General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy I didn't listen...
I am done with clever speeches that are more often than not NOT followed up on with effective action.
I am so disgusted that I intentionally avoided the local watch party. I couldn't bear to listen it.
I expect a PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENT who ACTS PROGRESSIVELY, not merely one who talks progressively . I am tired of the President trying to head fake me into supporting him. I'm smarter than that Mr. President and I realize that words without actions are just annoying words.
Don't sign the NDAA and give me a signing statement that the next President is free to ignore. VETO IT. Don't negotiate with my social security, medicare and medicaid, issue an EO to raise the debt ceiling pursuant to the 14th Amendment! Don't wait until the whole country is riled up over SOPA and PIPA to oppose it. Oppose bad legislation the day somebody brings it up or better yet BEFORE they bring it up.
On top of the speechifying head fakes towards progressivism, we have all the unnecessary spectacle and the color commentary play by play treatment of the speech by the media bobbleheads as though it were the Super Bowl or World Series. The President shoots.. he scores! ehh...
The speech as always for any President is crafted for applause lines where the President's party stands and applauds in an overly enthusiastic and unbelievable manner while the opposition party sits stern faced arms crossed and harummphs a lot.. of course the media counts all the applause lines like they were first downs in football.
Next we get the Republican Moron du jour who is enevitably a fool a liar or both. I can't bear to watch this even if I were to watch the speech.
Finally we get the over-kill analysis by talking bobble heads after the speech for 2 hours straight trying to pick apart the lines and find hidden meanings and consequences when in fact very little of what gets announced ever takes effect so it is mostly just an hour of posturing by the President regardless of party anyways and has very little real meaning.
In the old days before mass media, the SOTU was a letter written to Congress. I think we ought to go back to it and avoid the mass media reality TV show once a year.
I want a lot less words and a lot more actions Mr. President!
Doug D.
Orlando, FL
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,234 posts)"It's just pretty words".
redqueen
(115,103 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)liberal N proud
(60,334 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)renie408
(9,854 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)First reflex was a frustrated look for the button...
SG
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)and and essay I therefore, decided not to read.
Seriously, the OP has thoughts on the past (fair enough), but to use it as the ultimate measuring stick for the present, has little applicability...and I too miss the "unrec".
Number23
(24,544 posts)was going to be the apex of ridiculousness in this thread, 24 special souls apparently think that this is such an intelligent and novel thing to do that they rec'd said essay.
I guess where this president is concerned, ridiculousness knows no bounds.
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)la la
(1,855 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)didn't watch OR drink tonight...
Capitalocracy
(4,307 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)When you end up having to occupy a toilet for 3 hours, because you throw up again whenever you make an attempt to get back up off the floor, you know you've lost the drinking game ...
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)blah and blah
Even Mitch Daniels followup was more substantive and enlightening than this OP.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)I'm so gonna get banned from this thread, but it will be worth it.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)Sorry about your luck.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I don't care if Alan IS campaigning for Barack Obama though, I'm still voting for Alan for President (and for Congress) because Alan is a progressive Democrat and Obama is not and I'll not enable Obama further. If Obama wants my vote he needs to ACT like a progressive not talk like one.
Doug D.
Orlando, FL
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)renie408
(9,854 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I AM voting for him for Congress for his benefit and have donated and will volunteer for his benefit.
I am voting for Alan for President to punish a Democratic President who refuses to take liberals seriously. Obama can change that but it will require ACTIONS not words.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)...or who you voted for. Its an insignificant act of fruitless nonsense that no one will ever really know about or care about.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)by YOUR logic it is ALSO insignificant to vote FOR him... bad logic.
By the way I'm a well connected organizer and activist in Central Florida and I usually give about $1,000 to Presidential campaigns and put in 1,000 hours into them in a Presidential year. I think that's not something that goes un-noticed. I've gotten quite a number of calls from the Obama campaign for my $1,000 and turned them down and told them why. I think they got the point to a certain degree and that is why Obama is running as fast as he can to the left for the base in this election year trying to head fake us with speeches when no real action is forthcoming. Around June he will turn around and start running BACK towards the center for the middle third crowd. I'm not fooled. He either does it my way or he can do without my money, my time and my vote. They are MINE after all to give or not to give and the candidates I back work for ME, I don't report to them and I can do just fine sitting on my hands if I don't get what I want.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Too bad you don't really have anything but expletives for argument.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Response to ddeclue (Reply #68)
Post removed
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)onenote
(42,703 posts)I'm curious you are voting for Alan rather than writing in your own name since it would appear from your posts that you are the only person who could possibly fulfill your goal of carrying out your desires.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)Response to FarLeftFist (Reply #39)
Post removed
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)This is a big country where well over half the people do not see things the way you see them. I'm sure you'll never accept that fact and face the political realities of where the American public currently is. Self centered people such as yourself rarely do.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)ME, the taxpayer. I have no obligation to compromise my political principles and be "a good soldier" for Obama. That's OBAMA's problem NOT mine. My time, my money and my vote are valuable commodities and if I am not getting what I want for them, Obama is NOT getting them from me. I reserve those for PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I have NO obligation to support people in office who do the opposite of what I want them to do. That's called democracy and he and you need to learn to deal with it.
Response to ddeclue (Reply #86)
Post removed
treestar
(82,383 posts)I don't see how the President can ask ME what I want? And do it? Ridiculous.
You have to settle for some as it is.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I've managed to work to get progressives elected in three state house races and a Congressional race here in Central Florida and it CAN be done but you have to stop making excuses and accepting the lesser of two weasels argument that has gotten us two Republican parties in the last 30 years... the Democrats who cave in to Republicans because they aren't really all that interested in progressive policy and are too tied to Wall Street and the actual Republicans who run ever further to the right so that people like Richard Nixon look liberal in comparison.
treestar
(82,383 posts)And have these progressives listened to any constituents other than yourself? If just you, who are you, someone with a lot of $$??
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)as if serving you personally is the goal of any public servant. They serve the PEOPLE as a whole, not you and your whiney assed whims.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)People who help the GOP to gain more power are doing it not for themselves, but to help everyone else.
The world will be thanking the non voters and third party voters once they've demonstrated how noble and pure they are by helping repukes take not just the congress, but the white house, too.
The GOP would never be as bad as Obama. He's worse than bush, dontcha know.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)If Obama loses then we will get a crazy Republican passing crazy Republican policy instead of a "Democrat" passing the same policies in the name of post partisan "compromise".
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)redqueen
(115,103 posts)It's perfect!
"The posturing left..."
Spot flipping on!
MinervaX
(169 posts)and it's fun to watch.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)renie408
(9,854 posts)Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)Have you checked out the ddeclue party? I'll bet you'd be taken VERY seriously.
renie408
(9,854 posts)Or maybe RP??
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)OMG, can we all bask in your reflected glory? Touch the hem of your robe?
What an honor even to post on the same board as such an eleveted being as yourself.
I feel so unworthy...
SG
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)now run along...
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)sense of self-importance, I'm surprised that irony could even penetrate the layers of pomposity. SG
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)force me to back a President who doesn't stand for the things I want him to stand for.
Get over yourself friend before you chastise me.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)You must be confusing me with another poster. I've said nothing about backing anybody.
Just remarking on an obviously bloated ego and swollen head.
SG
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Response to ddeclue (Reply #108)
Post removed
Number23
(24,544 posts)Hugabear
(10,340 posts)And Central Florida is a key area of this state.
Or have you already forgotten the lessons from 2000? Yes, that election was stolen by the SCOTUS. But that was also partly because enough people split the vote that made it even easier for the rethugs to steal the election.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Hugabear
(10,340 posts)Just sayin'
treestar
(82,383 posts)You can always dream that he'd veto every bill that didn't contain everything.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)One of my main complaints with Obama is that he does NOT even TALK like a progressive. Payroll tax cuts? Really? It looks more and more like this to me.
Reagan, George W - Tax cuts create jobs.
Obama - ditto
Reagan, George W - Tax cuts for the rich are really middle class tax cuts
Obama - ditto
Reagan, George W - We need to cut spending on social programs to balance the budget
Obama - ditto
People here seem to somehow feel that Obama gave a great progressive speech. I didn't really hear that. I heard things like this -
"by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock."
or, hurray for fracking!!!
"For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education each year, weve convinced nearly every State in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning the first time thats happened in a generation. "
or, hurray for NCLB on steroids!!! (if only madfloridian was here to detail this)
"So do I. As I told the Speaker this summer, Im prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71920.html#ixzz1kUtApjDo
So, hurray for the cuts to Social security that I (Obama) tried to pass earlier!
Is any of that stuff really progressive?
I think it would be a great first step if Obama even TALKED like a progressive.
I feel like I have fallen into some sort of rabbit hole where my fellow progressives cannot see how bad his speech was even as a speech, to say nothing of action.
emilyg
(22,742 posts)pivate matter.
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)you're surprised if someone is asked how they're voting?? And he said he's voting spoiler so it's public info now.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)Damn him for doing what he says?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Amazing that you missed that. Did you watch ANY of his 2007-2008 campaign, or see ANY of the many debates?
He never pushed a public option. He never full favored several progressive stands on issues. He was clearly, firmly, steadfastly a moderate, or slightly more left than moderate, Democrat. Same as Hillary Clinton (who voted for the Iraq War).
Maybe you thought he was progressive because he was against the Iraq War, and you assumed because he agreed with you on that, that he agreed with you on everything?
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I never thought he was a progressive.
Doesn't mean that I can't expect him to be a PROGRESSIVE because that's what I want from my President. That he is not is HIS problem not mine if he wants my vote.
FrenchieCat
(68,867 posts)Hahahah!
Sorry about that....
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)and I'd like my $800 back from him..
On the bright side I have a picture with him for when he goes to the big house..
renie408
(9,854 posts)Does that give you some kind of sense of perceived closeness? Were you and 'John' that close? Were you as close to 'John' as you are to 'Alan'? Is 'John' going to get jealous now that you have defected to 'Alan'? Will 'Barack' feel left out that you don't call him by his first name?
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)although I did meet and talk with him a number of times when I was one of his organizers here in Central Florida in 2007 and he was in town.
With Alan, actually yes. I know him personally.
Barack Obama I have only ever seen twice in large rallies, once at a Florida Democratic Party conference and once at a big rally in Fort Lauderdale a few days before he was elected. No Obama doesn't know me from Adam and I never claimed to know him.
renie408
(9,854 posts)You acknowledge that Obama has never claimed to be a progressive...sorry...PROGRESSIVE, but you are disappointed that he hasn't governed as a PROGRESSIVE President because that's what you want your President to be. And that's his problem.
Right.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I am a progressive. That Obama is not is Obama's problem. I'm not obligated to accept his Wall Streeter corporatism and enable it.
renie408
(9,854 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)you have a sheep mentality.. Barack Obama was elected so I should just shut up and not complain = SHEEP.
treestar
(82,383 posts)You're just shooting yourself in the foot by bargaining with your one vote with a POTUS.
Even a dogcatcher will have to have a majority of the votes before taking office.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)"Congress is obstructing the president's progressive agenda. If you want a more progressive government give him a progressive congress!" meme. Clearly on many issues, Obama would be at odds with true left-leaning progressives.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I liked the fact that he came on with strength and positive energy. He was in a fighting mood, and he let the Republicans have it. It was great.
Also, on edit, Obama listed a number of progressive things that he can do without getting the cooperation of Congress like placing alternative energy production on federal lands. It was quite an incredible speech -- great!
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)xiamiam
(4,906 posts)I didnt listen either...I can't. Words are just that..words. Actions, and holding criminals accountable, and a host of other things which are only hopeful after a speech are hollow for me now.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)Hyper-progressives stick their noses in the air cross their arms and say "It still isn't good enough! Wah!".
Here's the TRUTH: YOU can't name a president who was actually more of a baseline progressive as Obama is.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Richard Nixon was more progressive than Barack Obama has been.
Certainly Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were ALL more progressive than Obama.
and as I said, I couldn't give a damn about SPEECHES any more. I want actions not words.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Richard Nixon created the EPA and was going to create universal healthcare. Obama refused to discuss real universal healthcare and gave us personal mandate care which is the equivalent of ending homelessness in America by passing a law requiring all Americans to buy a house.
FDR? Are you joking? He created real jobs programs like WPA and CCC, he put Glass Steagle into effect while Obama has coddled and bailed out the banksters, created social security which Obama treated like a bargaining chip in budget negotiations with Republicans and many other things. FDR was the most liberal President in the history of the Republic.
LBJ? Again are you joking? He gave us Medicare and many other programs in the Great Society. Second most liberal President after FDR.
Obama is on par with Clinton - a corporatist Wall Streeter DLC type. He's no liberal, not even close. If you think so then you need to go retake American history.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)FDR invited a group of physicians and private interests to work with his other appointees on a proposal to add health care to the Social Security Act. The invited special interest group, called the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care (CCMC), worked mostly in secret, isolated from public input and debate. The committee ultimately recommended a watered-down proposal of giving federal subsidies to states for health care programs. However, Roosevelt so feared attacks by the American Medical Association that he dropped health coverage completely from his New Deal agenda. Truman also tried and failed to bring about national health care, as did Bill Clinton. Obamas plan covers 32 million previously uninsured Americans.
His Social Security bill had built-in exclusions that exempted nearly half of the working population from benefits, namely two-thirds of African Americans and about half of women. Furthermore, FDRs New Deal employment programs discriminated against blacks and he was too scared of political backlash to support either an anti-lynching bill or a bill to abolish the poll tax, despite urging from First Lady Eleanor.
Not to mention he rounded up American citizens and put them in internment camps. Progressive?
Truman, who is seen as a Progressive pioneer, is responsible for a near apocalypse in two Japanese cities. Trumans decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in 150,000-246,000 deaths within four months, almost all of them innocent civilians, not to mention the maimings and long-term illnesses. Many years later, Truman said about the bombings: I have no regrets and, under the same circumstances, I would do it again.
In 1948, Congress succeeded in its third attempt to pass tax cuts for the wealthy, this time over Trumans veto. Truman may have done what was humanly possible to prevent those tax cuts, but he did face controversy for pardoning at least two tax evaders: George Parr and George A. Caldwell.
With LBJ first there was Vietnam, then LBJ believed he had the right to intervene unilaterally to support the overthrow of left-wing, democratically elected President Juan Bosch of the Dominican Republic and João Goulart of Brazil in order to maintain authoritarian, anti-communist rulers in Latin America.
So who is this holier-than-thou Progressive you are holding Obama standard to? Remember also, FDR had 377 House seats and 73 Senate seats. While not to take anything away from their progressive accomplishments you can see how it is unreasonable to compare Obama's 3 yrs to their full terms.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)Truman acted humanely regardless of your revisionist history. Operation Olympic would have killed a million American soldiers and millions of Japanese. War sucks.. get over it.
You are cherry picking history and taking things out of context and you know better.
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)FDR thought Social Security was a battle more worth fighting. He welcomed his enemy's hatred, won big, and poverty among the elderly dropped from 50% to 10%. Obama, on the other hand, worked diligently to slash Social Security - fortunately he's failed so far.
Did you know that more people were killed in the fire bombing of Tokyo than in Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Do you think fewer would have died if we'd used conventional bombs instead of nuclear bombs?
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)Or killed 250,000 INNOCENT people. Get over it. The fact is that Pres. Obama is the most progressive minded President we've had in history with numerous progressive policies under his belt. Remember, FDR had 377 House seats and 73 Senators. There's really no comparison.
Lasher
(27,597 posts)Honeycombe8 said upthread in Obama's defense, "He's not progressive. Never was. Never said he was. Didn't campaign as one. Will never be."
You are defending Obama too. But you say, "Obama is the most progressive minded President we've had in history..."
Obama himself said, "I am a New Democrat." New Democrats have centrist social/cultural/pluralist positions and neoliberal fiscal values. But then again, he has also called himself a progressive.
I agree with Honeycombe8. If you're a New Democrat, you're really not what I would consider a progressive.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)stockholmer
(3,751 posts)Where you playing the SOTU drinking game mentioned above?
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)One of the 99
(2,280 posts)Interesting company you find yourself in.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)FAIL...
One of the 99
(2,280 posts)with such a closed mind they refused to even listen to the speech.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)He can't give me any more words that will matter. He's broken his trust with me. The only way he can earn it back is through ACTIONS.. not words.
treestar
(82,383 posts)klook
(12,155 posts)renie408
(9,854 posts)enemies of PROGRESSIVE stuff that I WANT DONE. (Hey, I really think I am getting the hang of this all caps thing!!) I am SMART enough Mr. President to not be FOOLED by you!! Though that comma thing has me a really thrown for a loop....
God, I have missed the DU! No breast goes unbeaten.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)give me a break. He doesn't even try. He has hardly ever vetoed anything or threatened to.. he could have vetoed NDAA but he signed it. He could have issued an EO on the debt ceiling but engaged in negotiations over social security and medicare instead.
If he were trying I'd be giving him credit.
renie408
(9,854 posts)vent your angst!! I can't imagine that could have been any kind of motivator for your touching OP, eh?
Have fun with that.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Plus the personal secretary to the world's second richest man was used as a political prop. Secretary to the second richest man in the world... think she's part of the 99%?
TBF
(32,060 posts)but I can tell you from personal experience in law firms that partners can make millions per year while their secretaries are lucky to make $50K.
FWIW, I didn't watch the speech either, I prefer to read the transcripts.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)I get what you're saying though about the disparity between bosses and their employees.
So far as I can tell, the 35% tax rate doesn't kick in until $379,150.
Buffet's quote about tax rates for people in his office was "Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent." That's odd to me because I thought 35% was the top rate.
TBF
(32,060 posts)is he including state tax or something? I have no clue, here in TX we have no state income tax so all I see is the federal rate and when you do turbo tax (I am obviously not in the 1%!) they tell you what your adjusted tax rate is. I don't remember ours though I could look it up - but it wasn't 35%. I do believe that is the highest right now.
Maybe he is more generous than others ... you never know.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Spazito
(50,338 posts)I was chewing my nails down to their quick wondering if you were watching. Phew, now I can stop worrying!
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)xiamiam
(4,906 posts)..no doubt about it. The SOTU is another speech. Get rid of Geithner and the new guy from Citibank. Help Main Street and get us out of Guantanamo and Afghanistan. Initiate campaign finance reform instead of setting a one billion dollar goal. Then, I might be interested in listening.
CakeGrrl
(10,611 posts)Don't make me ignore you, Mr. President! I hate words!
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)I never claimed it was Obama's fault. I really haven't liked SOTU's since Clinton was President.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)at your stop so she could sit down, so you missed the speech? Am I right?
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Telling my hubby just how funny I am. Sorry dude, your posts on that thread were beyond pathetic.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)Got a link?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)It was a duzy of a thread. I didn't post on it, so I cant find the thread. I will post it in morning. I don't know how to copy and paste on this fire either.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)He/she is attention starved.
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)Someone really, really needs attention. Must be that sparkling personality in all his/her posts that turns people off in real life.
Swede
(33,244 posts)What kind of person doesn't believe in common courtesy?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Spazito
(50,338 posts)it's quite ......telling!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002147485
emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)Spazito
(50,338 posts)that certainly could explain a lot!
Edited to add: If it was a performance artist, it's show was just shut down, lol.
DinahMoeHum
(21,788 posts)and read some words from a REAL progressive, Doris "Granny D" Haddock:
http://www.grannyd.com/speeches/sub-speeches/dont-stand-in-the-way-4-30-03.htm
(snip)
There are many among us who will not support a candidate unless that candidate is perfect on every issue. Politics is about winning. For us, it is about winning to save lives and raise people up from poverty and illness and loneliness and injustice. Those posturing on the left sometimes forget that. Don't tell me that you can't support a particular candidate because of this or that. This isn't about you and your precious political standards. It is about saving nature and our people. We are coming out to win, so please don't stand in our way. When we have reasonable people in power, let us start our arguments again, for we can not move forward unless we have a decent government underneath us and a Bill of Rights to let us speak freely.
(snip)
(bolded emphasis is my doing)
redqueen
(115,103 posts)It is about saving nature and our people. We are coming out to win, so please don't stand in our way."
Right on, Granny D!
Thank you SO much for posting that!
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)The lesser of two weasels does not interest me and if you had any sense you would know that this kind of argument is simply blackmail that leads to more demands from the blackmailer.
Swede
(33,244 posts)nt
renie408
(9,854 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)I'm enjoying reading this thread though, its a lively one!
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)ddeclue
(16,733 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)I am so lame.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Please show me how President Alan Grayson, with the same Congress that Mr. Obama has, gets all this Progressive legislation rammed through.
I won't even wait for an answer, because there isn't one other than, "He couldn't."
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Maybe a President Grayson would not have appointed Holder to be the Attorney General at a time when there were happy, unprosecuted war criminals.
Maybe a President Grayson would not have particpated in transferring 1/2 of the TARP funds, or $350 billion dollars, to the banks who were involved in causing the economic crisis. An economic crisis for some but not all. And particularly not an economic crisis for the banksters who received bonuses instead of RICO prosecutions.
In more recent times, maybe a President Grayson would not have sent so-called Free-Trade Agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama to the Senate.
No matter what else he would do or not do, it is a virtual certainty that a President Grayson would not have remained silent when peaceful OWS protestors were exercising their First Amendment rights and getting brutalized by the police for doing so.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)sounds like you have no idea what a President Grayson would have done.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002209703
Creating fantasy scenarios to object to reality isn't very productive.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Because there will be no President Grayson.
Yet in office all Presidents find out they don't have so much power as they thought they would.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)waiting...but then again I am practical..
gateley
(62,683 posts)lamp_shade
(14,834 posts)MineralMan
(146,308 posts)Uff da!
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Thank you for putting it into words.
President Obama is great at making speeches. Unfortunately, whether it's by choice or circumstances, he has not been so good at implementing policies that make life better for anyone other than the millionaire and above classes.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)By Robert Fitch
EXCERPT...
If we examine more carefully the interests that Obama represents; if we look at his core financial supporters; as well as his inmost circle of advisors, well see that they represent the primary activists in the demolition movement and the primary real estate beneficiaries of this transformation of public housing projects into condos and townhouses: the profitable creep of the Central Business District and elite residential neighborhoods southward; and the shifting of the pile of human misery about three miles further into the South Side and the south suburbs.
Obamas political base comes primarily from Chicago FIREthe finance, insurance and real estate industry. And the wealthiest familiesthe Pritzkers, the Crowns and the Levins. But its more than just Chicago FIRE. Also within Obamas inner core of support are allies from the non-profit sector: the liberal foundations, the elite universities, the non-profit community developers and the real estate reverends who produce market rate housing with tax breaks from the city and who have been known to shout from the pulpit give us this day our Daley, Richard Daley bread.3
Aggregate them and what emerges is a constellation of interests around Obama that I call Friendly FIRE. Fire power disguised by the camouflage of community uplift; augmented by the authority of academia; greased by billions in foundation grants; and wired to conventional FIRE by the terms of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1995.
And yet friendly FIRE is just as deadly as the conventional FIRE that comes from bankers and developers that were used to ducking from. Its the whole condominium of interests whose advancement depends on the elimination of poor blacks from the community and their replacement by white people andat least temporarilyby the black middle classwhove gotten subprime mortgagesin a kind of redlining in reverse.
CONTINUED...
The late Mr. Fitch may be related to a commie third-cousin of my old college roommate's first girlfriend. It still doesn't change the facts behind this speech.
99Forever
(14,524 posts).. following the last Presidential election, that I hadn't "understood" what it was Obama actually said, so many times, rather than "misunderstand him" again, I'll "understand" his policies by what he does and not what he says. I'd hate to be accused yet again of just not getting "the message."
WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)If the President had vetoed all of the bills with offensive items in them, what would have happened?
The default, no health plan at all, no commission with Cordray at the head of it, etc., how happy would you be? Would you be praising the President?
jefferson_dem
(32,683 posts)I don't believe you.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)DevonRex
(22,541 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)DevonRex
(22,541 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)But what about the 24 special souls that rec'd this piece of hot inanity?
dionysus
(26,467 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)question?
on this new forum.....do recs add to post counts for either the OP or the person reccing??
Demonaut
(8,916 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Actions speak loudest.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)...simply because of all the heads you caused to explode in this thread.
I also congratulate your courage in posting this.
I watched, because I'm an addict,
but I also have to agree with you that it is mostly pageantry, choreography, and empty Campaign Year rhetoric
having little to do with the Real World.
You will know them by their WORKS.
[font size=5 color=green][center]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
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SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)Hell Hath No Fury
(16,327 posts)My, how many times did I loudly say here that I wasn't going to watch a W speech because I just couldn't take it any more.
Talks is cheap. Election year talk is DIRT cheap. Sigh....
Robb
(39,665 posts)...there were some issues.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=171177&sub=trans
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)No one gives a shit what you do or don't watch, or the reasoning behind your decision.
arthritisR_US
(7,288 posts)glinda
(14,807 posts)due to the fact my mother had a stroke and is in a home needing rehab. She will be lucky to be able to live outside the nursing home and if so will need assisted living. They cannot afford assisted living. So the Gov/Medicare would rather my mother live in a home and deteriorate than keep my mom and dad together after 60 years of marriage.
I have decided that the whole system is a big lie and a sham and no one gives a real shat even if you own your own home, worked your whole life and did everything right.
On top of that they are raping and killing our environment because they cannot get beyond the selfish word they preface every environmental statement with.... "for people". I am so sick of everything right now I could just scream. What a big big big big joke... on us.
Nice speech but nothing in his speech will help my parents or my self.