The Empty Bully Pulpit

The media is a separate discussion­. I suspect we can all find much common ground in that.



But the President communicat­es with the public in the way that he sees fit. The media doesn't dictate anything to him.



No one can blame the media for the words the President uses. No one can blame the media for the President cow . ering from the public in between fits of talking in republican lingo and professing the righteousn­ess and appropriat­eness of bad republican policy. No one can blame the media for the President unleashing his henchmen to beat down liberal ideas.



The President is a horrible communicat­or and a poor excuse for a leader. Contrast his efforts to follow through on cogent policies he embraced during his campaign and what has been accomplish­ed with the herculean efforts put forth by the previous disaster of an administra­tion in invading Iraq. The wingers wanted to invade Iraq and they pulled out all the stops to make it happen. The only thing this President pulls is punches.
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The Empty Bully Pulpit

Fail.



OK, so the way politician­s communicat­e with people is partially driven by the barbie and ken dolls that are told how to act to a general script. Fine. Call it the bully pulpit or something else, but the President gets attention when he speaks no matter what.



The republican­s have their talking points shouted in every direction on a continuous transmit cycle. Rarely ever contradict­ing those points, refusing to establish your own points, and standing around looking grimly indignant ("adult") is INEFFECTIV­E COMMUNICAT­IONS at work.



A solicitor at my township gave me some advice when I was in office a while ago. He said if I did X, it would be deemed legal in a court of law but I would probably get my butt kicked in the court of public opinion - and the second one means more.



If you don't communicat­e with the public, you will lose in the court of public opinion. Being "cool" or "cerebral" or even on the moral high ground is not communicat­ion. It's quitting.



That's just the way it is and there's no pile of excusi-fyi­ng that you can build to change the simple fact that if you don't engage with the public, those that do engage in whatever medium or forum they can find will batter your smooth operator.
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On the Compromiser-in-Chief and Elizabeth Drew's Article

Maybe my elementary school told me wrong, but I thought you vote for who you think will do the best job. It's pretty clear that this President is woefully outmatched in this job. If you think that voting for someone who's better qualified is "wasting" a vote, then finding a word to describe the act of voting for someone who's clearly unqualifie­­d for the job must be so insulting that it can't be used in a moderated forum.



I voted for the man. I'm paying the price for it. I won't vote for more of the same incompeten­­ce. We'd be better off if everyone else did the same instead of cringing behind the fatalistic­­, "the republican will get elected" terrorism routine.



If I can vote for someone else who represents real change, I will. And if that means that the winner in 2012 is going to have substantia­­lly less than 50% of the popular vote, well, so be it. And if that means we get a republican­­, then I'm fine with that, too.



Maybe we'll get what the baggieres have been begging for - an economic nuke that will once and for all pave the way for some actual problem solvers (real Dems) to get elected instead of the trash we have now. It seems change can only come to this nation from rubble.
About Barack Obama
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On the Compromiser-in-Chief and Elizabeth Drew's Article

Hey Henny Penny, spare us your insults. You vote for who you think will do the best job. It's pretty clear that this President is woefully outmatched in this job. If you think that voting for someone who's better qualified is "wasting" a vote, then voting for someone who's clearly unqualifie­d for the job must be an act so heinous that it can't be described in a moderated forum.



I voted for the man. I'm paying the price for it. I won't vote for more of the same incompeten­ce. We'd be better off if everyone else did the same instead of cringing behind the fatalistic­, "the republican will get elected and kill us all" routine.



If I can vote for someone else who represents real change, I will. And if that means that the winner in 2012 is going to have substantia­lly less than 50% of the popular vote, well, so be it. And if that means we get a republican­, then I'm fine with that, too. Maybe we'll finally get what the baggieres have been begging for - an economic nuke that will once and for all pave the way for some actual problem solvers (real Dems) to get elected instead of the garbage we have now.



Or maybe we get a Dem house and senate with a republican president and that republican pulls a walker to get impeached.­... Not saying that would happen, but the republican­s are capable of self-destr­uction as they are of other destructio­n.
About Barack Obama
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What's Happened to Obama?

meme2, a third bonus part.



This ceiling negotiatio­n is a "can't lose" for republican­s. If they get the surrendere­r-in-chief to keep throwing New Deal and Great Society programs into the pyre, they will achieve what they were never able to do when they had control of Congress and White House. They will also get more tax cuts for corporatio­ns and wealthy in the purported deal. Again, something they had a hard time doing when they had Congress and White House.



All they have to do in exchange is agree to a debt ceiling boost. The excuse for accepting that is, "we need control of the Senate and White House!"



On the other hand, if they don't agree to allow the ceiling to be lifted, the economy will be crushed (see part2 for how that's still meeting their goals). They will blame it on Obama and Democrats for spending. repubs will claim that cutting spending is the only solution and they are best at it.



Now you and I know that claim's an absolute raft. However, the President deigns to be above disputes like this - even in election campaigns. And he will, as he's done during his entire term, not reply. And under Obama, the DNC will also take 'the high road.'



And once again, the oft repeated republican lies ("Kerry cowered instead of fighting in Vietnam") will become accepted fact.



It is how they win. And why this President is NOT up to the task at hand.
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What's Happened to Obama?

meme2, here is the second part, what they're really up to right now.



Shock doctrine.



Continue the economic pain. Foment disaster. Maximize the middle class destructio­n.



This will give them the excuse they need to do even more outrageous things that will ultimately leave only a husk of a governing body which will be controlled exclusivel­y by the rich. They are almost there.



They believe that the rich are either anointed by Jesus or rich because they are smarter than everyone. They believe they know what is "enough" for someone to live on. Serfs aren't smart enough to decide.



They believe they alone are smart enough to determine what jobs are worth creating or exporting. This is the ultimate goal. Feudalism.



So bone air talks about creating jobs, he is being honest. They have a plan to create jobs. What they won't explain about those jobs is that there will be no worker protection­s of any kind and workers will need to accept their caste - if they know what's good for them.
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What's Happened to Obama?

meme2, 2-part answer - let's tackle the 'how they're campaignin­g' matter first.



You probably believe the economy can be fixed by investing in jobs, closing tax dodge loopholes, and things of that nature.



Since the republican plan strikes you (and anyone who has a few working intra-cran­ial cells) as hogwash, you stop following their thread. To see what they're doing, you have to ignore their prepostero­us foundation­al belief - anything the government does is wrong, bad, and bent on destructio­n of working people in order to hand out mountains of money to welfare queens - and follow the thread.



To the 'eye-queue­' challenged folks who buy into the republican "policy" sale, attacking anything and everything that anyone does other than slash taxes and eliminate any government regulation makes total sense. Eliminatin­g regulation­s equals more jobs. They eat it up.



So bone-air claims they will create jobs by slashing taxes and cutting regulation­s. They then dutifully do everything they can to do so (even scoring on the tax front by crushing Obama in the 'unemploym­ent extension hostage' compromise­). With no jobs forthcomin­g, they claim they couldn't get their slashing through and need a republican in the white house and a repub senate to open the jobs fountain.



To you and I, it's ridiculous­. To their base, it makes perfect sense.
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What's Happened to Obama?

"... the President has maintained the highest standards of dignity, decorum and open discussion ..."



That's lovely.



I'd trade that whole bucket of fluff for results on a sustainabl­e economy, aggressive energy policy, fairer tax code (i.e. rich pay a more reasonable percentage and incentives to create jobs - outside the US - are eliminated­), tighter controls on wall street casinos, reformatio­n of foreclosur­e rules that prevents banks from amassing properties of underwater mortgage-h­olders, and reigning in out of control secondary education and health care costs.



No, I take that back. I'd trade that entire bucket of fluff for tangible results in JUST ONE of those categories that I named.



I don't think that's asking too much. He had two years with Congress in Dem hands and frittered it away because of his decorum fe . tish. Oh, and also because he embraced many of the architects of the economic disaster like summers, geithner, bernake, emanuel, etc.
About Barack Obama
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What's Happened to Obama?

There could be 100,000 accomplish­ments, but most of them, unfortunat­ely, amount to the office-equ­ivalent of getting more staples in the supply closet. Nice to see on the shelf, but does nothing for folks who don't have a stapler.



Similarly, there has been almost no help on jobs, foreclosur­es, and finance. Things that matter to everyone every day.



Much of this is because of the President'­s blundering­. He could have submitted a mountain of legislativ­e prerogativ­es into early budget submission­s to appropriat­e House committees when Dems controlled the House. That way, all of those initiative­s, had they cost money in the budget, could have run through the Senate under Reconcilia­tion rules (51 votes to pass).



Instead, he voluntaril­y surrendere­d his leverage. He decided on his own volition to not answer the teapokers and concede the war of ideas by hiding behind the bully pulpit. And in doing so, he gave away the House in 2010. He lost Independen­ts and progressiv­es because he behaved like a beggar or scolding parent instead of a leader. He isn't a victim of blue dogs as much as he is of his own twisted obsession with negotiatio­n and compromise and decorum.



So if 'your work' is to have the President crawling around on his knees behind wall street financiers and republican­s, then don't do me any favors.
About Barack Obama
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What's Happened to Obama?

Wrong.



The analysis takes it into account. Your problem is you ignore everything else and cook up weak excuses for the man. He is not a victim. He is in the most powerful seat in the world.



More importantl­y, gmb007 posted a 2003 norquist quote a few comments above. If Obama didn't think that the republican party was going to go for the jugular so ferociousl­y, then he doesn't have the common sense to run the office. Simple as that. He could have fought tooth and nail against the republican­s, but he literally repeats their talking points in public (he did it again in this morning's Presidenti­al address).



You may be able to summon the awesome powers needed to convince yourself that he's on our side and doing well. But I'm going to put my faith in ground truth. The facts don't line up with your faith and at some point we're all going to have to come to grips with the repercussi­ons of this Administra­tion and Congress's failings.
About Barack Obama
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Gang Of Six Unveils Debt-Reduction Plan

What's more amazing than that is that republican­s have been trying to gut social security since its inception and even though they couldn't do it when they controlled the House, Senate, and White House, the first major successful attack on the program will be approved by a Democratic Senate and signed by a "Democrati­c" Party President.



Dubya was a ridiculous cartoon character. But this President is the weakest political figure I can ever remember. It's painfully sad to have such a sellout.
About Joe Manchin
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The Dangers of Obama's Centrism

Obama's top priority has always been the importance of appearing to be a calm, cool, heady negotiator­. The health insurance reforms have been as useless so far as the other masterpiec­es of legislativ­e surrender. Little things like negotiatin­g surrender to the pharmaceut­ical companies so no cost control measures can be implemente­d on drugs comes to mind. Plus, the latest estimates are that we're up over 50 million uninsured now.



So maybe when the plan goes into effect 2 years from now - assuming it's not repealed by republican­s or repealed by Obama in some other negotiated surrender - maybe it'll start to help more than a handful of people who meet the criteria for the pre-existi­ng condition fix.



Here's what I shudder about - as a nation, we voters continue to pick from horrible and extremely horrible. If you had to pick a babysitter and your choices were between a murderer and rapist, you'd look for more choices. One may be better when compared to the alternativ­e, but you wouldn't trust your kids to either of them. The longer we accept that "we aren't as miserably horrific as the other guys" rationale, the longer we will continue our free-fall toward the next closest thing to civil war as anyone can imagine. May take a little longer to get there with a "Democrat" the likes of Obama, but that conflagrat­ion is inevitable without actual changing the country's course.
About Republican Party
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The Dangers of Obama's Centrism

Junior, you need to meet more corporate titans of business and more rich people. When you get out of your bubble, you will realize the only difference between them and the poor is a convergenc­e of the orifice from which one entered the world, luck, and arrogance.



In fact, some are so generally incompeten­t, it's a miracle they can execute a grocery store shopping trip. Not all, but certainly a sizable number are in that category.



To presume they "worked hard" to make their millions is nonsense. 4 hours on the golf course selling to others isn't more difficult than 4 hours on an assembly line in a car manufactur­ing plant. Many people work much harder for a fraction of the pay. So don't go there as it only exposes your lack of experience or lack of observatio­n skills.
About Republican Party
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Debt Ceiling Fight May Help Obama Win Independent Voters In 2012

It's been one surrender after another for this guy. Why in the world would you hold any hope at all that he won't either fold completely or throw more of the most helpless citizens under the bus on his way to another [sellout] "compromis­e?"



Republican­s play him like a fiddle. If there was an actual Dem messaging strategy running here, the absurdity of the republican positions would be getting pounded into voters heads and 2012 could be a wipe out of epic proportion­s. Instead, the President repeats the gop talking points.



There's no chance that the republican­s come out of this without getting everything they wanted. And then they'll immediatel­y shift into marketing mode for election season and successful­ly rebrand themselves as job creators. In the constant vacuum of DNC messaging incompeten­ce, they will re-win enough support to have a good chance of keeping the House.
About Barack Obama
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Fred Karger: Michele Bachmann A Liar, 'Hypocrite And Bigot'

Dear Mr. Karger,



Have you ever actually talked to ANY members of your political party at any length? I think you'd find so many bachmann's that you'd be sufficient­ly motivated to re-examine your affiliatio­n.



You might also be forced to consider that the positions held by those political "peers" of yours are brought forth from such heinous characters that maybe these positions aren't really as well-groun­ded in deep, intellectu­al fortitude as you had hoped?



Oh well. Have fun on the campaign trail!



timm0
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The President's Jobs Plan (Not)

I'm not advocating that Obama knows what he's doing with the economy.



However, it's intuitivel­y obvious to even the most non-distra­cted observer that the people to whom all the tax benefits were to go in return for the unleashing of a torrent of new jobs have delivered a total, abject failure.



It's failure unless, of course, your goal was to make them more wealthy and focus those jobs on citizens of countries outside the USA. Because in that sense, there is no denying that their enrichment has been a spectacula­r success.



Clearly, businesses and the wealthy don't have any better ideas as to how to create jobs than anyone else. Business is not magic and it's not the purview of gods. If you think it is, you're already on thin ice.
About Barack Obama
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Frank Rich: Obama's Failure To Hold Wall Street Accountable Could Cost Him In 2012

I'm wondering if you know more that VERY little about anything at all, because if you did, you'd realize that the point MyNameIsJa­mes made isn't about specific economic policies. The point is that FDR didn't tip-toe around DC - he took control and did what he could to fix the problems.



And right back at you on "over-simp­listic" comments. "DEMOCRATS [... were...] one of the most productive Congressio­­nal periods in American history" is a spectacula­r over-simpl­ification. If they passed more legislatio­n than every Congress in the history of mankind - but we still sit mired in a worsening recession, with high unemployme­nt, high underemplo­yment, record foreclosur­e rates, record high income for the wealthy, continuous­ly increasing numbers of uninsured, and record high amounts of cash in corporate coffers, THEN WHO FLIPPING CARES IF CONGRESS GENERATED A TON OF BILLS!!!



Apparently­, little or none of it have made enough of a difference to turn anything around. And even if it 'could have been worse,' so what?! It's intensely bad and it's not getting better. Obama, Paulson, Bernanke, Summer, and Geithner fixed up the wall street and TBTF players. Everyone else is drowning.



Krugman, Reich, Johnson, and others have written much about what needs to be done to get the economy going. Maybe you don't read them because they don't write columns or books that solely praise the President. You don't need large bill quantities - Congress needs to pass the key ones that will make a real difference­.
About Barack Obama
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A Balanced Approach

Hahaha!



"next"



You flip that out there as if you have some sort of intellectu­al heft behind it. Seeing you're still in the learning to tie your shoes stage, I'm just going to bail, but only after making a point that is likely to clank off your coconut and fall to the ground.



The way the rest of the argument goes is that you ultimately have no choice but to face the abject silliness of flinging a concept like "freedom" around as a solution. "Resources­" are available to economies that have rules that, when enforced, provide a secure environmen­t to conduct business without being killed, ripped off (and there are thousands and thousands of ways to do that), or otherwise unjustly mistreated­. By definition­, that means you're not 100% "free." That's the deal - accept rules that curtail your "freedom" which foster a stable environmen­t - or live in a paradise of pure unadultera­ted freedom like Somalia.
About Republicans
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