The Push is On

Okay, time to hunker down, folks. The health care push is "game on".

Obama's Pushing Congress To Vote On Health Care Before August--Here's Why

President Obama has for the most part given Congress a wide berth as it crafts a health care reform bill, popping up now and again to remind party leaders of the importance of the initiative, which he now describes as [...]

The House kicked things up a notch today. 
We have a bill and it's more than just a bit interesting.
Don't forget to check out my Arkansas posts at The Examiner

Playing With The Numbers

It's getting to the point that you have to question every bit of polling information that arrives on the scene. Here's the latest. Along with some analysis.

Poll Analysis: Fall In Obama Approval Fueled Entirely By Republicans

A new polling analysis from Gallup shows a very interesting piece of data within the slight decline of President Obama's approval rating, down from its 68% honeymoon rating when he took office, to 63% now. Not only is the dip [...]

Related articles by Zemanta

• Post-Stimulus, Obama Is Losing The Right, Consolidating The Middle and Left (mydd.com)
• Americans Like Obama, Not the Republicans (mydd.com)
• Obama Approval Slightly Lower (politicalwire.com)
• Obama Approval Remains Very High (politicalwire.com)

Mileage Tax?

Not. Gonna. Happen. Whew! If you listened to some of the talkers today, you'd think this was a "done deal". Not so fast, buckos!

Mileage Tax Plan Nixed By Obama

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will not adopt a policy to tax motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy, his chief spokesman said Friday. Press secretary Robert Gibbs commented after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that he wants to consider the idea, which has been proposed in some states but [...]

Related articles by Zemanta

• LaHood: A Mileage Tax? (dailykos.com)

Doing Something Right

They may not be working. Yet. But Americans seem to be lining up behind the economic stimulus plans.

Poll Shows Approval Of Obama/Dems Performance On Economy, Disapproval Of GOP

The new AP/GfK poll shows that the public is optimistic that the stimulus plan will work, and they approve the performance of Democrats on the economy -- and disapprove of the Republicans. The poll was conducted from February 12-17, during [...]

Holiday Thoughts

It's a holiday here in the US - President's Day. I guess there's a reason to honor all of them, but the day strikes me as somewhat of a greeting card moment - something created to give a lot of government workers and bank employees a three day weekend. Here's a good guessing game to test out the new commenting system. Do you think Obama will move forward with this helicopter order? Or kill it, to become a "good example" to business executives who like to fly on private jets?

Obama Faces Tough Decision On Pricey Presidential Helicopters

President Obama has slammed high-flying executives traveling in cushy jets at a time of economic turmoil. But soon he will have to decide whether to proceed with some of the priciest aircraft in the world - a new fleet of 28 Marine One helicopters that will each cost more than [...]

Next Up?

A signing ceremony and then let the work begin. I'm thinking the Economic stimulus bill (or whatever you want to call it) ain't perfect, but pumping all that money into project that will mean jobs can't be ALL  bad, can it?

Obama: Stimulus Bill "Major Milestone On Our Road To Recovery"

President Barack Obama, savoring his first major victory in Congress, said Saturday that newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus legislation marks a "major milestone on our road to recovery." Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, "I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we'll begin making the immediate investments necessary to [...]

Sound-Alike

Is it just me, or does John Boehner SOUND a lot like Barack Obama? I heard bits from this speech today on the radio and thought I was hearing Obama. Of course, at my age, the hearing could be going..

GOP Leader Boehner Gets Theatrical In Opposition To Stimulus Bill (VIDEO)

Before the House Friday, GOP Leader John Boehner brought out the theatrics to illustrate his opposition to the stimulus bill. Holding aloft the 1,100-page bill, Boehner said that "not one member has read this" before dropping the document on the floor. [...]

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Boehner And Steele Show (mydd.com)
• House Passes Stimulus Bill 246-183; GOP Still The Party Of 'No' (mydd.com)

Not Jesus

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Let's get one thing straight. I'm NOT saying Obama is Jesus. I'm just saying that he has some pretty impressive "people skills" and they paid off Wednesday. In case you didn't see it, there is video on the link below.

Obama and the homeless woman

In the New Testament Gospel of Luke, there's a story about a woman with a disorder that's referred to as an "issue of blood" in the King James Version.We're told she believed if she could get close enough to Jesus, if she could actually touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed. After fighting through the crowd surrounding Jesus, she touched his garment and was cured.Watching the video of Henrietta Hughes, the homeless woman at President Barack Obama's town-hall meeting in Ft. Myers, Fla. Tuesday, I was reminded of that story.Hughes became [...]

Stimulus Support

Congress needs to pay attention. Americans still think the idea of a stimulus is a good one. We don't need to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water and try to reinvent the plan.

It's not just Gallup

We talked earlier about the new Gallup poll, which shows widespread support for President Obama's handling of the stimulus-bill effort, and opposition to the conduct of congressional Republicans. As it turns out, a new CNN poll [...]

Changing Policy

Even though supporters wanted to act childishly and try to shout down people with tough questions, Obama proved today that he's changing the tone of public forums. This, no matter what your political leaning, is a good thing.

Obama’s Unscreened Town Hall Audience Is Clean Break From Bush’s Supporters-Only Public Events

Today, President Obama hosted a town hall meeting in Elkhart, IN — which faces the nation’s fastest-rising unemployment rate — to promote his recovery and reinvestment plan. As the Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin notes, Obama traveled to relatively unfriendly territory: Obama lost the county to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 44 percent to 56 percent. Despite [...]

Where Things Stand

They've locked horns in Washington and we're coming down to the wire. The topic?  It's the economy, of course.

The Battle Is Joined

We knew it wouldn’t be easy. We knew President Obama would make mistakes. Let’s make a quick assessment of where we are now. First, you may have seen headlines that the popularity of the stimulus bill has tanked. Nate Silver says this is not so. It may have slipped a little in popularity, but a majority [...]

Related articles by Zemanta

• Obamabitter: McCain Sour Over Barack Promises (oneriot.com)

Inauguration Entertainment

I watched a little bit of the early part of Sunday's concert on the Washington Mall. It seemed speech-heavy and light on entertainment. But, doggone it, they ended with a bang! I think we just found America's new/old theme song! Via AmericaBlog, there is video on the link. Enjoy and sing along!

This land is your land. This land is my land. Again. Finally.

Bruce, Pete Seeger and Seeger's grandson sang one of the classics at the Lincoln Memorial today. Not to sound too corny, it feels like this land is our land again. Everyone sang along, including Obama. This concert felt and looked like [...]

Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/dougkrile

Saturday Sunshine

 We chased the nasty cold winds away and today turned out pretty darn decent - sunshine and 50-some degrees. A bit breezy, but I'm not gonna complain.  I can, however, complain about the Razorback basketball team.  After showing they had the talent and skill to defeat two of the top-rated teams in the country, they seem to have forgotten how to do it.  There were some good stretches in today's battle with Florida, but the good was outdistanced by the bad.  Sad.

Did watch a bit of the MSNBC and CNN coverage of the events leading up to Tuesday's inauguration. CNN has its anchors in some kind of semi-protected outdoor set.  Most were wearing gloves, but not everybody had on heavy coats. (UPDATE: Looks like it's getting colder. The coats have come out.) MSNBC, on the other hand, has a pretty snazzy indoor set that makes it look like they're outdoors.  And they're using football-style flying cameras for crowd shots, etc.  It's an impressive setup.  Now, if they were just doing it in High Definition......

The story today is the Obama/Biden train trip and MSNBC is using some new technology to cover it, tying together a half-dozen cell phones to let them go live from the train, while it's moving. It's not broadcast quality, there's a horrible lag when the anchor tosses to the talent, but it's neat to watch.  That being said, I do have to point out that the TV station I worked for in the early 1990's tried something very similar, using two cell phones to feed breaking video back to the station. Of course, you couldn't go "live" with that setup, but it did get tornado footage, etc back in an emergency. We stopped using it after a few months, when it became apparent that it just wasn't that effective. With higher-bandwidth cell technology, it's interesting to watch the concept get a second wind.

The crowds are certain turning out for Obama and Biden, and the President-Elect has been heaping praise on his VP -

Biden's Story Takes Center Stage

If it were not for the emotional threads of Barack Obama's personal story, it seems very likely that more attention would be paid to Joseph Biden's own deeply moving biography.The vice president-elect has largely kept to the shadows during and after [...]

Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/dougkrile

The Presidential Ride

 They've taken Presidential transportation up a notch with the new Obama ride. Seriously.  This is impressive.

Cadillac One

Here's a cut-away look at Obama's new ride. Complete with capsules of his own blood should he need a transfusion on the road, the new presidential limo is filled to the brim with state-of-the-art technology - including night vision and [...]

Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/dougkrile

Yawn.

 It's been a slow newsday or two. Honestly, I've been busy this week, working on a way to finish my college degree (yeah, I got busy working and stopped school a handful of hours short of a degree. Trying to figure it all out with the University of Iowa right now), and trying to pack up Christmas. You know the drill!  Then, I see that a CNN guy is headed for the Obama Administration!

Obama picks Sanjay Gupta as top doc

President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly decided on Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon who serves as CNN's chief medical correspondent, for his surgeon general, according to [...]

Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/dougkrile

Illinois' Governor: Arrested

My goodness!  It appears they have quite the air-tight case against him. "Pay to Play" is only the tip of the iceberg.  Can you say "Titanic"?

Chutzpah

Reading the case (pdf) against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) paints a remarkable picture. The charges will, of course, still have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but there are tape recordings of the governor's conversations that are [...]

Chilly Saturday

We've had a string of (I believe) unusually chilly weather. I know it's December, but an extended string of freezing temps like this one. Global warming seems to be restricted to the polar regions!  At least for now. Yours truly has dog-sitting duties again this weekend.  At least it seems they're all getting along better this morning! Big news of the day seems to be coming from the office of the President-Elect:

Breaking: Obama promises biggest road spending in 50 years

On Saturday, Barack Obama pledged the largest new investment in roads and bridges since President Eisenhower built the Interstate system in the late 1950s [...]

Good Golly, People!

Have you really nothing better to do that try to cook up this kind of stuff?  Really!

Obama's birth certificate

Yes, I'm still getting emails about Obama's birth certificate.One of the more interesting conspiracy theories about President-elect Obama is that he was secretly born in Africa, then apparently sneaked into the United States (in a banana crate?), and now is pretending to be a natural born American, born in Hawaii, when he's really a [...]

Makes Perfect Sense

This is pretty much right along the lines of a discussion we had around here today...there is a reason Obama is staying high profile.

Filling the vacuum

Watching Obama's press conference today, I think I noticed three separate instances in which he mentioned having another press conference tomorrow. I had the same question Kevin did: "I'm not sure why Obama wants to have a [...]

UPDATE: And, it would appear, it's working.

Obama Gets High Marks for Transition

President-elect Obama's honeymoon is underway: [...]

Transition Cooperation

It's quite encouraging to see President Bush confer with Barack Obama about the Citibank bailout this weekend. The fact that the President says there will more talking between the two about similar situations is, likewise, encouraging.  It's all starting to position Obama as a President-Elect with much more power than we usually see...Almost-daily news briefings, policy statements and appointments that obviously are pleasing to Wall Street. One question - is there REALLY an "office of the President-Elect"?

Get This

James Rosen and Steven Thomma write for McClatchy Newspapers: Whether by design or necessity, Obama appeared to be using the deepening economic crisis to step to the forefront and seize the stage in order to reassure a nervous nation two months before he takes office. One prominent Republican, former Secretary of Treasury James Baker, suggested that Obama [...]