What Obama should have done

[Taverner]

I'm not going to mince words: Obama failed

From day one of the budget negotiations, he should have laid out a budget he and the Democrats would agree with.

Then he should have rejected any budget that didn't align with his

Let the Government shut down, and then have EVERY DEM on the same talking point: The GOP has shut down our government.

Repeat it, over and over. When the GOP whines, repeat it louder. When the orange man starts crying, tell him he should cry because HE SHUT DOWN OUR GOVERNMENT.

[Solomon]

1. Mince all you want. Or.. unmince or .....

not mince. Whatever.

[Taverner]

4. I'll make mincemeat out of those words!!!!!

[MineralMan]

2. Sadly, we have a nation that is almost equally divided in

many areas. Right now, the Republicans have control of the Congressional house that must create all spending bills. That presents some real difficulties for a Democratic President. The President cannot even introduce a budget bill or any other bill in Congress. And all spending and budget bills originate in the House of Representatives.

It's a difficult situation. In the meantime, the nation must continue to operate. We don't have until 2012 to pay federal workers or fulfill other governmental responsibilities. We simply do not.

Many people seem to thing the President of The United States has more power than he actually has. Our system of government actually mandates a rather weak Presidency, leaving the business of legislation with the Congress. That's how it was laid out in the Constitution. A rewriting of most of that document would be required to allow the President to do what you recommend. As it stands, he has little actual input into budget and spending bills.

[Taverner]

3. I think part of the problem is our party's inability to have the same message

This was classically demonstrated during the 2004 election. John Kerry was saying "Help is on the way" and John Edwards was saying "Hope is on the way"

It may be a minor thing, but to me that demonstrates the core of our party's disconnect

I hate the Republicans, but they do know how to stay on message

[MineralMan]

7. No, not really. That isn't the problem. The problem is that we

let the Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives in 2010. Had we not done that, things would be going differently right now. But, that's what we did. some may argue about why the Republicans were able to retake the House. Clearly, though, lousy turnout in 2010 by Democrats was a major factors. The result is very obvious to all of us.

For President Obama, he's been put in a very, very awkward position. No budget or spending measures can be introduced by Democrats in the House and have any chance of success. The government still has to operate and, without a budget, it cannot. You may not think you need the Federal government, but you're very incorrect in that thinking. We all depend on the money flowing. All of us.

So, we get a lousy compromise spending bill. The President and the Democrats can force some stuff to be removed from House spending bills, but only because we still control the Senate (sort of) and because President Obama still has the power of the veto. We can force the removal of some stuff, but we cannot introduce a damn thing, since there's a Republican majority in the House.

That's how it works. That's how it was designed to work. There's no way to change how it works without a very long process that, again, would have to have Republican support to succeed.

If you're expecting President Obama to be able to stop stupid Republican budgetary measures, you're expecting more than he can deliver. He can block some things, and the veto still has power, but he cannot put anything at all into any budget this year. Nothing. All he can do is prevent stuff from staying in the budget. And he can't even stop all of the stuff he'd like to.

Realism is important when discussing politics. It's not pretty sometimes, but it's always important.

[Taverner]

9. Well I agree that 2010 hinged on GOTV

And our side did not GOTV very well

However, I do think that cohesion also plays a big part too - think the 2006 Congress. We had both houses. Bush was commonly thought of as a failure. Yet we did nothing. We could have ended the wars (defunding them) we could have started work on single payer, we could have even increased Medicare to EVERYONE. We could have impeached Bush and Cheney. But we didn't.

[damntexdem]

14. Taverner is still correct about what Obama should have done.

Any president can recommend a budget to Congress, and many have. It's use of the "bully pulpit" to frame the discussion. This is one that Obama failed.

[WiffenPoof]

5. I'll Tell You What He Should Have Done...

He should have held his ground on the original promise concerning tax cuts for the rich or he should have changed party affiliation. Period.

[Taverner]

6. Agreed

[JoePhilly]

10. And DU would crucify him for having broken his promise not to ...

increase taxes on the 95% of Americans making less than 250k.

[hfojvt]

8. so you really wanted a Government shut down?

Your plan seems ludicrous at best. Obama is going to reject any effort at compromise and then blame Republicans for a Government shut down? On which planet are the American people gonna buy that?

Nor should they buy it. You cannot blame the other side, if YOU refuse to compromise.

If your standard of success is such that you are gonna blame Obama every time he doesn't raise up his staff and part the Red Sea then, "if you don't mind my saying so there's not a man alive who can hope to measure up to that blend of Paul Bunyan, St. Pat and Noah Webster you've concocted for yourself out of your Irish imagination and Iowa stubbornness and your library full of books."

[Taverner]

11. Yes...yes I did

Look - if the government was shut down, that would have looked very bad on the GOP. If we stayed on message we could have tied that around their necks.

BTW...who's this Irish Iowan you're talking about? I'm a Heinz 57 Californian...

[hfojvt]

12. the Irish Iowan is a young music teacher who works at the Library

amateur theater but not too bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zlkyNvlAc


You cannot stay on message if your message is a lie. "It's their fault" doesn't really work if you are the one who refused to compromise. Only a fanboy or fangirl is gonna believe that kind of message.

[Taverner]

13. Understood

Thing is, "it's their fault" worked for the GOP

Somehow 9/11 became Clinton's fault (most likely that Clenis again!) because of this

[hfojvt]

15. almost nobody blames 911 on Clinton

"everybody knows" it was the Saddamy-man.

Plus, Republicans have a noise machine that includes about 80% of the M$M. So they can do crap that our side cannot. Nor would I really want our side to play that way.

[Taverner]

16. Remember during the 9/11 hearings?

The GOP talking heads "concluded" that it was Clinton who was asleep at the wheel, not Bush.

These guys never miss a chance to blame everything on the Democrats, and we pretend like we didn't hear it

[subterranean]

17. He'll have at least one more chance to take your advice

when they make the budget for next year.