Daily Political Wire 4-2-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Obama is off to North Carolina - he will visit a company in Charlotte who has hired new employees and expanded it's operations due to the Stimulus bill. The Washington Post has more here.



Yesterday in Maine, the president continued to tout the benefits of the recently passed health care reform bill. The NY Times has more here. Last night, Chris Matthews on his MSNBC show "Hardball" noted that the president is excellent at giving speeches which highlight the health care bill benefits, but questioned where the rest of the Democratic leadership was in promoting health care. This is a good point, for as good a speaker as Obama is, Democrats need to put forth a united front on the benefits that result from passage of this bill.

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162,000 jobs added in March - this was this highest number added in a month for three years. This gain was predicted by many economists who also predicted that the overall unemployment rate would remain at 9.7%. The Obama administration will say the Stimulus bill is working and it most likely is contributing from keeping the economy from slipping backwards. Bloomberg.com has more here.

Turning the massive U.S. economy around is like turning an ocean liner around - it can be done, but it takes time. In the meantime, I continue to advocate for federal funding of public service employment jobs through the Stimulus bill. This will put the unemployed back to work while also aiding cash strapped states, counties and municipalities who are currently laying off workers to help balance their budgets.

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Time for Steele to resign, but will he? - Michael Steele became chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) about a year ago after many rounds of balloting left him the last man standing. Since that time, he has been an embarrassment for the Republican Party. He has gone from saying he favors a woman's right to choose; a no-no in the Republican Party, to telling Republicans if they don't like the way he is doing things-tough, either get with the program or get out of the way.

His firing of a young staffer for reimbursing a GOP paid consultant for a visit to a risque night club further underscores his inability to see what is right. Meanwhile, his extravagant spending on himself, using private jets, limos and staying at posh resorts has lead former RNC chairs to set up a separate organization; "American Crossroads", for Republicans to donate and show support. This new group comes after conservative Tony Perkins; head of the Family Research Council, tells followers not to contribute money to the RNC.

Another conservative Mark DeMoss is asking why in the world would Steele hire attorney Ted Olsen to argue their case on the legality of the health care bill? Olsen, whose prominence in front of the Supreme Court came as a result of his arguments in the 2000 presidential election. Someone forgot to tell Steele that Olsen was now arguing to overturn the marriage amendment in California and was in favor of gay marriage.

If that is not enough to get the attention of Republicans, the RNC recently sent out a fund raising letter designed to look like the U.S. census, which was bad enough. On top of that, it seems the telephone number on the mailer to call was a phone-sex number and not the RNC - oops! Politico.com has more here.

The RNC by-laws surrounding the removal of the chair are onerous and not likely to transpire. In the meantime, Michael Steele continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for the benefit of the Democratic Party.

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