I heard a different speech than many here.

please.

This is called a "discussion" forum for a reason, ya know.

lots of broad strokes - no details - and he really needs to just flat out call the republicans criminals serving their corporate masters. this dog and pony show sucks.

I guess his problem is that he doesn't have advisors like you. Submit your resume.

at heart. sheesh.

the emperor wears no clothes is about to become non-fiction again.

In the media.

what's the point of unity when the people he want's to unite with (Republicans) are all HORRIBLE corporate sock puppets?

Military buying alternative energy, directions to the Attorney General to set up a financial crime unit, a number of other 'action items' that go around a do-nothing congress.

but in the past the differences between his speeches and his actions have been like night and day.

over and over. Which means he has figured out that he can send bills to congress but can't make them drink. Which also means not so much difference between his speeches and actions.

Which "differences between his speeches and his actions have been like night and day" do you mean?

So, now we criticize by stating that he stated the facts?

how do you think (e.g.) LBJ got so much of the "Great Society" initiatives passed? By being timid with the legislature? By backing off and letting legislator after legislator chip away at every program until it didn't even resemble the original initiative? Hell no -- he did it by pushing, and pushing hard. You think he had no push back from his own Party? Think again -- he had plenty. He leaned and leaned and leaned some more on legislators. Things were accomplished during his administration in part because, like him or not (and I HATED some of his foreign policies), he and his administration made them happen.

thank you for clarifying.

I do not think LBJ had as much energy focused on simply making him fail, on blocking EVERYTHING simply because he thought it good, as Obama has. I guess you think differently and more highly of those who automatically block everything than I do.

Party. And he had to work on HIS Party. I sure wish those who are vociferous Obama supporters would stop reading things into posts that weren't there.

Or are you comparing LBJ pushing his party with Obama pushing those who automatically block him?

Please clarify so i don't have to assume. Thank you.

He has repeatedly deferred to Harry Reid and others, and has repeatedly backed conservative Dems and ignored progressive Dems. He needs to engage his WHOLE Party, whether he agrees with them or not. The Progressive Caucus has asked to be heard on numerous occasions:

Afghanistan

The "debt limit deal" which the Progressive Caucus felt violated basic Democratic principles.

The Progressive Caucus budget.

Single payer representatives totally excluded from health insurance revision talks -- this was a Congressional Progressive Caucus issue.


He makes his decisions excluding the largest Congressional caucus and deferring to a Senate leader who most at DU, up until Obama's administration, agreed was weak and far more conservative than most used to consider acceptable.

That's also assuming that one takes him at his word. I personally think that he too frequently talks a good "Democratic" game but he's more in agreement with some of the shitty "compromises" than he acknowledges. He's started from right-wing/corporate/Wall Street mindsets too often and has been too reluctant to challenge those ways of thinking. His SOTU speech sounded good, but I heard him sound good before and govern far to the right of his "sound good" speeches, so my jury is out on that one -- his actions will speak WAY louder than his words.

But, if he TRULY believes his liberal rhetoric, he hasn't shown it in his willingness to push at least HIS PARTY to go along with his more liberal policy goals, at least those he claims in speeches. All those conservative Dems he's been backing owe him -- he has chips to draw from them. And I lived with someone (Dad) who worked in DC/politics for most of his adult life -- that IS how much of it works. Time for him to call in those chips if he REALLY means what he says and PUSH the Dems to rally AS A WHOLE behind what he SAYS are his policies.

the agencies tasked to carry them out can't simply (legally) reprogram funds to do whatever the President asks them to do. And yes, it falls back on Congress - the branch of government that has control over government purses.

Seems it would make more sense to have turned to John Boehner and say, "I want to see you and your possee in my office tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp - we have work to do." Instead of hitting the campaign trail, oh well, that's politics.

because it's better than being alone. - Arcade Fire

but #OCCUPY is sounding a LOT more appealing.

indeed.

It's our future.

Genius, I tells ya. Genius.

And after he does that, maybe he can moonwalk off the stage while shooting a water pistol full of Welch's grape soda dead into Boehner's face. I mean, if we're going to conjure up colossally idiotic, meaningless fantasies, may as well go big, huh?

The number of honest politicians that were actually left, could all fit in a phone booth; and they would all be liberals.

or that the president should just ignore that? you put your loyalty to Obama above doing the right thing and telling people the truth. sad.

Literally? Ridiculous.

how long are we just going to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the truth?

n/t

But guess most of them aren't here right now though.

We probably have 3 ways of looking at it.

So I heard enough to know which team I'm on......

I look at the country and policies and try to make assessments. I try to see what will happen though none of us know for sure.

I think broadly most of us agree......

There's a text. Read it through and nail down just what you're talking about here. It's not as if some folks here wouldn't be interested in hearing what your specific differences are. I don't really care where you're coming from. That's your business. I like an open exchange of ideas though.

text: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/politics&id=8517683

I like the rich and powerful paying more taxes. I like investigations into financial malfeasance. Any mention of infrastructure and manufacturing I like. I like the idea of looking into trade policies. I like investments in education and health.

I don't like what looks like more green lights for the oil and gas industries. I don't like pretending our problems have come from government spending and and over regulation, and pretending our corporations are paying too much in taxes when the real rate they are paying is around 14% and only about 6% of current overall burden.

Overall, I heard a centrist speech trying to sound liberal.

. . . is a little too much. He's certainly more of a centrist than a liberal, but you make him out to be insincere in the things he believes which may or may not gain favor from a liberal pov.

I do think he was playing to the right on offshore drilling, but I'd be surprised if that turns out to be anything more than lip service; just like the regulation thing. So what if he's playing to perceptions? There's little to be lost by consolidating the branches of government he's outlined, and benefits, I think, in bringing some of those departments out of the shadow of unrelated Cabinets.

We can rightly complain that liberal pov's and liberal initiatives need advancing and promoting, but the President is likely correct in balancing those ideals and initiatives with at least a rhetorical nod to the complaints from the right. Follow what he actually proposes in the form of legislation. That's more of a measure of his progressiveness or centrism, than what Congress ultimately agrees to.

Didn't want to disappoint.

They heard a different speech than me. Hmmmm....

forum of proposals. I'm going to wait to see those proposals. I'm confident that the president knows what he's talking about.

Now, Bernie Sanders is on Ed's show praising the president's speech while acknowledging that more work needs to be done.

would you like a cookie? Meanwhile, back in reality, Obama delivered a knock out punch to the rethugs. I think republican­s in the audience looked unhappy because they know that Noot is their candidate, Mittens is plummeting in every poll. Mittens should've released his taxes earlier.lol

And yes, Obama shouldn't have any problems with the Republican field.

it means offshore or what), but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

What's bad from my perspective on that is the new Republican legislatures where that pressure is already there.

me too.