During the Presidential campaign how many times did we hear Barack Obama criticize Senator McCain for changing his position in favor of the Bush tax cuts?  How many times???

Over and over again, Senator Obama said that Republicans and John McCain only favored the rich and that the Bush tax cuts must be repealed right away because they only help the wealthy in this country.  That’s right those who favored the Bush tax cuts were just  evil money-grubbers. 

On Sunday the Obama team was out in full force on the talk shows back pedaling on the Bush tax cuts.  They plan on keeping them in place until 2011.  It is no longer the President-elect’s first order of business.  If Republican candidates only cared about the rich by supporting the Bush tax cuts, then what is Barack Obama now that he is not going to repeal them?

Clearly, Obama and his team have realized that the Bush tax cuts have helped the economy and it would hurt our economic conditions to repeal them.  I am glad they have come to their senses temporarily. 

However, I am wondering if all the left leaning media outlets are willing to admit that Senator McCain was right to support the tax cuts or if they are willing to criticize Obama now that he favors them?  How about Senator John Kerry who repeatedly attacked McCain for not being the same man in 2008 that he was in 2000 because he supported the Bush tax cuts? 

What about other Congressional Democrats?  Will Speaker Pelosi denounce President-elect Obama for his new position?  Will she try to repeal them any ways?

I dare to dream that any one would point out that Barack has changed his position to the Republican point of view and that Senator McCain was correct.

There is no turning back for President-elect Barack Obama.  He has to offer the Secretary of State job to Hillary Clinton. 

Once her name went public in consideration for the position, her people got all excited again.  They are expecting good news and there will be no spinning away the job for her.  The Obama administration did attempt to slow down the  enthusiasm by suggesting that the Clinton team was frustrating them by holding back certain vetting materials.  It did not work. 

If Barack does not offer her the job after hiring almost every other Clinton administration official left standing, her people will take it as the second snubbing which could result in a 2012 Democratic Presidential Primary.  At this point he has to offer her the job.

Governor Deval Patrick has come down with a case of Messiah.  Yesterday, he publicly whined about the media taking “cheap shots” at him.  I did not know the Governor expected to get the same treatment as Barack Obama. 

To a certain extent his complaining is actually very funny.  Look at where we live.  Someone please call the Governor to remind him that he is in the land of Massachusetts where the media is overwhelmingly favorable to Democrats.  The Globe was part of his campaign team.   

If Deval is truly bothered by my criticism and talk radio, then I have a few suggestions for him.  One, grow a backbone.  (He sure needed one in dealing with Senator Wilkerson.  Instead of personally calling for her resignation, he wimped out and created an Ethics Task Force for political cover.)  Two, get out of the kitchen if you cannot stand the heat.  With Barack winning the presidency, certainly the Governor could use his DC office to find an exit strategy out of the Commonwealth.

What Governor Patrick fails to realize is that his problems are not the fault of the media.  I don’t recall that it was the Boston Herald promising to cut property taxes.  It was Deval. 

If he wants to find the person to blame, then I suggest that he look in the mirror.  He was the one who promised to cut property taxes and put 1000 new police officers on the streets and failed.  While our state accumulated the billion dollar deficit, it was the Governor who added 2000 new employees to the state payroll, increased his own office budget by 80%, opened a DC and western Massachusetts office, upgraded his car to a Cadillac, took the state helicopter to an environmental press conference, bought new drapes for his office, failed to pass the casino bill, and offered the bio-tech industry a billion dollars in corporate welfare. 

However, in the new world order I guess I am not supposed to mention these failures.  Sorry Gov.

 P.S. If you think it is tough being a Democrat, try being a Republican.

Ten days ago Governor Deval Patrick created an Ethics Task Force to address the outbreak of political corruption in the Bay state.  This maneuver was nothing more than an attempt to give Deval politically cover going into the 2010 election season. 

Do we really need an task force to tell us that Wilkerson should resign?  Don’t we already have an Ethics Commission?  If they are not up to the job, then let’s save some taxpayer dollars and abolish them. 

Clearly what is missing in this state is leadership.  Why hasn’t the Governor personally called Senator Wilkerson to ask her to resign?  It is not enough that he tells a few news outlets she should go.  He needs to act like the Governor and demand her resignation. 

Senate President Therese Murray can remove Wilkerson from her seat, but she has failed to show the political courage to do the right thing.  It should be no surprise after Jim Marzilli was allowed to keep collecting his Chairman’s pay despite his absence over pending legal troubles.

Wilkerson and Marzilli should have been easy to force into resignation.  On the other hand, Speaker Sal DiMasi’s situation is more difficult.  Forcing a Speaker out of office would require lots of backbone.  Rest assured if Governor Patrick is unwilling to take a hard line against Wilkerson and Marzilli, he will roll over and play dead on DiMasi.

They’re back!  You will never pay enough taxes, fees or tolls in Massachusetts to satisfy the political beast.

Here are some reasons we should oppose the new toll hikes:

1. These outrageous increases were announced after the November 4th election in order to avoid the passage of Question 1 which would have eliminated the income tax.

2. If the legislature had accepted  several years ago the plan to merge the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with the Massachusetts Highway Department, we could have been saving $55 million per year.  But no they could not go along with a common sense Republican plan.

3.  The Turnpike was paid for years ago.  However, when the time came to get rid of the revenue generating machine, the politicians could not cut the cord.

4. What goes up never comes down in this state.  Remember, the temporary income tax hike?

5.  For years the Turnpike Authority was wasting money by doling out tourism grants.

6. Where is the land audit promised many years ago?  They could sell off their land assets to help pay for the Big Dig.

7. Patrick’s proposal to merge the Turnpike into MassPort is nothing more than a shell game.  He is attempting to pass the problem onto another authority where he does not control the board.  (Just one more example of him being a profile in courage–not.)

The fight for the Chairmanship of the Republican National Committee (RNC) seems to have more players on the field than a football game.  However,  a few serious contenders are emerging from the field such as Katon Dawson and Michael Steele.

In a new twist today  former Presidential candidate and United States Senator Fred Thompson is poised to enter the race with a partner, Michigan National Committeeman Chuck Yob, as his co-chairman.  Thompson would be the public face/spokesman of the RNC while Yob run the Party’s operations. 

This partnership of Thompson and Yob could be the winning combination.  Already they seem to be gaining momentum.  As of tonight Oklahoma Republican Chairman Gary Jones has endorsed the ticket.  “We have an extremely large task ahead of us and Senator Thompson has the art of message.  When he speaks people listen,” stated Jones.  “Chuck Yob is a strong grassroots organizer.   As a businessman Chuck will be able to manage the resources of the Party.  It is an attractive combination.”

Certainly there is more than enough work in rebuilding the GOP that it might take co-chairmen to get the job and change the direction of our party.  Keep your eye on this ticket. 

Last September United States taxpayers donated $25 billion to help revitalize the three large auto makers in Detroit.  5 weeks later they are back for more of our money.  Let me predict that if we give them another bailout next week they will be back again for more.  Money will not solve their problems.  They need to restructure and it starts with negotiating with the UAW to stop the bleeding.

Every car Detroit manufactures costs $1500 more in UAW benefits which makes it impossible for them compete in this market.  I am not faulting UAW workers for getting these extensive benefits, but clearly the manufacturers are being crippled by the burden so much so that they are facing bankruptcy. 

In the past companies confronted with huge red ink threatening shutdown have renegotiated and partnered with their unions to save the business, but because we are in this new era of bailing everyone out the manufacturers and the unions are looking to the American taxpayer to support this failing business model.  It is not right. 

Congress should not bailout Detroit this time.  Bankruptcy is the answer. It will allow the manufacturers to restructure their labor agreements so they can make a profitable car.  If instead they get another bailout, UAW will be held harmless and Detroit will continue to make cars that cannot compete in this market.  It will ultimately result in more bailouts.

The American taxpayer should not get stuck with this bailout!  Let the auto manufacturers and the UAW try to resolve it.

On October 3rd President Bush signed into law the $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.  This Monday we found out that the Federal Reserve Bank has passed out $2 trillion to troubled banks.  In September, the federal government  bailed out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae with billions of taxpayer dollars and the auto industry received $25 billion.

Where does this bail out mania stop?  Which industry is undeserving of a helping hand?  Should we help Circuit City?  Should taxpayers continue to help companies with failing business plans? 

Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, you have to be concerned about the scary path the federal government is heading down.  There is no end in sight for stopping all the bailouts.  Every one seems to have their hand out.  Even cities are getting into the act. 

Today the Mayor of Philadelphia is sending a letter to President-Elect Obama asking for his help with the city’s $1 billion shortfall.  Does the city of brotherly love deserve our tax dollars?  The answer on this one is a clear cut NO.  For years that city has been mismanaged.  It is not correct to saddle us with their problems.  Moreover, we should not reward tax dollars to communities that failed to establish a rainy day fund.  And maybe we should take this harsh approach with the rest of the industries looking for a hand out.

Every where I see a bailout or a bailout in the making.  It needs to stop!  The federal government just cannot afford to throw money at businesses.  More importantly, we are sending the wrong message to large corporations that if they make huge mistakes not to worry because they can get cash from the federal government to fix them.  By continuously rolling out this new form of corporate welfare we are no longer requiring businesses to succeed on their own. 

As we have learned over the years, many people have used welfare as a crutch instead of a helping hand.  It is easy to predict that the same thing will happen to corporations if we don’t cut them off. 

For some unknown reason Barack Obama’s agenda on his change.gov website has gone missing.  It was deleted last weekend.  All his various promises to handle 25 different issues have been removed and replaced with a one paragraph statement. 

The missing agenda could not be a mistake when a new paragraph has replaced the massive promise list.  So what does this mean?  Is Barack already trying to go back on his pledges?  Is he trying to avoid scrutiny when the his plans are too expensive to employ?  Or is he trying to modify his plan?

President-elect Obama failed to provide any specific proposals for dealing with our country’s economy.  His first press conference featured more rhetoric.

 The only surprise is that Chris Matthews did not get to ask the first question.

Could a press member ask a hard question?  Some press members asked about the dog, what books he has read and who he has been calling.  So far no questions asking what are the five major steps you are going to take on January 20th.  I cannot help to be reminded that this guy voted present 130 in the Illinois State Senate.