Some rumblings and grumbling, as the President’s visit to Stanford is a few hours away.
1) Good article in this morning’s Chronicle _http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/21/BUGGKICDG41.DTL_ (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/21/BUGGKICDG41.DTL) on the various tech programs floating around in Congress. Watch and see if Reeps and Dems can come together and hammer out a deal that includes more federal spending for math and science, visas for foreign tech workers, and making permanent the federal R&D tax credit.
2) Such a deal underscores an urgent White House need: the President calling a meeting with congressional leaders and delivering a lecture that falls somewhere between Robert DeNiro swinging a baseball bat Moe Howard slapping around Larry and Curly. The clock’s ticking at the both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to get something before the midterm elections and the topic’s are stacking up: tax cuts, immigration reform. The President shouldn’t let tech fall between the cracks.
3) The President is at Cisco in a short while. Last month, Treasury Secretary John Snow visited a Cisco Academy at Foothills Community College, in nearby Los Altos. Topic of the Treasury Secretary’s visit: the same as the President. Let’s see if there’s any message deviation.
4) So the President is stopping in West Sacramento — meaning that little town, which we Bay Area snobs know best for minor-league baseball and a place to fuel up before jeading down 80 West, will have one more presidential visit than San Francisco. First Stanford loses to UC-Davis in football and basketball, now this. The hits keep coming.
4) Too bad the Giants are out of town, while Bush is nearby. This is the President who mentioned steroid abuse in a State of the Union Address. By the way, has anyone noticed that Bill Clinton hasn’t had much to say about Bonds slowing twisting in the wind because he may have . . . lied to a grand jury, and the feds have an ex-mistress testifying?