GOPs Only Strategy is to Complain and Obstruct Economic Stimulus Bill as Infrastructure Crmbles and Economy Tanks

As we wait for the final passage of the economic stimulus bill; there's a crumbling Texas bridge with a manhole sized hole in the pavement. There are far too many similar examples of bridge and roadway problems throughout the country and no state is immune. The nation's roadway transportation infrastructure is in dire shape.

As we watch the Republicans do everything they can to slowdown President Obama's economic stimulus plan we once again must realize that the GOP is the party completely controlled by the most powerfully rich interests in America. The Democrats have to play the same game of chase the money because they need the cash support of the most powerful too in order to run their campaigns. But there is a price tag that is attached to the money doled out by powerful special interests. Obedience to power. But in American government, particularly in Washington it is never the party in power that gets the lion's share of the money; it is always the

Republicans, because they are nothing more than the field laborers and workers for the padrone, or masters. And they get away with it because if they don't all of the powerful forces they control will be shouting "socialists, communists, pinkos, fags fascists, Nazis, Femi-Nazis, or whatever derisive term they can think up the opposite, their opposition the ones who want to redistribute the wealth and tap it away from it's rightful owners the super -rich ad super-powerful.

Regardless of the name calling and pandering and obstructive tactics the Republicans will eventually loss this battle because the Democrats simply have too many votes.

So it should be a time for great celebration since it marks the greatest legislative feat of pumping money into and ailing economy since the Great Depression.

eBut don't pop that cork too soon, Democrats, because the Republicans once again have shown their true colors.

Even though the stand s a party with a dwindling base of support they have chosen to hold on tighter to the failed policies that put us in this situation n the first place. Charges of rampant liberal overspending and earmarks and pork crossed the lips of many GOP legislators as the debates wound themselves through the House and into the Senate and then back to a special House-Senate Committee assigned to hammering the bills together.

A rational mind would expect the GOP to act a bit less belligerent and accede to the terrible losses their party has sustained since 2006. But no, not this group of conservative ideologues. We all should have seen it coming as all the post-election postmortems held by the Republicans ridiculously proclaimed that the party faces a bright future once it returns to the ways of Ronald Reagan and achieves a greater degree of a 'purer form' conservatism more in line with the thoughts of the most extreme of the ideologues - the Rush Limbaugh's of the party, in other words.

And what other follisome banter escaped from the hired help of the GOP? Why our old friendly regard for the wondrous achievements made possible with tax cuts for the rich! And once the American people had heard their share of stories proclaiming that only tax cuts will save the day! the GOP went completely delusional! They ranted and whined about how the monies to be spent by Obama and the Democrats were actually prt of a plan to bankrupt the nation and turn it into a path of forever lasting socialism!

Never mind the billions upon billions wasted in the wars on terrorism and in Iraq: that was necessary and an example of true patriotism at work!

In the end, Obama got pretty much what he had asked for. But still the gap between the amount of money the economy will produce and the money gained through the stimulus package will still leave a tremendous gap. Yet administration officials claim to have won the funds necessary for the economic needs of the nation over the next three years.

Now its up to Treasury Secretary Geithner to come up with an adequate fiscal plan that will unfreeze the credit markets and get money moving at a higher velocity. So far the Treasury Secretary's plan has some adequate responces to the financial crisis; whether they will prove sucessful is another question. Does the Geithner plan just bail out bankers at taxpayers’ expenses? Or will a temporary nationalization of the nation's banks prove to be the solution? As of yet, no one knows. But one thing remains true; and that is that we face our worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and our chances of failure to rekindle the economy are dramatic.

Pinning Down Obama on the Political Spectrum Reveals an Audacity Without Ideology

Washington Post commentator, E.J. Dionne Jr., offers his very insightful observations that: "For the past two years, Barack Obama has made it hard for anyone to pin him down philosophically." Dionne writes about a man who: "... has spent his adult life tilting left while courting conservatives. That's how he won his very first campaign, for president of the Harvard Law Review." So Dionne gives credit to Obama for following a meticulous approach to gaining power that allows him to have his own particular political views he expresses in a non-ideological and pragmatic manner that allows him to gain supporters who might have very different political views from his own. Dionne adds of Obama: "He has been known to call himself a "progressive," and when he occasionally uses the word "ideological" in reference to his own leanings, he clearly casts himself as somewhere left of center." This is not new information since Obama often used these references to describe himself as he campaigned for president. But Dionne adds a a very significant qualifier to Obama's political persona: " Yet most of his references to ideology are disdainful and dismissive. In discussing his economic stimulus package, he speaks of judging his proposals by how many jobs they produce and how quickly they will move the economy. Other criteria are inadmissible." Dionne skillfully identifies "at least three keys to understanding Obama's approach to (and avoidance of) ideology." The first principal identified by Dionne accounts for Obama's sharp and analytical mind demonstrated by "his simple joy in testing himself against those who disagree with him. Someone who knows the president-elect well says that he likes talking with philosophical adversaries more than with allies." This facet of Obama was witnessed in action just a few evenings ago when Howard Kurtz reported that Obama traveled to the home of conservative commentator George Will to have dinner with Will, and seven other conservative personalities including; Larry Kudlow, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, David Brooks, Paul Gigot, Peggy Noonan, and Michael Barone. Kurtz reported of the "three-hour dinner conclave" as an opportunity Obama to have: "charmed eight of the right's most prominent commentators, mixing small talk and policy debate in a move that mesmerized the media elite." Kurtz also added comments from Larry Kudlow who remarked of Obama: "He's making good on his promise to reach out to Republicans and conservatives and this post-partisan stuff, whatever that means,... I was very impressed. He's a nice guy, terribly smart, well-informed, great smile. He just really engaged. He said he likes to know the arguments on all sides." Kurtz quoted Michael Barone for having said of Obama: "an attractive person in a small setting. It's harder to hate someone you've had close contact with and who has pleasant characteristics." Dionne describes: "This part of him was once the detached writer and professor who could view even his own life from a distance and with a degree of abstraction. Seen with perspective, after all, the ideological differences in the United States are rather small. We have no major socialist party, and when it comes down to it, even conservatives are reluctant to dismantle our limited social insurance and welfare programs." Dionne concludes his discussion of the first "key to understanding Obama's approach ..." by remarking that: "Obama's anti-ideological turn is also a functional one for a progressive, at least for now. Since Ronald Reagan, ideology has been the terrain of the right. Many of the programs that conservatives have pushed have been based more on faith in their worldview than on empirical tests. How else could conservatives claim that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue, or that trickle-down economic approaches were working when the evidence of middle-class incomes said otherwise?" Dionne shifts his attention to the "second key" to appreciating Obama's approach to politics: "Right now, being empirical is in the progressive interest. Note that data show that the parts of the stimulus package most congenial to liberals (increases in unemployment insurance and food stamps; fiscal aid to the states; government spending on public projects) are also the parts with the most economic bang. In other words, progressives don't need ideology to make their case." Dionne digs further into his observation to provide an historical perspective: "In this respect, at least, Obama is rather like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who dismissed the conservative economic doctrines of the 1920s. "We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature," Dionne quotes Roosevelt: "directly countering the central premises of orthodox economics." Roosevelt goes on to say of economic laws: "They are made by human beings." Dionne follows by adding his assessment of Roosevelt's practice: "Thus did Roosevelt make pragmatism and experimentation enemies of conservative ideology." Obama, wearing a smile as he stands on a mountain of data, is doing the same." Dionne arrives at the third key and observes: "Obama's anti-ideological talk is not just a vehicle for progressive inclinations but the real deal. Obama regularly offers three telltale notions that will define his presidency -- if events allow him to define it himself: "sacrifice," "grand bargain" and "sustainability." Dionne provides well chosen illustrations to explain "sacrifice," "grand bargain" and "sustainability"to flesh out what is integral to what Obama means by provided Dionne's well thought out example that: "To listen to Obama and his budget director Peter Orszag is to hear a tale of long-term fiscal woe. The government may have to spend and cut taxes in a big way now, but in the long run, the federal budget is unsustainable." Dionne explains: "That's where sacrifice kicks in. There will be signs of it in Obama's first budget, in his efforts to contain health-care costs and, down the road, in his call for entitlement reform and limits on carbon emissions. His camp is selling the idea that if he wants authority for new initiatives and new spending, Obama will have to prove his willingness to cut some programs and reform others." Dionne moves next to identify what is meant by the "grand bargain" Obama speaks of to explain that: "The "grand bargain" they are talking about is a mix and match of boldness and prudence. It involves expansive government where necessary, balanced by tough management, unpopular cuts -- and, yes, eventually some tax increases. Everyone, they say, will have to give up something. Only such a balance, they argue, will win broad support for what Obama wants to do,..." The first two "notions" of "sacrifice" and "grand bargain" prepare us for the "sustainable" that Dionne explains as the "notion" that for Obama will: "... make his reforms "sustainable," the other magic word -- meaning that even Republicans, when they eventually get back to power, will choose not to reverse them." Having fit together Obama's "audacity without ideology," Dionne proclaims that Obama's approach to governance "... is riotously ambitious. But it's worth remembering that in November, Americans elected a man who counts "audacity" as one of his favorite words."

Obama to Have Meeting With House and Senate GOP Leaders

KENNETH R. BAZINET reports in the New York Daily News that: "Barack Obama will meet face-to-face Monday for the first time as President-elect with his prime GOP foils, as battle lines form over his economic stimulus package. Obama is set to powwow at the U.S. Capitol with GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican boss John Boehner" To date, Republicans have failed to completely get behind the Obama stimulus plan. "Boehner said yesterday he was "concerned" over the price tag of the emerging proposal. And he warned Democrats against hastily ramming a measure through Congress. "Let's be clear: It is essential that this legislation be debated in a fair, open and honest way," Boehner insisted. "This is the taxpayers' money, and they deserve to know their hard-earned tax dollars aren't being wasted," he added." The Republicans clearly hope to slow down and possibly cripple the Democrats intended stimulus package. On the other hand, Democrats have hopes to have the stimulus bill ready for Obama's signature on January 20th. One of the factors that will contribute to GOP cooperation will be determined in a few days when the RNC elects a chairman and issues marching orders to the Congressional Republicans.