April 29, 2010--Stimulating
Back in December, on the drive south to Florida, I reported anecdotally from the road about the progress of the federal stimulus program.
With little to do, to break the tedium of the interstates, we counted all the workers we could see during about 1,000 miles of driving. I was distressed to find fewer than 100 actively involved in highway projects. Though we drove through about half a dozen significant-sized construction sites, most had no one at all actually at work.
So as we headed north yesterday to retrace our route, anticipating that things would not be any more stimulating (though I am writing this from historic and picturesque Beaufort, South Carolina) we again decided to again count workers.
I am pleased to report that though Florida's Republican governor Charlie Crist probably ruined his political career when he agreed to welcome Barack Obama and openly accept federal stimulus money (this unleashed a storm of know-nothing Tea Party outrage and he is a sure loser in the upcoming GOP senatorial primary to a know-nothing challenger), he made the right decision as a citizen of Florida because even before we got as far as Orlando we had counted many hiundreds of (mainly) men at work at good-paying jobs.
In fact, there were so many toiling on highway and bridge projects that we stopped counting before we reached the Georgia border. Though we did notice hundreds more at work along I-95 in Georgia. I suppose Governor Sonny Perdue (no relation of the chicken man Frank), though condemning the federal stimulus bill, more surreptitiously accepted the money and I am sure has been running around the state for all the ribbon cutting ceremonies. Taking credit for what he publicly opposed. In contrast to Crist's act of political courage, Governor Perdue is writing his own profile in political cowardice.
We look forward to what we will find later today in North Carolina and then Virginia and Maryland. More of the same i suspect.
Some good news at last.
Footnote: The hotel where we are spending the night is in Congressman's Joe Wilson's district. He is the one who shouted "You lie!" as President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. Word on the street here is that did him a world of local political good and that he is a shoe-in for reelection.
With little to do, to break the tedium of the interstates, we counted all the workers we could see during about 1,000 miles of driving. I was distressed to find fewer than 100 actively involved in highway projects. Though we drove through about half a dozen significant-sized construction sites, most had no one at all actually at work.
So as we headed north yesterday to retrace our route, anticipating that things would not be any more stimulating (though I am writing this from historic and picturesque Beaufort, South Carolina) we again decided to again count workers.
I am pleased to report that though Florida's Republican governor Charlie Crist probably ruined his political career when he agreed to welcome Barack Obama and openly accept federal stimulus money (this unleashed a storm of know-nothing Tea Party outrage and he is a sure loser in the upcoming GOP senatorial primary to a know-nothing challenger), he made the right decision as a citizen of Florida because even before we got as far as Orlando we had counted many hiundreds of (mainly) men at work at good-paying jobs.
In fact, there were so many toiling on highway and bridge projects that we stopped counting before we reached the Georgia border. Though we did notice hundreds more at work along I-95 in Georgia. I suppose Governor Sonny Perdue (no relation of the chicken man Frank), though condemning the federal stimulus bill, more surreptitiously accepted the money and I am sure has been running around the state for all the ribbon cutting ceremonies. Taking credit for what he publicly opposed. In contrast to Crist's act of political courage, Governor Perdue is writing his own profile in political cowardice.
We look forward to what we will find later today in North Carolina and then Virginia and Maryland. More of the same i suspect.
Some good news at last.
Footnote: The hotel where we are spending the night is in Congressman's Joe Wilson's district. He is the one who shouted "You lie!" as President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. Word on the street here is that did him a world of local political good and that he is a shoe-in for reelection.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
3:00 AM
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