Stimulation

Anybody who’s read this blog more than once know how I feel about the Dear Leader. I’ve felt for several years now that he’s dangerously inexperienced – not to mention just plain wrong.

But I have to admit, for being the change we’ve been waiting for, he’s off to quite the sputtering start. I’m surprised by it, actually.

Whether it is foreign policy, domestic policy or, centerpiece of his first 100 days – the "stimulus" package, he appears out of step, lacking in leadership and desperate to gain some traction.

In foreign policy – Russia, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Mexico, the Europeans – to name a few, have all started testing the Dear Leader’s resolve. His cabinet appointments have been tripping all over themselves bringing the messiah’s decision-making skills into question. Finally, the stimulus package has turned into a complete political debacle – and it’s all his fault.

He let Nancy Pelosi and the nut-jobs in congress write the bill, has put a ton his presidential prestige behind it and it’s sucked out most of his early momentum. To me, it’s not clear how he’s going to get it back.

In watching him through the campaign and the early weeks of his presidency it seems clear:  he delays taking a firm stand on anything until he absolutely has to.  That's the cause of the stimulus mess.  I highly doubt that if the Dear Leader and his economic team would have written the bill it would be as bad as it is now (he's too calculating for that).  But he let Pelosi write it - and now he stuck with it - and stuck defending most of the aspects of it.  He was trying to keep a leg on both sides of the fence for as long as he could and it's backfired.

The Dear Leader, no doubt, felt that the GOP would cave under the weight of his popularity, momentum and ability to communicate.  To their credit, the Republicans have done an excellent job in fighting this thing.  If it wasn't for three "moderate" Republicans, it wouldn't have passed at all (and it's not over yet).  The bill is a complete disaster.

So where does the Dear Leader go from here?  Although the stimulus - in some fashion - is likely to be implemented, I don't see how anybody can say he's "won" politically.  For the first time, the GOP has gotten the best of him.  They've done it not by attacking him directly - but by attacking Pelosi and Reed and a truly BAD bill he's forced to defend.  Until the Dear Leader's approval ratings start to drop (and they will), watch for this to serve as the GOP's template moving forward.

The rest of us will have to pay for this stimulus - in so many ways.