Obama, Democrats and the Economy

I sometimes wonder if what I am hearing can really be. Wednesday, I did a double-take when I listened to Obama addressing the economic woes of this country. Addressing 2 CEOs (on of IBM the other of Honeywell), he said that government needs to get out of the way and let business recover the economy:

"In the end! The answer to our economic troubles rests less in my hands or in the hands of our legislators than it does with America's workers and the businesses that employ them. They are the ones whose efforts and ideas will determine our economic destiny just as they always have, for in the end it's businesses -- large and small -- that generate the jobs, provide the salaries, and serve as the foundation on which the American people's lives and dreams depend. All we can do, those of us here in Washington, is to help create a favorable climate in which workers can prosper, businesses can thrive, and our economy can grow."

However, interestingly, 20 days earlier, on January 8th, at George Mason Universtity, he claimed the exact opposite!

"Only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle that are (sic -- is) crippling our economy. That's why we need to act boldly and act now, to reverse these cycles. That's why we need to restart the flow of credit and restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like this never happens again."

These 2 viewpoints are conflicting! How can a person claim on one day that government is the solution to the economy and 20 days later claim just the opposite, that government needs to get out of the way for business (including the big ones they trash talk)? There are only a few explanations for this, none of them praiseworthy.



And then here's another interesting angle to all of this. This huge debt bill that Obama is trying to pass to recovery economy, in the sum of $800 billion, passed the Senate. And the way the media reported it was "not one Republican voted for it", giving the impression that Republicans don't care about the economy and about the little guy and about this country.

What they didn't report is that 11 democrats voted against the bill as well! They media are screaming for bipartisanship, and they aren't able to see it before them. There was bipartisanship on that bill. Against it. The partisan vote was the vote that passed the bill!



And let's take a look at that bill, shall we? The bailout, the stimulus is supposed to be enacted to help this nation recover, no? Then why is more than half of it not to be spent until 2010? And why has Obama whined about the deficit inherited from Bush ($700 billion), when this bill will spend more than that deficit?



The answer to all of this is simple. Obama is a politician, and we are his plebeians.