Oh, Republicans...

Recovery is a long road filled with regrets over how we have let things go so out of hand.  Republican leadership has taken the country into a deep recession, the bottom has not yet been seen with everyday seeming to bring a mix of hopeful and ominous signs...now so many more jobs to be cut.  Republican leadership policy is evident in the corporate world too, and some of the reductions in forces have the ulterior benefit of worsening the economy while strengthening corporate profits.  It is somewhat extreme to attribute political motivations to economic policies but recent years have taught us: a trillion dollar war in Iraq had preeminent political purposes, and benefits for friends of the party in power..set aside contracts for Cheney's old firm was just a cube of the ice berg, the rape of the taxpayers in the wall street bailout, people who managed so faulty a way being the recipients of unaccounted federal funds, [some of which might just sit in a vault until taken as a profit in the future] all of the denials of things needed by the people: education, infrastructure, new jobs, new industries, health care for all... all were denied because we could not afford it...then a trillion for Iraq put the lie to all of the denials.
So Republicans seem to give the nation a choice...its us or them; as we watch their opposition to the stimulus program...the one thing in recent years aimed at helping the American people where they need it most... a government, investing in its people... MORE to come...

January 20...

President Obama has already made a great degree of success...he has made people forget  about Bush, the worst Presidency in memory...and that covers quite a long time.  It is like filling in the Grand Canyon, making people believe in the positive power of the US Presidency, yet somehow it has been done.  And speaking of the Grand Canyon, the depths of the problems inherited by President Obama...is a depth that seems to grow as more and more truth is revealed.  And yet, he seems up to the challenge and the need to innovate, solve crises and handle the routines too.  Like walking and chewing gum at the same time while spouting beautiful poetry...following a non leader with a bright new star for many to simply find and be guided.   January 20 will come and go ...so will the hangovers and sore throats from laughter and applause... but the beginnings will grow into days of achievement for a nation so accustomed to getting things done...but recently so accepting of a syndrome of failure.
Now suddenly we can have jobs, and peace. Prosperity and new businesses that stay in the US; friends overseas among our sister nations, respect without threats and fear.  January 20 will roll with the calendar but some things will stay in our thoughts and perhaps in our hearts.