Good Morning Bloggers! I'm beginning to wonder if great Democratic candidates make lousy politicians. I agree with Keith Olbermann when he said on his show last night that President Obama could be facing a serious Democratic challenger in 2012 unless he stops negotiating away real reform.Leading Republicans are going completely insane all around us (just watch FOX "News" for a taste), providing us with plenty of opportunities to label them unreasonable wackos, yet leading Democrats like Obama and Reid insist on trying to reason with them. What the hell are they thinking? Are they nuts?
We need leadership, not negotiations - and certainly no more compromises! Unless Obama surprises us with an aggressive approach to health care reform during his speech to Congress next week, we could very well be witnessing another great Democratic defeat - a bad bill would be a defeat for many of us. The White House seems hell-bent on getting a health care deal, any health care deal, no matter how horrible the result. What the hell is that about?
Unless the White House is playing a close hand, I'm beginning to wonder if Obama was a mistake. I don't know if Hillary would have been better, but I would like to think that she may have been tougher fighting the Republicans and controlling her own party - something I see lacking with Obama.
I don't think I'm alone wanting an all-out war against the lying and cheating Republican Party today. Screw bi-partisanship! Obama needs to get tougher, and soon.
The media and the pundits could be lying, but if they are correct and the White House is intending to sacrifice extremely important Democratic Party positions in favor of a lousy compromise with a bunch of Blue Dogs (or even one or two Republicans), then we're all in trouble.
A bad bill could be worse then no bill. Most experts agree that it would signal a defeat, and the beginning of a weak presidency.
The only solution is to get tough. There's been too much compromise with their side already. To give away more is unacceptable. Find out what the Blue Dogs want and make a deal - anyway, anyhow! Everybody wants something. Offer them MONEY! Offer them POWER! Offer them whatever they freaking want! If that doesn't work, THREATEN them!
If the White House and the president agree with us that a viable public option (the only way to control costs and abuses) is the best approach to real reform, then why can't they find a way to make it happen? The Blue Dogs must need something of value besides standing their ground on this one issue.
The so-called options to the public option (triggers to form public options, regulations and oversight, etc.) are all highly questionable as to their purported effectiveness. The only way to ensure market stability and control abuse is to form a viable public option now.
Half-ass solutions would also leave the system vulnerable the instant the Republicans regain power.
The dogs need to be tamed, and somebody has to do it. I thought Obama was our man, but if he's really a wimp, then we need to find a new progressive leader. The only viable alternative at the moment would be Nancy Pelosi. She's been talking a lot lately about how a public option is non-negotiable.
Pelosi has been speaking a lot tougher than the White House. She may be my new favorite Democrat.
If Obama and his team wimp out, Nancy Pelosi will be the best candidate to carry the torch for the progressive movement. I'll admit she has been on my bad side ever since refusing to impeach Bush, but those feelings will fade each time she stands up against absurd and unnecessary compromises. Somebody in the Democratic Party needs to stand-up for what is right.
We cannot allow a handful of rural politicians to dictate terms to the rest of us. It's time to let the White House know - NO MORE COMPROMISES!
It's time for the White House to get smart and creative instead. For God's sake, figure out what the Blue Dogs want someplace else and give it to them. Any negotiator worth his salt knows there's always a work-around.
If they don't, like Olbermann said, I think they're risking their second term. I think they will be seen by most of us as unworthy of our support. They will be seen as weak by both Republicans and progressives. Like the slimy Republican Jim DeMint said, it may be their Waterloo.
Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat (and excellent campaigner) to find out that popularity and support fades quickly. Unless President Obama and his team show strength and determination on this issue, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end. I hate to sound negative, but for me, hope is already fading.
Friday's Political Rant - Michael
PS - A former Obama campaign staffer - Mike Elk - just wrote a similar piece on The Huffington Post asking President Obama to fight like he promised us.
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17 comments:
I don't think I'm alone wanting an all-out war against the lying and cheating Republican Party today. Screw bi-partisanship! Obama needs to get tougher, and soon.
There is already an all-out war going on between the parties. Unfortunately the Republicans are the only ones fighting it. Unfortunately Obama doesn't quite seem to realize that they mean what they said about Waterlooing him.
If Obama can't get this done with a 7% popular majority, an electoral-vote landslide, and commanding majorities in both Houses, it's difficult to see when he can get it (or anything else difficult) done.
I'm beginning to wonder if Obama was a mistake. I don't know if Hillary would have been better, but I would like to think that she may have been tougher fighting the Republicans and controlling her own
Sorry, but I gotta say it.
We told you so.
I agree about the war Infidel! I also agree that you may have a right to say "I told you so," but before I give in completely I would like to see if the White House has a secret plan. I'm not holding my breath, or even hopeful anymore, just wishful.
What more could you expect out of a community agitator. Not to get off of the health care issue, I would like to know where in the hell is CODE PINK and the likes of Cindy Sheeeeehan, where are these people that wanted Bush tried for war crimes? Another 40 plus civilians killed in the latest raids on the terrorist.
Looks like a good case of hypocrisy and you sure in the hell cannot cure it with a shot of penicillin.
Boh may I ad that real reform is not trying to shove something down the Americans peoples throat or something that you personally want. Real reform is giving the American people what they need not what some friggen political party thinks they need.
Obama hasn't a clue what is in the bill and I think it is very plain to all that is it nothing more than a way to get a hold on the people and a tool that the Demo-rats can use as a scare tactic when it come to future elections. I also believe the average American is a lot hell smarter than you when it comes to what is good for them.
What about that racist Van Jones about time the clown stepped down and it only goes to show Obama has no judgment or leadership abilities.
Michael, read this.
Thanks Elizabeth! I did read that and thought he did a great job. GR, you're the minority. Most Americans want a public option when they're told the truth. We're not forcing anything on anyone - not like you guys did to us for the past 8 years.
"Most Americans want a public option when they're told the truth."
To funny, seems like no one can find the truth. Just like they couldn't find the WMD's, the friggen government what a joke.
Michael:
I would like to address several points in your post, to which I say a big “Amen.”
I busted my butt in behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton throughout the campaign, because I wholeheartedly believed she was the best candidate for the presidency. DemWit from that period is peppered with all the reasons.
I then worked with equal zeal for our cancidate, Barack Obama.
No need to question whether Hillary is tough. Everyone from her biographer, Carl Bernstein, to her old archenemy Richard Mellon Scaife in his editorial endorsing her candidacy has documented just how tough, how smart and how down-to-earth likeable she is.
Every blogger I read these days is quoting Olbermann, so I will have to mention him. The number that he, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and other MSNBC “lights” did on Hillary Clinton taught me a very valuable lesson: propaganda from the left is just as bad as propaganda from the right. You know my political stance, and I suggest that MSNBC’s nighttime lineup is the left’s Fox News. The shows on cable’s nighttime lineup are “entertainment,” nothing more, and should not be construed as news analysis. Viewers go there for validation of their own viewpoints, so have they really learned anything? I now prefer to gather as many facts as possible and form my on opinions.
Eight years of Bush and Cheney was enough to kill us all. The most incredulous moment in those eight years was his re-election. The voters of this country should have impeached Bush at the polls.
I believe Nancy Pelosi exercised wisdom in refraining from such a pursuit.
First, she knew an impeachment process would bog down a country much in need of a turnaround after years of Republican rape of our values and our progress.
Second, and more important, if Bush had been impeached, Cheney would have stepped into the presidency (which he ran behind the scenes anyway). If Cheney had then been impeached, who would have been the next in line for the presidency? A ballistic right-wing would have screamed “coup d’etat.”
GhostRider to the contrary, Barack Obama is the duly elected president of the United States of America. The Republican right-wing idiocy has come to fruititin in the brouhaha over his addressing America’s school children. Obama is not president of Democrats, he is president of all Americans.
Bush was president of the Republican Party – from day one. He never respresented any other faction of citizens. Do we really want Obama to be like Bush?
I could have beat my head against a brick wall when, right after Obama took office, the right-wing locked him in their sights, and progressives began to find fault with him. Like I-753, I wanted to yell, “I told you so.” But, I let that pass in favor of a hopeful agenda.
Let’s see what our president has to say to Congress Wednesday. Do we really want to be like my South Carolina senator Jim DeMint?
One thing’s for certain, none of us commenting here would want the weight this man is carrying on our own shoulders.
BJ
Before anyone jumps in my flaming hair, I have quoted Olbermann on DemWit when I knew his facts to be impeccable. His tracking of the phony terror alerts was a service to this country. BJ
BJ Obama is already like George Bush, his only concern is the promises he made to his radical left wing base and now he is trying to shove it down the American peoples throat, of course you cannot see it because you are part of the base.
First of Bush and Cheney protected the American public, if any one is going to get us killed it is Obama and his regime, seems like all they do is suck up to the very people who want to kill us.
I'm contributing from the beach :) excellent advice/feedback - thanks!
GR, as always, you've got it wrong. The people still want change - you guys are the LOUD and OBNOXIOUS minority. Oh yes, one thing you guys ALWAYS ignore - we were ATTACKED during Bush's watch. Safe my ass.
Boh how is it this Harvard educated Van Jones could or would sign a piece of paper not knowing what it said, I thought you Progressive liberal whack’s were smart....talk about lying cheating Republicans and all we have to do is look to our left and you find the real liars and cheats......[b]This guy slither out of DC on his belly.[/b]
GR, I rejected your last few comments because they're off the subject. It's time to move on.
Goatreamer$6.99: Obama and his regime, seems like all they do is suck up to the very people who want to kill us.
Well, in the sense that Obama has been sucking up to the Republicans, the blew-dog Democrats, and the insurance companies, I'm inclined to agree with you.
I-753, you are such a clever boy! :-)
GR said I'm blind because I am one of Obama's radical left base (or something like that). I wish my blindness were because of that. At least that's curable, LOL.
Missing your input on DemWit! (GR, don't even think about it. My blog is for "constant learners.")
BJ
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