The View from the OS (Other Side) is Bleak -- and they like it that way.

“On Jan. 21, after the inauguration, Jim Cramer, the mad-cap analyst of financial markets, created the "Obama Accountability Index," a group of six stocks designed to gauge how well the new president was handling the tough economic problems. That index, which started at 100, has now fallen 35% to just 65.”

That’s the report we all saw the other day. My question is this: How can Cramer rationally hold Obama accountable for the fall of stocks since January 21, barely ONE month ago?????????

Come back in six months and let's talk.

Why won't the OS (Other Side) give his stimulus plan a chance to have some impact before they throw Obama overboard? There is a lot in the bill that most of them do not know about and/or do not understand. They prefer to sit on the sidelines, firing potshots at will, hoping they can damage Obama in the process.

Look, this government has committed $7.8 to $8.8 trillion (by my rough count) in loans, investments and guarantees since the beginning of 2008 (when Bush was still in power, by the way).

Your government has been shoring up money market funds, lending to the mortgage markets, lending to the credit markets, and making loans to financial firms. And we have more to do. The FDIC is working hard to prevent bank failures from all but the most insolvent banks. The Treasury is working to prevent the auto industry from a total free fall, putting cash in AIG, lending to credit markets and overseeing the rest of the TARP funds. There are also programs to guarantee the assets of Bank of America and Citigroup. And there is another $1.57 trillion in tax breaks, HOPE for homeowners, state jobs programs, infrastructure programs. I'm sure I've left something out.

I guess there is no way to prevent the OS from complaining (it seems to be what they do best). If they don’t want to help this President – and the rest of their fellow Americans – they should get out of the way and let responsible people bring the economy back.

So far, I believe the WH is handling its critics well. White House Press Secretary Bob Gibbs jumped all over reporter Rick Santelli of CNBC last week when he criticized the WH for setting up a program to bail out homebuyers who applied for home loans when they knew they could not afford them. Gibbs said "Santelli doesn't know what he is talking about." Santelli said the program was designed to reward "bad behavior" and "to bail out losers' mortgages." And that is not true. The plan, Gibbs explained, is to put about $275 billion to work helping about 9 million taxpayers who are NOT behind on their mortgages.

But this is the fight the Obama Administration is in every day. So far, they are countering the misinformation out there pretty well, and I hope they can keep it up. The conservative talk shows on radio and the loud mouths on the financial news TV networks are trying to blow holes in Obama’s program when they ought to be helping to build confidence and explaining the provisions of the program in terms the people can understand and more importantly, put to good use. Misinformation has no place in the national conversation.

"Not your run-of-the-mill recession"

The President performed last night as well as any American citizen had a right to expect. He was informed, articulate and candid with the American people…something we have not heard from recent Presidents. He was just what the country needed: someone in command of the issues and the office. In short, he did a GREAT job last night.

I thought the questions were disappointingly lame...and reflected a lack of understanding of the nation's economic condition....AND what is needed to get us out of it. And then there was that reporter from the Washington Post who, in the midst of the nation's worst economic crisis since the Depression, asked about the President's reaction to New York Yankees’ A-Rod steroid case. Good grief.

Obama’s performance was impressive and may prove to be the tipping point for achieving his first major legislative victory.

Most interesting to me today is steadfast Republican recalcitrance on the stimulus bill.

They are betting the President will fail, they expect the country to fail, and that they alone will be around to pick up the pieces in 2010 and again in 2012. Think about it. The GOP clings tightly to the belief that tax cuts and smaller government are the only answer. That’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Is there no room for anyone with rational thought on their side of the aisle?

To put it another way: The Rs are betting on a total collapse of the economy. By opposing en mass, they are saying they don’t believe the stimulus bill will work. In other words, the “NO” party has no confidence in America.

Not a stimulus but an investment package

The economic stimulus package under consideration should not be described as just another stimulus package. In truth, it is an investment package. It is an investment in rebuilding America, an investment to make America stronger. It is “nation building” in the finest sense because its dollars are dedicated to rebuilding this nation.

Look, our nation’s roads and bridges are crumbling. Many states are “making do,” some are even repairing their bridges with wooden braces – and all such bridges are living on borrowed time. Levees need repairs in California, water ducts are leaking one billion gallons daily in New York. Every state has a long list of urgent projects that need attention and funding. Public works projects in all 50 states soon could employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

President-elect Obama says he wants to bring high speed Internet access to all Americans, especially those who live in rural areas. Building out networks to rural and under-served urban areas will create hundreds of thousands of jobs doing everything from digging ditches to designing the networks that will serve us. This bill makes a down payment on that initiative.

There are tax cuts for the middle class included as well as extension of unemployment benefits…and many other initiatives. Not everything in the package will find universal support, but taken as a whole, it is the best package for our nation’s immediate and long term security.

I have always believed that disaster and opportunity are close relatives. So, while standing knee deep in the disaster of these sad economic times, what better time is there to look for opportunities to succeed before they become opportunities lost in the swirl of our present despair.

It is my hope that this difficult period will be known in history as The Great Transition. Yes, not a recession but a transition, a period when we closed the books at last on antiquated 20^th century industrial leadership and began the transition to a new period of economic growth and prosperity based on technological advances as revolutionary as the telephone, light bulb and automobile.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events. And in today already walks tomorrow.”

The spirit of renewal is upon our land and a sense of tomorrow’s greatness already walks with us. With a new President about to take the oath of office, this is the hour for breaking with the past. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 shook this nation to its foundation – our national security was threatened; and now the economic system we rely upon has shaken to our core our sense of personal security. We continue to address the former threat, now it is time to address the latter.

I believe we are not at the end time for American leadership and influence; I believe our influence and leadership on the world stage has just begun. We must not shrink from our responsibility nor fail to seize the opportunity before us to build upon the heritage that has been entrusted to us.

Congress should pass the new stimulus package. Tomorrow already walks in this day.