Bush & Company

Known as unflappable, but finally miffed---

"This is a spending bill!" said President Obama in early February. "What do you think a stimulus is?"

Is he resigned now to the obvious, that Republicans are indifferent to his good nature, to his honest attempts to bring "everyone in?" Does he realize that theyll say and do just about anything to undermine him to the detriment of America and its people?

This is a president who told the American people that if he doesn't resolve the economic crisis, he should be booted out, who understands that "Responsibility doesn't mean not making mistakes but owning up to them and trying not to repeat them." This is a president who slid easily and confortably into the presidency as if he were made for it.

Scorning Mr.Obama's outreach to bipartisanship, Republicans who want such a president to fail, to lose that coveted second term, care only for themselves and what their party can do for them, not for the nation.

In spite of their negative efforts, the stimulus bill passed, signed into law Tuesday, February 17, but considerbly diluted---again, through their efforts. Because of those efforts, a new recovery plan will soon be needed.

We can thank three Republican senators---Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania---for salvaging what remains of the package. If it fails, that self-serving block of Republicans who claimed the plan was too costly, will blame the president. If it succeeds, they'll credit that success to a natural economic cycle, not to the president.