The whole speach was a fun kick ass start to the campaign season.  Repeating on cspan at 8 eastern.

Well, but ... but ... he once used the adverb “periodically” in talking about Hillary, so he is WORSE THAN BUSH!!!!!!*

(As I recall, the Super-Duper-Sekrit-Sexist Decoder Ring Owed by Ms. Shakesville and Spouse could discern that he was OBVIOUSLY using sexist dogwhistles - whereas Hillary’s “hardworking Americans, white Americans” remark was probably just a slip of the tongue, but she needed to apologize for it anyway, just in case. Yeah—that’s about the time I stopped taking Mother-May-I McEwan seriously.)

Time to strap on the OFA phone lists and start working for Giannoulias. Why? Because he has one very good feature—he’s NOT Mark Kirk!

*I don’t know why I put an asterisk in that last comment.

Putin would have executed someone instead, so Obama’s a whiny wuss, clearly.

Also all spending is bad unless it’s on wars or tax cuts, so let’s impeach now.

Maybe y’all can clear this up for me: According to practically every political prognosticator on earth, the Dems are facing a political tsunami of a magnitude not seen since the failed presidencies of Reagan and Clinton in their first mid-terms.

They could be right—god knows the economy is horrid, and that generally drives voter angst. And the GOP has successfully re-branded the Bush dead-enders as a new movement using the genius tactic of gluing teabags to their hats and dressing them up in Colonial garb. So there’s that.

But here’s the part that confuses me: The pundits say it’s too late to change the tide—voter sentiment is “baked in.” However, in the next breath, many say the voters who will actually determine the outcome, i.e., NOT either side’s base, has yet to begin paying attention.

So, which is it? Is there still time to paint the GOP as the obstructionist assholes they are? Or is it too late because voter sentiment is “baked in”?

Yeah, it’s a “fun kick ass start to the campaign season,” but how about some legislative action?

Is Obama kidding?  His starting position on money for infrastructure is only $50 billion?

Betty, I’m not sure why, but I just don’t have the impending sense of doom I’m supposed to be feeling about the mid-terms. It could be a massacre in both houses, but the GOP doesn’t have any legislative Big Ideas that aren’t going to introduce more instability into the markets, add thousands of Federal, State and Local workers to the unemployment rolls, cut popular government services, pull government money out of the system, leave states and municipalities to collapse under their own debt, and potentially put 1.1 million CPAs out of work.

Plus, the establishment GOP is likely to be routinely embarrassed by the new class of Freshman Teabaggers who’ll be anxious to start slashing, burning and repealing the 16th Amendment right out of the gate.

Only the blogger part of me would welcome two years of gridlock, defensive moves and operatic posturing…but my guess is the Pubbies (even if they get the majority) are going to have their hands full trying to avoid a circus of investigations, impeachment proceedings, wholesale slaughter of Cabinet Departments, and draconian social and domestic policies that give normal people the willies.

but how about some legislative action?

Can’t think of anything that wouldn’t create a new front of criticism, or require vulnerable Dems to stick their necks out.

His starting position on money for infrastructure is only $50 billion?

It’s hard to criticize rebuilding America’s infrastructure, but it’ easy to beat him up on big numbers. Making the Pubbies oppose a piddling $50 billion to put people to work is a good political move, if not a particularly bold inititiative.

With control of Congress on the bubble, I wouldn’t expect to hear anything “bold” between now and November. Anything he proposes is still likely to play better than the GOP chorus of “No.”

Just my take, which is basically worthless.

Oh, and I forgot the $200 billion 2011 corporate tax holiday for new capital investment that O is proposing.

That’s a bigger number, but also a lot harder for Pubbies to demonize.

Again, probably more optics that solutions here, but unless he has a crowd-pleasing New Deal II package ready to roll out, he’s going to have to thread the needle for the next 60 days.

In retrospect, I think the one political mistake the White House made was not aggressively pushing more stimulus measures every. fucking. day. I still don’t think they’d have gotten much out of Congress, but the Democratic leadership should have basically pushed every proposal they could possibly think of that would have been even remotely possible, and forced Republicans to oppose, literally, everything. It might not have changed anything, as people might not have paid enough attention to absorb the narrative that Republicans were using Senate rules to block everything from fiscal aid to states to corporate tax cuts, but at least they would have had a chance.