Obama promised to bring a bipartisan spirit to Washington. But this week he signed the 787 billion dollar stimulus package with basically no Republican support and the media declared it a failure of bipartisanship. What's bipartisan really mean anyway? James Morone, a professor from Brown University, says the media might have a warped sense of the word.
via On The Media: Transcript of "Word Watch: Bipartisan " (February 20, 2009).
The ‘no’ votes he’s been casting in Washington are neither partisan nor obstructionist, Johanns said.
They represent fundamental differences in political philosophy, he said, including his opposition to a stimulus bill that will result in $1 trillion in deficit spending.
Johanns thinks he can see some ‘yes’ votes coming for President Barack Obama’s initiatives.
We are watching industries crumble, Wall Street firms disappear, unemployment spike, and unprecedented government intervention. And our designated opinion leaders want to know: Is Obama up this week? Is he down? And is his leadership style more like Bill Clinton's, or Abraham Lincoln's?
Above all else stands the burning question of bipartisanship. Whatever else the politicians might say they're about, our news analysts know that this is the true object of the nation's desire, the topic to which those slippery presidential spokesmen need always to be dragged back.
via Thomas Frank Says Bipartisanship Is a Silly Beltway Obsession - WSJ.com.
The economic stimulus plan will provide roughly $70 billion for the nation's energy economy, most of it for "green" energy. Whether that will buy more jobs than spending the money elsewhere is open to debate, but green energy advocates view it as good news.
Linda Wertheimer talks to Representative Adam Putnam, a Florida Republican and former member of the House Republican leadership, about his decision to leave Congress at the end of his term and run for Florida's agriculture commissioner.
