Liberals Have Been Played for Chumps

[kpete]

Liberals Have Been Played for Chumps
—By Kevin Drum| Wed Aug. 10, 2011 2:25 PM PDT

Honest to God, Republicans must all be sitting in their back rooms and just cackling like hell right now. Think about it. They developed a strategy to hamstring the president completely — a strategy that’s bulletproof thanks to our country’s Constitution — knowing that it would rally their base but also hoping that it would cause moderates and lefties alike to become disgusted with Obama’s weakness even though we all know who’s really responsible for what’s going on. And it worked! In fact, it’s worked better than they could possibly have imagined. They can probably barely keep from spitting up their beers right now.

We are such chumps.
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/liberals-have-been-played-chumps

[letmedrinkuin]

1. Obama can't lead.......

...and THAT is the problem!!!!

You probably sat on your butt in 2008, but some of us worked our assess off to elect Obama and to give him a fillibuster-proof majority in Congress! We delivered and he failed.

A real leader would have accomplished so much in those first few months after his election (look at Reagan, Clinton for examples) but this guy just sat back, gave a few speeches and went golfing and partying.

He left all the legislation-writing to Reid/Pelosi, he left all the negotiating to Reid/Pelosi, he left the bag being held by Reid/Pelosi.

The White House did not introduce any legislation, any budgets......he just let Congress do what it wanted and gave speeches.

We could have had single payer, cap & trade, and card-check in those first 100 days if the President, as leader of the party, took some members to the woodshed and got them into line. It happened in the past. Both Reagan and Clinton dealt with a split Congress and still accomplished a lot.

This guy had it easy and he screwed it up. Why? Because he cannot lead.

The same is true of the debt debate. He never really took a strong position and held his party to it. Instead, he acted like there were 5 different points of view: Democrats, liberals, Republicans, Tea Baggers and his own.

If he could unify the Dems and liberals behind his own, we could have rolled over the split GOP. Instead, we split three ways and lost.

Don't blame Republicans when we need to look in the mirror and say "we gave Obama everything and he just threw it away".

[MineralMan]

3. I rest my case, as described below.

In post #2.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. you are dreaming if you believe

we could have had "single payer" in the first 100 days.

Maybe you forget the failure that was "health care reform" under the Clinton's- they don't, and neither do I.

You were looking for a messiah I'm afraid- and you are looking back at what you see as 'the good old days' with rose colored glasses.

:thumbsdown:

[bahrbearian]

9. It sure came off the table a litte too quick, not even a wimper.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. But why?

The democrats had solid majorities in both houses.

Please remember that when HCR was passed the senate used reconciliation rules to avoid the 60 vote cloture rule. All they needed was 51 votes, which they had with room to spare, and they could have passed anything they wanted. I have to assume they did pass what they wanted: compulsory corporate patronage, no PO, no Rx repurchasing, Medicare gutted...

[letmedrinkuin]

12. Reagan slashed taxes in his first 100 days......

...despite a Democrat-controlled House.

It is all about leadership, rolling up your sleeves and getting in there for the fight.

The Republicans had nothing in Obama's first 100 days. They were timid and defeated. We ruled the roost.

The only opposition we had to deal with was those within our own party and Obama refused to do his duty, as leader of the party, to get the members into line. Did Obama go up to Capitol Hill? No. Did Obama take members to the proverbial woodshed? No.

Obama created a leadership vacuum that slowed everything down until the majorities were lost.

Up until that point, we had an incredible opportunity to make real progress on the issues that mean something to us ---- and him.

But he just went golfing.

[Bluerthanblue]

16. your recollection of the first 100 days and mine

are pretty profoundly different.

read this and ask yourself if you don't own some of your own disgust-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/obamas-grade-at-100-what_b_192558.html

[letmedrinkuin]

21. First 100 days

....the article shows he actually accomplished NOTHING!!!!!

Wow, he started a bunch of movements? A President does not start movements. A President pushes for legislation to be voted into law.

The fact remains that while Obama talked about all these "ideas" in the first 100 days, he never wrote a single piece of legislation, never proposed a program (in writing) and never fought for anything that was on the floor of Congress!

[coalition_unwilling]

26. I blame Rahm Emmanuel, the DLC and Clintonistas that

Obama allowed himself to be surrounded by. However, the buck stops at the top and that is where I lay the final responsibility for these pathetic three years.

[FiveGoodMen]

28. "allowed himself to be surrounded by"

Seriously?

[bvar22]

15. I remember the Health Care debacle under Clinton too,

but Obama and the Dem leadership clearly didn't.
He made the SAME EXACT mistakes,
attempting to pass a Comprehensive bill over 2000 pages long,
and too complex for the average voter to understand.

If he (they) had broken it down into bite-sized clean, short bills,
easy to read and understand,
and presented them one at a time to Congress and the American People, issue by issue,
there would NOT have been the Fear Mongering of "BIG GOVERNMENT Take Over",
and the Republicans would have been forced to take public responsibility for their votes
on Issue after Issue.
Instead, The Democrats passed a Republican Bill (Mandates with NO Public Option)
without forcing the Republican to take ANY responsibility.

In 2014, when the MANDATE kicks in, and MILLIONS (40 - 70 Million?) of already hard pressed Americans
are FORCED to BUY Junk "Insurance" they can't afford to use (High Co-Pay/Deductible),
they are going to be PISSED,
and they WILL blame The Democrats,
and rightly so.
When this bomb explodes, Democrats will be unelectable for a generation.
ALL the Republicans have to do is sit back and say, "Yep. We voted against it."

They should have learned from Clinton's failure,
but they didn't.


...or maybe they did.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Bluerthanblue]

17. the poster made the claim that

passing single payer in the first 100 days should have been cake- like hell. Maybe in some fantasy world.

I'm not happy with the deal we ended up with- It is much less than what any of us wanted, including the Pres.

The idea that it was easy and Pres. Obama simply "played golf" is a lie- and does nothing but spread republican style garbage.

[bvar22]

18. President Obama WAS absent during Teabagger Summer.

THAT is indisputable.

We will NEVER know what could have been accomplished
IF Obama had used his Overwhelming Popular Mandate for "CHANGE",
and his ARMY he left Standing in the Streets.
We will NEVER know.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Bluerthanblue]

19. indisputable???

he was here in NH and met by this kind of shit-



the mandate for change wasn't the same mandate for everyone-

I'll dispute that Pres. Obama was "absent during the teabagger summer"- Where was he? Where were you? What were we doing to further our agenda???? Were you there in the streets opposing these fools??? Were you countering their lies publicly? Just as Pres. Obama didn't get to the white house on his own, he cannot change the direction of this country on his own either.

It's so easy for us to blame all our failures on him. While he has made some decisions and choices I don't agree with, he is the President. Not the King- Not a dictator- and the hatred and outrage that is directed toward him from the republican- racist- right wing in unlike anything I've seen in my adult life. My first vote was for Jimmy Carter.

[letmedrinkuin]

25. You are a fool...

....if you think the Tea Baggers had any influence.

Obama was AWOL when his party needed him to steer the ship of state.

The Democrats had the power of a dictator....they could not be stopped if they stuck together.

It is Obama's job to make the party stick together. Every President did that......except this one.

[coalition_unwilling]

27. Jesus H. Christ, Obama had the global and American working class behind him during his

first 100 days and he completely and utterly squandered the opportunity presented.

[letmedrinkuin]

24. 100% Agree!!!!!

He wasted time and did not perform his role as leader of the party.

And he still does not do that today!

[letmedrinkuin]

23. Single Payer -- Easy

No, it would not have been easy. But it was the best chance for it to happen.....Democrats were in full control. Republicans could not stop anything.

We were playing with ourselves over these issues!

Obama is the head of the party. It is his job to get the party behind his agenda. Do you think he did that?

[letmedrinkuin]

22. Clinton did not have....

...a fillibuster-proof majority!

Clinton over-reached, but also ran up against narrow majorities in congress.

Obama was given full control. The Democrats could have passed anything they wanted and the Republicans could not have stopped them.....as long as the Democrats stayed together.

Obama did not keep his team together. Obama did not keep his team focused on the goal. Obama did not take members of his team to the woodshed when they got out of line.

[bahrbearian]

8. Exactly, They never had to drive a wedge , it only took time.

[MineralMan]

2. True. And the right is using this to insert wedges between

Democrats to further their goals. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious, but sometimes it's subtle. Sadly, too many fall for this strategy and help them do it.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

10. If the concern is people are taking to many pot-shots at you perhaps the best thing is

to not dress-up as a moose during hunting season.

And in Washington DC it is always hunting season. There is no doubt the President is intelligent, ethical adn well-intentioned but a dash of political savvy would improve his effectiveness. You can be the most intelligent person in the world but if you aren't effective than the intelligence is pointless. Even a blithering idiot will accomplish much if he is effective. Yes, he'll accomplish the wrong things but he will have been effective in doing so.

We face political rivals who are smart in their own "special" way (perhaps crafty and cunning would be better terms) and, yes, they are effective.

[tomp]

31. the president is no doubt intelligent, but as for....

....ethical and well-intentioned....well, i can say for sure there is one person who has doubt.

so, please do not speak for me.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. He has the potential to lead. He got HCR enacted.

Not perfect at all, not even close. But it's there.

Congress has changed more than Obama.

And the old tricks of the WH either bribing members for their votes or threatening them doesn't work these days.

[dflprincess]

37. He got a bill past that hands billions of public and private dollars

over to the insurance industry. Just because he calls that scam "health care reform" doesn't make it so - any more than Bush calling a bill the "Clear Skies Initiative" meant that he was suddenly concerned about improving air quality.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. "a strategy that’s bulletproof thanks to our country’s Constitution"

The most dynamic house of the legislature, the one whose entire body stands for election every 2 years, is also the one where all spending bills must originate. And if the spending is not desired they don't even need to disapprove it, they only need to NOT put it in an appropriation bill.

It takes a lot of effort to appeal to our fellow voters and get them to understand how important their votes are in holding up society as a whole; even if those efforts are simply a pleasant conversation at the water cooler. And those of us leading on the progressive side also need to make sure we provide the best choices when we go to the primaries. No more charlatans. No more compromised half-measures.

[closeupready]

7. Disagree.

Unrecced. Sometimes a cigar is ... just a cigar.

[dionysus]

13. well, someones a chump.

[KittyWampus]

14. It's amazing how gullible Lefties are to ratfucking.

[DainBramaged]

20. Their machine is way better than ours thanks to one man

[EFerrari]

29. Oh, please. If this president is hamstrung, it's because

he put his wrists together and held his arms out.

[tomp]

32. hamstringing takes place on the legs....

...but i get what you're saying and agree.

[jimlup]

30. Well not really - there is an alternative senario

which I can envision and it that senario - Obama not "liberals" is actually not a chump.

We can talk about the political losses all we want but it doesn't help solve the countries problems. To do that we will have to turn out the liberal/progressive base in order to kick the tea-party chumps out regardless of what happens to Obama who at this point seems to be at best irrelevant.

[KamaAina]

33. Beers?

Don't you mean $700 bottles of wine?

[bluestate10]

34. No liberals have not! If the red faced whining stops, that would become clear. nt

[Rex]

35. The only chumps are those that don't understand the three branches

of gummit! The GOP got 98% of what it wanted and I don't see anyone saying otherwise. People that think Obama is weak are fools. He is a very powerful tool.

[JoeyT]

36. Yes, and they marched him up on a stage and forced him

to push for more shitty trade deals and they practically put him at knifepoint to make destroying our safety nets part of the discussion.