Now that the dust has settled we can stop the blame game

[wowimthere]

Because the Democratic party is made up of so many moving parts we can distribute blame almost evenly. Democrats in the house and senate can be held accountable for their part in the tax cut-unemployment benefits package that is sure to pass.

Politicians have threatened to not vote for it but in the end, gotten on the soap box (for all the right reasons I'm sure) but we all know that in the end, it will pass. With that said, let's stop the blaming and realize that in this process we all had a hand in it. We all had an opportunity to vote for these people. We weren't going to agree with everything they do. As Obama said, this debate should have been decided by the party in power and since Democrats (largely conservative Dems) wanted something different than Progressives it was hard for the party to get unanimous support one way or another. And so our President stepped in and made compromises like politicians normally do.

Going forward we need to make sure our voices are heard. I don't mean continuing to scream at Democrats. I mean making our voices heard by the Republicans. After all, Republicans rightly get most of the blame for our economy spiraling out of control, ballooning deficits, a greatly depleted and demoralized middle class. One man is not responsible for doing everything. We should remember that. Obama needed two strong branches of government with progressive values and he inherited two divided ones.


Finally... can we stop with the "we will primary the president" speak and figure out how Democrats can move the country forward with this one. Listening to the dumb talking heads on TV speak of primarying Obama means the media is itching for a fight and an even more divided Democratic party. If we buy into this notion of primarying Obama then we are shooting yourselves in the foot. You think a Republican president could have gotten one tenth of what President Obama got for us? NO! Scratch that. Hell NO!

[ClassWarrior]

1. "The blame game." Wow, more Radical RW memes.

NGU.

[Bluerthanblue]

2. did you bother to read more than the title?

:shrug:

[wowimthere]

5. thank you.

[ClassWarrior]

6. Not when it starts like that. If someone wants to be heard by progressives...

...it would help to not start by reinforcing RW positions.

NGU.

[wowimthere]

11. I don't have a right wing position in my body. Blame and game are words. I'm at this site

and my views are progressive. Republicans didn't create the words blame or game.

[ClassWarrior]

12. I didn't say you're RW. I have no way to know that. I said your post reinforces a RW meme.

And that's dangerous.

Read Lakoff.

NGU.

[wowimthere]

16. A right wing meme is of great substance to liberal causes? You have to read the entire post to

determine if it functions as you say it does. Two words taken out of a post? Have you listened to Dems and Republicans speak? Alot of them say the same things, the same way. You can't take two words and apply them without context. Did you realize Democrats and Republicans use the word Terrorist... deficit... and a whole host of words?

[ClassWarrior]

18. Yes, alot of them say the same things, the same way. The way that reinforces RW values. That's...

...exactly what I'm saying.

Tell you what, you read some Lakoff and I'll read your post:

http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=interview_lakoff

NGU.

[wowimthere]

Okay... I've read the piece. Let me ask you this. Are you blaming Obama for what happened? Are

you blaming the Dems in congress... the senate? The wording aside... If you are blaming only Dems then you've followed through with letting Republicans off the hook. I haven't heard you say anything but Right wing meme. Wording aside, I've got this right. I don't accept Republican ideas. That's what matters. I don't accept the premise of any of their arguments. They are solidly dumb ones... I don't think they are incredible wordsmiths either. Blame game may have a good ring to it but that's about it. The substance of my post was about "stopping" this one sided affair with casting blame because if Dems had been unified tax cuts this wouldn't have passed.

BTW: Beohner is not the first to ever scream "Hell No!" Dems do it too. And very loudly.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wowimthere]

26. I wish I had said it that well. I didn't think two words would be the substance of an entire post.

[ClassWarrior]

29. Language matters. We dismiss it at our own peril.

NGU.

[wowimthere]

31. Of course language matters. Substance does too. Actions do too.

[namahage]

32. You mean like calling Obama "arrogant"?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x550820
Seems like a net positive number of "progressives" not only hear, but agree.

[wowimthere]

3. The substance of the piece please. I'm not looking for a fight. Republicans started this mess

I want Dems back in control of the house with progressives in charge.

[displacedvermoter]

10. Should Dems get back control and should Obama get

reelected, you will tell us that there isn't a large enough majority, there aren't enough real progressives, and the President is helpless to do anything anyway.

Been there already, don't you know.

[dave29]

23. welcome to the wheels of the bus

you can write something thoughtful and people will tune you out for your choice of words in the title. It's not your fault. I appreciate your post.

[wowimthere]

35. thank you.

[saracat]

4. What baloney. Concentrate on the House and Senate and taking back a liberal majority.

And people will stop talking about primarying the President when he starts acting like a Democratic President.

[wowimthere]

7. Democrat doesn't mean we all think the same. I'm more progressive than many and some may find me

less liberal than others. A democratic president got equal pay for women. What Republican do you know would have done that?

[saracat]

9. A Democratic Prez recently allowed equal pay to be scuttled.

[DontTreadOnMe]

8. It is already in motion

There WILL be a primary opponent from the Left against Obama.

AND I fully predict a FOURTH opponent from the Tea party as well.

I predicted that both the Democratic and Republican Parties are fracturing, and the entire middle class of America is starting to realize that the two Parties do not represent the working class citizen. The current Parties favor the corporations and the rich. Both parties are equally guilty.

So there will be 4 candidates running in 2012 -- and that will divide the country just enough to make it anyone's win.

I also predict that the country will then go back to two Parties again... but this time the Republicans and the DLC will merge... and the Tea Party and the Progressives will merge.

Sounds impossible? Jim DeMint and the Tea Party Congress are NOT going to vote for the Obama/McConnell Tax Plan. And Bernie Sanders and a few more on the Left will not vote to approve the plan as well. Lines are already being drawn.

[wowimthere]

13. And they shall do exactly what all the rest do. I don't care how many parties emerge, no one party

will be able to satisfy everyone all of the time. It just will not happen.

[emulatorloo]

14. DeMint is against unemployment benefits extension. His plan is to turn unemployment into a LOAN!

If you are thinking progressives and teaparty should merge, take a look at this:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/12/demint-a-no-on-tax-deal.html
DeMint a "NO" On Tax Deal
December 08, 2010 9:05 AM

“Most of us who ran this election said we weren’t going to vote for anything that increased the deficit. This does.” DeMint said this morning on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.

He doesn’t like the fact that the tax cut extension is temporary and he doesn’t like the extension of unemployment insurance.

“I don’t think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it, and without making some modifications such as turning it into a loan at some point. It then encourages people to go back to work,” DeMint said. “The biggest problem I have, Hugh, is we don’t need a temporary economy, which means we don’t need a temporary tax rate. A permanent extension of our current tax rates would allow businesses to plan five and ten years in advance, and that’s how you build an economy.”

Even the estate tax provision – which has enraged liberals because it would cut the scheduled increase in the estate tax from 55 percent to 35 percent and only apply it to estates valued at over $5 million – doesn’t satisfy DeMint.

“It raises the death tax,” DeMint says, presumably because this year, in an anomaly, the estate tax is zero percent.

[DontTreadOnMe]

21. So you agree the Tea Party is rebelling against the traditional core Repugs

I did not state that the Progressives "should" merge with the Tea party.

I am just pointing out they have a common enemy, and they will start voting very similar on many issues that favor working middle class.

Most ideals in the Tea Party are absolute nuts -- but notice how they are NOT going after traditional God, Guns and Gay issues.

That fracturing away from tradition Republican political tactics is the same thing that is happening on the Left. Many Progressives feel the Democratic Party does not represent them anymore.

You can't deny that both Parties are fracturing.

[wowimthere]

24. I can not deny that both parties are fracturing.

[emulatorloo]

27. Teaparty seems to have three core concerns - taxes deficit and hating democrats

I haven't seen anything from them that suggests they will vote for progressive issues. They seem to be too invested in concervative dogma. I think eventually they will become more and more disillusioned with the Republican Party. Because they aren't right wing enough for them.

[bowens43]

15. it's not a game.

assigning blame is serious business and it should have serious consequences.

We can move the country forward by replacing the 'leadership' in 2012.

[wowimthere]

17. Do you think every leader is going to do everything you want and how you want it done?

let's be realistic. How many congressmen and senators have you seen voted out of office only to have their replacements come in and do the same thing?

[ClassWarrior]

20. No, but I expect MY leaders to do at least SOME of the things I want, and I'd hope...

...that they'd at least LISTEN to how I want them done, not dismiss me out-of-hand as an "idealist."

NGU.

[wowimthere]

28. We agree on that point but there are many leaders that could have settled this. Why

did health care have to wait? Why did the tax cut issue have to wait? Why do the unemployed have to wait? Was there a better way out of some of these traps? Yes. Why weren't they explored? This is not a monarch. Obama is one man. Everyone has a role to play.

[ClassWarrior]

30. Of course there are lots of people responsible for this steaming pile. The Rape-Publicans being...

...the main culprits. You're the one putting the focus on the President in this conversation. So I'm responding to that.

NGU.

[wowimthere]

33. The emphasis was... stop blaming one person. you have read all of the posts.

This is called Democratic underground. Let's not keep blaming the President when a whole host of people outside of the party made this mess happen.

[wowimthere]

34. The emphasis was... stop blaming one person. you have read all of the posts.

This is called Democratic underground. Let's not keep blaming the President when a whole host of people outside of the party made this mess happen.

[niceypoo]

19. 'can we stop with the "we will primary the president" '

Looks like Obama has 'primaried' the left instead.

[wowimthere]

25. I like her.