In stimulus bills, earmarks by any other name - Capitol Hill- msnbc.com“Many of these projects are worthy and benefit local communities,” he said. “But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations. This must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests.”
2 things that I think are really sad -
1 - neither the Republicans NOR THE DEMOCRATS seem tohave paid along with Obama's lofty visions on this stimulus bill. I'm not surprised by that. But...
2 - I wish he had called them out on it, or at least paid lip-service to calling this spade a spade. I understand the realities of his position - he needs to maintain working relationships, doesn't have all the power, needs to be positive and inspire confidence for the markets and economy in general, etc. etc. etc.. I guess I'm just enough of an idealist that I would have like to have heard some sideways reference to "yeah, some stuff in there I would have preferred not, but we're going to sign it because 90% good is still pretty good". I know, would have been disasterous. Still...
Don't let me down, Barackstar. I'm pullin' for ya'.
And as for the "leaders in both parties", yikes. Any spending is going to stimulate something somewhere, but sheesh.