Denver Welcomes Returning Barack Obama, Now President, for Stimulus Signing

Denver -- The Mile High City is making history again, as President Barack Obama arrived on a sunny, turbulently windy day to sign the latest 'stimulus' bill in hopes of calming and restoring the nation's economy. The signing was delayed until today after Congress rushed passage of the huge bill less than twenty-four hours after it was finalized last Friday. The signing happened, according to the Denver Post, in the early afternoon after a tour of a solar energy installation at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

As a platform for President Obama's rise to power Denver has played a huge role, with a pre-Super Tuesday turnout far beyond expectation (and capacity) when he spoke at the University of Denver. His nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention here filled the Denver Broncos' football stadium to overflow as well, after moving the event from the smaller Pepsi Center arena where the convention took place. Democrats in Denver's congressional delegation are turning out to greet the new President. According to the Denver Post article, Republicans were not invited.

Though the city's administration has appeared to be less fond of Denver's "cow town" tradition since on the face it suggests a static past, the recent international gathering of cattlemen and women at the National Western Stock Show presented a different picture, an innovative future. That side of Colorado was shown as 'back to basics,' the feeding and sustenance of a nation, though new scientific and business techniques and plain old hard work. It's also the home of a kind of 'stock' that, when rustled, was dealt with harshly, using rope and gun. Denver is symbolically (and geographically) about as far from 'pork' as you can get, though there is plenty of expectation here that, when the political kind gets distributed, Denver's cooperation will pay off.

A lot of commentators, such as Newsweek's Eleanor Clift on the McLaughlin Group television show, have also invoked the famous German saying about political deals and pork sausages, most people can't stomach the details of what went into either one and ignorance is bliss. President Obama has repeatedly warned against the delay which analysis of the bill would produce. Denver has been leading the recovery, say reports, but before receiving a dose of the stimulus. Some wonder if perhaps there is an "economic placebo effect" intended.

When President Obama reported that Caterpillar was planning to hire in anticipation of the stimulus, his claim was meant to support the general effect of even anticipated passage of the stimulus package, though Caterpillar's management was said to deny the President's claim. The President has been seeking to build faith in the government's actions as a key to economic recovery. The inevitability of President Obama's election was reported frequently in the press as well, and it has obviously come to pass.

As the time for the signing approaches, the winds are picking up here to the point where weaker structures might be damaged. Look for pundits to employ a variety of metaphors to explain this windy, politically significant day in Denver.

"Obama Lands in Denver", Kieran Nicholson, http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11722258

"D'oh! Caterpillar CEO Contradicts President on Whether Stimulus Will Allow Him to Re-Hire Laid Off Workers",Jake Tapper, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/doh-caterpillar.html