Questions about Obama and liberals.....

[matmar]

When did "the left" have the most leverage on the Obama Administration? Did they ever hold any?

This may read disjointed and unrelated but I have alot of thoughts swirling around and can't seem to find a way to place them in a coherent fashion.

I'm soo disgusted with Obama but can't deny the following-

Breaking a filibuster in the Senate (60 votes) is about as possible and reasonable as the Tea Party's insistence on a 2/3's majority to raise taxes...

The strongest Congress Obama was going to have, in the terms of majority Democrats, was the one that was elected in 2008 and yet here we are looking at the prospect, albeit early, of even worse outcomes in 2012 because of gerrymandering.

Obama could promise the left everything on their wish list at this point and it will mean nothing because of the way Senate rules prevent real progressive legislation from ever becoming law and because there is no leverage over Obama from the left.

2008 was a once in a century opportunity to make real change in America and it didn't happen.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. You're right that it didn't happen. I'm being thrown under the bus.

I don't know what to think anymore, honestly.

[matmar]

2. How are you being thrown under the bus?

in what way? curious...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Our president, who represents me, needs to assure me publicly of these things:

He WANTS the mega-rich and corporations to pay HIGHER taxes, and the Republicans are trying to stop that.
He WANTS to make ZERO cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, and the Republicans are trying to stop that.
He WANTS to modify free trade agreements and wants to stop any further trade agreements, as all this does is allow corporations to remove even more than the multi-million jobs that have been removed from this country.
He WANTS to bring REVENUE into the government so he can create jobs where jobs have been removed by corporations, rather than CUT NEEDED SOCIAL PROGRAMS.

I don't hear him saying that. Maybe I need a hearing aid.

[kentuck]

3. I think when we look back on history...

we will conclude that the fight for "healthcare reform" wasted a mandate from this President for real change, gave the Repubs the enemy they needed to re-group, and was an historic political disaster.

[matmar]

4. And to top it off....

The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is going to be shot down in the Supreme Court because of the "individual mandate" requirement, and rightly so.

I shouldn't be forced, under any penalty, to buy a product from a private corporation.

This is a clear opening to provide Medicare-For-All, something that should have been enacted a long time ago, yet there is that 60 vote hurdle in the way again.

This government is broken by moneyed interests.

[Ship of Fools]

6. I agree with this, along with

the possibility that PBO didn't expect it to go on so long. Blue dogs jump in, PBO is caught like a deer in headlights. Brown-MA steps in, then Palin's *death panels,* and it all went to hell.

Personally, I believe PBO jumped out of the starting gate determined to work on the systemic problems we had without doing much about the current and ongoing consequences of these problems -- kind of like spending all kinds of time and energy applying pressure to the bleeding without applying a tourniquet -- or maybe the other way around? I think you know what I mean.

[OHdem10]

5. Sometimes it is better to say What is done, is done--what is-what is.

We cannot change things. Obama is a new Democrat
who listens to the Third Way.

At this point and time, Liberals can and must
stand for what they believe or instead of
being a RW Country we will be a FAR RW Country.

All that has happened is Liberals twiced burned
are skiddish.

Hopefully, the next time, if there is a next time
in the near future they will carefully question
each Democratic Candidate. They will not accept
generalized answers. In other words expectations
will be more realistic.

Most will vote for Obama in order to defeat
Republicans.

It is unfair to expect Liberals to sit down and
shut up when so much is at stake.

[FarLeftFist]

8. All Obama had to do was NOT be George Bush.

ANYTHING Bush did Obama should have done the complete opposite. Literally, EVERYTHING. We would be in such a great position and truthfully, the GOP may be close to extinct right now. By enacting successful Liberal policies the entire country would have been turned off of the GOP BS once and for all. Instead we practically have a Bush 3rd term. And people wonder why his poll numbers are dropping. NO ONE LIKED BUSH! What makes him think we'll like another Bush?!

[matmar]

9. I agree but how do you get around the 60 vote hurdle?

There was alot of progressive legislation that came out of the Democratic House that died in the Senate.

Corporate money has prevented a progressive country from emerging.

Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision has damaged America

[Bandit]

10. So in your opinion is it good just to pass legislation even if that legislation is Republican

and quite awful for America? Obama seems to think passing things is more important than what is passed. I don't happen to agree...There are things that can happen just by doing nothing. for instance the Bush* tax cuts will expire on December 31 2012. Obama wants to keep the middle class tax cuts while ending the cuts for the very wealthy...Can't happen.. It is an either all or nothing proposition. Either all the Bush* tax cuts expire or none because trying to pass legislation raising taxes on the wealthy just ain't going to happen.. will Obama allow the Bush* tax cuts to expire? I sure wouldn't bet anything of worth on it..

[matmar]

12. my opinion is that Pres. Obama....

..is a flat-out screaming disaster of a President.

Having said that, outside of a Primary Challenge, would you rather have Rick Perry?

I know the rebuttal already- I'd rather we have a real Democrat-and I agree with that sentiment

[Bandit]

14. No I want a Democrat but that being said, Republicans have been trying for decades

to accomplish what Obama is doing for them. The reason Republicans have not been able to accomplish cuts in Social security and medicare as they have wanted was because Democrats stopped them by any and all means necessary. Democrats don't do that when it is a Democrat that proposes it...Obama should be able to accomplish everything Republicans have always dreamed of plus a very good possibility of the complete dismantling of the Democratic Party...Obama is very scary to me and probably much more so than any Republican would be...

[LWolf]

11. Clearly, you haven't framed the issue well.

The issue is not that Obama could not or did not deliver on some promises, or on some issues from the left.

It's that he didn't even try. He didn't fight. He compromised them off the table before the discussion even began.

It wouldn't matter how many votes Democrats had in Congress if he has no intention of representing the left on issues.

[matmar]

13. I agree with you.

I'm not trying to be an apologist for Barack Obama. He clearly is not a liberal.

Can Bernie Sanders win the Presidency?

I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.

[LWolf]

15. I'd vote for anyone who would fight for us in a heartbeat.

TPTB seem determined to make sure those candidates aren't on the ballot.

:(