Splendid little wars always come first

Poor infrastructure fails America, civil engineers report*

The American Society of Civil Engineers issued an infrastructure report card Wednesday giving a bleak cumulative ranking of D.

"We've been talking about this for many many years," Patrick Natale, the group's executive director, told CNN.

"We really haven't had the leadership or will to take action on it. The bottom line is that a failing infrastructure cannot support a thriving economy."

The ranking -- which grades the condition of 15 infrastructure entities such as roads, bridges and dams -- is the same as the the last time such a report was issued, in 2005. In 2001, the grade was D+, slightly better but still poor.

I can't tell you how sorry I am to see that we lost our "+". It used to give me so much hope. Note also that the report gives levees a "D-".

In any case this sounds like a good time for a new and better stimulus package. One that isn't all watered down the way the last one was when the President and his overwhelming Congressional majorities couldn't find the nerve to stand up to Groucho.

Of course, this time around, it may be even less fashionable for the President to demonstrate any spine given current concern that asserting one's political difference with one's opposition is bad for "the civility of the discourse". Well, that and our Splendid Little Wars, whichever you like.

In his first State of the Union address before a Congress under divided control, advisers say Mr. Obama will lay out his case for investment in education and infrastructure, while tempering his call for new initiatives with an acknowledgment of the country’s long-term fiscal challenges.

Aides said Tuesday that Mr. Obama will propose a five-year freeze on “non-security discretionary spending” though they did not disclose the details of that proposal in advance of the speech.

Translation: Obama is too enamored with his little wars to make any meaningful investment in our "grade D" infrastructure without presenting us with a Hobson's choice between that and Social Security. But at least we've arrived at a more civil-looking seating arrangement. That is very important, after all.

*CNN story is from 2 years ago. As you all know, these problems are all fixed now.