First Blood

Virginia's Governor-elect Bob McDonnell

New Jersey's Governor-elect Chris Christie

GOP sweep: Big governor victories in Virginia, NJ

By Liz Sidoti, AP National Political Writer

WASHINGTON – Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.

Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie's ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Maine voted on whether to affirm a state law that would allow same-sex couples to wed. If supporters prevail, it would mark the first time that the electorate in any state endorsed gay marriage.

And voters chose a congressmen in the GOP-held vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York, where Democrat Bill Owens led in the early vote count over conservative Doug Hoffman. That race highlighted fissures in the Republican Party and illustrated hurdles the GOP could face in capitalizing on any voter discontent with Obama and Democrats next fall.[More]

What a miserable day for Obama. What a great day for America! It' s only the beginning of sorrows for him and the Democrat Party of Socialism, though.

Krugman Worried About Obama's "Out of Touch," "Money-for-Nothing" Financial Policy

Paul Krugman: Stimuls plan doesn't go far enough
3/13/2008

President Barack Obama's plan to stimulate the economy was "massive,""giant,""enormous." So the American people were told, especially by TV news, during the run-up to the stimulus vote. Watching the news, you might have thought the only question was whether the plan was too big, too ambitious.

Yet many economists, myself included, actually argued that the plan was too small and too cautious. The latest data confirm those worries -- and suggest that the Obama administration's economic policies are already falling behind the curve.[More]

Princeton University Economics professor, 2008 Economics Nobel Prize recipient, "conscientious" liberal, closeted socialist and Barack Obama apologist Paul Krugman is nearing disappointment. The president, he argues, is "not doing enough" to ruin, I mean stimulate the economy, which is the usual Keynesian canard.

What is surprisingly shocking here is Krugman's near candor regarding his worries about Obama's handling of the economy so far. Here are the salient points:

• Obama’s policies are “falling behind the curve”

• Unemployment is “rising fast”

• The promise of jobs saved or created “looks underwhelming"

• Obama’s belief in a recovery this year “isn’t backed by any data or model” of which Krugman is aware and that, in the face of said data, the President’s recovery statement “sounded out of touch”

(BTW, given the enormity of the economic crisis, shouldn’t Obama be spending more than just one hour a day with his economic advisers? Just asking)

• There is a “continuing failure” to announce bank restructuring plans

• The Obama administration has a “money-for-nothing financial policy”

• Without more, bigger bailouts and porkulus packages, what passes for Obama’s economic policies “will never catch up”

No amount of liberal, head-in-the-sand propaganda, wishful thinking and hand-wringing will change the fact that if Obama "stays the course," the American economy will falter.