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Democrats Disgruntled as Obama Fails to Deliver
WASHINGTON - Since before taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama has been no stranger to being in the crosshairs of Republican pundits who have accused him of everything from bring a "secret communist" to a tax-and-spend liberal who would oversee huge expansions in the federal government.
U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington October 7, 2009. Obama met on Wednesday with the two top Democrats in Congress to discuss ways to spur the economy and reverse a climb in the U.S. unemployment rate.
REUTERS/Jim Young But a growing voice of
criticism here in Washington is Democrats who feel the president has
failed to deliver on a large number of the campaign promises he made
during the run-up to the November election.
This sentiment of disappointment and frustration with Obama's lack of progress on his agenda - topped by his seeming inability to build a consensus in his own party on healthcare reform, concern that he may be in the process of committing the U.S. to an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and inaction on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and repealing the ban on gays in the military - was put on striking display on Saturday night when NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) led off with a satirical skit portraying Obama listing his two major accomplishments since taking office as "Jack and Squat".
The SNL skit came on the heels of last week's announcement that Chicago had lost its bid for the 2016 Olympics for which the president and first lady had made a last-minute trip to Copenhagen to personally lobby the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC's decision to award the games to Rio de Janeiro left the administration with the political equivalent of egg on their faces.
Indeed the White House's seeming inability to accomplish its major public initiatives comes as a surprise to members of both parties as the Democrats have a majority in both the House and Senate and - at least in theory - should be in an ideal position to push an agenda of their choosing.
Obama's difficulties with building a coalition within his own party have come largely as a result of conservative Democrats, known as "Blue Dogs", whose election played a large part in building a Democratic majority in the House. However, the lack of progress from a president who ran with a campaign slogan of "Yes We Can" also casts serious doubts about the credibility of his critics who claim he is a radical reformer with a secret left-wing agenda.
"There are those on the right who are angry. They think that I'm turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, but that's just not the case," said SNL actor Fred Armisen, as Obama. "When you look at my record it's very clear what I've done so far and that is - nothing. Nada. Almost one year and nothing to show for it."
While the list of accomplishments which SNL claims the president has failed to make progress on is - as has been pointed out by a number of fact-checking journalists - overstated, the number of initiatives on the administration's agenda which are "in progress" but haven't yielded discernible results is growing.
Frustration in Washington foreign policy circles has centered on the willingness with which the administration seems to be committing the U.S. to a long term involvement in Afghanistan - a country with a long history of repelling outside powers - and a failure to make measurable headway in bringing about a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Foreign policy realists have largely agreed that an outright withdrawal from Afghanistan could be catastrophic and potentially destabilise an already chaotic region, but concern has been growing about the administration's "mission creep" in Afghanistan away from the original objectives of combating terrorism and denying al Qaeda safe haven.
Obama will be making a difficult decision - probably within the week - about how to respond to General Stanley McChrystal's request for 30,000 to 40,000 additional troops to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
The decision facing the president is politically loaded. A decision to deploy the number of troops requested by McChrystal will garner attacks from within his own party that he is committing U.S. soldiers to an unwinnable war. And a decision to deploy a fewer number of troops than requested will undoubtedly bring cries from Republicans and Democratic Hawks accusing the president of not listening to his generals and denying the military the manpower and resources required to be victorious in Afghanistan.
Foreign policy heavyweight and noted realist Brett Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, sharply criticized the administration's strategy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict Tuesday.
"I think it's time for different role; the focus on settlements on the Israeli side and improving contacts on the Arab side, over-flight rights and so on, is going for the capillaries at a time when that cannot produce good results," he told The Washington Times. "I have felt for some time that the two sides are unlikely in the foreseeable future to be able on their own to make the compromises necessary."
Scowcroft advocates an alternative strategy in which the United States, Europe and Russia would table a plan to create a Palestinian state.
Part of the increasing frustration from the left seems to be with the lack of dramatic progress on policy initiatives from an administration that is nine months into a four-year term.
The important initiatives promised by Obama have included healthcare reform, closure of the Guantanamo bay prison, introduction of a cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions, and a repeal of the ban on gays in the military - but it is too early to say that the president has outright failed to deliver on these promises just yet.
Healthcare reform has been held up by interparty and partisan wrangling, the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison still seems likely but not on the timeframe originally promised; cap and trade legislation has been introduced in the Senate and there is hope that serious progress will be made on the bill - though a vote this year is doubtful - before the December Copenhagen Climate Conference; and a repeal of the ban on gays in the military is being "pushed down the road a little bit", according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in March.
Real accomplishments have been made with the removal of 1.75 billion dollars in funding to order seven more F-22 "Raptor" jet fighters - a follow through on Obama's commitment to end pork-barrel government contracts - and the administration appears to be making progress in changing the nature of the debate on environmental legislation.
The past two weeks have seen a wave of large public utilities and well known U.S. companies resign from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in opposition to the Chamber's efforts to block cap and trade legislation.
While progress may still be coming in a wide range of the president's policy initiatives, the slowness of serious movement on healthcare reform and difficulties in defining the U.S. mission in Afghanistan have become the chief domestic and foreign policy tests in which the president's supporters would like to see real progress.
The first year of the Obama presidency is far from over and the president's poll numbers remain high - an AP poll Tuesday found his job approval numbers at 56 percent - but a growing sense of unease has started to spread amongst his supporters that his persuasive and moving speeches might not be followed by successful policy initiatives.
Obama and his campaign managers were seen as running one of the most well-disciplined and carefully planned presidential campaigns in modern U.S. political history.
Unfortunately the discipline and coordination displayed by his near flawless campaign seem to have gone missing in recent months as supporters are left concerned that the candidate they supported - and who in many ways proved his capability as a bipartisan, "big tent" builder - seems increasingly unwilling or unable to overcome conflicts within his own party or pushback against a disorganized and increasingly marginal Republican opposition.
Armisen's satirical portrayal of Barack Obama may have been over the top in its depiction of him as a president who has accomplished nothing, but the skit spoke to the fears of Obama supporters that the charismatic candidate they helped elect might not be a cure-all for the increasingly difficult and intertwined domestic and foreign policy challenges facing the U.S.
"So all of you frothing Glenn Beck supporters, put away those tricorner hats and those Photoshop pictures of me as the Joker," said Armisen as Obama, "because if I see any more of this hateful rhetoric, I'm going to have to take drastic action... no, not really."
- Posted in
89 Comments so far
Show All"But a growing voice of criticism here in Washington is Democrats who feel the president has failed to deliver on a large number of the campaign promises he made"
They just now noticed?
Governing and leading is far different than campaigning and making speeches. The most charitable thing I could say about this administrations pitiful performance is that they have too many young, untried people in positions of authority and too many "friends" that are fine in Chicago, but don't play well on the National stage.
They don't seem to understand they must lead with permission and not dictate without authority. That going off halh cocked on an agenda that most of the country has no interest in at this time is a fools game.
And I believe my country is now lead by fools.
odoco
Don't think I agree with you totally on that Henry ('led by fools'), but I can certainly sympathize; I lived through 8 of the worst years of my life while Bush Jr. was in office; fools would have been nice - instead we were all subjected to gross criminality, not to mention incompetence.
I am not happy with Obama either - but remember - it is about issues - not about personalities. Stick to the issues, the actions, the outcomes - that is all that is important. Anything else and you fall into 'their' trap of side-lining your intellect to play child's games. No time now for that - we must change the system to where it, once again, actually works for most of the people instead of the chosen few.
ODOCO: "... we must change the system to where it, once again, actually works for most of the people instead of the chosen few."
And what would your remedy be when peaceful protestors are surrounded by goon squads and jailed? when the news Media is totally controlled? when the majority of the American people are not knowledgeable or articulate about most of the issues? when most of our Congressional representatives are bought and paid for by heavy-duty Corporate donations? when our current Supreme Court is likely to render a vote at the end of December that permits Corporations to spend as much as they want to campaign with advertising, documentaries, whatever, for or against the candidates of their choice? when there are no regulations on the BIG-MONEY FOLKS who come up with one scheme after another to make huge profits for themselves and manipulate stocks and holdings and the real estate market and the whole nine yards, and leave heartbroken, financially ruined citizens on the sidewalks that lead to shelters and tent cities? when regardless of strong public preference, decisions are made that ignore those preferences?
How do we change the system that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Corporate Fascism under Benito Mussolini? ...
How?
I'm all ears.
[Not a personal attack, odoco ... just feeling mad as hell and frustrated as I watch my country go down ... and it's going down.]
But, still ... HOW?
peace, cm
Cee Miracles - I both hear you and feel you. I have taught / preached the same message as you delivered above since Reagan came to power in the 1980s. What to do? NEVER GIVE UP! 61 folks were arrested in Washington this week - I know that is small - but I also believe it is growing. Activists were also arrested in Minnesota protesting in front of an insurance agency (see this on web - one of the most moving actions I have ever witnessed). Activists are more energized now than at any time since Obama's election - slow - yes - but it is happening.
I am 60, retired, with no health insurance, a house payment, child support and a small pension. Having said that - I have personally decided it is time to go to jail. Massive civil disobedience is the only alternative we now have. I absolutely do not believe in violence or the destruction of property - let me state that again - I am against violence and destruction of property - and I know the system will infiltrate / send provocateurs as they did in Minneapolis for the 2008 RNC convention - but we still have to bring ourselves together to do this. I remember the black school children in Birmingham leaving school and taking to the streets only to be attacked by thug cops and police dogs - but the protestors - in the end - won a moral victory that eventually led to some societal change.
I have also totally realigned how I live. Consumerism is now totally off the table. Personal sustainability is now a lifestyle. Separate yourself as much as you can from the corporate system. And for God's sake - and I mean that - educate your children, your neighbor's children, anybody you can to the reality of what is happening. Create reading list of books and websites (and movies / dvd's) and pass them around at public events. Talk to sympathetic teachers - share the info with them. I have done that in my area with amazing results. And CONFRONT THE LIARS! Don't let the regressive sociopaths in your community get away with spreading the corporate filth / republican anti-virtues dogma they cling to. Example: about 30 US senators voted against Franken's bill to hold companies legally liable in a court of law if their employees are raped, abused, etc. The lady from Texas who suffered rape in Iraq, was then locked in a container so she could not call home, then told she could not hold the rapist(s) accountable - she could only arbitrate for damages behind closed doors - that bullshit has just ended! And who voted to oppose it - EVERY ONE OF THE DISSENTING VOTES WERE REPUBLICAN! I emailed the story to every college student I know and asked them to go see their local college repub rep and ask them to explain the injustice of such votes.
More and more people are simply abandoning the two party system - and that is the only way we have to keep the system in some sort of balance. And one of the posters above was absolutely correct - don't worry about 2012 election - the one that is most important is the off year elections in 2010 - and that is when the Blue Dog dems need to tuck their tails between their slimey-assed corporate asses and go back to their holes.
This is what we are all fighting for - a more just world - not just for ourselves and our children - but for everyone's children - everywhere. The question is not 'what can we do,' we know what we should be doing. The real question is whether or not we can motivate the people who are aware of the truth to actually get off their butts and take their government back. that is the task.
Peace
you go, odoco!!
I can think of only one time when the U.S. was run by a people's government in the last 100 years or perhaps 200 years and that may have been 4 years during Carter although not perfect in any way. Perhaps Jefferson's administration was a people's government?
Can anyone tell us when the US government was the people's government other than that?
It appears that the US has and always will be for the elite, the military industrial complex ( the elite who own it) and the elite who own our local government officials, Congress, the Senate, and the President.
So much for the American government propaganda we were all taught in grade school and college aye.
Maybe some country some where in the world has a real democracy and people's government?
Any idea where?
Peace indeed my friend. A beautiful post.
"The lady from Texas who suffered rape in Iraq, was then locked in a container so she could not call home, then told she could not hold the rapist(s) accountable"
Though I am totally opposed to war and violence I must admit they should be glad she wasn't my daughter. Texans can sometimes be backsliders.
Shouldn't matter who's daughter she is. Or rather, she's our daughter, our sister, our wife. We should respond accordingly.
odoco - Aside from the many good ideas and life realignment you propose, maybe it's time for some of us to spend our retirements and unemployment getting arrested for peaceful protests, sit-ins etc. I believe you get some sandwiches and health care in jail. I know many family and friends who are tired of demonstrations, forums, meetings etc. who would become activated if I were thrown in jail. Probably the same for most of us.
I would rather leave my kids a viable world than some some macrame or bird houses.
Joe
Joe - I can't think of a more meaningful legacy to leave my son that going to jail for justice. Maybe see you on the street someday, somewhere.
Odoco - Thanks for answering my questions so passionately, and with thought-through remedies. And a man of action too.
Activism has a way of growing from a ripple in the ocean to a wave. I was part of that wave in the anti-nuke time, jail and all and sitting next to an exuberant Daniel Elsberg because he and Greenpeace commandos eluded the Feds on the Nuclear Test Site for a day and a half. He said he and his wonderful wife took turns at protesting, but for years they hadn't been able celebrate their wedding anniversary because always one of them was in jail.
We all got individual chicken dinners before we were arraigned so that was a perk. Real Nevadan hospitality. Times may have changed.
Our mission was to stop the scheduled nuclear test which broke the moratorium with the U.S.S.R. Reagan's orders. And we did stop it, at least for a few days. The next test went totally out of control, and within a few days Chenobyl happened, and Elsberg reported that the U.S. malfunctioned test event was buried in a three-sentence paragraph on page 158 of the Sunday NY Times. And nobody in the country knew the damage it had caused to the people in the area. Many of us always felt that the timing of Chenobyl was a little suspicious. Now I wouldn't put anything past Obama's criminal presidential administration forbears.
It will be more difficult now because of the viciousness of the riot-geared police with their tasers and other new widgets that they seem to have no human concern about using on even peaceful protestors [Pittsburg] or senior citizens at a rally [in Florida]. And meals have been cut from three to two per day in our increasingly privatized prisons.
Front-line living can get scary. A real good support system of other activists is very important. May you come through whatever you choose to do, odoco, unscathed.
peace, cm
Cee... How is the question right now.... I think we in the US have a terrific amount of conditioning to unlearn.... lives and communities to reinvent. We have a dying paradigm to cease resuscitating, but admit into hospice care. Not that I know what THAT would look like, but I dunno about you.... there's been one heck of an exponential leap in folks doubling up so as to afford housing and in the number of street corner beggars and dumpster divers in MY city. We need to get over our fear of the 'other'... We need to schedule in 'facetime' with our representatives with allied friends and family, unplug and meet our neighbors--invite them in-- collaborate on childcare, elder care, on growing fruit trees & gardens, saving and trading seeds, hauling or building benches out by the sidewalk so we recover our rapidly evaporating historical memory and conversational abilities from the black hole of electronic rectangles and pool our resources, however feeble or excessive, to put up solar panels and ensure that our kids don't wind up even more zombified than we've become ourselves with our facebook photos and garage clickers or consumer addictions. We are not helpless creatures! But we believe we are because the globalized, credentialed, financed, military-backed self-proclaimed experts---at everything from agriculture to healthcare to energy to transportation and infrastructure---have convinced us we are. People are waking up to the downside of our climate-controlled, fossil-fueled labyrinths of barely tolerable 'culture' replete with useless, wasteful and mind-numbing products & entertainments and our often equally useless 'jobs' holding up this house of teetering cards along a path purported to lead to a mythical dream of material security, when actually it's a moibus labyrinth designed for no escape. Fascinating that Ken Burns' 'National Parks:America's Best Idea"'s been airing so much on TV of late... Not that it's not beautifully done with plenty of calls to a less colonized mind, but after escaping into the wild via our plasma televisions, can we turn them off awhile and engage in something real?.... America's even better idea might be to localize our lives in such a way that we so love our communities where we support each other that we have no desire to jet across the globe or zone out with a remote. Together we stand a better prayer of standing up to the madness than we have as lonely infantilized individuals armed with guns instead of brotherly love.
Mantangicita - I think this will happen as part of the process. Ideally, people will begin to reach out to each other, get creative together, and get stronger and more open.
People who never expected to be in shelters and tents and living on the road in a small mobile camper are now doing that. Very humbling. Also very strengthening to find out more about one's capabilities and that one can survive and take care of one's family in this never planned-for adventure.
It's growing-up time for those whose world had become so limited and conditioned and small and emotionally/mentally flattened because of hours and hours sitting in front of a box.
And such a nationally shared experience, which it very likely will come to, makes for conversations and telling and sharing the stories -- the survival stories and the stories that make everyone laugh together in recognition.
I don't want to idealize hardship, but it is a great teacher and can release the individual spirit and when everyone looks at each other then they see themselves and that is a huge connection.
peace, cm
Sioux Rose
CEE MIRACLES: I feel the same pain. Ultimately I'd add to your list the way media incites a love of violence in too many by glamorizing aggression in films of all sorts. Then I'd add the role religion plays in demarcating false lines of who's an insider and who is not... even to the point of casting upon persons of other nations the "false witness" that they constitute viable enemies in a "holy war."
The levels of delusion, part of a long-term covert behavior mod/programming initiative that goes deep, may not shift in the blink of an eye. The net result of America's disastrous foreign policy is already returning home through karma's boomerang; but it's a shame it's hitting so many probably decent, if in some cases misguided, persons. As for the designation, misguided, they had a LOT of help getting there, to that state, media assisted, with much paid support from a battery of so-called experts. Among this cast, largely persons prepared to sell their souls for mammon or Mars-rules or both.
odoco
"while Bush Jr. was in office; fools would have been nice - instead we were all subjected to gross criminality, not to mention incompetence."
I think its very nice of you to think that well of him. I felt he wasn't that good, but we had him for Gov., so I had more time!
The issues are exactly what my problem is with Obama and this Congress. Personally I like Obama and I've been quite proud of Michelle so far.
BUT....the issue is the economy and jobs. Trade and getting out of these wars. If they don't reconstruct our tax policies, trade policies and energy policies to regenerate real, productive jobs in America, the rest is Hogwash. A piece of a shrinking pie is always smaller that an expanding pie.
Here are some unpleasant facts about Obamas administration so far as I see it.
A. He put Health Care Reform first when it wasn't a priority with anyone else. Way down the list. And did not go for Single Payer in any case, which was a large mistake.
B. He invested in Cap and Trade which is nothing more than a large energy tax. And I hate to tell all the enviornmentalists here this...but the American public doesn't give a damn about carbon emissions right now and they know a tax when they see it. And they don't like the lecture.
C. He has begun to weaken immigration law and seems to be preparing to go fopr amnesty, something which over 80% of Americans are opposed to. They are not going to have it and rightfully so.
D. All his spending bills have done nothing for nor are likely to, the American people...especially the bottom. The middle class is hurting, the lower class has Swine Flu. The only thing he had to do was rebuild our economy and restore jobs....do that and people will listen.
E. Biggest mistake other than misreading the reason for his election, was dedeing power to Pelosi, Reid and Waxman, allowing them to structure legislation and to lead in his place.
"Its not presonal Sonny, Its Business"! And I won't be driving up to a toll booth on the turnpike! The Godfather had it right.
But opinions are like...........
"Beware of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"
Henry - you must have misread my post - I said Bush was / is a criminal. I never thought highly of him - not even immediately after 9/11.
And you are obviously right about opinions . . . .
"Foreign policy realists have largely agreed that an outright withdrawal from Afghanistan could be catastrophic and potentially destabilise an already chaotic region,"
So "realists" are people that wish to continue the Bush/Obama occupation? How many of them voted for Obama's "hope and change"?
"Realists" = Military Industrical Complex?
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
The real question is how many of them or their families are carrying a rifle there?
"outright withdrawal from Afghanistan could be catastrophic and potentially destabilise an already chaotic region,"
Its stable and unchaotic NOW?????? Good God! Protect me from class room thinking.
Realist = neocon? Adult. Grownup. Serious. Yep, the high ground belongs to those whose policies have gotten us this far.
Is it the Realist's position that because Afghanistan is a chaotic region, one that our leaving would destabilize, therefore, we must stay no matter what - even if staying produces chaos, catastrophe, and kills and makes miserable the lives of millions of innocent people? Are we bringing something so wonderful, i.e., the Karzai government, that their suffering is of no importance?
If Realists were so concerned about the catastrophe of destabilizing the chaos, what did we do with the first 8 years and the first $230 billion? During that time, did any of the gravitas grownups think about how they would exit, or is ending war always off the Table? It is easier to start a war than to end one, especially when war mutates across borders with the ease of al-Qaeda. Is it now official policy to move war instead of ending it? Have the realists considered that we will run out of United States before they will run out of places?
What a waste of a Democrat majority..which may well be gone next election if this waffling on campaign promises keeps up.
Obama, Washington is not Harvard...you do not have tenure there, and the ability to talk about things for the next 20 years without actually doing anything.
You were elected for "Change" If you do not follow through on your campaign promises, you will be a disasterous one-term experiment.
If the GOP had your majority, they would ram through their ideological agenda without a second thought, and crush any opposition, either within or without their party....time you followed their example and got on with it...your timidity is damaging your cause, making it seem like you do not really believe in what you are preaching
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
odoco
Excellent - and accurate - points! Remember when Hastert (repug speaker of the house) flatly stated he would schedule no legislation unless "a majority of the majority' agreed to it? So much for the bipartisanship of American politics! If the republicans now had the votes the democrats have, I am afraid we would be totally controlled by the corporate hegemony they have so long sought.
If Obama doesn't act boldly, he will fade.
exactly.
Yeats noted the same thing, mujeriego.
"The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity"
My rewrite about Congress:
"The not quite as horrible lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity"
Very few in Congress deserve to be called "the best".
Joe
It's not timidity, or being spineless. It's serving the same masters as Republicans. Democrats are more reprehensible because they pretend to care. Yet one way or another, every piece of progressive legislation dies with the Dems. That's not an accident. They make sure of it.
Don't forget. Bush got his way 99.9# of the time, despite Dems having the majority the first two and last two years of Smirky. How was that possible? Because jusr like now, what they say in public and do in back room deals is totally different. Like Obama.
These people didn't get where they are by being a pushover. They're all sharks.
Oh my god! what an accomplishment ! Eliminated 1.75 in pork while increasing the Pentagons budget!
Has what very well might be a disasterous heathcare package floating around congress ! wow !
I understand cap and trade means alot more revenues for many corporations, thats why they are supporting it.
Give the guy his due he is taking some of the non violent detained illegals out of prison and putting them in nursing homes and old hotels ... one of these days.
On the otherhand this enviormentalist is importing tar sands oil,blowing up mountaintops and prosecuting Tim DeChristifor who disrupted an oil auction that has since been declared by the D of Interior to be illegal, but nary a war criminal or Banster ( except a couple of ponzi kings).
And has turned Bagram into his Guantanamo.
Used "state secrets" excuse to block almost every war criminal inquiry.
This guy is not inept when it comes to doing undemocratic and corporate endeavors.
Obama bye-bye in 2012. Blue dogs and other traitorous "Dems"
can ride the same train OUT!!!
That is, of course, if the "electorate" has awakened over the last nine years.
And here again we have a thread expecting everything from Santa Obama, and ignoring any culpability or responsibility from anyone else.
People worry about creeping totalitarianism, yet go running to Santa Obama for absolutely everything. Ironic, ain't it?
1. his seeming inability to build a consensus in his own party on healthcare reform,
2.concern that he may be in the process of committing the U.S. to an unwinnable war in Afghanistan,
3.inaction on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay,
1. Congress wasted their entire recess (and our precious time) talking about healthcare reform, and how's that going for you?
2. Here we go again with the stupid 'war in Afghanistan' paradigm. No wonder Progressives have no power. They use the wordings, the mind-set, that the establishment wishes them to use (and that seems to be fine with Progressives, strangely).
3. The Senate refused to allocate money to close Gitmo. But this is Mr. Obama's fault?
Progressives will continue to wield NO power to change anything until they get their collective heads out of their asses and see things the way they are.
Congress is the problem, and is up for re-re-re-re-re-election next year. Mr. Obama's election is 3 years away.
Who should be pressured for change?
How could anyone in their right mind think that a powerful, brutal empire would hire Obama to lead the nation if they thought he would try to rip the rug out from underneath them?
That's utter nonsense. Obama was hired to do just what he's doing: preserving the status quo, at the same time pretending to be doing otherwise. He's articulate, smart, has acting talent, and he's a natural charismatic. He was the perfect candidate. Thus, we have the "poor Obama" excuse that too many supposedly thinking people have fallen for.
We don't have time for this nonsense! He knew what his role would be. I knew. But here they are, his worshipers, who just can't go there. They have to find excuses to appease their cognitive dissonance. Did they bend over backwards cooking up excuses for Bush?
Obama is not a stupid man. Take a look at his campaign contributions. Take a look at his record. Very few bothered to do that before falling in love with him. Who cares about a record? It could have utterly spoiled the mood, and no one would have wanted that.
Sioux Rose
RVR: Fortune cookie read, "You one smart cookie." Keep posting! Great analysis.
Locust, you are absolutely right. Santa Obama deliberately stalls rebellion by pretending to be for CHANGE and then doing nothing. It's a simple enough strategy by the rich backers of this Administration. Too bad most liberals can't seem to figure it out.
"Realist?"...please...an actual realist would not make it into any debate moderated by the corporate media or corporate-owned politicians.
An actual "realist" would point out the following. The alleged premise for our military predations is to keep Americans safe. Doctors and drunk drivers kill far more Americans every year than do terrorists. Actually, on an annual basis, bees have killed far more Americans since 1990 than have terrorists. Therefore, the disproportionate amount of money we spend on preventing deaths from terrorism is an obscene waste. Of course, this does not even reflect the absurdity that Bush alone ordered more Americans to their completely wasted deaths than were killed on 9/11. Moreover, it is doubtful that our military predations---while killing thousands of innocents---have actually saved ANY American lives.
h
I, for one, commend our CIA masters for what I now realize is their successful War on Bees.
· Yr Obd't Servant
locust cuts to the chase. The article is a sham and a smoke screen
Few Democrats are disgruntled. Just as the Repubs do, the Democratic majority consistently stabs Obama in the back and sabotages everything he tries to accomplish.
It must be 20 years ago now that Nader pointed out there is really only one party. That's more true now than ever.
"Realist?"...please...an actual realist would not make it into any debate moderated by the corporate media or corporate-owned politicians.
An actual "realist" would point out the following. The alleged premise for our military predations is to keep Americans safe. Doctors and drunk drivers kill far more Americans every year than do terrorists. Actually, on an annual basis, bees have killed far more Americans since 1990 than have terrorists. Therefore, the disproportionate amount of money we spend on preventing deaths from terrorism is an obscene waste. Of course, this does not even reflect the absurdity that Bush alone ordered more Americans to their completely wasted deaths than were killed on 9/11. Moreover, it is doubtful that our military predations---while killing thousands of innocents---have actually saved ANY American lives.
All excellent points, Monroematt!
Obama = Bush
Nah, he's not Bush. I just think he's the right president at the wrong time. If things were fairly good in the US, and what was called for was good management, I think his style would work. It just doesn't in our current situation.
I disagree Kane. He's too easily pushed around and stands up for nothing. Van Jones, Acorn, Death Panels, etc.
We need a President who doesn't care about being re-elected and is only interested in pushing fort his/her agenda. He needs to take a page out of the Bush/Cheney playbook. Do you think those two cared what the opposition thought? Not a chance. Their motto was full steam ahead and fck anyone who gets in our way.
Look at the response Grayson is getting. A dem w/b*lls and people are responding in a big way!!!
Obama had that opportunity and blew it........
Poor Obama, he's got a bad situation! One of the best rationalizations thus far for Obama's massive collusion with Empire and corporatism.
Hey, here's a great stategy for keeping the status quo in power for a long, long, time:
Hire a charismatic politician with characteristics that will cause millions of voters to "fall in love" with him. When he betrays his millions of paramours, foment excuses for him such as: "He is only one person!" "They have a gun to his head!" "The Blue Dogs are working against him!" "the right wing-nuts control him!" "Just you wait, he has something up his sleeve!"
Foment anger and perhaps even some racism from the Republicans (who, by the way, have an approval rating in the toilet, according to polls), and make believe that Obama must appease them. This will cause progressive non-thinkers to rally 'round their man, protecting him from the mean old wing-nuts that he is only trying to gather together under his big, friendly tent.
Some won't fall for this. They'll realize it's a scam. Others will stay faithful, having been swept off their feet, they'll go to great lengths to make excuses for him. Isn't that how it usually goes.
The progressive left, again, will be divided. Brilliant! and in the meantime, the beat goes on and we are doomed as a country while the very rich make out like bandits.
Where's a progressive Ann Landers when you need her? Molly Ivins, please come back!
You hit the nail on the head, rvrwalker!
Also, don't forget about identity politics. Obama has the blacks in his pocket the same as Bush had the rednecks.
odoco
You are wrong - and your comment is racist to the core. I know plenty of African Americans who are genuinely disenchanted with Obama and are quite vocal about it. Generalizations, especially when they are false, only damage the cause.
I dearly hope so. If that's so then I feel better. My impression is that most still support him. I would like my generalization to be wrong. The more it is the more hopeful I'll be.
Yes, yes, and yes! I actually registered in order to reply to your comment because I think you're so right on. I've been thinking exactly as you have for a while now.
Yes, the PR is the most brilliant ever devised. Hire someone who seems 180 degrees removed from cheney/bush, and have him be black so that the entire world will believe that America is not only back on track but actually progressing forward, becoming what it was always meant to be.
Sure, politics always plays a role in a president's agenda, but this president, he's different...he's the real deal. And when the people begin to get uncomfortable with the neocon agenda of the new liberal president, well, just throw in some gun-toting crazies and a couple of drug-addict bad actors playing the role of a lunatics, and, soon enough, the people have to spend all their time defending the liberal president against the lunacy. Most of all, if the liberal democrat, along with the majority liberal democratic congress, are actually putting the nail in the coffin of democracy, it would make the people crazy, so they ignore it.
The election of Obama/dem congress has cured me of my fear of republicans. At least with a republican administration, you have organized opposition. But with the election of the extreme liberal/communist/socialist obama and his congress, you have supporters cheering for their gravediggers.
Hey Diana.
WTF are you talking about?
Republicans are organized opposition?
They're narrow minded, racist, selfish, egomaniacs. The devils' spawn.
Their supporters are unwitting corporate tools.
The Dems, they've morphed into closet Republicans, Vichey Dems, take yout pick.
They and Obama are just as much the warmongeriong corporate whores as Republicans.
Extreme Liberals, Socialists, Communists? You have no idea what's going on.
Obama and the Dem majority have been a continuation of the Bush/Cheney cabal.
I was being extremely sarcastic and using the ridiculous labels of the right-wing to make my point; sorry if it wasn't more obvious. Everything you say is, of course, true.
I think it's entirely possible that Obama operates with a gun at his head. As someone else mentioned, Obama knows that it was after JFK opposed his military brass and saw the usurpation of presidential power by the CIA that the gun held at Kennedy's head was fired. And there were others to follow.
Basenjis, the notion that a newly-elected president is taken to a back room and "talked to" by state security and/or shadow government operatives is attractive. In fact, it's part of popular culture:
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I walked into El Presidente’s office two days after he was elected and congratulated him… I said “Mr. President, in here I got a couple hundred million dollars for you and your family, if you play the game – you know, be kind to my friends who run the oil companies, treat your Uncle Sam good.” Then I stepped closer, reached my right hand into the other pocket, bent down next to his face, and whispered, “In here I got a gun and a bullet with your name on it – in case you decide to keep your campaign promises.” I stepped back, sat down, and recited a little list for him, of presidents who were assassinated or overthrown because they defied their Uncle Sam: from Diem to Torrijos – you know the routine. He got the message. – John Perkins, quoting an anonymous source in his new book, “The Secret History of the American Empire – Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption”.
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No matter what promises you make on the campaign trail, blah blah blah, when you win (the U.S. Presidency), you go into this smoky room with the 12 industrialist, capitalist scumfucks that got you in there, and this little screen comes down...and its a shot of the JFK assassination from an angle you've never seen before, which looks suspiciously like the grassy knoll, and then the screen comes up and the lights go on, and they ask the new president "any questions?" – Comedian Bill Hicks
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But when this scenario is raised about Obama, as it often is in Internet comments, it's like dropping one shoe.
What's the implication? If Obama has truly been coerced into doing the bidding of his Sinister Masters, where does that leave us? Are we supposed to pity Obama for being in such a dire predicament?
IF this were true, do we excuse Obama for playing along, like a victim who's threatened with reprisals if he or she tells the cops what's going on?
Or is this scenario invoked to make the case that it isn't that we're devolving into an irrevocable imperial police state, it's that we've BEEN living in one for decades? That's the only conclusion I can logically extrapolate from this: the public goes through the formality of electing a president, but the president is null and void because he's trapped in a bind. So there's no way out for him (her) OR the rest of us. Game Over.
I feel as if I'm missing something here; what's the other shoe?