President Obama came to Georgia holding out the promise of cash to homeowners for buying more insulation and water heaters at a time when thousands of people have lost or their homes and thousands of others are at risk.

In Savannah, as the president spoke, there were 1,298 homes in foreclosure in that city, according to RealtyTrac's Web site. In January, one in every 529 housing units was hit by a foreclosure filing. In January, 83,426 homes were in foreclosure in Georgia which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

Across the country the number of houses facing foreclosure in January jumped 15 percent from a year earlier. The total is expected to climb to between 3 million and 3.5 million homes this year, RealtyTrac says.

So the Obama plan is to give rebates of up to $3,000 for homeowners to upgrade windows, doors, heating and air conditioning, roofing and other things. His new program is supposed to feature an instant rebate of $1,000 or more, according to news reports.

Administration officials say they hope between 2 million and 3 million homes will benefit from the program which is subject to approval by Congress - no big deal since it's another giveaway with borrowed money, just the ticket for the spend-borrow-and-tax Democrats in charge of Congress.

This plan, according to Obama, is supposed to not only save homeowners on their utility bills, but "boost the economy and reduce American dependence on oil," the AP reported.

It's another nickel and dime approach by Obama and his administration to combat the nation's humongous economic problems, especially unemployment. Seriously, how many real jobs would this new giveaway generate? The effect on unemployment would not even come close to that of the proverbial gnat on an elephant's rump.

It gives the appearance to a no longer somnambulant electorate that the president is actually doing something in between speeches that average about three a day. Name a subject and presto! A speech flows forth.

Meanwhile, Obama is focused on his real objective: to extend federal government control over one-sixth of the economy with his health care takeover.

Now the president says he is "open" to some Republican proposals for health care legislation including expanded fraud investigation in such programs as Medicaid, actual funding of state "demonstration" projects for resolving medical malpractice disputes without litigation, higher Medicaid reimbursements for doctors, and expansion of health savings accounts.

Even with those Republican proposals included, there are too many bad features of this health care takeover to merit support. There still will be a major cut in Medicare, new taxes and new government controls - plus all the fine print loaded with bad news.

And the majority of Americans want no part of this government takeover, as poll after poll after poll has shown. But we've learned one thing from Obama and his Dem allies: They flat out don't care what the people think.

Instead, we get another government handout.

dmckee9613@aol.com