Despite Obama's Efforts, Partisanship Flaring in Washington

Reader Comments
Back to article

I just need to know how the following will help me.
(1).A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film. If I don't have a job, I'm probably not going to the movies
(2). $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program. Again, if I don't have a job, I can't afford a cable bill.
(3)$248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters. How is this going to help me keep my home or job.
(4)$500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River. It's been flooding for hundreds of years, DON'T BUILD THERE AND IF YOU DO, DON'T EXPECT A BAILOUT.
(5)$650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands. I haven't heared of alot of forest fires lately, is there a problem.
(6)$160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service. The term "Volunteer" is defined as, A volunteer is someone who works for a community or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so.

randy of TX 1:51PM February 07, 2009

Timothy Richley of Texas said it all and correctly and well the Republicans NEVER once have ever tried to do anything bipartisan. They believe that bipartisan means doing things THEIR way and only their way. They make no compromises and think they're infallible and here we are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since I've been born and that was 57 years ago. Not to mention that the GOP congress and senate were hardly bipartisan when they sent our troops to Iraq under heavy protest from almost half the country. So now that the Republicans are not the party in power they're whining and crying abou the same treatment they gave the democrats for the last 8 years. The GOP doesn't care about the voters or the tax payers and never did they don't even care about our troops as attested to by their treatment of our veterans. I don't think Obama was being naive, he was trying to make good on his word and got stung from now on he should skip the bipartisan, marginalize the Republicans now those of us who protested the GOP treatment of minorities are no longer just focus groups, and yes I think the landslide of votes that Obama garnered was a mandate to leave the failed policies of the GOP in a museum somewhere along with McCarthyism, Reaganism, and Nixon-ism. If Obama's policies fail then so be it but at least the GOP should try to work with him and the majority (ruling) party.

DavidBronx of NY 3:12PM January 30, 2009

It was nice and very niave that Obama reached out to attempt to gather bi-partisan support of his plan.
Talk is not enough. If only one party drove the creation of the bill, then it is partisan. If you want a bi-partisan product, both sides of the aisle need to participate in creating the bill.
If Obama figures out that he needs to be inclusive on the front end, he has a better cahnce of bridging the gap. Otherwise, it is business as usual. Listen and talk. Not just talk.

Leslie of WA 1:29PM January 30, 2009

The only thing that the republicians have proposed is tax cuts and only tax cuts. They have presented no information on costs or benefits of this proposal. They just assume that tax cuts work. However, if we go back to the Bush tax cut of 2001 we find that it has not helped and in fact has led to massive borrowing to fund 2 wars and has made the current account deficit the largest in history. We went from $2Trillion US in debt to $10Trillion US in less than 8 years. What the republicians did when they were in charge was not tax and spend, but just spend and spend. This is one of the reasons why we now find our economy in tatters.
I see no difference in the republician party of today and the republician party of massive deficits of 2 years ago.
They have become the party of extremists who will attempt to block Obama at every turn no matter what damage is done to the country

Timothy Richley of TX 1:05PM January 30, 2009