CT Blue

This post is written 90% because I like what Obama did today, and 10% to get back into the good graces of my spouse, who doesn’t like it when I criticize Obama. (See yesterday) I only do it because I want him to succeed, unlike his predecessor, who I freely admit I wanted to fail. After all, he wanted to lead us to a constitutional dictatorship and a military Empire.

Anyway, back to the point, today Obama gave a speech and took the fight right to the Republicans

Some excerpts:

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?
…
In the last few days, we’ve seen proposals arise from some in Congress that you may not have read but you’d be very familiar with because you’ve been hearing them for the last 10 years, maybe longer. They’re rooted in the idea that tax cuts alone can solve all our problems; that government doesn’t have a role to play; that half-measures and tinkering are somehow enough; that we can afford to ignore our most fundamental economic challenges — the crushing cost of health care, the inadequate state of so many of our schools, our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

So let me be clear: Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They’ve taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, and they’ve brought our economy to a halt. And that’s precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment. And now is the time to move forward, not back. Now is the time for action.

These guys have to be put on the defensive. If they filibuster, they have to really do it, so the whole country can see what’s going on and who is holding things up. This, I suppose, is where Obama’s highly visible effort to make nice with the Republicans comes into play. Except with their fringe base, they won’t be able to make the argument that he hasn’t listened to them.