I think Obama's problem is that his heart is in the right place, he just doesn't know how to govern.

[jillan]

Before you start calling me a 'concern troll' or whatever other name you want to call me, just hear me out - please.

According to Websters - the definition of GOVERN is :

1. to prevail or have decisive influence : control

2. to exercise authority

I looked at our President's face yesterday and I really believe that it sickened him to pass a bill with the
Millionaire taxcut in it. He just didn't know how to get what he wanted.

And I really believe he is shocked by the way his base is reacting and how it could even be possible that we don't understand how hard it was for him to get the few things he wanted in this bill.

Just look at the Healthcare debate. He stood up and addressed both chambers of Congress and told them that HCR would pass under his watch, and then handed it off to Congress to get it done. Yes, I'm sure he was involved calling Pelosi and Reid, having top members of his cabinet go down to Congress and keep everyone motivated. But that was it. There was no "I have a mandate - the voters have spoken" campaign, like the Repugs are so good at. He didn't even push for the Public Option even tho reports showed that was the only way to get insurance costs under control. This administration let August 2009 happen - they let Sarah Palin and her ilk control the message and spread lies about HCR. This administration didn't know how to stop them. In the end Healthcare reform passed in a watered down version. Thanks to Pelosi and the true progressives in the House we got something at all, and now we are at the risk of losing even that.

I really believe that Obama wants to end DADT. He has the backing of the majority of the military and their officers. He has backing of the courts. Now is the moment to do this. He just doesn't know how to get it done.

How else can you explain that one Senator is holding up the START treaty when every Sec of State that is still living, both Repub & Dem, Democratically elected leaders from around the globe, are all publicly saying that the Republicans are playing politics with our Security and that this bill needs to pass ASAP. Yet he still can't figure out how to win that argument & get the START treaty passed.


Tweety, who is not my favorite, always says "It's one thing to campaign, it's another thing to govern". I think that says it all. You can talk the good talk all you want, but are you going to be able to accomplish what you set out to do? - that's the tough part.

Knowing how to govern - that's the difference between one President leading a nation into a needless war, and another President not being able to get legislation passed even when the majority of Americans want that very legislation to pass.

You can know what you want, you can know what is right (left;)), but unless you know how to get it done - it doesn't mean crap, does it? Dreams are not enough - especially when you only have 4 years to make them come true. You can't even have a spine, if you don't know how to govern.

So Mr President, the next time you are walking the halls of the White House singing Adam Lambert's "What do you want from me?", the answer is simple. We want you to govern.... to exercise your authority and have decisive influence. Yes the Republicans may have won back ONE of the THREE Chambers of the legislative branch of Government - but the Democrats STILL control the other two. YOU are STILL the leader of this nation.

:rant:

[BeFree]

1. IS He Being Held Hostage?

...saw a brief boob-tube blurb and Obama was complaining about Hostages.?!?!?!

[jillan]

2. Even that comment- lol. Who is control here?

[BeFree]

6. Who is in control?

It sure ain't the people. The people are being held hostage.

Face the facts, we are just peons, good only for what we can put in their bank accounts.

[AndrewP]

3. Yep

I've thought that for the last couple of months as well.

[jillan]

11. Thank you - I think you are the only one so far that understands what I am trying to say.

I'm just so frustrated by the lack of leadership from this administration.

[Catherina]

4. You are defying your own brain to keep believing the unbelievable

Obama is doing precisely what he planned on doing all along. Ask yourself why he had all those no votes in the Senate so we couldn't really pin him down as he sold the people on an empty hope charade. Lieberman wasn't his chosen mentor for nothing.

[indepat]

10. One might be defying his/her own mind to believe Obama is not doing what he had planned all along

on about every issue. ;)

[kath]

43. +100.

The most reasonable conclusion at that point is that he's doing (and has done) exactly what he's wanted to do.

We've been had.

[frazzled]

5. His problem is that the Senate is totally dysfunctional.

And especially the Senate Democrats. Let's make this perfectly clear. Either Senate Democrats are able to make a united front and find a way to get their legislation passed, or the Republicans are in control.

[Love Bug]

7. True enough

That's been one of the biggest problems over the past two years and it's about to get worse. I think one of the reasons I'm so angry about everything right now is knowing that 'window of opportunity' the senate Dems had would be limited and they squandered it. They might as well concede all committee assignments to the Rs and go home because they are going to run everything anyway.

[jillan]

8. I totally agree about the Senate - but that's where the act of governing has to come into play.

For an example, you don't start a compromise with the minimum you are going to accept.

You start with Medicare for all, and compromise on a public option.
You start with a powerful message, one that persuades people to come around to your point of view... knowing that it is going to take several strong sales speeches along the way to keep everyone focused. Do you see what I mean?

[Common Sense Party]

13. It would help if he actually had some experience wheeling and dealing

in the Senate.

But he's a novice.

Why Biden isn't helping more is a mystery.

[frazzled]

16. Joe Biden did the negotiating for the WH

That is stated explicitly in the New York Times this morning. Biden has decades worth of experience in Senate negotiations.

[jillan]

19. And thankfully he is hearing about it from the Dems in Congress as we speak.

[Common Sense Party]

25. That's what I meant. Why isn't Biden more effective?

The WH looks like it's run by a bunch of amateurs.

[frazzled]

35. That's what you meant by saying "he's" a novice?

No, you didn't mean Joe Biden. You meant Obama, but Obama wasn't the one doing the negotiating -- though he is of course responsible for the final outcome and decision.

But you cannot say that Joe Biden is either a novice or lacks the experience in the Senate. Own up to the fact that this is NOT what you wrote.

[Common Sense Party]

39. Take that chip off your shoulder and read what I wrote.

Yes, Obama's a novice.

I was referring to the line I wrote, "Why Biden isn't helping more is a mystery." What I meant was why Biden isn't more effective at negotiating with the Senate. With all his years of experience, he's getting his ass whupped.

[Coyote_Bandit]

9. He's a little lacking in

both leadership and political skill IMHO.

I am not convinced that he has a moral or principled committment to things like ending the "wars," ending DADT, making meaningful and affordable healthcare available to all, jocreation, etc. His own statements don't reflect a principled commitment. They reflect a pragmatic politician.

[closeupready]

14. Not just a little - a LOT lacking, IMO.

n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

30. I totally agree with you. Those who pointed this out during the campaign

were ignored at best or called racist at worst. He was the shiny new thing and people believed what they wanted to be true.

[Common Sense Party]

12. This is what happens when we elect someone with no executive experience, very

little legislative experience, and no apparent non-negotiable core principles.

Caveat voter.

[closeupready]

15. Yes.

n/t

[jillan]

17. You know what - it's hard to say this, because I don't want to say this -

You're right.

[Common Sense Party]

22. Good, slick marketing + a gullible, willing populace

That's how we got to where we are.

We really didn't kick the tires and look under the hood to see what we were buying.

We were so tired of the old jalopy we had for the past 8 years, we were willing to believe anything the salesman told us.

We WANTED to believe.

Now we have a lemon.

[Democat]

37. I agree.

You are right.

[Xenotime]

18. People just aren't giving him a chance.

[jillan]

21. You forgot the sarcasm smiley. His term is 1/2 over.

[closeupready]

23. It's only been 24 months!!!!1111 !!!

n/t

[PVnRT]

20. You're still in negative territory despite my rec

I think you summed up my position perfectly.

[jillan]

24. Thank you! I knew this would not be a popular post. I just had to get my feelings off my chest &

written down somewhere. At DU seemed like the perfect place for that ;)

[Liberalynn]

26. He's Harvard Educated! Shouldn't he Have a Clue?

And unlike Dumbya Jr. whose daddy bought his diploma, I think Obama earned his own way and was there because of his intelligence. Plus he is supposed to be a Constitutional Law Scholar.

So I don't buy that he doesn't know how to govern. If he dosen't then he should demand his money back from Harvard. Also if it is true that he is clueless, then he shouldn't have run for the Presidency in the first place at least until he gained some more knowledge and experience.

His learning curve has been too expensive for the rest of us, IMHO.

[notesdev]

28. Education is no replacement for real world experience

It was never reasonable to expect Obama would be an effective governor, given that he had zero executive experience going in. He was never a mayor or state governor, nor did he head a business or government agency. So on what basis would one expect that he could step into the biggest executive job in existence and perform well?

Take a look at past Presidents... every one of them had some level of executive experience before becoming President.

Bush II was governor of Texas for two terms (and he f-ed up the Presidency badly even still)
Clinton was governor of Arkansas for multiple terms
Bush I ran a number of organizations including the CIA and had 8 years of VP warm-up (and still f-ed up)
Reagan was governor of California and head of the Screen Actors Guild.
Carter was governor of Georgia.
Ford had Navy officer experience and VP experience.
Nixon helped to run a law firm, was a Navy officer, and had VP experience.
LBJ had been VP, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Majority Whip, and had a host of other leadership positions including military.
Kennedy wasn't the most experienced executive but he at least had wartime military command experience.
Eisenhower was of course a general who was instrumental in winning WWII.

keep going back in time and almost every President had at the minimum military command experience (for a very long time it was seen as a prerequisite to the job).

And then we have Barack Obama. Closest thing I can find to executive experience is a stint as director of a church/charity organization. I guess that is something but it's pretty damn light compared to almost any of his predecessors.

[Liberalynn]

34. good points. You're right.

I still don't think it excuses his behavior. I still think if he had the best interests of the party and the country at heart he would have confessed his inexperience and not run until he had some more of that real world experience under his belt. But that is milk all ready spilled, and JMHO, and not worth a dime.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

27. You've put into words

what I've been trying to articulate in my mind for a while now. I don't think he's evil or has, in general, a Republican mindset. He simply isn't skilled at governing. I'm hoping against the odds that he will do better these next two years. I have to hold on to some optimism or else I'd go crazy or fall into clinical depression lol.

[pansypoo53219]

29. are you aware the republikkklans are not negotiating fairly?

you cannot move brick walls or addicts. or toddlers.

[jillan]

31. If one President can take a nation into a needless war by knowing how to sell it, the next President

should be able to get the START treaty passed.

[Ganja Ninja]

32. I think he's in cahoots with the blue dogs.

That's why they never pay a price for the way they have stabbed this party in the back for the last 2 years.

[Marr]

33. I think his problem is that he's a right-winger, as far as economic issues are concerned.

A person's view of the economy-- whether it's fueled from the bottom-up or the top-down-- defines their stance on almost every other issue. You're either there to serve your general population or you're there to service elites, and Obama has repeatedly made it clear that he's there for the elites.

Personally, I think we find this economic position amongst "leaders" so often as a result of simple arrogance. They're moving around in elite circles, and have a greatly overinflated sense of their own importance, and that of their friends and associates. They can't imagine that all the billionaire sons of billionaires they've been golfing with aren't actually society's engines of production, but more like fat ticks on an otherwise healthy dog.

[readmoreoften]

38. He's not exactly left-wing or even centrist on social issues either.

Faith-based funding, eroding a woman's right to choose, prevarication on LGBT issues. I'm not sure if he's right-leaning or just a straight up political showman and opportunist. Or puppet.

[Marr]

41. That's a good point.

Frankly, I assumed he'd put off any advancement of gay rights issues for purely political purposes-- the same way the right does with their easy wedge issues like abortion. I think politicians only solve problems when they can't grandstand on them anymore. But it's true, on a multitude of social issues, he's been solidly right-of-center.

I remember watching an interview with one of Obama's law professors back during the presidential campaign. The professor was asked if he ever imagined his former student would someday be the Democratic nominee for President, and he said, 'no, actually I always assumed he was a Republican, from the positions he argued in class'.

Odd, huh?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. His "heart" has been compromised.

[TwilightGardener]

40. Please tell me how effectively he can govern when half of Congress on one side

refuses to do anything good for America, and on his own side you have people like this, who also won't lift a finger to help: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=551191&mesg_id=551191

[emilyg]

42. I don't know that his heart is

in the right place.