For their final speakers of this season, the Norfolk Forum brought in Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s Morning Joe to speak at the Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, VA. David Campbell and Vivian Paige were also in attendance.

Scarborough served in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 as a Republican from the 1st district of Florida. Brzezinski also reports for NBC Nightly News, and serves as alternating news anchor on Weekend Today. Previously, she was a CBS News anchor and correspondent.

I’ve seen Morning Joe a few times and find Joe to be very smart, extremely confident, and often in opposition to whatever is happening in Washington. Though a Republican, Joe has distanced himself from the haphazard ways of the Bush administration and his contemporaries who controlled congress. While I thought he was on target in his criticism of the previous administration, he makes it a point to be a loud voice of opposition to the programs being passed by Obama and the current Democratic controlled congress and feels he’s one of the few Republicans who’s able to do so without being hypocritical because of his opposition to Bush policy and programs, especially the amount of debt amassed during Bush’s tenure.

It’s really a matter of perspective and spin. Joe was mad at Bush and the Republican congress for out of control spending, and he’s mad that Obama and the Democratic congress are going to be spending double. What he FAILS to mention is what the money is going to. Bush spent on an unnecessary war and tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans. Obama is investing in the nation and moving us closer to a new energy economy (something that even Joe says needs to be done).

Joe also fails to mention that the last time the nation faced a massive economic downturn, solutions to get the nation working again were developed and passed by a Democratic president and a Democratic congress. FDR put together the New Deal that has provided financial stability and security ever since its passage. We need a new New Deal, focusing on making investments in America that will move the nation forward and ensure the continuance of its leadership in the world. With Obama, I think can get that; and this is what Joe fails to see.

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