Back Bay Back Bite

Well, well, well. The Democrats have lost possibly the bluest blue seat in the entire Congress. Serves them right. The arrogance of somehow thinking the so called "Kennedy Seat" belonged to them as an inherited piece of property has blown up in their faces and has taken President Obama's agenda with it. True, Martha Coakley was a very poor candidate who ran a lousy, almost detached campaign. But the bare naked truth is that this was most decidedly a referendum on the president, his agenda (particularly health care) and his party. You can't force left center policy down the throat of a right center populace, even in Taxachusetts.

The Dems are going to have to regroup on health care. They don't dare to try to sneak it through with some legislative slight of hand before Scott Brown is certified and seated. The House wil never accept the Senate version of the bill as is, so the strategy of having the House pass the Senate bill to avoid reconciliation and another Senate vote is dead.

Looks like they are going to have to do what they should have done in the first place; go back to the drawing board, invite the Republicans back into the discussion, and work on some incremental but meaningful reforms.

Immigration Madness

This little tidbit from the New York Times:
Haitians Illegally in U.S. Given Protected Status


By JULIA PRESTON
Published: January 15, 2010

The Obama administration extended a special immigration status on Friday to Haitians living illegally in the United States that protects them from deportation for 18 months and allows them to work here.
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Calling the aftermath of the earthquake “a disaster of historic proportions,” the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said she was granting the designation, known as temporary protected status, for Haitian immigrants because their safety would be at risk if they were deported.

Obviously the horrific aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti quite literally gives these immigrants nothing to return to. What is laughable is the notion that the government is somehow granting them temporary protection. They've been living here for years without the approval or the knowledge of the government. How is the government going to dispense this temporary status? Are all the Haitians who are here illegally going to come forward and identify themselves so that they can receive the governments largese? Another cruel joke.

Healthcare Gets Worse

The absurd version of Let's Make a Deal continues. At least the Dems could have called in Bob Barker to be temporary majority leader so we all could have had some fun. The latest winners of the bonus round are the unions who forced Obama to scale back the proposed 40% surcharge on expense "Cadillac" health plans. Since the unions have quite a few of these plans, they got BO to push off the effective date of the tax to 2018. So now, only the non-union folks who have expensive plan will have to pay the surcharge.

There's been talk of levying the Medicare tax on unearned income for folks in upper income bracket. Apparently, some new economic theory has been discovered that proves that raising taxes is the way to economic recovery. Wow, are these people dumb!

And who in their wildest imagination would ever have thought that a Democratic president would have to go to Massachusetts to help a Democratic candidate try to hold on to Teddy Kennedy's senate seat? Honestly, does it get any bluer? Yet BO is on his way to help Martha Coakley who has proven to be totally uninspiring. If she wins, BO pats himself on the back. If she loses,the Dems treat her like Creigh Deeds, she was a bad candidate. Tuesday should really be fun on cable TV is Brown wins. The Lib media will have fun trying to explain this one.

The Dems in a Box

The Dems have painted themselves into an interesting box. Polls indicate that there is great concern about the level of unemployment. While the unemployment rate may start to edge down in the New Year, the decline will be painfully slow, as the country’s traditional job engines in the manufacturing and financial services sectors are sputtering. The polls also indicate that concern over the country’s level of deficits and debt is at an all time high. With TARP, bailouts and the non-stimulating “stimulus” plan pushing the deficit sky high, and health care legislation on the way, much of the public has had enough of big government spending.

But there is an election coming in November, and the Dems will feel compelled to concoct some hodgepodge “jobs” bill to show that they are working hard for us. Lord only knows how many pages that might run to and whether any of our esteemed legislators will read it. Only one problem, there is no money left for these dopey pork projects, and the public will throw up on more of this inane spending. One town used funds from the stimulus plan to build a tennis court. Yippee!

The Dems may have to face the mid-terms with a bad taste in everyone’s mouth over health care, fears over whether we can truly protect ourselves against terrorism, and an economy that is not creating jobs. Not a very appealing scenario.