Obama 'Pleased' With Budget Killing Health Clinics & High Speed Rail

Last we checked, at least 15 million Americans cannot find a job -- it's 27 million when you include those forced to work part-time when they need full-time employment, and those who recently gave up altogether. There are 10 million fewer full-time jobs in the United States today as there were in 2007, before the Great Recession began. And it's getting worse.Never before have so many people depended on the "safety net" for help with food, housing and very basic medical care. So it's wonderful to hear that tonight's exciting new federal budget worked out by the White House and the Democrat-controlled Senate and the GOP-controlled House cuts "$600 million for community health centers and $2.9 billion for the development of high-speed rail." Clinics for the desperate in need of a doctor and a big chunk of cash to get people to work laying railroad track and doing construction? Those are wonderful things to slash in Year Three of nationwide catastrophe. What does President Barack Obama say about all this, anyway?

What he said was this:  

Now the same cooperation will make possible the biggest annual spending cut in history, and it’s my sincere hope that we can continue to come together as we face the many difficult challenges that lie ahead, from creating jobs and growing our economy to educating our children and reducing our deficit. That's what the American people expect us to do. That's why they sent us here.

Really now.

And never mind the $38 billion cuts, anyway. The budget is actually bigger by $3 billion. But whatever, as long as people are being destroyed, it's winning the future!

Our pal Lisa Mascaro of the Los Angeles Timesreports:  

The measure approved Thursday by the House and Senate will fund the government through Sept. 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year, cutting $38 billion in spending on the environment, healthcare, education, job training and other domestic programs. Despite the steep reductions, the measure drew the ire of the most conservative House members for not going far enough, and exposed divisions among Republicans.

The overall vote was 260-167. Among Republicans, 179 voted for the package and 59 against. As a result, Democratic votes were needed to pass the bill, and 81 of them voted yes.

"There's no cause for a celebration," Boehner said. "This is just one step. And the next step will come tomorrow."

Haha, so 81 alleged Democrats "had" to vote for this, because the Republicans couldn't pass it alone ... because the Teabaggers in the House aren't satisfied, and won't be satisfied until poor kids pay for their own schooling and poor people are literally imprisoned (and billed for it).

Obama is campaigning tonight, trying to get his big-money Democrat donors excited. Problem is, they aren't excited at all.

As for the people taking the brunt of the White House-Congressional assault on America, it's going to be be a lot harder to convince them there'sanypoint to voting, ever again. If the United States in 2011 -- with its massive unemployment and open class warfare and three pointless Defense Industry wars and the biggest corporations simply not paying any taxes -- is the result of the first African-American president who surged to victory alongside a Democrat-controlled SenateandHouse along with a staggering supply of enthusiasm and goodwill, then what might 2013-2016 hold under Obama's second term?

At his fundraiser tonight in Chicago, Obama closed with this: "And the question is do we finish the job. I'm prepared to finish the job."

Terrifying. [ LAT ]