Maybe President Obama will work hard to get bring Republicans into the fold, but I don’t have to. I was sickened when I heard The Big Stim (stimulus package) did not get a single Republican vote today in the House. Not a one and it still passed by a comfortable margin, 244-188.

Is the bill that bad? No. But for this first of what is sure to be many stim votes, it’s an ominous sign  that gridlock will continue to afflict the nation’s lawmakers. Bi-partisanship? HA! Come together to get things done? Spitooooi.  President Obama? You’re too naive.

The president and Democrats still seem disposed toward compromise, but who’s interest does a watered-down bill serve? If we are  putting people back to work, the majority of the bill has to involve spending. Tax cuts and rebates  have NOT worked. And the bill already contains a $165 billion in tax breaks, according to a Jan. 29   WSJ story that I read, strangely enough, on Jan. 28.

The vote is a horrible reflection on House Republicans. They show no flexibility and little awareness how much Americans are hurting. Where was the Republican dealmaker who can show the GOP is not just the party of Rush Limbaugh that was so soundly spanked in November?  My kingdom for a Dirkson, Pell or Saltonstall. Who has the guts to reach across party lines? Eleven democrats who voted nay apparently did.

Someone should tell the ever grim-faced House minority Leader John Boehner two things: tax cuts mean little to people with little or no income, and 2) visit Wilmington in your beloved state of Ohio whether it’s in your district or not. Yeah, that’s the one where DHL is pulling up stakes and decimating  an entire community.  Hear what they have to say about tax cuts versus spending programs that create jobs.