Losing Control

Obama needs to reassert command of the agenda in Washington.

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  • Posted By: mischief @ 02/22/2009 10:52:37 PM

    I did not vote for Obama but the man is our president . He has only been the president little over a month, Do you people expect him to get everything right . The first time he tries something ???? I feel know matter who won the election ,they would not have had no better luck. We all know why the Dem's pushed for Obama to win is so they could control him , I just hope he wakes up to that fact real soon he is the president .not Polosi or Ried . Can any of you honestly think you could do better in such a short time???

  • Posted By: jordmanne @ 02/21/2009 7:01:10 PM

    Obama accused Bush of using fear tactics- that is the ONLY thing Obama has been using since he got into power when it comes to this spending package- "We HAVE get this passed or American will fall, We HAVE rush this thru our the consequences will be irreversible"

    BULL CRAP BULL CRAP BULL CRAP- the congressional budget office for the US government- said we would be better off if we do NOTHING. I love how the house and senate rushed this thru and then Obama took three days to sign it- yeah Obama a real rush eh- oh and Obama there are no earmarks in this??? Can someone please tell me how this is not a flat out LIE? What about this new age of openness and responsibility- if Obama meant you can do whatever you want and NOT be responsible for it- then yup Obama we are here!

    The reason Obama and is his morons supporters of this bill needed to get it thru so fast was because the longer this bill stood in the light of day the more is criticism and the more people realized how stupid this bill was and still is. I am so glad Obama???s numbers are finally falling- America's way of life exists because of the MARKERT it has- Obama is destroying it. Obama- like FDR- will only prolong this recession with stupid business ideas like this. IT IS NOTHING BUT A PORK BILL! America needs to wake up!

  • Posted By: ojames41 @ 02/12/2009 10:37:53 AM

    Davole:
    It is always interesting to observe how shallow some commentary can be. To your credit you do use relatively few words to say nothing. You could do worse.

  • Posted By: ojames41 @ 02/12/2009 10:33:31 AM

    In the main Mr. Hirsh makes some sound observations but appears to lose sight of what it takes to avoid/prevent crazy Republican kamakazi attempts to derail rational approaches to resolution of the crisis. One wonders how long before the GOP actually realizes they did in fact lose the elections. In addition it seems they remain so harmfully out of touch they are yet to understand the seriousness of our situation and its impact on the ordinary citizen of our country.

  • Posted By: Davole @ 02/09/2009 10:03:17 AM

    Barack Obama, your empty suit excuse for a president, has resorted to the Jimmy Carter doom and gloom approach to instill FEAR into the minds of the population to stampede voters into accepting his porkulus package!

    What a pathetic cop-out by an obviously incompetent democrat (is that redundancy?) leader!

  • Posted By: Abots22 @ 02/04/2009 4:21:09 PM

    All I have to say is thank GOD for balance of power. Funny that Hirsh fails to mention that much of the resistance of this bill is coming from Obama's own party....oops I forgot, Obama transcends party lines.

    • Posted By: Kaybi @ 02/09/2009 5:36:06 AM

      My dear fellow citizens of this planet world,
      I am astonoshed to note how insular you all have become even after going through the transitional phase of globalization. Mr. Obama can not and should not fix the US econimic crisis as this can only achieved by a global understanding and participation. The crisis originally began in the US as all the surplus revenues from the successes of the emerging market were dumped on NYC and hoping for a big return. Little the world knew that competence and management that have developed in NYC was no better that crapp shooter in Maccau. They naturally squandered it and now unable to meet the IOUs. Well Mr. Obama needs to plan in assisting these geniuses in NYC to defraud the world and get away with it. Otherwisw US economy and politics can not be fixed. Pelosi is not a factor nor is GOP, as they all know that they are in it together.
      One more thing is coming , my friends that the emerging economis have learnt their lessons and so have the Arabs and now they quickly repairing themselves at much lesser cost than the US Stimulus Plan 1 , 2, 3, &4. They are are better off now in building their own domestic demands. They will not in 5 to 10 years depend on exports but US and Europe have disbanded their capacity for higher skill and technology. Now my friends, even if you will fix the credit system where will you get goods witout dirting your finger. New immigrants have taken over your mid-management and higher skills including your space programme. What will stimulate you now , I wish there was an answere.

  • Posted By: starwatcher777 @ 02/08/2009 10:45:19 PM

    I am by no means on the republican side here ( I find republicans utter fascination with supply side economics disconcerting ). Also, I find the republican voting as a block against the house stimulus bill distasteful (especially when the republicans proposed alternative, was as my former Libertarian Eco teacher said, "an embarrassment"). The house republicans are playing political games for cheap points when they should be making hard negotiations to make the stimulus bill a better bill, as a true statesmen would.

    That being said, the house version of the stimulus bill has raised some concerns for me. Specifically, the infrastructure spending and how they are labeling certain projects as "shovel-ready".

    For example, there is (I think I remember 400 million) being set aside for modernization of the power grid. This is by no means a shovel ready project. It is not money that is keeping the utilities themselves from overhauling the system, but a wide range as of yet unsolved technical problems (Load balancing comes to mind)

    Also, while we certainty can add perhaps terrawatts of power to our electrical grid from renewable sources, wind power has several limitations to it, because of these limitations most utilities follow a guideline that states that the share of power coming from wind turbines is not to exceed 4% in any given subsection. After all, it is difficult to vary the power coming from wind farms to match your demand curve (Before you get too mad at the utility, consider how much you would like your AC unit not working because the transformer burned out from a low voltage)

    One final concern on the infrastructure part of the bill is how much it seems to be focusing on constructing new roads, I am concerned that local politicians will steer the money into un-needed roads instead of needed repairs and maintenance of existing roads (Opening a new road apparently garners more political points).

    • Posted By: Davole @ 02/09/2009 12:07:28 AM

      starwatcher777 -

      Those infrastructure spending projects are termed "shovel-ready" because they deserve to be "deep-sixed"!.

  • Posted By: starwatcher777 @ 02/08/2009 10:47:28 PM

    @Carl Hoover
    I would be hesitant to make the stimulus package into another tax break, alot of people who have taken long hard looks at macroeconomics are questioning the long term benefits of tax cuts. So even if federal spending doesn't get us out of this recession (Some eco people are starting to think there is little we can do, this is just part of the unavoidable business cycle, its just a little worse this time because of the deregulation letting us "boom" more in the late 90's and the early years of the new millennium) at least we will have a much improved infrastructure (crosses fingers) as opposed to nothing to show for it like we would with a bunh of tax cuts.

    Also, while I understand how easy it is to deride alot of these seemingly wasteful gov't expenditures, when you take a closer look, many of them are not as wasteful as we had believed before.

    For instance you want to cut federal aid. I would argue that will cost us far more in the long road. I bet of we had made a sustained effort in rebuilding Afghanistan after they drove the Russians out in the 80's, the tali ban would never have emerged there. Instead of going and fighting a costly war (which is starting to go badly) we would have had a close ally, perhaps the whole geopolitical climate could have been changed. There are other examples, what happened when we cut aid to South America's domestic agriculture programs? They set up cocaine fields, now we have to fund a more robust drug enforcement program. Cutting programs has hidden costs, sometimes those costs exceed the cost of funding that program.

    Cutting science endeavors has hidden costs also. After all, if we had not (partially) funded Bell Labs, they perhaps would never had discovered transistors...which led to.....basically all electronics today.

    Ill finish up (whew, I am long winded today) with two quotes:

    A) "In the history of everything that is useful, there was a time when it wasn't."

    B)"Just because Joe the Plumber does not run across it in his everyday life, does not mean that it is not important"

  • Posted By: Nowforsomemoretruth @ 02/08/2009 7:35:18 PM

    Less than 40% of Americans now support the "stimulus Bill." That means more than 60% now oppose the Bill. Obama got less than 53% of the popular vote.

    The question now becomes: Will Obama bring change to Washington by doing the will of the American people, or is he in fact chained to the tired old partisan politics of Pelosi, Reid, and the radical left. If the latter, he is no longer representing the majority of the American people.

  • Posted By: rydbo @ 02/07/2009 12:12:58 PM

    Thank you, Michael Hirsh! Now get the needed anger about the cuts in the economic recovery plan in front of the public that voted for our President Barack Obama. We need the public to be angry.

  • Posted By: gvillagran3 @ 02/06/2009 1:46:33 PM

    I have an idea. Obama should simply ask Republican Governors, and Governors of "Red" States in general if they want, or not the money in the stimulus package. If the answer is a resounding "NO" from Republicans, then don't give them the money. That will provide all the savings Republicans ask for in the package.... Don't hold your breath "Conservatives" for you will not find one single Republican Governor willing to refuse help from the Federal Government . So with your left hand you slap Obama's face, but you use your right hand to hat in hand go to beg for Federal money. What a bunch of hypocrites you are Republicans.















    • Posted By: Davole @ 02/07/2009 10:51:21 AM

      gvillagran3 -

      WOW - a democrat with an idea - now that's a novel situation!

      To blast your idea "out of the water" - Pelosi's porkulus bill is only intended to waste money propping up the incompetent democrat (is that redundancy) governors, senators, and mayors who have brought their states, cities, and towns to the brink of bankruptcy by implementing democrat policies.

      The only money that would be given to RINO politicians would be the 30 pieces of silver offered to bribe their vote.

  • Posted By: Nowforsomemoretruth @ 02/06/2009 11:20:08 PM

    We were warned:

    See Wall Street Journal: A Liberal Supermajority:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122420205889842989.html

  • Posted By: Rocky2001 @ 02/06/2009 1:09:43 PM

    Reps are knit-picking about 1% of the bills spending, and the Dems are spending on more useless crap programs....So where is the "Change" Barry promised to bring to Washington. Oh let me guess, the darn Reps won't conform. So when Barry promised change, he meant if everyone just does what he says....Good plan Barry!!

  • Posted By: John Dough @ 02/05/2009 3:59:14 PM

    The last two presidents to leave office with surpluses for their terms in office both republicans Coolidge and Harding. No one has left offce with a balanced budget since.

    • Posted By: vlamb @ 02/05/2009 5:03:30 PM

      Clinton balanced the budget and left a surplus.

      • Posted By: John Dough @ 02/05/2009 5:44:19 PM

        You are nuts he had a two trillion dollar deficit and the balanced budget for two years was smoke and mirrors taking SS receipts to balance the budget.

        • Posted By: 40YearR @ 02/05/2009 6:16:24 PM

          Got a nonpartisan link to that? I'd read it.

          • Posted By: tracker190 @ 02/05/2009 6:30:06 PM

            Hi r, repubssuck here with my newest new laptop. No, you're asking a little to much of this mouth-breather. He's convince that McCain won the most States in 2008. Actually Obama won 28 states. and beat mccain by nearly 200 electoral votes. My new name, for now, is from my Bass Tracker 190x Bass boat. it's caught almost as many Bass that mccain had votes.

            • Posted By: 40YearR @ 02/06/2009 11:18:55 AM

              You're right, bud. I see the words but not the link. Hele on...

          • Posted By: Nowforsomemoretruth @ 02/05/2009 10:23:31 PM

            Clinton"Surplus" was a forcast. Unfortunatly, the forcast was made on the assumption that, among onther things, extreemly large capital gains tax revenues would be continuing. Equally unfortunate, the forcast was made, under Congressional rules, prior to the dot com bust and the collaps of NASDAQ. When you foster a bubble, then make your budget forcast based on that bubble, you are going to be way way off in your overestimate.

      • Posted By: Nowforsomemoretruth @ 02/05/2009 7:13:19 PM

        , Bush inherited a recession from Clinton, not a surplus that was anything but a surplus of bull on paper. The U.S. economy shrank in three non-consecutive quarters in the early 2000s (the third quarter of 2000 [Clinton Administration], the first quarter of 2001, and the third quarter of 2001). This required the first round of Bush stimulus checks, you may recall. Using the stock market as an unofficial benchmark, a recession would have begun in March 2000 when the NASDAQ crashed following the collapse of the Dot-com bubble. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was relatively unscathed by the NASDAQ's crash until the September 11, 2001 attacks, after which the DJIA suffered its worst one-day point loss and biggest one-week losses in history up to that point. The market rebounded, only to crash once more in the final two quarters of 2002. In the final three quarters of 2003, the market finally rebounded until the housing crises, the cause of which is set forth above.

      • Posted By: John Dough @ 02/05/2009 5:46:55 PM

        You are nuts he had a two trillion dollar deficit and the balanced budget for two years was smoke and mirrors taking SS receipts to balance the budget.

    • Posted By: tracker190 @ 02/05/2009 4:42:39 PM

      A little word play? Clinton 's last years in office greated a surplus. He didn't have a surplus for every year because he was working off the largest deficit in history left by old bush. a record that stood until the old chip off the block young bush broke it.

      • Posted By: John Dough @ 02/05/2009 5:59:25 PM

        Bush Srs; deficit was charged to him not to Clinton He also had like all rep presidents a spend spend spend dem congress.

  • Posted By: TheMightyMidget @ 02/06/2009 11:07:50 AM

    Everywhere you look there's an article on how Obama has lost a bit of momentum, how it was a mistake to allow the House dems to write the stimulus package, blah blah... look, Obama is incredibly intelligent. He and his inner circle are master strategists. Is it POSSIBLE that he knows at the end of the day the bill will get passed, and in the mean time, by giving the repubs a little bit of stuff to complain about, in reality he's giving them just enough rope to hang themselves? Instead of Obama "losing" anything, perhaps he's just saavy enough to not only get the bill he really wants passed, but also to be able to say after the dust settles that the republican leadership tried in every way, shape, and form to prevent the bill from going through. And why shouldn't this be his strategy? After all, if the bill fails and the economy doesn't get better he's done no matter what, but if it succeeds and the economy improves (as I believe it will), then he will be cerdited with it's success and can paint any detractors as more interested in seeing the country fail in order to get themselves re-elected.

  • Posted By: ThePrairiePrankster @ 02/06/2009 10:21:12 AM

    So far the critics of the recovery plan have pointed out 6 billion dollars of spending that they see as not related to a stimulus package. I say fine, cut it out of the package and deliberate on those items in a more appropriate bill. It's called compromise and it would be nice to see both Republicans and Democrats do something for the good of America rather than pandering to a drug addict, crackpot talk show hosts and limousine liberals who never worked a real job.

    - There???s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn???t turned a profit in 40 years;
    - $2 billion for child-care subsidies;
    - $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts;
    - $400 million for global-warming research
    - Another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects.
    - There???s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

  • Posted By: Nowforsomemoretruth @ 02/06/2009 8:18:39 AM

    With the exception of the conservative part, this little tune was clearly written with your mind (such as it is) in mind.

    http://dmdb.org/lyrics/religion.and.politics.html

  • Posted By: Anju Chandel @ 02/06/2009 7:14:28 AM

    Mr. Michael Hirsh, I suggest, you please don't lose control over your patience. President Obama is walking his talk. He might tumble a few times but he will deliver. That's for sure. Remember, you Americans are solely responsible for the incredible mess that you are in. You all only decided to re-elect George W. Bush for the second term and let the rot run deeper. Give Barack Obama adequate time. He is not a magician. He will have to work methodically and swiftly which he is already doing to pull the US out of its current set of woes. Just count your stars that America got him as its 44th president in the extraordinarily tough times. Anybody else in the White House would have ensured that you guys lived in a Post American World.

  • Posted By: HolyRoller @ 02/06/2009 7:09:38 AM

    All y'all loyal.obamamohammeds....fellow members of the Sect of Obama...The One needs our help.....It is time FOR CHANGE comrades........

    After that first cup of Kool-Aide....and that morning "bump" of Hopium......we need to manifest our new mantra....it goes like this....

    "IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT"...."IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT"..."IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT"..."IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT'..."IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT"...."IT'S NOT OBAMA'S FAULT"........

    Come on Kids....This is a call to action.....

    Allah Akbar Comrades....

    NOBAMA!!!

  • Posted By: Decline and Fall @ 02/06/2009 6:35:32 AM

    Those awful republicans, spoiling the president's first weeks in office over a few hundred billion dollars.

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