Morning Reading

From the New York Times' Charles Blow:

"The country needs the president to rise to this crisis in word, spirit and deed. We need him to reach out of his nature and into the nation’s need. We are on the precipice. There’s growing concern that we may slip into a second, more painful recession. There is little optimism that the housing crisis will loosen its grip on the economy anytime soon. The unspeakable truth is that we may well be on the leading edge of a prolonged period of national stagnation, if not decline.

A robotic Sustainer-in-Chief with an eerie inhumanity will not satisfy. At this moment, we need less valley and more mountaintop."

More and more progressives are concerned about the seeming passivity of President Obama. As many have said, the President needs to "go big" with a jobs and economic recovery plan, and dare the Rethugs to oppose it. With interest on Treasury notes at record low levels, the U.S. can borrow money almost interest free, and we need to get large public works projects underway that will have good return on investment. Time to get going and get serious.

BONUS: Here's Jonathan Alter's take on the same subject.