Some interesting and encouraging analysis and commentary regarding the stimulus package:
Democrats say the tax cuts in the economic recovery plan are evidence of their outreach to Republicans. The problem with that logic is that President Obama understood the importance of tax cuts during his successful campaign for the White House. That’s one reason the Democratic presidential candidate promised to cut taxes for 95% of all Americans. The latest polling data confirms that tax cuts remain the most popular part of the economic recovery plan. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters nationwide say tax cuts generally help the economy, and only 17% disagree.
Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans would support an economic recovery plan that included only tax cuts and no new government spending. Just 15% would support a plan with only new government spending and no tax cuts.
So the inclusion of tax cuts are both a way for the president to honor his campaign pledge and a bipartisan solution that Americans naturally view as part of an economic recovery plan.
Many pundits have tried to make the case that Obama has a mandate to ignore the right. I don't believe this is true. After the primaries, Obama moved to the center. But the stimulus package, in its current form, is not a centrist piece of legislation. Centrist America wants to see a stimulus strategy that includes tax cuts and restrained spending. If Obama really is the political genius that his worhipers say he is, he will insist on legislation that reflects America's commonsense values.
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Obama administration co-opting media analysts
Politico warns TV news viewers to take political analysis in the Age of Obama with a five-pound bag of Morton’s Salt. Barack Obama’s right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, holds daily conference calls with three prominent analysts who appear regularly as independent voices in the media’s political coverage.
Bush hatred and Obama euphoria
In fact, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria -- which tend to reveal more about those who feel them than the men at which they are directed -- are opposite sides of the same coin. Both represent the triumph of passion over reason. Both are intolerant of dissent. Those wallowing in Bush hatred and those reveling in Obama euphoria frequently regard those who do not share their passion as contemptible and beyond the reach of civilized discussion.
Big Government Stimulus
In the Western world, countries that were once the crucible of freedom are slipping remorselessly into a thinly disguised serfdom in which an ever higher proportion of your assets are annexed by the state as superlandlord. Big government is where nations go to die – not in Keynes' "long run," but sooner than you think.
Obama's Global Interest Imperialism
On Nov. 4, 2008, Americans elected their first international president. They elected a man who does not seek to preserve American values. Leftists perceived George W. Bush as an imperialist for American interests; by the same token, Obama is an imperialist for "global interests." In a war to save America from implacable foes, Obama's Global Interest Imperialism dooms American exceptionalism to the ash heap of history. With it may go the last, best hope of Earth.
Netanyahu says Iran will not get hands on nukes
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's leading candidate for prime minister, said Saturday that Iran "will not be armed with a nuclear weapon." In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu said if elected prime minister his first mission will be to thwart the Iranian nuclear threat.
New Obama tax-evasion scandal: Tom Daschle
Daschle’s team claims that the former Senator deserves the credit for revealing the problem himself. Daschle did report this — but only after getting picked as HHS Secretary. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s when Geithner suddenly discovered that he owed Uncle Sam money too, only Daschle paid back a lot more: over $100,000.
Hackers Crack Into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead
