Thursday, October 29, 2009
Bob Herbert on Obama:Excerpts: Obama was swept into office on a wave of change that was driven by the economic distress being felt by millions of American families. People were more than willing to swallow big government deficits if that was the only way to stabilize the economy and relieve their personal economic plight. Well, the economy has been stabilized, more or less, and the president and the Fed deserve credit for fending off a catastrophe. But from the public’s perspective, not nearly enough has been done to improve the economic health of the average American. Voters are being told that the recession is over, but what they see in their daily lives are continuing job losses, an epidemic of foreclosures, families going bankrupt, homelessness rising and so on. (...)
The widespread feeling among people I’ve talked to over the past few weeks is that the only ones benefiting from deficits being driven to the moon are the big banks and Wall Street. (...)
The disenchantment I’m hearing from people who wholeheartedly supported Obama, and not just liberals, is palpable and growing. It’s early, but the big changes people were hoping for have not materialized, and voters don’t seem to be in the mood now for initiatives — even necessary ones — that will cost a lot of money. The Democrats were given a very strong political hand when Obama took office, and they have not played it well.
posted by Quiddity at 10/29/2009 08:24:00 PM
7 comments
I voted for Obama, and I'm not at all disenchanted. But then, I knew I was only electing a president, not a miracle worker. I knew I was voting for a guy who'd have to clean up the colossal mess the Republicans left behind. I'm not dumb enough to believe the recession is anywhere near over. I knew things would get worse before they got better.
In other words, I don't have my head buried up my ass like the people Bob Herbert claims to have spoken with.
the further we drift away from the wall street collapse, the harder it will be to institute consequential regulatory reforms with teeth.
did y'all see frontline's "the warning"?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/
the episode concluded with an ominous warning.
BROOKSLEY BORN: I think we will have continuing danger from these markets and that we will have repeats of the financial crisis. It may differ in details, but there will be significant financial downturns and disasters attributed to this regulatory gap over and over until we learn from experience.
how many times do we have to get hit over the head to learn this lesson? my god, we can't afford to go through this again.
The Democrats were given a very strong political hand when Obama took office, and they have not played it well.
Not played it well? How about not played it at all. If the Republicans had ever had the kinds of majorities the Democrats enjoy, we would now have no estate tax, no capital gains tax, and the start of a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
But we're Democrats. So despite having overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, we begin by giving up everything, and then compromise away what's left. The country needs a trillion-dollar stimulus? Eh, we'll start below that and then let the "centrists" strip out all the aid to the states that would keep state payrolls alive. Healthcare reform? Eh, we won't even think about single payer, and we'll make sure we negotiate away most of the public option so that we end up with a bill that's completely ineffective.
Fuck these assholes! Fuck Harry Reid for letting Joe Lieberman hang onto his chairmanship! Fuck Nancy Pelosi for allowing so many blue dogs to piss on her legs. Fuck 'em all! If the Democrats cannot accomplish their primary stated goals while having 60 seats in the Senate, a powerful majority in the House and the presidency, the party deserves to lose.
Assholes!
10/30/2009 6:05 PM
the legislation that allows for reconciliation process (50 votes plus 1) didn't exist during the stimulus debate. that only got pushed through after april. reid & the white house had to do horse trading just to get any kind of stimulus passed. we were lucky to get what we did. if it weren't for collins, specter & snowe - it would not have passed at all. then where would we have been?
re reconciliation legislation,
should have included my source:
http://www.zimbio.com/Congressman+Rahm+Emanuel/articles/134/Health+Care+Reform+Filibuster
and this sounds like pelosi double crossed the blue dogs:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/30/how-the-blue-dogs-cost-ph_n_340257.html
Obama's United States of Goldman Sachs economic team, adding troop strength/increasing the military budget and wimp ass attitude to single payer/public option makes me yearn for a Presidential primary contender from the left that will allow us to throw the bum out.
He is, like Bill Clinton, a blue dog centrist.
|
