So this is the main idea: I'm not hearing that simple statement: The Republican Party controls the finances of this country. It should be the first thing out of every Democrats mouth every single time they're on tv about every single subject. This is my opinion on why that's not happening.
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Greg Sargent makes a point that needs to be repeated continuously regarding the carping of Congressional Democrats that Obama "lead" them when they can't come to an agreement themselves:
Maybe it’s fair to blame Obama’s lack of leadership for the Dems’ failure to articulate a coherent alternative vision to the GOP’s austerity/cut-cut-cut frame. But at what point do Congressional Dems take some responsibility for their own internal bickering and their own perpetual willingness to lend rhetorical support to the GOP’s fiscal worldview?
The President made a successful case in the State of the Union for the country to invest more in several areas while freezing government salaries and spending at current levels in other areas; threading the needle on the deficit issue. Congressional democrats, rather than building on that message went their own way and have yet to come to an agreement despite the attempts Schumer has made to put everyone on the same page. AND Despite the fact that the President has been out there every day since the SOTU detailing investments that should be made and legislative vehicles that could be used. Rather than amplify this message, Congressional Democrats have ignored it to their detriment. While Obama is talking jobs; Congressional Democrats say nothing on the subject and Republicans talk cuts (a message Senate Moderates decide to amplify like Mark Warner and Co.). We read a lot about how Obama is now FDR, but FDR had Huey Long in the senate fighting to his left. Huey Long made clear the Republicans were stuck in one place, FDR was the middle and in his opinion the country needed to move left. He created space for FDR to maneuver; FDR didn't do that at all. FDR took the opportunity to present his ideas as centrist.
That to me is the fundamental problem with all the critiques of the White House I read on Daily Kos. The image this site and frankly the entire political press is that the President is the center of political gravity; no. Political gravity rests in the states as the 2008 primaries showed, as the tea party protests showed, and as these state budget fights are illustrating from WI to OH to IN to FL.
The President has only as much space as Democrats go out and create for him; like quarter back he's got to throw the ball before he gets sacked by the political machine gunning for every one of his policies. But this White House has no defenders in Congress and precious few in the blogosphere.
A great example of this is this broadside against the President by Anthony Weiner:"Obama is not a values guy." Uh Huh.
But Republicans, Weiner said, have nonetheless long done a better job of making their case -- "smaller government, smaller deficits, lower taxes" -- to the public and each other. The Democratic Party remains unclear as to its core policy principles, Weiner said, and part of the problem is Obama.
"On our side is this weird squishy affirmative sense of what government should do and how we're opposed to this cut and that cut, rather than saying, 'Here are the things: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, environment and education. We're not cutting those. Those are off the table. That's non-negotiable,'" said Weiner, adding, "We haven't really done that very well. That's because the president fundamentally -- he's not a values guy. He wants to try to get the best deal for the American people and that's virtuous in its own right, but it becomes very difficult to make a strategy. There's been much greater global strategy thinking on [progressive media] outlets, frankly, than at 1600 Pennsylvania."
That's bullshit.
The facts are very simple. I don't see people like Weiner on TV defending the President's policy proposals or even making policy proposals to his left day in and out; I see them rather rarely usually in the fourth quarter on concrete issues like the health care fight and likely the budget fight to come. I don't see them fighting the fight against the GOP on MSNBC forget FOX; day in and out. I don't see the cover fire on the progressive blogs at all. And a key example of this is the public option fight.
Rather than fight over the public option; there was no one on the left who came out to propose universal health care to create space for a public option. Everyone seemed to expect the President to propose this at the end but instead of putting the fight to the left everyone tried for the public option (something that was never proposed by the Democratic party in 2008) and ended up with the health plan Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards campaigned on. Then, rather than defend this victory said it made the Democratic Party no better than the Republican Party and played the No Change Happened idea.
This fundamentally suppressed the Democratic base IMO and it wasn't the President's fault. It was because Congressional Democrats were to cowardly for the most part to fight this shit out in public and progressive blogs sulked.
The same damn thing happened with the stimulus; rather than defend it and say it was great liberal policy we need more progressives sulked and said we'll never get another bite at the apple and created self-fulfilling prophecy. Again, the Congressional Democrats and Progressive blogosphere ceded control to the Republican party.
As we enter this budget fight; I don't want to watch history repeat itself. Democrats need to get united but baring that we need to keep the focus on the Republican party. Right now, the Republicans control the purses strings in this country and that fact should be repeated daily on the regular.
I'm not hearing that simple statement: The Republican Party controls the finances of this country. It should be the first thing out of every Democrats mouth every single time they're on tv about every single subject. You know for damn sure the Republicans are pushing the "we need more power" argument. And it's not happening because to many people are looking for someone to blame for their troubles; they're not playing to win.
A lot of people are disappointed in the President for a variety of reasons and I respect that: maybe you think he's to much of a Rockefeller Republican type, maybe you feel like the civil liberties in this country and the state they're in are unforgivable, maybe you just are sick and tired of feeling like corporations are winning. Me, I look a the odds against every single proposal the White House has put forth and the corporate interests (that have gotten stronger under the law because of the Supreme Court) and I am amazed at the good that HAS happened. I look at the complete abdication of governance by Congress (and it was chicken shit that Democrats were too scared to pass a budget, I agree with Boehner on that even through Republicans have done it too) and I am amazed at the good that has happened for the country.
We have an opportunity in 2012 to retake power and move forward in this country. In 2010, we took a big step backward. But that won't happen unless every gets on the same hymnal and I'm alarmed and angry after everything that it hasn't happening.