President's Weekly Address: Milestones on the Economy and the Recovery Act

From the White House web site:

While there is nothing to celebrate until job numbers turn around, the President cites the recent dramatic turnaround in gross domestic product as a sign of better things to come. He also applauds the fact that the Recovery Act has now created or saved more than a million jobs.

I can attest to the fact there are jobs being created. When I traveled not only did I see the wind farms being built there were roads being rebuilt but there are buildings and houses being built everywhere between my home and Chicago.. That's 500 miles of rebuilding. My uncle and I talked that the entire state of Illinois was under construction. Iowa was almost that bad.

One of the things that I found was really neat about Iowa.. all of the rest areas in Iowa had wireless internet in them. Yep, Iowa is getting to the modern era a lot faster than some of our other more forward states...lol.

Just 15 miles from me, they built a new Target Store.. and there is another one only 9 miles from it.. So don't tell me we are in too bad a shape if they can do that. Not to mention the fact the intersection where the store is, has a Home Depot, Wal-Mart and more restaurants than you can count. There is so much traffic there they have had to rebuild it into a 4 lane street and are now redoing it again and making it into a 6 lane because it is so busy. This is a new street that wasn't even a through street 10 years ago, it was just a by way to get to the hospital. Now it is a major street and has grown into a through-way almost.

So contrary to what the media would have people to believe, there is growth in our economy in places. There has been very little slow down here in Missouri that I have seen. The construction has gone on all the time, roads were built, new stores were opened and people still shopped every day.

But, enough.. you want to hear the president.. so here he is....

Limbaugh, Stupid Republicans and the Rest of Us

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I have been thinking about how the majority of the republicans and conservatives have seemed to be bowing down to Limbaugh. It has gotten to the point of silly.

First you had Phil Gingrey, from Georgia who said how no one was really paying attention to Limbaugh and he was just blowing off steam when he said, "I want him to fail", talking about Pres. Obama. Limbaugh was.

Well, it wasn't a couple of days after that then Gingrey was on the phone with Limbaugh, saying how sorry he was, how he had messed up, and how he had really insulted poor Rush. Well, give me a break.

Then, it was Michael Steele. He ran a brutal campaign to become the head of the RNC, against several other candidates. They voted I think it was 6 times, before he finally won and became the head. Well, he went on the D L Hughley show on CNN. This is how it was described by Politico:

In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism made him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host,

Then Rush fired back, a furious counter-assault by Limbaugh, on his show Monday afternoon in which he told the loquacious RNC chair to pipe down and recognize that he's not a "talking head media star."

Steele told POLITICO he moved to stop the feud Monday afternoon with a phone call to Limbaugh.

But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.

So, Steele, (cream puff) went to Limbaugh and crawled on his knees and did the same as Gingrey.. said I am sorry Rush.. I was bad.. Again.. here we go.. big, bad Rush, rules the republicans and says this is the way it is.

Now, after these 2 instances all the other republicans are afraid to say anything against Rush. When they are asked, as they are over and over, NO ONE will say a word against Rush...lol It gets very funny.

Today, in my paper, I was reading the opinion pages and the letters to the editor. Now, most everyone knows I live in Missouri, and usually I get mostly GOP talking points in the letters.. well imagine my surprise when they were more against Rush than for him...lol

But the one that stood out the most was this one. It was so funny, it is the main premise for this post.

It is from a gentleman in Kansas City and he says:
Let me get this straight. The Republican Party, the party that has sold itself for years as the only one that can keep us safe from foreign interests, terrorists and economic meltdown, is now the party that doesn't have the guts to stand up to a radio personality?
That's just pathetic.

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This is who we need on MSNBC instead of the Joke

Image by BlastMagazine.com via Flickr

Carlos Watson is a fairly new anchor on MSNBC, but I really like him. He is a good counter to some of the ones they have on during the day. He holds his own with the Joke of the Morning too. He has a new piece up on Huffington Post that is a must read.

Let's Press Reset on Rush & Co.: We Need Practical Optimism from the Chattering Class -- Now

I have degrees from Harvard and Stanford, am an anchor on a major network, have a little money in the bank, and I'm young. By all accounts, I should be able to survive this recession. But even my confidence is shaken. We're not in a good place. The reality of the matter is, bad as things are, we all know they're likely to get worse. Much worse--both overseas and in the poorest areas here in the US.

It all comes back to 30-40: Our homes were overvalued 30-40%, our salaries are being cut 30-40% (if we still have them), our portfolios, when they finally rebound, will still be down 30-40%. Like any sane person in his 30s or 40s, I'm starting to wonder the obvious: What will it take to turn things around? One answer is signs--about 6-10 million of the "help wanted" variety. But another part of the solution just came to me last night.

The answer is Rush Limbaugh. Yes, that Rush, the Man from Missouri. Because what he reminded us of in the last few weeks is what will keep most of us down: negativity and mindless carping. Beyond a banking fix or a housing plan, our floundering $12 trillion economy needs a fundamental reset of the public commentator class. And I predict we will see that over the next six months, from YouTube to CNN, Twitter to the site you're reading. I genuinely think America is hungry for practical optimism. I know I am.

I know I am too...and I think most of us are ready for some optimism. That's what I have been saying all along. Yes, things are tough. But, come on, we can't just sit around and talk about how bad it is. We have to try to do something about it and look for the good parts. If all we are going to do is sit and talk about how bad it is we might as well be republicans.

He goes on to finish like this:

This new class of public commentators will be distinguished not by their ability to describe the depths of our pain, but by their capacity for offering clear, compelling, credible visions of how individuals, companies, governments, and groups can move beyond it. They will be people of accomplishment who can help us find practical ways ahead, entrepreneurs and writers who can both build a business and tell a good story. We'll respond to them because they are not hype entertainers, but sharp, clear, relatable visionaries who can help us see how we can truly turn things around in this challenging environment.

I like Suze Orman, but I'm not talking about her. I like Professor Nouriel Roubini, but I'm not talking about him. I'm picturing Steve Jobs and Lou Gerstner--imagine those two on a split-screen breaking down the economy. Think I'm joking? Then you're forgetting the outsized role that J.P. Morgan (the man, not his bank) played following the panic of 1907, or the role that the "new" Southern Governors played after the tumultuous 1960s, or the role that John Steinbeck played as we came out of the Depression. We need help turning the page. We need a dramatic revolution in our public commentators. We need Buddy Fletcher, Arte Moreno, Sheryl Sandberg, and others to become the next chattering class.

Who would you like to see on the airwaves? Let me know at twitter.com/carloswatson.

So, now is your chance.. let him know who you want to see on your TeeVee Machine.. I did.. I told him I would rather see him than the Joke of the Morning...lol

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