Left In Lowell

One of my international friends sent me this link. This is more than just a blip on the global radar. The EU is serious.

The EU has increased its pressure on the US to reconsider the “Buy American” clause in the $800bn (£567bn) economic recovery package now before Congress.

The clause seeks to ensure that only US iron, steel and manufactured goods are used in projects funded by the bill.

A European Commission spokesman said it was the “worst possible signal” the Obama administration could send out.

The EU will launch a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the clause remains, the spokesman said.

On the one hand, you could totally see why this sort of “protectionism” would be desirable, from the point of view of the American politician and also the taxpayer. Why produce a stimulus if some large percentage of the funds will go into international hands? How does that create the jobs we so desperately need in order to get the economy back on track?

On the other hand, under many of our trade agreements and international law, protectionism isn’t allowed. The whole purpose was to open the playing field in international markets.

Also, if we’re spending taxpayer money, and some European or foreign company can produce the material or good cheaper than we can, wouldn’t it be a waste of taxpayer money to not go with the competitive bid? And the actual job of building the bridge, or road, or other infrastructure will be done by new US jobs, so is the protectionism sort of moot, or at least, not so big a deal?

It’s a pickle, to be sure, and it won’t go away if this clause in the stimulus passes. Lest we forget previous tiffs .

What Charley said.

Why do I get the feeling Democrats, including Obama, will not learn this lesson any time soon? How many times do you have to get bitten until you stop hand-feeding the animal…ug.

This was a really cool find. (Link thanks to Mr. Lynne.) And yes, it’s Obama related.

There’s no doubt now, change has come to America.

As stated in comments of the previous post, I was in Arlington with some good friends celebrating the inauguration at the Regent Theatre in Arlington.

The theatre was quite full of people, and was very warm and responsive to the first sight of Barak Obama on his way into the inauguration, and got more animated from there. I turned my back on Rick Warren, a symbolic act but nonetheless showing my feelings on his inclusion in this otherwise historic, amazing, upbeat yet somber day.

Though no one except the people at the theatre would ever see it, thunderous applause, standing, and much fist pumping was to be had among us. I imagined that besides the two million or so on the Mall (did you see those overhead shots of that crowd??), tens of millions across the nation were tuning in at schools and churches and auditoriums and offices and public venues across this nation. I will dare to say that this was probably the most watched inauguration ever. Certainly the most and longest anticipated, especially among those who participated in the civil rights movement. Congratulations to them, and to all of us, for this moment.

Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

Share your stories of where you were when witnessing the inauguration of President Barak Obama.

Though, like 75% of the country, I am hoping for a much better 4 or 8 years coming, despite the gloom and frightening downturn, there are those who are already severely disappointed in Obama for “reaching out” to people who should not be reached out to, but rather whose views should be outright rejected. I talk of course about the Rick Warren inaugural debacle.

John at AMERICAblog has been all over this - and rightly so. I’m sorry, the gay haters are not victims of intolerance when we fight against them. The whole thing has been a big showcase of ignoring-the-shoe-on-the-other-foot test. After all, if Warren had said “black people are like pedophiles” would anyone expect Obama to put him on the inaugural ANYthing? Nope. But because it’s gays, it’s OK to prop up and give honors to such a person who says these things about gays, and anyone who stands against it is victimizing poor gay-haters. Yeah, right.

But this one sentence from John really just describes it all - why we should be admonishing, not admiring, such people:

People are not born to hate. They learn hate, then act on it. And Rick Warren and his evangelical ilk are some of the nation’s best prominent teachers.

This whole thing is tarnishing all that Obama worked for. I’m all for a sort of postpartisanship - when it’s sane, not stupid, let’s not cut our nose to spite our face (*coughtaxcutswhenwe’reindeficitalreadycough*). But lauding people who hold the views Warren does about gays (and voices them incessantly to his flock) is not postpartisanship. It’s revictimizing the victims and giving legitimacy to the crap that spews from some of the most hateful, vile people in America.

I’m not saying that the US government throw Rick Warren in jail for his views and his free speech rights. I’m saying why the bleeping bleep is anyone giving him more of a platform to be an asshole? Marginalize the jerk. Don’t acknowledge him and then clap him on the shoulder for it.

Obama’s on probation, as far as I’m concerned. The jury is definitely still out - and that goes for his economic and domestic and foreign policies, too, given some of the appointments he’s made. I’m very skeptical of much of it.

This must strike fear into the hearts of Obama’s opponents (bold mine).

Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media.
…
The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama.

Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day, they served as the backbone of Obama’s get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts.
…
Once Obama is sworn in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist in administration-supported causes in local communities. Obama would also be positioned to ask his supporters to back his favored candidates with fundraising and turnout support in the 2010 midterm elections.

Sounds like President-Elect Obama is taking a page out of Governor Patrick’s book, though I would say that Patrick has found it harder to achieve than he may have thought. Though citizen governance is a difficult thing in times like these (people are so busy trying to make ends meet they can’t take the time, you lose supporters once you make some decisions because you can’t please everyone, etc) I think it’s a worthy use of the mandate that Obama has achieved. Sign me up! (I already am, of course.)

And, as an aside, how sweet it is to add the category, “Obama Administration”!