Doing The Job

Reports that the cretin in chief intends to blackmail rational public representatives with Columbia 'free trade' agreement, before he will do the job he took an oath to do, is no surprise. The public interest has been held ransom to get corporate welfare throughout this maladministration. The highest office in the land has been used to move policies that are a disgrace to the country.

Serving their country isn't something the new administration under President Obama have any disinclination toward.

In an appearance Sunday on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Emanuel offered a signal that he intends to carry the Obama program forward -- as opposed to the Emanuel program.

The chief-of-staff told his fellow Clinton-White House alumnus that the Obama transition team will oppose any effort by the Bush administration to attach the Colombia Free Trade Agreement to an economic stimulus package in order to get the approval of the Bush Administration.

In his final debate last month with Republican John McCain, Obama made it clear that he opposes a deal with Colombia, a country with a tragic human rights and labor rights record. But, since the election, President Bush and his aides have been suggesting that their "price" for advancing a new stimulus package might be inclusion in that package of the Columbia FTA.

Emanuel was blunt and specific in expressing opposition to the Bush blackmail, arguing that it was essential to avoid creating policy conflicts that might slow the work of extending unemployment insurance and providing healthcare assistance to economically-embattled states.

"You don't link those essential needs to some other trade deal," explained Emanuel. "What you have to deal with is what's immediate here, and the lame duck is for immediate things that are important. That's what should be the focus, right now. There's an economic recovery package in front of the Congress. Washington should get it done."

The hope for our future this gives me is just an incredible relief. Having our country in good and ethical hands again just can't be overrated.

Kudos to the new administration. The next 70 days will be rough, but the future looks just wonderful for America.