Obama's Midterm Transportation Project Push - Pulling A Fast One?

Barack Obama, the Campaigner in Chief, is busy dividing the country by race, gender, age and income for the midterm elections.  The 2014 elections will be hard for the Democrats to excite their base and get out the vote, but a list of the manufactured 'issues' Obama and the left are pushing makes their efforts apparent.  For gender, the extension of the 'war on women' was easy to identify.  Obama began  pushing the outright LIE with the 'women earn '77 cents on the dollar' to men speeches.  That was easy to debunk, yet it still continues to garner the female vote and those gullible, bleeding hearts in pursuit of  'social justice' .

A story today that covers multiple demographics for more efficient Division, was an article on Student Loan Reform legislation. A tax increase on the wealthy will enable students to lock in a permanent, very low rate on their student loans after graduation. A dual purpose piece of legislation, divide us by age and income and motivate the youthful, useful idiots to get to the polls.  Any opposition is deemed racist, so that is easy. Great job, at getting out the vote, Democrats. The only thing left would be a more unifying, common enemy for the pro-union labor base. Besides demonizing the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party, that really only leaves the GOP to target.

The article that stands out today to attack the GOP:

Obama: GOP took credit for transportation projects they ‘refused to fund’

President Obama accused Republicans of taking credit for transportation projects they refused to fund as he pressed Congress for more federal infrastructure spending in a speech Wednesday.  

"Instead of making investments that grow our economy by growing the middle class, they're still convinced that prosperity trickles down from the very top," Obama told a crowd gathered at the Tappan Zee bridge outside New York City, the site of a $3.9 billion, federally backed construction project. 

"If you want to tell them what you think about that, don't worry, because usually they show up at ribbon cuttings for projects that they refused to fund," the president added.

You see, those greedy GOP bastards are stuck in the past, pushing trickle down economics and taking credit for Obama's hard work. The nation would be so much better off if the GOP weren't around, interfering with the Dear Leader Obama and his great vision. Barack Obama  needs your help or the nation will crumble. Don't worry, infrastructure is like contraceptives, it is free, so how can you be against it.?

Coincidentally, another great infrastructure story hit the headlines too. Lets trumpet an Obama success in the solid Democrat State of Minnesota. Nothing says transportaion and infrastructure like light rail trains, correct?  Mass transit is reliable, fast and cost effective.  Let's take a look at the Metro Green Line expansion, a subject of Barack Obama's February 2014 visit and hailed as a great success, shall we?

Light rail train derails after Obama visit

Obama touted the expansion of Minnesota’s Metro light rail system to St. Paul, which is scheduled to open in June, as an example for the nation to follow. Hours later, a train ran off the tracks. 

copied from conservativebyte.com

“I just had a chance to take a look at some of those spiffy new trains,” Obama said Wednesday of the expansion of Minneapolis’ Metro light rail.  

“They are nice and they’re energy efficient. They’re going to be reliable. You can get from one downtown to the other in a little over 30 minutes instead of when it’s snowing being in traffic for two hours."

Okay, maybe it isn't reliable, but fast and cost-effective still  isn't bad.

11 miles in 67 minutes? Met Council's Green Line engineers look to shave time

Traffic engineers for the Metropolitan Council have exactly one month to figure out how to speed up light-rail trains along the new Green Line. 

Test trains along the route connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis have been taking an hour or longer to travel from one end to the other, exceeding initial projections of 40 minutes. 

Met Council officials they're working hard to shave off those extra minutes in the weeks leading up to the June 14 launch.

Okay, well it least it was cost-effective.

The project, which cost $957 million or almost  $90 million dollars a mile to build, — half of it supplied by federal funds, with the balance divided among state, regional, county and city governments — includes 18 new stations in addition to five to be shared with the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis. 

Officials heralded the economic development promised by the Green Line, which will link the two downtowns and the University of Minnesota via University Avenue. The Met Council estimates that the line so far has yielded $1.7 billion in private development already built or still to come. 

“This is really going to pay off,” Haigh said.

Great projections, any foreseeable shortfall? 

However, about 30 percent of the Green Line development counted by the Met Council also is along the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis. The analysis is mostly based on published reports in daily, weekly and business newspapers.

Well, there is that double counting........

I think I can, well I know I can think of this as the little train that could be a money pit. Toot your own horn, Mr. President.