Is President Obama running the government by himself?

[ProSense]

Every day there are calls for someone in his administration to be fired. He's labeled a "Republican."

As far as I see, the administration is doing a great job. The President has recently signed into law a few significant pieces of legislation, including:

• Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
  
• Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010
  Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The economy is looking up:



Someone is doing something right. If President Obama is a conservative in some people's view, then so be it. In the context of history, he'll be viewed as one of the best who did more for Americans than most.

[gateley]

1. He's done a LOT of really good stuff, so much so that I don't understand

how he gets it all done. It takes a Rachel or a Keith to list them for me, and it's really damn impressive.

Unfortunately some of the biggies that were/are important to us seem to have slipped through the cracks, and it's hard not to feel disappointment about those issues.

I am really glad he's our President.

[impik]

The biggies are difficult, very very difficult.

He is trying all the time, and he's got a terrible mess to clean up.

[MadMaddie]

7. The biggies are the only ones the MSM pays attention to

and America is fed the poisen that he and his government are not accomplishing anything!

I think as he and his administration dig deeper they will find that the mess is even bigger than they think.

[impik]

8. Well, he got health care and is about to get Wall Street reform. Both are huge and no one achieved

them in decades.

[ClarkUSA]

20. Also not done in decades: new CAFE standards.

Then there's the first-time ever greenhouse gas emissions standards, Lily Ledbetter Act and credit card reform.

[bkozumplik]

49. shouldve been long ago

we're well over a year since the initial bubble burst, and congress and the president have absolutely allowed it to reinflate. derivatives are traded as much as they used to be. Theres no real wall street reform coming-- its as toothless and give-away as the health insurance reform (lets not call it health care reform). When you appoint a bunch of free market douchebags to run the economy, this is what you get.

Obama got rid of the progressives on his econ staff after he won the election. His whole fiscal group is goldman sachs. like all of them. You do the math. And congress just does what they are told.

real change coming on the fiscal front? I don't see how thats even remotely possible.

I guess I'm a party pooper. sorry.

[dkf]

2. Except that minerals management department needs an overhaul.

They've been screwups for years.

[Hekate]

6. Many depts need an overhaul after Bush got done gutting the Civil Service and appointed cronies.

At least we know FEMA has been restored to professional competence.

Hekate

[PopSixSquish]

13. I Shudder to Think of How Bush's FEMA and Homeland Security Would Have Responded

to the oil spill in the Gulf and the flooding in Nashville. :scared:

I just saw several pictures of Janet Napolitano in Nashville, she has to be one of the hardest working people in the adminsitration these days...

[dkf]

35. Except we are finding out the hard way.

It's too bad Obama didn't overhaul and review departments earlier. Its not like we didn't know George Bush decimated our regulatory bodies.

[Hekate]

37. ~sigh~ First Obama has to nominate agency heads. Then the Repubs have to block them.

And block them and block them and block them until they stop putting their lives on hold and go away.

If by some chance they get confirmed, then and only then can they start hiring new people. But then, they have a bunch of Cheney's moles to deal with -- appointees that Cheney managed to have job classifications changed to Civil Service, so it's harder to get rid of them.

And then...

I hope you get the picture now.

Hekate

[dkf]

42. Is the minerals dept head blocked?

[Cha]

3. He and his Team are doing a brilliant

job. There's always going to be detractors from anyone who's doing their job well. Calling him "conservative" only weakens whatever their latest complaint is..it shows they're not paying enought attention.

[impik]

4. People can't see greatness if it hit their nose. I promise you, they would treat

FDR just the same. After all, black people were not allowed into Social Security.

If they want to call him conservative, whatever. Years from now he'll be regarded as one of the greatest presidents ever, and one of the most progressive, and the same people will whine about a different president, asking "Why can't he be like Obama".

[onehandle]

5. He's a Clinton Democrat.

Unless the racists are able to derail him, he will accomplish more than Bill was allowed to.

[Peacetrain]

9. For some.. every success of the Obama administration is a nail in their coffin..

:)

[freddie mertz]

10. No. But he is responsible for his own administrations actions.

I believe the term for that is "Democracy," or "republic," or "representative government", or some other corny, old-fashioned idea I heard about in school.

[Enrique]

11. those are very good points

it's good to look at the official arguments in favor of the president's policies, especially when the president is a democrat.

It's also important to look at dissenting opinions, especially when it comes from the left, and to look at things that don't appear at www.whitehouse.gov.

[HughMoran]

12. Obama is doing a good job

As with all Presidents, he's not everything to everybody, but he's much much much better than average, of that I have no doubt.

[bvar22]

14. I don't know why anyone would be disappointed.

The Obama Administration has been very successful at advancing policy on many fronts.
These are just a few of their major accomplishments:

*WARS fully funded and EXPANDING. Bill sent to our children…...Mission Accomplished !

*Trillion Dollars given to friends and campaign contributors on Wall Street. No Strings Attached...Mission Accomplished!

*Military Spending INCREASED....Mission Accomplished!

*Trillion+ Dollars given to the Health Insurance Industry (Wall Street's incestuous 1st Cousin). Easily Avoidable, symbolic only strings attached....Mission Accomplished!

*Force all Americans to buy invisible and mostly useless products from For Profit Corporations who manufacture NOTHING and create no (Value Added) wealth..."A Uniquely American Solution"..indeed. .....Mission Accomplished!

*Kill the possibility for a REAL "Public Option" or REAL Universal Health Care for at least another generation, and begin the “Entitlement Reform” defunding of Medicare (-$500 Billion)....Mission Accomplished!

*Block ANY REAL (Glass-Steagall) re-regulation of BIG BANKS and Credit Cards....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the Bush War Criminals and Torturers from JUSTICE....Mission Accomplished.

*Throw the GBLTs under the bus and expand "faith based" initiatives....Mission Accomplished!

*Reinforce the worst Police State provisions of the Patriot Act and strengthen the Unitary Executive....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the very richest. Tell the Working Class that they CAN WILL compete with 3rd World Slave Labor for their jobs.....Mission Accomplished!

*EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) killed in the crib....Mission Accomplished!

*More Anti-LABOR "Free Trade"....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Jobless Recovery....Mission Accomplished

*The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party SHUT OUT of the Obama Administration…...Mission Accomplished!

*Accelerate the destruction of Public Education...Mission Accomplished!

*Bury next generation under such a debt burden that they will never be able to afford any social or economic programs that will benefit their Working Class....Mission Accomplished.


AND, all this in just one year!
Who could possible complain? :shrug:
Go TEAM!

Up next, Social Security "Reform".
I just can't wait!!!
:patriot:

[ProSense]

15. You are clearly disappointed.

Enjoy the next few years. As for that list, it reads like instability.

[bvar22]

16. Yes, I am disappointed.

You see, I'm one of those Old Style Pro-Working Class Democrats.
Like This:

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world."---FDR

THATS the "Democratic Party" I joined 46 years ago.
Of course I'm disappointed.
Especially when Obama and the Democratic Party Leadership are out campaigning for old Republicans like Specter and Blanche Lincoln.
What?
Blanche Lincoln is not a REPUBLICAN?
.
.
.
Coulda fooled me.

But I can deal with disappointment.
I've stayed with the Democratic Party for the last 30 disappointing years.
I just won't pretend that everything is rosey tinted and changeolicious, or that the major policy initiatives of the Obama Administration even come close to the "CHANGE" that is desperately needed by Working Class Americans.

Despite what Obama says,
*Wall Street is NOT Main Street.
*We are NOT "fighting terrorism" in Afghanistan (or Iraq).
*He DID campaign on a Public Option.
*The Giant Invisible Hand of the Free Market does NOT exist.

I'll simply keep fighting for the unashamedly LIBERAL Democratic values I have always fought for.


"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[IndianaGreen]

18. K&R

:kick:

[ProSense]

19. The inability to deal with facts often leads to disappointment.

From the previous list: "*Jobless Recovery....Mission Accomplished"

Fact:

[bvar22]

22. Would you like some fries with that?

FACT: "Being on a path to economic recovery" does NOT mean a return of kind of jobs that built America's Middle Class. Those jobs are gone for good ....
sold out by another "Democrat" soon to be know as "The Second Best Republican President Ever".

[ProSense]

23. Interesting

"FACT: 'Being on a path to economic recovery' does NOT mean a return of kind of jobs that built America's Middle Class. Those jobs are gone for good ...."

What does that have to do with the President?

"Being on a path to economic recovery"?

Your claim was "*Jobless Recovery....Mission Accomplished," which is clearly inaccurate.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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

[bvar22]

25. Bullshit....on you're faild attempt to make this about race.

The Democratic Party has many sins to account for, but the "OLD" Democratic Party Leadership embraced Liberal values and moved toward them.

Perhaps you missed THIS line from 1946, quoted above:
"a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Pretty bold and forward moving for 1946.
I'll stand by THAT Democratic leader.
I will also stand with the Liberal Leaders who had the courage to LEAD America, once again toward LIBERAL Values in the Johnson Administration with the Civil Right Act 1964.
They did so because it was the RIGHT thing to do.

Your Civil Rights have decreased under the current administration.

Bullshit on you AGAIN for trying to make this about RACE.
It isn't.
It IS about Economic Justice for EVERYONE...not just the top 1%..."regardless of station, race, or creed."--FDR, 1946



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[Drunken Irishman]

27. It's not about race.

And I didn't fail about anything. I'm only suggesting that the Democratic Party has never, ever been perfect. My dad's Democratic Party sent him off to Vietnam. My grandparents' Democratic Party was filled with southern racism.

For every liberal value they had, the old Democratic Party also supported some very conservative ideological points.

So bullshit on you for ignoring the history of this party you claim to love. :eyes:

[bvar22]

29. The OLD Democratic Party embraced Liberal Values,

and despite some errors, MOVED in the direction of Liberal/Working Class Values.
Can you say the same about today's Democratic Party Leadership?

With a straight face?
:eyes:

"I did not campaign on a Public Option."
"Wall Street is Main Street."
"I did not have sex with that woman."...oops, my bad.

[ProSense]

31. Oh please

George Wallace was a Democrat. You can continue pining away for the good old days

Entering the 1968 election campaign, initially, no prominent Democratic candidate was prepared to run against a sitting president of the Democratic party. Only Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota challenged Johnson as an anti-war candidate in the New Hampshire primary, hoping to pressure the Democrats to oppose the war. On March 12, McCarthy won 42% of the primary vote to Johnson's 49%, an amazingly strong showing for such a challenger. Four days later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York entered the race. Internal polling by Johnson's campaign in Wisconsin, the next state to hold a primary election, showed the President trailing badly. Johnson did not leave the White House to campaign.


President Johnson meets with candidate Richard Nixon in July 1968Johnson had lost control of the Democratic Party, which was splitting into four factions, each of which despised the other three. The first consisted of Johnson (and Humphrey), labor unions, and local party bosses (led by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley). The second group consisted of students and intellectuals who were vociferously against the war and rallied behind McCarthy. The third group were Catholics, Hispanics and African Americans, who rallied behind Robert Kennedy. The fourth group were traditionally segregationist white Southerners, who rallied behind George C. Wallace and the American Independent Party. Vietnam was one of many issues that splintered the party, and Johnson could see no way to win Vietnam<58> and no way to unite the party long enough for him to win re-election.<74>

link

[Drunken Irishman]

32. Where was FDR's public option? LBJ's?

How did they do in their healthcare fight? What about those 70s and 80s liberals? Did they ever reform healthcare?

How about Roosevelt being a strong free-trader? Was that liberal of him? His not supporting anti-lynching policies in the 30s. Was that liberal of him? Was Truman a liberal with his hawkish foreign policy and tough stance toward the Soviet Union? How about Kennedy's passive stance on civil rights for a good number of years? Or Johnson compromising greatly for Medicare and the Civil Rights Act?

Was it liberal of Democratic Big City Bosses to squelch the the populist movement in a great deal of American cities throughout the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s? Was Mayor Daley, a good friend of the Kennedy family, an ideal liberal? How about the southern Democrats? They fought poverty and supported Roosevelt's New Deal. They also opposed integration.

What did the liberal presidents in the 70s and 80s accomplish? Last I checked, not much and that's because they didn't exist.

[impik]

40. Public option? Black were not allowed into Social Security!

Excellent post, by the way.

[ProSense]

28. Oh brother

"I will also stand with the Liberal Leaders who had the courage to LEAD America, once again toward LIBERAL Values in the Johnson Administration with the Civil Right Act 1964."


Yeah, I could see you supporting Johnson on Vietnam.

"Your Civil Rights have decreased under the current administration."

Bullshit.

Maybe you should become familiar with Obama's Presidency.

[Number23]

36. lolol!!!

As for that list, it reads like instability.

Oh My God!! :rofl: :rofl:

my sides!!

[ima_sinnic]

30. +1000 -- & one thing that NEVER disappoints

are your posts, bvar22!

:yourock:

[NYC Liberal]

33. Yes, how HORRIBLE Obama is! Oh how just terrible it is to have a liberal president.

:eyes:

http://www.democrats.org/a/2010/02/the_inconvenien.php

• Passed and implemented a Recovery Act that as multiple reports have verified not only saved the economy from the brink but also funded up to 2 million American jobs.
  
  
• Provided tax cuts for 95 percent of working families.
  
  
• Rebuilt an economy that is growing for the first time in over a year.
  
  
• Cut job losses from almost 800,000 a month to 20,000 a month.
  
  
• Made the largest investment in green technology in history.
  
  
• Made the largest investment in education in history.
  
  
• Lifted the ban on stem cell research and restored science to its rightful place.
  
  
• Raised fuel standards after years of stagnation and objection.
  
  
• Ended predatory credit card practices.
  
  
• Made equal pay for equal work more than a platitude with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
  
  
• Expanded health coverage to 4 million more low income American children with the expansion of SCHIP.
  
  
• Expanded benefits for loving couples that work at the State Department.
  
  
• Lifted the discriminatory, inhumane and unwise ban on immigration of those with HIV/AIDS.
  
  
• Started a process to end the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy to allow patriotic Americans to serve and be true to themselves while we fight two wars.
  
  
• Begun to responsibly wind down the war in Iraq.
  
  
• Implemented a new way forward in Afghanistan in the face of withering criticism from the right and the left.
  
  
• Enhanced American security by repairing our alliances and by restoring the rule of law and our standing in the world.
  
  
• Successfully managed the outbreak of the H1N1 epidemic.
  
  
• Prohibited lobbyists from serving on important boards and commissions.
  
  
• Banned federal lobbyists and political action committees from contributing to the DNC.
  
  
• Enhanced transparency by making all visitors who enter the White House and the names of those with whom they met publicly available.

[impik]

41. But, but, but....

Something, you know...

[Clio the Leo]

17. He even writes his own stuff ...

(with some help of course)

[NJmaverick]

24. Couldn't agree more!

[stevenleser]

26. K&R

[agentS]

34. No, but sometimes I wish he was.

Congress should be carrying the ball a lot more, as it is their responsibility but we have too many conservatives in the Senate and Conservatives, Dems included, don't care about anyone except themselves.

Like a poster mentioned above, there's a lot of justified criticism to be thrown the admin's way, but I think that Obama would have signed a public option bill or other progressive initiatives IF Congress had passed them. So blame Congress. It's their job to write the laws.

[Jakes Progress]

38. To many here it would appear he is

whenever a bill gets signed. Whether the administration ushered it through or fought for it or even thought it up, Obama gets credit for his brave and savvy political wiles.

Whenever we get trounce on things like health care gay rights, then the president is a helpless victim of congress. It is their fault. I didn't see you praise congress for those bills. In other threads, Congress gets the blame for not passing bills. Shouldn't they be celebrated for passing them?

[treestar]

44. A President can't sign anything Congress doesn't pass

They should both get credit, but then, if Congress doesn't pass something, the President shouldn't get blamed for it.

[Jakes Progress]

46. By your argument

the president is a passive actor who is unable to offer, push, or affect legislation. He would be a simple signature machine waiting on congress.

That is certainly not what you mean. My post was that many here blame congress when legislation doesn't pass, but give the president praise for bills that originated in congress, were shepherded through by congressmen, and then sent to his desk. I believe that we have had presidents in the past who drove legislation, who used political savvy and the bully pulpit to make drastic things occur. This is not happening now, and it is disingenuous to simply say that the president is a powerless signing machine that must await the pleasure of congress.

[treestar]

48. He can offer and push and all that

But he can't force them, and that's the way it is supposed to be.

[Ter]

39. No, the CIA is running everything

Or an unknown group even more secret and powerful.

[stevenleser]

43. You forgot the sarcasm tag.

People might think you are serious. Some people actually believe that.

[Ter]

45. I thought we all believed it

Shadow Government. :)

[stevenleser]

47. Nope. I think conspiracy theories like that are for people too weak to try to work for change

:-)