After reading this article, I can no longer support Obama

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Obama: On the way to a failed presidency?
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Ronald Reagan famously quipped that the Democratic Party left him before he left the party. Like many progressive supporters of Barack Obama, I'm beginning to have the same feeling about this president...

On Afghanistan, the administration has intimated that the 2011 pullout date is "inoperable," with the White House talking 2014 and Gen. David H. Petraeus suggesting decades of occupation. On bipartisanship, the president seems to think that cooperation requires self-abasement. He apologized to the obstructionist Republican leadership for not reaching out, a gesture reciprocated with another poke in the eye. He chose to meet with the hyper-partisan Chamber of Commerce after it ran one of the most dishonest independent campaigns in memory. He appears to be courting Roger Altman, a former investment banker, for his economic team, leavening the Goldman Sachs flavor of his administration with a salty Lehman Brothers veteran.

On the economy, the president has abandoned what Americans are focused on - jobs - to embrace what the Beltway elites care about - deficits. His freeze of federal workers' pay, of more symbolic than deficit-reducing value, only reinforced right-wing tripe: that federal employees are overpaid; that overspending is our problem, as opposed to inane tax cuts for the top end; that we should impose austerity now, instead of working to get the economy going.

Now the not-so-subtle retreats are turning into a rout. The president is touting a NAFTA-like corporate trade deal with South Korea. He appears to be headed toward supporting cuts in Social Security and Medicare and irresponsible reductions in domestic investment. And he's on the verge of kowtowing to Republican bluster and cutting a deal to extend George W. Bush's tax cuts for the rich in exchange (one hopes) for extending unemployment insurance and possibly getting a vote on the New START treaty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120606022.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

After reading this well-thought article, I can no longer support Obama. He caved on tax increases for the wealthy. And he appears to have no interest in keeping this promise: "I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama Campaign Promise - October 27, 2007

[Catherina]

1. Welcome to the sad side, it's not fun and very depressing n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. It's always depressing to lose hope for "The Party of Change."

All they've changed is their logo. I liked the old one better.

[walldude]

20. That logo... it's kind of symbolic of what has happened

to the party. Democrats are supposed to be the liberal party, we have the empathy, the sense of humor, and the creativity. And the best we could come up with was that stupid pathetic logo. All the best Democratic minds in America and that was the best they could come up with? They could have held a contest of fourth graders and come up with 50 better designs. Pathetic. And god forbid you say something about it, Obama might get mad at you for being so uninformed and stupid.

[lamp_shade]

2. Cry me a river.

[AllyCat]

9. We're crying a river for everyone who has been further hurt by these lies

I'm tired of it too.

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Mimosa]

4. I never thought you'd say that, Jefferson's Ghost

I know you don't say it with any rancor. That's not your style.

That's not mine, either. I'm just profoundly disappointed. Every day people are dying and being injured in these wars. We are not more safe. It appears we are making more enemies.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. We're creating more true terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan...

And we'll pay a large price, on American soil, for our misadventures in military occupancy for a very long time.

[SaveAmerica]

22. + 7000

4748 SM deaths in Iraq plus 2252 in Afghanistan not to mention the huge numbers of civilian deaths

[truedelphi]

5. Feingold, and Grayson, in 2012.

I am old enough to remember a young upstart named John F Kennedy.

And in late 1958, that guy had absolutely No Chance In Hell of being the
party's nominee in 1960.

[AllyCat]

8. I'd vote for this duo. I'd work hard for them too.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. I've always been a BIG supporter of Feingold...

If Obama can't do a very difficult job, he should step aside like LBJ did, and let a true, gutsy Patriot like Feingold give it a try.

[truedelphi]

11. I figure first we need Grayson to come out

Like Nixon did in early 1960's... "I refuse to be kicked around by the electorate any more."

Grumble Grumble. Establishing more name recognition, as Lazy Big Multi Media Press picks up story.

Then wait six months. Announce he is a contender for the Primary challenges in 2012.

[truedelphi]

6. K & R for representing the thoughts of many on this board. n/t

[Little Star]

12. k&r

[jannyk]

14. I know how painful this is. You need one of these...

:hug:

My husband is going through it too right now. I went through it a while ago - it hurts, but it passes.

[meow mix]

15. take that to the bank! lol

ill never listen to him again

[Le Taz Hot]

16. Woah!

I NEVER thought I'd see this. Trust me, we are NOT happy that we've been right all along. Welcome to clarity.

[quinnox]

17. I think this tax deal will be the seal of Obama and the Dems defeat

in 2012. If it passes, I think the republicans will take back the Senate and the presidency in 2012.

It will be doubly ironic if it passes by having most of the republicans support it, while many Democrats oppose it.

I too can't support Obama any longer if this deal, which gives the rich stuff beyond their wildest dreams that even Bush wouldn't give them, passes.

[donco6]

18. K&R n/t

[MichaelS2012]

19. Interesting article nt

[harun]

21. K&R for truth and paying attention.