Make Me Do It.

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Thursday May 14, 2009 · 11:06 PM PDT

2009/05/14 · 23:06

All of us have issues and points of view that we want the President to stand by and stand on.

The question is not do we want these things. The question is: How do we get the President to do what (in many cases) he promised he would do and that we want him to do?

Let's take a look at a lesson from History:

ROGER WILKINS, April 28, 2008:

Now, let me just make two observations about presidents and getting things done. There is an old story that maybe some of you have heard.

Sidney Hillman was a big labor leader. He had helped Roosevelt when Roosevelt was the governor and he helped him in the '32 campaign. So he went to the White House and he was welcomed as he should have been. He said, here is what you have to do Mr. President, da, da, da, da, da, da. And the story goes that President Roosevelt said,

"Sidney I agree with everything in your proposal, it is all exactly right, Now You Just Go Back Home and Make Me Do It."

(caps in last sentence added by me for emphasis)

More below the fold ...

Again in the era of President Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act this story is relayed by Roger Wilkins:

... the same thing happened with Lyndon Johnson and the voting rights act.

He wanted to do the Voting Rights Act, he had used up a lot of chits on the Civil Rights Act and he just engaged in a very long romancing of Martin Luther King, Jr., to make sure that King put his people on the streets and kept the people's feet to the fire and move along and he essentially said to King - - "Make Me Do It." (quotation marks ... mine)

And King put the people on the street, and then there was pressure from inside the government on the president - - with which I was associated - - and it happened.
- - Roger Wilkins

My Point:

Single Payer Health Care ... Make Him Do It.

Prosecutions on Torture ... Make Him Do It.

Supreme Court Pick Most Can Support ... Make Him Do It.

Caps on Credit Card Interest ... Make Him Do It.

We, the people, have to raise our voices on all and any issues that we really care about. We have got to make calls to Congress. We've got to write letters. We've got to be Activist. We've got to apply pressure. Make our Senators and Congress Persons know that we will organize Against them for the Votes they cast and the Legislation they support/or fail to support.

Politics is a Game of Compromise. There will be No Perfect Legislation. There is only better and worst. Barack Obama is a President ... Not a Genie. There are No Magic Wands. He is Not a Dictator. His word is Not law. Our Republic does not work that way. Majority rule is Not an Absolute.

The President may have the "Will" but We Have to be the "Force".

Just My Opinion ...

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Make YOUR voice heard!

Make Me Do It.

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