Obama Back On The Campaign Trail

Bless his heart, Obama is taking his case for the socialization of the American economy to the heartland. At a town hall meeting in hard hit Elkhart Indiana, Obama stated:

“I am calling on Congress to pass this bill immediately,” Obama said. “Folks here in Elkhart and across America need help right now, and they can’t afford to keep on waiting for folks in Washington to get this done.”

Obama said an independent, bipartisan board would oversee spending to make sure the money was not wasted.

“We’re going to set up an independent board made up of Democrats and Republicans to review how the money is being spent, because we’ve got to make sure that it’s not being wasted on somebody’s special project that may not actually create help for people,” he said.

???

The Republicans in Congress are trying to help with that right NOW, and he’s not listening to them. What makes Obama think that we would have any confidence in his phony “bipartisan board” later on? Empty promises.

Here are some questions I’d like people to ask Obama at one of these town hall appearances.

•Since you’re interested in bipartisanship, President Obama, how about scrapping that $1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program that would be funneled to ACORN, which of course only benefits Democrat election prospects? The Vitter Amendment to ban ACORN funding failed 45-51. The Republicans sure could use some help in stopping this wasteful spending.

•At the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5th, you stated:

“Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I’m announcing later today.

That sounds awesome…..but it seems at odds with the provision in your stimulus bill that bans any university or college receiving funds to renovate buildings, from allowing “sectarian instruction” or “religious worship” within the facility. This provision would in effect bar the use of campus buildings for groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Crusade for Christ, Catholic Student Ministries, Hillel, and other religious organizations. The Demint Amendment to strike that language from the Stimulus bill was voted down by the Democrats. That seems designed to “drive us apart”, doesn’t it?

• How is $264 billion (32 percent) in new means-tested welfare spending, stimulative? What about the budgetary gimmicks that will result in an estimated $523 billion in new welfare spending? Does spending like this really belong in a stimulus bill?

There’s no end of good questions that could be asked of Obama about the “Stimulus”. I just haven’t heard any, yet.

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The Pelosi bill was going down in flames in the Senate until two so-called moderate Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins and Arlen Specter, agreed to vote with Democrats. (For more on the deal, check the facts section.)

Harry Reid knows he needs every vote, and is flying in Sen. Ted Kennedy for the vote, expected Monday evening around 5:30. It could take just one Democratic senator to vote “no” to beat this bill. Or Collins and Specter could feel the heat and pull the plug on the deal.

The more pressure from back home that comes in over the next couple of days, the more likely it is to happen.

Thanks for fighting back!

UPDATE:

Here’s The Old Glory Network with some background on “the dumbest town in America”, Elkhart, Indiana:

Rush thought Obama’s performance at the town hall was uninspired:

UPDATE II:

Well I see Obama had his first press conference. I missed most of it….(okay, I admit it, I didn’t have the stomach to watch it). Did he get  one hard question?

Mark Hemingway at NRO has some thoughts on the press conference. I thought the same thing he did about Obama’s arrogant assumption that the question of the New Deal’s helpfulness was a settled question, when it’s widely believed that it actually extended the depression.

The Stimulus: Pork Or Patronage?

Doug Ross heard this interesting tidbit from “Chicago Bob” calling into a radio talk show:

I was in a meeting after Obama got elected and I was told by the Democratic officials in that meeting that we were gonna give billions of dollars that was gonna come down the pike, our way, and what we were to do with it was we were supposed to do with it…

We are gonna build an army of Democratic patronage jobs…. gonna completely freeze up the Republicans forever and ever…

As Senator Claire McCaskill said on Meet The Press, Sunday:

I think there was some spending in the bill that was makeup for a starvation diet under the Bush Administration, some important priorities of  our party, (corrects herself) frankly of the American people.

How can the Republican RINO compromisers not see what’s going on?

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit who discusses the latest fear mongering from Obama.

RELATED:

The New York Post on the expansion of the welfare state:

The very heart of the widely applauded Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a cap on the amount of federal cash that can be sent to states each year for welfare payments.

But, thanks to the simple phrase slipped into the legislation, the new “stimulus” bill abolishes the limits on the amount of federal money for the so-called Emergency Fund, which ships welfare cash to states.

“Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated such sums as are necessary for payment to the Emergency Fund,” Democrats wrote in Section 2101 on Page 354 of the $819 billion bill. In other words, the only limit on welfare payments would be the Treasury itself.

“This re-establishes the welfare state and creates dependency all over the place,” said one startled budget analyst after reading the line.

In addition to reopening the floodgates of dependency on federal welfare programs, the change once again deepens the dependency of state governments on the federal government.

See also:

Welfare Spendathon: House Stimulus Bill Will Cost Taxpayers $787 Billion in New Welfare Spending

Also Related:

Harry Reid refuses to allow a commonsense bipartisan amendment to the floor that would require local governments and businesses that receive stimulus money to use the federal E-Verify citizenship check system.

Michelle Malkin is on it:

On the House side, a long term extension of the E-Verify program passed there 407-2 (Conservative Oasis).

But Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to allow it to come to the floor. Now, we’re headed for cloture.

“While it is difficult to believe that Senate leaders might insist that illegal aliens have the same chance at new stimulus jobs as unemployed Americans, this scenario may now be at hand,” says Roy Beck of Numbers USA. “SA 239 is now unlikely to receive a floor vote.”

Yes, it’s oh-so difficult to believe…..*rolls eyes*.

Eight States Introduce Resolutions Declaring State Sovereignty

I’ve been hearing about this for a few days, now. Not sure what it’s all about.

WND reports:

So far, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

Analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania.

“What we are trying to do is to get the U.S. Congress out of the state’s business,” Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon told WND.

More at link.

I think BO and the out of control Dem Congress are scaring the crap out of people.