Obama appeals to his activist base

[kentuck]

(snip)

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama made a direct, personal appeal to 30,000 of his top campaign activists on Tuesday night, asking them to stay involved in politics and to continue pressuring Republicans during upcoming tax and budget negotiations.

"I'm so proud of what you guys accomplished and I will always be in awe and inspired by what you've done," the president said on the call, which the Huffington Post listened to. "So that's the good news. The bad news is our work can't stop now. Because as we learned in the first term, in some ways an election is just the beginning. It is not the end point. It is a means to a goal and that is to actually help families all across the country."

The president, speaking from a White House phone, cautioned listeners to expect disappointments during his second term. As he has in the past, Obama warned that he was prepared to swallow some bitter pills during the negotiations, including some that would agitate the base.

"As we move forward there are going to be new wrinkles and new frustrations, we can't predict them yet," he said. "We are going to have some triumphs and some successes, but there are going to be some tough days, starting with some of these negotiations around the fiscal cliff that you probably read about, making sure that our tax system is fair. So we are going to need you guys to stay active. We need you to stick with us and stay on this."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/obama-activist-base-fiscal-cliff_n_2127100.html

[madrchsod]

1. we need the house in the next election!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. What sorts of bitter pills? Cuts to SS, Medicare and Medicaid?

He may be ready to swallow, but I'm not.

[kentuck]

3. No big deal...

He's just saying that so people will know that he is the reasonable one. He really has no intention of doing anything that would hurt the social net just to give more to the wealthy. The President is on top of it. No problem.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. I believe taxes on the wealthy will be raised...

but to get there he'll agree to cuts that "hurt the social net." But we'll see.

[datasuspect]

5. i try to imagine jack kennedy, LBJ or FDR using deferential "wimpy" terms like that

or maybe i'm getting old.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. "As we move forward there are going to be new wrinkles and new frustrations,"

My generation is currently looking at 62/67/70 for Social Security. Raising the age and reducing benefits is anything but a "new wrinkle."

Gotta agree with you.

[datasuspect]

7. i still can't over him using the word "shellacking"

in 2010.

don't ever admit the other side licked you.

it was precisely the time to get fired up.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. One of the reasons we got "shellacked" is because he didn't sell ObamaCares.

You know, use the bully pulpit that many here denies exists. Easily manipulated Americans fled to the polls terrified of death panels, with no voice of reason guiding them back to the (D) column. A few tried (I remember the Dean/Moran town hall in Northern Virginia), but it needed to come to from the top -- the person willing to stake his presidency on it.

And if 2010 was bad, oooh doggy, wait until 2014 IF there are cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

[PADemD]

8. +1000