Basically the Obama administration is filled with arrogant lightweights with way more

[xultar]

Talk than walk.

Rank Amateurs.

That is how I see it.

[Skittles]

1. they are in way over their heads

[xultar]

4. I thought they would have been more gutsy and savvy. They totally

Squandered a historic election and lost DADT and the Public option.

[catgirl]

12. We have not lost DADT

Why keep pushing this?

[AlinPA]

17. Why would republicans vote for repeal with the teabaggers staring them down?

[chimpymustgo]

15. xultar, I honestly don't think this can be explained by lack of guts or savvy. It's been deliberate

every step of the way.

From healthcare reform to everything Bush-era carrying over.

This is an agenda.

[Whisp]

2. you're seeing double again, and fuzzily

[ProSense]

3. The problem with much of the analysis on the deal

is that it focuses on what the Republicans got.

Democrats wanted the tax cuts for the middle class.

Republicans wanted a permanent tax cut for the rich.

Republicans got a 2-year extension

Democrats got the middle-class tax cuts, unemployment and several other initiatives.

These are things they would never be able to get in the next Congress.

[xultar]

5. True but they could have gotten more in this one if they didn't let teabagger summer

GO on too long last year.

They squandered time and the fact that they had the house and the senate.

[ProSense]

6. They still have the House and Senate.

Until the tax cuts expire, they're in the same position relatively. There is a case for having held this vote before the election. The WH wanted it, but the House decided against it.

[Hardrada]

7. The White House certainly wasn't pushing very hard. What we lack in all this

is leadership. We would like an FDR or Truman or even an LBJ but what we get is an incredible display of appeasement as though all this is playing out in Munich and not DC.

[pa28]

8. Some Democrats think we're in "the best of all possible worlds".

So, naturally anything President Obama does is correct and just.

That's faith based politics and I really think now is the time to push back and revolt. He said "hold my feet to the fire" and I'm thinking now is the moment for those manicured toes to feel a little heat and get a little touch of the flame.

[CakeGrrl]

9. "Manicured toes" - bitter much?

You don't seem to consider the nuance of the counter-arguments against the ham-fisted, inartful conclusions that Obama simply "sucks".

So, let's see what this "flame" looks like in this grand revolutionary vision.

[pa28]

11. Yeah. A little bitter.

I never expected Obama to be liberal hero. I paid attention to the details during the primary and election so I'm not really shocked or devastated by the real world practices of this administration.

The scale of the giveaways have left me a little stunned however.

As for the "grand revolutionary vision" there is none. We do, however, have a vacuum on the left and it could be filled pretty quickly. Check again in March.

[jeanpalmer]

10. Do they even talk the talk?

They're Reaganites. They've bought into supply-side, "free trade," trickle down, the whole works.

[ladjf]

16. Early on Obama was singing the praises of Ronald Reagan.

I thought at the time that perhaps he was making some subtle political move that would help him advance his agenda. It wasn't a subtle political move. He simply was dumb enough to believe that Reagan was some sort of hero American. Didn't he remember that Reagan kicked off his Presidential run with a speech made in Philadelphia, Ms.?

[Ikonoklast]

13. For 'amateurs, they have accomplished a great deal in the face of staunch opposition.

Some from his own party.


Let's see you fight a war where part of your army is unreliable.

[secondwind]

14. It's not over yet. Pelosi may have something up her sleeve, House Dems are not happy,

some Dems are indicating willingness to stay behind for Christmas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders is willing to filibuster, etc. Maybe Franken and Feingold will join him. It's not over yet.

[tekisui]

18. That, or a bunch of conservatives.