The Pelosi Gambit

I've been paying attention to President Obamas interactions with Congressional leaders who oppose his Administration's bailout plan. I've tracked his public statements to the Press and the American people, and have come to some conclusions. We are being sold a bill of goods. President Obama is playing "good cop, bad cop" with the American people and our national future.

The perfect example of this was his first meeting with the opposition. The Republican Leadership met with the new President, formally, for the first time, on Friday, January 23rd, along with the Democratic leaders. The President said he wanted to hear from all sides on the bailout issue. This was supposed to be a bi-partisan moment. It went something like this. The President listened to the Republicans concerns and then stated, "I Won", and intimated he was eventually going to get his way, according to sources inside the meeting.
See Jonathan Martin and Carol E. Lee excellent article at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17862.html

On the Sunday news show This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi uttered the now infamous statements about contraception being a stimulus to the economy, which led to the Drudge Report News Flash: "DRUDGE FLASH 2009© Pelosi says: Birth Control Will Help Economy". http://www.drudgereport.com/flashpbc.htm

How did this particular subject come up? There weren't many details available on the actual content of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan". It would have been interesting to have been a "fifth party" to to the daily conference calls* between long time friends, Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, Paul Begala and George Stephanopoulos, before George's show on Sunday, Jan 24th. I'm sure Nancy was probably in the loop too. Her comments set off a firestorm of conservative blow back over the "family planning" issue, just as the Administration knew it would.

On Monday January 26th, President Obama rode into the fray on his white horse to save the day! He withdrew the funding request. This was probably orchestrated to change public opinion about the bailout...and the Religious Right swooned... http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/148769293.html

This in a week when President Obama reversed a long standing policy of the Bush Administration by executive order, on funding "Family Planning" in foreign countries to the tune of $400 million dollars. Twice the amount he "saved" us by withdrawing the "Contraception" funding from the Stimulus Bill.

Obama;s administration is filled with "Smart people". Men and women with fancy college pedigrees and long political backgrounds. His ambitions are filled with "Smart rhetoric" and "Smart ideas". One of the things mentioned is "Smart meters" to be installed in 40 million American homes (to monitor energy usage—can anyone say rationing?) and the "Smart Grid" (Power Grid2.0). http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/green/2009_01_26_faq_smart_grid.html
He is being called the Smartest President in history!
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/11/11/smartest-president-ever/
The only Smart thing that hasn't been mentioned is his Smart alec personality. He displays it with his subtle hand gestures for his critics and curt statements to opponents.

At every opportunity we are seeing carrot and stick maneuvers from the Administration showing the American people how reasonable the President is and how hateful his critics are.

Wake Up America!

In the immortal words of Star Trek's Spock, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Gang of Four phone buddies:
* http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18011.html

©Gayle Brown, 2009