Ironic... Obama To Netroots Nation: 'I Need You' - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Obama To Netroots Nation: 'I Need You'
Amanda Terkel - HuffPo
Posted: 06/21/2013 2:23 am EDT | Updated: 06/21/2013 8:47 am EDT

<snip>

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- President Barack Obama told a gathering of progressive activists on Thursday that he needs their help in pressuring lawmakers to move his agenda forward.

Obama addressed the crowd at Netroots Nation via a video message. He cited rebuilding the middle class, access to preschool, gun control, comprehensive immigration reform, Internet access in classrooms and Obamacare as areas where progressive pressure is crucial.

"On all these issues, I'll do everything in my power to keep making progress. But I can't do it alone," he said. "I need you to put pressure on members of Congress and make your voices heard, just like you've always done."

"We won't always agree on everything, and I know you'll tell me when we don't," he added. "But if we work together, I'm confident we'll keep moving this country forward."

Indeed, Netroots Nation participants have been clear during this conference about where they disagree with Obama, with frustration over the possible construction of the Keystone XL pipeline spilling over into a presentation by Organizing for Action, the Obama-allied non-profit group that succeeded his campaign arm.

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/obama-netroots-nation_n_3476337.html

[xchrom]

1. irony...just in time for lunch. du rec. nt

[Catherina]

2. Tone deaf n/t

[uponit7771]

15. Tone Deaf = thinking outside word = DU fudr and bashers

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I gotta give it to the power structure

They have a touch for irony.

[mick063]

4. I regret donating to his campaign

No help coming from me.

A corporate sock puppet. Too late to reinvent his "legacy".

You gotta live with being a footnote in history Mr. President.

[byeya]

5. I gave to his campaign too - an error in judgment on my part

[hlthe2b]

6. Yeah, we need to increase internet access....

ummm, right. No competing agendas there.

If I had it to do over again, I would still work to get Obama elected--the alternative is just too horrendous. But, my increasing disappointment makes it difficult to talk about him, post here or elsewhere about him, or certainly to reach out as part of the Netroots-- and that is after giving him all due deference for the obstacles he's faced by an unbelievably obstructive Congress and challenges about which I can not--none of us can know.

It would be wonderful, if I were able to feel differently a year or two from now. Hope springs eternal...

Sometimes I dream of what it would be like to have a couple of hours to sit down with him and ask him all the "whys" of what he is doing--no holds barred. I'd REALLY like to understand.

[WillyT]

7. Me Too...

[sabrina 1]

8. I would ask him why he can't find Democrats for cabinet positions. Maybe the reason why he

can't 'get anything done' is because we threw Republicans out, then he returned many of them or kept holdovers from Bush, to power.

I assume he talk about 'bi-partisanship' or something. But if electing Democrats means getting Republicans in the cabinet, which sometimes looks like the old Bush cabinet, what is the point of voting for Democrats? I don't want Republicans anywhere near the reigns of power. But he apparently does. But he's never explained where all the Democrats went? I can think of some great Dems who could have filled those positions.

Too bad he didn't ask for our opinion when he nominated Republicans to his cabinet.

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. I wonder if sometimes he thinks by just saying what he needs to do

it is the same as it being done, or at least that it is enough for us, that governing is mostly lip service. Not unlike how people often say with some frequency that they need to lose weight, but with no plan or real intention of taking the steps to do so. Like you, I give him all deference to republican obstructionism but after that there is nothing other than inaction.

[GiveMeFreedom]

11. Donate

a couple of million dollars to the party and you'll be golfing with Obama by next weekend asking any questions you want. Oh, don't have it? Fuck off then you poor person!! That's been the norm for as long as I can remember and I am 55. Peace.

[questionseverything]

16. jfk,bobby,martin,jfk jr

i think if we are honest we know the "why"

[datasuspect]

9. ya blew it.

use your bully pulpit, bud.

[Progressive dog]

12. He's asking for suport on the things they agree on.

They have a right to their views and where they agree with the President, I would think they would help. I see nothing ironic about it.

[WillyT]

13. Many Of Us Have Been In Need Of His Help For The Last 4+ Years, And Still Are...

[bvar22]

18. If the President was serious about the "Dwindling Middle Class",

...he wouldn't be working on a HUGE New "Free Trade" Deal in secret.


New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955

Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html

Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0

Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385

As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens

Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc


These things ^ do NOT happen by accident.


You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[JaneyVee]

22. No, those things happened from 40 years of middle class assault. Not 4yrs of Obama.

[bvar22]

23. "those things happened from 40 years of middle class assault"

EXACTLY!!~!
That is why I voted for "change",
not more of the same policies that destroyed the Middle/Working Class.

Remember when he promised to renegotiate NAFTA ,
and put on those"comfortable shoes" to march with strikers?

HA!
THIS is how the White House really feels about people who Work for a Living:
Ed Schultz on White House Insults to Organized LABOR after the Arkansas Democratic Primary
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ed-schultz-if-it-wasnt-labor-barack-obama-

Instead of "renegotiating NAFTA",
he's pushing NAFTA on Steroids,
"Privatizing" everything in reach,
Busting Unions (support for "Charter" Schools),
Expanding H1B In Sourcing of cheap labor,
and supporting and endorsing virulently Anti-LABOR candidates in Democratic Primaries.

Nobody expected to see these trends reversed in 5 years,
but we DID expect him to champion policies that would start mitigating the damage,
and projecting a VISION of reversing these trends.

The above Economic Trends don't even get MENTIONED by the White House
beyond an oblique reference like the one above.
The White House is too busy trumpeting the "Recovery" (of Wall Street & the 1%),
and bragging about adding Low Wage, No Benefits McJobs.



You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]
not by their excuses.

[WillyT]

24. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

THANK YOU !!!

[Progressive dog]

25. Saving GM saving Chrysler

Saving their suppliers doesn't count for anything.
Even if it doesn't, he isn't asking for help to do that stuff, he is asking for help to get policies in place.
He doesn't have to run again, so withholding help to get things done that you agree on doesn't seem like a smart choice to me.
It took 40 years or more to bring us to this point. The Republicans never deviated from their agenda and seldom stepped back. If we deteriorate to placing blame on our own side, we will get no more small steps back, the Republicans will begin moving forward again.

[bvar22]

29. The Corporations of GM and Chrysler were "saved" on the backs of the Workers,

....who were required to take cuts in benefits and wages,
and agree to NEW plants being Non-Union. (Union Busting)
New Hires at the "saved" plants can now be paid less than 1/2 the wage of the old, Union jobs.

I don't remember these "demands" made to Wall Street Banks before they were saved.

[Progressive dog]

31. I don't remember that either

but I'm still confused. The Union steel, the Union mining, in fact the whole unionized manufacturing sector has melted away. Now, I agree that the bankers got off easy, a bipartisan deal that was passed before Obama took office. The auto workers didn't get that deal, but they still are doing better than most of the remaining 90% of us. Unlike the banks, the auto companies went bankrupt, the owners lost everything.

[bvar22]

32. Senator Obama supported TARP,

and voted FOR TARP.

He lobbied for TARP in the Senate,
and in a floor speech supporting TARP,
he urged the other Senators to "step up to the plate and do the right thing" by voting FOR the Wall Street Bailout.
So, it a a little disingenuous of you to try to remove him from TARP by saying it was "a bipartisan deal that was passed before Obama took office."

Since you don't remember Senator Obama lobbying FOR TARP in the Senate in 2008,
it is not surprising that you also can not remember the outcries from LABOR about demanding Contract Concessions from THEM before any Bailout.

President Obama even took to the Bully Pulpit reinforcing the sanctity of honoring contracts
to justify the outrageous BONUSES Wall Street Paid Themselves,
but for Auto-Workers, contracts go in the trashcan.

The Double Standard of treatment between Wall Street and Americans who have to Work for a Living was discussed a lot on DU.

"Now, now...We can't begrudge them their wealth."

"..they are just savvy businessmen"

"Its the Free Market"
I mean, look at all the baseball players."

You really don't remember anything about all that?
Man, it was BURNED into my brain.




[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

[Progressive dog]

33. Of course I remember, most of the Senate voted

for tarp. Most of the Democrats in the house supported TARP. Then GM and Chrysler got bailed out by President Obama and the Democrats over the objections of most of the Republicans. Obama won election after supporting the TARP.
I see the auto bailouts as much better than the alternative.

[uponit7771]

14. I support Obama, not going to ever give up a Cadi that can be worked cause it has a dent

...underneath the rear passenger quarter panel

[pa28]

17. Progressive pressure is even more important in the areas we *don't* agree.

Issues like drone strikes, NSA surveillance, secret trade deals, Social Security cuts. His habit of appointing bankers, lobbyists and Republicans to key government positions.

It seems to me he's saying he wants us to take his feet off the fire now. I don't think that's very likely.

[kentuck]

19. I will kick this since...

I did not see it and double-posted. Sorry.

[WillyT]

20. It's All Good !!!

[Poll_Blind]

21. I liked the up-beat violin music in the Potemkin progress montage.

PB

[Rex]

26. Rebuild the middle class? I thought it was peaches at 250k?

[Vinnie From Indy]

27. President Obama has pretty selective hearing

What is depressing is that he would have an army of us in the street if he would simply put forth policies that do not further the plutocracy's interests.

[MannyGoldstein]

28. "Make no mistake™... only by mooning Democratic values can I cultivate Democratic values."

"And in any case, Holder can just transfer all of your money to Jamie and Lloyd at the press of a button... actually, we don't even need a button, the NSA has software that transfers it automatically whenever you say mean things about bankers."

[forestpath]

30. The TPP is a very twisted way of "rebuilding the middle class."