Monday, April 6, 2009

Quote for the day

"Everything he's done has been about as far left as you can get."
(Quoted from memory.)

Morning Joe Anchor, Joe Scarborough a (est.) 6:00 am today, commenting on the Obama Administration and the lack of bi-partisanship in Washington.

This morning I went to the gym and, as I usually do, plopped myself down on a running machine in front of a TV showing MSNBC. It was around 6:00 am that Scarborough made the above statement, which I am quoting from memory. The words are probably not exact, but they are close enough for our purposes. If I find a transcript later on I'll correct it.

Sarborough's comment was brought on by a new poll which broke down Barack Obama's approval ratings by party affiliation. It is, of course, a nakedly partisan, patently abusrd claim. It's hardly even worth refuting. One need only point to the tax cuts that were in the initial stimulus package, as well as the fact that the banking and automotive sectors remains private to put the lie to this claim. But the comment is worth noting if for no other reason than that it shows the desperation of those on the Right who are, essentially, watching history happen from the sidelines and gazing with fear, anger and trepidation at an astonishingly popular president who appears to be very ably and deliberately mending the damage that they did to our country over the past eight years. It can't be easy to beat your chest, tear at your hair, wail and moan about what a terrible job Obama is doing, even as the stock market rebounds, the housing sector begins showing new signs of life, and vast sectors of our economy take the necessary steps to regain their footing.

One of the most reassuring signs that Obama is on the right track is when Republicans start saying things like: "The economy will rebound in spite of, not because of the president's policies." And they've been saying that for a while now. Statements like those are an implicit admission of their party's failure and the President's success.

I do believe that four years from now it's not going to be easy to be a Republican. The economy will be on a much surer footing than today. People will regain much of their sense of optimism. Jobs will be plentiful. And the GOP will still be off on the sidelines trying to take credit for it all, despite the fact that they voted unanimously against all of the presiden't major initiatives. "The economy improved depite the Presiden't misguided policies, not because of them" we'll hear the GOP leadership protesting. But their excuses will ring hollow, and a grateful nation will elect our current president to another four years term in office.

That's my prediction from where I'm standing right now, at any rate.

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