The Fact of My Ignorance

I thought these seven minutes were some of the most important of Obama’s speech and they can serve here as a springboard for discussing two important topics.  The first is the issue of partisanship.  I have been thoroughly impressed with Obama’s calm demeanor and mature perspective in regards to bipartisanship.  He has reached out across the aisle in an unprecedented way and he has been repeatedly slapped in the face by congressional republicans.  Yet he doesn’t turn on them, he doesn’t denounce them and give up, he talks about how his efforts are a long-term investment.  And he says he’s going to continue reaching across the aisle because its going to take a long-term investment to change the culture of washington.  That demonstrates humility and maturity that we have long expected of our neighbors and friends but which we, for some reason, have not expected of our politicians for a long time.  

He could easily use recent events to score political points against republicans, blaming the lack of bipartisanship on them, especially in light of all the political points they’ve been scoring on him lately.  But I like to think that he has more confidence in the American people.  He knows we can look at an issue rationally and won’t be deceived by strategist commentaries and media blowhards.  He trusts that we can judge a situation based on facts and long-term results and not on quotes and smears.  In short, he’s taking the high road, the same high road he stuck to during his campaign and that goes a long way in my book.

The second issue he talks about is pork.  I think its hilarious how conservative pundits have been able to redefine the word pork so that they can label this stimulus bill as such.  Or it would be hilarious if…it weren’t such a serious issue, if they weren’t playing political games with our country’s future.   I’ve read the bills (contrary to republican senators’ complaints they are a very quick read) and there is not a single earmark or pet project in the bunch.  Where are the celebrations for that unheard of achievement?  It is completely devoid of pork.  What it has is plenty of useful spending that will smartly inject needed cash into the economy, promote job growth, while pursuing projects that invest in our future.  But many conservatives consider all spending useless and have thus deemed these projects “pork”.  

Now I can see why they are upset about some of these programs, and it can certainly be argued that some of them, while still valuable, should be presented in later bills, but labeling these items “pork” when that word has previously been reserved for earmarks and pet projects is deceptive.  It’s hard to see it as anything but a deliberate effort to falsely characterize the stimulus package in the minds of the American people.  And frighteningly, that effort is succeeding.

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