The Unablogger
I wrote back in February how the Obama administration and congressional Democrats were designing their new health care system in a partisan manner that rewarded their supporters and ruthlessly punished their political enemies. Over time it is now clear that Obama is using the same political yardstick to dole out other public funds as well, and that the distinctions are not mere happenstance, but by design.
Moe Lane published a piece yesterday in the popular RedState blog about how federal stimulus monies are being doled out. He noted:
- There was 1.25 billion dollars in stimulus money to connect the cities of Orlando (59% Obama) and Tampa Bay (53% Obama) with a high-speed rail line.
- But there was no money to keep the roads paved in Stutsman County, ND (56% McCain).
- There was 3.4 million dollars in stimulus money to create an ‘eco-passage’ for turtles in [Leon] [corrected – ML] County, Florida (62% Obama).
- But there was no money to keep the roads paved in Coshocton County, OH (53% McCain).
- There was 6.5 billion dollars in stimulus money to bribe Sen Arlen Specter (D) of Pennsylvania (55% Obama)
- But there was no money to keep the roads paved in Alabama (60% McCain).
But even more dramatic (and tragic) is the administration’s mishandling of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama was not just slow to help, much slower than George W. Bush’s well-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina in much the same area. But in instance after instance, Obama and his administration actively interfered with attempts to remedy. He turned down foreign offers of help from nations experienced in this sort of disaster. His EPA repeatedly delayed or denied altogether the implementation of solutions to prevent alleged environmental damage that even interpretations most favorable to the President conceded would have been less environmental damage than the oil damage that resulted because of the delay or non-implementation of those solutions. He even delayed for an extra day the installation of the cap that now, at least and for now, seems to be working.
Why would he do this to his own country? Because of the way the people in this part of the country voted. In contrast to nearby (and largely unaffected) New Orleans, which voted overwhelmingly for Obama, the Louisiana Gulf Coast being decimated by the oil spill is nearly all in Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district, which voted 61% for John McCain, and where Obama actually ran 4 percentage points behind John Kerry’s lame 2004 effort against President Bush. The BP spill handed Obama an opportunity to put the screws to those people, and he did it enthusiastically!
Obama is taking the “spoils system” to a new low, spoiling his presidency in the process.
The Unablogger 