Forget the Carter Comparisons, Obama Is Following in the Footsteps of Harry Truman -- and That's a Very Good Thing

I think I've figured you out - not that it matters or you care.



I'm talking real world "truth" and "lies." You're talking binary facts. If you don't want to consider the reality of what happens when facts are leveraged by repugs to prove falsehoods, that's fine. But it happens every day. We can all sit in the balcony and scoff at them, but it doesn't change the effectiveness. And it doesn't change the movement of peoples toward worsening their condition when little or nothing is done by the President to challenge the pugs.



I suppose there are plenty of folks like you in the White House who tut-tut the nonsense that gets flung around by the pugs. Problem is, it's working and helping the fringe right wing regain their power. Accurately identifying "true" or "false" is irrelevant. There is a constant positioning that goes on to win voters over.



It's the same reason there is a defense attorney in all criminal cases - even when an innocent person is on trial. You don't just assume that the facts will rule the day, you do everything you can to make sure that your version of the facts gets sufficiently aired.
About Elections 2012
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Forget the Carter Comparisons, Obama Is Following in the Footsteps of Harry Truman -- and That's a Very Good Thing

You'd have a hard time proving that point - besides the obvious impossibility of proving it. In 2008, a mixed race man from nowhere, with a Muslim-associated middle name won the popular and electoral vote by a wide margin. And cable news existed, I believe, in 2008.



The point is that the "news" is nothing more than an undulating set of low-brow soap opera vignettes and professional wrestling matches. The people in the roles of the villains and heroes are all that changes (and the barbie and ken dolls that narrate the episodes). When politicians play to that, they are often strengthened. When they don't, they are weakened.



From what I know of Truman's campaigns, he'd have been extremely successful playing the media. And one of Obama's greatest failures is that he used the media well when campaigning but then essentially cut himself off from the media after being elected*.



* - I understand that he intentionally eclipsed dubya's embarrassing mark of press conferences right away. Shortly after that, he went into dubya mode. So he didn't immediately go underground, but it wasn't too long before he did.
About Elections 2012
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Forget the Carter Comparisons, Obama Is Following in the Footsteps of Harry Truman -- and That's a Very Good Thing

I'll play your game...



10% unemployment

New jobs far behind population growth

Wall street bubble refilling with no real change in their "innovation"

Underemployment

Rising foreclosures; rampant processor fraud unstanched

Rich still getting richer; no tax loopholes filled

Health care costs still rising unabated

Unneeded wars still crushing our treasury



These promise lists are no more than trite numerals that mean nothing. In fact, they are slowly becoming a parody. What matters is the human condition. And Obama's embrace of dubya's policies has helped assure that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
About Elections 2012
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Forget the Carter Comparisons, Obama Is Following in the Footsteps of Harry Truman -- and That's a Very Good Thing

I just can't stand these apologies for Obama.



"Republicans got away with saying the most ridiculous lies."



Just like Kerry getting swiftboated, if you don't counter-attack lies tenaciously and publicly, they are tacitly true. Why would anyone with a shred of smarts think that the media will have any interest in truth and facts? It's been demonstrated day in and day out every since cable "news" realized that the key to ratings was to convert "news" into soap operas - "stories" with "in-depth analysis." To be effective, a politician has to fight fire with fire.



In the President's case, he has to get the will to fight... then worry about selecting the weapons after the fact.



Obama may be incompetent, in league with wall street, in league with the military, in league with health insurance companies, or (gag) the most courageous and effective president in the history of the US. But the one thing that the person in the most powerful position in the world can NEVER be cast - he is NOT a VICTIM.
About Elections 2012
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Reap What Ye Sow

Prove that, in the future, all progressives will be able to get is 20 senators.



You think you are crusading for progress. But you and the rest of the passionate true believers are only getting the status quo with a slightly fluffier pillow. Furious acceptance of an administration's willful avoidance of addressing the root causes of our problems is not really something that someone of your debating prowess can come close to imposing upon me.



Your friend has health insurance now? That is very good. But will he be able to afford it tomorrow? And more importantly, how does our 4-8 times higher cost of health care get brought into line with every other industrialized nation? At the end of the day, THAT is the problem. And this problem is ignored at best, and patronized at worst, by this administration that you so fervently admire.
About Barack Obama
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Clinton Pollster: Obama Better Off Now Than Clinton In '94

gop will complain for the next two years that Obama is blocking all the legislative genius they will try to pass in Congress. Of course, their legislation will be hollow junk, but they have no intention of investing time and energy into legislative solutions because they will be 100% focused on taking the Senate and White House in 2012.



The Obama/Reid/DLC position had been to buckle to repug threats and 'appear above the fray,' compromising away attainable legislative gains. That has been a failure that the pugs won't emulate.



Faced with a similar powerlessness that Senate Dems faced in the last two years, the repugs will relentlessly campaign against their 'oppression' at the hands of Obama and Dems. When slop from the repug House arrives in the Senate, the screams from the pugs for bringing it immediately to the floor for a vote will be deafening. And since it's a 'fight,' the media will play it up as "the" story.



In the meantime, Obama will continue to be missing in action, refusing to use the bully pulpit, not publicly confronting the pugs and their lame solutions, and bargaining away potential 2012 primary opponents.



But the repugs will win the PR battle - again. They will win because, as ch1ld1sh as they may appear, the image they want to maintain is that they are working hard to fix problems and that Dems don't know what they are doing. It worked at mid terms, so why mess with success?
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