Archive for February 5th, 2009
Game On

The full video is at C-Span and it is a must see.

After seeing the Republicans and the chattering class go on extended run scoring points left and but mostly right, the President brought his A-game to Williamsburg, Virginia delivering a fiery and often partisan speech to the House Democratic caucus. Frankly, this was the speech that we have been awaiting with growing anxiety. The President began by thanking the Democratic caucus for doing their job calling Speaker Pelosi “a rock.” It’s true. The Speaker has found her groove and so did the President tonight.

I value the constructive criticism and healthy debate that is a foundation of American democracy. I don’t think any of us have cornered the market on wisdom, or that good ideas are the province of any party. The American people know that our challenges are great. They’re not expecting Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they want American solutions. And I have said that to those who have criticized the plan.

But what I have also said is – don’t come to table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped create this crisis.

Precisely and that’s what the Republicans continue to push the same old tired leftover mantra of tax cuts and more tax cuts. (more…)

‘The Time for Action is Now’

The President gave a short speech today on the urgency of passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act while visiting the Department of Energy.

Now, I read the other day that critics of this plan ridiculed our notion that we should use part of the money to modernize the entire fleet of federal vehicles to take advantage of state of the art fuel efficiency. This is what they call pork. You know the truth. It will not only save the government significant money over time, it will not only create manufacturing jobs for folks who are making these cars, it will set a standard for private industry to match. And so when you hear these attacks deriding something of such obvious importance as this, you have to ask yourself — are these folks serious? Is it any wonder that we haven’t had a real energy policy in this country?

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Baltimore Steelworkers Await the Stimulus

The US city of Baltimore is one of those hardest hit by the deepening economic crisis. Workers in the city’s steel industry, which has already been decimated by job cuts, are hoping Barack Obama’s $900bn stimulus package provides aid to US manufacturers. Al Jazeera’s Sebastian Walker reports.

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Daniel Erikson on the Cuban Economy

Daniel Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue offers his thoughts on the state of the Cuban economy .

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