SATURDAY ROUNDUP

by Walter Alarkon - 11/22/08 4:35 PM ET

President-elect Barack Obama’s job creation plan sounds good to liberal bloggers but sounds like a rehash to conservative ones. Obama’s decision to send his two daughters to a Washington, D.C. private school is skewered by his critics on the right. And bloggers on both sides weigh in on whether Obama is ignoring the netroots and the left wing of his party.

Obama’s proposal for a stimulus to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011 shows that he’s focused on the economy, just like many Americans, writes Political Animal Steve Benen. But Obama’s plan reminds Don Surber of the domestic programs championed by President Franklin Roosevelt that weren’t enough to pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Obama will send his daughters, Malia and Sasha, to Sidwell Friends School, where the yearly middle school tuition is about $30,000 per student, notes Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter. The decision to send the girls to a private school goes against Michelle Obama’s vocal support of public education, notes Hot Air’s Allahpundit.

Obama, by choosing centrist Cabinet officials, is biting the left hand that fed him, according to The Heretik. But the notions that Obama is turning his back on liberals he relied on and that the netroots will be politically weak during the Obama administration are both flawed, writes Daniel Larison. The size of Obama’s victory will allow Democrats to ignore the netroots but will also give activists the kind of room to criticize party leaders that conservative activists didn’t have with President Bush, according to Larison.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Acting ‘Swiftly and Boldly’ – Steve Benen, Political Animal
F.D. Obama – Don Surber
Why Only 2.5 Million Jobs? – Progrowthliberal, Econospeak
Obama Picks $30K Private School for Girls – A. Carpenter, Townhall
Messiah Sending Daughters to Ritzy School – Allahpundit, Hot Air
Choice for Me, But Not For Rhee – John J. Miller, The Corner
Proper News – The Heretik
Pragmatists and Progressives – D. Larison, Eunomia
NYT: ‘Planning to Govern from Center-Right’ – D. Sirota, Open Left