Barack Obama Tells Congress To Hurry
Barack Obama will soon be sworn in as President of the United States. He'll begin working on a number of pressing economic issues and he'll take the helm of a country that's looking for sound leadership. As Obama prepares to take over, he's already telling Congress that they need to "hurry" a new stimulus package out to the masses.
If this reminds you of the last stimulus package, and the "bailout of the financial industry," you're not alone. Anytime a President begins using "dire language" to "hurry up the debate," I get nervous.
The new stimulus package proposed by Obama already has its' fair share of critics, including Democrats. So if members of both parties don't like the proposal, why not set up for long, leisurely debates instead of rushing the decision making process?
Democrats say the proposal doesn't go far enough to create jobs. Republicans are urging against more deficit spending with a $1.2 trillion dollar budget deficit already assured for 2009.
It's not a time to rush. Now is a time for thoughtful discourse and an open engagement of diverse voices discussing what move to make next. I would love to hear the pros and cons debated on each and every initiative. If these moves don't work, the country will be even further in debt, with little to show.
Right now it appears that Barack Obama is most concerned with "making a show" of things for the benefit of voters who picked him for the job and who want to see action on pressing issues. Action without planning and without considering the consequences was considered to be one of the disastrous aspects of the last administration. There's no need to repeat such blunders here.
If Congress really does rush through legislation for tackling the economic problems, I fear we'll have something even more ineffective than the TARP bailout and the $600 stimulus checks last year, which did little for anyone's quality of life.
Slow down and think things through.
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