Take a minute. Breathe. And ask yourself that question. Would you rather have John McCain as your president right now? Because President Obama isn't perfect but he is better than the alternative. And in 2 years ask yourself this, would you rather have liberals and conservative Democrats in control of Congress or would you rather have a Republican party even more right wing than it was in 1995 or 2001?
I'm a proud Independent. I'm a proud Progressive. I'm a proud Liberal. And I stand with President Barrack Obama. I stand with Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi. And if it avoids my ever having to say Majority Leader Mitch McConnell I even stand with Majority Leader Harry Reid. I stand with my Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. I stand with my Congressman Gary Peters. I stand against the right. I stand against John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and John Kyl. I continue to reject John McCain and Sara Palin. I laugh at and scorn Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. I STAND WITH THE PRESIDENT AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Yes the Obama administration has not been perfect. But let's not make better a bad word. Because I did not wake up from an 8 year coma on January 20th 2009. I lived through 8 years of George Bush and 6 years of Republican rule. I'm not going there again if I can help it. EVER. And neither should any of you. The Obama administration did not come in and fart gold and shit rainbows. They had to govern in the reality that is Washington DC and work with the a legislative system constitutionally designed to work slow. But let's not make perfect the enemy of good again.
The Republicans have turned this country into a single issue nation again. They are very good at that. you can do that when your ideology controls 90% of talk radio and the nations largest media empire. But they don't own us. We're going to let a public option now decide whether or not we continue to support. We're going to fail to remind the American people of all the good that has been done by this administration and this Congress? We're going to let the Right control our debate? We are an active and informed community and yet we are going to ignore the good that this Congress and this President have done and just focus on the bad? We f-ing deserve to lose if that is how we want to act.
Do we now have an administration that has really banned torture. Yes we do. Do we have an administration that is actively trying to close the abomination that is Guantanamo? Yes we do. And has it been easy? No. Have they been attacked by friend and foe for how they have tried to do this? Yes. Is the President given credit by his supposed supporters for what he has done? No. Because the actions have not been perfectly in line with everything the left wants. Because we can't allow politics in the real world.
Did Congress finally expand S-CHIP? Yes. Did this president actually sign it? Yes. Did the last President Veto it and the Republicans in Congress not vote to over-ride the veto? Yes. And now a few million more kids get health care. And we ignore this accomplishment.
Did Congress finally pass the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act and the President sign it? Yes. Would this have happened with a Republican Congress and Republican President? No. And we ignore this accomplishment.
Did Congress pass a stimulus package and the president sign it? Yes. Did it include real spending as well as tax cuts for the middle class? Yes. Was it designed for a long term bridge instead of a short term shot in the arm? Yes. What would we have gotten out of a Republican President and Republican congress? We saw their options - tax cuts for the rich so more trickle down failures could occur. We all know the stimulus was watered down to get "moderate" votes and pick up those valuable three Republican votes for cloture. But it was the best bill possible at the time. So is the solution to get more Progressive Democrats and less Republicans and moderates? I would think so, but the defeatist talk I keep seeing here seems to be to give up on the Dems we have and let the Republicans take over.
Did Obama save the auto industry? This one is near and dear to me since I live in Michigan and work in this industry. He did save us. He saved 3 million middle class jobs in this country. He saved multiple states from 20% unemployment. But the rest of the country doesn't care about us here and even a lot of supposed liberals and progressives don't care about us either. So there is no credit here. But those of us here who look at the facts know that a bank run bankruptcy was impossible at the time given banks would not lend. The domestic auto industry was dead. Except that President Obama took on the wrath of the left and the right and he saved 3 million jobs by having the federal government back bankruptcy financing and provide loans and negotiate with the creditors. And yeah, people lost jobs. Friends of mine. Family of mine. But the majority of 3 million people did not. But he saved the auto industry and a good deal of domestic manufacturing in America. And John McCain and the Republicans would have left us to die to kill the Unions. And yet we again ignore this accomplishment.
The Obama administration prevented The Great Depression 2.0. We all saw it coming. We all saw where we were going. But we choose to ignore the cliff we were hanging over now that things are not as bad. And many deals with the devil had to be done to save our collective asses. And they are extremely unpopular. But ask yourself - would we be better off if we had gone the republican route? Yeah, there are progressives who say we gave too freely (I agree) and we should have nationalized some zombie banks (I agree again) but remember the Republican alternative - let them die. Do we remember how much that scared us even more. So yeah, the economic recovery isn't great right now, but would you prefer the alternative with the other guy? I don't want to go there. We are in the Great Recession. I don't want to live in a Great Depression. Things are on a tenuous road to recovery, do you want to hand control to the party that got us here in 2010. I don't.
Do we even talk about climate change in a Republican administration? I don't care what you think about the House Climate Bill, it's better than nothing and it's a start. Every environmental bill we've ever passed ahs been considered too little when it starts. But you know what, a Democratic House passed something, a Republican House would not have.
And let's look at the health care debate? We will get the removal of pre-existing conditions. We will get rid of the insurance industries ability to drop you when you get sick. We will get portability. We will get subsidies for families up to 300 or 400% of the poverty level. We will get insurance exchanges modeled on what the federal government has. We will eliminate the inefficiency that is Medicare Advantage. We will fix the Medicare prescription drug program. We will fund the bill. We are arguing over a "public" option that is really a "competitive" option. Would we even be having a health care discussion with a Republican Congress or under a McCain administration? Heck no. And if we did we would be fighting to keep them from taxing our health insurance and handing poor people a $5000 tax credit to buy $12000 insurance. And we'd be trying to explain why opening up insurance across state lines without strict regulation was insane and how tort reform just hurts the patients, doesn't help the doctors and rewards the insurance industry. Would we be fixing Medicare or removing pre-existing conditions? Not a chance. Remember that when you argue that we might as well not have elected Democrats. Remember, in John McCain's world health insurance is a privilege. Do you think a Republican Congress or Administration was going to put this much effort into fighting the status quo.
The Obama administration and the Democratic Congress has done a lot of good things in 8 months. They have done some bad things too. And they have a lot more to do. But I have no question in my mind that this year has not been more of the same. And life would have been a lot worse with President John McCain. And I know that if in 2011 it is Speaker of The House Eric Cantor and Majority Leader McConnell our lives will be worse. What we have isn't perfect, and what we get might not be perfect but I believe that what we will get will be better than anything we would see with the Republicans in charge. If we even saw anything.
But don't become single issue focused. Don't disregard everything that has been done because everything is not perfect or your top issue has not been met or you disagree with what has been done or not done. Look at the whole. Look at the alternatives. And ask yourself would this country, this world, your life, my life, anyone's lives would be better served if we had Barrack Obama and the Democratic Congress working for us or John McCain and a Republican Congress working for us?
And that is why I stand with President Barrack Obama. And why I stand with Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi. And why I even stand with Majority Leader Harry Reid. And why I stand with my Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. And why I stand with my Congressman Gary Peters. I STAND WITH THE PRESIDENT AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY because imperfect as it might be they do stand for me.