President Obama's First Press Conference

I am stunned, absolutely stunned, after 8 years of complete nonsense, President Obama's first press conference to the American Public is a refreshing change in both tone and content.

"I took a trip to Elkhart, Indiana today. Elkhart is a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America. In one year, the unemployment rate went from 4.7% to 15.3%. Companies that have sustained this community for years are shedding jobs at an alarming speed, and the people who've lost them have no idea what to do or who to turn to. They can't pay their bills and they've stopped spending money. And because they've stopped spending money, more businesses have been forced to lay off more workers. Local TV stations have started running public service announcements that tell people where to find food banks, even as the food banks don't have enough to meet the demand.

As we speak, similar scenes are playing out in cities and towns across the country. Last Monday, more than 1,000 men and women stood in line for 35 firefighter jobs in Miami. Last month, our economy lost 598,000 jobs, which is nearly the equivalent of losing every single job in the state of Maine. And if there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe this constitutes a full-blown crisis, I suggest speaking to one of the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down because they don't know where their next paycheck is coming from."

"The plan is not perfect," the president said, addressing the nation from the East Room of the White House. "No plan is. I can't tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis as well as the pain felt by millions of Americans."

I think political analyst, Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show", made a very interesting observation, when she indicated that President Obama was presenting the issue and the situation of what's happening to everyday Americans to Washington, this is different than President Obama trying to explain Washington to the American Public - which is what former President Bush often did.

If anyone doubts the serious and real crisis we are looking at with regards to the economy, this chart says it all:

The Green Line represents 2008/2009 Job Losses, these are ACTUAL job losses. The shocking pace of unemployment rates compared to the unemployment rates in the past should wake up any left in denial.

The only question is HOW long will this recession last if we don't act soon. The longer we wait, the longer and more painful this recession will be.

The Republican GOP Party is demonstrating how pathetically inadequate they are to the whole crisis resolution. They have become a party of whiners ("Nancy Pelosi is being mean to us") and obstructionists. I have no idea what these guys are smoking, how stupid are they, that they don't see that the American Public gets the fact that the GOP are the problem. Yet they are high-fiving each other that none of the House Republicans voted for the Stimulus Bill.

It's absolutely stunning, how the Republican Party honestly does not know how to govern, all they know how to do is complain. They certainly have the ability to feign hurt and outrage down pat. They remind me of soccer players who fall down and look agonized to get a flag or penalty on the other team. The GOP just loves "working the refs". I am completely offended that my tax payers are going toward the salary of these useless morons. Personally I am a fairly generous and forgiving person, but nothing tests my patience than pure stupidity and incompetence.

Have a look at these poll numbers by Gallup:

President Barack Obama continues to have high approval ratings, compared to Congress. But what's interesting is that the Republicans in Congress has the biggest disapproval rate, even greater than the Democrats.

There is a great quote from Thomas Pain, that Lee Iaoccoca repeated in a long ago commercial:

"Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way"

The Republican Party should really consider that advice...