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We never understood why liberals despised this man so much.

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The Hill reports today, “The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress are at odds over three pending trade deals that President Obama is poised to send to Capitol Hill. Throughout the summer, Obama has been making the case that the trade accords with Colombia, South Korea and Panama will help the ailing economy by creating jobs. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) disagree. . . . Reid has vowed to vote against all three deals when they arrive on the Senate floor, possibly as early as next month. ‘I am not a big fan of free-trade agreements,’ Reid said on the Senate floor in June. ‘My voting record is in accordance with that.’ . . . Reid, a strong supporter of organized labor, lines up with the views of the AFL-CIO . . . .  Pelosi, too, has added her skepticism about the number of jobs that could be created by the trade deals. ‘The White House may support it, but the Congress may have a different view,’ Pelosi said last month.”

The trade deals have languished for years because of opposition from Democrats. All three have been waiting for congressional approval since the Bush administration negotiated them. When she was Speaker of the House, Pelosi deep-sixed the Colombia agreement, and never moved the other two. And The Hill notes, “The president pushed for and made changes to all three agreements — less than what he proposed during his 2008 run — but that hasn’t quelled concerns from rank-and-file Democrats over passage of the deals.”

Despite opposition from Democrats, President Obama has been pushing for approval of the trade deals. Unfortunately, they remain sitting on his desk at the White House. The administration had indicated that first Trade Adjustment Assistance needed to be reauthorized, which the Senate approved last week. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained last week, “The White House asked for a ‘path forward’ on Trade Adjustment Assistance in exchange for sending these deals up to Congress, and we gave it to them.  I can’t say I’m happy about that-–this is a program that I and many Republican members have serious questions about. . . . Both parties in the Senate have acted in good faith to move this process forward.  Now, it’s the President’s turn.”

Yet today’s story in The Hill suggests Democrat leaders may be attempting to move the goal posts again. According to The Hill, “Even Obama’s push to renew the worker-assistance program hasn’t diminished the opposition from some Democrats and organized labor who have deemed the trade deals ‘job killers.’” The story points out, “Last month, in a speech to the United Steelworkers, Pelosi said China’s currency manipulation must be addressed before sending the trade deals up to Capitol Hill: ‘If you want to bring those trade agreements to the floor of Congress you better be prepared first to let us bring our bill on China’s manipulation of its currency, which is unfair to America’s workers.’ Reid last Tuesday also addressed the currency issue: ‘The first major jobs bill we’re going to have is send a message to the Chinese, where we’ve lost 2.8 million jobs during the last eight years, and that is we’re going to do something about Chinese currency. And we’re going to do that quickly.’” However, the White House opposes the bill, so it would be odd for the president to continue to hold trade agreements he supports over a bill he opposes.

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As even more troubling reports surface about failed solar panel maker Solyndra, Politico reports today, “Solyndra executives repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment this morning as House lawmakers pressed them to answer questions about the company’s financial collapse and any hopes of repaying their $535 million federal loan guarantee. ‘While I hope to have an opportunity to assist this committee in the future, on the advice of my attorney, I must respectfully decline to answer any questions,’ Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison told Energy and Commerce oversight subpanel Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who opened the questioning. CFO Brian Stover gave a similar response.”

Meanwhile, The New York Times writes today, “The government’s backing of Solyndra, which could cost taxpayers more than a half-billion dollars, came as the politically well-connected business began an extensive lobbying campaign that appears to have blinded government officials to the company’s financial condition and the risks of the investment, according to a review of government documents and interviews with administration officials and industry analysts. . . . Its lobbyists corresponded frequently and met at least three times with an aide to a top White House official, Valerie B. Jarrett, to push for loans, tax breaks and other government assistance. . . . Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill question whether the firm’s executives may have engaged in a cover-up of their precarious financial condition, allegations the company denies. But industry analysts and government auditors fault the Obama administration for failing to properly evaluate the business proposals or take note of troubling signs already evident in the solar energy marketplace. . . . The Energy Department’s senior staff has acknowledged in interviews the intense pressure from top Obama administration officials to rush stimulus spending out the door.”

And earlier this week, The Washington Post reported, “Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up. A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said. As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., workers watched as pallets of unsold solar panels stacked up in storage. Many wondered: Was the factory needed? ‘After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,’ said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. ‘Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.’”

Given all these revelations about Solyndra, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would be eager to continue funding the federal loan program that gave money to the now-bankrupt company without some serious deliberation. Yet Democrats today voted down a House-passed bill to fund the government and provide critical disaster relief money for FEMA because they didn’t want money taken from this green energy loan program to pay for disaster funds.

So after a week of demanding action on disaster aid through repeated press conferences and floor speeches, Democrats today delayed that aid because they didn’t want it paid for and preferred to protect wasteful green energy loans.

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Hat tip:showmeinstitute

Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding describes how even though the $360 million Aerotropolis tax credit package has been trimmed by $300 million, that same funding for warehouse development may ultimately come about anyway from other, existing tax credit programs.

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By Raynard Jackson

Last week, as I was riding the local train in Washington, DC, I began to ponder on the thoughts that had begun to flood into my mind. I was president of my senior class at Soldan High School in St. Louis, MO.  I had a lot of my friends who worked hard to get me elected.  So, during this train ride, I wondered how my classmates would have responded if I decided to put all my energies into helping another school across town?

I also pondered what would happened if members of a fraternity or sorority helped elect one of their friend’s as national president; and then they never showed up at any of their own meetings.  But, they seemed to always find time to attend other fraternity’s or sorority’s meetings. I know, I know.  The thought of that happening would be unimaginable and unthinkable, right? Wrong! Cause that is exactly what is happening before our very eyes.

Blacks are 13% of the American population and gave Obama 96 % of their vote in 2008.  They are the second largest voting block in the country (behind the white population, who is 74 % of the population). Obama has done everything in his power to ignore the Black community and finally, some of the Black community’s frustration is spilling over in public.  What took you so long?

As I have said in previous columns, the White House has made a political calculation that they can ignore the Black vote and suffer no consequence.  “Blacks will get mad and do nothing.” While I am elated that Blacks are finally speaking out, the question is—what are they going to do? If the recent comments from members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is any indication, I am not very optimistic! They have been quoted in several newspaper interviews ranting and raving.

John Conyers (Congressman from Michigan) said about Obama, “We want him to know that from this day forward . . . we’ve had it… We want him to come out on our side and advocate, not to watch and wait.” Or what? No one in America fears ignoring the Black community.  What are members of the CBC going to do if Obama doesn’t change his approach towards them? When the CBC kicked off their jobs tour during the August recess, Obama did the same thing– in Iowa.  That shows you how much Obama thinks of Blacks and jobs!

In the immortal words of the Doobie Brothers, from their hit song from the 70s—What a Fool Believes, “But what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power, to reason away.  What seems to be is always better than nothing at all.” The CBC and the Black community want to believe in Obama’s presidency; but there is nothing tangible he has given them to believe in.  “But what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.  What seems to be is always better than nothing at all.”

So, members of the CBC have begun to blame the Tea Party for the high unemployment rate in the Black community.  People of good will within the Black community must call out these members of the CBC for what they are—race baiters.  You can’t blame the Tea Party for Obama ignoring his own people. In 2009 and 2010, Obama controlled the House and the Senate.  He had the votes to ram through any legislation he wanted—and he did nothing.  Can you blame that on the Tea Party also?

Look at what CBC Chairman, Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said, “If (former President) Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House…There is a less-volatile reaction in the CBC because nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president.”

I found Cleaver’s statement to be extremely offensive to my sensibilities and he should have been called out on these statements.  Where was Al Sharpton, Marc Morial, or Ben Jealous?  Total silence. So, let me make sure I understand Cleaver and the rest of the CBC.  The Black community’s agenda is predicated upon the skin color of the person in power?  Because Obama is Black, he should not be criticized by other Blacks for ignoring us because we are Black?

So, in a kind of perverted way, you have the first Black president using race to hurt his own (by trying to prove to whites that he is not going to be a “Black” president); and you have the CBC using race to allow the president to get away with it (not criticizing him strictly because he is Black). Boy, I now have a headache.  So, it’s ok for Blacks to use race to hurt other Blacks; but it’s not ok for whites to use race to hurt Blacks? Blacks somehow believe that by not criticizing Obama on his lack of constructive engagement with the Black community that somehow their problems are going to get dealt with through osmosis? I guess, if you leave it to Cleaver! “What a fool believes……”

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm.  He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine (www.excellstyle.com), Freedom’s Journal Magazine (www.freedomsjournal.net), and U.S. Africa Magazine (www.usafricaonline.com).

Related:

Cleaver to Obama: “You Better Be Glad You’re a Brotha!”

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Yes, it can get worst for Claire this week!

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) its September Porker of the Month for suggesting that the United States Postal Service (USPS) could solve its financial problems by embarking on a new ad campaign….“I really believe that if somebody would begin to market the value of sending a written letter to someone you love, you might be surprised [by] how you could stabilize first-class mail.” She admitted that her comments were “corny, naïve and pollyanish;” the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart agreed.

While Sen. McCaskill’s solution is certainly offbeat, the House and Senate have failed to prevent the USPS from running up against its $15 billion line of credit on September 30; without congressional action, the USPS will either go bankrupt or start borrowing directly from taxpayers to pay its bills….The USPS has 600,000 employees and is the second-largest employer in America behind Wal-Mart. Read more….

Related:

McCaskill: Save Postal Service, Write More Letters!

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Reuters reports today, “A dilapidated bridge over the Ohio River becomes the latest prop in President Barack Obama’s push for jobs on Thursday as he takes a campaign for more spending into the backyard of his political foes. The Brent Spence Bridge, connecting the home states of the two top Republicans in Congress, is a vital traffic route between northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Republicans have mocked Obama’s trip as political theater. But the 830-foot bridge has been officially designated as ‘functionally obsolete’ and Obama hopes it will help him illustrate why Congress should back billions of dollars in job-creating infrastructure investment.”

Yet locals are seeing the visit for the politically motivated “photo-op” that it is. WKRC-TV, the Cincinnati CBS affiliate, notes, “Since the presidential visit was announced last week, there have been complaints that it’s more about politics, and getting votes in next year’s election.” Yesterday, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, “The fact that the Brent Spence Bridge sits squarely between the home states of House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is not just a coincidence — it’s the reason for the president’s visit on Thursday, a White House spokesman said.” An Enquirer headline this morning says of the bridge, “It’s prop for jobs bill.” It further refers to the bill as “a nice backdrop for a speech” and points to transportation expert Joshua Schank calling the speech as a “photo-op in a presidential election season . . . .” Even NBC News’ Chuck Todd acknowledged, “[T]he setting is what the White House cares about,” and correspondent Kristen Welker agreed: “It’s all about the setting right now . . . . The president’s going to use it as a backdrop to try to sell his jobs plan . . . .” Welker then held up the front page of The Cincinnati Enquirer, which reads, “Obama visit won’t build new bridge.”

In the story, The Enquirer explains, “A presidential visit is a big deal, but will it actually guarantee funding for the aged and overused Brent Spence Bridge? Not really, say transportation experts and highway officials. That’s not how highway funding works. . . . First, there’s the president’s jobs bill, which is the reason for his trip. In his joint address to Congress on Sept. 8, Obama called on Congress to immediately pass his plan. But the bill has received a lukewarm reception on the Hill, where even Democrats haven’t rallied around it. The bill itself contains no mention of the Brent Spence bridge, or any other specific projects. Even if the bill is passed, it’s not clear funding included in the bill for stimulus or the creation of a national infrastructure bank would ever reach the bridge.” And Joshua Schank, “CEO of the Eno Transportation Foundation and an urban planner who has been working on federal and state transportation policy for the last decade,” told The Enquirer, “No, I don’t see (the president’s visit) getting funding for the bridge. . . . Where they do the photo-op in a presidential election season usually doesn’t have much value in terms of directing the money.”

The White House even admitted to The Enquirer that money for the bridge isn’t guaranteed in the president’s stimulus bill. “‘No, no, no. It doesn’t name (the bridge),’ Pfeiffer said, explaining that the money would go to states and communities to use as they see fit.”

Fox 19 in Ohio published a story yesterday titled, “Reality Check: Someone needs to tell the President the Brent Spence Bridge is not shovel ready.” The story points out, “Even if 100 percent of the funding was in place, meaning the Feds picked up the tab for the entire project, the Brent Spence project is still, at minimum, 4 years away from breaking ground. That is because federal environmental studies are still not complete. . . . Remember when the President referred to the last stimulus projects saying they ‘weren’t as shovel ready as he had hoped?’ Well, this may be another example of the same problem. A bridge that needs replacement but has more than just a funding problem.” And even former Democrat Ohio Governor Ted Strickland agreed on Fox & Friends this morning when Gretchen Carlson noted that people say “that bridge does not even qualify as a shovel ready project.”

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 37% Favor Obama’s Deficit Reduction Plan, 42% Oppose

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Tough week for Claire so far. She’s dancing around the issue of whether she will attend the president’s appearance in St. Louis next month – lest she face the wrath of Emmanuel Cleaver and other Blacks, and now Native Americans are basically calling her a racist! Below is a press release from the Native American Contractors Association:

In a letter sent on September 16, 2011 to NASA Inspector General Paul Martin, McCaskill alleges that ASRC received a non-competitive contract under false pretenses. Sen. McCaskill continues her attack on Native 8(a) following her anti-Native legislation and amendments introduced earlier this year. “NACA takes issue with the fact that Sen. McCaskill continues to advance her Anti-Native agenda by limiting Native American participation in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program, stated Jim Gray, Executive Director of the Native American Contractors Association (NACA).

Native Enterprises provide exceptional value to the U.S. government and to the Native communities they serve. Gray continued, “I find it ironic that McCaskill would scrutinize a contract to ASRC when the Boeing Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri recently was awarded an $181,663,400 non-competitive, cost plus contract,” according to Federal Contracts Training Center. Read more…

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Most observers had given up the Steelman campaign for dead a few months ago. A poll recently conducted by Public Policy Polling shows the former state treasurer with a commanding lead over St. Louis congressman Todd Akin. In a campaign email released this morning, Steelman mentions her opponent by name:

“We won’t be able to fix Washington and put people back to work unless we send new people and start doing things differently in Washington.  We need change from the top down.  While I personally like Todd Akin, his self-proclaimed “go along, get along style” isn’t what we need in the Senate.   I promise to shake up the system and step on a few toes.”

PPP:

Sarah Steelman has jumped into a lead over Todd Akin for the right to face vulnerable Sen. Claire McCaskill.  She leads him 40-29, with John Brunner at 6%, and 26% undecided.  Akin has not picked up any supporters in the interim; he led Steelman 29-28 four months ago

The difference is that Steelman has reversed Akin’s leads with those who say they are somewhat conservative (36% of the electorate) and moderate (15%).  Akin led with those groups by respective eight- and three-point margins in the previous poll, but Steelman now leads by whopping 21- and 33-point spreads, while also leading by one with the 46% plurality of voters furthest to the right. Read more…

How much of this resurgence is due to Republican primary voters taking a second look at Mrs. Steelman or the fact that the Akin campaign has fallen off the radar screen the last few months?

Related:

Sarah Steelman Speaks at Move-on-up.org banquet

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Arch City Chronicle:

The Democratic Caucus approved their new rules unanimously last week. They would prohibit caucus members from accepting perks (like parking, office space etc) from the majority Republican Caucus.

The rules are in response to Reps. Jamilah Nasheed and Penny Hubbard, who occupy a sweet 3rd Floor office.

Related:

STL American: Democrats Patience With Rep. Jamilah “Niecey” Nasheed Wearing Thin

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Jamilah “Lil Niecey” Nasheed Survives Caucus Vote

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