Obama Urges Liberals to 'Keep Up the Fight'

[elleng]

Source: nyt./ap

President Barack Obama is urging liberal activists and bloggers to ''keep up the fight'' to bring change to Washington.

In a video played Saturday at the annual Netroots Nation convention, the president acknowledged that some in the party's left wing have been unhappy with the pace of change.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/07/24/us/politics/AP-US-Democrats-Liberals.html?hp

[ixion]

1. And I urge Mr. Obama to bring about the **@&$@%## 'change' he promised

or stop talking rot about change.

[treestar]

4. You really deserve the pony charge for that post

Obama said keep fighting. He meant you. He is not Santa Claus. That's why he means keep fighting. Not roll over and quit and expect the POTUS to carry all the water. The Presidency is a political position. Without support from the voters, that scares Congress critters, he can't do much. Get it yet?

[IndianaGreen]

10. But Obama is the king of the 'roll over and quit'

Where have you been for the past 19 months?

[nyy1998]

107. Roll over on what?

He didn't have the votes on a lot of things and he had to compromise. He still got some really big ticket items done, which in this political climate with 24/7 news media, the tea party morons, a horrible economy, and a Republican party hell bent on seeing him fail, he's doing pretty well.

[tavalon]

167. Show belly isn't a good strategy

He has come to the table with extreme compromises many a time. Anyone with a lick of sense can tell you that isn't the position you come to the bargaining table with.

[tbyg52]

191. Anyone with a lick of sense, yes. And he is supposedly so intelligent. nt

[treestar]

196. You're descending into thuggery metaphors

The same ones the right wing is so fond of. Politics is not a place where being "tough" and uncompromising does any good.

[Betty]

213. it seems to work for the repigs.

they've been nothing but obstructionist. And they don't get blamed for fucking things up.

[nyy1998]

215. What do you think Obama has been doing the past couple of weeks?

He hit them hard on unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cut.

[IndianaGreen]

225. Blue Dogs and conservadems are tough and uncompromising all the time

I don't see you complain about them!

[treestar]

250. Prove that charge

There were Rs who voted for the financial reform; Blue Dogs who voted for health care reform. They must have compromised to vote for those things. Rs who voted for the stimulus package. That involved compromise from their side.

Again, you would have nothing done; and then be criticizing the President because no bills passed. You are mistaking the Presidency for a left wing dictatorship, expecting the Republicans to be ignored and left out, even though they have elected representatives.

[tavalon]

226. No it's a dog metaphor

but thanks for playing.

[Raggz]

175. 60 votes

Actually he had 60 votes for more than a year.

[treestar]

197. Totally false, Lieberman was the 60th at all times.

Lieberman could not be relied on for a progressive agenda. We should have worked harder for his Democratic rival.

[Raggz]

211. Presidents usually don't have 60 votes

Presidents usually don't have 60 votes in the Senate and they still pass their agendas. Reagan and GH Bush never had even 50 votes.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00237


Why accept this excuse?

[nyy1998]

214. You're missing my point about the Republicans refusing to play ball

Reagan and both Bush's were able to get some Dems, but Obama has had a hard time getting any Republicans.

And treestar is right, any congregation that has Nelson, Bayn, and Liberman as part of their coalition can't be considered that progressive.

[Raggz]

217. Being an effective president is never easy

Every effective American president has eventually implemented their agenda with bipartisan support. Few (if any - does anyone know of one) have had 60 Senators from their own party. This is never easy. I for one understand that our president has a hard job to do without 60 automatic votes, but this is the job he was elected to do. He needs to deliver and not deliver excuses.

[nyy1998]

222. And for the most part, he has been delivering

In this climate, he's done a brilliant job. Did he get everything he wanted(i.e. climate change, immigration)? No, but niether did Reagan, both Bushes and FDR and LBJ. If the last two had gotten everything they would've wanted, we would a couple more superme court justices and essentially single-payer health care. But as time goes on, the process becomes more moderate. Nelson and Liberman killed the public option, and Feingold weakened the financial regulation bill(by forcing Reid to go to Scott Brown). And Obama went from a $1.5 trillion stimulus down $850 billion because of the 2 Maine senators and then-Republican Senator Spector(if spector had switched earlier, then he might've given us a stronger bill).

He's done as well as he possibly can, in my opinion. Did he get everything? No, and I don't blame ppl for being angry, but give him some credit. You're acting like he did absolutly nothing during his 2 years.

[No Elephants]

235. LOL

[No Elephants]

234. "Obama has had a hard time getting any Republicans." Democrats, too.

LBJ had a Congress full of segregationist, anti-poor Dixie Democrats ad Dixiecrats, Republicans and a few liberals. He passed the Civil Rights Act, Medicare and the rest of then revolutionary Great Society legislation, while prosecuting the Vietnam War and fighting civil rights and antiwar activists.

I wonder how many on either side of the aisle would have dared vote against Medicare for all? WE'LL NEVER KNOW. That was off the table before the election. Then again, so were mandates, but Obama's "thinking evolved" on that one. So, we ended up with Medicare like mandates but without many of Medicare's significant advantages.

[treestar]

248. Had they filibustered everything and he still got it

You'd have a point.

The Republics and Lieberman, and Feingold, for that matter, are using the filibuster routinely now. That has never been the case before.

[treestar]

247. Because the Democrats did not abuse the filibuster by invoking it

every time? Quit calling it an "excuse." It's not. Lieberman is not a progressive. That's not an "excuse." That's Lieberman.

[No Elephants]

232. Um, the DNC, Obama and the party stars (Clinton, Schumer) ALL supported Lieberaman and

attacked Lamont during the primary, then left Democratic primary winner Lamont to twist slowly in the wind, as the RNC, Bush and Republican Party stars (such as they are) did the same to the Republican nominee.

But tell me, did anyone take away Lieberman's chairmanship for refusing to get in line? You know, that chairmanship he prizes so much? He is not the ranking Democrat on that Committee. In fact, he's a turncoat. He has no right to that chair, even by custom.

No? Gee, I wonder why. Congress and the President do that kind of arm-twisting for important things all the time. Always have.

Did anyone tell Lieberman "no cooperation, no more pork to take back to Connecticut to help you get re-elected?"

No, Gee, I wonder why. Congress and the President do that kind of arm-twisting for important things all the time. Always have.

[butterfly77]

152. Where were the Democrats..

during the past 19 months? Where were they during the healthcare debate when the lying ass teabaggers took over? Some of them were on the internet believing right wing lies and using their talking points right along with the media.

Some of them were thinking that he was suppose to fix their particular issue in the first few months,some even began complaining about what Obama wasn't doing while bush was still President. Some of them expected him to work fully on their issues everyday as though they can't see all of the issues he is dealing with.

No one ever expected all of these things to be done by a President in months. Some don't know what in the hell they are talking about because they never paid attention to politics but now they have soooo much to say because they are now catching hell and can't do anything but pay attention and they still don't have the facts on MOST issues...

[treestar]

195. Oh baloney

You're just mad that the Presidency is not a left wing dictatorship. It's a good thing you are not President; nothing would happen at all. What would you do, pitch fits on the floor of the Senate? Send thugs after them to beat them up?

[IndianaGreen]

224. I wouldn't have Rick Warren give the Invocation at my Inaugural

and that's just for starters. You want the Senate to stop being agents of Wall Street? Put a hard core prosecutor in charge of Justice Department and go after any elected official that is tainted by corporatism.

[treestar]

249. What effect did that have on anything?

The Senate is elected. Work on that. Your vague charges of criminal activity are just that, way too vague. People can be prosecuted for just anything; it has to be something against the law and there needs to be evidence.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sherman A1]

30. Yeah I get it

and I am thus far underwhelmed with the "change" I believed that we were promised.

[lib2DaBone]

32. Baloney. He had the choice whether to send more troops to Afghanistan

He had the choice whether to appoint Geithner and Bernake and Summers... all right wing shills.

He had the choice whether to appoint a Bush Bot as Sec of Defense.

No one tied Mr. Obama down and made him give up our Public Option. No one made Mr. Obama appoint the Cat Food commission to steal our Social Security. Mr. Obama did ALL THAT by himself.

He could have chosen to go the other way and support his base.. which he didn't.

Just sayin'...

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kath]

117. + a brazillion.

[amandabeech]

122. And + a brazillion more. n/t

[metapunditedgy]

133. Careful... many people consider the truth to be subversive. Me, I think your list

is too short. But it makes the point just fine.

[rhett o rick]

145. You left out "drill baby drill" Salazar. And "caveintto Glen Beck" Vilsack. nm

[DCBob]

149. He campaigned on sending more troops to Afghanistan..

where were you in 2008??

[rhett o rick]

193. So somehow that makes it right? nm

[flyarm]

159. + 100 million million!! eom

[Raggz]

176. All true

It is all true

[waronbanks]

45. Um...he had unprecedented support by the whole nation.

He let us down with weak positions and running scared from Fox. Maybe things will change and I hope they do. But he has shown NO leadership on any major issue. NONE.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

75. Bush/Cheney set about to plant moles and destroy long established agencies...

I recall back in 04 that it was reported to take decades to re-up important agencies which were needed to support vital agencies which benefited the public. This was an all out assault on the government within the government by Bush/Cheney. I doubt Obama can speak freely about this for fear of sounding like he's paranoid. But this was reported in '04. I remember. I wish more Dems did too.

[FirstLight]

118. +1000!

I was thinking about this too...

and nobody seems to remember that we had 8 years of bush GUTTING what was left of these agencies, whhile re-routing all the money to WAR

we were up to our eyeballs or worse in 08...i think we are about up tou our necks now...bailling ourselves as a nation out of the shithole those bastards have put us in, with the party of NO blocking at every turn, is not an instantaneous thing

[flyarm]

161. so Obama was forced to hire these crooks and criminals ?

Bush nor Cheney forced these people on Obama..these were Obama's choices..

I know of no Democrat who would kiss Kissingers ass or even involve them in their administration let alone work with that fucker!

Look who Obama has put into his administration..their ties to the new world order..

Look up Kissinger and Obama..

Look up Geithner's ties to Kissinger..



Look who he has surrounded himself with!


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have posted this many times and will repeat it here..

Obama had Henry Kissinger represent his administration in Talks with Russia
Posted by flyarm in General Discussion
Wed Jul 07th 2010, 04:46 PM

Shortly after taking office and even before ..as President Elect..Obama asked Henry Kissinger..knick name.."The Butcher of Cambodia"..to represent his administration in Talks with Russia..lets look as some serious connections here of Geithner , Kissinger and Obama...shall we..( edit to add: much of this i have posted many times in the past.)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cold warrior Henry Kissinger woos Russia for Barack Obama

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews /...

Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia's international resurgence.
Despite his pariah status with many Left-wingers in Mr Obama's Democratic Party, the president forged relations with Mr Kissinger during his campaign.

The compliment was returned when the 85-year-old veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations said last month that the young president was in a position to create a "new world order" by shifting US foreign policy away from the hostile stance of the Bush administration.

He publicly supported Mr Obama's notion of unconditional talks with Iran, though not at the presidential level.

Further demonstrating his willingness to work with his opponents on foreign policy issues, Mr Obama turned to two veteran Republicans steeped in Cold War experience to press home his plans.

Shortly after Mr Kissinger's trip, Richard Lugar, a Republican senator from Indiana who has worked on nuclear disarmament issues for 30 years, also visited Moscow. George Schultz, another former secretary of state, has also played a vital role.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Biography

Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.<2> He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.<3> He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.<4> He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.<4><5> He has studied Chinese<4> and Japanese.<6>

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.<7> His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York.

During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.<8>

Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

Early career

After completing his studies,

Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988.

He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).<5>

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.<5> Summers was his mentor,<10><11> but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.<11><12><13>



In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.<14> He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.<5>


In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<15> His salary in 2007 was $398,200.<16> Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.<17>


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Timmy's dad :


Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s,

Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by

S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro,

President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once



Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


now this should alarm every true democrat on these boards!!!!!!!


and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009




Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on

February 8, 2009.





"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.




Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

[tavalon]

168. Please don't muddy our rhetoric with facts

[flyarm]

204. I know , I know..facts make Heads explode for some around here these days..pathetic isn't it? eom

[No Elephants]

236. I remember SOME moles. But , I believe t hat Bushco would have rooted

out any moles by now, if the situation had been reversed.

I wonder if you realize how lame all these weak excuses make the President and his administration sound. Much lamer than they actually are or have any right to be.

[pa28]

69. AIG, Citi, Humana and Goldman Sachs got ponies.

So far the people who actually manned the phone banks and knocked on doors are still waiting for theirs.

If Obama wants them to "keep up the fight" and recharge his party machinery a good place to start might be hand delivering a no-compromise pony. Elizabeth Warren might be a very good place to start.

[bertman]

113. Actually they got stables full of thoroughbred Arabians along with

3000 acre horse farms in Kentucky and lots of serfs to muck the stalls and do the work.

Great post pa28!

[tomp]

187. truly excellent point for the obamaphiliacs to choke on. nt

[treestar]

194. Your first sentence is outrageous

Unemployment insurance, the stimulus (especially as it preserved jobs that people never lost), OMG there are hundreds of things. And now you're putting all your eggs in one higher up job. Hilarious.

[pa28]

228. Really?

You believe those measures are a special gift to us just as taxpayer backed trillions to banks and financial institutions were a gift to them?

Please lay off the kool-aid. Try something relatively safe and non-toxic next time like "toilet duck".

[Demeter]

73. Fire Geithner, Fire Summers, Fire Bernanke, Fire Emanuel

and then we can talk about fighting. With the enemy within, there is no way to fight except to prevent a second term.

[saigon68]

136. Yes fire the little weasel

[wordpix]

253. +1 and fire Salazar - what did he do to reverse the BushCo anti-regulations on BigOil? NOTHING!

[Iowa]

77. Ha! Try to keep up, OK?

[happygoluckytoyou]

95. here is what i get

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT by Michael Snyder in Recession
Related: ^DJI, ^GSPC, SPY, MCD, WMT, XRT, DIA
Share
retweet
EmailPrint.From The Business Insider

Editor's note: Michael Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Here are the statistics to prove it:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

Giant Sucking Sound

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.

[nyy1998]

108. Agreed!

[joe black]

121. Keep fighting!

While he keeps appointing people like Alan Simpson, good grief.

[Raggz]

177. 60 votes

Without the House it will all be different

[Bodhi BloodWave]

189. a somewhat interesting question

Its said that Obama had 60 votes for most of his presidency so far, how many votes would he have if you remove the blue dogs?

[Raggz]

210. Senate

I'm not sure if there are any Blue Dogs in the Senate, but that is a good question. Lieberman is essentially one, who else, Lincoln?

How many GOP votes did Bush have in the Senate? I don't think that he ever had 60 votes. On the resolution to invade Iraq he was able to get Senator Daschle to sponsor his agenda (S.J. 45) and he still built a bipartisan consensus to authorize the Iraq invasion.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00237

If Bush could implement his agenda with less than 60 Senate votes then Obama can too. Few presidents have ever had 60 votes in the Senate and yet most have implemented their agenda. I doubt that in our history that even three presidents enjoyed a 60 vote majority from their own party. When did this become necessary? We cannot accept lame excuses like this.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

220. I think the main difference between the last and current presidency

is that the vast majority of Democrats in the senate/house have to much ethics to basically try and destroy a presidency by opposing every single thing that comes before them(or close to everything)

That is the main reason I see for Bush to have passed some of the things he did, he had some 'blue dogs' or the senate equivalent aiding him almost by default as well as other democrats who saw enough good in the bill to accept its passage. Due to the Republicans massive opposition this session tho its a lot harder to pass bills for the Democrats currently.

What many Democrats(atleast on DU) seems to ignore tho when they talk about a democratic majority is that some of the said Democrats are blue dogs which are more likely to side with the Republicans.(They were one of Bush's major advantages, they are however one of Obama's major hinderances)

[Raggz]

221. He wasted a year

Obama had 60 votes for more than a year. Why didn't he pass his agenda THEN?

[treestar]

198. If he'd appointed Hugo Chavez, you'd have said "it's just a powerless commission."

Those appointments are required on bipartisan commissions. You're letting hatred of individual politicians take precedence over everything.

[rhett o rick]

144. He is the one that rolls over to BP and to Beck (Ms. Sherrod) and to the banksters and to the

health care industry. When will he start to fight? Fire Vilsack's ass is a good start. Then Salazar. Then Emanuel. Plez mr. President, show us some fight.

[tavalon]

169. The only argument I have against your list

is the order of firings. But then, he could do it simultaneously, so we can both be right. I mean left.

[rhett o rick]

192. I am willing to negotiate on the firing order. nm

[tavalon]

227. See, true compromise isn't so hard!

I wish Obama would understand that!

[rhett o rick]

241. I think he fully understands that. The problem is that he either doesnt believe in the change

we want or he is incapable of bringing it about. I think the later. Until we reduce the influence of money on Washington the DC, we will be fighting an uphill battle.

[DCBob]

148. +1

it may take a few years for some to "get it".. but I think they will eventually.

[tomp]

188. you are so fucking lame. nt

[treestar]

199. You are lamer. That's not an answer of any kind.

Reality is not optional.

[tomp]

203. as if your "answer" is an answer.

and of course, your interpretation of "reality" is the only possible or correct one.

still, just plain fucking lame.

[treestar]

230. Reality doesn't require interpretation

It just is.

[tomp]

252. that is just so lame.

eventually, even if we can agree on "what is", politics always boils down to what we think about "what is".

your comment is sophomoric, which would make you a sophomoron.

[t0dd]

24. +1

[Fearless]

37. +1

[Iowa]

76. +1

[happygoluckytoyou]

99. IT IS TODAY... AND FOREVER WILL BE ABOUT CLASS WARFARE...READ ON

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT by Michael Snyder in Recession
Related: ^DJI, ^GSPC, SPY, MCD, WMT, XRT, DIA
Share
retweet
EmailPrint.From The Business Insider

Editor's note: Michael Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Here are the statistics to prove it:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

Giant Sucking Sound

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.

[readmoreoften]

86. +1

[Myrina]

92. +1000

... hasn't he heard us for the past 18 months? It sure as hell doesn't seem like it. :(

[MissDeeds]

96. +1 n/t

[Luciferous]

257. +1

[mike r]

2. and the beatings will continue until morale improves

[nashville_brook]

70. word.

[tavalon]

170. Wait until the fall comes

Then, if we don't show sufficient support, the beatings will become really heinous.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. Dude, it's just not the "pace of change" --

Much of it is the type of change we have been seeing. :(

[coti]

134. Yes. This is a huge part of the problem- those reporting keep trying to reframe this

as "it's not going fast enough."

That means they're not listening.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. After all, SOMEBODY has to carry that weight...

:shrug:

[readmoreoften]

87. +1

[callous taoboy]

255. Eggs Ackley.

[AndyA]

7. Heed thy own advice, Obama.

As President, you have been charged with the responsibility to "keep up the fight" and your actions so far, in many areas, have been questionable.

Keep the promises you made when you were campaigning.

[emilyg]

34. +1

[butterfly77]

154. He also campaigned on...

WE ARE THE ONES WE ARE WAITING FOR!!!

[PSPS]

8. God knows he's not up to it.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Obama should have used the sarcasm smilie

:sarcasm:

[Nite Owl]

11. Oh yeah, keep up that fighting for

things I promised so I can look real big saying no to you.

[glitch]

31. Ouch.

God I hope that's not true, but I wonder how much capital he can acquire from the corporate overlords with "Obama gets tough with his base" headlines?

[nashville_brook]

72. wow -- that's so true.

[SlingBlade]

12. Too Little, Too Late, And Too Damed Phoney

Now, Enter the Bla Bla's

[donal dubh]

13. give the president some space to move...

the political landscape has swung so far to the right over the past few decades that anything he does appears to be threatening to the power elite who ramp up any obstruction they can conceive of.

I believe all he wants is for the progressive left to push the debate to the left so he doesn't appear to the mainstream low-info citizen to be a firebrand liberal. The right is not more numerous... they are simply louder because the media barons and their ilk amplify the opposition to President Obama.

[glitch]

28. The corporate media will never allow effective access to the left, that's not why it was purchased.

Do you think he's encouraging the left blogosphere to keep up the pressure? I'd certainly love to think so.

Welcome to DU btw! :hi:

[donal dubh]

60. thanks for the welcome...

I hope that's the case.

I can only relate the story of an older friend who was once very active in the green movement in my province. He got his Masters in Environmental Science and was hired by the gov't to do impact studies and suchlike work. He related his impressions of his coworkers in that dept. and what he gathered was that they sometimes felt the unwashed masses were unfairly castigating the gov't, and by extension, themselves. At the same time they encouraged the green activists to keep up the pressure because that kept expanding the parameters for the debate. When the green activists make what are, to the mainstream media, outlandish demands it makes what the gov't is proposing less odious. Same on the right. The big difference is the attention each group receives. We just need to keep pushing.

[knixphan]

244. Seconded!

:fistbump:

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Snotcicles]

68. Good handle. nt

[Chef Eric]

97. The Obama admin. should not care how it appears to the low-info citizens.

There is way too much concern about the low-info citizens.

And the worst thing is that the administration seems to INCLUDE low-info citizens. At least that is how I would classify Vilsack when he fired Sherrod.

[rhett o rick]

146. why doesnt he throw us a bone??? DADT wouldnt cost him nothing. nm

[Roland99]

14. Yeah...let's start with getting a President into the White House who'll finally do the right thing

and tell corporations to fuck the hell off and tell the GOP to shove it up their asses, sideways!

[pattmarty]

16. Amen, brother!!!

[prolesunited]

25. And who might that be?

And how do you think that will work out?

[Roland99]

120. Obviously not Obama. I'd prefer someone who didn't tell his top econ advisors to fuck off and then..

surrounded himself with Bank of America execs.

[tranche]

51. childlike

[Iowa]

79. Absolutely right!

:thumbsup:

[MissDeeds]

104. Now that's a platform for change!

:toast:

[katandmoon]

17. Then chuckles under his breath, "It's fun watching folks hitting their heads against a brick wall."

[mike r]

18. or "Yeah. Fight on, f#cking r&tards!!"

[Nightjock]

22. You beat me to it!

Did anyone tell the President his right hand man called us "fucking retards"?!

When they called me for money last week I told them "No" for the first time ever and that's the reason I gave as to why.
This "EFFIN R*****" will vote Dem 99.9% of the time but I will not give them a dime until they stop taking me (us) for granted.

[liquid diamond]

88. If I'm not mistaken Rahm called the IDEA of challenging

conservative democrats to be "fucking retarded". He didn't call US fucking retarded. While I don't agree with his choice of words, I do agree that shooting yourself in the foot is not a good idea. In some states you only have a choice between a conservadem or a republican. I prefer the former.

[laughingliberal]

49. +1000 nt

[Phlem]

19. Then Maybe

He should stop throwing the left under the bus.

Hey maybe even killing all of Bushes policies, or at least not exacerbating them would give us a little hopey changey.

"keep up the fight"?!? We'll always keep up the fight just wish it wasn't against our own on top of the repigs. But a little fucking support, maybe jobs and the promise of not shipping anymore out of this country would help your fucking fan base.

Jeez, we're not tea baggers hanging on you every word Mr. President, we know when your selling us shit soup.

Oh yea you've done a lot, but now lets take care of the big elephants in the room instead of squishing mice. I know you have an extensive list of accomplishments, but now how about taking care of things we elected you for.

We did our job bro, now do yours.

-p

[kurtzapril4]

151. + 1 Brazillion to you, sir/maam! n/t

[donheld]

165. +1

[Jefferson23]

20. I'm bookmarking this one. n/t

[defendandprotect]

21. Guess we need to be even louder ...? Is President inviting us out into the streets -- ????

That should be something that Obama should encourage more -- good sign!!

[Horse with no Name]

23. Not much room to fight

being stuck under this fucking bus and all...

[glitch]

33. While were down there, we could cut the accelerator cable and bring this bus to a full stop.

Simply slowing this mad race off the cliff is not going to save us.

[russspeakeasy]

66. Man, I wish I would have said that...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AllyCat]

26. I'm sorry. I expected at least some of the change to happen in my lifetime. You know,

like ending this god forsaken war(s). Helping the needy instead of the rich. Health CARE for working people. All of this stuff would have provided $ and jobs to uh, create jobs and put people back to work.

It's not the PACE of the change that upsets me. It's the fact that not only has the change not happened, this Congress and Administration has largely worked to move it the OPPOSITE direction.

So if that makes me "left-wing" Mr. President, then I will be satisfied with continuing to elect leaders who actually represent us "left-wingers" since we actually want something for the people, not the corporations.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Stoic]

29. The President is a master of talking the talk...

not of walking the walk.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tranche]

54. So you're going to work to vote Obama out of office?

[Name removed]

64. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Iowa]

81. Well said.

:thumbsup:

[spoony]

125. Have you just been activated or something? nt

[tranche]

171. No, just been here 2 and 1/2 years longer than you and finally getting fed up w/ the bitching.

Thanks for saying hi rook :)

[spoony]

180. Too bad you didn't spend that time figuring shit out. nt

[tranche]

218. Right. Well I figured out voting 3rd party in a presidential is idiotic. Et tu spoony?

So, really, that's why I'm asking the commenter if he plans on working against the democratic president.

[Stoic]

150. I've always voted straight Dem

And I've come to believe my vote doesn't count. The only ones that do are the people who are willing to vote against the Dems. Those are the votes they go after the most.

[butterfly77]

155. So are many of the Democrats...

Where were they during the healthcare debate. WE ARE THE ONES WE ARE WAITING FOR!

[eilen]

238. I think some of them got arrested when they showed up

advocating for single payor....

[northernlights]

35. Something changed?

"...the president acknowledged that some in the party's left wing have been unhappy with the pace of change." :shrug:

[county worker]

41. One or Two real changes like passing card check and a public option this summer would really improve

our chances in November. Obama could twist arms and get it done. I hope he does. Like many I am disappointed with placating the right. They would not reciprocate if they took over the congress.

[northernlights]

58. if the right takes over congress, we won't be able to count to 3

before they start calling for impeachment.

Hopefully for self-preservation, he'll think about twisting arms and getting some fundamental change done somewhere.

[Demeter]

78. Let Them

See if anyone on the Left lifts a finger (not THAT one!)

[elocs]

38. Well, I've been disappointed that we have not seen more inspiration and example

from the leader of our party. No I didn't expect a pony, nor did expect him to do everything, but I did expect more passion and fire from Obama in fighting for Liberal and progressive causes and less willingness to compromise with the Republicans at every point when in the end they will say "no" anyways. I was hoping for a President who would kick ass and take names, yes call out the obstructionist Republicans by name. I was hoping for a President who would draw a line in the sand and say, "no more, no further" and not be so willing to compromise with Republicans and offer them concessions and not give away anything more to them or their corporate masters, but maybe they are his also.

Hope, the final frontier.

[slay]

47. Well said

This is my big problem too. He KNOWS the middle class is being destroyed. He KNOWS that letting corporations buy Washington has crippled this country. Yet he still plays their game. Instead of charting a new path to get us out of this mess, he's just propping up the same corrupt corporate culture that got us here. I'm not expecting him to make the change himself, but we elected him as a LEADER and in my opinion he has been ineffective at that job. It's not that he's not doing things, but he has not set out a clear vision for a positive sustainable future where we don't all end up being dirt poor slaves to massive corporations where a few are insanely rich but most are insanely poor. Probably because if things continue as they are now, this future is not going to be pretty at all.

[Doctor_J]

256. Yes, this was really our last hope and it's gone

we've lost. None of the real candidates last year would have been any better, but the President's complete lack of leadership on some basic problems has made me write off any hope for recovery in my life time (I am early 50's). Maybe the impeachment that ensures when the new Congress convenes will lead to us physically taking the country back from Limpballs and the rest of his ilk, but I doubt it. we've gotten to the point where we are going to have to literally fight, or flee.

I'll be leaving as soon as I can talk Mrs. D_J into it. If the fihting has started before then, I'll join in. Otherwise, have fun living with President Gingrinch.

[naaman fletcher]

39. We have kept up the fight. You, on the other hand...... nt

[stlsaxman]

40. If you've all got time to sit here whining and complaining YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANYTHING DONE!

Bitch, bitch, bitch... swear to God.

:eyes:

[Grinchie]

43. Look in the mirror buddy.

[slay]

50. You mean, like you're doing, in this post, right now?

sheesh.. :crazy:

[Skittles]

53. how do you know what people are doing?

SOME OF US KNOW HOW TO MULTI-TASK

[tranche]

57. You're able to shit on multiple OPs at the same time?

[Skittles]

61. oh, what a HOOT your are!!

gawd, fucking pathetic

[tranche]

55. You don't want these types "getting things done". Believe me.

They are where they belong. Bitching, bitching, bitching.

[Skittles]

62. yes, you'd be shocked at what real change looked like

[tranche]

65. Never seen real change come from screamers. So yes, I would be shocked.

[Skittles]

67. LOLOL

:rofl:

[liquid diamond]

91. As much as I despise the teabaggers, I give them credit

for getting out into the streets and declaring their grievances. At least they don't eat their own. On the other hand, you get a lot of progressives here that sit on their asses and talk shit about a democratic president online and pass it off as "intelligent criticism". Some fucking good that will do.

[stlsaxman]

103. As Van Jones just said at netroots nation- 2008 wasn't the finish line, it was the starting gate.

After working hard to elect Obama we all (me included) celebrated then waited for "The Little Red Hen" to tell us all the bread was ready to eat. Like magic- Obama would make the world perfect!

That Van Jones speech is a marvelously inspiring piece of work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZgoZffDHB4

[liquid diamond]

106. Thanks for the link. n/t

[Grinchie]

42. We better, because Obama's gone fishin..

Not that the "Little People" matter much to the Sycophants that actually make policy.

[flyarm]

163. or Golfing while those on the Gulf were getting flooded with Oil! And losing their livelyhood

and being exposed to oil and dispersants!

[Alcibiades]

46. I'll break the rules

Here's the full text of the AP article:

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- President Barack Obama made an election-season appeal Saturday to disgruntled liberal activists and bloggers, assuring them his administration is committed to their causes and urging them to help elect Democrats in November. "I just realized that there's an election in November, and that we need you again, so here I am, showing I care about you by appearing remotely via teleconference."

"Change hasn't come fast enough for too many Americans. I know that," Obama said in a surprise video appearance at the annual Netroots Nation convention. "I know it hasn't come fast for many of you who fought so hard during the election. It may seem that our administration hasn't done anything that won't kick in until 2014. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake. David forgot that there are, in fact, elections between 2008 and 2014, and that, in fact, some of you might want us to have some reason to go out and knock on doors in the summer heat."

In a year when Democrats are expected to lose seats in Congress, party leaders have grown concerned with malaise in the left wing. Liberals who helped elect Obama in 2008 have no idea what they are going to tell voters when encouraging them to get out to vote. "It's frustrating: all the things that are tangible that the administration has done, such as health care reform and ending the war in Iraq, don't take effect until long after the election, and many other things that the administration has done, such as financial regulatory reform and the stimulus, are complex and easily mischaracterized by the Republican media," said one activist, who declared an intention to volunteer, but only because they have no family, no friends, and no life. "For me, this campaign will help to relieve the boredom and ennui that normally fills my days. If not for the congressional race, I'd probably have to get a dog."

In his remarks, the president said the combat mission in Iraq would soon end, but also acknowledged that there would still be tens of thousands of troops and really expensive contractors there for an indefinite period of time: "There's light at the end of the tunnel, and there will be peace with honor. Chill out: I've got this." He also promised that the administration is working to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays and close the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. "We're thinking about converting Guantanamo Bay into a special base, more like a resort, really, for gay people who want to serve. That would kill two birds with one stone."

"In ways large and small we've begun to deliver on the change you fought so hard for," Obama said, "Mainly in small ways, though."

"We cant afford to slide backward. And that's the choice America faces this November," he added. "Keep up the fight. We've got your back. Honest, this time, we won't fire anyone on Breitbart's say-so, or cave in to insurance industry demands on health care. There are still a lot of other industries with demands worth caving into."

Hundreds of activists and bloggers applauded warmly after the video ended, but some were not appeased.

The video "doesn't really change my views. I'm still waiting for action," said Matthew Filipowicz, 33, a cartoonist and comedian from Chicago. "Words only do so much. By the way, considering that I'm a comedian and all, do you know what you call a politician who is actually responsive to the base of his own party? A Republican."

[slay]

59. nice

a much more accurate and realistic interpretation.

what the fuck do we have to do to get a real liberal who actually gives a shit elected???? damn.

[liquid diamond]

93. Most of the country isn't liberal, so that won't happen.

Our best option is to vote democrat. Funny how whenever that is pointed out we are called fear mongers when in fact that's just reality.

[slay]

111. That doesn't change the fact that a liberal would be best

and i've voted for WAY more than my fair share of conservadems over the years because that's all they'll give us. YOUR best option may be to vote democrat, but i'm not sure i'm up for another round of propping up democrats who fund wars and don't stand up for real health care. maybe it's going to take another 8 years of republican shit before people go, you know, the liberals were right all along. i thought people would have learned after bush. hell i thought they woulda learned after nixon. as long as liberals be good little soldiers for the Dem party while getting NOTING in return, no true change will ever come.

[amandabeech]

128. No mention of the economy. n/t

[tomp]

190. nice! nt

[Skittles]

48. that's nice but

I mean, come on

[EFerrari]

71. Seriously. Rahm has got to be getting winded by now.

[shireen]

56. rock and hard place

Obama is a very gifted orator. He inspires people. He says all the right things. But i just don't buy any of it.

I appreciate the good stuff his administration and Congress have done; however, much of it has been done with too much compromise to the minority party, which mostly ended up not voting for the watered-down bills.

Here's the sad pathetic place we're in: no matter how much we disapprove of Obama's and our Dem. members' job performances, we have NO CHOICE but to vote for them and encourage others to do the same. Not showing up to vote is a default vote for the other side, which is orders of magnitude worse.

[liquid diamond]

94. You woodchuck you.

:sarcasm:

[janet118]

63. President Obama, throw us a bone then . . .

Appoint Elizabeth Warren head of consumer agency overseeing financial reform.

Rep. Barney Frank, D.-Mass., from an interview broadcast on MSNBC today (spotted and transcribed by Talking Points Memo):


"I would say to the President, I sympathize with President Obama," Frank added. "He's been criticized by some of my liberal friends. We didn't get a public option and other things we wanted. That wasn't his fault. The economic recovery bill, the stimulus, it wasn't as big as it should have been. That wasn't his fault. He couldn't get the votes. With regard to appointing Elizabeth Warren, that's his decision. No one can stop him from making it. I hope he will appoint her."

What Barney said.

[eilen]

239. This pretty much guarantees he won't

anything Barney or Dennis says, the administration does the opposite. They are afraid of being called liberal or socialist. The only way Warren will be appointed is to try and woo the democratic wing of the democratic party back to the phones and the polls. But I don't know that they will think that will be effective enough. Hopefully she won't be Brietbarted or Fauxed.

[TBF]

74. He is right and we will. nt

[davidwparker]

80. Back at you, Obama.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#38353508">This pretty much sums up your fighting.

Now, onto who will head up the consumer protection agency. What will the outcome of that fight be?

[DJ13]

82. Its not the pace, its that the direction so far isnt real change

A GOP HCR plan resurrected from 1993 isnt change.

Continuing two wars isnt change.

Threatening our Social Security isnt change (Bush already tried that).

Claiming the unemployment will remain at or above 9% for several years isnt real change.

None of those things represent the change you ran on in 2008.

Look at the many people that have already posted in this thread, most no longer believe you will ever stand up for them.

Thats sad.

[spoony]

123. Exactly. He and his fanbase will never get that, though. Never. nt

[amandabeech]

129. For emphasis, unemployment above 9% for several years isn't change.

People vote their pocketbooks. The administration's statements that unemployment will remain at or above 9% until 2015, and that's the ridiculously ultra-conservative U3 number.

Unless Obama does something about unemployment, we can really forget about it for 2010 and 2012 and 2014.

[callous taoboy]

254. Testing young children to death in public school IS NOT change.

He had me writing 100 dollar checks to his campaign the minute I heard him say that that needed to change.

I hate the fucking title, "Race to the top." Hate it. How about leveling the playing field so that all may have a chance to compete, or race to the top or whatever the hell WHEN GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL!

No, instead let's treat teachers like the one-legged man in the ass-kicking contest. Let's celebrate the wholesale firing of teachers who teach in the ghetto where the doors to their classrooms were more akin to sieves where children filter in and out of the program at random. That would drive me bat-shit as a teacher in these high-stakes testing times.

If you can convince me that his education agenda thus far is some sort of tiny progressive step in the right direction, I'll be glad to read all replies as objectively as possible for a guy who has been in the educational trenches these past 17 years.

[Alcibiades]

83. Appearing on closed circuit TV

When you really, really want to let people know you care, but don't want to be seen in the same room with them.

[kath]

119. Heh. Ain't THAT the truth...

[Alcibiades]

84. Oh, and let's not refight the primaries here

I'm a little disappointed with the President, but all the folks who think that Hillary would have done better should take note that Obama has done more in two years than her husband did in eight.

[liquid diamond]

85. No. It's better to bitch, moan, and divide our own party than to

keep slowly pressing forward. Let's give the republicans a shot at things in November. Yup. That will achieve our agendas.
:sarcasm:

[katandmoon]

89. Tell it to Obama.

[slay]

112. At the rate Obama "moves things forward" we'll all be dead

before any real change happens.

[nightrain]

90. not just the pace. that's only a portion of the disappointment. It's the substance of "change"!!

He knows that. Why didn't he say that too?!

keep up the fight? why? to wear us out. He's hardly enacted one progressive idea/policy/program! If Obama has one progressive bone, I'd love to see it in action.

[formercia]

98. Judging by the replies, the GOP/Teabagger plan is working

If you can prevent change long enough, someone is bound to blame it on Obama.

I'm pissed too, but please direct your anger at those really responsible. Thank You.

This message brought to you by a resident Liberal asshole.

[boppers]

101. Divide and conquer, rinse and repeat...

Hey, if the left can be segmented and riled up enough, the right wins by default.

[MissDeeds]

100. Liberals know all about how to "keep up the fight"

We don't need this timid president giving us encouragement on that front - or any other, for that matter.

[Lint Head]

102. I do not think Obama is using the actual power he has.

He's playing it close to the vest. It does not come off as calculated but as timid. I'm praying he will eventually come around.
Bush and Cheney should be indicted period. If I rob a damn bank the law will not say, 'Oh that's in the past. We need to move on.'
Bush and Cheney robbed the damn bank, committed murder admitted it and walked free. People are still dying because they cannot get the health care they need. Gee, it must be good to be king.

[boomerbust]

105. 2 out of the first 3 posts

Usual suspects.

[bajamary]

109. lol

Oh my goodness, what is he smoking, really folks !

[Kermitt Gribble]

110. Haha!!!

Oh, wait... you're serious. Do you realize, President Obama, keeping up the Liberal fight will be a fight against a lot of your own policies and positions? So-called health care reform, so-called financial reform, so-called education reform, so-called social security reform, escalating war, etc, will all be things Liberal Activists fight against. Maybe you should rethink your statement.

[SHRED]

114. "Some"

Well more than "some" in the Democratic Party are sick of your corporate friendliness Mr. President.

[jsmandrake]

115. OBAMA CALLING LIBS & BLOGGERS--

oh!....its the used car salesman again !!

[Name removed]

156. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kath]

116. But are "fucking retards" capable of putting up a good fight?

And why the fuck should we, after we've been so insulted and thrown under the bus so many times???

[boppers]

126. Oh, they're willing to fight against themselves and Obama.

This thread seems to be good evidence of that.

[elleng]

142. Yes, bopp; sorry I posted to begin with.

[elleng]

141. 'We' fucking retards?

IMO, I don't think many here are capable of putting up a good fight, if they think they' ve been thrown under the bus. NO IDEA what it REALLY looks like, under the bus.

[butterfly77]

157. Of course we wouldn't expect that..

from you when you are working for DICK armey and the teabaggers..

[tranche]

172. When I hear someone use "fucking retards" and "bus" in a single post. I laugh.

[rateyes]

124. it's not the pace, Mr. Obama, it's the cave-ins

on the things you acted like you wanted but gave away without a fight. Where is the justice for the criminals? Where is the public option?

Pace, my ass.

It's the LACK of change...not the PACE of it. You don't intend to investigate war crimes. You don't intend to fight for a public option. You don't intend to end the wars.

Fool me once...shame on you...

[elleng]

131. Real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo

[RetroLounge]

127. You'ld think someone of his supposed intelligence

would not be so irony-impaired.

Grow a fucking spine, Mr. President.

RL

[elleng]

130. EVERYONE HERE MUST LISTEN, again and again, and understand what it takes.

Change is hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo

[rateyes]

138. even harder when you give the real change up in negotiations

on day one.

[elleng]

139. Don't understand how the game is played in DC, eh?

[rateyes]

166. I'm a negotiator...

I know how that game is played. You don't give away the game in the beginning.

[donco6]

183. We were promised a different game.

But we got the same one:

[amandabeech]

132. To paraphrase Carville, "It's the jobs, stupid."

Globalism, "free" trade, insourcing and outsourcing don't work for almost all Americans. Nice theories, but like many theories, they don't work as hoped.

Supply side economics was a nice idea, but it didn't work, either.

The administration does not appear to support the failed theory of supply side economics.

So, why does the administration support the globalism, etc., theories when they don't appear to be working for almost all Americans?

Obama needs to dump his entire economics team and replace them with folks who are ready to try something different, like putting American workers first.

Until he does that, we Dems are toast.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

135. I urge President Obama to join us in the fight. n/t

[rhett o rick]

147. +1 zillion. nm

[Lorien]

137. "Do as I say, not as I do"

Words are cheap. Action is what matters. He can choose to serve the people or serve the wealthy elite who have been dragging our Nation to ruin. He chose the latter. His enablers here seem to approve. They keep pushing the party further to the Right into irrelevance while blaming those of us who actually do care about the other 99% and the planet for not "believing" or "keeping up the fight". We've done our job already. We gave him a mandate. It's well past time for him to start doing the job he was hired to do.

[wundermaus]

140. Here is the Video - President Obama Addresses Netroots Nation 2010

President Obama Addresses Netroots Nation 2010 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo

[DeSwiss]

143. +1

Keep fighting? And whom is it that we should we be fighting Mr. President? The Republicans? Or the DLC-ocrats in the WH?

Tell ya what, I'll keep fighting for you as soon as you rehire Van Jones as the clean energy czar, re-up Dawn Johnsen for the DOJ, end renditions and unwarranted spying. And then you can close all those illegal secret CIA prisons and GITMO and restore habeas corpus. And over this weekend you can also shove that fat fuck Larry Summers and his toy poodle Timmy Geithner out the goddamned door!

- Oh yeah, and put up Elizabeth Warren for the Consumer Protection Agency while you're at it, and don't fucking back down from those idiot retards in the Senate. Whomever side they claim to be on......

on edit: AND END DADT!!!!!!

[dflprincess]

153. And I would urge the president to start listening to the left

rather than shutting us out of discussions on things like health care and Social Security.

It's going to take more than hollow comments like this for Obama to keep the left's votes.

[slay]

212. +1

yeah i don't understand why people are surprised "the left" has lost faith in Obama - he never listened to us, and basically ignored us.. right up til this election year. how long will it take the left to learn that most of the Dems only use us to get elected then under the bus we go. i think we may have actually learned this time - and that's what scares them. good luck to the Dems getting elected without the help of liberals.

*on edit: removed pointless sentence

[flyarm]

158. Why??? seriously..why?? so we can be called " Retards" again? eom

[boppers]

173. Are we still attacking our allies? eom

[flyarm]

178. Our so called allies called us retards..You know the very people I gave money to and helped get into

office and have worked for and with my entire 40 year adult life!!

Yes our Allies called us retards..I didn't..they did!

[boppers]

181. Rahm called attacking our allies "f*cking retarded".

Allies in favor of such attacks turned that strategy point into a "personal attack", claiming (quite dishonestly) that it was aimed at individuals, rather than their strategy.

The cruel ironic twist in all of this is that Rahm's complaint about the left, attacking the left... has become an attack on the left.... from the left.

Which is, well...

[flyarm]

201. Hey revisionism doesn't work when people have their own files and google..google is your friend..

Use it before postig bullshit and revisionism!!

..I have much more in my files..and have been a long time member of Move On..In FACT..I have been a public speaker for Move ON..so please spare me the bullshit and lies.ok??..I know damn well what and who Rahm said his dispicable words to ..maybe you were born yesterday..but I and many many many Liberals and life long Dems were not born yesterday!



http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/02/03/when-is-rahm-going-to-apologize-to-moveon/



When is Rahm Going to Apologize to MoveOn?
By: Jane Hamsher Wednesday February 3, 2010 2:32 pm


I have a hard time in general with the language police, even when it’s Rahm Emanuel we’re talking about and especially if Sarah Palin is leading the charge. But I agree Rahm does owe an apology for using the expression “f&*king r%!ards” — to MoveOn.

Because that was who he was addressing.

snip:

Three Blue Dogs voted “no”: Melancon (LA), Barrow (GA) and Matheson (UT). MoveOn produced the spots, and on Tuesday morning August 4 announced their intention to begin running them the next day:


That afternoon, Rahm showed up at the Common Purpose meeting and told MoveOn what he thought of them for doing this: “fucking retarded.”

Rahm was already angry that MoveOn had pushed back on him earlier in July, telling their members to contact the President in protest after Rahm told the Wall Street Journal that he liked the idea of triggers. But after the Common Purpose meeting he knew he’d gone too far. He immediately went to Jonathan Martin at Politico and told a highly sanitized tale of what had happened. But too many people had been present at the meeting, and it was only a matter of time before the story came out.

snip:

It wasn’t the first time that the White House had upbraided liberal groups at the Common Purpose meeting for pushing back when the Blue Dogs tried to sell the party to lobbyists and let them write the health care bill. The very purpose of the weekly event is to enforce message discipline, and both CAF and USAction had been upbraided in front of their peers by administration staff for criticizing Blue Dogs in the past.

The White House has a long history of treating “liberal” groups with high handed arrogance and disrespect after they were extremely strong allies of Obama during the campaign. Rahm isn’t alone. He just says what everybody else is thinking. Rahm and others in the administration owe MoveOn — and liberals — more respect than that.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/26/830496/-Rahm-to-liberals:-youre-fu**ing-retarded

Rahm to liberals: you're "fu**ing retarded"
by ppl can fly
Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 09:34:31 AM PDT
Rahm Emanuel has a message for the liberal base: you are "fucking retarded."

Emanuel told a liberal strategy group in August that a plan to run advertisements against conservative Democrats who were "balking at Mr. Obama's health-care overhaul" was grossly unwise.

"F—ing retarded," Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to participants cited by the paper.

"He warned them not to alienate lawmakers whose votes would be needed on health care and other top legislative items," the reporter said.

Just shut up and get back in your place, liberals. Let the blue dogs and republicans decide what will end up in the healthcare package. These things are not the business of the unwashed idiot masses.

Seriously, Rahm is such an elitist jerk. This guy never saw a corporate lobbyist he didn't like. He recruited quite a few of these blue dogs. He hates liberals and everything they stand for. Obama should just get rid of him.




xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rahm Emanuel: Liberals Are “F–king Retarded”
By: Jane Hamsher Tuesday January 26, 2010 8:44 am



http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/01/26/rahm-emanuel-liberals-are-f-king-retarded/

snip:

, when Rahm showed up at the Common Purpose meeting and lambasted the liberal interest groups because MoveOn was running radio ads against Blue Dogs. Previously it had been reported that Rahm called them “f*#king stupid,” even though the scuttlebut was that Rahm said they were “f*#king retards.” It’s a tight-lipped crowd to penetrate, and nobody wants to get zapped from the meetings for talking to the press. But Wallsten managed to get the story:
The friction was laid bare in August when Mr. Emanuel showed up at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides. Some attendees said they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul.

“F—ing retarded,” Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to several participants. He warned them not to alienate lawmakers whose votes would be needed on health care and other top legislative items.

[butterfly77]

160. WE ARE THE ONES WE ARE WAITING FOR!!!

:dem: :dem: :dem:

[kurtzapril4]

162. The courtship is beginning...

Expect the drumbeat to get louder...They love us liberals, really! Oh, we didn't really MEAN all that nasty stuff we said! We need you and want you! Oh please...just one more time...believe what we're telling you! We love you! Work for us! Knock on them doors and man the phone banks! We'll give up having an administration based on reacting to what Fox News/Breitbart/Republicans say! Honest! This time we mean it!

The Dem leadership are in dire need of a 12 step program. Most Dems are enabling them. Time for an intervention in November, and if necessary, in '12.

[donco6]

182. Just one more time -

[tomp]

186. there's no courtship after date rape. nt

[treestar]

200. Why do you need to be "courted?"

Do you think anyone gets everything they want?

[flyarm]

205. The repubs got almost everything they wanted..we on the other hand have gotten nothing,

but called fucking retards..for begging for anything!

[treestar]

229. That's because of 911

And they did not get everything they wanted. As individuals, surely not, or you don't know any conservatives.

[wordpix]

240. we would have had the PO & better finance legis. if the a-holes in Congress didn't obstruct

I'm talking about both DINOs and repukes. Now they're obstructing on climate legislation, ending tax cuts for the rich and more. The O Admin. is not perfect but O is learning. The Obama Admin. does not control the country---it's clear the corporations aided and abetted by BushCo and their admirers do. It's going to take awhile to turn this machinery around. So stop blaming him for EVERYTHING that's gone wrong and all the compromising. Yes, he should be the perfect leader but recall the pile of shit left on his desk by pRes Dimwit, including 2 wars, a financial crisis, jobs in the toilet, a wrecked DOJ and Interior Dept/MMS, even our allies around the world hating US...to name a few problems handed him by BushCo and the corPOS.

[donheld]

164. Yea right.

[tranche]

174. I still remember the good ol days. When Obama not addressing Netroots

was the outrage of the day.

[breadandwine]

179. The problem is that attacking Obama this late in the game may be counterproductive.

The time for the base to have pressured Obama to get a spine was months ago when he and his out-of-touch administration still had time to respond to our pressure. Had that happened months ago Obama could have had time to toughen up and win the Fall elections. But coming now this pressure and anger from the left is too late to influence him, given how slow his administration has been to listen to the left or even know we exist. (I sometimes wonder if they are so immersed in the Beltway and in watching Beck that they are internet illiterate.) Coming now rage on the left may only lead to the base staying home. You can see how out of touch they are. Obama is treating the netroots as if it was some narrow constituency he could talk to by video, like we were some footnote like "The Rhododendron Association" that he didn't have time to attend personally. These people haven't a clue that we are the base. So the result of all our anger could merely be that the base stays home. For Obama to say keep up the fight and then plead with us to forgive him despite his determination to remain a GOP suck-up shows how he doesn't get it EVEN NOW that midterms are decided by the committed within the base, because midterms are poorly attended since there is no presidential race to inspire people to get out and vote.

Right now the other side is angry and energized and given how reluctant the administration is to fight, that is not going to change before election day. This is what the other side has and we don't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08&feature=related

If Obama is still determined not to inspire passion, our anger is only going to get our side to stay home.

The DLCers just haven't got a clue and are busy watching Glenn Beck. Just look at how they told Shirley Sherrod that she had to resign before Glenn Beck came on. Now he's pleading with us to just hang in there while he caves to the GOP. He still doesn't GET IT but the problem is that he seems so out of touch that he WON'T get it in time for the Fall election. In which case our criticism will just make people on our side stay home. These administration people are all living in the past, watching 1950s television. Obama thinks he is surrounded by "seasoned professionals" but really he is surrounded by old fogies living in another era who are past their prime. Under such circumstances, what good is it going to do to yell at them? It would be better if we cool it and not cause the base to be stay home in anger.

[elleng]

207. Biden: Democrats Must Focus on Successes Before November.

'Since taking office 18 months ago, Obama has pushed through Congress an $862 billion economic stimulus plan, bailed out banks and auto companies, and overhauled the U.S. healthcare system and financial regulations.

"Here's the problem -- we've been working so hard to get these major new building blocks laid down," Biden said. "They are so big, so heavy, that the American people don't understand what's in it for them yet."

"Now that the hard lifting is done, we're going to spend the next 90 days going out explaining to people exactly what it means to them," Biden said.'

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/07/23/us/politics/p...

[NJmaverick]

184. K&R

[tomp]

185. tomp urges obama to start fighting for our side. nt

[Name removed]

202. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[flyarm]

206. OH my..that just about made me puke..ewwwwwwwwwwwwww.but so right! eom

[primavera]

208. "Sooner or later"

'We'll welcome whatever the Senate can pass to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,'' Pelosi said. ''Sooner or later this has to happen.''

Man, if that doesn't just sum it up. Yep, hearts are in the right places, but they're willing to wait around until the planet's a lifeless, smoking cinder in space while waiting for that "sooner or later" to just come along. Nancy, wake up and smell the coffee: YOU have to make it happen, and sooner, not later.

[panzerfaust]

209. Obama Urges Liberals to 'Keep Up the Fight' - ? While he goes for help??

[Odin2005]

216. Dear Mr. President, quit STABBING US IN THE BACK.

[elleng]

219. Biden: Democrats Must Focus on Successes Before November.

'Since taking office 18 months ago, Obama has pushed through Congress an $862 billion economic stimulus plan, bailed out banks and auto companies, and overhauled the U.S. healthcare system and financial regulations.

"Here's the problem -- we've been working so hard to get these major new building blocks laid down," Biden said. "They are so big, so heavy, that the American people don't understand what's in it for them yet."

"Now that the hard lifting is done, we're going to spend the next 90 days going out explaining to people exactly what it means to them," Biden said.'

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/07/23/us/politics/p ...

[No Elephants]

237. Yep, 3000 page giveaways to special interests are heavy building blocks.

All Americans aren't as dumb as you'd like.

[elleng]

242. Many 'Americans' aren't as smart as I'd hope.

[defendandprotect]

246. Unfortunately . . .

I'm no Biden fan -- DLC?

Otoh, he certainly played a large role in putting Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court --

a man who should have been left in the porn booth where he generally hung out --

Disgusting -- !!

[Crowman1979]

223. Well it's hard to fight effectively when the leader keeps surrendering.

[No Elephants]

231. Like we kept up the fight for the public option, while he called it an uniimportant sliver?

Like we fight to get more liberal Democrats in office, while Obama's valued, hand picked employee in chief calls us fucking retarded for our efforts?

[sendero]

233. Why...

.. we're the only ones fighting, and we're fighting our own party.

One and one half years of same is not change.

[martymar64]

243. martymar64 urges Obama to back us up once in a while

It's tough to keep up the fight when your administration, especially that pinche culebra Rahm keeps undermining our efforts.

[Roland99]

251. +1

[defendandprotect]

245. Guess he wants it LOUDER . . . ???

[Socal31]

258. Basically it is almost time for election season to ramp up, and he needs us.

[yurbud]

259. it's not that Obama has tried and met resistance, he appointed mostly people

who are the problem not the solution, then let the most corrupt members of the Democratic Party take the lead on his signature initiatives.

[Lost4words]

260. BO wants to prosecute leakers but not those who started phony wars

what a pack of bull shit.