More Thoughts on the Stimulus

8 Random Thoughts for 2/6/2009 #5

• It looks like the President has gotten serious about selling the stimulus. Reviewing the news sites, it looks like Obama gave a particularly impassioned plea to a group of House Democrats at a retreat last night. The President said, "If you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction. That’s what the American people called for in November, and that’s what we intend to deliver." It's an important point and a necessary point if we are going to pull ourselves out of the mess. The people in charge when the mess was made should not be the ones calling the shots about how to fix it. That was a decision made by the American people in November.


• Even better was this lecture for the bad guys from the President: "What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending — that's the whole point! Seriously." Some of the members of his party need to be clued in to this point as well. I'm looking at you Blue Dogs. 


• It looks like a vote on the stimulus package could happen as early as today, or maybe Sunday. Either way, the Republicans are attempting what KargoX has called "filibuster by amendment". It also appears that the debate is getting angry. Good. If guys like Max Baucus are getting upset with the obstructionism, then maybe we'll toss their caucus out the door, refuse to hear them out any longer and push this legislation through.