Let them filibuster

February 9, 2009 by lestro

by lestro

Tonight, President Obama will take to the airwaves for his first “primetime” press conference as president. He will speak from Elk Hart, Ind., a particularly hard-hit area of a state that’s been particularly hard-hit by the ongoing economic crisis/recession.

The president will, presumably, make the case as to why the massive stimulus package, currently being held up in Congress by a bankrupt minority with no ideas, should be passed.

Here’s hoping the president dares the Republicans, whose only idea to stimulate the economy is the same bullshit battle cry of tax cuts they have been pushing for decades (despite no indication that tax cuts have EVER spurred the economy or created jobs), to filibuster the bill. I hope he makes those bastards stand up there and explain themselves before a nation that everyday sees news reports about continuing job losses, underwhelming earnings reports and giant corporate bailouts.

Let the Republicans in the Senate explain how tax cuts create jobs, despite never having worked before; or how Obama’s tax cuts aren’t big enough despite the fact that are technically larger than anything Bush did; or how they oppose giving money to the states to prevent the states from having to cut back on essential services and jobs; or why they are opposed to spending, even though the spending creates jobs by rebuilding the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

Let them explain why their 42-person minority thinks it is speaking for America, especially since the presidents approval rating hovers above 60 percent while theirs, well, doesn’t.

Christ, even the Democrats in Congress have better numbers than them, that’s how bad it’s gotten.

Make the bastards filibuster. It would be political suicide and highlight their inability and unwillingness to compromise, despite the Democrats already removing legislation (some of which that rightfully should have been removed) to try and reach across the aisle.

The president and the Democrats should NOT back down on this. We voted for change, not more of the failed bullshit policies that led us to here, i.e., tax cuts only.

(Also important to note that Harry Reid is such a piss-poor majority leader that even with 58 senators in his party he still can’t get shit done. New Leadership is needed and that milquetoast motherfucker from Nevada is NOT it.)

But calling this a “primetime” news conference kind of annoys me. While the president is speaking, at least one whole time zone (with a population of nearly 46,000,000 people – or about 13 percent of the country) will be stuck in traffic on their evening commute. Pushing this conference until 9 p.m. on the east coast would not really change the audience out there and would allow the west coast a better shot at being able to see the president speak.

Damn East Coast Bias. It’s bad enough football starts out here at 10 a.m. The least the president could do if he was hoping to address the whole country would be to push this back another hour.