Obama unveils his plan for continued political suicide

[Hannah Bell]

Anyone who wants to know how Barack Obama plans to continue to commit political suicide in 2012 can now get the first video version of the Obama campaign strategy. The six-minute video, featuring Obama campaign chief Jim Messina, is up at http://www.barackobama.com. It should be studied. Not once during the campaign does Messina mention that Barack Obama betrayed the people who elected him in 2008 — and the programs he promised to support. It wasn’t just the additional wars Obama is promoting... Obama's refusal to provide universal single-payer health care has left things in a bigger mess than before....

The economic policies are pure Wall Street, despite the evidence that Wall Street is the problem, not the solution. Obama’s surrender to Wall Street... is easily visualized in the Goldman Sachs crew he keeps to run the economy for the benefit of the plutocracy. One of the ironies of the Obama capitulation is that the wealthy people who helped put him in office (with their dollars, not their precinct work) are now finished with him. See the Wall Street Journal article "Financiers Switch to GOP" (front page, April 26, 2011) reporting that the hedge fund heads and billionaires who backed Obama in 2008 are now pouring their millions into the Republicans.

The teachers and union workers who worked to get out the vote for Obama in November 2008 — and who were sold out by Obama before he even took the oath of office in January 2009 — won’t forget, despite videos and smarmy appeals. What was once speculation is now fact. More than any other president — Republican or Democrat — in recent U.S. history, Barack Obama has put the nation's education under a union busting privatizing group of zealots. The corporate ideology of Arne Duncan and his top aides at the U.S. Department of Education is almost straight out of Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged."

Public school union teachers — not the charter school hacks and “eduprenuers” who have gotten all the top jobs in the U.S. Department of Education under the Obama administration — were the largest single group of delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Union teachers helped nominate Barack Obama... Union teachers...were part of the Obama get out the vote work, door to door and hour to hour right up until the polls closed. Yet even before Christmas 2008 Obama had put a teacher bashing and union busting hack — Arne Duncan — in charge of the U.S. Department of Education.... The Obama campaign will continue to ignore the fact that Obama now has a history — of teacher bashing, privatization, union busting, and hypocrisy — that can’t be swept away. The main reason that Obama’s candidates lost so much in the November 2010 election was not the “Tea Party...” Obama's candidates lost big...because the people who had worked for Obama in 2008 knew that Obama had sold them out... The same thing is going to happen in 2012, no matter how much Obama's people prattle about the importance of the "grass roots."

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2221§ion=Article

[Skittles]

1. more of the same

those smarmy appeals will get more and more nauseating

[Hannah Bell]

2. more "measuring". why are they so enamoured about "measuring".

oh, yeah, they're going to "listen" too. "the people" are supposed to tell obama how to run his campaign.

[LooseWilly]

3. But if we don't vote for Obama the Democrats in Congress will vote for the Republican equivalents...

Ok... it was meant to be ironic, but it's actually kind of true.

The horror...

[sendero]

19. Who cares...

... if the country is going to be destroyed I'd rather Republicans did it and take the blame.

With Obama we get the worst of both worlds, no progress and the blame for everything done wrong.

[FiveGoodMen]

51. Exactly!

[BzaDem]

4. Obama "refusal to provide single payer" (as if he had the power) is a betrayal? He promised NOT to

enact single payer. He specifically ran ads during the campaign saying Single Payer was too extreme.

Yet the author of the article is claiming that Obama's "refusal" to do something that he a) didn't have the power to do, and b) promised in the campaign NOT to do -- is a betrayal?

When do we collectively realize that much of the perpetual Obama bashing is pure nonsense?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Little Star]

24. Revise history much?

[Mimosa]

5. corporate ideology of Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education is 'Ayn Randish'

Does Duncan have kids? Where do they go to school?

And we did get official institutional corporate controlled health insurance.

No 'socialism' here in America. I am often stunned when right wing nuts call Obama a socialist.

[w4rma]

7. Schechter wondered the same about the Arlington County public school system, where Duncan’s children

“What did the president and the secretary seek and obtain for their own kids, where the important issue of teacher evaluation was concerned? The answers recently arrived in two e-mails:

“Arlington school district teacher, March 31, 2011: ‘We do not tie teacher evaluations to scores in the Arlington public school system.’

“Sidwell Friends faculty member, April 1, 2011:

“ ‘We don’t tie teacher pay to test scores because we don’t believe them to be a reliable indicator of teacher effectiveness.’ ”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teacher-evaluations-at-the-schools-that-obama-duncan-picked-for-their-kids/2011/04/15/AF1S1cwD_story.html

[cali]

8. man, what a ridiculous piece

what campaign ad in history has issued the message "vote for me I betrayed you"? and I"ll bet almost anything that teachers support Obama again. Political suicide? I doubt it. A lot of us are none too happy with Obama: We'll still be voting for him.

[Hannah Bell]

9. The union leadership may endorse him, as a lot of them are working hand-in-glove with ed deformers.

That doesn't mean the membership will vote for him or work for the campaign or say anything good about him.

The lesser of two evils is a failing strategy. It's like appeasing your abuser. You can't avoid conflict forever; at some point you have to face reality & fight or let the cards fall.

[cali]

10. my bet is that the rank and file will overwhelmingly vote for him

recognizing that the lesser of two evils is far preferable to what happens if the republicans take the WH and control Congress. Most people aren't willing to just give up as you suggest- yeah, that is essentially what you're suggesting- and watch far worse happen.

[Bonobo]

11. Ummm, that's why it's called the "rank and file".

But what will be the enthusiasm of the support he gets?

[cali]

14. diminished. maybe greatly diminished, but

it's still not political suicide. And if he loses, it'll have a lot more to do with where gas prices are than just about anything else.

[Hannah Bell]

12. it's going to happen regardless. did "far worse" happen under bush?

no, not really. there's continuity between almost every policy you can list, & obama hasn't rolled back bush policy.

teachers haven't all caught on yet, but they're getting there. my winger cousin has finally realized they're coming after social security. that's big.

[cali]

15. bush isn't going to be running next year.

and if your winger cousin has realized that they're coming after SS, he/she probably realizes that the republicans are behind that effort.

[Hannah Bell]

20. no cali, it's not just republicans. it's not just republicans making wars,

not just pubs going after SS, not just pubs busting unions.

it just isn't, & there's no sense pretending different.

[cali]

37. ooh, and did I say any such thing, hannah dear? No fucking of course not

Your crappy habit of putting words in my mouth is really getting old. and it's so dim. you're smarter than that. YOU fucking know better. stop it. it's dishonest and beneath you.

[TheKentuckian]

18. With education Obama is as far down the rabbit hole as one can be.

What "far worse" plan is out there from a teacher's perspective? He is honestly right there in Jeb, Christie, Heritage land now. He is taking the shrub baton and running with it.

Considering the importance of education to the future, this one is hell of a general "boo boo". Executing Obama/Duncan education plans would be a massive failure of our stewardship and Judas kiss to the next generation but our thirty shekels of silver is taking the quick and easy path away from fear by embracing what we are against in hopes of getting a little less of it.

This man should not be renominated based on education alone.

[mmonk]

13. Though you'll get bashed for posting this, a lot of issues presented

in that are a problem. I was an Obama delegate. I did not see him as how conservative as he really is. I don't delve as much into the politics of us vs them and the general political themes, perceptions, and framing presented in the US media as others do. I look at actual positions, what one has pushed and what one has opposed, and what one acts upon while in office. To be quite honest, as jaded as I am, even I was surprised at how different the perception of Obama is to the reality of President Obama.

[Scuba]

16. Barak Obama 2012 - Not the Republican, sorta n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

17. I thought he already had like a Billion Dollars for his next/final campaign

and you seem to be ignoring:


Two great choices for Supreme Court.

The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

The Matthew Shepard Hates Crimes Prevention Act (which they said could not be done)

Children's Health Insurance

Tobacco Regulation

Credit Card Reform

Student Loan Reform

The Stimulus (including the largest tax cut ever, the largest investment in clean energy ever, the single largest investment in education in our country ever)

Health Reform

Wall Street Reform

The New G.I. Bill

The Food Safety Modernization Act (the most expansive food reform bill since the 1930s)

The Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal

The New Start Treaty (even when the (R)s said he would never be able to get it passed)

Locking up over half the loose nuclear material in the world in less than half of his first term, something most (R)s thought impossible.




Most of that list is from The Rachel Maddow Show and is included in this clip
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#4077...

In that clip she also estimates that ~85% of what President Obama said he wanted to accomplish in his first term had been accomplished in the first half of his first term.






Have we gotten everything we want? Oh Hell No! But the idea that this guy isn't worth reelecting is simply ridiculous from my point of view.

Remember that once this final campaign is over he doesn't need to worry about running again. His legacy will be his main focus and I am reasonably certain that he will want that legacy to be viewed as being liberal.

[Hannah Bell]

21. WALL STREET REFORM?????

spare me the rest of the list. i'm sick of hearing about the fucking lily ledbetter act. 9/10th of those "accomplishments" aren't what they purport to be, either.

[Ship of Fools]

25. tell you what

when you get to the point where you're going back into the workforce, in your 60s with physical difficulties, and you end up with a minimum wage job -- a job that you get hired for along with a high school teenaged boy who gets paid 50 cents more an hour than you do, THEN you can *lol* (or whatever you kids do) all you want about lily ledbetter act. btw, it was 2009 when the president signed this. that's two thousand fucking nine. how about a little perspective? until then, mark me unimpressed with your cynicism.

[Hannah Bell]

26. i'm probably older than you.

[Ship of Fools]

30. doubtful,

but if you are, then why so bitter? don't know about you but i STILL grin when i see obama treating humans like humans.

my late husband worked for a power company, with a bunch of racist yahoos who would have rather seen obama dead than vote for him, let alone consider him commander in chief. one day after the election i was on the internet and saw a caricature of obama -- with a big toothy smile, eyes squinted, all framed, carved out of wood. it's a thing of beauty and would make you laugh until you cry ... i'm in a small trailer now with no more room on the walls from my artwork i've collected over the years, so i had to hang it in the bathroom over the toilet. soon afterward, and old friend of charlie's (a racist bubba type) and his wife came over for a visit. mark had to use the bathroom, and absolutely lost it when he was in there. when he came out, he congratulated me for finding the perfect spot to put obama's picture. i got the last laugh, though, when i thought to myself that obama's *picture* was looking over his little pee-pee and laughing.

[Hannah Bell]

32. doubtful. doubtful people older than me are accusing others of being

youngsters, that's more of a middle-aged thing.

bitter, shitter, spitter. i ain't bitter, i'm angry.

just because someone has nice manners doesn't mean they have good policy. doesn't even mean they're good people.

southern plantation owners had excellent company manners.

[Ship of Fools]

35. i don't think you understand.

the shithouse went up in flames BEFORE Obama came in. he's just trying to cushion our fall. don't you get it? and btw, i don't give a flying eff if you are older or younger than me. i do give a flying eff if, in your angst and anger, you try to pull me and others down with you. that's not just bad manners. it's *spin*, the very art of which began destroying my beloved country years ago.

[Hannah Bell]

46. i understand quite well. please tell me which parts of the bush programme have been rolled back.

please show me where obama pushed for rollback or used the bully pulpit to take the issues to the people.

[Motown_Johnny]

31. so you didn't get exactly what you wanted the way you wanted it

isn't that to bad


Just watch the video and please quit whining

[Hannah Bell]

33. there was no "reform" whatsoever.

that's why financial corps are still making record profits & paying record bonuses, and some of the biggest criminals in the world are still collecting them.

[Bluebear]

22. "Wall Street Reform"

:rofl:

[Motown_Johnny]

29. It passed, it was weak but it passed

just watch the video and write Rachel if you disagree with her.

[bvar22]

50. "Health Care Reform"

:rofl:

[Ship of Fools]

23. this is too funny

i started to respond to this and realized i wasn't logged in. when i got in, what i was going to post to your list here was absolutely proven while i went out ...

i was going to say to you *thanks for the reminder, but don't post lists around HERE. they'll suck you up in one piece and spit you out in hundreds.* and guess what? i was rrrrrrrright!!!!!

i still say to you *thanks for the reminder.* i know who i voted for, and that hope-y change-y thing is working out quite well, thank you.

[Hannah Bell]

27. not like that same bedraggled list hasn't been posted 500 times already.

people i know don't see much change or feel too hopeful. our unemployment rate just recently dropped from three years of 15% to 13%.

But everywhere i look there are still more abandoned storefronts & businesses popping up.

[Motown_Johnny]

28. then watch the video at the link, those are Rachel Maddow's words, not mine

argue with her

[Hannah Bell]

52. you posted the list. maddow isn't on this thread.

[Modern_Matthew]

34. He has no spine. I want a far left asshole with a sharp tongue and iron fist coated in red. nt

[Rusticus Too]

36. Kucinich in 2012!

[JoePhilly]

39. Not unless the aliens come back and tell him to run.

And even then he'd get crushed.

[MadBadger]

41. Shadddup Troll

[Ship of Fools]

43. how polite.

[brooklynite]

45. I t -would- be interesting to see...

...if we lose all 50 States in one swoop.

[phleshdef]

38. What an unsubstantial waste of forum database space.

[Ship of Fools]

40. and what a substantial supply of smug

[JoePhilly]

42. Obama Bad Obama Bad Obama Bad

[Bonobo]

44. Oh no, I feel another case of lecturing on the "Obama is bad meme" coming on. nt

[leftstreet]

47. K&R

[cliffordu]

48. DING DING DING this train is never late......

:hurts:

[ourbluenation]

49. define political suicide because if you mean he'll lose in 2012 you'd be wrong.

he will win and then at the end of his term he will continue to be a political force for the dems. not sure how that's suicide.