I've told you guys before about my former company shutting down. 10,000 employees, 900 here in Knoxville. All my friends worked there. I wish they could each trade places with a member of Congress. Let them pay their bills on $255 a week with $700+ a month Cobra.

"working to get things done"

Honestly, I'm starting to see Obama as the kid who always makes sure he has a couple bucks in his pocket so that when the bullies confront him on the playground, he can give them something they want and make them go away - at least until tomorrow.  Too bad he hasn't realized that not only will they not stop the bullying, they inevitably will up the price.  Seeing as how it's the best chance for the country's economic health and recovery he's just giving away, that bothers me more than a little.

Which makes the whole kabuki of the last 10 days not so much pragmatic, as pathetic.

So, while the Senators engaged in some of the most maddening debate I've heard in a while - I was yelling at the nonsense coming out of Grassley's mouth as I was driving around doing errands - Obama has escaped the unpleasantness for a fun weekend at Camp David.

Certainly he sold the PPUS, but never was there anything specific tied to that idea. The Theory of Change propunded by Mark Schmitt and others defending the PPUS argued that it was indeed just an act, not a promise. And after the nomination, he detailed a progressive policy.

Indeed, I doubt anyone on TalkLeft would argue he promised he would "compromise" on torture. I would argue he also did not promise to pass an ineffective stimulus in the name of "compromise."

For the two day prior to the final capitulation, he argued against the very type of modifications he has now embraced.

Indeed, he said "stimulus is spending."

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien," is what Voltaire actually said.

"The better is the enemy of the good."

Glenn Greenwald, Jay Rosen in an interview with Bill Moyers point out that the lousy, non existent war protest coverage was no mistake. The MSM are part of the Iraq war 'problem' and were a large part of what the marches and protests were about. Of course they erased them as if they did not happen. Just a fringe group of ultra left losers..  

GLENN GREENWALD: Let me just add to that, because I think it raises an interesting dilemma. Which is, if you look at what the media were saying about Obama favorably, both around the time of his election and subsequent as well, they kept insisting that he could continue Bush's counterterrorism policies that were so controversial.

They were praising him for leaving in place all sorts of Bush officials that the media wants to see is continuity, that he's not threatening to their way of life and to their establishment, for the reason that we talked about before. That's how he wins praise from them, is by showing that he isn't going to change things fundamentally, and therefore, isn't a threat to their system.

At the same time, as Jay said, what he needs to do more than anything to fulfill the commitments that he made, is demonstrate that he's a true change agent. And I think these objectives are very much in conflict, because the more he threatens the Washington system, I think the more hostility the press will feel towards him, and therefore, project to the public about him. And that, too, can undermine his political popularity.