This morning on my way to work I listened to President Elect Barrack Obama’s speach intended to prod the new congress into acting swiftly to pass his “Stimulus” package in order to get our economy “moving again.” As usual, it was a smooth, well organized speech. And I truly wish him well, as all Americans should, because I agree with him that inaction could be disastrous beyond our imagination (my interpretation of his words). There were, however, a couple mini “red flags” as I listened to the speech. First, I’m really tired of politicians trying to scare me into thinking what they’re saying is “life or death.” Now, in the case of our economy, Obama may very well be correct, and I don’t want to find out if he’s not correct (although, one way or the other we will). Based on the mandate he has, I believe at the bare minimum Congress needs to pass the legislation he wants and then we can decide the level of his wisdom based on the ensuing results. That being said, I really hope he doesn’t continue the policy of framing every request for political decision making on fear. I know what he’s thinking – he’s trying to head off the normal oppositional stonewalling that has been a hallmark of the US Senate for as long as most of us can remember – no matter which party is in control. The minority party uses the threat of filibuster to manipulate legislation that ultimately emerges from the Senate.

My thought is: stop with the fear mongering, present ideas based on their worth, and if the republicans threaten to obstruct good legislation through filibuster, let them do so. Let them make specktacles of themselves right in front of the American people (personally, I believe if they actually had to filibuster – if you’re not sure what that means, it is an “endless” debate that prevents an up or down vote on legislation in the senate – it would never go past Thursday, because these republicans won’t let anything get in the way of their weekends!). Don’t use the tactics of the people we just threw out of office in order to get legislation passed. Please think in terms of the long haul! Yes, things are really messed up and everyone knows it’s because of the greed, corruption, and incompetence of the Bush administration (well, I shouldn’t say everyone – the people who have taken the time to figure out what has gotten us to this place know this). We can’t continue to let these people control what’s happening in our government – especially from the minority position in Congress.

This brings me to my second point. I believe the size of the tax cut proposed by Obama is intended to get republican votes and there is ample evidence that it will have little impact on the real problems we’re facing as a nation. I hope I’m wrong here (that Obama is placating republicans by offering an increased tax cut), because if you’ve read any of my previous posts on this site you know that I want to take the republicans on head first, so to speak. They have virtually destroyed our government. We do not need to listen to them at this point. “Throwing in” a significant tax cut to make republicans happy is the last thing we need to be doing right now. I agree with all the talk about creating jobs rebuilding the infrastructure of this nation. That would be wise investment that would give something back to our children who we have been borrowing from for years. WE CAN’T SOLVE A PROBLEM CAUSED BY BORROWING THROUGH MORE BORROWING! And I’m making a distinction between borrowing and investing. The tax cut is borrowing – the rebuilding of our country’s infrastructure is investing – we will have something tangible to show for the money spent for years to come.

George W Bush inherited a 250 Billion dollar surplus which he threw away in his first couple months in office. He is leaving Obama a deficit for fiscal year 2009 (Obama has little control over the first year’s deficit) of what has been estimated at $1.2 Trillion and I’m pretty sure that is before taking into account money wasted in Iraq and the so-called TARP program where Henry Paulsen managed to funnel almost half a trillion to his buddies on Wall Street. Additionally, the national debt has more than doubled under Bush’s “watch” (that’s right, in 8 years he’s put us in debt more than the total debt from the previous 200+ years! Ouchee) Good Americans are losing their homes and jobs by the millions – so I understand that Obama is probably a bit shell shocked. You’ve heard the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” Well, he ran (volunteered) for this office and now the reality that he’s taking over under arguably the worst circumstances for any President Elect in our nation’s history must certainly be settling in. I have to say that from what I’ve seen, Barrack Obama seems to have the temperament and the intellectual capacity to handle the job, if anyone does. But, I’m really hoping he doesn’t over-estimate the value of cozying up to republicans in the process. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF REPUBLICANS AND WE VOTED FOR CHANGE!

So Please, President Obama (I’m going to start calling him that as of right now, because GW Bush has already been AWOL for a couple months and these last two weeks of his term may be critical – we really do need a leader right now) don’t cave in to the republicans. TAKE THEM ON – STRAIGHT UP – IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES! If you want to do the fear mongering – please do it in the caucus meetings – just give us the facts and I believe we will support you. By that I mean, tell us what the result will be should your proposals be enacted and leave it at that. We all know what the result will be if something drastic doesn’t happen soon and if republicans block your proposals. And don’t cave to these republicans. Let them filibuster till the cows come home if that’s what they think will work for them. We don’t need to burden the already burgeoning debt with more tax cuts. As I’ve said in earlier posts, I believe you should immediately impose a 50 cent per gallon gas tax to discourage consumption of gas and to encourage energy alternatives along with the immediate repeal of the Bush tax cuts that the upper crust of this country didn’t need in the first place and don’t need now. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and others in their category will do just fine with 3% or so less at the end of each year. This would shrink the deficit instead of widening it. And we will have then made a statement that we are all going to pull together, not only as we rebuild the foundation of this great nation, but also as we change how we go about “business as usual.”

At some point we need to quit borrowing our way out of every problem – and as far as I’m concerned we might as well start doing it now. I really like President Obama’s commitment to a “bottom up” approach in an attempt to fix the disaster he’s inheriting. I just don’t feel the need to do it in a way that panders to republicans. They have made their statement loud and clear – they want to destroy our government. They have been very good at this and they almost succeeded – but we have thrown them out with the hope for “real change.” As we go through the difficulties of the next few years trying to recover from the damage caused by George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of their cronies we have to make a complete “split.” As much as I would like to get another $1000 handed to me from the government, I honestly don’t see where it’s going to do much to solve the problems we’re facing for the long term. The money needs to be invested in a way that creates jobs and leaves something of value behind and additionally the decisions made need to be a clear break from the immediate past. So, again, I’m asking President Obama to make decisions based on core democratic values and don’t even leave the impression that he’s compromising positions based on the threat of republican obstructionism. Please, don’t give us another tax cut just to get republicans to vote for the stimulus package!