He’s dead to me, and it is going to take a lot to bring him back to life.

I hope by the time the 2012 campaign is fully underway the messaging is at least slightly better than that.

Why do you hope CREEP’s messaging improves? So we can re-elect a warmongering torturer and corporate bagman?

Or just because he’s Obama?

Amusingly enough, there’s already an ad for him running here. It asks if you’re “in.” I’m “out,” President Rightwing McAsskisser. Fuck you.

What I find despicable is that he chose to announce his reelection bid on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, subliminally linking his personal ambition to the reverence that’s held for Dr. King by his and the traditional Democratic voter base, blacks, the poor, and the working class, all the while working to weaken their safeguards and safety nets, in exchange for his corporate funding base’s higher profit margins.

This is also a cynical dare to the Left to challenge him in the primary. The 2010 US Census reported that there are now 309 million Americans. Are we as a nation so mentally infirm or spineless that we can only contemplate voting for one Democrat or seven Republicans for 2012?

I don’t vote for condoners of torture.

I think I’ve made it clear in the past, I am actively campaigning against this big zero

we are far better off when the republican in office is dressed in their red attire rather then a republican dressed in blue like obama

he has gotten far more right wing corporate agenda enacted then any repuke could have ever enacted and this has to be put to an end

in addition, notice MUST BE SERVED, when you get voted in as a democrat you behave like one or you get un-elected

I am actively campaigning against this president, a worse president then bush, the previous worst president in our history

Not in.

More here (not much more).

I watched the video several times, and I still can’t find any thing resembling a real message in it. There is no mention of anything President Obama has accomplished

Jeeze you watched that crap…not me, no interest.

He did not mention accomplishments because I am sure he did not want to mention, continued torture, continued murder in foreign lands, continued illegal incarceration, sellout to Goldman Sachs, sell out to big pharma, gifts for the insurance companies, reduced Soc. Sec cheques, disgusting right wing appointments etc, etc, etc.

As for something other than empty rhetoric…well forget it.

Really not in.

F&%^ you, Barry. You still owe me from 2008. I have a feeling that I’ll never see the 2008 IOU redeemed.

Right now my choice is between voting Republican or third party. I’m leaning toward third party.

Oh, and cuz I live in Minnesota, f$!@ Klobuchar too.

More corporatism and/or imperialism? Where do I sign up?/s

I see the first Republican officially jumped in the race

His only hope if for the Republicans to offer up someone like Palin as the alternative.

I watched the video several times, and I still can’t find any thing resembling a real message in it. There is no mention of anything President Obama has accomplished, nor was there any mention of the issues the president wants to tackle if re-elected.

Obama is the non-crazy, moderate Republican in the race. They can take their message, improve it all they want, but it won’t change the fact he doesnt represent a party worth preserving.

There’s no message because there no “there” there. He apparently lost interest in actually being prez about 2 days after he won. So I’ve lost interest in him.

It is a challenge to think of his claiming success on any of his promises….Oh, Health care that gave the drug benefit to corps…not the people. Where is the list he will rely on? Fair question, I think.

And much more war, if you want to claim that.

C’mon folks, you’re being too hard on him.

Now, I don’t have much affection for Obama since he is a Conservative Democrat and wearing our Party raiments for being an Neo-Liberal. However, there is is much that can be said for his candidacy, since no “progressive” is willing to take him head-on in a presidential candidacy race. To wit, he is the “standard” to which Progressives can measure themselves relative to public policy beneficial to the Middle Class and the Poor.

Therefore, for those that are far more disenchanted with Obama than I, perhaps, the Progressive Effort should be focused on “finding” a Progressive Candidate that will challenge him from the Center-Left? And even better, if the Progressive was of a “no-name” account. Thus, the opportunity would present itself in “buiding” this agenda from scratch. And if this candiate were a female Democrat, much the better. And if we keep our eye on the ball, online fundraising establishes instant “street cred” or so I believe.

Consequently, walking away from a “political fight” is not the way to go, since America’s women’s issues will have to be addressed forthrightly, and which has been MIA to date, and which will bedevil him relative to his current and perceived success.

Jaango

You would have to be a vacuous, wannabe, idiot to vote for Obama. That’s who the ad is targeting.

Let me give to Oilbama’s campaign out of my unemployment compensation. Oh, wait! He already gave that to the rich. Guess you’ll have to get it from them.
Douchebag.

I watched the video several times, and I still can’t find any thing resembling a real message in it.

Hey! Look how well “We Suck Less’ worked in 2010. Gotta stay with your strengths.

I notice that Daily Kos has none of this up, at least on the front page. I can interpret that several ways, none of which are good for Oilbama.

I will actively campaign against him as well. Who will I campaign for? I don’t know, but not a republican.

Sad, but I suspect he’ll coast to an easy win, but at least without my support or vote.

If the people here are largely against him it’s reason enough for me to support him.

As I mentioned on another thread, the only reason the repug party is so strong now is due to president bipartisan breathing life into them. In he had governed as he campaigned, the repugs would be marginalized and we would be well on the way to a revivification of our sorely hurting nation. The motu saw to it that we would not be so happy. Instead, we are well on the way to fascism.

It’s a small story about half way down at Huff Post. Ho Hum.

Obama thought he could assume the Martin Luther King Jr brand, without actually doing anything. Obama also did embrace Ronbo Reagan, the political opposite, who liberally used racism to bash liberals.

And Obama has copied the illegal wars, weapons and assassins. Remember Reagan blasted a civilian Iranian airliner out of the sky. That was probably revenge against Iran for revealing money for weapons and drugs and hostages, that Reagan and Ollie North traded with Iran.

And the remarkable 2010 campaign, Obama conspired with Teabggers, steal Social Security to pay for the neo-con wars.

Obama=mealymouth chicken hawk babykilling quisling sockpuppet

Well, this strategy works when you’re a blank slate. Not so good if we know that you trumpet republican policies at almost every turn, helping your big donor bankster base ever so coincidentally…fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…is there a third party or primary challenger out there?

Jon Walker

“Maybe I’m being too critical given that this is merely the first web ad of a very long campaign, but, so far, the campaign theme seems to be re-elect President Obama because he is Obama”

this is going to be OBAMA campaign theme until Nov 2012 Jon Walker.

it is not like Obama can say the following

did Obama end the bush wars? No
did Obama fix the USA economy? No
did Obama end the Bush tax cuts? No

you get the point,

I think the entire Obama re-election campaign is going to be hilarious! :)

Groups like PCCC, FDL, and others not yet seen, control a lot of Obama votes, and David Axelrod, David Plouffe and others know it!

Obama better buy some good knee pads, he is going to need them. Obama is going to have to take begging for votes to a new level!

If I was Obama I would go hug Gov. Walker ASAP! Gov. Walker will be one of the main reasons OBAMA wins in 2012.

Dems are going to be so pissed at Gov. Walker, that a lot of them may forget about the evil that is OBAMA.

that about sums it up

I stopped going to HuffPost AOL.

Good morning, Raven. It’s nice to see you here even if you’re grumpy.

For me the worst is he has stabbed the American people in the back. People lives hang in the balance and he kicks them to the curb. He is the worst kind person, (if you can call him that) there is. He is pure evil and I will regret voting him for a long time.

Offhand, I’d say Daily Kos these days is running about 50/50 on Obama love/hate.

Markos would have been smart to sell off his blog right after Nov. 2008.

All 3 ads on the top fold of the front page here are Obama campaign ads. Austerity for us, though.

I wonder if he, or the people around him, don’t know what everyone else knows—- that he is totally full of shit. I guess they don’t ask about that in their polling.

If there isn’t a good third party candidate that I can really get behind, I’m writing my own name in. People can whine about how I’m “wasting my vote” all they want but I feel as though those votes have all been wasted going back to 1980. No Republicans, no more Vichycrats and no more lesser of two evils. Ever again.

Then how do you keep up with Lindsay Lohan? :)

RT @OTOOLEFAN RT @AdamSerwer: Could anything be more poignant than Obama announcing his reelect on the same day he caves on the 9/11 trials?

Hmmm. I watched the video, and I’m unimpressed, too.

However, that isn’t why I will likely vote for Obama. I disagree with many of his policies, and I am as disillusioned as anyone who voted for “hopey/changey” stuff. That said, there are two things that he’s done that are critical, and given that I do NOT want someone even further to the right than him in…and the potential for 3 SCOTUS Justices being appointed by a strict neocon (can you imagine Pawlenty or Bachmann or any other GOP potential appointing a new Justice??) ~ when the balance is already tipped to the conservative side. The two Justices appointed by Obama are categorized as liberal in their opinions and how they frame their views. With the potential for three Justices to be replaced (given their ages), and Obama’s track record of appointments, *that* is the only reason that he will likely retain my vote. I do not see anyone championing the progressive side running against him…and *anyone* in the GOP is a dangerous choice. Lastly, I won’t waste my vote on a 3rd party candidate that will just get absorbed into one of the two big parties anyway. SCOTUS appointments and their significance loooong outlast any presidential administration that appoints them, and they’re too important to the balance to ignore.

Just my thoughts.

I don’t vote for war criminals, sorry.

Markos has yet to weigh in, other than being generally more critical of Obama than most of his front page authors. He must be mortified the way this turned out. he was one of the earliest and loudest on the Obama bandwagon and wouldn’t hear a word against him. I was threatened with banishment for example.

The same way I keep up with Charlie Sheen: By counting myself lucky that I’m not. :)

Okay, I watched it. From a purely technical standpoint, it errs right off the bat by all-capitalizing the name of the first guy who appears: ED. ED means something entirely different in advertising graphics nowadays. As someone sometimes known as Ed, I hate it, but it’s the way of the world. Thanks, Ere*tile D*sfunction!

Thank you for mentioning this. I saw this on Atrios site first and gagged and laughed at the same time. Then i came here. By the way Obama is not a centrist. Hes a right winger. In fact hes more right wing then bush was.

The funny if sad thing about the ads is they reek of cynicism and desparation at the same time. Its bizarre that hes trying to appeal to the “grassroots”. I mean seriously.

We need a man like this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUw9daYDi0&feature=related

The same grassroots he’s been throwing under the bus and then badmouthing when we complain about it for the past two years. If he loses, he’ll blame the “sanctimonious, purist” left again. You can blame me give me credit for that one all you want Oilbama.

That said, there are two things that he’s done that are critical, and given that I do NOT want someone even further to the right than him in…and the potential for 3 SCOTUS Justices being appointed by a strict neocon (can you imagine Pawlenty or Bachmann or any other GOP potential appointing a new Justice??)

Can you imagine a Democratic POTUS appointing the CEO of GE to a jobs board? Or Alan Simpson to a deficit commission? Or Rahm Emanuel to anything? Or or or… I could go on all day.

The problem here, daw07, is that the voting majority in this country (as of ’08) accepts Obama’s decisions and appointments with little resistance because he has a (D) in front of his name. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At least with a batshit crazy right-winger the public will be reactive to the same behavior.

Obama’s doing the same things Pawlenty or Bachmann would do. Just with a little more interference between himself and criticism.

I’m of the belief that we’d be better off with McCain in the WH right now. I really think that this country would not let a Republican get away with cuts to social services, or Social Security, or LIHEAP. There would’ve been a much larger backlash.

the kos was really bad being their cheerleader on this trickle down economist’s policies, I didn’t even think he could realize the truth about obama, sad to say kos had cognitive dissonance and it was scary

let’s see if he’s seen himself in the mirror and campaigns against this guy

The ad’s presumption is indeed based on ‘branding’. (Naomi Klein’s No Logo is the definitive study of modern branding.)

I’ll just add some trivia: Neville Brand played Al Capone in the original made-for-TV miniseries/pilot “The Untouchables”, before the ABC/Desilu program became the hit TV series.

We all know his reelection campaign theme will be “Look Out! Scary Republicans!”

I was going to mention that but im trying to keep my comments small. :-). We should start a “fuck you obama – yours truly the grassroots” campaign or something. I look forward to posts about how the obama campign is having trouble raising money and getting people on the ground to help. :-)

Caving in to Republican demands is seen as “statemanship” by his loyal followers. They’ll follow him right over the cliff.

Let’s see…

Obama has given us: 1) a Neocon Bush-III Foreign Policy, 2) a Dick Cheney Department of Justice, 3) a Mitt Romney Health Insurance Company Bailout, 4) a Reagan-Bush Tax Policy, 5) Bailouts for Wall Street Crooks, and 6) the promotion of a Social Security gutting Commission.

And he pushed all that extreme, reich-wing agenda on us at a time when the Country was ready to change, and squandering the large Democratic Party majorities in both branches of Congress, while belittling and mocking them (aside from the “Blue Dogs”) and “The Left” the whole time .

Should we give this imposter another 4 years?
Just what would that accomplish agenda-wise?

We should start a “fuck you obama – yours truly the grassroots” campaign or something.

I like that. :)

Pass me a bag I’m going to vomit

So what are the debates going to be like? Besides a comedy act.

You absolutely have the right to vote as you see fit, but I would like to point out that the Democrats seem more effective in opposition, fighting against Republicans, than they have been during this administration. I’ll be voting third-party or writing in a candidate in 2012.

The Democrats have lost me for good–my gag reflex has finally kicked in.

I saw the writing on the wall when Kos wrote his “Obama’s FISA vote sucked but….” post. It became very clear that policy was going to take a back seat to that “D” beside Obama’s name. No criticism allowed.

I DO understand your point, however, looking at the two he’s appointed already, compared with the Bush appointments (and more telling with Dubya, on the state level interferences), I’ll take the lesser of the two evils. My concern is about reproductive freedom, and the appointments that Obama has already made *do* support CHOICE. Given how much has been done to chip away at choice over the past 30 years, and given what we’re facing, I will go with what I recognize based upon actual actions demonstrated. Now, I will say this…I do *not* see it happening BUT…if a strong, viable 3rd party candidate comes in that can gain enough support to not have his/her vote absorbed, then I will reconsider my stance. As it stands now, though…no.

W.T.F….W.T.F….W.T.F…W.T.F…

er, I mean Win the Future…Win the Future….Win the Future…Win the Future.

See, not vague at all :)

So what are the debates going to be like?

Ignored by me.

The U.S. public is by and large a collection of manufactured idiots.

Right now the difference between the two parties is that repubs openly disdain democracy and openly push through pro corporatist/fascist whatever you want to call it policies. The dems do the same but lie about it.

I’m contributing whatever I can afford to third party candidates (primary and general election); not bothering to support any Democratic candidate who challenges Obama (waste of time and money, since Oilbama will get the nomination anyway).

And, I’m staying home on election day if I don’t have a third party candidate to vote for.

Antoine

I don’t vote on party (I’m independent, and am likewise disgusted by both major parties *nod*). My vote isn’t determined by the letter after the name. Hell, if Sanders would consider it, and could get proper backing, he’d be my ideal choice.

Likewise. Better things to do with my time then watching a couple of assholes debating on which ways are the best to destroy the country.

Just listen for “Can I call you Joe?” g/g

sadly there is no Im Out button lol

Kos is a dem whore. Thats where he gets his paycheck from. Hes also very self absorbed. I tried following him/getting into when he first became popular. I found him very arrogant and full of himself. I actually emailed him about something and he was a real asshole in his response. I realized hes really just a marketed product. He needs to continue to whore himself to the dem party because again thats who pays him.

And frankly there are ALOT of dem ideologues around that support officials simply because they have D after their name even though they arent anything even resembling a liberal.

No, please don’t stay home. Write in a candidate if there’s no appropriate third party candidate on your ballot.

Even if Jane Hamsher is on the Q-panel? (“It could happen” — Judy Tenuta)

Emptywheel has a fresh cross-post available: This Presidential Campaign Brought to You by a Massive Capitulation on Civilian Law

The election is going to be tough because theres noone to vote for. So do you vote repub to get rid of obama. Do you vote green. Do you write in? I would vote independent but i doubt their will be a candidate. Or do you simply not vote.

What will be irritating is seeing all of the banners around. Usually i was to tear down the repub ones. This time though ill want to do the obama ones.

I met him in Austin before the success went to his head and he totally would never fit in with my crowd. He acted like he wanted to impress everybody with his fake patched sleeves and expensive loafers, talking to a jeans and tee shirt crowd. I wasn’t impressed and I don’t think many others were, except for other really self important attendees.

Sorry but whats rwrong with staying home exactly? This idea that you have to vote is ridiculous. If we had decent parties sure. But if you vote for the dems simply because you feel you have to then youre part of the problem.

As RuPaul would say, “Barack Obama, sashay away!”

We need an alternative for “Chantay you stay.”

Well, maybe we’re stuck with corporate Democratic candidates because we vote for the lesser of two evils — Obama will stab us in the back when elected because they know we’ll vote for him anyway. I don’t care who runs against him, I’m staying home on election day unless I have a liberal third party candidate to vote for.

Antoine

Markos didn’t sell the blog? Oh. I was thinking “sell out”.

I can’t help but believe that he’s benefited financially from the direction he’s taken since 2008.

Dear Obama
To quote your esteemed predecessor and fellow war criminal: “Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice…won’t get fooled again!”

How can Michelle bear to look at him in the morning? I thought she was a genuine progressive. I suppose all those 5 star hotels went to her head.

Don’t count on him to protect choice. Remember the Stupak amendment?

I’d watch if Jane was involved. Otherwise, what’s the point? The questions will be vetted and the responses rehearsed. I might as well watch something scripted filmed on a sound stage.

I’ll take the lesser of the two evils.

Not me. Never again. I don’t see any difference between him and the Repugs.

Good idea, but we can’t write candidates in where I live (Oklahoma).

Antoine

FWIW I’m a long-time (and long-embittered Kossack) and a long-time FDL lurker who just registered now to add my disgust to this thread.

WooHoo! Welcome. :)
You are now a firebagger.

I’m not talking about him as President. I’m talking about SCOTUS. Appointments to the bench outlive presidential administrations…and we’re presently looking at 5 to 4, GOP advantaged. We have 2 that are liberal who are in their 70s…we cannot afford ANY GOP-nominated Justices. There has to be a balance, and if possible, a push in the other direction. Obama’s appointments of Sotomayor & Kagan have helped – yeah, I’m pissed about their corporate contribution decisions…but there will be (mark my words) more cases related to choice coming, more to chip away at access, and if a GOP candidate is elected…then the balance will be tipped way too far in the radical right direction. That scares me more than Obama.

I have never been so depressed heading toward a general election. And now the long presidential campaign begins. It’s a sickening feeling, like the night George W. Bush got reelected president.

Can’t stand to watch Obama or hear him speak, like Baby Bush. The rest of the lot, bleah!

I’ll write in my own name in 2012. Maybe everyone else should write in their own names to register a protest vote.

Screw Obama. But first, let’s keep the eye on the prize and impeach Clarence Thomas. Make that a campaign issue.

Our vote is individual, and I respect your position (and can relate to it). Voting can only be done on the basis of conscience. I refuse to abstain…and I refuse to waste my vote. Ultimately, it will depend on who the candidates are…but if it’s any of the GOPeople who are making noise, then yeah…I know where my vote will have to go, whether I “like” it makes no difference. Sadly.

With all due respect that line of reasoning is so tiresome its just ridiculous. Ive heard that for the past ten years frankly and its been absolute hogwash.

Please read my post. I said write in a candidate if no appropriate third-party candidate was available. If you don’t vote, you allow “them” to mark you off as someone who doesn’t care, or worse, someone who approves of what is happening to our country but is just too lazy to go out and register their approval.

EDIT: I apologize–I thought you were replying to my earlier post.

That would be outstanding. Can we add Scalia & Alito, too? *pretty please? just for s&g?*

and I refuse to waste my vote.

That didn’t take long. I consider any vote for a major party candidate to be a waste. See my comment @37.

The “timidity of helplessness” should work for Obama and the Democrats. This campaign cycle is going to be even a bigger hoax than 2008. What better way to spend $1 billion.

You’re entitled to your opinions. :) As am I. I’m simply expressing mine. Gives me no “pleasure” to offer them up in such a depressing situation as this. But in my opinion, based upon the SCOTUS evidences in the last 27 years…I maintain my position until evidences are provided that the major decisions made with respect to choice and reproductive freedoms can be declared “hogwash”.

Or the first time……the crazy non-recount, then the Sup Court. I still gag when Im not weeping….Really the beginning of the end, in my mind.

I’ll take the lesser of the two evils.

That’s the problem with our political system. When you feel brave enough to break away from that mentality, feel free to join those of us who are voting third party or writing in a protest vote.

My concern is about reproductive freedom, and the appointments that Obama has already made *do* support CHOICE.

For now. When the current evil alliance of 5 loses members, one of Obama’s appointments will step in to fill the void. The SCOTUS is part of the show, just like all other aspects of our government. They will vote the same, going forward, regardless of who casts the votes.

:) Refer back, then, to my comment @66.

Emma Goldman: “Voting is the opium of the masses in this country. Every four years you deaden the pain.”

I reached that level back in ’80, walking back from the polls in the rain with the sickening feeling that Reagan would win and my country would never be the same. Unfortunately, I was correct.

Margaret,

I agree. And, to our honorable President, who subscribes to the new YOYO state of affairs (You’re On Your Own), I respectfully say, “Well, Mr. President, You’re On Your Own (as far as I’m concerned) as well.

I don’t care who runs against Obama, I can’t bring myself to think about voting for him.

Antoine

“brave enough to break away from that mentality”

Thanks, I appreciate your perspective. I will join you if and when I see it as a viable success… In the meantime, I’m fully capable of thinking for myself, and basing my decisions on my ability to discern what is and isn’t viable. Like I told Margaret in @94, refer back to what I said @66. Wanna back him up, and get him on a grassfire ticket, then he’s got my vote. :)

It’s been fun all…I look forward to returning to the discussion later. Have to run errands for now. Cheers!

So obama can destroy the country every which way he can think of. But as long as he nominates a quasi sort of but not really “liberal/centrist” fake democrat thats really an incompetent corporatist. Then youll vote for him.

Sorry but huh?

As Margeret stated i consider any vote for the two major criminal parties a wasted vote. As well as an enabling vote. If you vote for Obama you say you completely approve of him. Personally ill probably write someone in.

How do you expect a third party to become viable without the support of multiple individuals?

Maybe you have lost enough under the current regime to see that trying to work within the current system is trying to fail. It can’t work. Good luck to you.

Depends on your definition of “waste”, I guess. To my mind, I’ve been wasting my votes for better than 30 years now, and it’s time to stop.

Well then stop with the “wasted vote” garbage. That comes straight out of the DNC.

I plan to vote 3rd party for POTUS anymore. It would take a LOT to convince me to vote for either “side” of the fascist corporatist party. Not interested in extreme nutbar crazed irresponsible jerks, whether they call themselves: a) Democrats, b)Republicans, c) Tea Party, and/or d)Libertarian. Insofar as I’m concerned, all of the above, can take a long walk off of a short pier.

I think they left. :-). Anyway back to the regularly schedule program.

I can’t afford to be out. I’ve seen the list of opponents, and as much as I am disappointed in some of what Obama has done, I absolutely can’t afford to allow my disillusionment to keep me from voting for him, and definitely against the grab bag of wingnuts and Christianists and authoritarian corporatists that are lining up on the right to run against him.

No, he hasn’t been an ideal president, but at times watching his presidency has been like watching a basketball player play the game with his hands tied behind his back. There’s a whole lot of forces acting on our country to keep it from being what it should be, and he’s fighting against many of them, and there has been no respite since the day he was elected.

So yeah, be angry at Obama. Hold his feet to the fire. Demand that he stand up the House and get a real budget passed. But do what you can to ensure that the White House does NOT go to one of those GOP opponents, because that will put the nail in the coffin.

Im voting against obama, we are far better off with a republican in red then one dressed in a blue suit, I am not wasting my vote, I am voting for a republican if obama is the dem candidate, plain and simple I want him out of office

I’m a refugee from the sham that is Daily Kosbama as well, Paoloon, where any criticism of Beloved Barry is met with scorn. The hell with them, and the hell with Obama. I will not support any further the lesser of two evils. Hell, I’m not even sure the dems are the lesser anymore. Perhaps the “fewer” of two sets of evil–at best. Uh, oh–looks like military trials are back on the table, so I better hold my tongue.

NOT.

(PS: Jane, my $$ help is forthcoming…)

My problem with the dems besides obama is i simply cant stand reid and pelosi. They make me ill. So even if obama wasnt the dem nominee the idea of continuing the dem criminalities is simply not doable.

Beat me to it, Emma.

Obama is a war criminal, to wit: Reagan signs and the Senate ratifies the Geneva Accords, the Geneva Accords become part of the constitution. Chimpy and Darth torture, which is against the constitution and international law, our constitution and international law require any subsequent administrations to investigate those war crimes. Obama and his DOJ don’t give a rat’s ass. By not investigating, as required under the law, Obama becomes complicit in those same war crimes.

You can google Obama + war crimes + Greenwald to get the full story.

Obama and the cowards in the Senate drove me from what is left of the Democratic party.

Nobama for me!

Sorry but weve heard the its not obamas fault and he really just needs a hug crap for long enough to simply not even be interested. Obama should be impeached. If he was going to be if he was relected then YA id vote for him just to see that happen.

Welcome the the real reality based community, where policy matters and affiliation not so much.

I see FDL is making a little money off the campaign. That’s good.

But the ad says “Are You In?” and has a signup button for the campaign.

No, I’m not in. I’ve been shut out. My call gets an intern and a spreadsheet; a corrupt banker walks in through the front door of the White House.

No, I’m not in.

But I’m not going to fixate on the Presidential race.

The battle for a progressive future is at the local and state level (remember the Midwest) and in the Congress. I’m in with any progressive candidate who determines to get the 170,000 votes it takes to win a Congressional seat–regardless of party. A Bob LaFollette, Olin Johnston, Claude Pepper kind of progressive. Regardless of party. Indeed, I think in some districts in the US now, even those with severely wacked-out Congressmen, that it is possible to primary the Republican incumbent with an honest-to-goodness straight-talking downhome progressive and win. The current crop of incumbents is just that extreme.

And the battle is to figure out a means of motivating voters to get out an vote that bypasses the high-priced corporate media and flies under their radar. Having to pay the enemy just to get your message to the voter is insane. The people at the grassroots–even in North Carolina–are angry and most of them are smart enough to figure out that its “Dems the corporations win, and Reps the people lose”. They don’t know what to do and they are easily lead around by outrage based on half(or less) truths.

Third parties arise from the bottom up, not the top down. And they work to win, not to “make a statement”. Maybe it’s time to crank up the old Farmer Labor Party brand again or the Freedom Democratic Party label or the Progressive Party brand (nobody seems to be flying that banner recently). And go for some significant local and state upsets in “conservative” or “Tea Party” working-class and middle-class strongholds.

Bottom line: Presidential race this time is not the place to waste resources. Let the President’s corporations ensure the survival of the Republic.

On second thought, I think I’ll write in Bradley Manning’s name for POTUS in 2012.

We should start a “fuck you obama – yours truly the grassroots” campaign

Count me in!

We should start a “progressives for nobama” capaign!

The people in the ad show clear signs of Stockholm’s Syndrome.

whats rwrong with staying home

The only reason I voted in 2010 was to defeat the horrible amendments the fundies force us to vote on every few years. It’s always ‘fetuses is people too’ crap which I have to get to the polls for.

The risk is that if a real thug comes in, it may be the last election ever. These people are fascists, and are totally prepared to introduce a state of emergency to preserve their power. If one of those loons comes in, we are cooked.

Is that your professional opinion?

Welcome to the Lake, Paoloon!

After watching the appalling attack by Walker, Kasich, Scott and all the Tea Bag DoucheBags, I will not be doing any protest votes. Can’t afford any right wing wacko in the White House.

I voted for campaign Obama, not the Republican McSame and got “W” on steroids.

It has been fun watching Obama and Dems in a food fight with Repugs to raise money from the Banksters and Corporations.

We do not have anyone looking out for 90% of our citizens. The Repugs/Dems high five in private as they doing the bidding of big money.

Isn’t there one American who will stand up and lead the 95% on a march on Washington.

Our goal would be to DEMAND that we get money$$$ out of politcs. Until this happens the Kabuki Washington Theatre will continue.

OUR VOTE MEANS NOTHING.

Can’t afford any right wing wacko in the White House

You mean other than the one who is already there?

It’s either Stockholm’s or they’re imbeciles.

P.S. Oil is $108/ barrel. They must drive solar powered air cars and grow their own food.

Just to add my fingerprint in, I’m going third party, too. Let’s make up another party.

On second thought, I think I’ll write in Bradley Manning’s name for POTUS in 2012.

By 2010 Manning will have a criminal record, so won’t be eligible to run (and he’s not yet 35) but I love the idea, sfmikey.

LArgest Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress — no hands tied behind his back there. Largest mandate for a non-incumbent since Eisenhower’s first election — no hands tied behind his back there. A recumbent and adoring media, in love with his history-making candidacy and presidency — no hands tied behind his back there.

The “Obama is/was powerless” theory is a sham. Don’t bring that around here, open your eyes and see the man for what he is.

Thank you for your support.

And welcome!

It’d actually be pretty funny to create a video with all the times Obama or people from his admin badmouthed the left.

We HAVE a right wing wacko in the White House!

It would but it would have to be x-rated.

Great idea! Put it on youtube and see what happens.

That’s the great thing about the new, distributed, easy-to-use media tools: everyone’s a filmmaker. Looking forward to yours!

The risk is that if a real thug comes in, it may be the last election ever. These people are fascists, and are totally prepared to introduce a state of emergency to preserve their power. If one of those loons comes in, we are cooked.

Maybe. But one of those loons will make it in anyway at some point. Barry sure isn’t doing anything to prevent it. His presidency is about him and his banker friends, not rolling back creeping fascism or defanging the plutocracy.

We’re screwed either way – which is why 2012 doesn’t matter much.

I’m in on this too!

But we also need to identify and promote a viable third-party, and third-party candidate. The Greens nearly got hijacked by the Republiscum in the last two elections. Nader was viable for a awhile, now I am not so sure. Kucinich, while great and seasoned, does not seem electable to me given the right-wing corporate media. Plus he seems at times to be all over the place and not focused.

We should also id the main issues of importance to us. So what are they? For me it is climate change, ending state sponsored capitalism, and stopping the condition of permanent war that Bush codified into our natl doctrine.

Big goals I know, but we should answer the Dems with a real alternative. What’s Bill McKibben up to these days?

Big goals I know, but we should answer the Dems with a real alternative. What’s Bill McKibben up to these days?

Brilliant writer, that guy. When his predictive, extrapolative books were reviewed in the late 1980s & early 1990′s, he was skewered by the Octopus (media consolidation). They’d do worse if he tossed his hat in.

Welcome to all the newbies.
Please don’t skip voting! There are people running for other offices who will need your vote. There are propositions on the ballot that are important. If you choose to not write in a name just leave the prez spot blank. But VOTE! It’s your right and I think, your duty.

Obama’s supreme court appointments?
Anyone who will support an imperial president?

In a just world, Obama would be contending for the Republican presidential nomination this year while Democrats replace him with a progressive.

All of that, along with the hope & the promise of electing a Black man, is what has made the picture so devastatingly disappointing…Crushing, really. The context/contrast were too much; even Caroline Kennedy had gone the distance to talk about this man reminding her of what people had said about her dad…that’s what he
has betrayed. That was for Teddy at 133 (edit)

I think we risk far more with obama then a republican, with a republican we and the democratic legislators will mount a reasonable challenge, with obama that won’t happen

obama is not a weak democrat, he’s not a middle of the road democrat, he’s not even a right wing or a blue dog democrat

he is a republican through and through, dressed in blue

Second that!

Really, it should matter all the more if we can get past being shell-shocked.

Question. What party is he running at?

If he is a Democratic I will probably vote for him if I am registered balloted.

OK !! for all the Pennsylvanians !!

In a follow-up to my post @18

I would go further, and suggest that if you’re disenchanted with Obama and Biden and are willing to consider voting for a third party, or for writing your name on the ballot and voting for yourself, there is always a “better” alternative, or so I believe.

As such, “Bring Your BEE Game Forward!”

Of course, I start from the standpoint of Mohammad Ali’s historical utterance for “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!” seems to be both prescient and applicable given our toxic environment for politics.

Therefore, perhaps, the disenchanted voters should consider the “sting” readily available to you because politics should alway be a fun endeavor.

So, I am suggesting the creation of a “I will vote for Clarence Thomas” Campaign.

Not only will this scare the hell out of the Obama Campaign but will give the Democratic Party, a wealth of sleepless nights–from here to November of next year.

Jaango

Governor Walker woke people up in Wisconsin, and now we’re seeing real change.

In Chicago, Rahm Emanuel ran on almost the same platform of going after public unions and collective bargaining rights, because it’s a good thing when Democrats do it.

We’re in frog in the water time. The premise that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.

We’re better off with fast change that wakes people up than the slow succumbing to fascism that is taking place under corporate Democrats.

This has got to be the vaguest, most ridiculous set of platitudes I’ve ever seen spouted in a political ad. None of these people said a single thing Obama has done that they’re proud of, or anything specific important to them that he will accomplish (probably a reason for that). They want to re-elect him so that… he’s re-elected. God knows why.

Maybe he can run on bringing change to Washington. Again. Wall Street and the health insurance industry got all the attention last time but this time he really means it…

I’m gonna NOT vote for Obama because he’s.. Obama.

Great minds and all. And one that paid attention to his endless lies and betrayals.

Anyone who ever thought of themselves as liberal, Democrat, or human would do the same.

To be fair, the message on the Republican side is: I’m not Obama.

We should start a “fuck you obama – yours truly the grassroots” campaign or something.

Great idea! Maybe targeted to all his 2008 “small donors,” could likely get over a 50% FU response.

I think we are going to see a whole boat load of these type ads. No need to remind voters of all those promises made during the 2008 election that will never be fulfilled. Obama’s whole presidency has been vague and I do not see any of that changing, despite all that I hope.

There are still so many things on the table that need to be addressed. And we want them to be addressed by President Obama.

I think this lady meant to say “addressed by House Speaker John Boehner”. Or, when there are huge Democratic majorities, by Olympia Snowe. Gotta be bipartisan Republican and all that…

Reiterating my point above. Third parties are built from the grassroots up, not from the Presidency down. You build your GOTV apparatus first. Then you have an idea of how realistic your effort is.

But if you’re shopping names… there’s John Nichols.

The progressive bench is pretty thin because there hasn’t been the ground-up approach that Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich took. Know any strong progressive third-party mayors? If the Mayor of Wssilla can become a governor, so can they. Or state legislators. Or members of Congress. If they have been previously elected, they come with a base. If they have served in an executive position, voters see it as a plus. (That was Ross Perot’s “I’ve been a successful CEO” appeal, being able to managing people.)

Nader became a candidate because his organization had a grassroots network.

Obama better be prepared because if the GOP candidate asks voters “are you better off than you were four years ago?”, Obama would have a lot of explaining to do.

If the GOPer candidate can succinctly articulate Obama’s failures to deliver and a more optimistic vision for the future, it’s game over.

The people in that video look like they were drugged before the taping. They don’t some across as though they have their hearts in their words. They are not convincing at all! Strange.

Had Hillary Clinton been the 2008 Democratic nominee for president, she too would have won. The Republicans weren’t going to hold the White House thanks to George W. Bush and his job-approval rating in the 20s% and 30s% his last two years in office.

Would Hillary have been a corporatist president? And if not Hillary, if not President Obama, is this Diet Republican crap what to expect out of any commander in chief with a D after his/her name?

I bet you are a Thom Hartman fan. His rap is the same as yours, “supreme court nominees” are the most important reason to vote for this war criminal, and torturer. FACT: You and Thom have no fucking clue as to who his appointee may be!

Obama/Microsoft Illegal Campaign Contributions 2008

http://my.firedoglake.com/expotera/2011/03/24/obamamicrosoft-illegal-campaign-contributions-2008/

Three yrs. into Hope and Change all I can say is I’m hoping for a change.

Well, I’m still hoping for change. I just don’t think that voting for Obama will bring it about.

Zero chance that I’ll vote for SnOwbama and Goldman Sachs and Wall Street again. Less than zero chance.

Does he have any new predator drone jokes to help warm up the crowds?/s

That’d be a no… why validate deception and betrayal?

I’m a Hartman fan. Hartman isn’t always right. I hear Hartman bending more and more since he moved to DC. It’s often subtle but even that really bothers me.

Obama isn’t accountable now. What makes anyone think he won’t pick future SCOTUS that Republicans can appreciate for the purposes of mythical “balance” and because Obama wants to be every powerful person’s friend.

DC Dems are better at fighting bad policy when Republicans hold power than they are when their President trumpets it. This President restored the Republican Party. Give him another four years and see what kind of whackos the Republicans will be able to successfully run.

Obama gets the job done for those benefiting most from failed American domestic and foreign policy.

Hold him accountable with your vote and whatever action you can think of and feel comfortable doing in the meantime. You might be able to save the next Dem President from being seduced by the dark side. If you do reward Obama you will teach the Dem Party they can get away with murder. Hell, Dems are more afraid of teabaggers when they should be afraid of us.

Why should the people vote for him?

What has he done for them? Compare that to what he has given to the Republicans and corporations.

Uh-uh. No way.

You should vote 3rd party or vote for down ticket dems particularly actblue candidates. The not voting shit says nothing to these guys and is just permission to move to the right.

What is Obama actually prepared to DO, as opposed to SAY to actually earn progressives’ vote? He’s still got some 20 months to prove he’s worthy thereof. Get busy, dude.

Isn’t it interesting on the day that he formally declares his presidential candidacy that he simultaneously abandons one of his key previous campaign promises-to close GITMO and forgo military tribunals? Not to mention announcing it on the anniversary of MLK’s assassination…

Maybe he figures that we so suffer from the political equivalent of abused spouse syndrome that we will vote for him no matter what. Call it: Progressives who love too much.

But there comes a time in everybody’s life when voting for the lesser evil is no longer a moral option; that one can subrogate one’s morals and values for only so long.

I’m almost there.

The war on working people is not solved by elections.

Obama’s hubris is exceeded only by Bush’s stupidity. My TV will remain off for the remainder of the election season.

I wish the Tea Party had worried so much about viability and head-counts. We wouldn’t have to be dealing with their guano now. But their fearless ignorance proved their success. The left needs resolve, not timidity.