Sunday Talks

I’ve just spent the morning watching all the Sunday talking head shows. I have to admit that there have been Sunday mornings when they all bored me to death. But that wasn’t the case today nor do I think I will be bored for many Sundays to come. There is just too much news, both national and foreign occurring in the world today.

This Sunday, most of the pundits talked about Obama’s upcoming economic stimulus package. As I watched the shows, one thought occurred to me that I don’t think anyone has addressed. Before we implement this package shouldn’t we first resolve the immigrant issue? Otherwise, what is to prevent illegal immigrants from filling the blue collar jobs created by the stimulus package? One of the pundits also said that jobs should be created which will produce something that either will benefit everyone (road and bridge repairs, for example) or can be sold, especially overseas which will then increase revenue. The package should not include jobs created for make believe projects that won’t return revenue for decades, if ever, such as questionable green projects. On the other hand, I wouldn’t object to Obama throwing a lot of money at NASA who in turn would hire more scientist, engineers and mathematicians to work on developing alternative energy. As it stands, most of the new jobs are for low level positions but there are also a lot of white collar workers out of job and we need to provide employment for them, too.

As I write this I am also listening to Wolf Blitzer interview Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. That woman smiles too much (although her face never moves) and I neither like nor trust her. Anyway, she seems to be adamant about taking away some of the tax cuts and she dismisses any indication that Obama will not immediately repeal them. She also keeps mentioning that Obama is “new to the job” insinuating that he will need not just support but advice from old-timers, such as herself and Majority Leader Harry Reid. (By the way, note that in this interview Pelosi swore that there will be no earmarks in the economic package.)

Anyway, the far left, headed by Pelosi, are unhappy with Obama’s more centrist positions and have started to go public with their dissatisfaction. But Obama has already slapped them down a bit. He recently said he doesn’t care who comes up with an idea, if it is a good one he will use it. This did not sit well with Pelosi who can’t say more than two sentences without denigrating the Republican party. A definite power struggle is occurring between the two government branches but Obama has one major weapon – his popularity, something that Reid and Pelosi are lacking. If there weren’t so many extreme problems it would almost be fun to watch how Obama handles Congress and the far left segment of his party over the next year.

It was also pointed out this morning that Obama has offended some of the men and women who helped get him into office by not rewarding them with jobs in his new administration. I don’t know why these folks are surprised or hurt. Obama had already shown that he uses people and after they have served their usefulness or become liabilities he will easily drop them and even disavow them; think Reverend Wright. I’ve said before that this is a man who has a public persona of warm congeniality but in reality is a cold, calculating pragmatist. That may be hard on his party and far left supporters but it just might be what the country needs right now.