Obama Wants to Pass $80B Jobs Bill by Friday

Obama met today with a bipartisan commission to discuss a potential jobs bill to spur job growth for the 15 million Americans looking for work. Some of the better ideas on the table included eliminating capital-gains taxes for investments in new firms, a $5,000-per-job tax credit for firms that hire new workers,and a break from Social Security taxes in 2010 for employers when they hire an unemployed worker. However, Obama also proposed a $30 billion plan to inject new capital into community banks, more "stimulus" money for infrastructure spending and green tax breaks for homeowners. My prediction is that without the filibuster-proof Senate majority, Obama gets no more bank handouts, infrastructure money or green initiatives. The most likely scenario in the newly bipartisan climate is a bill suspending taxes and providing other incentives for businesses to hire. Of course, I could be wrong since Obama once again mentioned reforming healthcare during the bipartisan talks. He may be too laser-focused on his agenda to allow his side to support conservative, tax-cutting strategies. We'll see.

Independents go 2 to 1 Negative on Obama

A Marist College survey found that 44% of registered voters approve of Obama, but among independents, his approval rating is only 29%. Half of all voters say Obama failed to meet their expectations in office during his first year. Specifcally, the poll shows 47% of voters, including a quarter of Democrats, 65% of Republicans and 53% of Independents believe he has failed while just 42% say he met their expectations.

Dems Snippy Over Health Care Stall as Obama Admits it May Not Happen

The legislators who autonomously cooked up and delivered the infamous few thousand page health care bill, are now asking for guidance from the President on how to proceed and getting downright snippy in the process. Apparently, they're angry with the lack of leadership on this issue from the White House. "Democratic senators are frustrated that the White House hasn’t done more to win over the public on health care reform and other aspects of its ambitious agenda — and angry that, in the wake of Scott Brown’s win in the Massachusetts Senate race, the White House hasn’t done more to chart a course for getting a health care bill to the president’s desk." (Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32561.html#ixzz0ehZPaOPP). Who spearheaded the slam on his own party's President? Ex-idiot comedian turned illegitimate junior senator, Al Franken. Yes, Stuart Smalley. (Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32561.html). Franken's comments may have been spurred by the President's comments Thursday night which some saw as defeatist: "And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns." Although Obama admits that the health care bill could potentially fail, he fails to realize that Americans have already "registered their concerns" with his health care bill, or at least, those Americans in Virgina, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Will he ever get this?

The End of the Kennedy Dynasty?

John Loughlin is throwing his hat in the ring to challenge Patrick Kennedy (http://www.patrickkennedy.house.gov/) in this fall's U.S. House race. If Loughlin should win, there would be no Kennedys left in public office.

Old GOPers Coming Out of Retirement to Run in November

After the Scott Brown win, a few conservatives waxed optimistically about a possible Republican senate takeover. Now, less than a month later, everyone in the mainstrean media is talking about the prospect. "Republicans are solidly ahead to take at least five seats now held by Democrats — in North Dakota, Delaware, Nevada, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. Five more are now considered winnable — Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and even liberal New York. Two other races, in California and Washington, are tightening daily." The beaten up Bush-league-era oldtimers are coming out of the woodwork to challenge Democratic incumbents. The uncontested New York seat appears to no longer be so. It looks like George Pataki will challenge the tepidly-received Clinton replacement, Kirsten Gillibrand, for the senate seat from New York. Why shouldn't he? He's polling 2.7% ahead of her and he hasn't even entered the race yet! Similarly, in Wisconsin, Democratic Senator Russ Feingold is faced with a real contest against Tommy Thompson before he's even entered the race. The most recent poll from Rasmussen Reports found Thompson leading Feingold by 47 to 43. Independent voters favored Mr. Thompson 53 percent to 36 percent, the survey found. In Illinois, Obama's former seat is being courted by moderate Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk. Kirk is running strongly against any likely Democratic opponent. In Colorado, the latest poll by Daily Kos, a liberal site, reported a one-point edge to freshman Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, but recent polls by Rasmussen show former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, a Republican, with a 12-point lead over the incumbent. In fact, all of the races that were considered safe for the Democrats are suddenly in play when a seat in California is in jeopardy. Still, many Democratic cheerleaders say that the election is months away, and Republicans would have to hold each of their 18 seats and pick up 10 of 16 contested Democratic seats. I'll admit, it's a formidable challenge, but I predict that the Obama administration's refusal to change course will propel them to take the Senate in November.

WSJ's Take on Obama's Budget

I laid out a few small details of Obama's budget plan yesterday, but the Wall Street Journal summed the President's plan up perfectly: "If this budget is Mr. Obama's first clear demonstration of his long-term governing priorities, then it's hard not conclude that this spending boom is deliberate. It is an effort to put in place programs and spending commitments that will require vast new tax increases and give the political class a claim on far more private American wealth. Despite talk of "tough choices" in yesterday's document, the Administration wants $25 billion in new spending for states for Medicaid, $100 billion for yet another jobs "stimulus," big boosts in spending for low-income family programs, for health research, heating assistance and education. If Mr. Obama's priorities become law, federal outlays will have grown an astonishing 29% since 2008." It is unfathomable that Obama would propose an increase to the tune of thirty percent more government spending while in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I hope the braindead members of congress realize now that this is the opposite of deficit-reducing and the opposite of what the American people have urged Washington to do beginning with the Tea Party movement and ending with the election in Massachusetts. Let's hope they don't have the same hard-headed, full steam ahead mentality and they'll rip this loaded piece of garbage apart.

Budget Blow Out

Obama's publicized his budget plan this morning. If left unchanged, it would send the deficit to $1.56 trillion. His economists used a 5.7% increase for the current budget year and forecast that spending would rise another 3% in 2011 to $3.83trillion. I'm not suprised that Obama still believes that we can spend our way out of this recession, but I didn't think he would propose raising taxes before we were out of the woods, as he and his advisers have repeatedly said they would not do. So, what's in this brick of a budget exactly? His budget proposed tax cuts for small businesses, including a $5,000 tax credit for hiring new workers this year. This seems to provide a tangible incentive for small businesses to hire. However, on the flip side, his budget contains a provision to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest Americans, or those making more than $200,000 (individuals) and $250,000 (couples) annually. Since small business owners generally fall into these categories, any hiring credit will be dwarfed by the increase in taxes small business owners must pay, which will cause them to abstain from hiring. Obama's budget also factors in the nationalized healthcare system he so desperately lobbied for last year. There are rumors that Obama is pushing Pelosi to ram it through the House by promising members that the Senate will vote for changes later through reconcilation, but all of this seems unlikely now, despite his persistence. I would imagine we'll see this stripped from the budget at some point, which would have to reduce the amount of bloat significantly. Obama also included a proposal to levy a fee on the country's biggest banks to raise $90 billion to recover losses from the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund. Of course, this won't cause banks to hand out smaller bonuses. It will cause them to levy higher and more fees to customers.