This is getting confusing to me.  According to my math, the Democrats have a pretty comfortable majority in the Senate.  Currently they hold a 56-41 majority with two independents caucusing with the Dems as well.  That makes it 58-41.  Very possibly, another seat will be given to the Dems via the Minnesota courts.  In basketball, that’s pretty much a blow-out.  Given those numbers, I find it a little surprising Obama is having such a time getting his economic stimulus spending spree passed.  It sailed through the House.  But, it’s gotten bogged down in the Senate.  My understanding is a simple majority is all it would take.  So, who is Obama blaming for the hold-up?

Pulling a Pelosi, he’s blaming the other party.  He’s given to insulting them with lines like “come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas”.  That sure generates a lot of support from the other team don’t it?  But, the reality here is that if HIS team wanted it, the 58 out of 99 voters, he’d already have it.  However, there are some Democrats that aren’t quite so rabid liberals in the Obama mold.  Those Blue Dog Democrats aren’t comfortable with going back to their people and trying to convince them that fighting sexually transmitted diseases is a method of economic development. 

So, it’s pretty amazing to me that the guy who ran on such a very vocal bipartisan platform has taken to attacking the minority when the majority of which he’s a member won’t even support him.  Sounds desperate.  Sounds bad considering he’s only been in office less than one month.

So much for change.

Harry Reid has also stated that if it doesn’t pass in the morning, the stock market will crash.  That sounds kinda desperate too.

Fact is, and this is a big fact, that the last economic stimulus plan, which was passed by the majority party over a large minority objection, didn’t do squat to get us out of this economic situation.  There is no evidence in the history of this country that the government can spend us out of an economic downturn.  There is also tons of evidence that these things correct themselves once things have devalued to a point where they become buyable again.  And, there are casualties along the way.  Right now we are seeing the Democrats fight a very prevailing historical trend.  They are not just sticking their fingrers in a dyke, they are trying to stop the leak by building a new dam all the way around the leak.  And, by throwing a trillion dollars at it, may very well cause a bigger problem in the near term than the problem they are addressing.  There’s a lot of pork in this baby that is wrapped in the shawl of “disaster”.  My guess is the Blue Dogs see the desperation in getting to spend that trillion dollars as the old-timers and liberals see fit while they have a lot of explaining to do.  My guess is people have wised up that the last stimulus package was totally wasted and accomplished nothing.  My guess is the Republicans see this as a defining issue that is turning in their favor.  My guess is Obama sees all this occurring and is using the bully pulpit to stem that tide.

And, my guess is, the stock market won’t crash in the morning if this package has not passed.  It may however, because the economic numbers are in the red.  And, they know, the sooner the markets reach a value that makes it attractive again, people will start buying again.

Tags: bipartisan, blue dog, democrats, economic, harry reid, majority, minority, nancy pelosi, obama, partisan, pork, recovery, republicans, spending