House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explains how to get stuff done when obstacles exist.  In this instance she is speaking of health care.

“You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.”

Though Sen. Harry Reid semed to think that Democrats had plenty of time to get health care reform passed before they lost the 60th vote in the Senate, he similarly thinks that they have time to get  health care reform passed with the 58 majority that Democrats currently enjoy.  It is this kind of thinking that is the reason health care reform has been dragged out for a year.  It is urgent that we get reform passed as soon as possible.  The House Speaker explains the path to making it happen:

“There is a path” to getting it done. It’s “majority rule” to fix the bill and to pass both and send to President Obama.

Its on you Harry.  Pass a House drafted reconciliation fix to the current Senate bill with a simple majority (making Leiberman, Nelson, Lincoln, Baucus, and Conrad irrelevant) and send it along with the Senate bill to the President for signatures.  Do not sqaunder this time away because soon Dems will be frozen in the full heat of midterm elections.

A recent poll conducted in several battleground states were freshman House members may be vulnerable in 2010 demonstrates that the consituents in such districts want more change.  Do you know what else they want??  A PUBLIC OPTION!!!!!!!  Are you listening House and Senate???  Research 2000 conducted telephone interviews with 2000  likely voters in swing districts in Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Ohio.  The result:  Democrats and Independents want a public option in this Health Care Reform bill.

THE PRESIDENT’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union.  For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty.  They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility.  And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.

It’s tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed.  But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt.  When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain.  These were times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union.  And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.

Again, we are tested.  And again, we must answer history’s call.

One year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt.  Experts from across the political spectrum warned that if we did not act, we might face a second depression.  So we acted – immediately and aggressively.  And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed.

But the devastation remains.  One in ten Americans still cannot find work.  Many businesses have shuttered.  Home values have declined.  Small towns and rural communities have been hit especially hard.  For those who had already known poverty, life has become that much harder.

This recession has also compounded the burdens that America’s families have been dealing with for decades – the burden of working harder and longer for less; of being unable to save enough to retire or help kids with college.

So I know the anxieties that are out there right now.  They’re not new.  These struggles are the reason I ran for President.  These struggles are what I’ve witnessed for years in places like Elkhart, Indiana and Galesburg, Illinois.  I hear about them in the letters that I read each night.  The toughest to read are those written by children – asking why they have to move from their home, or when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work.

For these Americans and so many others, change has not come fast enough.  Some are frustrated; some are angry.  They don’t understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded but hard work on Main Street isn’t; or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems.  They are tired of the partisanship and the shouting and the pettiness.  They know we can’t afford it.  Not now.  

So we face big and difficult challenges.  And what the American people hope – what they deserve – is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics.  For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared.  A job that pays the bills.  A chance to get ahead.  Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.

You know what else they share?  They share a stubborn resilience in the face of adversity.  After one of the most difficult years in our history, they remain busy building cars and teaching kids; starting businesses and going back to school.  They’re coaching little league and helping their neighbors.  As one woman wrote me, “We are strained but hopeful, struggling but encouraged.”

It is because of this spirit – this great decency and great strength – that I have never been more hopeful about America’s future than I am tonight.  Despite our hardships, our union is strong.  We do not give up.  We do not quit.  We do not allow fear or division to break our spirit.  In this new decade, it’s time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength.  

And tonight, I’d like to talk about how together, we can deliver on that promise.  

It begins with our economy.

Our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis.  It was not easy to do.  And if there’s one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans, it’s that we all hated the bank bailout.  I hated it.  You hated it.  It was about as popular as a root canal.

But when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn’t just do what was popular – I would do what was necessary.  And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today.  More businesses would certainly have closed.  More homes would have surely been lost.

So I supported the last administration’s efforts to create the financial rescue program.  And when we took the program over, we made it more transparent and accountable.  As a result, the markets are now stabilized, and we have recovered most of the money we spent on the banks.

To recover the rest, I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks.  I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.

As we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who had become unemployed.

That’s why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) seems determined to make her reelection campaign as difficult as possible and alienating the majority of the Democratic party in the process.  Take a look at her lates regarding passing health care reform:

In a sign of how hard it is for Democrats to regroup on major health care legislation, two centrist Democratic senators said on Tuesday that they would oppose efforts to muscle through a bill using a procedural tactic called budget reconciliation.

Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas, who is in a tough race for re-election this year, said, “I am opposed to and will fight against any attempts to push through changes to the Senate health insurance reform legislation by using budget reconciliation tactics that would allow the Senate to pass a package of changes to our original bill with 51 votes.”

the Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) cannot lead all the Senate Democrats to the the promise land. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has managed to get every Republican Senator including Snowe and Collins (GOP moderates) to obstruct almost every single piece of legislation that the Democrats have proposed yet Senator Reid has not managed to obtain a similar result from Democratic senators. Lets take the health care bill for instance. Conservadems have managed to draw out the debate and negotiation process of health care reform to such an extent that it has resulted in the squandering of most of the valuable political capital that blew them into office with an super majority in 2008. We heard about how haaaaard Baucus worked to get Republicans on board only to find out later that the GOP had already agreed to act as a pact in opposing anything and everything put forward by the Democrats. Even after that the Conservadems Lincoln, Nelson, Conrad, and Landreiu continued to delay by opposing such popular aspects of the bill as the public option there was still a way to get the health care bill through in December.

Now we have an opportunity to pass health care reform by the House drafting an amendment bill  through reconciliation with all the changes negotiated by the House and Senate in December before Scott Brown won Massachusetts.  The reconciliation bill  can then be sent to the Senate were it will pass.  After the House reconciliation bill is passed through the Senate the House then passes the Senate HCR bill “as is.”   Both the Senate bill “as is” and the reconciliation bill is then sent to the President for his signature.  The President then signs the Senate bill first and then the amendment/reconciliation to the Senate bill in that order.  Health care reform ACCOMPLISHED!  Passed and fixed in a matter of minutes.  Senators and House members please follow David Plouffe’s advice and just GET IT DONE!

First Bush v. Gore now Citizens United v. FEC.  The United States Supreme Court has just empowered corporations and special interest (lobbyists) to buy members of Congress and the President legally!  The Court did so by reaching way beyond the scope of the facts and law before it and deciding a case not actually before the body.   It also overturned three case precedents in the process. The Citizens United v Federal Election Commission decision turned back 100 years of campaign finance laws protecting this democracy from the corruption and control of corporate america.  It will allow unlimited spending by corporations in political campaigns.  In other words, corporations are now allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to directly influence elections thereby interfering and controlling the United States government.  If a corporation like Exxon Mobil wants to prevent alternative energy or climate change legislation it can spend a mere two percent $400 billion dollar profits to buy the entire Unites States government.   Imagine if Exxon, Chevron, and Shell pooled their funds?  If Goldman Sachs wants to prevent legislation of its risky investment and business practices, as of today, they can just buy Senate and House members who will vote against legislation.  Congress and Presidents will now be beholden to corporate america much more so than ever before.  Corporate interests will be the priority of lawmakers instead of their constituents.  In this overreaching and destructive decision the Supreme Court has officially started legislating from the bench by deciding a broad question of corporate spending just before an election cycle.

No public option in the health care reform bill even after overwhelming support by the populace

plus:   Nelson Nebraska Medicaid deal

plus:   no repeal of the antitrust exemption enjoyed by the insurance industry

plus:   potential scrapping of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (according to Dodd)

plus:   a 29.9 percent APR for credit cards that could have been prevented had Congress set an immediate start date for the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights instead of allowing the banks, after being bailed out by the taxpayers, to game the system and gouge the very taxpayers responsible for their continued existence.

plus:  the refusal of banks to negotiate with homeowners regarding their mortgages thereby forcing them into bankruptcy even after receiving stimulus dollars.

plus:   Pharma deal

plus:   10 percent unemployment rate

plus:   a state that already has universal health care therefore does not want to pay for subsidizing other states sweetheart deals negotiated behind closed doors.

plus:  a poor Democratic candidate (qualified and very capable potential Senator but a bad campaigner)

EQUALS:   Politics as usual with a Big Insurance and corporate controlled Congress that is tone-deaf to the populace resulting in a hostile vote against the Democratic majority in a liberal stronghold.

When the punditocracy on Morning Joe were asked to explain why Republican Scott Brown won a United States senate seat in the most liberal state in the nation the following exchange took place:

Donny Deutsch got the ball rolling, suggesting that voters may be “going back to basics” after electing an African-American president and seeing “the female candidates and whatnot.” Scott Brown, Deutsch added, “looks like the traditional view of a candidate,” which may bring a “visceral comfort” to voters.

Mike Barnicle found value in the observation, saying that “there’s something to it.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan added that Brown is “a regular guy” who “looks like an American.”

?????????????? Can someone alert President Obama and Secretary Clinton that only Anglo-Saxon males “look like Americans?”  Are they serious!!! Or do they not know that WE KNOW what they are talking about????

A tea party Republican will fill Ted Kennedy’s seat at this most critical time for healthcare reform.  Martha Coakley lost this Massachusetts seat.  There is quite a bit of blame to go around not to mention a horrendously run campaign but one thing I know for sure is:  It is idiotic for a senate candidate to go on vacation for SIX days at the tail end of a Senate race.

Let’s be clear. The only thing that changed between the Dec 19th poll, where the Coakley campaign had 20 point lead, and the January 5th poll, where their lead had been halved, is that the Brown campaign went on air and aggressively defined their candidate as well as the Democratic candidate, while the Democratic candidate was literally on a vacation. During that period, the Coakley campaign did no further polling, advertising, or ID’ing of supporters despite having a significant fundraising advantage.

As Scott Brown himself conceded this race wasn’t defined by feelings about the president. This race was defined by the lack of defining done by the Coakley campaign.

Completely and totally TONE-DEAF. 

Brown defends WATERBOARDING for goodness sake!  Why did the voters in Mass not hear about this fact????

Dear Massachusetts:

I am writing on behalf of all of the people who voted for change in November 2008 and do not want to go back to the eight years prior to that momentous day.  Martha Coakley becoming your senator is crucial to the contiuing progress of the current administration.   Your vote today is critical to financial regulatory reform, cap n trade, the jobs bill,  health care reform, and any other piece of legislation offered by the Democrats in Congress. Scott Brown has already highlighted the fact that he will be the 41st vote. He fully intends to follow the tea party and GOP playbook when it comes to the Senate. Republicans want this President to fail and electing Brown will insure that the Senate and Congress are hamstrung when it comes to any bill put forth in the Senate and the House. That is ANY bill.  Not just health care but card check, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a woman’s right to choose, cabinet members, immigration reform, energy reform, DADT, etc. .  Martha Coakley will fight for you. Scott Brown will align himself with and be beholding to the tea party and the GOP. This is clear by the tea party rallies that he has attended and the tea party fundraisers that he has promoted.  Brown is pretending to be an independent to get your vote but please take a look at his very conservative voting record as a state senator.

If you want the President to be able to accomplish his agenda that he promised in 2008 then vote for Martha Coakley.  Remember that this president brought us back from the verge of financial armegeddon in addition to bringing the economy back from the brink and boasting a 4% growth in the economy this past quarter.  He was only able to accomplish this because Democrats have a 60-vote majority in the Senate.  The Republican minority has filibustered EVERY single bill offered in 2009.  The only way the Democrats are able to overcome the filibuster is through its 60-vote majority.  Please give this President an opportunity to make a difference.  He has only been in office for a year.  Remember Bush had six years of a GOP controlled Congress.   

Coakley comes from a working class family and has been fighting for the working and middle class for most of her career.  Martha wants to fight for you, please give her the opportunity.

The polls are open today from 7am – 8pm.  Find your polling location here.

Sign up for a volunteer project in the DC area here

I Have a Dream – Address at March on Washington

August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last

President Obama took a few minutes to explain to Democrats, Independents, and reasonable Republicans, the importance of the special election being held in Massachusetts on Tuesday between Martha Coakley (D) and tea partier Scott Brown (R).  The prize? Ted Kennedy’s senate seat.  The president explained that if Brown wins it is the end of his agenda because the filibuster proof majority would be lost.  The result, Republicans will prevent passage of Immigration reform, DADT, Jobs Bill, Card Check, Energy reform, Financial Regulatory Reform, Cap N Trade and the remainder of the democratic agenda that we voted for 2008.  See the president’s message below.

Rush Limbaugh has officially amazed me by his ability to turn the worst human suffering into an opportunity to make a buck.  His comments yesterday using the Haitian tragedy as an occasion to politicize a drastic situation and shock folks into tuning in to his radio show is reprehensible.  But it got me thinking, what wouldn’t Rush Limbaugh do for money.  For example, would Rush Limbaugh stage a fake health condition in the state where the President just happened to be spending the holidays in order to boost his ratings.  My answer:  Yes.

Think about it.  Limbaugh insisted on being taking out of the hotel in a private elevator out of sight of other guests.  Not long after getting to the hospital his handlers released a statement via his website stating that all updates on his condition would be posted on such site (increased web traffic…kaching, kaching).  Then it turns out that all the drama was for nothing and he was perfectly fine.  He then holds a press conference attempting to bash health care reform but fails miserably. First, because Hawaii mandates that all employers provide generous health care plans for every employee who works 20 hours or more per week.  Second, Hawaii consistently outperforms almost all other states in terms of health care access, quality, and costs.  Third, emergency hospital care is not health care.  Fourth, you’re the 400 million dollar man no one questions that you would receive quality health care.

But I digress.  All of these coincidences are just a wee bit too convenient especially when it comes to Limbaugh.  If it was a publicity stunt it was an unsuccessful one given that he was barely in the news for a day.  Perhaps the stunt would have worked better if the President had spent the holidays somewhere like Texas where tort reform has resulted in its ranking as one of the worst states for health care access, quality, and costs in the nation.  Chest pains in Texas may be a bit more believable.

The island nation of Haiti has suffered the worst natural disaster in history.  Officials are predicting that hundreds of thousands could be dead.  The people of Haiti are afraid to sleep in their homes (if their lucky enough to still have one) for fear of another devastating after shock bringing down concrete resulting in more death.  The presidential palace has collapsed and the president of the nation is homeless.  They need our help.  Please donate to the Red Cross or the Fairfax County Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team who were one of the first responders in Haiti beating Canada and other countries. Haitian citizens need water and ready-to-eat food.  Monetary resources will help them get it.

Some ways that you can donate are by texting  from your cell phone or donating  directly to the Red Cross here.

Text “Haiti” to 25383 to donate $5 on behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee

To make an automatic $10 donation to the Red Cross, text “HAITI” to 90999; the money will be charged directly to your cell phone bill.

Donate directly to the Red Cross through its website here. You can also donate via telephone by calling (800) RED-CROSS or (800) 733-2767.  Even a single dollar will help the people of Haiti get the necessities they need to cope with this catastrophic disaster.

This is to whom presidential candidate  and now senate candidate John McCain was willing to entrust our country:

Palin had “substantial deficiencies,” the authors report, and her “grasp of rudimentary facts and concepts was minimal.” Those deficiencies became apparent on Sept. 10, when she was getting ready to fly back to Alaska to see her son, Track, depart for Iraq, the authors report. She was also preparing for her interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson.

“Asked who attacked America on 9/11, she suggested several times that it was Saddam Hussein. Asked to identify the enemy that her son would be fighting in Iraq, she drew a blank. (Palin’s horrified advisers provided her with scripted replies, which she memorized.) Later, on the plane, Palin said to her team, ‘I wish I’d paid more attention to this stuff.” 

From the book  Game Change

When McCain was asked about Sarah Palin’s deficiencies and about his vetting process he answered that he doesn’t know anything about his vice presidential vetting process nor does he care. 

Hmmmm…America definitely dodged a bullet in November 2008.  Arizona has another opportunity to do so in 2010.

So whenever you hear a Republican politician or tea partier say that the stimulus failed point them to this article where conservative think tank AEI admitted that the stimulus boosted the economy by 4%.

The real economy also responded to the massive stimulus but remained heavily dependent on it. In the United States, growth during the second half of 2009 probably averaged about 3 percent. Absent temporary fiscal stimulus and inventory rebuilding, which taken together added about 4 percentage points to U.S. growth, the economy would have contracted at about a 1 percent annual rate during the second half of 2009.

Unless you were in Siberia this past weekend you have heard the hysteria amongst GOP operatives relating to statements made by Sen. Harry Reid regarding candidate Barack Obama.  However, in case you were visiting the arctic region here is a recap.  In the new book Game Change, by veteran political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, the authors quote Sen. Reid, in the context of encouraging Obama to run, opining as to why he believes that then candidate Obama has a very good chance of winning the Democratic nomination and the presidency.  Reid referred to Obama being “a ‘light skinned’ African-American ‘with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one’” as assets and attributes that work in his favor with respect to winning the nomination.  Reid has since apologized twice for his bizarre choice of words but the GOP, and most notably Michael Steele and Lynn Cheney, says an apology is not enough and Reid should step down because Trent Lott was forced to step down as leader based on comments he made about Strom Thurmond in 2007.  At the time Lott lamented about Thurmond’s loss of the presidency in 1948 when then Dixiecrat Thurmond ran on a segregationist platform.

Lott: “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.

Yeah, that’s the same.  Sen. Harry Reid praising and encouraging the first viable presidential candidacy of an African-American and the former senator Trent Lott longing for the days where blacks and whites were kept separate and blaming integration of the races for all the woes that America has suffered as a nation.  Exactly the same.

Yes Sen. Reid’s words were clumsy and unfortunate and no I have not heard any person under the age of 100 use the word “negro” in describing black folks.  However, the substance of his statement, in my opinion, is accurate.  Few would disagree with the conclusion that if Barack Obama had been a dark-skinned African-American who spoke similar to President Bush or with a strong dialect similar to that of Lil Wayne that he would not be President right now. 

So GOP operatives there is no double-standard and the only people that you are convincing that the statement was racist are yourselves. 

President Obama made a the following statement regarding Reid’s comments: 

“This is a good man [Sen. Harry Reid] who has always been on the right side of history.  For him to have used some in-artful language in trying to praise me and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense.”

We agree Mr. President.

President Obama released a six page report  laying out the missteps and blunders that resulted in the Christmas bomber being allowed to board a plane to the United States with explosive material taped to his underwear.  We would like to applaud the administration for releasing this information so quickly and providing the type of information that the previous administration would have required a subpoena to release.  Kudos Mr. President. 

As for the mistakes that were made, we think its important to take a closer look at those who are making them.  As demonstrated by the Dick Cheney, the tea party, Pete Hoekstra , Rush Limbaugh, Limbaugh’s  ilk, etc., there are people who want you to fail Mr. President.  Just make sure those people are not in the intelligence agencies.

Remarks by the President on Strengthening Intelligence and Aviation Security

State Dining Room

4:34 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  The immediate reviews that I ordered after the failed Christmas terrorist attack are now complete.  I was just briefed on the findings and recommendations for reform, and I believe it’s important that the American people understand the new steps that we’re taking to prevent attacks and keep our country safe. 

This afternoon, my Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Advisor, John Brennan, will discuss his review into our terrorist watchlist system — how our government failed to connect the dots in a way that would have prevented a known terrorist from boarding a plane for America, and the steps we’re going to take to prevent that from happening again.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will discuss her review of aviation screening, technology and procedures —- how that terrorist boarded a plane with explosives that could have killed nearly 300 innocent people, and how we’ll strengthen aviation security going forward.

So today I want to just briefly summarize their conclusions and the steps that I’ve ordered to address them.

In our ever-changing world, America’s first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared, integrated, analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively.  That’s what the intelligence reforms after the 9/11 attacks largely achieved. That’s what our intelligence community does every day.  But, unfortunately, that’s not what happened in the lead-up to Christmas Day.  It’s now clear that shortcomings occurred in three broad and compounding ways. 

First, although our intelligence community had learned a great deal about the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen — called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — that we knew that they sought to strike the United States and that they were recruiting operatives to do so — the intelligence community did not aggressively follow up on and prioritize particular streams of intelligence related Read the rest of this entry »

There are serious negotiations going on between the White House and Nancy Pelosi concerning the health care reform bill and how to pay for it.  The White House prefers the excise tax on Cadillac health insurance plans while Nancy Pelosi and the House prefers a tax on the highest earning Americans.

[A]ides say she’s particularly steamed that the White House wants her to largely adopt the Senate bill in its entirety. And she’s particularly unhappy that the White House has thrown its weight behind the Senate bill’s chief funding mechanism: an excise tax on so-called “Cadillac” insurance policies, which she and many in her caucus have long believed violates President Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class. According to one aide, that–not the public option–was likely the reason she ribbed Obama at her press conference yesterday, quipping, “there were a number of things he was for on the campaign trail.”

The House proposes paying for its bill by imposing a surtax on high-income Americans. And though there’s been speculation for months that the final reform package will include a combination of both sources of revenue, Pelosi, who’s already had to accept the demise of the public option, wants the excise tax gone.

After the sit down yesterday with House members,  President Obama agreed to strengthen the affordability portions of  the final version of the health care bill.

Sen. Dodd of Connecticut is expected to announce his retirement today according to the Washington Post.  One wonders how this will effect financial regulatory reform.  Hopefully it means that we will get a good bill now that he will not beholding to anyone.

Embattled Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd (D) has scheduled a press conference at his home in Connecticut Wednesday at which he is expected to announce he will not seek re-election, according to sources familiar with his plans.

Dodd’s retirement comes after months of speculation about his political future, and amid faltering polling numbers and a growing sense among the Democratic establishment that he could not win a sixth term. It also comes less than 24 hours after Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced he would not seek re-election.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is widely expected to step into the void filled by Dodd and, at least at first blush, should drastically increase Democrats’ chances of holding the seat….

Without Dodd as a foil, Republicans chances of taking over a seat in this solidly blue state are considerably diminished. Former Rep. Rob Simmons and wealthy businesswoman Linda McMahon are battling it out for the Republican nod but either would start as an underdog in a general election matchup with Blumenthal….

Dodd’s troubles were politically ironic, coming at a time when his power on Capitol Hill had reached a breath-taking level that most legislators dream of but never come close to achieving. In the last 18 months Dodd has been the primary author or co-author of legislation re-writing housing mortgage rules; the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street; key portions of the $787 billion stimulus package; a consumer protection bill overseeing the credit card industry; and the nearly $900 billion health-care legislation that has passed the Senate is in final negotiations with the House now.

The White House investigation of the botched terror plot may reveal that intelligence may have been intentionally withheld or the “systemic failure” may have been due to a turf war between agencies.  These inquiries are at a very early stage with no concrete evidence that either aspects of this reported direction will bare any fruit.

Lets hope that neither of the above turns out to be true.  But to be honest the way that the former Vice President Dick Cheney seems to appear after every foreign policy event merely to criticize the President and knowing that there are Bush/Cheney holdovers in the current administration not to mention the way the GOP members are using the terror plot to boost their fundraising efforts a mere three days after the plot was foiled tend to give me pause.  Check out John Brennan’s, Deputy National Security advisor, statement from Meet The Press last Sunday in response to Dick Cheney’s criticism that the President is pretending that we are not at war:

Either the Vice President [Cheney] is willfully mischaracterizing this President’s position both in terms of the language he uses and the actions he’s taking or he’s ignorant of the facts…

Brennan went further in the New York Times:

What they’re doing is just playing into al Qaeda’s strategic effort, which is to get us to battle among ourselves instead of focusing on them.

John Brennan has worked for the past five administrations including both Bush 41 and Bush 43.  Mr. Brennan also lead the effort that created the National Counterterrorism Center.