By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Just two weeks after his inauguration, President Barack Obama has failed to bring needed changes to Washington's culture.
His attempt at bipartisanship on the U.S. House stimulus bill crashed and burned.
Not one but two of his most coveted Cabinet jobs are going to people who essentially cheated on their taxes, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle.
And, so far, Obama is not having much luck getting Senate Democrats to strip billions of dollars in potentially wasted spending from their stimulus package.
Of course, the expectations of Obama as a change agent were -- and remain -- remarkably high.
The latest polls show about two-thirds of Americans think highly of Obama, which is a credit to the job he did getting ready to take office from former President George Bush,
And Obama certainly gets credit for trying to forge a bipartisan approach on the stimulus plan. He took some arrows from his own Democratic Party for doing that.
However, Obama has quickly discovered that smooth-talking other elected officials isn't as easy as smooth-talking American voters and getting them to believe in him.
It's something other presidents have found out, too.
The trick for Obama is to get past the first few bumps in his initial weeks in office and continue forging his own path of trying to change D.C.'s culture.
The single most important charge at this point is to fashion a stimulus package stripped of all the extravagant and unnecessary spending on social programs crammed into the current bills.
That would be a great service to Americans. And it would be a victory for Obama in his attempt to truly alter for the better how decisions are made in Washington.









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Another View of the big 0
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_reform_promises_2
Let's Speed this up
Will those who have paid their taxes please stand up for a job in my administration?
Listen, Learn & Read the lessons of the past...
JFK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y08pJiNS8mk&feature=related
Eisenhower's warning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Gt1bhKLhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13zCc9JW_wI&NR=1
Zeitgeistmovie.com
Stimulus
Obama will not succeed in making the stimulus bill into a clean, on target, no pork, piece of legislation. Expectations for him are far too high and he will prove to have feet of clay. However when the smoke clears both his proponents and his detractors will see him as FDR. There will be no clear picture. Brit Hume of Fox news had it right when he said that when this recession is over there will be no way of knowing what produced the cure. Seventy years after the fact the argument still rages about whether or not FDR spending was a cure or a curse. More of what got us into trouble may put a band aid on a compound fracture but there will be no true escape from eventual consequences.
erasmus--
The argument may rage among right-wing radicals as to whether FDR was Satan or the anti-Christ, but if in your reading you encounter an actual economist who believes that the economy would have recovered more quickly without government spending, please pass the link along.
An Economist Talks on FDR's "wonderful work"
http://mises.org/misesreview_detail.aspx?control=347
Not on THIS planet
You're confusing libertarian radicals with economists. This is about as useful as getting opinions on Barack Obama from the Grand Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan.
FACTS Are Friends
We still had 20% unemployment in 1939 after the wonderous Negative Deal.
FACTS Are Friends
No, we didn't. You really got to stop getting your "facts" from right-wing radicals, KCGrunt.
Unemployment, which, of course, is NOT the same number we call "unemployment" today, was down to 14% in 1936 by the measure they used at the time, which was less than half what it had been at the bottom of the depression. It went back up to 19% in 1938, not 1939. If you were interested in the facts, you'd be impressed by the fact that this was the first formal test of Keynesian economics in history, and worked convincingly well.
Moving poop to another spot
The thing to remember is this is the same GOP gang that has had control of congress for the past 8 years. The desired trickle down effect with huge tax breaks for both the wealthy and Large Corporations have not been shared downwardly, pork spending, no bid contracts, All have been regular business with Foreign car plants and lobbyist all the way from Russia's Georgia to the likes of McCain and his constituants as well as AIPAC influence have proven to feed the warmongers and initiated perpetual war and the failure of our economic and financial systenms. Simply put these GOP whiners have lined their pockets and don't want to give up the loot or the freedoms they've enjoyed accumulating it, Deregulation, Mortgage and financial investments intertwined and invested foolishly with failures looming All at the expense of the working middle class as the bailout money given initially to WallStreet was used for huge bonus's for the very same individuals that got us here. So go figure why thru NAFTA so many jobs have and are leaving the country. Check the districts of the GOP holdouts and you'll find Toyota and Honda plants while they attempt to Starve UAW and the american workers to continue their personal gains. JFK warned us about this before his life was cut short, Research, Learn and listen to more than the censored mainstream media and support Obama and "Change" in Washington or be herded like cattle for the slaughter.
Drink Up
The Obamanation people have announced that their new flavor of Kool-aid,(hope and change), was such a success during the campaign; that it will be extended indefinitely. Drink Up!
The Honeymoon is already over!
Su-weet! Daschle dodges $140,000 in income taxes and penalties, doesn't pay his Medicare taxes, claims more charitable deductions than he made, looks really dirty for some of his "advisor fees" and payments from health ins. companies, but the "democrats" don't see any problems with any of that, nothing to disqualify him for the Health and Human Services job. Oops, I forgot, they're democrats, no ethics, morality, honesty, or honor to get in their way! Daschle probably doesn't have a clue why there is any uproar about it! Don't expect Sharpton or Geithner think he did anything wrong! The Messiah doesn't see any problem! There's your "Change", allright! The jackals are breaking into the henhouse! (Ya think maybe Geithner will go after him for tax evasion?)
You people are unbelievable!
You're smooth talked into believing this man to be a superman by the political machine and now you're let down when you realize he just a man like the rest of us. If you in the media hadn't been fawning over this man like a bunch of star crossed, idol worshipping teenagers you would have understood that a President can only do so much in the real world of politics Yael!
So now that your feelings are bruised will you be going after him like a bunch of vultures picking him apart like you did to the former office holder Yael?
Dan
I find you entertaining. Silly, but entertaining.