Obama Speaks Of 'Going Bulworth' In Second Term

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

The New York Times reported that President Barack Obama has spoken privately of "going Bulworth," a reference to the 1998 Warren Beatty movie about a California Senate candidate who becomes unusually honest after having having run as a centrist Democrat.

"Probably every president says that from time to time," Obama adviser David Axelrod told the Times. “It’s probably cathartic just to say it. But the reality is that while you want to be truthful, you want to be straightforward, you also want to be practical about whatever you’re saying."

The anecdote comes as the president has his reelection behind him and faces a trifecta of controversies over IRS targeting of the tea party, the handling of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and the Department of Justice's seizure of the telephone records of Associated Press journalists.

Obama, known for being cool to the point of detached, has been unusually straightforward against his political opponents in recent weeks. He called the Republican criticism over the Benghazi talking points a political "sideshow."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/obama-bulworth_n_3284940.html

---

Yes, please.

He has nothing to lose. Call Them Out!

[bigworld]

1. Good! The nutjobs will hate you no matter what you do or say

... so go for it!

[lupulin]

52. I've never heard of the movie.

But it sounds like a wonderful thing to do. All presidents should be true to themselves.

[Bluenorthwest]

64. Here's the trailer, it gives an idea of the film

[Scootaloo]

79. It's a great film. Watch it.

[patrice]

54. +++1

[xtraxritical]

2. Bulworth is may favorite movie, oh so funny.

[global1]

3. I Can Feel For The President....

He seems like a very sincere individual that knows what needs to be done and is in the position to do those things - but no matter what he does he is being obstructed by the Repugs. It's got to be very frustrating. Instead of being able to do all those things that need to be done - he has to continually defend himself and his administration against innuendo's, false accusations and lies.

[silverweb]

59. Ditto that.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]The reTHUGs are absolutely relentless and will stoop to any low to bring him down, and he can't possibly please everyone on the Democratic/liberal spectrum. We know his heart's in the right place and there's much more he wants to do. Time to brush the naysayers aside and move ahead.

[loudsue]

74. One of the things he has tried so hard to do is to cut social security benefits for seniors.

Bless his little liberal heart.

[marble falls]

4. Mr President: go for it. They want to treat you like a lame duck with three more ...

years to go? Take off the gloves dammit!

[madokie]

5. And slap a few of the around some

metaphorically speaking that is

[marble falls]

6. Especialy Daryll Freaking-Issa.

[madokie]

8. Yes especially

Darryll thief Issa
Not sure the spelling it correct and if it isn't my bad

[marble falls]

10. Spelling don't make me no neverminds.

[madokie]

11. Right on

Me either actually

[ananda]

46. It didn't bother Shaxpere too much either.

[marble falls]

66. Shakespeare spelt like shite. Maybe the President should go Henry IV ".. and on St Chrispin's eve.."

[Zen Democrat]

26. That should read: Darryll Issa Thief

[riqster]

31. Perfect!

Just leave Larry and his other brother Darryll out of it.

[Plucketeer]

60. What a GREAT plot for a movie!

Some radical sort drives around DC, as truth serum is injected into the exhaust system of the van they're driving. The vapors waft across the capitol, inducing legislators to say only the truth about issues they're dealing with. Then make a run down J street, K street and all those other DC avenues where the lives of the populace are mish-mashed to serve the wealthy. Let's hear their REAL motives and goals!

Mr. President, kudos to your years as a community organizer in Chicago. Thing is, DC ain't ready for your expertise, so just tell it like it is.

[Fumesucker]

81. Jim Carrey could star, except now instead of a lawyer he's a become a politician

They could call it "Lying Liars".

[mountain grammy]

7. I honestly think if Repubs hold the House, they will impeach the President

in 2015. If they think they will lose the House, they will do it this year or next, but won't get past the Senate.
If they win control of the House and Senate in 2014, there will be a coup. They'll remove Obama and Biden.

[meow2u3]

35. Repukes still won't have the votes to convict Obama or Biden in the Senate

It takes 67 votes to convict in the Senate. An acquittal of the President and/or the Vice-President will blow up right in their faces, but they're too dense to learn.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

42. Doesn't MATTER. The idea is to run out the clock.

[mountain grammy]

51. I'm afraid you're right.

[mountain grammy]

50. Yes, too dense to learn and just trying to waste enough time to get back in power

and start another war.

[Bully Taw]

9. Is David Axelrod sending the right message?

"Probably every president says that from time to time," Obama adviser David Axelrod told the Times. “It’s probably cathartic just to say it. But the reality is that while you want to be truthful, you want to be straightforward, you also want to be practical about whatever you’re saying."

Translation, we are going to lie to you.

[randome]

69. I don't see it that way at all.

There is no such thing as the 'simple' truth in politics. But if Obama wants to be more straightforward than he has been, more power to him.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Bully Taw]

80. don't you think...

he should be more straightforward than he has been? One of the really appealing things about President Obama was his campaign promise to have greater transparency in government. I don't see that he has been any more transparent than any other administration, and with the latest week of very disappointing scandals, transparency is becoming harder and harder to find in government.

I was very excited about Obama as a candidate in 08, but i can't say that he has lived up to everything he has promised. maybe i was naive, or maybe he was when he made those promises.

[BlueCaliDem]

12. This is exactly how President Obama should be. Call them out and expose them

as being the problem why this country isn't moving forward on a quicker pace.

Corporate America wants to keep UE numbers high and people unemployed so that they can kill the talk about raising the minimum wage and resume the march toward slave-wages, dumbing down our children to ensure a ready flow of uneducated Americans while using taxpayer dollars and social security to enrich the elites exclusively.

In the face of such unprecedented congressional obstructionism, President Obama should come out swinging. There are less than four years to go and if he wants to see his agenda come to fruition, he'll need the American people behind him, and calling out the elites and enablers of the elites in Congress to expose them for the plutocracy that they are is the only way to do it.

[Enrique]

13. Obama just made fun of Maureen Dowd for comapring him to a movie president

rightfully so, imo.

[Blue_Tires]

14. Am I the only one impressed that Obama even knows that movie?

I swear there was nobody in the theater back when I saw it, lolz

[NBachers]

16. You're right- I give President Obama credit for referring to Bulworth

[swayne]

15. WELL COME WIT' IT PRESIDENT OBAMA....WE'VE BEEN WAITING!!

You cannot work with the GOP neanderthals. They will sabotage you at every turn. Do the right thing..work for a DEM House and finish strong....

The GOP is failing and desperate to have you fail. Don't let them do it...

[santamargarita]

17. That is way overdue!

[Auggie]

18. I must watch that film again. It's great.

[LaydeeBug]

19. Honestly, after all the capitulation, I am not sure whether that'd be good or bad. nt

[Paladin]

20. Obama probably won't do it. But he ought to. (nt)

[Phillip McCleod]

21. DO IT MR. PRESIDENT!

.. it's why we voted you in a second term.. just in case you really did have that kind of integrity and *spine*.

[Poll_Blind]

22. LOL! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. nt

PB

[Skittles]

65. yup

fucking ridiculous

[JDPriestly]

23. The American people would appreciate it if one president would just do that.

That is especially true for us Democrats. We aren't as stupid as some around the President may think. We would love a dose of honesty, real honesty.

It might even make a lot of Republicans switch to vote Democratic in 2014.

[bucolic_frolic]

24. Hope that Bulworth is not Worth a lot of Bull

BTW, will there be a SCOTUS retirement soon?

Will you give us some Bulworth there, Mr. President? Please?

[thesquanderer]

25. I don't know about "nothing to lose"

The best potential his presidency has to be well remembered for something of more significance than "first Black president" is if he gets a Dem congress in 2014. If that doesn't happen, yeah, at that point I'd say he'd be at the "nothing to lose" point.

[truebluegreen]

34. He'd be much more likely to have a Dem congress in 2014

if he does it now. His cool and measured response to everything is a turn-off for the base that knows very well what the repukes are up to. Calling them out is the best thing he could do.

[MADem]

27. That movie made quite an impression on quite a few folks.

I'll bet there are some, though, who have never heard of it!

I remember seeing it in a theatre; hard to believe that was, what, 15 years ago...?

[graham4anything]

28. The kids/altmedia today probably never heard of Warren Beatty at all.

[Brigid]

29. Obama should have "gone Bulworth" long ago.

He should have known he had nothing to lose as soon as he heard Mitch McConnell say that the main goal of the Repugs would be to deny him a second term. And that happened shortly into his first term. Why did Obama not take him seriously? We here at DU knew right away that Turtle Man meant what he was saying.

[AndyA]

30. We're waiting, President Obama.

Let it all out. Call out the GOP for what they truly are. It's way past due, you have nothing to lose in doing so, and people need to know the truth behind the rhetoric.

Get. On. With. It.

[L0oniX]

32. I wont be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

[progressoid]

40. Nor I.

[ReRe]

49. I'm not holding my breath either... n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

33. Can Michele play the part of Halle Berry?

I think she can handle it with aplomb.

[Vox Moi]

36. Slap me in the face!

Thanks. I needed that but my face is hurting.
I wish he would and if he does it will be painful.

[Quixote1818]

37. This is exactly how any real honest president would be.

Been waiting for this guy all my life.

[leftyohiolib]

38. before or after he finds his comfortable shoes

[Sunlei]

39. truthful,straightforward and practical.Expose 100s of issues Mr. President,need your help vs 'them'

[Myrina]

41. So if he went 'Bulworth', would that mean he admits he's a Republican?

Rather than carrying on the "Practical Community Organizer-who-gives-a-shit-about-poor-people" facade we get now?

[Demeter]

43. Be careful what you wish for

He could reveal his Nixon face, instead of a progressive populist one...oh, wait, he did that already. Okay, his Reagan face...

[Z_I_Peevey]

44. Oh, he's just messing with us now

If he didn't start as Bulworth, he ain't gonna go Bulworth at this late date

[Bucky]

45. I think he should. But I also think it's a good idea to keep Halle Berry away from the White House.

[lovemydog]

47. that would be refreshing

and also fun to see the far right claim all the wrong things about that - and then see corporate media treat the two sides as though they are equal.

[Bucky]

48. There's this dirty joke I tell about a zoo ant who wants to make love to an elephant

I won't go into the details here (you're welcome, mods), but waiting for Obama to go Billie Jack on the shitkickers in Congress reminds me of the joke's set up. I'll believe it when I see it.

[patrice]

53. Wondering here if it's possible for alt media to make more positive noise than corporate media.

I think we have proven a couple of times, to my knowledge as a Du -er, that our negative noise has one fucking big bullhorn to magnify its "significance" - it'd be interesting to see if Bullworth Obama could elicit a POSITIVE alt-media response that would be as regarded with as much importance as all of the negative shit that comes from "our" ethersphere.

[freshwest]

56. +1

[temmer]

55. Does that include to deal with the skeleton in the closet

called 9/11?

[Initech]

57. Now this is the Obama I voted for!

Pass the butter, I can't wait to see him tell off the Tea Party douchebags once and for all.

[maxsolomon]

58. I thought that was the plan as soon as he was re-elected.

You mean he really believes this futile bipartisanship crap?

[Liberalynn]

61. Does this mean he will drop the "centrist" crappola and Go "FULL on LEFT OF CENTER DEM"?

If that's the case, I'm behind you Mr. President. DO IT DO IT DO IT!


As an FDR Dem, I was tired of being run over by that god damned center right bus!

666, Ronald Wilson Reagan is long gone, his policies need to follow him to hell where they belong.


GO DEM, GO DEM,GO DEM

[SwankyXomb]

62. I'm sure you'd have no shortage of Tea Party volunteers

To handle the "Weekend Research Project".

[Xyzse]

63. I'll Believe it When I see It.

Otherwise, he's basically drowned out by the Right any how.

[Owl]

67. So just do it already!

[Ash_F]

68. Did he see Bulworth? /nt

[stlsaxman]

70. One can hope.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

71. Watch yourself, Mr. President. At the end of Bulworth, Paul Sorvino shot Warren Beatty

and your opponents are just as fanatical and crazy that they would take a pot shot at you for speaking and doing Bulworth.

I love that you would finally grow a spine and do it, but watch yourself. Your enemies aren't sane.

[forestpath]

72. Well, he's been honest about wanting to cut SS. It's kind of hard to hide it when a Democratic

president acts like a Republican.

[area51]

75. +1 n/t

[Historic NY]

73. Just put down the malt liquor and chicken wings.

YOO little doggies...

[delrem]

76. Won't happen, ever. He'd have to explain why he's done what he's done.

[highprincipleswork]

77. Perhaps he should watch it again first.

I'd love to see President Obama go Bulworth, and I mean "full Bulworth". But by that I mean to come out as a raving, screaming, hollering, fighting Liberal.

Wish that was what he meant.

I'm not holding my breath on that one, but I will always hold out my heart and my spirit and my support for whoever answers that call.

[Fire Walk With Me]

78. The two-party klown kar is a weapon of mass distraction, run by banksters. If he were ever honest

he'd push for the end of the "citizens united" Koch brothers legislation as well as the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall and also initiate real, punishing investigations into wall street and those who nearly tanked the economy in 2008 and who still receive billions in taxpayer monies while the rest of us have lost economic ground in the "recovery" which has been entirely corporate and plutonomy friendly. He'd say "HEY, banks are using an illegal business model to defraud Americans out of their homes through foreclosure and it's been known about for over two years and no one is saying STOP!". And that Wall Street are among those snapping up such foreclosures at quarterly bank bulk property auctions.

If he were to be honest, he'd apologize to the 7400+ Occupy Wall Street activists bloodied and arrested and spied upon by the FBI and DHS, and punish all police and politicians involved. There is still a 470 times income inequality gap in this country and zip zero zilch is being done about it, much less mentioned in the corporate-controlled mainstream media. There is a revolving door in the white house for corporations and corporate handouts while "austerity" is being foisted upon citizens under the name "sequester".

And he'd eliminate the $1 trillion per year surveillance state, which is making some companies and people incredibly rich at the expense of taxpayers' monies AND freedoms. And stop using drones to murder Americans overseas with neither trial nor representation, taking far more children and innocents with them than is possibly tolerable.

America is in debt trillions of dollars for Bush's wars, which was the plan. Debt is their business model. You cannot have "austerity" and disaster capitalism such as Michigan's Koch brothers "tea party" governor's "emergency manager" smash-and-grab without debt. The entire country can be smashed with this war debt, and it's not being discussed AT ALL. It will, eventually, when it's time to pony it out and tell everyone why "there's no money" for programs for the citizens of this country.

NDAA section 1021 THIS. Notice only Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are doing anything at all to take on the banks who are destroying the country, nay, the world. Zip zero zilch out of the rest of the politicians who are to lesser and greater extent, their puppets. Know them by their inactions.

For more regarding the source of income inequality:

http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-leaked-2006-citigroup-plutonomy-memo.html