And perhaps if Obama had not commented "I won", it might not have caused such tension.

Further, while I agree that both parties should work together to come up with viable solutions to the problem, I myself would have defaulted to a NO answer on the last stimulus package as there had been compromise changes made without bipartisan support and there was insufficient time to read over the whole bill before the vote was forced by both Speakers.

Hence, I see a forcing of what one side says is good for the country while a disenfranchisement of the minority party. This will never generate bipartisanship and will in fact cause an advasarial situation which will cause continuous tension and prevent genuine trust to create mutual solutions.

Simply put, if you want bipartisanship, you have to be willing to compromise and this has, up to this point, not been demonstrated anywhere in Washington, D.C.

forget the deficit. Let's spend, spend, spend...and who cares if the Republicans are saying no because WE want to spend.

And when the bill comes due, we'll just claim it was the Republicans fault for not supporting the stimulus...or some such thing.

"The military and the church are the last ones who should get any stimulus money yet Obama has increased funding for both."

Ok...now I'm confused. Obama increased funding for the military??? I thought he proposed CUTS in military spending:

Obama Proposes Military Funding Cuts

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1438569/obama_proposes_military_funding_cuts.html

Ah, so it's a "cut" because it is a reduced increase...which is what has been claimed about politicians for some time.

So what's the problem...it's still a "cut" isn't it?

How about Jindal for President? He sounds pretty good, for as little as I know about him.

"It's only a cut if you base it on what the military requested which of course is bloated beyond imagination."

Of course I get it...the point I was making was, things like this have been called cuts for decades.

A spending cut has never been a spending cut...they always call a decrease in the expected increase a "spending cut."

There never HAS been a spending cut in the federal government as far as I can ever recall.

"Why are we not fixing those holes in regulatory law? Why are we not making sure that the market does not get us into another situation like this again? Where is that debate and why has it been largely ignored?"

Excellent questions. Here may be some of the answers WHY it is being ignored.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

Oh and lest you think it was ignored by everyone the WHOLE time:

McCain's Early Recognition of Fannie/Freddie Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63siCHvuGFg

Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs&eurl=http://www.redstate.com/

didn't Obama say he would have the troops out of Iraq in a year when he was sworn in??? What's up with THIS??

Officials: US troops to leave Iraq by August 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090224/ap_on_go_pr_wh/iraq_withdrawal

If stimulus is not to your liking (and frankly I tend to agree with you on that count), what would you suggest be done, considering your background in economics?

I certainly hope he's right...but as I do not agree with the stimulus as is, I don't have much confidence in this statement.

Worse, this morning at least, neither did Wall Street. This, of course, may change but for now, the numbers do not look good.

Wall St. drops on misgivings about Obama speech

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wall-St-falls-as-Obama-speech-rb-14464125.html

Let's be clear about this. Obama DID help create the deficit he inherited. He voted YES for the first bailout plan, same as all the other Congressmen.

So, he can point fingers all he wants...but it's also partly HIS fault too.

found it disgusting that the media photographed the soldiers' coffins. I consider them vultures...except that I hold REAL vultures in higher regard because at least they have a good reason for what they do.

I have no respect for the media and if anything happened to me, my wife and brother would make them stay away from me.

I further have even LESS respect for those on the left who empower these scumballs to do what they do!

for you to chew on.

Obama's budget is the end of an era

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-budget-assess27-2009feb27,0,5874116.story?track=rss

Let's see. He's continuously said we are in a crisis. Said he doesn't care about the stock market. Said he was going to raise taxes on the rich. Used government funds to bail out businesses which should have folded due to stupidity.

And FINALLY, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped from a opening of 8281.22 on January 20 to 6641.35 (as of this post).

So...just who SHOULD be blamed for this if not Obama?

True enough...but then we had the bailout of the banks which we were told would fix the problem...and the problem persists.

We were told Obama could fix everything and it's steadily gotten worse.

So...when is the big fix coming?

The people have spoken and the majority do NOT want gay marriage in California.

So if you want to get married, go to one of the states that approves of gay marriage.

Geez, this isn't a hard thing to figure out, you know.

Someone who has a column in Salon who explained what occurred during the Bush years! Never thought I'd EVER see it.

Of course 99% of those here will disregard it and will call it Republican rhetoric...but of course the truth will out eventually, as it always does.