I know a lot of folks are talking about how Obama “schooled” Republicans today, but let’s get past that. Yes, if you watch the following Obama comes off extremely well. But can we focus on whether or not this type of dialogue is good for the country? I’d say yes, yes, a thousand times YES!, [...]

Jobs may not be coming back, but the GDP is. From Reuters: The first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods [...]

And away we go… So, what did you think?

Cross posted to FrankHagan.com

First, the relevant facts about the budget that’s set to be released on Feb 1… About $447 billion will be devoted to funding the government — the parts that aren’t mandated by law (the entitlements) or aren’t related to defense, intelligence, veterans or national security issues. Obama will promise to veto any budget that exceeds [...]

Yesterday, in a background briefing, the administration announced a three year spending freeze on portions of the budget. Since departments with the fastest growing government expenditures like Defense, VA, the State Department, and entitlements are excluded from the “freeze”, it will have a negligible effect on the ballooning deficit. One cannot help but wonder if the administration is trying to be all things to all people, and risks representing nothing to no one.

The Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat continues to reverberate (or is that ricochet?) in the media [for a quick round-up of latest Charlie Cook in National Journal, Robert Reich on Huffington Post, Dan Balz in Washington Post and Kristi Keck on CNN, see today's Hankster] and independent voters remain center stage (the [...]

The President is on the stump, giving speeches, sitting for interviews, and conducting town-halls in a media blitz supporting the financial system reform initiative. He campaigned on this reform and his administration has promoted several iterations of the bill since taking office. In the meantime, Democrats in the House and Senate are crafting reform bills that are inconsistent (if not incompatible) with each other and with the President’s promises.

It’s been a bad week for Democrats. Republican Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Ted Kennedy, leading to predictions that the House and Senate will not be able to cram through their strictly partisan health care reform bill. To add to the nervousness already felt by the [...]

Jackie Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org issued the following statement yesterday: “The Obama team needs to learn a lesson from Massachusetts. If you don’t attend to the political dynamics in the independent movement, you’ll pay the price. That movement is in the early stages of its development and is subject to many pushes and pulls. While [...]

And I agree. Because even though Kennedy championed this health care legislation, Massachusetts didn’t elect a Dem this time around. That’s how democracy works. From The Hill… “In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process,” Webb [...]

The results aren’t final yet, but it looks like Brown is going to win 52% to 47%. And you have to hand it to him. He ran a great campaign and defeated the favorite Martha Coakley in a race that many Democrats thought would be a cake walk. But let’s remember that Republicans being elected [...]

Jackie Salit’s analysis of independents’ support of Obama, health care and the current state of the independent movement… Mass independents are lining up behind Brown in the upcoming special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the US Senate — ignore the independents at your own peril! …More and more elected officials are leaving the [...]

Is there a better political story than the Brown/Coakley special election in Massachusetts? This is a much more exciting contest than either of the playoff games on Sunday. The last big effort to turn back the Scott Brown tide was in evidence all weekend. It had two tracks, a high road, and a low road.

Hey gang, I know it’s been a while for me. I still visit The Donk everyday — because where else am I going to get top-notch discussion without all of the ridiculous name-calling — I just haven’t posted in quite some time. For that, I apologize. Although, it’s not like my writing has been missed [...]

Is it possible to have political organization that isn’t a political party? Can people impact policy without being organized as a voting bloc? How do you fight the power of entrenched corrupt partisan organizations without becoming one of them? Where does the issue of power come in? How can independents break out of paralysis? What [...]

Barack e-mails a message of support for Coakley

More news about the boom/bust cyclemakers that doesn’t bode well for the individual investor. From NY Times: On Tuesday, a Goldman executive made an unusual admission that, in some cases, the rumors were true. In an e-mail message to select clients, Thomas C. Mazarakis, the head of Goldman’s fundamental strategies group, acknowledged that his unit [...]