“The bill was written because Nancy Pelosi said she won,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a centrist on many issues who joined conservatives in knocking the legislation. “Well, I don’t know if President Obama would agree that it was her winning, or him, but I know that attitude is really not the way to solve America’s problems - something this big.”

Pelosi made clear her displeasure with conservative Democrats who broke ranks and tartly noted that Republican-inspired business tax cuts that she did not favor were included in the bill. She said it must and will pass by the mid-February deadline Democrats have set.

“I can’t even think in terms of it failing on the Senate side,” she said. “They have to pass their bill.”

While I don’t expect Obama to be involved in the selection of every detail of this stimulus bill, I guess I did expect a little more involvement than we got. Once again, we’re looking at a democratic party that JUST DOESN’T GET IT! They’ve had 6 years in the wilderness. You would think they would have smart proposals galore and would be chomping at the bit to do something right.

Instead, we get the same small group of people making the same stupid mistakes and proposing the same stupid proposals that keep them constantly on the wrong side of right.

The republican proposal for a $15,000 tax credit is a smart one (who knew they had it in them?), but the democrats have a chip on their shoulder after this election and believe that it is the will of the people to push through THEIR tired agenda when the economy is tettering and people’s livelihoods are at stake. The hubris is astounding.

As far as the republicans blaming Pelosi - well, the blame game is tired. We’ve had enough of that, and it makes all involved look like little children (as I’ve mentioned before, Boehner already is). But Pelosi is a cog in the wheel. This political hound of a woman cannot see through her small self-serving window to find the need to cooperate. It will not make her look weak. In fact, quite the opposite.

I do understand the want of putting the republicans in their place. They have been nasty and aggressive for many years without a kind word to say about their opposition. But it is not Pelosi’s place to say “I won.” She didn’t. What Obama stood for “won” - and that movement is diametrically opposed to her way of politicking.

When are these people going to start acting like adults and do our business? Can they really be that clueless?

Politics $15, 000 tax incentive, pelosi, republicans, stimulus

“Republicans ridicule the jobs bill as a grab bag of pork-barrel projects that would do little to help the economy… Democrats say the extra spending for everything from public works to child immunization is needed to create jobs that have been slow to come out of the sluggish recovery.

The GOP campaign against the bill threatened Democratic plans to get the completed measure before Congress recesses for two weeks. That still could happen - but the start of the break might be delayed beyond its scheduled start tonight.

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, indicated he would force Republicans to vote daily on motions to choke off the debate, perhaps starting as early as today.

Eventually, Democrats contend, some Republicans will cave in because the bill includes money to extend unemployment benefits to many of the nation’s long-term unemployed.”

No. This is not today. This is from a news article in 1993, when Clinton was in office. The situation was similar to our current one, yet not quite as grave. Despite an economy in tatters (courtesy of the first Bush), Republicans STILL felt the need to play their little political games as obstructionists - and Democrats, against good common sense, threw pork at the problem.

What’s going the CHANGE? Who knows. I hate to be cynical. It’s the easy thing to do - and I want younger people to have some hope for their government to start doing some of the things it says it’s going to do. I think if anyone has the moral authority to command this change, it will be Obama - but if he were to learn one thing from Bush (and one thing is about all you can learn), it would be that the strong arm approach is not distasteful.

Lyndon Johnson pushed through alot of good social programs during a short time in office, precisely because he was a tough guy and an arm twister. Carter, on the other hand, accomplished little in office and, although he has redeemed himself post-Presidency, was known as a bit of a wimp while in office. Obama cannot allow himself to follow that path.

In short, I really don’t think the Congress or the Senate has our best interests in mind when they make law and dole out cash. I know this seems like an elementary thing to say, but it really needs to be said and heard: CONGRESS AND SENATE DO NOT HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS IN MIND.

That being a given, we really need to get more involved in our government. Another elementary call-to-action, but no less true.

This past summer I was at a festival in my county and confronted my Senator about having withdrawal guidelines built into that Iraq funding bill. He hemmed and hawed, threw out the party line that “we have to support our troops and not hinder their success” - and this guy was a democrat. I wish I had told him to go fuck himself. At least then he might have realized he was voted into office and not ordained. Nonetheless, there are things we can do to get these people’s attention.

PRWeb.com

For $80 dollars we can send out a press release outlining our expectations from the Congress and Senate regarding this stimulus package. The press release will appear on popular news sites such as Yahoo News, Google, MSN news, PrNewswire and others. I’ve been pondering this solution for a while - considering that a hell of a lot more than $80 is coming out of my pocket for this package anyway. Heck, if enough people are willing to contribute a testimonial and a buck, we could send out a few of these.

Politicians, unfortunately, expect you to have a short memory about all these things. Most of the time they are right. What I would suggest you do is remember this time, this challenge and their response - and be willing to bring it up to them 10 or 15 years from now when they do the same things all over again.

Politics congress, government corruption, Obama, pelosi, republican blockers, stimulus package