Is Obama Punking Us?

[MannyGoldstein]

Frank Rich's http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09rich.html">latest piece in the NY Times:

Yet there is real reason for longer-term worry in the form of a persistent, anecdotal drift toward disillusionment among some of the president’s supporters. And not merely those on the left. This concern was perhaps best articulated by an Obama voter, a real estate agent in Virginia, featured on the front page of The Washington Post last week. “Nothing’s changed for the common guy,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been punked.” She cited in particular the billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks that still “act like they’re broke.”

But this mood isn’t just about the banks, Public Enemy No. 1. What the Great Recession has crystallized is a larger syndrome that Obama tapped into during the campaign. It’s the sinking sensation that the American game is rigged — that, as the president typically put it a month after his inauguration, the system is in hock to “the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few” who have “run Washington far too long.” He promised to smite them.

No president can do that alone, let alone in six months. To make Obama’s goal more quixotic, the ailment that he diagnosed is far bigger than Washington and often beyond politics’ domain. What disturbs Americans of all ideological persuasions is the fear that almost everything, not just government, is fixed or manipulated by some powerful hidden hand, from commercial transactions as trivial as the sales of prime concert tickets to cultural forces as pervasive as the news media.

It’s a cynicism confirmed almost daily by events. Last week Brian Stelter of The Times reported that the corporate bosses of MSNBC and Fox News, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric and Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation, had sanctioned their lieutenants to broker what a G.E. spokesman called a new “level of civility” between their brawling cable stars, Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. A Fox spokesman later confirmed to Howard Kurtz of The Post that “there was an agreement” at least at the corporate level. Olbermann said he was a “party to no deal,” and in any event what looked like a temporary truce ended after The Times article was published. But the whole scrape only fed legitimate suspicions on the right and left alike that even their loudest public voices can be silenced if the business interests of the real American elite decree it.

[janedum]

1. "Punking" ...?? WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT supposed to mean?

Does he mean BETRAYED? The word Dems refuse to use because of loyalty to "the party".
I'll say it! I DO feel betrayed.
Obama said BEFORE he became PreZ he would fight "“the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few” who have “run Washington far too long.”
So, what does he do????
Continue the policies of GWBush, and take a one Million $$ donation from Goldman Sachs.
In turn, Goldman Sachs runs the stock market up 50% between March and August '09, while 500,000 thousand people a month lose their jobs. Another million or so go on foodstamps. Another million or so lose their homes.
But WALL STREET GETS A BAILOUT!
And VOILA!! We are now in recovery. The recession is over.
A JOBLESS recovery, no less!

Is that what "punking" means?

[stray cat]

2. Did you really expect the economy to rebound in 6 months?

Did you expect unemployment to stop dropping immediately because Obama took office? Did anyone think their 401Ks and 40% drop in investments would be given back in less than a year (most of us have written that money off)? I don't like all Obama has done - but some things just suck without immediate solutions - 8 years of Bush really did do some damage and that damage is probably not reparable - and certainly not in 6 months. Elections do have consequences and America chose 8 years of W and republican rule.

[ixion]

4. no, however I DID expect a distinct reversal on Bush foreign policy

and while there has been a vast improvement diplomatically, most of the fascist implementations of the Bush cabal are still operating today.

I didn't expect him to fix the economy, I expected him to stop the death-march to the police state. That has not stopped at all.

[janedum]

8. Ixion: Everything GWBush put in place is now on "high speed" acceleration. nt

[MannyGoldstein]

5. The Bankers Got $12+ Trillion In Loan Guarantees, And Lunch At The White House

The rest of us got a refusal to cap credit card interest rates, a non-existent mortgage renegotiation program, and a finger-wagging lecture. And zero changes in financial regulations, as far as I know.


And a (so far) half-hearted attempt to pass half-measured (quarter-measured?) health insurance reform.


I expect Obama to at least try.

[janedum]

9. I see the Dems on THIS thread are awake. We've been BAMBOOZLED! nt

[pokercat999]

10. SHUT UP: YOU GOT

$4500 to BUY A FUCKING CAR YOU DIP SHIT!!! :sarcasm:

[janedum]

14. Pokercat: ROFL!! .. Here's a cartoon for ya'!!

"Cash for Clunkers"
(scroll down a little)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4004476&mesg_id=4004476

[flyarm]

27. don't forget you got a continuation of FISA..more State secrets, 30,000 more soldiers to Afganistan,

protecting illegal Torture..and those who tortured..spent my grandchildrens future with the banks and wall street..every 30 days there are 30 more "punk'ings"..

but now Frankie will have to go under the bus with the rest of us..because he came off the hopium and he told the truth F I N A L L Y...and the "EXCUSE" BUGS WILL COME OUT IN FORCE..and say "it ain't so"...

and let me count ..how many times have i been attacked at DU for telling the truth about the "PUNKING" of so many here..let me count........

I am still counting..

and counting ......

and counting.........

does being called a racist still count?????? Because I got a good dose of that the night before last...little did the accuser know, I am married to a dual minority and my children are dual minorities...

yeah, I think I WILL COUNT THAT.........and.... I will add that to the "IGNORANCE" pile as well.

[janedum]

36. Yeah, flyarm! The Sheeple are waking from their coma ...

Now that their eyes are opened, they DON'T like what they are seeing.
Sorry to say, the idiots are about 5 months LATE.
As soon as those TARP bailouts were given to Wall Street, I realized we'd been tricked!
When CNBC screams "Bull Market", and 500000 Americans are losing jobs simultaneously ...
you KNOW something's WRONG.
We've been BAMBOOZLED!

[Politicalboi]

41. Tricked by Obama

Granted I don't like some of the things he's done, like not changing Bush's policies. I really don't think Obama is tricking us. If anything it could be more boobie traps Bush left him. But go ahead and make your claim. I suppose in 6 more months if he still hasn't done what you want you will be ready to impeach him.

[janedum]

47. Hey Sheeple! Ready for your TAX HIKE???

ROFLMAO!!
Wake up little sheeple, wake up!

[janedum]

7. NO ONE expected the economy to rebound in 6 months

SO WHY IS THIS ADMINISTRATION AND THE MSM SAYING WE ARE IN RECOVERY?
It's a f*kn joke!

[IndianaGreen]

13. I expected an immediate freeze in mortgage foreclosures

followed by a restructuring of the interest rates in the mortgages to allow people to keep their homes. Instead, we bail out the bankers while they happily jackup our credit card interest rates.

We didn't expect miracles, but we demanded material changes.

[nashville_brook]

26. i expected for Obama to honor his campaign rhetoric

[northernlights]

49. Nobody expected the economy to recover in 6 months

"Did anyone think their 401Ks and 40% drop in investments would be given back in less than a year"

Clearly you didn't read the post for understanding. I believe the point is that the stock market has been given all attention and support, instead of unemployment and the housing disaster.

The point being that well-off people with stocks and 401Ks *have* been taken care of. While those that were dumped into unemployment and homelessness have been...well...dumped.

The stimulus that was *supposed* to be about creating and saving jobs was sidelined into a different direction.

The foreclosure relief program has been an abject failure.

And Obama has appointed an awful lot of Goldman foxes in charge of the henhouse.

[ixion]

3. yep, pretty much, that's what it means... it's a con, or a dupe

and it's pretty much what Obama has done.

[pokercat999]

6. In retrospect, I would like one honest Democrat to tell me

what in the hell they were thinking when they voted for anyone in the primary except DK?

On second thought, don't answer, you don't deserve him. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x350754

[IndianaGreen]

11. The political establishment would not have let someone like Kucinich to get elected

The system is indeed fixed, and has been so for well over a century. Great progressives like Emma Goldman nailed it a century ago:

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

And as to Kucinich's treatment by the MSM, Goldman's words do equally apply:

Every daring attempt to make a great change in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new possibilities for the human race, has been labeled Utopian.

[flyarm]

28. you are right..they ignored him in the debates..until they asked him if he said ..

what Shirley MacClaine had actually said ..not him..he got the "Idiot" questions..when Obama got questions he couldn't answer unless he copied someone else's answers!

Kind of like the kid in the school classroom row who always cheats by using others answers..you know that kid..

[Berry Cool]

34. Oh, please. I lived here in the Cleveland area when Kucinich was mayor.

The city went into default.

I am so sick of hearing from Kucinich hopium-smokers about how perfect the country would be today if only we had the courage to elect St. Dennis Lord God Kucinich as our president. Yeah, the little guy who's damn good at shaking his fist at the powers that be and pissing them off but good, but can't get actual shit done, ever. You want to be really disillusioned? Elect HIM president.

[MISSDem]

44. Because he would not have been elected. I do sorta wonder

whether Mrs. Clinton might not have been a better choice.

[northernlights]

50. Clinton wouldn't have been better, for at least one reason

Everybody is up in arms because Obama increased our presence in Afghanistan.

There was an internal debate re: Afghanistan. One side -- Clinton and General -- wanted to go all out in Afghanistan and occupy it a la Iraq. Biden and Gates wanted limited increase to target al Qaeda.

Biden/Gates won that battle. With Clinton in charge, we'd be looking at another Iraq fiasco.

[IndianaGreen]

12. A jobless recovery is punking,

All we get is socialism for the rich, and capitalism for everyone else. How about socialism for everyone?

"Change You Can Believe In" is turning out to be another Madison Avenue slogan.

How about "Socialism, Change You Can Count On!"

[janedum]

15. How about "Change I Don't believe in" ... nt

[KoKo]

16. The Game is Rigged! Thanks for saying it in the MSM!

[bvar22]

17. K&R

Now at +8,
but this should attract the attention of The Borg.

On Edit: LOL. now down to +6,
but this is a Frank Rich Column,
so the Borg will be very busy the next couple of days with their little anonymous "unrecs"
trying to make this disappear.
:rofl:

[snot]

18. wow. K&R'd,

tho' not sure if k-ing still matters.

[bvar22]

19. If people feel punked NOW,

...just wait till they unwrap the Health Care Reform package the Democratic Congress is is working on. Even Obama had stopped calling it "Health Care Reform, and has started calling it "Health Insurance Reform".

A better name would be "Health Insurance Profit Protection Plan"

[HughMoran]

20. Dupe - posted last night (muliple links added)

Nothing new here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6256806

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6257343

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=8576276

[bvar22]

21. Could you post a link ?

I don't see it.

[bemildred]

22. It seems to me Obama has been very industrious.

And time and again he has come down on the right side of the issues. That doesn't mean there is not a long way to go, but it does mean that it's up to us to keep the political pressure on. Politics is a nasty, dirty business in this country, a knife fight in a dark alley.

[Karenina]

24. What's really depressing is how easy it comes to Amis

to direct their vitriol at That One COMPLETELY DISCOUNTING the system within which he is working, their own complicity and complacency. It's misdirected anger. I've heard his dogwhistles quite clearly. I can only imagine that he's deeply disappointed in the American people.

[bemildred]

25. I think some people just like to get mad, on the internet ... nt

[flyarm]

30. pardon me while i choked on my coffee..too early for that kind of laughing..

with a mouthful of coffee.

[Karenina]

33. I'll try to do better next time.

[flyarm]

29. how is that FISA working out for you?? For me..not so good. .and how about all those troops

that were sent into Afganistan??????????

And by the way..where are all those democratic anti war folks now???????

crickets.......

and about that torture we keep hearing about in Gitmo that is supposed to be worse now..how is that working out for those human beings in Gitmo??????????

and these Town hall meetings...i guess Obama doesn't like his own advice it seems..NOW.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCMDur9CDZ4

Obama- "...I want you to argue with them and get in their face,..."




"...I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face," he said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Analysts Expect Long-Term, Costly U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 9, 2009


As the Obama administration expands U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that the United States is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that will probably eclipse that of the Iraq war.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan eight years ago, the United States has spent $223 billion on war-related funding for that country, according to the Congressional Research Service. Aid expenditures, excluding the cost of combat operations, have grown exponentially, from $982 million in 2003 to $9.3 billion last year.

The costs are almost certain to keep growing. The Obama administration is in the process of overhauling the U.S. approach to Afghanistan, putting its focus on long-term security, economic sustainability and development. That approach is also likely to require deployment of more American military personnel, at the very least to train additional Afghan security forces.

Later this month, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is expected to present his analysis of the situation in the country. The analysis could prompt an increase in U.S. troop levels to help implement President Obama's new strategy.

..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...


gotta have war to fund the big boys who donated all those big bucks during the campaign..what ever happened to ending the wars Democrats?????????

oh yeah..crickets.......

[bemildred]

31. I can tell you're upset. nt

[flyarm]

32. you bet I am , I am beyond upset at the hypocrisy in my own party..

I worked long and hard against the bullshit of the Bushbots ..to only see those in my own party become the same .

Values,integrity, we are the party of the people... we said..ha..what a freaking joke!

[Berry Cool]

35. I'm not happy with the way everything is so far

but at least I'm not enough of a damned fool to think that if Hillary or Dennis were in charge instead, the skies would open, celestial choirs would sing and everything would be perfect!

Of course, I didn't expect that with Obama either!

[flyarm]

23. No Frank, Obama has not punked some of us..but he sure as hell punked you! eom

[balantz]

37. Yes the game is rigged, big time. What's the correct term for a government so controlled? n/t

[Loge23]

38. Dead.

The U.S. is a country with it's best days already behind it.
I don't know what the future holds for us, but - in so many measures - many countries have passed us in categories that governments are generally charged with providing. Infrastructure, transportation, health care, care for the poor, and regulation of the markets. This country is big not on providing defense, but on providing for the defense industry. The aforementioned categories have been essentially given over to the profit sector.
Been to Europe lately? Yes, they have their problems - but they are light years ahead of us on the listed issues at least.

[balantz]

40. Yes, dead fits. Dead as in no real democracy. More like corporate fascism. n/t

[balantz]

39. The last paragraph in the article:

- clip -

The best political news for the president remains the Republicans. It’s a measure of how out of touch G.O.P. leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are that they keep trying to scare voters by calling Obama a socialist. They have it backward. The larger fear is that Obama might be just another corporatist, punking voters much as the Republicans do when they claim to be all for the common guy. If anything, the most unexpected — and challenging — event that could rock the White House this August would be if the opposition actually woke up.

[Peacetrain]

42. Hes a socialist, He's a corporate fascist, a Nazi, possibly a killer of little

old people on medicare.. that is when he is finished killing off all the babies

I need a scorecard with Frank Rich and the rest of the media types. :crazy:

Edit to add...not only the media.. ~cough~ ~ cough~

[MISSDem]

43. I have to admit that I have had many "sinking feelings"

lately over what the administration is doing. Rich has his finger on the pulse of a lot of people. Look around - a build up of the war in Afghanistan, the health care fiasco, the cash for clunkers is ridiculous (only people who can afford to buy a car can do this), and we all know taxes are going up. If not at the federal level then locally (they already are). But the big banks, etc. are making a ton of money and the stock market is up, up, and up. I don't know what my point is except frustration.

[MISSDem]

45. AND, Obama even broke his promise to get a pound dog!!

The one easy thing he could have done and made a big difference. It still makes me mad.

[Doctor_J]

46. Man, it's tough to be this president

On a daily basis, he is called a racist, evil, a Marxist, a fascist, a murderer of children and seniors, a Nazi, and a Kenyan, and receives 30 credible death threats every day from Limbeciles and the other American terrorists. through this, he attempts to put through health care reform that will allow 48 million more Americans go to the doctor.

Under this pressure, he turns around to see who's got his back, and instead sees arrows pointed at him from the left.

For the life of me, I don't understand why this sort of attack can't wait until the American terrorists have been subdued. I love Frank Rich, but does he really think this sort of stuff is more important at the moment than warding off attacks by Big Media and the rest of the ultra-right?

[MISSDem]

48. Some people will stand behind President Obama no matter

what he does. A lady that I used to work with told me that she doesn't bother to watch his press conferences/town hall meetings, etc. because "I will be nodding my head to agree with anything he says".