Is he or is he not an Illinois senator? A great plains senator will always support farm bills. Just like McCain supports bills that send money to Arizona. This is not really counterintuitive. Obama is doing what the people that he represents want, and the people he represents right now are the people of Illinois, not the US in general.
I predict that neither Barack Obama or John McCain will be able to do squat about agricultural subsidies no matter what they say or do. And it won't matter if Congress is controlled by Ds or Rs. Both political parties are totally and completely whored out to the agricultural interests. Hook em
Being against "special interests" is the lamest political slogan of all time, that is used all the time by folks running in both parties. And the gullible public believes it like a Jim Jones disciple drinking kool-aid. Again, both the Ds and the Rs pander to "special interests" and they always will, its just a different set of special interests. And if you can't see that you haven't been paying attention. Hook em
I am just shocked Obama actually voted something other than present on something. that said he again should be called out for his ******** of change when he is nothing more than more of the same.
And another high ranking Mccain official was "suddenly" discovered to be a lobbyist and Tom Loeffler regigned his post with the mcCain campaign the other day.... This is a farm bill that is not at all unlie the last fewe the GOP passed and Bush signed. I for one hope that president bush does indeed veto this legislation and shine a light more publicly on the dollars being spent here. I don't recall Bush vetoing a prior farm bill, but the dollars are honestly ridiculous. And again we have subsidies going to the wealthiest, as we pass the bill to the children. I applaud McCain for his opposition, don't disagree than Obama will have his hands full to some degree influencing Congressional spending. McCain has been in the GOP how long? How how many of the GOP foot soldiers followed McCain's leadership on this issue? David Brroks is a partisan to be sure, but that doesn;t mean his observations in this particular article don't to a large degree ring true. However does that extraoplate to McCain being better fiscally with the 800 pound gorilla that is Iraq still occupying the bulk of the big bucks.
It is beyong logical thought that one would expect a balanced budget with Obama without very punitive tax increases. His willingness to sign on to every big budget pork barrell ( Highway,Farm Bills) project and pledge to create all sorts of new programs is a pretty good indicator of things to come.