and spending tax payers money. No accusal no charges, no crime has been committed, sweep all under the rug and lets see how much more money we can get out of these suckers like yourself. Fear? No fear here - FACTS! I think you are afraid to look at whats really going on. It's like being in prison and sleeping with your drawers on backwards. I guess you don't mind getting ...?
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 16, 2009 12:48 PM
what the republicans fail to see is that there way of governing is growing a slow death..
they listen to their rock-god sean cry baby hannity for instructions and they follow him blindly into a pool of fecies..
obama has his ears and heart with the people,the ones whom he is serving,the american people!!
that is why u ROVEYNITES,are now tying the debt that bush left with obama..that is the new talking point,blame the job loss,the flaggering economy,and the deficit on obama..something that he inherited before he even got into office..
now,they will also tie the burris issue that has popped up to him as well..they want to keep beating him up in print,conservative talk shows,tv news shows,and in blogs like this because they are sore losers and they think the same tactics that lost them the election in november will somehow rear its ugly head back up and will allow them to win support and will increase the neo-con agenda.
BUT IT WON'T...
U LOSE!!
Posted by: MARCUS HOWARD-ATLANTA GA. | February 16, 2009 1:25 PM
Everyone seems to assume that this bill was written to "fix" the economy. A man as brilliant as Obama is supposed to be, no matter how mired in Keynesian theory, doesn't put so little actual stimulating ploys in a stimulus bill by accident. If the purpose is to expand government power and to stick more citizens on various government teats, the bill is well done, which I suspect was the goal. Liberal Democrats long ago made it clear they didn't mind a declining America so long as they controlled it.
Posted by: M. H. McLemore, | February 16, 2009 1:38 PM
Fear tactics huh. Check out the story.
Taliban Threats in Pakistan Are Heard a World Away - New York Times
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 16, 2009 6:16 PM
We will see what is really up with the GOP. Very soon there will be an opportunity to vote on a bill to address the foreclosure crises.
Posted by: nogo postal | February 16, 2009 6:52 PM
Sounds to me, idiot, like you had more than your eye, wide open, wearing your underwear like that. I wouldn't use my real name either, like you, if it was Mrs. Bubba !! Hit the the showers, idiot. It sounds like you made your home there. Soap anyone !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | February 16, 2009 11:07 PM
Ah Ha, Fritzi is back. Moron, your just like so many of other democrats, where on your birth certificate, where it says, Parents and Guardians, it says, We The People! As for soap in your case it doesn't matter how much soap you use you will never be able to wash off that tattoo, Bubba put on your lips, you know, those dollar signs. It's always about the money with you. LMAO
Posted by: Eye's Wide Open | February 17, 2009 8:07 AM
Great story Clarence. I love Obama's media accessibility. When's he going to sit down with Rush?
Posted by: Mary Ann O'Rourke | February 19, 2009 12:38 PM