Bush Made His GOP Congress His Rubber Stamp. Obama's Democratic Congress Is Just A Leaker Rubber.

[David Zephyr]

How sad is this fact: When it comes to getting his legislation through Congress, George Bush sure did a better job than President Obama has thus far. That may piss you off, but it's true. And it should piss you off to do something about it.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove understood that a slim, hairline 51 vote passing of their agenda by Congress was a VICTORY. It is stunning to me that Obama, a basketball enthusiast -- and a damned good player himself -- does not 'get it' that even if you win the game by one single point, you are the winner. You get the trophy. A win is a win.

Apparently, Barack Obama and his advisers in the White House have fallen for the fool's gold of "bi-partisanship", and the GOP and their facilitators within our Democratic Party keep dangling "compromise" before Obama as something to trumpet: a hollow, watered-down health-care "co-op" that keeps the insurance companies and big pharma in control for yet another generation. That's victory? Why even have the battle at all?

Karl Rove must be chuckling at how a sitting President whose Party enjoys a historic, filibuster-proof Senate and staggering control of the House of Representatives can not get his own preferred health-care program passed without it becoming a Republican plan.

George W. Bush even rammed his Patriot Act and illegal invasion of Iraq through a Democratic controlled Congress as he made Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt roll over and obey him. And when he had control of the House and Senate, Bush made the U.S. Congress his own personal rubber stamp. And he did it without Obama's unprecedented advantage of having such huge majorities in the legislative branch. It drove me crazy how Bush would whip Congress around and get his way...every single time. But, now in hindsight, I gotta give him credit. As "dumb" as he was, he got what he wanted done and Congress delivered it to him on a silver plate smiling.

Bush made himself a rubber stamp. Obama's turned what should be a rubber stamp into a leaky rubber.

Come on Barack. You are the President. 51 is a victory. You take the victory and move on to the next item on your agenda. Muscle it. Move it. Step on it. For Chriiisssakes! Do it!

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. OH COOL!!! I HOPE IT'S A PONY!!!

As long as I'm not the one getting pregnant!

:^D

[timeforpeace]

2. It is weird. Obama served with these Dems, they know him. Why do they thwart him?

[David Zephyr]

6. Obama doesn't need all 60 Democrats. He only needs 50 and Biden to get his plan through.

Obama should take a 51 vote victory in the Senate.

[Echo In Light]

10. Institutional collusion. Dems don't pose a threat to the corporate power that owns the country

Corporate America doesn't offer "electable" candidates for us to "choose" so that an admin will be in place to sabotage their aims.

[redqueen]

3. It wasn't because Bush had magical powers... he had corporatist $$$$$ backing him up.

THAT is what congress responded to, not him.

Duh.

[David Zephyr]

5. Bush got his legislation through.

My OP is about Congress. It's the "leaky rubber".

Obama wants Republicans on board for his healthcare bill. He's made that clear.

And that's his tactical error. They will not come on board with his bill.

He has enough trouble with his own Democrats.

If he loses this battle, if he loses the public option that he proposed and swore that he would sign no bill that did not include it, if he backs down, the GOP knows that it will be a crack in his resolve, his "waterloo" as they call it, they will "break him".

Obama has a lot of power at his disposal. He can punish Democrats that leave the pack. He's too nice. And it will be his undoing.

David Axelrod could learn a few things from Karl Rove: Take a victory with 51 votes in the Senate (which is where the trouble is, not the House). If it's 50/50, Joe Biden can break the tie.

We are going to have the Co-Op (Insurance/Corporate Controlled) program that the GOP will hail as "reform".

Bottom line: Barack will either sign his bill or the one the GOP has been pushing. If Barack wants to have a lot of votes in the Senate, then we get a Co-Op. If he wants his plan with a government option, then he will have to take that victory with as few as 51 votes. It's that clear. The decision is now in Obama's hands. He can get a 51 vote victory. He has those votes. He should take it.

[redqueen]

7. I don't disagree that Obama's conciliatory nature is not helping him

on this issue.

I expected him to get more passionate about getting a plan that doesn't just flirt with saving taxpayers' money while providing care, but does a serious job of it... instead he seems to be backing down.

The more things change, right?

[David Zephyr]

8. That's what I'm saying, redqueen.

Unlike many here, I do not believe that Barack is "centrist" or a DLC'er. He isn't. It's not in his makeup. I don't like those posts when I read them.

But, I do feel that Axelrod or someone around him has got him believing that a big vote margin in Congress (primarily the Senate) for a healthcare bill will be a smashing victory. But it won't be. The GOP are licking their chops that they've picked off around 8 Democrats to their side. Obama said he wouldn't sign a bill without the public option. A Corporate Co-Op is not Public Option.

Obama has so much power at his fingertips. He needs to use it. That vulgar jackass Bush rammed his programs through with no concern whatsoever what anyone thought and took small margin victories and then moved on to his next agenda item on the rightwing wish list.

Obama can not show weakness now. He just can't. They will chew him alive if he doesn't stand his ground. I know he can do it. He's made of the right stuff.

I am so pissed at the betrayal (yet again) of Democrats against this President. They are thumbing their noses in his face. He needs to smack back and tell them I'll take a victory by one vote if I have to, but I still will not sign any bill that does not include a Public Option.

We need to rally behind him, not the Democrats, we need to buck him up against the 'leaky rubber'. Sorry for the metaphor, but it was after midnight when I wrote this and I was boiling mad at the news that public option was being set aside by members of our own party.

[redqueen]

9. I agree! We need to support his demand for a strong public option...

I hope you're mistaken, about him thinking a big vote margin would be more important than real reform.

He's got to be smarter than that...

[Horse with no Name]

11. I don't think that the job market is the only thing zapping consumer confidence

>>>snip
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumer confidence fell more than expected in July, the Conference Board said on Tuesday, recording its second consecutive decline as sentiment remained hampered by a difficult job market.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090728/bs_nm/us_usa_econom... ;_ylt=AlrvY9XH5QaX0qcnQa.2siRH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJzaHBtZXNlBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwNzI4L3VzX3VzYV9lY29ub215X2NvbmZpZGVuY2UEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDam9id29lc3NhcHVz

Obama was given a HUGE mandate by the American people to 1. Stop the wars and bring home the troops, 2. Fix the financial mess and 3. Universal Healthcare. People voted for CHANGE and we just ain't getting it. The small amount of people who live inside the beltway will not agree with what you say. The majority of REAL Americans OUTSIDE the beltway are going to demand it. The choice is Obama's whether or not he will serve one term or two. But make no mistakes...if that promised and hallowed change doesn't start happening, people will start looking elsewhere for it.

[WI_DEM]

4. that really isn't accurate. Obama's positions on bills in which he has introduced or taken a stand

on are quite high in winning legislative success. Also, it's way too early to say what will happen with health care.

[Orsino]

12. In a congress packed with corporate conservatives...

...passing a hard-right agenda is easy. Passing a centrist bill is harder. Passing a progressive bill is impossible.

The balance of power shifting from Republicans to Democrats has little to do with progressivism. America is still asleep, by and large, and the same ol' same ol' has just been rebranded.

We're not going to redesign health care this year...but I have some hope that a public option, successfully passed, could look good enough to exapand on and improve.

[David Zephyr]

14. Obama can get 50 votes in the Senate. That's all he needs. He should take it.

Don't surrender. It's not necessary. Obama can get it through with 51 votes in the Senate. He has that. He should take it.

[Scarsdale Vibe]

13. In terms of legislation, Bush and Obama are about even at this point

Bush got his tax cuts through, Obama got the stimulus through. If substantive health care reform passes before the end of the year, Obama will have already achieved more legislatively than Bush did in eight years. Bush's agenda from 2005-2008 was largely rebuffed by Congress.

[David Zephyr]

15. A Corporate run co-op will not be a victory for Obama, but for the GOP.

The Co-Op is the GOP plan. Public Option is Obama's plan.

If Obama signs on to the Co-Op, that's not his victory, it's theirs. That's what Senator DeMint was speaking about when he said this could be Obama's "Waterloo" and that they could "break him" here.

Co-Op is a huge victory for the GOP and a big loss for Obama.

[Scarsdale Vibe]

16. I agree, but the final bill will have a public option, not co-op.

No Democratic senators are going to filibuster in the Senate, and 50 votes will be fairly easy to get. I'm glad to see more people are pessimistic than me though, will make the eventual bill stronger with pressure from the grassroots.

[David Zephyr]

17. Well, you are more optimistic than me and that's a good thing. Welcome to the DU.