Al Franken is in DC today. He won his election and should be Senator Franken. He should be on the Senate floor, giving speeches and voting for the stimulus package. Instead, because of the intransigence of Norm Coleman and the GOP, Al had to write an op-ed about the stimulus in the Star-Tribune:
Americans voted for a new direction. They voted to rebuild our country's economy by rebuilding its infrastructure, changing its energy policy and investing in our talented workforce. In electing Barack Obama president, America reaffirmed its conviction that, with the right leadership, any crisis can be transformed into a great opportunity.We should have been able to see Al Franken deliver that speech from the Senate on C-SPAN. Think about how many jobs Norm Coleman is costing Americans and Minnesota. If Franken had his seat -- and he has been declared the winner after the recount -- the Democrats would have 59 votes. They'd only need one Republican to get cloture. Anyone who lost money in the Senate stimulus package should blame Coleman, too.
We have that leadership and that opportunity. And the vote on the stimulus package represents a significant step toward the change we chose on Nov. 4.
Since the election, we have lost an additional 1.8 million jobs (nearly 600,000 have been lost since the conclusion of the Minnesota recount). And we are now in more danger than ever, with the prospect of an economic depression becoming all too real. This stimulus package represents bold legislative action, which is precisely what economists agree we need.
In this package, the federal government serves its correct purpose as the spender of last resort. That is a difficult pill to swallow for all of us who have seen the consequences of running huge deficits over the past eight years.
But we are indeed at the point of last resort. While targeted tax cuts are and should be an important part of our response to this crisis, we can't hope for a trickle-down answer. And with interest rates already approaching zero, we have run out of monetary solutions.
Instead, with 58 votes, the Democrats needed two more Republicans. That empowered the conservative Democrats and Susan Collins. Ugh.
It's easy to get lost in the process of what's happening in Minnesota with the court cases and potential additional ballots to be recounted. But, we can't forget the real impact Coleman's tactics are having. Coleman knows he's lost (even though he creepily thinks God wants him to serve.) But, he's obstructing the Obama agenda of change. That is exactly what his old GOP colleagues want.
