Bridge to Nowhere

"The largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." That was what Obama stated he wanted the proposed stimulus package to be. It has been called the “New” New Deal -- when workers built hundreds of bridges, dams and parkways. But unfortunately this was apparently just rhetoric, a situation that’s becoming all too familiar for Obama supporters. According to the Washington Post, “most of the infrastructure spending being proposed for the massive stimulus package that Obama and congressional Democrats are readying is not exactly the stuff of history, but destined for routine projects that have been on the to-do lists of state highway departments for years. Oklahoma wants to repave stretches of Interstates 35 and 40 and build "cable barriers" to keep wayward cars from crossing medians. New Jersey wants to repaint 88 bridges and restore Route 35 from Toms River to Mantoloking. Scottsdale, Ariz., wants to widen 1.5 miles of Scottsdale Road. “

I argued earlier how this stimulus could be an opportunity to revolutionize our country for the next 100 years, but the new administration apparently wants more of the same. Is this yet another example of “change we can believe in?” There has been a trend over recent weeks of the President-Elect, if not turning his back on what he campaigned on, then certainly modifying it beyond recognition. While as a conservative I don’t necessarily mind some of his reversals, (Iraq timetables and tax hikes), it still doesn’t speak too well of what is to come over the next four years if what many feared is actually the case. Obama is a lot of talk, but little of actual substance.