Obama cabinet secretaries to hit "auto communities" »

Posted By Klarissa 5 months, 3 weeks ago in News

Your tax dollar at work?

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
Romulus, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Toledo, Ohio

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke
Dayton, Ohio with SBA Administrator Mills

Small Business Administrator Karen Mills
Columbus, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio with Secretary Locke

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cleveland, Ohio

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
Indianapolis, Indiana
Terra Haute, Indiana

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli
Michigan

Dr. Ed Montgomery, President Obama's Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers
Romulus, Michigan with Secretary Solis
Ypsilanti, Michigan with Secretary Solis

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke
Lansing, Michigan

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Columbus, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dr. Ed Montgomery, President Obama's Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers
TBA

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
Indianapolis, Indiana

Friday, June 5, 2009

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
Racine County, Wisconsin

Is there a political pattern to the stimulus tour?

Since Congress passed President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill in February, administration officials have traveled to at least 66 events across the country to tout the massive spending program or hand out stimulus cash to grateful local officials.

But a POLITICO examination of the travel reveals a distinctly political trend line: Top officials have hosted events predominantly in states that Obama won in 2008

Read Full Story at blogs.suntimes.com »

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Submitted By:
Klarissa

Berkeley conservative. Don't ask to be my friend unless you have a real bio.Eat your dessert first, life is uncertain. Bridge player, water ...

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  • 83%
    Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    From another article:

    "What’s more, the examination revealed that Obama officials all but avoided Southern states that Obama lost.

    It is not unusual for a presidential administration to find ways to reward its supporters through federal largesse, particularly in this case, when the goal of the stimulus program is push money out the door to states and localities that can spend it quickly to jump-start the economy. The Bush administration was criticized in 2004 for sending Cabinet officials on trips that critics said doubled as campaigning for the president’s reelection bid.

    But the numbers tell the tale: 52 of the 66 events were in states that backed Obama. And taken together, the itineraries amount to a veritable map of Obama’s election-night victories — big-money states like California and New York, swing states like Ohio and Colorado that Obama turned blue and other solidly Democratic states Obama kept in his column."

    The events were weighted to big cities that provided Obama some of his biggest election-night margins: Cleveland, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.

    Of the other 14 events, Vice President Joe Biden and Cabinet officials often touched down in places where Obama lost narrowly and that Democrats hope to pull into their column by 2012, such as Missouri, Arizona, Montana and North Dakota.

    Only two Southern states were visited by Cabinet officials for stimulus-related trips: Georgia and Kentucky, according to information provided by the White House and an examination of news releases from all 21 Cabinet-level agencies.

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  • 80%
    Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    "And the White House sharply denied that there was any political motivation to the travel. “Politics plays no role in implementation of the Recovery Act or highlighting its successes. Period,” said Liz Oxhorn, press secretary for the Recovery Act.

    Still, the stimulus bill has the potential to be a publicity bonanza for the Obama administration for years to come — through the 2010 midterm elections and beyond.

    As of mid-May, the administration had spent only 6 percent of the money Congress allotted for the program, and the White House says officials will continue to travel the country until all of the money is spent.

    The events generally come in the form of roundtable discussions, upbeat speeches and sweeping announcements of billions of dollars for local communities.

    Some have all the hallmarks of campaign events, featuring banks of television cameras, flag-bedecked stages and local politicians working the crowds.

    Many generate the kind of admiring local media coverage that politicians crave — and largely escape the attention of national outlets."

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23379.ht...

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  • 75%
    Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    "At one event in Arlington, Va., Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano handed over a made-for-TV, supersize check to the United Way.

    “It’s always great to play Santa Claus when the sack is bottomless,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College in California. Pitney says there’s a clear political rationale behind the travel pattern: “It’s better to shore up your base and spend time in swing states than it is to spend time in states that will probably go against you anyway.”

    Still, the White House says its stimulus events are not political rallies. Instead, they are intended to let Obama administration officials meet and gather ideas from the local officials and business leaders who are most affected by the stimulus spending. And the White House says the trips also help alert Americans to stimulus money they might not have known was available to them.

    But not everyone agrees that the great stimulus road trip is free of political considerations.

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23379_Pa...

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  • 79%
    Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    THere must be a lot of concern about the 2010 election. They are doing heavy campaigning already.

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  • 75%
    Wolfie20075 months, 3 weeks ago

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    I think they need to visit Michigan as I understand they are now using gravel on their roads instead of asphalt because they don't have the money for asphalt. In Flint, Michigan they are saying that abandoned real property in the city is as high as s40% and city leaders are talking about bulldozing this abandoned property. Can you imagine 40% of an American city being bulldozed?

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  • 71%
    k9kssr5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/06/05/a-politi...

    More on the political pattern of the stimulus tour.

    I think even some of the MSM are beginning to squirm a little bit over their unconditional support of this administration. There was actually a piece on MSNBC a couple of days ago that was not complimentary of Obama's selection of ambassadorships based on payback rather than qualifications and of Gibbs smart-ass response to a reporters questions about it.

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  • 56%
    dizzo491985 months, 3 weeks ago

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    THE ONLY THING THE DEMS ARE WORRIED IS THAT THEY HAVE THEIR JOBS !!! MAKE THE PUBLIC THINK WE'RE HELPING THEM,THEN BEND THEM OVER AFTER ELECTIONS HAPPENING NOW HUH !!!!

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  • 100%
    wtagg5 months, 3 weeks ago

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    I have to wonder who are:
    ahtam001
    akbar973
    askar131

    I understand being excited about a topic and wanting friends to support it, but I am not sure that creating and using shills is truthful way of doing that.

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    • 50%
      mesodude5 months, 3 weeks ago

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      ...And Statistical Analysis That Shows The Argument [that the closing of car dealerships has been partisan] Is Fundamentally Flawed

      Car Dealers Contributed Overwhelmingly To Republican Candidates - Among The Dealerships That Chrysler And GM Closed, AND Among The Dealerships That Remained Open. According to statistician Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com: "Overall, 88 percent of the contributions from car dealers went to Republican candidates and just 12 percent to Democratic candidates. By comparison, the list of dealers on Doug Ross's list (which I haven't vetted, but I assume is fine) gave 92 percent of their money to Republicans -- not really a significant difference. There's no conspiracy here, folks -- just some bad math. It shouldn't be any surprise, by the way, that car dealers tend to vote -- and donate -- Republican. They are usually male, they are usually older (you don't own an auto dealership in your 20s), and they have obvious reasons to be pro-business, pro-tax cut, anti-green energy and anti-labor. Car dealerships need quite a bit of space and will tend to be located in suburban or rural areas. I can't think of too many other occupations that are more natural fits for the Republican Party. Unfortunately, while we are still a nation of drivers, we are not a nation of dealers." [FiveThirtyEight.com, 5/27/09, emphasis added]

      http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/2009060200...

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      • 78%
        jovial5 months, 3 weeks ago

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        What a stupid, demented submission. The story is about the tour, and then the submitter decides to draw their own conclusion from it. People are spoonfed some conspiracy crap and we are supposed to gobble it up. LMAO!

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      • 56%
        k9kssr5 months, 3 weeks ago

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        Could someone explain to me why Mesodud is hung up on car dealership closings? This isn't what the article is about.
        Did he not read the article or any of the links, just the headlines?

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      • 33%
        k9kssr5 months, 3 weeks ago

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        We'll see how interested the propeller gods are at keeping this forum decent. It probably won't do any good, but consider yourself reported.

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      • 0%
        calitennflo5 months, 3 weeks ago

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        Not one tax dollar works...any dollar just drops in the wind...if there is any...gravity has hardly any effect on a paper dollar bill...or promise to owe...actually we need remember again we need an invoice and audit...and that's all we will ever need to manage this government or us.

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        • 25%
          k9kssr5 months, 3 weeks ago

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          This is my last communication with you. I never read anything you post because it is usually off-topic and consists of nothing but name-calling. Blocked.

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        • 100%
          Performance_Racing5 months, 3 weeks ago

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          All these auto bailouts will prove to be futile. China is eyeballing everything owned in the USA. Thanks to the politicians, and the spending habits of most Americans, Chinese companies and individuals are buying up everything from the homes Americans were foreclosed on to businesses that must be sold at cheap prices.

          You can take a cattle prod to a dead cow and it still won't move...

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          • 71%
            NoWayMan5 months, 3 weeks ago

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            its good for Obama to get his crew out there to let the people know the govt hasn't abandoned them.

            Too bad the Bush Admin didn't do something similar after Katrina.

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          • 57%
            Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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            alright - WHAT did all of this travel accomplish.

            1.?
            2.?
            etc??

            I have not heard of anything accomplish except for photo opps.

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            • 57%
              Klarissa5 months, 3 weeks ago

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              Obama is going to Russia in July - easier than dealing with the problems at home?

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            • 20%
              jbgiraffx-885 months, 3 weeks ago

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              Lynn Sweet, the author of the article, and the poster and any number of the commenters are, as usual, the kind of nitwit internet journalists that shouldn't be writing anything that qualifies as news until after they've taken even the most basic of journalism classes. Do your research people and present the facts of your case, if they exist, objectively. News, as opposed to editorial opinion, is "supposed" to be objectively presented information from which readers are able to draw their own conclusions and make educated decisions. It is NOT supposed to be hateful propaganda. If that is what you want to write, then move to Iran or somewhere where facism is the order of the day. The only state, per se, that President Obama won, as these articles and comments continually speak about, was Connecticut. This election was a historic divide in the country's voting pattern in a way that no one, that I have heard, is talking about. If you look at the election results by state, yes, of course, you will see that it appears President Obama won a great many "states". However, if you click the tab that shows "Election Results by County, or by District" a VERY different looking map appears. President obama won almost all of the nations cities. Even small to medium sized cities in states where he ultimately "lost". Even in traditionally democratic states like New York or NJ, he lost huge swaths of suburban and rural counties, but won New York City, Newark, Trenton, etc., where most of the people live. And as for those Southern states that you say he lost; he mostly won their biggest cities as well, just not by enough of a margin to carry the entire state and overcome the rural votes. This wasn't an election between white and black voters or an election between Dems and GOPers, or an election between the northern and southern states, it was an election between the city people and you dumb assed, trash talking, gun toting, country Neanderthals. Luckily we won. Maybe now we can begin to stop living like the Revolutionary War just ended or like the Civil War is still going on and move forward into a smarter future.

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            • 71%
              lloydm655 months, 3 weeks ago

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              I wonder why would I suspect any politics in auto dealer ship closings.For instances Waco TX.city of one hundred,twenty two thousand people.Had three Chrysler dealer ships with long histories within the communities.Today there gone.Now the big question what is it about Waco TX.that is political,oh yeah I remember now Crawford TX home of The Bush ranch.Not to worry a north eastern dealer,probably well connected democrat is going to expand to service the folks of Waco.

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              • 100%
                tennispatron5 months, 3 weeks ago

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                So you are just figuring out Obama and crew have a tendency to be apolitical? If he or any of his cohorts show up on my property, I will show them a "stimulanting" exit strategy....which is how fast can they make it to the gate because my pup can do it in 7 seconds and he doesnt like crooked politicians...

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