Democrats in Congress...Step Up or Get Out The Way

So, as a Democrat in this resurgent age of liberalism, I thought it might be a good idea to take stock of how things have gone in the Obama administration so far. In general, I like what I see so far. I think the stimulus is a bit unruly, and could get out of hand, but in general I like the direction the new administration is heading. BTW, all of you who thought that line item for the Coast Guard Ice Breaker was obnoxious... here is an article to the tangible side effects of canceling that out of the stimulus. Crazy idea - replacing almost 40 year old ice breakers on the Great Lakes so 1 billion in freight can be moved around...nutso liberal idea.

My main beef since Obama took office lies not with him, or strangely enough, the opposition party, but with Congressional Democrats. Pelosi, Ried and the like. They have been nothing but a thorn in the side of progress and bipartisanship since Obama took office. They have stuck to their narrow idelogical viewpoints and refused to see the middle road that I believe Obama is trying to go down. I believe that is why he was elected, to move us into a post-partisan age. Ideologies do not matter so much as effectiveness.

To cite an example, I will use the announcement by the President that he will be bringing the troops home from Iraq, and will have combat troops home in 18 months. This is of course 3 months longer then promised during his campaign, but shockingly he talked to the generals on the ground and decided that an extra three months was worth the security. Sounds logical to me. Republicans generally agreed, McCain signed on board, calling the plan "significantly different" the one he saw during the campaign and a responsible way to draw down troop levels. Sounds like this thing is something everyone can agree on. Oh, I forgot about the Congressional Dems, who decided that this plan was just NOT accpetable. Neither fast enough or complete enough to suit them, they wallowed out to the microphones and stated that more was needed. Harry Ried was complaining that the 50,000 troops left over was too many. Can't these people see something that is a good thing, and just get out of the way? Who would have thought a year ago we would have President Obama and Sen McCain and Republican Congressional leadership agreeing on Iraq?

Progress can include the Democrats in Congress, or it can happen without them. Clearly voters are not tied to party affiliation when giving someone a job approval rating. Obama is at 65% and Ried is at 15%. Maybe Harry should take a page out of Obama's book and adapt to the situation on the ground instead of relying on rigid ideology. The President is going to move this country forward, Congressional Dems can come kicking and screaming, and possibly lose their jobs in the process, or they can learn to get along with their wildly popular President, and even, gasp, work with the opposition.

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So what you are saying is Obama is not succeeding as he should be because of Reid and Pelosi?

Clearly voters are not tied to party affiliation when giving someone a job approval rating. Obama is at 65% and Ried is at 15%.

Taking a quote from your own comments on my article, hows about you give Obama a chance? He's only been in office for a month or so, how can you judge his approval ratings based on the little time he's been there and the fact that his bills have had very little effect yet since they were just passed (apart from the Dow being so low but let me not take any cheap shots). Reid on the other hand has been the there for a while so his points make sense.

In general, I like what I see so far. I think the stimulus is a bit unruly

Please explain why do people like you contradict yourselves within the first few lines of a comment? The stimulus bill is Obama's biggest thing so far, so saying you like what you see so far except maybe the stimulus not so much is like saying out of 100% you like what you see except for that 75% part.

Please explain, this makes no sense to me.

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I am saying that Reid and Pelosi are getting int eh way od Obama's success... absolutly. As to you thinking I am contradicting myself, I defintely am not. I think that the stimulus could have been better orchestrated, but the idea of massive infrastructure speding and environmental modernization is something I see as nessecary, so I am behind it in idea...we will see how it works out in practice.

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I am saying that Reid and Pelosi are getting int eh way od Obama's success... absolutly.

Well Let me be honest here and say I am glad at least you have an open mind on this and that you can see the conflict here. One of the reasons I (personally) argue about politics is because some people will not always admit when something is wrong and will defend their party representatives to the end.

As to you thinking I am contradicting myself, I defintely am not. I think that the stimulus could have been better orchestrated, but the idea of massive infrastructure speding and environmental modernization is something I see as nessecary, so I am behind it in idea...we will see how it works out in practice.

Are you sure? Do you realize what you just said? I can understand your like in the idea of infrastructure and enviromental spending, but explain to me why, when this country is going thru a really bad time (housing market still falling, stock market hitting record lows, people losing their jobs, companies going out of business, banks and automakers looking for more bailout money and 2 wars, regardless if they should have happened or not), do you feel this is the right time to be spending money on some of this stuff? Infrastructure? I don't mind, we can us it, that is something you will get very little argument from most Republicans or Conservatives unless the infrastructure is a waste of money. We are all Americans, we all understand the need for infrastructure, but we may not always see the implementation the same way. Enviroment? I think we should be less concerned with enviroment and more concerned with creating stability in this country right now.

My point is, this is not an argument about whther I like Obama's policies or not, it's about wanting to spend money on things we obviously can not afford during this "economic crisis" as Obama loves to call it. Here we are being told not to waste money on "wants" and to conserver on the "needs" yet our ov't (who should be the example) is spending left and right on what they believe are "needs" and a whole bunch of "wants" during a time when we should be watching what we spend and working on creating stability.

But this doesn't matter. Obama is in and the Democrats control the House and the Senate and now all of the Democrat dreams can come true, even if they bankrupt the country in the process. Right?

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Obama's doing a great job out on the campaign trail (Leno, ESPN, CA). He did say that he would bring change to Washington DC. Apparently that change is a president that doesn't show up for work there. I guess Reid and Pelosi has his back.

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