No More Waiting

How stupid it is to wait:












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Obama's Weekly Address: 2/7/09

Transcript:

"Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.

In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.

In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.

Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.

Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.

The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.

From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.

Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.

Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.

Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.

Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.

It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who've lost their jobs. And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.

That's what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children's children for generations to come.

Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us. Let's show them that we are. And let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.

Thank you."

Copyright @ 1998-2009
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Thank You Barack Obama

YES HE DID!

I came across this article today, read it, and realized that Barack Obama is a more brilliant manager and strategist that we even imagined. He once joked that he was from Krypton, the son of Jor-el, sent here to save the Planet. He may have revealed himself to us. His goal in this election was to get a filibuster proof Senate majority of 60. He has 58, and it looks like Al Franken will make it 59 in Minnesota. So what does our President decide to do? Read the article first and you'll see what I mean:

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Judd Gregg said he is being considered to lead President Barack Obama's Commerce Department.

“I am aware that my name is one of those being considered by the White House for secretary of commerce and am honored to be considered, along with others, for the position,” Gregg said in an e-mailed statement. “Beyond that there is nothing more I can say at this time.”

If Gregg is chosen and he accepts, New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor John Lynch could appoint his replacement. If Democrat Al Franken prevails in the disputed Minnesota race that he now leads, the party would hold a 60-vote majority in the Senate, enough to shut off filibusters that can delay legislation indefinitely.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that, when he talked to Obama this morning about the commerce nomination, “a final decision had not been made.”

Gregg, 61, a former governor of New Hampshire and former chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, was elected to a third term in 2004. He would be Obama’s third Republican Cabinet appointment. Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, was appointed to lead the Department of Transportation, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a holdover from the Bush administration.

Read entire article

The man is Brilliant! He endured dinner with those conservative columnists (can you imaging ANYTHING more boring?), meetings at the White House with so-called Republican honchos, a personal visit to Senate offices, anything, to prove his commitment to a bipartisan government. He got stonewalled -- NOT A SINGLE VOTE! Then, to show he bore them no ill will, he threw a cocktail party. So, instead of selecting the perceived favorite, Symantec Corp. CEO John Thompson, Obama is deep in thought and meditation:

"Barack, Jor-el suggests replacing Bill Richardson with a Republican, specifically Judd Gregg. You will be demonstrating continued effort to work with the other side. Then convince Gov. Lynch to appoint a Democrat, and NOT a Republican simply because Gregg is his friend. You have your 60 Senate seats with the support of the Media and the American people."

I appreciate Obama's support of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, his $500 credit against Social Security payroll deduction, his increasing Federal spending on education by 3X, his extended coverage to the unemployed, his strong support for labor unions, all in the first week of his administration, demonstrates a dedication I have not seen from any president in my lifetime, and I remember Truman. He has done everything he could to get the cooperation of the other party.

Now, in basketball terms, it's time to run it down their throats. He must pass whatever legislation will result in fairness and equity for the middle class, limit bailout salaries to equal to his own, and legalizing Industrial Hemp. It will not only revitalize this country's economy, it will spur a new era of prosperity not seen in this country in decades. It will enable us to help feed the world. Here is the evidence: SAVING AMERICA. (Please take some time to visit this site)

My Final Thought

This nation owes President Obama a deep debt of gratitude. We never dreamed during the eight horrible years under Bush, that a man with the name of Barack Hussein Obama would come along and single handedly defeat the powerful Clinton machine, then not only defeat the Republican candidate for President, but have the seemingly all-powerful Republican Party hanging by their fingernails on the brink of political impotency. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. THANK YOU, BARACK OBAMA.














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