Rick Perry - Not "Slick" (or Smart?) But Proud

In Rick Perry's new campaign ad he embraces his inability to articulate his thoughts intelligently. He adds that we don't need another "slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills", since the one we have is already "destroying our economy."

News Flash Mr. Perry: The "slick politician" is doing his best to repair the economy that was destroyed by his predecessor. What we really don't need is another plainspoken swagger-laden Texan who mistakenly believes that big-dick cowboy and Commander-in-Chief are synonyms.

Viewing Tip: Click the title bar at the top of the clip to view in a larger window.

Turn of Phrase - Andrew Sullivan In Defense of Obama

Andrew Sullivan, Writer

"I'm still waiting for a truly interesting or cogent critique of what Obama has done wrong from the right. A critique that intelligently cites the historical context in which this poor fucker is working."


- From political writer Andrew Sullivan in response to a recent editorial by conservative columnist George Will, who referred to President Obama as a "foundering naif."


In his response, Sullivan went on to excerpt a portion of the President's inaugural address, wherein the President wisely and accurately acknowledged the challenging conditions he inherited from the prior administration (a footlong turd sandwich at best - my words, not his).

Yes We Can (Still Pony Up the Big Bucks)

In other bad news for the right wing, President Obama can still bring in campaign donors of all sizes by the thousands.  A successful fund-raising swing up and down the west coast raised $5 million in two days.

Obama Gets Tough

Photo by Chip Somodevilla (Getty)

Two weeks ago I wrote a post urging the President to "fight or go home" as it relates to his attempts to negotiate with the immovable object which is the Republican Congressional block. The President has made numerous "across the aisle" overtures, and time and again, these efforts have yielded little or nothing.

I have begun to believe that the President can get more flies with a hammer than he has been able to get with honey, and based on his recently announced approach to addressing the budget deficit, the President now sees it that way too.

President Obama has laid out a common sense approach to reducing the deficit, simultaneously increasing revenues and reducing spending, while putting sacred cows from each party on the table (reductions in Medicare spending and increases in taxes on the wealthiest Americans). Those who have nothing to offer but unhelpfully entrenched policy positions have already attempted to distract us from the real issues calling the President's budget deficit proposal "class warfare." In defense of his proposal, President Obama has responded saying, "This is not class warfare. It is math." Well said, Mr. President.

Class warfare would be something like increasing taxes on the wealthy (and on corporations) in order to fund increases in the social programs that most benefit the under-privileged poor. President Obama is NOT proposing this, he is simply asking us to do what every struggling small business owner or head of household knows he or she has to do - make more and spend less at the same time.

I hope politicians on both sides come to understand how their insistence on sacred cows and their refusal to participate in real policy negotiations do nothing to resolve our complex economic challenges. I also hope that Americans on both sides demonstrate through their votes in the next election cycle that we deserve and expect more from our elected officials in Washington.

New Yorkers Replace Weiner with Republican

The New York City congressional district formerly represented by Congressman Anthony Weiner (of the infamous sexting Weiners) has elected a Republican state assemblyman, Bob Turner, to take Weiner's place in Congress. The election of Turner is significant in that it marks the first time in 88 years that this particular congressional district, which is 40% Jewish and has three times as many Democrats as Republicans, has sent a Republican to represent their interests in Washington.

This surprising outcome is prompting politicos to ask - Is this a referendum on President Obama? Has President Obama angered the Jews by asking Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank? Are Democrats in serious trouble in 2012?

Poppycock, I say. While these may be legitimate questions to ask, I think Washington insiders may be missing the larger message here. Politicians need to keep their private parts in their pants, out of sight of the public, and away from their cell phone cameras. For some folks, this is a moral issue. For me, it's just a glaring sign of ridiculously bad judgment. Regardless, times are incredibly tough, and "we the people" need to be able to take our leaders seriously.

The biggest lesson for politicians here is an obvious one: if the unfortunately named Congressman Weiner had simply behaved himself, he would be readying himself for an 8th consecutive term in Congress and Democrats would not have lost the seat.

Congress Must Play Ball with President Obama's Jobs Plan

Atlanta Job Fair Crowd
Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, via Associated Press

As a proud Obama-crat who is still pulling for the President and the nation to succeed in engineering an economic turnaround, I have been reading with significant interest about the President's recently announced American Jobs Act. With a full week's analysis under my belt, I have concluded that the so-called experts (economists and executives) have no idea what the ultimate impact might be of the President's proposed legislation.

My initial instinct was that with President Obama's jobs speech last week he may not have scored a touchdown, but he had at least finally sketched out a play and huddled us up. If we work together, we might just move the ball down the field after all.

Within hours (or minutes) though, the tiny bit of momentum the President might have gained was threatened, as Republican party leaders indicated that less than half of the President's bill would ever stand at chance at becoming law. That's ok though, that means half of the proposed legislation could still make it through the intricate maze of the congressional labyrinth and positively impact our economic well-being.

The day after the President's jobs plan was announced American "big business" piled on with the nay-saying Republican leadership. An article in the New York Times reported that executives from various industries doubted the impact of the provisions in the President's plan, saying that things like payroll tax cuts and related incentives are not likely to spur any additional hiring. According to these executives, if companies were going to hire new workers, they would need to see increased consumer confidence and increased demand for their products and services, plain and simple.

Michele Bachmann Predicts Failure, Offers Nothing

Republican Presidential hopeful (and the most embarrassing thing to come out of Minnesota since Sen. Larry Craig's restroom toe-tapping incident) Michele Bachmann has already started spouting her typical worthless partisan rhetoric in response to the President's jobs plan. As expected, her empty words provide no factual back up for her statements and she offers absolutely ZERO alternative ideas of her own. She is poison and she is simply bad for us all.

Full Text of the President's Speech

Kevin Lamarque  /  Reuters

I've just finished reading the full text of President Obama's jobs speech, and if you missed the address, I would urge you to do the same. Yes, it's long, but educating ourselves takes effort, and this speech contains important details about our economy, something we all say we care about a great deal.

I have to say, President Obama has laid it all out for Congress. He has provided a wealth of specific job creation ideas and he has enumerated specific ways of paying for everything he proposed.

He also very openly acknowledged that there are some ideas his fellow Democrats won't appreciate (like adjustments to Medicare and Medicaid programs) and some ideas Republicans will balk at (like raising tax rates on the very top tier of wealthy Americans). Who gives a damn? If Congress wants to avoid wholesale incumbent replacement in the 2012 election, then they better suck it up, move past the politics and ideology, and take meaningful action.

The White House has gathered all these proposals for boosting our economy WITHOUT increasing our debt into a program called the American Jobs Act. It's now up to Congress to pass this legislation, in whole or in part, and if they can't do that, then they better damn well enact some legislation of their own that will move us forward as a nation.

Spitzer Makes the Case for Fighting Back

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer makes a strong case in favor of President Obama fighting back hard this week. In the linked article, he eloquently lays out several specific and bold economic proposals the President should put on the table this week.

Apparently, when he's not distracted by whoremongery, the Governor has some pretty smart stuff to say. Seriously though, a few trips to visit your favorite prostitute doesn't invalidate your intellect, just your electability.

Time for Obama to Win or Go Home

For the last two years, President Barack Obama has attempted to steer our country in a positive direction. Meanwhile, the omni-negative nay saying Republican leadership has done nothing except stall the car, set up road blocks, and periodically jerk the steering wheel hard to the right in an attempt to make sure we do nothing but cruise around in circles as long as Obama is driving.

I appreciate the President's attempts to work "with" Republican leadership, but the truth is you will never find common ground when the other guy refuses to leave his ideological island. I think it's time for the President to screw the pursuit of the middle way, unapologetically lay out the bold agenda he believes is right for the nation, and challenge the Congress (both Democrats and Republicans) to get off their sorry asses and get this country moving again. 

If they refuse to even see what tricks you have in the bag, Mr. President, it's time to leave them holding that bag for a while. I hate to say it, but compromise and negotiation are a lot more likely when you have just clocked the other guy in the nose. It's time to come out swinging and win or go home.

President Obama: Please Give Michele Bachmann a Megaphone

President Obama continues to attempt to change the way things work in Washington, once again reaching across the aisle in good faith. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann continues to say every ridiculous thing that comes to mind in an effort to stay at the center of attention.

At the request of Speaker of the House John Boehner, the President has agreed to move the date of a key jobs speech  he plans to give. Apparently, the speech was inadvertently scheduled to occur at the same time as an upcoming debate between Republican Presidential hopefuls. While the President took a cooperative approach to the logistics challenge, Michele Bachmann used it as an opportunity to take a shot at the President saying his speech was purposely scheduled to conflict with the debate, indicating a sure sign of insecurity on Obama's part.

Representative Bachmann - Please know that if the President was truly worried about your candidacy for his office, then he would beg the media to give you more attention, not less. All you need to be defeated is a little more time and a media platform so that you can hang yourself in a noose constructed of your own inane, meaningless, and imbecilic words.