Obama Slams GOP For Obstructing Wall Street Reform, Being Out Of Touch On The Economy

"Confronting public pessimism about the economy, Obama also said the U.S. faces a choice between returning to what he calls failed economic policies of the past, or moving forward."



I'm so sick of hearing that 'move forward' imagery. It was fine up until maybe the end of the President's first year in office. But now we have a significant record of no progress on most of the vital issues of our day. Most of what we've gotten so far is just talking the talk.



The financial reform bill is as universally panned as superficial and trivial by folks who understand the system as the health insurance reform bill was. In fact, if we "went back" to Glass-Steagle, we'd be FAR better off with just that.



Fact is we're not moving at all. We're stuck in a cesspool of corporate control of the economy and government and there is a stark lack of courage in the Senate and White House to 'move forward' on anything.



In the meantime, cart00n characters like boehner can say things as wacky as they want and it doesn't matter because the President has frittered away the moral high ground he won when he was elected. Until he gets that back by walking the walk for once, the pugs can continue their hijinx unabated and unaffected by Obama's hollow righteous indignation.
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Is John Boehner a Mole for Code Pink? A Democratic Plant, Maybe?

Even if someone wanted to argue the "value" in bleeding money from our collective keesters to fund a completely unwinnable debacle in Afghanistan, boehnhead STILL - with ALL THE OPTIONS on the table - still goes for cutting back on retirement benefits.



Cut back on retirement benefits instead of increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% (I heard Lady Gaga pulled in $100 million last year - she could spare about $25 mill, couldn't she?).



But that's all you need to know about the repugs - they'd rather imperil the social safety net for millions of American than ask for anything from the thousands of super rich.



This video is exhibit A for Dems to get elected this Fall.



Of course, they've proved to be equally useless at getting us out of Afghanistan and dealing head-on with major problems, but darn, what a golden nugget boehner has handed the Dems.
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Pentagon's New Contractor Policy Doesn't Scare Defense Industry At All

The whole procurement process has been changed for the better. It took a long time, but they realized the inefficiency of a process taking 3 years to write an RFP, 2 years for companies to answer, 1 year to evaluate bids and award, and then the 5 years to design and develop BEFORE the 2 years of certification, acceptance testing, and training that has to happen before something gets into the hands of a person wearing the uniform. Then too often comes the shock that the need for the system has passed or been obviated by something else.



New programs now are much smaller, faster turnaround, and targeted to address current needs. They are also more often Firm Fixed Price - so the cost overrun issues with new programs are going to be due to the Pentagon making changes (which happens more often than you'd want to believe), not because contractors sandbag.



That said, the new rules don't do much. The President needs to muster the bold courage to say that the Pentagon's budget is going to get whacked by some percentage every year - idk, 10%? He's done some good things by winding down the F-22 and TSAT, but that's not cutting the budget, it's just shifting around the money. If the national treasure should be redirected, it should be toward energy independence technology.



So the odds that the President to take the initiative and shake up the Pentagon are??? Anybody else guessing 'low'?
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What McChrystal's Firing Says about American Values

This teaches nothing about American values.



What this teaches us is that you, dear Rabbi, have a very difficult time accepting the fact that you are wrong on the matter.



In fact, I'm still searching for a blog where you represented a well-reasoned, ethical perspective on an issue. I'm not holding my breath for any introspective clarity from you any time soon, either.
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Feinstein: If Petraeus Wants Afghanistan Troop Drawdown Scrapped, 'Give It To Him, Absolutely'

Let's look at each brilliant nugget of requirements:



** [we have] to get the military trained,

--- We train them, and they flee, fight for someone else, fold into a corrupted government infrastructure. Training is a meaningless metric because handing out diplomas at the Kandahar Policing Community College doesn't translate into anything productive so long as the "central government" is as corrupt as it appears to be.



** get the government online, secure and stabilize

--- They're already rigging elections. How much more stable can we make it?! Of course, if you want clean, safe elections, then it sure makes a ton of sense to look to a land which has been a loose federation of clans for centuries! This is yet another ridiculous concept - and worse, by what metric do we judge "online," "secure," or "stable"? It's impossible!



** I think do away with the drugs to a great extent, because the drugs are now fueling the Taliban

--- Drugs have fueled darn near everything in Afghanistan. Governing bodies, warlords, taliban, people fighting the taliban. Besides, if what we need to do is spray some 2,4D onto fields, we should be moving in sprayers not more infantry. We can hit fields with selective and non-selective defoliant with troops hanging out around the border, interdicting to prevent border incursions but otherwise letting the Afghans solve their governance problems.



So 2 out of 3 are impossible to control and almost impossible to expect to ever be met. What a joke.
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Simpson's Social Security Video Rant: Why It's Important

Your link has a great many well-researched quotes that pretty clearly show the President is, as we've become more generally conscious of lately, far more devoted to bipartisan sing-alongs than to social and economic justice and effective leadership in the face of momentous national challenges.



I've never really bought off on the contention that he's a "corporatist." I've gotten close to believing and have used the term to describe his actions on occasion. But I'm coming around now to seeing that he's not quite as smart as he appears (we all know people who can do amazing things - but can't match socks!). I'm thinking that he truly believes that if he chooses atopic and puts x republicans and x Democrats in a room and insist that they play nice, that a "good," "fair," and "effective" decision will eventually squirt out later.



The fact that he doesn't set any expectations, no goals, no demands for 'features' in significant legislation pretty much nails it up. I suspect that history will show the single greatest contribution from the Obama administration is to have undeniably prove that "bipartisanship" with repugs and a Democratic party tainted with DINO frau.ds (lieberman, lincoln, emanuel, geithner, et. al.) spells failure.
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