General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNumber of times this President has cut Social Security: Zero
Number of times the TPP has been signed: Zippy
Number of times the Keystone XL pipeline has been signed off on: Never
Number of posts on the "Democratic"Underground attacking Barack Obama for shit that the "liberal" media has indicated he might do but hasn't actually done: Fuck, my calculator crapped out, can someone else help with that tabulation?
Tarheel_Dem
(31,220 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)Speculative outrage is the best kind on DU.
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)he has seen onto the court, thus counteracting the execrable Roberts and Alito: Two
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)So yeah for feminism. But pretty painful to know they both were chosen on account of loving the Big Corporate control of the nation as a whole, and they both will probably be in Monsanto's court!
lillypaddle
(9,580 posts)upaloopa
(11,417 posts)TPP or anything I am apposed to I am going to let him know I don't support it!
That is called Democracy.
You don't wait till the cows are out of the barn to close the barn door!
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)That is called RW bullshit. If you oppose a possible position, by all means, say so. But accusing this President of complicity in actions that have NOT occurred is an altogether different gig.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)No body accused him of signing TPP but we all knows he is pushing for fast tract .
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)is in fact accurate, then I understand your position.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)I haven't sen you in months. Hope all is well in MojoRabit land.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)I am still dealing with paperwork from my husband's passing in Dec. I am hoping to have the bulk of it all done by the end of the month and then I will be able to finally breathe and absorb everything. I hope all is well with you! xoxo
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)nt
George II
(67,782 posts)Glitterati
(3,182 posts)The Obama Cheerleading Squad tolerate nothing except "rah rah sis boom bah" for Obama.
They have no concept of the worry those of us on Social Security deal with every month when the bills for heat and power far exceed your income already.
They simply do not care that those of us on Social Security have to cut prescribed medications in half just to survive at all.
They tolerate nothing but cheering no matter what he says or what he does.
In the meantime, I applied to the Devil Incarnate yesterday for a part time job - at WalMart - just to survive and stop worrying when the White House continues to threaten my paltry income every week.
Progressive dog
(6,898 posts)has plugged half of the Medicare part D doughnut hole and the rest will be plugged. That is what President Obama did, not the crap that he's accused of doing that hasn't happened.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)I'm on widow's benefits. I won't qualify for Medicare for another 4 years.
Whisp
(24,096 posts)me me me me me me me me me
the Obama Cheerleading Squad doesn't give a shit about ME.
Nor does Obama who is willing to put my life and that of my daughter "on the table" by gawd I'm entitled to worry about me, me, me!
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)I absolutely love the concern and compassion you exhibit for your fellow man!
George II
(67,782 posts)....many around here suspect that he "might" someday. The thing is that most of what he's been accused of doing has never happened.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)He HAS put CPI on the table over and over and over.
He HAS taken a program which doesn't add one penny to the budget and said "here, take this money from Grandma as long as I get something else in return" despite all the evidence that it will devastate the poor.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)He's being accused of doing things that not even the republicans believe he "might" do!
It's mind boggling that people have watched, time after time, President Obama (and team) box the gop into (what they even recognize as) no win situations ... Yet "liberals/progressives" can't see it and keep it going because they can't see 1 move down the board.
Amazing.
sheshe2
(83,583 posts)progressoid
(49,916 posts)Apparently, on a political discussion board (as in life), we should only discuss things after they happen.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Lots of posters here slipped into the latter position a while ago. So they write as if the TPP is done, as if Keystone was approved, as if chained CPI was already the law.
So yes, write/call/email/otherwise harass our elected officials saying you don't want something to happen. But don't attack Obama (or any politician) as if it already happened.
To switch to the other party, we can attack W for trying to privatize Social Security once he was re-elected. We can't attack W for actually privatizing Social Security.
FSogol
(45,425 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)End the Iraq war.
End the Afgan war.
End DADT.
End DOMA.
End Bush tax cuts for the top 1% (raised limit from 250k to 400k OUTRAGE!!!!) ... conversely, the claim was made that he would make them ALL permanent.
Each of these has been accompanied by countless outrage filled OPs over the last 5 years.
Far more than anyone could count.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Don't even try this garbage again. Shame on you.
The threats to cut Social Security were used to implement real austerity
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=4535742&pid=4535966
The threats to cut Social Security were used to implement real austerity, and they were used to poison the Democratic Party message and entrench the lying Republican narrative tying Social Security to the deficit and implying that deficit cutting is the most important goal for the country.
Every Democrat, every American, should be sick of the constant Third Way implication that these Social Security threats have been just words and didn't harm anyone. They have harmed EVERYONE.
1. Without the threatened axe of Social Security cuts (which kept returning as the austerity kept escalating), the Third Way would never have been able to sell the vicious budget and social program cuts they HAVE inflicted on Americans...by justifying them as the lesser of two evils.
If you had told us a few years ago that the Barack Obama administration would be presiding over government spending that assaults the poor even more viciously than the RYAN plan, we would never have believed it. Yet that is exactly where we found ourselves, surrounded by corporate mouthpieces exhorting us to be grateful, "because he didn't cut Social Security."2. For years, Republicans have drummed lies into the heads of the American people about the source of our economic problems and how to fix them. They have pushed vicious austerity and malignant, economy-starving deficit-cutting instead of the real help to the 99 percent that is needed, and they have preached lies about the need to cut SS and LIES about its contribution to the deficit.
President Obama had from Day One of this Presidency to change the narrative about deficits and Social Security. Instead, he has yet again cemented the Republican narrative and made it a "bipartisan" narrative in a way that will not be undone anytime soon.
And this TEMPORARY suspension of the threats, of course during an election year, and of course simultaneously repeating Republican lies about how the deficit will cause them to return in the future....is the obscene Third Way cherry on top.
This President has advocated vicious cuts like this since 2006, and he knows they are vicious. HIs own words then acknowledged that they are vicious to human beings. Barack Obama in 2006: "This is not a bloodless process."*
[font size=3][font color=brown]Trash thread. Let the garbage propaganda sink. [/font size][/font color]
_______________________________________________
Barack Obama in 2006, advocating SS cuts and globalization: "This is not a bloodless process,"
and:
"Too many of us have been interested in defending programs as written in 1938."
Here's the chilling video, in his own words:
More here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1540315
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)But now apparently complaining about a perceived "failure to change the narrative" is proof of ... something,
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Unless you consider a manipulating narrative a science.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)How about the POLITICAL PROCESS?
I believe exposure to such things begins very early in grade school...at least, it used to!
Of course, we could always fall back on those tried and true policies:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
First Amendment, US Constitution
and there are coarser ones....
hughee99
(16,113 posts)AFTER they come to pass? Why not, we don't know for sure until after something happens that it will ever happen.
Climate change hasn't made the sea level rise several feet and placed significant parts of our country underwater, and the repukes don't have control of the Senate, does that mean we shouldn't worry about it until AFTER it happens? Did you feel the same about the protesters that were protesting against invading Iraq BEFORE the war started? Hell, why did I go see my doctor today, I'm not sick right now?
jsr
(7,712 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)But he was not talking to us he was talking to the Brookiings Institute...and that is what they wanted to hear if he was going to be allowed to be president.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)In politics, nothing is ever over until it's over. And then it's not over.
The other big thing to remember is that the media sucks. And it sucks hard. They'll recycle a six-month old story just to goose their readership and get clicks to their page. So they're going to feed you OBAMA IS CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY headlines from now until three years after Obama leaves office.
So people, you should always write your elected leaders to remind them that they cut Social Security at their peril. You should always respond to those online surveys to say that you don't favor reducing Social Security benefits.
But let's not have a stroke, OK?
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)I'm sitting here terrified of which bills I should pay this month with my social security deposit.
Terrified because I don't have enough money to pay them all.
Forget the fact that I need prescribed medications I can't even THINK about affording because I have a $186.00 heat bill.
Food? Yeah, I get to choose between food and that heat bill. Do you know what I get for food at the local food pantry? One bag of canned goods; no meat, some peanut butter and some crackers. FOR THE MONTH. You only get one bag a month. Of course, I can go back each week and get all the day old bread I can choke down, assuming I have any gas in the car to GET to the food bank. I put a grand total of $20.00 worth of gas in my car every 2 months.
I have a chronic condition that stress exacerbates; yet I stress every day.
So, hopefully, well into my 60s, Walmart will get that drug test from yesterday and call me today to start that job as a cashier.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Stressing yourself out over something that has not happened, and may never happen, is not going to improve your condition.
You might want to consider taking an internet break.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)More of that Democratic compassion for fellow travelers on display I see.
It seems to be a very big part of the Obama Cheerleading Squad.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)In fact, the catfood commission called for an increase in payments to those on lower end of SS benefits. And, no, I'm not minimizing your problems, just questioning your criticism of Obama on this issue.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)It's not criticism!!!!! It's real, honest concern.
My daughter and I are hanging on my our fingernails! I've done everything I can to reduce our outflow and it's STILL not enough.
I've done everything right and I still have to worry every single day that Obama is going to cost me my home, my life, my livelihood.
I don't have any "fat" to cut out of our budget. I don't have credit cards, I drive a nearly 20 year old car and only when I just can't walk to where I'm going. I have to call the gas company to split up the bill just to pay for the visit to the doctor.
I'm sick, I'm tired, and I'm worried sick. We simply can't take chained CPI and still live.
It's NOT criticism. I'm terrified that Obama is willing to put my LIFE on the table.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Your other issues are far more important, but they are not Obama's fault.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)On the one hand, you're telling me not to believe what Obama is saying (CPI is on the table) and on the other hand to believe something ELSE he's saying (these cuts won't affect you).
Pardon me if I don't fall for the schizoid conversation.
He's putting my livelihood 'on the table,' and I don't appreciate it one damned bit.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)if CCPI were enacted. In fact, catfood commission would give an increase. You aren't trying to understand.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)but, pardon me if I find your words contradictory.......
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)he is not responsible. I get you are hurting, but Obama isn't responsible.
No use trying to have a discussion with someone who has already made up their mind.
My trust in Obama and Democrats, in general, just isn't there anymore. Between Obama putting a Democratic stronghold like social security on the table, Harry Reid and his political theater at the expense of the long term unemployed and the absent Nancy Pelosi, my trust is all used up.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)If obsessing on this shit is making you physically and emotionally ill, find something else to do.
I'm totally and completely serious.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)and you know absolutely nothing about me.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)I don't know anything about you. But to be clear, my original point was not directed at you personally.
However I do sense from your posts that you're sort of angry. And my sincere advice -- to you and to anybody else -- is that if reading "OMG!OMG!OMG!" articles on the internet (most of which are somewhere between grossly-hyped and outright false) is causing you distress, back away from it. Take a break.
Look at my post count. I've been at DU (I changed my handle back in 2005) since 2001. Why the comparatively low post count? Because on more than one occasion I've taken a "vacation" from DU and the shit-stirring that goes on around here sometimes. Life's too friggin' short to let a bunch of strangers on the internet get you pissed off.
That's what your family is for...
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)I'm not the least bit upset. Frankly, I find the lack of concern by fellow DUers for the plight of others to be so anti-Democratic it's disgusting. Your flippant "ODS" response to concern and worry by your fellow Democrats says a great deal about YOU not me.
As a human being, I love Obama and his family. I'm proud to say I was a part of putting him in office, no matter how miniscule my part was, but I DID sway a very financially supportive personal friend to Obama very early in the primary against Hillary. However, his behavior in office has been a huge personal disappointment to me. Not just on social security and CPI. But, THIS subject hits very close to home. THIS subject affects me on a very personal level as a widow collecting survivor benefits.
I'm a widow because Obama was elected too late for my husband who was disabled and had to wait 2 years for his medicare to kick in. He died waiting for medical care. He left behind a devastated 15 yr. old daughter.
I've been diagnosed with a chronic, devastating illness and I have no intention of leaving my daughter an orphan. I'll fight for her survivor benefits with all I have - even IF the opposition is Barack Obama. Because, on THIS issue he's very wrong.
He's put a gun to my daughter's head, even though YOU seem to think it's not loaded. I can't take that chance.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)I'm sorry for the troubles that you're having, and I hope that your personal situation improves in the future.
TheKentuckian
(25,011 posts)The temperature would go down sharply.
No, cut the shit you put bullshit out there and push back is coming and rightfully and responsibly so.
Folks aren't acting like anything has happened that hasn't, they are acting like some shit is not going to happen quietly and not at all if it can be helped
1000words
(7,051 posts)I can understand why folks reflexively react when the White House even hints at playing politics with things like Social Security.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)but if IIRC, he did put a freeze on cola increases for a few years. So has it been cut? No, but seniors have less than they would have had if they had gotten their annual cola increases.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)Because the price of everything including food has continued to rise...so you might have the same dollar amount but you can buy less with it...that is a cut no matter what they say.
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)2009 and 2010 COLA was 0.0
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/colaseries.html
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
Glitterati
(3,182 posts)You might want to follow the link.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)I'm trying to figure out if you do.
Sid
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Last edited Wed Mar 5, 2014, 06:19 AM - Edit history (1)
The fact that this Administration claims that inflation is very low and then there are no raises for people getting Social security, leaves me in that "Hmm" state of mind.
Grocery prices are mind blowing right now. For a while I didn't think they were so bad. But then one day I started realizing that the ice cream I was still paying only $ 4.39 for was in a container a good three ounces smaller. And the same situation was true for almost everything else. The "price" was what I usually paid the year before, but there were now 10 1/2 ounces instead of 12, etc.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Number of times posters have accused him of signing off on the TPP. Zero
Number of times posters have accused him of signing off on the XL Pipeline. Zippy
Number of times posters have accused him of cutting Social Security. Nada
Can you spell F L A M E B A I T ??
fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)It might have helped if the OP had considered the things the President can vs cannot actually do. But I guess that wouldn't be as much fun.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)can you spell "hit a nerve"? I thought that you could.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Sid's rude emoticon. The BOG signature. That's so childish.
tridim
(45,358 posts)are the people tearing it down.
Reality, folks. Try it.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)Stawman Obama can take on many different personae at once. He can somehow simultaneously be a fascist and a communist, and he can be a weak leader and an authoritarian at the same time. SO is almost like Superman.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)so that the True Liberals will have something to post about.
Sid
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 4, 2014, 11:31 PM - Edit history (1)
suffered for years, don't blame everything in life on one man. And generally don't tell their miseries on internet message boards to entertain others.I suggest those who settle for so low a target as hating on Obama, go take a piss on God's sandals and see if that works. Or pull on Superman's cape or spit into the wind and report back with how it made them rich and happy.
lt's no use having a 'I suffer more than you' contest. Most people have some seriously soul eating shit to deal which others would be afraid of if they found out. As it can happen to anyone, and may blight their lives one day, too.
We're alive. That's all we get. Make the most of it. No one can live our lives for us.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)Obama said he supports the TPP and wants to fast-track it. One might make the logical conclusion that since he supports the TPP, he supports the things in it, and there are a lot of things people consider to be really bad in the TPP. However, since it hasn't been signed yet, one must disregard Obama's support for it and the things in the TPP.
Similarly, Obama has indicated that SS cuts are something he might agree with. A lot of people consider cutting SS to be a bad thing, especially since the country continues to spend a lot of money of things like the F35 or tanks that, arguable, are not useful. But since SS hasn't actually been cut yet, we can't judge Obama's indication that he's willing to do so.
That argument set off my bullshit detector.
Now just for the sake of argument, let's consider the possibility that Obama is putting these things out there as part of his Hilbert-space based chess game (look it up). It would stand to reason that, if he's arguing for something he doesn't want, his real goal is to get people fired up so they oppose those ideas (that Obama doesn't actually want to happen). If that's the case, then telling people to sit down, shut up and not worry about it is not what Obama wants to happen - he wants us to get mad and fired up. So by telling people to chill, you are going against what Obama wants.
I suppose that's possible, but I don't think it's likely.
Fearless
(18,421 posts)Autumn
(44,956 posts)CPI. I've never seen anyone attacking him for DOING those things but plenty were pissed at him for offering a chained CPI in his negotiations, and we were within our rights to be pissed off over that. Big difference between attacking Obama and discussing these things that are in the air. I'm not good at sitting down and shutting up and waiting till we know what's in it and we can fix it later.
Obama obviously supports the TPP he's working his ass off to get it fast tracked , the southern leg of the keystone pipe line is already completed. Now how much fucking longer should we wait to discuss these things they his administration is pushing for?
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/03/04/bernie-sanders-praises-obamas-budget-cutting-social-security.html
aquart
(69,014 posts)So, please.
albino65
(484 posts)neverforget
(9,436 posts)TPP is a very real threat to the American worker.
Keystone XL is a threat to the environment and will help accelerate climate change.
The fact that he has not signed TPP (still being negotiated) or the Keystone XL (no decision yet) does not mean we should just sit silently while these monstrosities move forward. Should we wait for them to happen first and then do something? Isn't that a little late to stop it?
As far as the Chained CPI is concerned, a letter from 117 Democrats in the House and 15 in the Senate went to the President about their opposition to it. Should they have waited until it was in a bill to voice opposition to it or what?
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)That he means absolutely nothing that he says? Well that's a new tactic, I'll give y'all that.
It's a hell of a note when taking a politician at his word is considered hating him.
marble falls
(56,943 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)Cheese4TheRat
(107 posts)I mean, why be vocal now and prevent bad decisions when you can allow you silence to be tacit approval and then whine about the results later.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Glitterati
(3,182 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Glitterati
(3,182 posts)If chained CPI is put into place, my child WILL BE HOMELESS.
Does that make you happy?
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Extremely.
George II
(67,782 posts)BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)Some Liberaltarians (or closeted Republitarians taking advantage of the ODS permeating DU these days) on DU are feverishly doing everything and anything they can to take this president and the Democratic Party down. It's sickening.
jsr
(7,712 posts)That is all we need to discuss.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)dionysus
(26,467 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)Hekate
(90,496 posts)That's what I hold to: the certain knowledge that I voted for the man based on his character, and the equally certain knowledge that the VRWC and its tentacles are corrupt to the core. Under those circs, who do you think I'm gonna believe?
We are impatient with his deliberate nature, but on the whole he gets the job done and keeps his promises. Just for one example: If all the people who claimed he was throwing them under the bus in the first months of his presidency would stand up now and admit that by the end of his second term their marriages will be recognized (not performed, but recognized) in every state in the nation, in the military, and federally, it would fill a DU stadium.
Our troops ARE returning home, though not fast enough, and he has not started any new wars, either. And Bin Ladin is dead.
Exen Trik
(103 posts)Outrage at what he is putting on the table is important to make sure those things don't come to pass. If we all just trusted him not to cut social security, he may well have done it already. We can't afford to just trust blindly, when we get a whiff of something that would do us harm no matter by who we need to react with all we have. Right now the biggest thing to push on is the TPP, because he damn well is looking to get that fast tracked and its not going to be doing us any good to stand by and let it happen.
MADem
(135,425 posts)But (waaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaah) he....unnnnh... unnnh..... he MIGHT!!!!!
It could HAPPEN!!!
It's like a bunch of Judy Tenuta clones up in here some days...
bowens43
(16,064 posts)raven mad
(4,940 posts)Oh, crap, wait, I'm already married.
Major +1!