I am so tired of Democrats not having the President's back - especially when he's right.

[Drunken Irishman]

"I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers

It's as true today as it was when he said those words 80 years ago.

Sen. Feinstein has done her best to undermine the President on a whole host of foreign policy issues and it has to stop. Obama too cautious on ISIS? Is she purposely using Hillary Clinton's rhetoric to deepen any potential divide there? Seriously? She's one of the most visible Democrats in the country and going on television to basically claim the President is too weak doesn't help ANYONE. She's regurgitating Republican talking points - but what's worse, she's doing it from the right. I get sometimes hitting the President from the left, however, suggesting he needs to be more hawkish?

Then again, she supported Bush's war. So...

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[RobertEarl]

2. Jobs program

Unemployment in the military contracting field is higher now than it has been in 10 years.

Fifi knows who pays her way.

[MelungeonWoman]

3. But if she had the President's back...

She wouldn't be on TV.

[spanone]

46. absolutely correct observation.

[Cha]

50. Noticed that too, did ya? :(

[treestar]

59. +1

[treestar]

4. So true, and it helps Republicans immensely

There's a time for everything. This close to midterms, why isn't Dianne thinking more of getting more house seats? She knows how ignorant the public is and that this will make it look like Dems can't get anything done. She is probably involved in something without thinking of the big picture.

[LiberalAndProud]

5. Yea, but most days I forget that Feinstein is a Democrat.

... She's better than the alternative, right?

I'm wondering why California can't do better.

[lunatica]

8. Some people get lucky when their superiors are killed

She's one of them. She became Mayor of San Francisco when Moscone was killed and she's never looked back since. She doesn't even bother to campaign other than to put a couple of token ads up. She's the darling of all those Corporations headquartered in San Francisco. No one in the Bay Area runs against her.

I've actually asked Barbara Lee to run against her for the Senate, and the response she seemed to give me was she would never be able to raise enough money to run against her and she would never be able to do her job because she would have to spend all her time raising money.

I would love to have Barbara Lee as my Senator. I'm delighted to have her as my Congresswoman!

[Skidmore]

17. Does DF do townhall meetings?

If so, is she ever asked about her hawkishness and her family's income from it? How does she feel about sacrificing others ' lives for wealth? Has anybody ever tried to get her on record yet?

[aggiesal]

24. I think Gavin Newsome will be our next Senator ...

once Princess DiFi decides to retire.

[lunatica]

25. I hope you're right!

If he runs I'll vote for him. Just the fact he opened up City Hall to gay marriages is all I need to know about him. I do know a lot more though.

[aggiesal]

29. I personally asked him ...

why he didn't run for senator instead to leutenant governor,
and his answer was that you don't try to unseed a sitting democrat
without upsetting the party.

I do believe that Newsome will run once Princess DiFi
announces her retirement.

[IrishAyes]

40. Newsome's answer to you?

Sounds like a real Democrat. I think I'm in love.

[Cha]

51. Well, someday Dianne Feinstein will have to retire.. so we'll see who California gets next..

[lunatica]

6. She and her husband are heavily invested in wars

[grahamhgreen]

62. yup

[bermudat]

7. You are right, NO ONE in the Democratic party has Pres. Obama's back.

No one. Not Senate majority leader ('he seems clean and articulate')Reid and especially
no one in the house. There has not been an American death in a war that Feinstein and
her husband have not profited from. More war really? Anyone old enough to remember
during the Vietnam war when one of the arguments for war was 'we have to stop them
there before they come to the US'? Defense contractors (100% white and male) getting
richer and infrastructure, schools, middle class getting poorer.

[Fred Sanders]

9. It is a tell as to who is in the pocket of Big War. America does not run on Dunkins, it runs on War.

[nashville_brook]

10. Obama's foreign policy has consistently been to the left of HRC

resisting defense contractors has been a core Obama strength.

[ancianita]

15. Totally! More people should give him credit for that. nt

[appal_jack]

26. Very True, n_b!

I spend my share of time here at DU criticizing the President where his actions fall short of his stated ideals. But on foreign policy, Obama has gotten it largely right: extricating us from two wars as best he can and keeping us out of others. Libya was/is a bit of a clusterfuck, and Syria has come close to being so (and very well could still become one for us), but overall, President Obama deserves abundant credit for not being a warmonger.

-app

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

48. As someone who works for the Feds, you are absolutely right. He has curved that approach tremendousl

And no one gives him credit.

Liberals are often worse than any conservative, Republican or Democrat, in that we refused to have this man's back.

[Pirate Smile]

57. Bingo! Generally, No support & No back up - and the media, Republicans, the DC villagers & too many

Democrats turn everything into a feeding frenzy.

[nashville_brook]

61. well, i think that part of the reason for this is that foreign policy is moving so fast

right now, there's an *opportunity* to champion his progressive foreign policy and spank defense-spending Dems like Dianne Feinstein. jump up and down on this and make it an issue: we don't have to be the world's policeman.

[onecaliberal]

11. Her husband is a war profiteer.

She is exactly the kind of dems we need to get rid of. I haven't voted for her the last 3 times. She was horrendous before the Iraq war.

[Major Hogwash]

14. Therefore, so is she.

Fortunes are shared between husband and wife in California.

[onecaliberal]

19. Most fortunes are shared by spouses in most states.

It was obviously implied in my post.

[BrotherIvan]

47. She is personally worth $100 million dollars

I wonder how she got so rich since she went from housewife to public servant? She is a war profiteer and has been gaming the system for her husband. Pelosi as well. Most of them do it which is illegal for most public officials.

California is doing some great things, but unfortunately some of our DC representatives have a lot to be desired. I haven't voted for DiFi once though I held my nose and voted for Boxer who is mostly useless.

[ReRe]

12. K&R

Yeah, she's going against the President, but she damn sure stood up for and by John Brennen during his confirmation hearings, now didn't she? The woman is bought and paid for by the MIC. By the way, what ever happened to that big report? Did she just 86 it? Did I miss something on that? I'm still waiting on the GD report!

[ancianita]

13. He's not too cautious at all. He knows the players and the deal. If we've stuck with his timetable

on foreign conflict before, we can again. We can't know all the stuff he knows, and the fact that he refuses to be led by the whoops of warhawks shows that he knows a lot more of what's going on than most of them do, as well.

As for me, not knowing what he knows, but knowing that he's totally on his history and intel, I'm sure he's right this time and I support him. He is exerting what I call "civilian command." That's the way it damned well should be. He's the commander, not these MIC whores.

My take on what he's doing is this: If we're no longer going to be the regional police, we'll have to let the Syria factions fight it out. Oil and Turkey are safe for now. The Saudis will have to finally deal with what they've sown, and Obama's Not going take the fall for yet another of the conflict lords' mop-up calls. I'm simplistic here, but then again, I'm no war expert.

As for Hillary, she's just positioning herself as possible commander-in-chief to be one click stronger than any of her supposed future Jebs.

[babylonsister]

53. I agree. He's just not into doing what

dimson did; he doesn't want war. Neither do I/we. I support him.

[DirkGently]

16. The Third Way 2016 strategy taking shape?

It would make sense that corporate Dems would start building a right-of-Obama profile around more profitable hawkishness on Middle East issues.

Their stock-in-trade is to barely tolerate liberal social positions in exchange for lining all the old familiar pockets. And those pockets are likely screaming for another costly military excursion in and around oil-producing countries.

HRC's growing insinuations that Obama is too soft on foreign policy may be the point of the spear for Third Way hopes to drag the party even further to the right and the cozier relationship with monied interests they crave.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. And that is precisely the problem I have with Hill.

Obama could be a lot further to the left than he is on domestic issues, particularly Wall Street/corporate/taxation & labor issues, but he turned out to be a much better choice than Hillary "under fire in Bosnia" Clinton.

[nashville_brook]

21. that would totally take a page from the Reagan playbook

move to the right in military rhetoric while appeasing the base with domestic culture agenda items.

[IrishAyes]

41. If it is, it will prove her downfall.

[Knicks007]

18. AIPAC talking points maybe?

Been reading the piece on AIPAC in the New Yorker. I had no idea how many dems as well as repubs they had in their pocket. Horrifying really.

[Rex]

22. But but but...he wore a tan suit!!!

I cannot believe how pathetic the state of the media is in this country. And the people that follow along are no better.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

38. Yep

It's not the liberal media, it's the lazy media which feels it has to dumb it down.

[aggiesal]

23. I've been trying to vote Princess DiFi out of office ...

In her last two elections.
She a Democrat in name only, while her husband's company is tied
to The Carlyle Group.
I don't ever wonder why she supports pretth much any military action.
The latest is her support for NSA spying on americans, until she found out
NSA was spying on her.

[tkmorris]

27. Yeah, umm... Feinstein

I can hang a stethoscope around my neck but it doesn't make me a doctor.

[LiberalLovinLug]

28. Its all part of the plan.....to lose seats

In any other country in the world, the Republicans would be a pile of drying turds in the political dump. They do nothing, when they do it is to lower theirs and their wealthy friends taxes. They complain when not in power about deficits and then spend like sailors when in power. They spend their time in inquiries into blowjobs, or trumped up charges of failure to act like Benghazi. They even lied to the nation and tricked the public into a devastating war, taking advantage of a terrorist attack that they themselves allowed to happen through their own indifference. On top of it many of their politicians are proven to be bigots, racists, sexists, and homophobes.

As the late Bart of Bartcop drummed perpetually....all Dems had/have to do is communicate and hammer home the truths of Republican self-serving behaviour and how it directly and devastatingly affects the average American household.

So those in the right wing of the Democratic Party, which is getting larger by the year, the one thing they fear more than Republicans dominating both Houses, is Democrats in charge when Hillary is anointed. Because then there will be no excuses. The Democratic base will be expecting a more progressive agenda. They will expect negotiation over new wars. The pressure to serve the party base over her corporate base will be too uncomfortable. She will need the same shield that Obama makes use of. There was a sigh of relief in this circle no doubt after the 2010 midterms when Republicans took back the Senate.

[DirkGently]

30. Just as it's part of the plan

... to blame liberals for it. We can only go left by going right, we're told.

And apparently a lot of "us" believe it.

[Jackpine Radical]

31. ESPECIALLY when he's right?

I certainly agree with his cautious maneuvering in the present situation, but I'm left wondering if you think we're supposed to cover for him also when we think he's wrong.

[emulatorloo]

42. Drunken Irishman is referring to Democratic Senators and House Members

And the majority of those just don't have his back publically.

[Scuba]

60. +1

[L0oniX]

65. +1

[Tonefreak]

32. First Post - Just When I Thought That I Was Out...

Hi Folks - First post here on DU although I have been enjoying this site and the rest of you and your comments for some years now.

I tend to have a very long memory... and can recall the days of "the decider" and president (when will his artificial heart batteries ever run down...) Cheney....

Supporting Obama is easy for me because I sincerely love the guy and believe that he has done a LOT of good regardless of the relentless obstructionism from the party of grumpy old men with colostomy bags... Regardless of the obstruction the great recession is over (for most if not many..), two wars have been ended AND he continues to rightfully resist getting us into the countless opportunities for more war. The ACA is the law of the land and I personally am benefitting in a big way AND I am also healthier for it too. The US has condemned torture and as far as we know no longer torturing people. And Obama and the democrats are the party welcoming immigration reform - just what I had hoped for.

Do the dems have a problem supporting Obama? Perhaps but another question comes to mind as well and that is that Obama has not been shy about pointing the finger (rightfully I will add) at congress as well and this includes both dems and the baggers (colostomy and tea - makes no difference to me...).

Timing and tone can be everything though and as we go into an election cycle that historically results in a loss of seats for the party with the WH I do think that it's time for the democrats including Obama to at least attempt to show a single face to the customer - the American voters.

We all know (and have enjoyed to no end...) how republicans have a great deal of trouble not saying or doing something completely absurd and stupid and then gaining the negative attention from same. But to me democrats are better than this, smarter too...., and it's time for democratic leaders to come together, democratic voters too, and have one positive way forward message. It's also time for all of the rest of us who support Obama to do our part to get some votes out this November.

Sorry for being long-winded...., first post ya know and some years of pent up thoughts that I wanted to share with the good folks at the DU.

Thanks

[IrishAyes]

43. Thank YOU for speaking up.

We need your voice.

[L0oniX]

63. Glad you started posting.

[lunatica]

68. I agree with you

Thanks for posting. You sound like a thoughtful sort yourself. Perhaps that's what it takes to actually appreciate thoughtfulness. We certainly shouldn't expect non-thinkers to get it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

69. Welcome...

...to the posting world!

I agree Democrats need a positive message. Saint Ronnie, for all his faults, knew the importance of donning an optimistic message about the future of the country. It should be a two pronged approach; be way more vocal on Republican obfuscation and at the same time project a vision of the country with say a strong social safety net, rebuilt infrastructure, maybe other possibilities like free first year college tuition, a new high speed rail...

Yes I'm sick of Republicans beating one dead horse after another but I'm also sick of Democrats lying down and allowing themselves to play the dead horses. Yes every "scandal" that Republican's uncover is nothing but invented tabloid garbage, but shame on the Dems for not rising above the role of perpetually on the defensive, instead of hitting hard themselves. They take everything "off the table" before anything has started.

[eridani]

33. However much I disagree with him about banksters, he is 100% right about

--not doing stupid shit in the foreign policy area.

[Utopian Leftist]

34. This Californian wonders why we can't primary her?

I mean, I know incumbents carry an almost unbeatable "aura of inevitability" in America, but c'mon, California, Di Fi presides over some of the most liberal areas in the country. Why can't we Californians dig her evil clutches off of that Senate Seat, in favor of a true progressive?

[calimary]

35. Me too, Drunken Irishman.

Me too. Sick and tired of it. So if you're not happy with him, then the solution is - step up next to his haters and grab a rock and you all start throwing rocks at him together then. The enemy of your enemy is the President? Happy now?

[IrishAyes]

44. Bravo.

[theaocp]

36. A couple of great pieces of spoken word about Feinstein.

[IrishAyes]

37. Feinstein's the last person I'd expect to see exhibit such skullduggery.

But yer right... it might have more to do with '16 than now or even '14. More than a few of the observers I've found most accurate and trustworthy have lately begun to wonder if President Obama has already decided NOT to endorse HRC in '16 primaries. I expect him to be the kingmaker then, and HRC might already be trying to get ahead on that. If such turns out to be the case and someone else gets his endorsement, there's every chance her '08 and her '16 might turn out to be the same.

There's a LOT to appreciate about HRC but I'm by no means tied to her side at this point. If Warren (despite her present stated refusal) primaries her, wins, and picks Joaquin Castro as a running mate, I'll be giddy over them. Love Bernie Sanders and several others but they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting US the Oval Office in '16. Politics is only personal with me in a way and up to a point; sleep with the enemy or even develop a serious limp and I'll blow anyone a fond (or otherwise) farewell kiss.

All you sweet folks who want to holler at me to focus focus focus on midterms, save your breath. You think I forgot how to multitask or something? '14 IS about '16 and the future thereafter into eternity and pounding every sorry no-good worthless GOP POS possible into nothing but a grease spot until they are politically dead, dead, dead.

Good grief, RWNJ's have been driving me to literal nightmares the last few weeks. This afternoon when I took a late nap, I got jarred awake wondering whether the refugees I was trying to help smuggle across the border were going to make it to safety. Admittedly this last nightmare could've been at least exacerbated by the fried chicken at the potluck at church today, but this has been going on too long and I'm getting in a real foul mood about it.

Seeing our own stab President Obama in the back doesn't help matters. SO WHAT if he spoke unartfully about WH strategy regarding ISIS? SO BLOODY WHAT???? Everybody including the godforsaken GOP knows damn well he meant we need to keep our options open and be ready for any contingency.

Oh - and I almost forgot to thank you for the OP, my dear Drunken Irishman.

[IrishAyes]

39. BTW,

I know Feinstein's not been a sturdy bulwark by any means, but I didn't think she'd stoop this low.

[sheshe2]

45. KnR

[Cha]

49. "Dianne Feinstein, Go Fight in Iraq Yourself"..

NBC News ✔ @NBCNews
Follow
Sen. Dianne Feinstein on @meetthepress: President Obama 'too cautious' on ISIS http://nbcnews.to/1pYSfsk
5:53 AM - 31 Aug 2014 59 Retweets 39 favorites

"I, and many Americans, have had it up to our eyeballs with greedy Military Industrial Complex shills like Dianne Feinstein!! What the hell is wrong with these MIC stooges, regardless of party affiliation? And Dianne Feinstein’s incessant disrespect towards the leader of her own party and President of this country is all the more unforgivable! Did she stop to look in the mirror to examine that her own shortsighted votes in Congress metastasized the deep canker tearing the Middle East apart? Or worse that her greedy actions to shovel taxpayer $$$ to defense contractors like her husband have nasty consequences?"

More from zizi at TOD..
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/31/dianne-feinstein-go-fight-in-iraq-yourself-2/

thanks DI

[babylonsister]

52. I am SO HAPPY there are young people like you out there and

paying attention. YOU give me hope, so thanks!!!

[indepat]

54. I shall back our president in any instance when he is not too far right

and shall always back him when he is left of center.

[freshwest]

56. She's doing WHAT? I don't have cable. Who is she shilling for, really?

Ted Cruz? Charles Koch? The GOP?

[Calista241]

58. Maybe she's voicing what she thinks is the right thing to do.

Is it that novel an idea?

I mean, I think she's an idiot on this, but blind support of the president, any president, is irresponsible.

[Fearless]

64. And when he's too hawkish??

[DrBulldog]

66. Maybe Obama should wear a body camera ...

... in order to bring transparency into his deal-making ...

[LWolf]

67. Let me explain:

It's a function of "what goes around comes around."

He has NEVER had my back. I'm a teacher, and was under his bus before he even locked in the nomination in '08.

That's me. I can't speak for Democrats who actually have a voice, Feinstein, HRC, or anyone else. Their voices are about politics, elections, and donors, not about actual people.