Blaming Obama for the auto crisis, union busting...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

I dare say, that's pretty much the intellectual and moral equivalent of blaming Obama for mugging you at an ATM and carving a backwards B in your face.

[LisaM]

1. I don't think the crisis is his fault

but blaming the unions for the failures of the manufacturing industry (which will all go down if the auto industry does - steel will be next) is like blaming US soldiers for invading Iraq. They've all done what the CEOs have asked.

[DJ13]

2. No one thinks he's responsible

I think most of the critics wishes he had been as tough on the banks responsible for the economic crisis as he is on the auto companies.

It fosters an appearance of favoritism towards the white collar people in the finance sector.

[tinkerbell41]

3. Thought about it today

In the shower I was thinking about this. What would anyone else do?? If any other DEM candidate won what would be the answer?? How about McCain?? Romney?? I feel if Hillary or Biden had the "right" answer wouldn't they have called "O" on the phone or gone to his office or e-mailed him??
And if they did, do you really think he said no "I'm the Decider" I really don't see that playing out. So really, no matter what decision he makes we are fucked. I think we would have been
fucked no matter who was in office.
Does anyone out there have a rock-solid solution????

[leftstreet]

4. So a doctor shouldn't fix your broken leg if s/he didn't break it?

:eyes:

The Obama Administration is responsible for economic decisions for the next four years, regardless of how the 'mess' happened.

Period.

[Oregone]

5. Im blaming him for not get serious about fixing it

He didn't cause it, but he signed up in extreme times (with no extreme solutions).

He is so afraid of being painted a socialist, he won't touch nationalization with a 10 foot pole. No national health care, no nationalizing zombie banks, no nationalization considered for auto companies...It isn't as if this is 1999. Things are dire, getting more dire, and there is no coherent message or policy coming forth so far. It looks like panic and pandering


Isn't the origins of this thread a straw man?

[PM Martin]

6. And he could deem himself a one term wonder

and then another right wing kook will come in and finish what Bush jr. could not (which of course started with Reagan/Thatcher/Mulroney, etc....)

[Stinky The Clown]

7. You gotta point ..... or you stirring shit?

:shrug:

[Robbien]

8. He is being blamed for treating ordinary workers different than his best buddy banksters

If his bankster friends were treated the same as the automakers, then there wouldn't be such bad feelings for Obama.

Banksters are being handed big bags of cash paid from union worker's paychecks. Paychecks which Obama ordered be cut.

[readmoreoften]

9. But what, exactly, is Obama responsible for?

Not to say he's responsible for the auto crisis--of course he's not. Whether or not he's aiding and abetting union busting is best determined by those on the ground. But Obama is not only responsible for the decisions his base like: the stimulus, the appointment of a pro-union labor secretary, etc. He's responsible for all of his decisions: pushing merit-pay, bombing Pakistan, accelerating the war in Afghanistan, and his decision to appoint a financial cabinet full of lobbyists and deregulators.

I dare say, absolving Obama for being in bed with the banking industry while fantasizing that his "true progressive soul" is hampered by an evil cabal forcing him to make these decisions is not only intellectual and emotional laziness, but intellectual violence against dissenting voices.