WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OBAMA !

Yesterday Barack Obama accused people working in Washington schools of lacking courage and being too lazy...

Today, he received a cold welcome in the federal capital from another group of people working in the city :
they are the Republican members of the House of Representatives, and twelve Democrats.

They had a message for him :
"Welcome to Washington, Mister Obama !"

The new president's stimulus package has passed the House of Representatives, 244-188.

But...
Not a single House Republican voted for it.

And twelve Democrats voted with the Republicans against Obama !

It means the Selected One has not even managed to convince the members of his own Party that his plan would be efficient to stimulate the economy !

Remember what he had promised during his campaign ?

He claimed he was going "change" they way Washington works. He said the time of partisan politics was over...

And now, he just choked on his first real opportunity to prove that claim.

Although the bill passed, Obama failed in his first mission : convince that his plan would be efficient. A lot of people, including economic experts, do not believe in his stimulus package : this is only additional money spent, and nobody knows what the results might be...

Eventually, Obama has failed to win over a lot of the skeptics, and now what is even more worrying for him is that Senate Republicans have announced they were determined to oppose the plan...

So it is going to be a hard political battle in Washington, between Republicans and Democrats...
Politics as usual...

Where's the change ?


But let me be clear : I am not accusing Republicans of playing partisan politics. I can understand their opposition : how could they support such new spendings ?

Obama did not win the Presidential election by promising to spend $825 Billion in his first days in office. He won the election promising to be fiscally prudent, to cut taxes and wasteful government spending.

So now can he explain something to us, answering this simple question :

How will this stimulus package in its current form create jobs and stimulate the economy with a return commensurate with its cost?