By Jim Hoyt
One of my favorite TV bits is occasionally on Saturday Night Live during the “Weekend Update” segment, called “Really?” I thought of it when reviewing President Barack Obama’s first week in office:
• “This administration will be above reproach.”
Really? Appoint a treasury secretary who knowingly did not pay his taxes until appointed? Of course, the Obama administration claims he is uniquely qualified for the job
Really? Only one person in the world is equipped to be secretary of the Treasury?
• “No lobbyist will work in or create the agenda for my White House.”
Really? What about ex-Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn III? Oh, he must be “uniquely qualified.”
• “We need to change the way Washington works.”
Really? Almost all appointments have been to Washington insiders. Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, George Mitchell and, of course, Bill Richardson, to name but a few.
• “The old pork spending has got to stop.”
Really? Look at the current “rescue” package: $200 million for grass, $25 million here and $50 million there. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says this is a minute portion of the spending bill and should be overlooked. Seems to me stop means zero, none, nada and not any portion.
• “I will conduct a bipartisan administration. I have no pride of authorship and will take ideas wherever they come from.”
Really? Not one Republican idea is included in the spending package, and not one Republican in committee voted for it. Not one Republican in the House voted for the final bill (10 Democrats joined with them). Or, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reminds us, “We won the election, so we get to write the bills.”
Change? Really?
