Word is that President Obama is telling Congress, pass the whole jobs bill. Or nothin’. I hope he sticks to that. See also E.J. Dionne, “Obama Goes Big — and Should Stay Big.”
The headline on Dana Milbank’s column is “The irrelevancy of the Obama presidency.” However, it’s not so much about the Obama presidency as about Congress.
President Obama gave one of the most impassioned speeches of his presidency when he addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. Too bad so many in the audience thought it was a big, fat joke.
“You should pass this jobs plan right away!†Obama exhorted. Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) chuckled.
“Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — an outrage he has asked us to fix,†Obama went on. Widespread laughter broke out on the GOP side of the aisle.
“This isn’t political grandstanding,†Obama said. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) guffawed.
There was some unseriousness among the Dems as well. But I would love to see a video that cuts back and forth between the President talking seriously about jobs and the Republicans laughing. See also Steve M.
The New York Times uses graphics to show the real cost of the reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Staggering.
The smirk returns — and the pissant little creep thinks he deserves credit for the death of Osama bin Laden.
Alexander Cockburn looks at a decade of Trutherism. Thank you, Mr. Cockburn.