http://www.taxpayer.net/user_uploads/file/Appro...

Notice that it is a bi-partisan problem and note that 15 of the top 20 solo earmarking senators sit on the Appropriations committe and that 12 Democrats and 8 Republicans are among those top 20 as are the Senate Majority and Minority leaders.

Second thing he wouldn't have offered to speak with the Taliban and had them laugh in his face.

Third thing is he wouldn't have given the Brittish PNM 25 DVDs as a gift and chosen something with more forethought. He also would have left no doubt that we had a special relationship with the Brits.

Fourth thing he would not have sanctioned wealth restribution policies like giving judges the power to adjust the principle on a loan (otherwise known as theft).

Fifth, he would not have supported warrantless wiretapping like the Obama administration has

Sixth he would have eased the restrictions on embryonic Stem cells as Obama has done, the two men agreed on that.

Seventh he would also have taken on the teachers union and supported merit pay, additionally he would have supported school voucher programs.

Some areas are still hard to tell but on those 7 I have a high degree of certainty.

The internet now makes populism a viable political alternative. Populist movements in the past were necessarily local in nature, and they eventually died out due to a lack of communication between the base and those elected. Consider the revolution of Newt and company. The first hundred days were cohesive and powerful, but it burnt itself out due to beltway influences. Of course, there were other reasons too, but you can see the trend.

It is no accident that Obama's administration wasted no time in getting .gov web sites up and running. Facebook, twitter, etc. are being used to keep in touch with the base.in an interactive way as to keep populist sentiments alive and active. Obama's election funding model shows how well it works.

The irony is that Obama is a pragmatist. He'll use any good idea from anybody, and it may well be that moderates will gravitate to a solutions-based governing style, His populism is not based on creed so much as effectiveness. He's already run up against some of his supporters, teachers union and merit pay, and the far left and FISA court; but his response has been a pragmatism of what can be done now, not what is idealistically the ultimate philosophic tenet.

Conservatives will probably hammer this entry as idealistic or something, but I think that is where politics is going. At least that is where politics are now.

And on the earmarks you're correct the GOP is being as hypocritical as Obama.

If the Right has problems with earmarks, perhaps they should have removed the 40% included in this bill that were theirs. Had they done that, I would believe that this was something more than political, hypocritical bluster. Obama starts signing bills with a wink and a nod to earmarks in the future, I'll back your criticism completely.

Really, how's he coming along with those earmarks?

Obama is doing exactly what he said he would, it would wrong of me to not give John the same benefit.

McCain said he won't bail out
the auto industries – 2+ million more unemployed.
Add secondary industry fallout (parts makers) – 600,00 more unemployed.
– 12.5 million already unemployed.
15.1 MILLION TOTAL = ~ 9.1%

Michigan and California go bankrupt as McCain refuses state aid as part of stimulus.
Millions of out of work people rejoice at receiving cuts to payroll taxes.

“As President of the United States, I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes,” he said.

Cost one Trillion for the 600,000 sub-prime mortgages.

Devaluing real estate markets for all those holding regular term mortgages and placing millions of responsible mortgages underwater.
1.5 Trillion – low ball estimate

I could go on,
But not bad for his first 50 days.

I'm sorry but this just isn't accurate. Of course Obama's decisions will have immediate effects, in fact that was the whole premise for the spending bill and was used to justify ramming it through without the usual committee and discussion processes. Likewise, decisions on the banks will have immediate effects on both the banks themselves and in the stock market. Finally as has been discussed in other threads the stock market is partially based on expectations, and expectations will be radically affected by Obama's decisions.

I agree with you that most of the current crisis is due to events and decisions that happened well before Obama took office, but any moves Obama make have immediate consequences.

I have no idea if things would be much different under McCain. It's like all the speculation on how things would be different with Gore as president, no one really knows.