Politics and Media Headlines 12/8/08

The Heretik

Obama Warns of Further Economic Pain
WASHINGTON — Saying that the United States economy was likely to worsen before it improves, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday pledged to pursue a recovery plan “equal to the task ahead,” including the creation of a vast public-works program not just built around bridge and highway projects, but on creating “green jobs” and disseminating new technologies.

Spend, Obama, spend! And save jobs (by Joe Conason)
The first thing Obama should do is use federal funds to keep public employees from joining the swelling ranks of the unemployed.

Obama Pledges Massive Infrastructure Plan (Political Wire)
In his Saturday radio address, President-elect Obama committed to "the largest public works construction program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago as he seeks to put together a plan to resuscitate the reeling economy… "Although he put no price tag on it, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other public utilities. He vowed to upgrade computers in schools, expand broadband Internet access, make government buildings more energy efficient and improve information technology at hospitals and doctors' offices."

Broadband nation (by Jeff Jarvis)
If we wanted subsidy, there could be none better than assuring that the entire nation is on broadband. Then all consumers, all content, all advertisers could meet there. It would fast-forward the inevitable. It would spark innovation and jobs and trade and education. To hell with public-service broadcasting. How about public-service connectivity?

Public Opinion Snapshot: Ready for Change on Jobs and Health Care (by Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress)
The incoming Obama administration has some mighty ambitious plans to fix America’s problems. And Americans say they’re OK with that. A just-released Democracy Corps poll found that 66 percent of the public supports Obama’s “policies and goals for the country” as opposed to only 28 percent who do not.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Over Obama’s Citizenship (The Caucus, New York Times)
Without any comment whatsoever, the Supreme Court today declined to take up an appeal by a New Jersey man who questioned President-elect Barack Obama’s eligibility for the presidency, based on his birth to a father from Kenya and a mother who was a United States citizen. The case, brought by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., contended that Mr. Obama could not be considered a “natural-born citizen” — a constitutional ground for becoming president of the United States — because he had dual nationality at birth.
This decision confirms my belief that the Republican powers that be WANT Obama in the presidency. They must think they have a better chance of discrediting him and the Democratic Party with Obama at the helm.—Caro

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com