Without Obama, We Lost So Much More Than an Election

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/without_obama_we_lost_so_much_more_than_an_election_20110124/

Without Obama, We Lost So Much More Than an Election

Posted on Jan 24, 2011
AP / Charles Dharapak

By Bill Boyarsky


The selfish negativity expressed by Republicans in the House health care debate last week showed why we should fight hard for President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Although their speeches were so canned, repetitive and boring that it was almost impossible to listen to them, the message was clear: Beat Obama, dismantle the health bill and take government out of the business of helping people. “Put a president in the White House who will repeal this bill,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the tea party’s chief harridan, “a Senate that will repeal this bill. We will continue this fight until Obamacare is no longer the law of the land.”

Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Republican leader on fiscal matters, expressed the goal in even starker terms, going far beyond health care and heaping scorn on the very idea of the safety net that has been part of American life since the Great Depression:

“Over time, Americans have been lured into viewing government—more than themselves, their families, their communities, their faith—as their main source of support; they have been drawn toward depending on the public sector for growing shares of their material and personal well-being. The trend drains individual initiative and personal responsibility. It creates an aversion to risk, sapping the entrepreneurial spirit necessary for growth, innovation, and prosperity.”

snip//

The Republicans want to repeal the entire package and wipe out the other government programs created to help people in economic distress. All they have to offer is a ringing call for a return to Victorian days, as proposed in Rep. Ryan’s roadmap. And they insist on doing it as the country is barely recovering from a recession caused by Republican policies. That’s reason enough for us to start working now to make sure Obama wins another term.

[derby378]

1. Unless, of course...

...a Democratic primary challenger comes forward with an actual progressive agenda. At the very least Obama will be kept on his toes.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Current data on hypothetical matchups:

2012 President: Democratic Primary

78% Obama, 10% Dean
79% Obama, 8% Sanders
59% Obama, 28% Clinton

source poll 12/10/2010 NH Journal @ http://www.magellanstrategies.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/NHJournal-Magellan-New-Hampshire-2012-Dem-Presidential-Primary-Survey-Release-121710.pdf

[AtomicKitten]

3. Like Rep. Weiner asked: We know what the Rs are against, but what are they for?

Mitch McConnell flat-out said their #1 priority is to prevent a second term for Pres Obama. They aren't interested in governing and I'm pretty sure they don't know how.

[babylonsister]

4. ...I'm pretty sure they don't know how.

:thumbsup:

:hi: