Has Confidence in Pres.-elect Obama Declined?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
In 12 days Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. He has huge challenges in front of him starting with the crumbling economy and two wars.
Is the honeymoon already over?
Hopes are high for him to turn things around and indications are that he will. According to a new Gallup Poll 65% of Americans are confident in President-elect Obama's ability to be a good President. This is down slightly from the 70% approval rating he had a week ago.
Last month a CNN Opinion poll found that 82% of Americans approved of how Obama is handling his transition.
Since returning from his Hawaiian vacation, Mr. Obama has encountered a couple of bumps in the road. The situation in Gaza (which he's stayed away from by deferring to President Bush), criticism of Leon Panetta as his choice for CIA Director, Bill Richardson withdrawing his nomination for Commerce Secretary, and official stats that the deficit is projected at more than $1.2 Trillion this year. All this before he's even moved into the Oval Office.
Here’s my question to you: Has your confidence in President-elect Barack Obama declined any since the election?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Fed Spending: How Would You Cut It?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As a country, we are beyond broke. The Congressional Budget Office says the deficit this year will top $1.2 trillion. President- elect Barack Obama wants a stimulus package on his desk in the neighborhood of $800 billion shortly after he takes office. Predictions are that the federal deficits will exceed a trillion dollars for "years to come."
How can we cut spending?
Obama has a tough task: preach fiscal discipline to try to get Republican support (not that they've practiced anything approaching fiscal discipline for the past eight years), while at the same time, expanding health care coverage and investing in alternative energy.
The President-elect continues to talk about cutting federal spending, eliminating things from the budget, and so on. But the fact is that meaningful cuts are tough to come by. Unless you take a cleaver to defense and entitlements - Medicare and Social Security are the fastest growing drains on the federal budget - there's just not a lot of meat on the budgetary bone to trim. Plus government workers are civil servants who can't be fired.
At a news conference, Mr. Obama did say he'd talk about entitlements but not until next month.
Here’s my question to you: How would you go about cutting federal spending?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Does Harry Reid Work for Pres.-elect Obama?
"I don't work for Barack Obama. I work with him," Reid said.
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told The Hill newspaper that the Democrats on Capitol Hill will not be a rubber stamp for President-elect Obama's policies, the way the Republicans have been for President Bush. Reid said, "I don't work for Barack Obama. I work with him."
Reid's been on a bit of a roll this week. He started Sunday with his ongoing mantra about President Bush's failures and called him the worst President ever.
On Tuesday, he turned away Roland Burris at the Senate door, which was not a surprise since he vowed to refuse to accept anyone appointed by scandal ridden Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. But he may not have a choice. Reid met with Burris yesterday and seems to have warmed up to the possibility of seating him if the lawyers can work things out. If that happens, Harry Reid will look sillier than he already does.
Reid was also shooting from the lip on the still disputed Minnesota Senate race. He said, quote, "Norm Coleman will never ever serve again in the Senate" Really? What if a court decides otherwise?
Yesterday he told his fellow Senators to cancel their travel plans for this weekend and vowed a weekend vote on only the second day of the legislative session. What a busy fellow.
Here’s my question to you: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he doesn't work for Barack Obama. Is he right?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
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