I’m starting to have issues with the language that President Obama is using while discussing the financial crisis. Specifically, I do not care for the fact that the President continues to try to place the blame on his predecessor.

Let’s be very, very clear here – the current recession and financial crisis started under President Bush and his administration. There was very little the Bush administration did to make the situation any better or worse.  The only option they provided was a $700 Billion TARP package that was mismanaged, and continues to be. There is no doubt or question about that, however, every time President Obama makes a decision about economic policy he is taking ownership of the problem. Every decision his administration is making has a direct impact on the current economic environment.

Every time the Obama administration passes legislation – such as the $787 Billion Dollar stimulus that doesn’t stimulate anything, the Housing Bill that only addresses a very limited number of mortgages, or creating the biggest Deficit in the history of the country – he taking greater ownership of a problem that appears to be spiraling out of control.

That is speech like the following can only go on for so long:

As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government – I don’t. Not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited – I am. I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships.

Obama to Congress

Or

“I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement -– the prescription drug plan — without a source of funding. And so I think it’s important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we’ve actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word ’socialist’ around can’t say the same.”

Obama to NYT Reporters

The American public will only accept the “it’s not my fault” cry for so long.  Eventually the populous will start pointing to the impact of the administration and say “while you didn’t start it, you’ve made it worse.” So when does this become Presidnet Obama’s mess?  Ever day that passes.

It’s time for President Obama to man up and take ownership of the problem regardless of who created is to blame or at fault.  The President needs to stop attempting justify his actions by saying “well, others before me did so therefore I am too”.

The President needs to do what he was elected to do – lead.

All I can say is “WOW!”

The inauguration was highly impressive on a number of levels.  On a very basic level, watching the ceremony unfold, with barely a glitch, in such perfect manner was very impressive.  Take into account the history that was unfolding, add in the sea of humanity, and you have the perfect recipe for a modern day drama. 

I was quite impressed with the class President Obama showed during todays events.  While our nation faces a number of uphill battles, he did not place blame with any one specific person or political party.  He did move away from the political attacks in hopes of bringing the country together and, I believe, in a number of ways he did.  While I found his overall message to be less positive – and more realistic – than I had expected, he provided a message that resonated with the masses in general.

I do have a major problem; however, with something that took place today.  The crowd was booing when VP Cheney and President Bush were introduced (and, yes, they were still the VP and President at the time).  If you have a problem with the former VP and President I fully support you and your views, but you simply do not boo.  This isn’t a free speech issue, it’s a respect issue – respect for the Office of the President – not necessarily the person.  You respect the position. When you disrespect the Office, you are disrespecting the nation, and it only shows the ignorance that still is within our society today.  

Again, best of luck President Obama.  You have a huge task in front of you.  

Stock Market

At the beginning of the year, all of Twenty days ago, I was concerned about how quickly the stock market was rising .  The DOW almost reached 9100, and it was acting as if no recession was gripping our economy. Bad news would come out, the DOW would go up.  Good news would come out, the DOW would go up even faster.  The market was enthusiastic for no real reason, and now it has a huge hangover.  Today the DOW dropped 332 points, closing below 8000 for the first time in 2009.  

Yes, the news looks scary once again.  The survival of US banks are in question. Will Bank of America survive?  How long will it be before The Royal Bank of Scotland will be fully nationalized? What company will go bankrupt next?  Look past the obvious bad news and you can see good news.  REALLY good news, actually.

Take a look…

IBM posted a profit of $3.28 for the quarter – .$25 higher than expected.  Not only that, IBM expects to make $9.20 per share for the 2009 fiscal year, up $.45 from what was previously forecast.  Johnson and Johnson posted quarterly profits 14% higher, though they expect 2009 figures to be flat.  CSX – the rail transportation company – posted a profit of $.90 per share, a whole penny less than expected. 

The earning are there and better than expected from some of the economic bellwethers.  I’m not saying the economy isn’t in the crapper, nor am I saying everything will be fine tomorrow, but I do believe that the market has swung to low too fast.  

Essentially, I think the stock market is way oversold and is trading on emotion, not on the reality of the current situation.

Pilates, I have a new found respect for you

Today was the first day of my workout routine and Pilates was on the docket.  I doubted the effectiveness of a Pilates workout… until today.  For a 17 minute workout I felt the “burn”, as it were, and I was sweating up a storm.  

Seriously, I was very surprised and I cannot wait for the next workout… oh, and I’m down to 162.5 pounds, down 6 pounds in about two weeks.  There is no target weight I have in mind, I simply am taking better care of myself and it seems to be working.

Erasure Pop Remixed!

I had the chance to listen to a promo copy of Erasure’s “Pop Remixed!” and I can officially say that I am disappointed.  Really, not trying to sound negative or unsupportive, but the remixes are really…   thin… weak… uninspiring.  

Here is a quick breakdown.

Always – The Manhattan Clique remix doesn’t embody any of the original – outside of the vocals, nor does it do the song justice.  I’ve never understood the fascination Erasure has with Manhattan Clique as their work never seems impressive.

Drama!  - Really, you would think that Andy Bell would honor his own song in little better than this.

A Little Respect – Hello bad late 90’s Euro Trance music

Fingers and Thumbs – The full remix is long and, at times, seemingly pointless. Worse yet, the remix uses a vocoder on Andy’s voice…  The edit version is OK, but nothing impressive.

There was such potential here but my fears, I believe, have been realized…. 

Until next time, stay (fill in the blank).

Tomorrow Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and has a daunting task facing him come 12:01 PM. He steps into office with an economy that is deep in recession, unemployment rising on a seemingly weekly basis, foreign conflict continually erupting and a Democratic party that seems to be at odds with him over several issues. Still, at this point the man can do no wrong.

Obama’s pick to be treasure secretary, Timothy Geithner, forgot to pay income taxes for 2003 and 2004 even though he signed an employment agreement saying he would do so. Bill Richardson, his nominee for Commerce Secretary, had to withdraw his name from consideration because of a Grand Jury investigation. The Obama team was well aware of the investigation, so why even pick him? Or take Rahm Emmanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, who has already been linked to the Rod Blagojevich scandal. Camp Obama won’t even explain the level of detail that Emmanuel did/did not talk to Blagojevich.

Why hasn’t the press, or the public, demanded answers from the incoming president? Why hasn’t the press jumped all over Geithner for not paying taxes? How can someone who forgot to pay their taxes be trusted to the the Treasury Secretary? Why hasn’t anyone truly pointed out the inconsistencies from Camp Obama on the Blagojevich scandal?

It’s all about hope….

The general public has hope that Barack Obama can take on the financial crisis the world is facing. People believe that Obama can “clean up” the image the United States in the eyes of the world. The public hopes he can fix the situation in Iraq, and the nation hopes that Barack Obama will move away from the politics of scandal, leading the nation on a new path of leadership.

It’s funny, however, that the very actions the nation is enraged over – the deception, and the dirty politics of the current administration – are already taking place but no one seems to care. People are willing to overlook the “little” things simply because they have hope for the future with Obama. Even if we give Obama a pass on his missteps now at what point do we stop compromising our beliefs in what is right for the potential of what could be? If a year from now the economy is in worse condition, will we be willing to look past the potential scandals?

While Barack may do no wrong in the eyes of the public (for now), how will the stock market react? Will the market be awaiting a new era with baited breath, like the rest of the nation, or will the realities of our current economic situation triumph? It will come down to the tone Obama sets. The market needs something to hold onto, some hope that the government has a plan to address the ills of the nation.

But does he? That is what the market will want to know, and they will want to know very quickly. Also, if the market continues to trend lower, does that indicate there is little faith in what Obama plans to do?

At roughly Noon Eastern, Obama will be sworn in, and I’ll be watching, but his polish my wear off very quickly if he do not live up to the standard he has set.

I wish him the best as he is facing a huge task.

Aside from a quick introduction to the world last week, the voting public still hasn’t seen Sarah Palin in action. All of that will change tonight, in prime time no less.

As I previously noted, the reason the attack dog are out is due to the fact that she was a great choice by John McCain. She is someone voters can connect with, she is effective in her position and she has strong family values. Oh, and also, Palin has an extensive public record and, no matter what anyone will tell you, she has more with more executive experience than Barack Obama.

So what if Alaska only has 600,000 people, Alaska’s 2008 operating budget is $11.2 billion. Billion. Furthermore, the state employs roughly 15,000 people. Up until 2004, and this is only because I cannot find records after this period, the most management exposure Obama had as of roughly 700 volunteers and the largest budget was 90 million dollars, which happens to be his current campaign.

How is it that Sarah has no experience yet Obama is qualified to be President?

No, what is going on is the press is focusing on the fact that she is a woman and discounting her accomplishments. The press is holding her to an unfair standard and, tonight, she has the change to truly show who she is and set the record straight. If she manages to pull off a flawless performance she could, potentially, win over a large group of voters.

While doing research for anohter article I am writing, I happend to find a story published by The Weekly Standard, back in July of 2007, on Sarah Palin titled: “The Most Popular Governor - Alaska’s Sarah Palin is the GOP’s newest star“

Take the time to read the article, there is some powerful information (I believe) that speaks to her character.

In the mean time, I am going to continue a bit more research on my next article before I head of to bed.

Each election year, usually, has a hint of electricity in the air. This year doesn’t really seem to be the case. One could have reasonably expected to hear chatter about the conventions around the office, yet the only discussion I see taking place is where I would expect it – the media.

Yes, sure, Barack Obama provided the Democratic party with excitement and huge swell of support during the primaries but his political shine appears to be wearing a bit thing. There are a number of problems facing his campaign and they are beginning to hurt his chances. He has no real track record, he has started to move back on his word (FISA or Pubic Financing, anyone?), polls show that he is tied to McCain DURING HIS OWN CONVENTION, and people are starting to question if he is truly a candidate for change.

I mean, for Obama to say he will reform politics, move away from underhanded tricks, and be the voice of the next generation it is suspect to learn that this candidate won his first public election by having his opponents removed from the ballot due to technicalities, don’t you think?

Don’t get me wrong; John McCain isn’t exactly Mr. Excitement. He has been running a terrible campaign thus far. So bad, from my view, that this make Bob Dole’s 96 run look good.

Policies aside, McCain hasn’t been able to get his message to the masses, he is lacking broad base Republican Party support and, let’s face it… he’s old. Not that I believe this is a issue or a factor that prohibits McCain from being president but the sad fact is we are a youth based nation. Do the masses want what’s “flashy” or do they want their grandfather?

The vice presidential nominees aren’t helping much either (at this point).

Obama decided that Joe Biden, the Democrats answer to Dick Cheney, should be his running mate. It is true that he brings the political experience, especially on foreign policy, team Obama lacks and he can also play the role of politics pit bull, but beyond that he doesn’t bring much to the table.

Think about this for a moment: Biden is a guy who no one wanted as president. How does that help Obama?

McCain, on the other hand, hasn’t picked a VP candidate yet. Judging by the press, no one seems to care either. My guess is that camp McCain will try to steal the DNC thunder by announcing his running mate this Thursday. Currently, the three top choices appear to be Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Joe Lieberman.

So, what does that mean we have? Three VP choices that really don’t add any fuel to the Republican fire.

Romney dropped out of the presidential race when it became too expensive for him AND he has a problem because of his religion. Minnesota’s governor, Tim Pawlenty, could help McCain win the state during the election but the man doesn’t have name recognition. Finally, Joe Lieberman would irk the Democratic Party and alienate a large chunk of John McCain’s core supporters. As much as I respect Lieberman, making him the running mate is almost like accepting sloppy seconds from Al Gore.

I usually love this time in the political cycle but this year just isn’t doing it for me and I think a lot of people feel the same way. Maybe the gloves haven’t yet come off and the excitement will kick in, maybe the candidates are not engaging the public as they were months ago, or maybe the general public is burned out and tired of hearing about the election.

Bottom line, I want to vote for someone I believe, not vote simply because there are candidates to vote for. At this point, from what I have seen, I don’t think that will happen.