Thoughtlet for the day: Obama really missed the boat

[XemaSab]

when he failed to give the unemployed, the dissolute youth, the unhappy retirees, and the rest of the angry 99% something to DO.

I, for one, was expecting him to put a call out across the land for people to volunteer, to grow food, to donate food to the food banks, SOMETHING, but that call never came. And this is what we're seeing out on the streets.

[dkf]

1. You don't think that is what his jobs tour is supposed to do?

Geez are you really listening to what he is saying?

The problem is OWS isn't interested in political organizing. They want the whole damned system redone.

[Maven]

5. No, they aren't interested in the minor tweaks to a rigged system

that Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, Immelt and the rest of Obama's corporate crony appointees favor. You're right about that.

Kind of hard to pretend you're part of the solution when you've hired every last person who is part of the problem.

[dkf]

9. I'm sure if you told me who you think should be running things you would scare the bejeebers

out of me.

The irony is that these young people have been playing by the rules and it hasn't worked for them. So they want to completely redo the system that many others have worked within and been maybe semi successful at. Yes we can dislike what the tippy top have done, but most people have something to lose that is tied in to everything.

What I have been learning is how intertwined it all is. I can hate Goldman Sachs for example but taking them down takes everything else down.

It's become an entire cutting off your nose to spite your face sort of thing.

[Maven]

13. Modern life has finally become unbearable (or just not worth it) for enough people

such that as a group they are willing to lose what little they have tied into the current order and gamble on getting something better. That is the tipping point we are reaching.

[dkf]

18. Yes those who are willing to be arrested obviously feel they have nothing to lose and no prospects

Of employment.

Having a rap sheet does nothing to help the job search.

[Name removed]

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[Maven]

33. Neither does having a college degree, for far too many young people.

The same young people who are saddled with more debt than all the credit card balances in the country combined.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[dkf]

22. It's like you weren't alive when we went through the collapse of Lehman.

[TBF]

29. We all went through it and many lost their 401k's to boot -

that's why we know this system is fucked and has to go.

[TBF]

27. Complete BS - exactly the type of right wing spin I'd expect to read on FAUX news

Newsflash - not too many of us have much to lose. The 1% have taken all the money and we are lucky at this point if we still have a job and/or home.

"Redo the system" - that is just another phrase that means "give them crumbs". Fuck that. We need to take capitalism down.

[garybeck]

15. no, the jobs package actually as I understand it

largely ignores the infrastructure work that needs to be done and could create millions of jobs.

instead it cuts taxes and defunds medicare. sounds like a refucklican jobs package to me.

[dkf]

20. Infrastructure gets big boost in Obama jobs bill

http://www.naco.org/newsroom/countynews/Current%20Issue/9-26-11/Pages/InfrastructuregetsbigboostinObamajobsbill.aspx

[garybeck]

31. Thanks.

I stand corrected on the infrastructure part but I am still strongly opposed to the tax breaks and medicare defunding.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

17. Don't worry. Nobody's coming to get your money. There, feel better? nt

[dkf]

23. Like things aren't precarious enough with the Europeans to-ing and fro-ing?

In the end this is a failure of government and Obama to correctly diagnose the dire situation early enough to make a difference.

We needed life support for the economy not some stupid health insurance reform. It's all a freaking house of cards.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

24. Yeah yeah yeah, I'm no fan of Obama's economic policies or his economic team. You

on the other hand are always posting RW talking points. The reason why government hasn't made the situation any better it's because it was purchased a long time ago by the people you insist on defending.

[dkf]

30. Pah if you accuse me of anything it should be in giving experts credence in how our economy works.

Yes it's true I can't talk to people that want the whole damn thing to collapse so we can start over.

Give me data and studies and policies that make things work and I will listen to anything you have to say. But I am into reality, and cause and effect, not fairytaleland.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

32. As I pointed out in another post your record on

right wing talking points is well established. So try to sell that bullshit to someone else.

[Billypenn]

25. I think

when you decide that Bush Tax Cut extensions for the rich are a fair trade for unemployment benefits and a payroll tax holiday (and by the way, folks making less than 24k actually paid more), you HAVE missed the boat. All this while the Dems still controlled everything. That was the day I lost it. So too, many others like myself who keep asking, When does this bullshit end?

(can this post be removed, I double posted by mistake :0)

[Billypenn]

26. methinks...

when you decide that Bush Tax Cut extensions for the rich are a fair trade for unemployment benefits and a payroll tax holiday (and by the way, folks making less than 24k actually paid more), you HAVE missed the boat. All this while the Dems still controlled everything. That was the day I lost it. So too, many others like myself who keep asking, When does this bullshit end?

[dennis4868]

2. that does not come from a president...

it all starts from the bottom and moves up...ask the civil rights movement. People here want Obama to be their daddy.

[county worker]

4. I think a read up of FDR's fireside chats would include such things as liberty gardens

and scrap metal drives etc. Not to mention the civilian conservation core, the works progress administration and the national recovery act.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

12. Yes, FDR constantly called on the American people --

Those plus silk for parachutes and not for women's hose, neighborhood watches, war bonds, calling on women to fill the jobs men were leaving behind, sugar rationing, fuel rationing, etc.

When BushCo when into Afghanistan, I was floored when I heard him ask the American people to go "shopping". :crazy:

[XemaSab]

6. What is the point of the bully pulpit?

W, bless his heart, told people to go shopping after the terrorist attacks. :eyes:

[ret5hd]

7. I disagree. I think people just want a populist leader that...leads.

Nobody accused the people of Louisiana of wanting Huey Long to be their daddy. They just wanted someone in power to stand up to the 1%. When he seemed to, they got behind him.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. Wow, you must be very young or very uneducated.

That is EXACTLY what FDR did, and what John Kennedy did later. Hell, even Jimmy Carter called upon American to act during the energy crisis.

THAT IS WHAT LEADERS DO.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Obama's job-creation panel includes job-cutting executives

See HuffPost article:

Obama's job-creation panel includes job-cutting executives

On the president's team of business and labor advisors are the heads of several companies that have reduced workforces while posting record profits.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-jobs-council-20111010,0,4213847.story

[JuniperLea]

10. That is how you treat children with behavioral issues...

You force them to make up the rules. It's actually a brilliant plan... make them state what is fair, and make them make up the rules along the way. All eyes are upon them.

[Name removed]

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[XemaSab]

14. Further thoughtlet:

Making the American people partners in the recovery would go a long way towards getting rid of some of the sense of hopelessness about the economy.

[Juneboarder]

16. Agreed!

Actions speak louder than words Mr. President.

I was a strong supporter of President Obama, and couldn't be more shocked at how little he has truly done for us 99%.

"Banks got bailed out; we got sold out!"

[Avalux]

28. It's hard for people to do those wonderful things when they can barely get by.

And I don't think it was up to Obama to "give us something to do". This country is by the people and for the people. What's happening now is exactly how it should happen - from a small seed to a giant movement. Does not need to be started by a politician and can't be deligitimized and labeled as political because it started among the people.

If you're saying OWS is happening because Obama didn't give us something to do - that's just ludicrous.

[XemaSab]

34. I'm not saying that

I'm saying that we voted for someone to inspire us and it didn't happen.