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This article in Politico about the Obama team struggling to find a simple campaign slogan for 2012 got me thinking again about what exactly President Obama’s reasons are for seeking another four years. From Politico:
Everyone knows what Barack Obama’s campaign slogan was in 2008. No one seems to know what it will be for 2012.
The White House has been cycling through catchphrases since announcing his reelection bid a year ago: Winning the Future, We Can’t Wait, An America Built to Last, An Economy Built to Last, A Fair Shot.
They seem to be looking for one to resonate — and the constant unveiling of new ones suggests that so far, none of them have. To communications experts, the kaleidoscope of slogans is the latest reflection of the difficulties finding and marketing a message that Obama has faced almost since his inauguration — another challenge that came with the shift from insurgent outsider to sitting president.
As best as I can tell there seems to be almost nothing President Obama and/or Congressional Democrats are promising to do if they win this November. The only active promise they have been hammering on recently is the so called “Buffet Rule,” but that raises the question, why didn’t Democrats take care of it in 2009 when they had the chance? Either way some modest tax increase on a small number of rich people is hardly a platform or a rallying cry.
Reading all the issue sections at the Obama campaign website, they are almost exclusively about what the President has done. Besides the Buffet Rule, there is almost no talk about what Obama would do if we give him another four years or why he needs another term.
I spend a lot of the day focused on politics, but I’m almost at a complete loss to think of anything bold and new that the Democrats say they hope to implement. Can anyone think of a significant new agenda that the Democratic party has put forward? Is there any reason to hope they win decisively in November, beyond just doing well enough to keep the GOP in check?
All of the Obama team’s messaging seems to be focused on how horrible the Republicans are and why we can’t let the Republicans undo what Obama has already accomplished, even though some of these accomplishments aren’t very popular. Given how crazy the GOP has become as of late, that could be a winning strategy. But it is not inspiring.
“Just don’t let things get even worse” is not going to excite young people this cycle, which is probably why coming up with a slogan this year is not going to be easy.
123 Comments
All bo is interested in is securing a big fat payday at some wall street finance corporation when he’s out of office. The rest of us can go pound sand.
What does he hope to do? Six major things come to mind. 1) Cut Social Security. 2) Cut Medicare. 3) Cut Medicaid. 4) Involve the US in a war with Iran. 5) Preserve tax-cuts for the wealthy. 6) Create more tax cuts for the wealthy.
And, while it’s just a hunch, I think he’d love to break a major teacher’s union the way Reagan did with PATCO. Think of the high-octane neo-lib cred that would provide to his “legacy”.
I like that you didn’t come up with an answer, because no one has any idea what Obama’s vision for America is.
We know what he’s doing, but that’s so inconsistent with both his rhetoric and his private life that neither he, nor his staff, nor those who try to understand him and his staff, have any notion of why they’re taking on one of the most challenging offices on the planet.
Unless someone else already came up with this at team Obama…”Improve your mediocre life incrementally Vote Obama 2012″
or “Obama 2012 It Could be Worse”
The answer is clear, I think. Obama wants to “reform” the social safety net. The Grand Bargain will be the first over of business if Obama wins. Should that happen, we can only hope the Tea Party can sink GOP agreement again. OTOH: if Romney wins, I don;t think he will be capable of cutting social security, Medicare and Medicare. Only a nominal Democrat like Obama could do it. And just remember this: when the cuts to the social safety net are made they will NEVER be reversed. Can you even imagine Congress voting to INCREASE social welfare? Never will happen. We must protect what we have until Progressivism takes control.
Obama 2012 – Replace the New Deal with the Neo Deal.
Medicinecat almost nailed it. Just add the word privatize a few times and he’s there. Problem is I don’t think that will resonate with a majority of voters. And it certainly isn’t a reason not to vote for Mittens.
“We Suck Less” still fits nicely on a bumper sticker and has the virtue of being (barely) true.
What Does Obama Hope to Accomplish with Another Four Years?
——
Hmmm……Ponder……Hmmmm….ponder some more……..
Beats the hell out of me.
I dunno, but if I had to guess:
1. The “true death” for the New Deal and the middle class.
2. Finish remaking the Democratic Party as a refuge for former centrist Republicans and Corporaticists everywhere.
3.Add another four years of CEO golfing buddies to the rolodex
O’s second term is going to be so much worse than his first, our imaginations are not active enough to figure it out in advance. Medicinecat’s list is a good start. Add extreme SCOTUS appointments.
They could save themselves some effort if they would just come to grips with the fact that bull shit does not, will never resonate.
Well that’s a little discouraging. I’d like to argue with that.
……
……
……
On second thought, you may be right.
..I friggin HATE Mondays.
I meant to add that it really doesn’t matter what message they eventually settle on, I’ll never believe him again anyway.
Not even when you let it dry in the West Texas sun. I suppose people from Illinois don’t know that.
Obama – beat’s the alternative? Frankly, I like Obama the candidate. Obama the president though … he’ll say whatever he needs to say to win back the support of his base. He also needs to appeal to moderates and independents turned off by the Republican party’s hard right turn. Then as president for the next four years he’ll govern the same way he did in the last four.
Can’t we just peruse failed Republican proposals from the 80s and 90s to figure this out?
I’m like you and, I find I’ve been talking to myself too. :-)
Good list! But I still have a few civil liberties I’m not using at the moment.
How about, “Do you wanna share a beer with me?”
Jon – I think they’re waiting for 2 things.
1 – The SCOTUS ruling on the ACA. If the SCOTUS strikes down all or part of the law the President will run heavily on this.
2 – His opponent to be chosen. Once Romney or the Not-Romney is selected, the President will begin attacking his opponent as a campaign platform. This is how the President will articulate and put into action his “I may suck, but I’m better than that guy” approach.
As I’ve maintained for several years now, Obama has a walnut paneled lined corner office reserved for him on Wall Street.
Isn’t that awe inspiring?
What? American LEARN from history? We’ve been pretty immune to that so far.
Correctomundo. And how many of “those” people have Nobel Prize????
That’s a winner.
here’s mine (as a somewhat to the LEFT of progressive :)
Obama: WTF?
Dude…you missed your calling. You SHOULD be a political strategist. :-)
I agree Obama badly wants “The Grand Bargain” to be his legacy.
Bullets_don’t_change_their_trajectory_
Since O likes dead Republicans, how about the Goldwater campaign’s: “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right.”
More of the same, minus a Senate majority to actually pass anything. Trivial incrementalism rather than bold leadership in the face of an extinction-level event in the form of climate change.
Finish fucking us. Instead of WTF, FFU.
Move as far along with destroying the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the middle class as he feels the political winds will allow while hoping we’re too stupid or too cowed to do anything about it.
I can think of some tags
Fraud pays
War pays even better
I killed Freedom
Iies you can believe in
Your vote counts, LOL
Unless you read The Fall of the Roman Empire or the History of the Russian Revolution. Similar plutocracies to ours in many aspects with similar outcomes(Our outcome could be similar?).
Status quObama, change you only can pretend in.
But then, I have been using that since early 2008.
only correction is he knows there is nothing we can do about it. Just reduced to commenting here. now they can strip search you and get you to bend over even if you are arrested for a traffic offence. boxer just slipped into highway bill that passed they can take your passport if IRS only files a tax lien against you
Seems no longer need to be convicted to be stripped or lose your passport and they have not even had to use teh NDAA yet
Okay. Everyone on this thread agrees, Obama has not delivered on his campaign promises. Whatever.
But exactly what are YOUR visions for what YOU think should be the vision for this country for the next four years? I thought about this and I must say that given the state of our politics, the state of the economy, the situation with the courts (and not just SCOTUS but most of the federal judiciary) and with foreign affairs (and not just the Af-Pak war and the situation with Iran), what would I want to see in the next four years if I could be POTUS?
Where would I start given the constraints of the bottlenecks and absolute disarray in the US Senate? The hyperpartisan control of the 5 right-wing hacks on SCOTUS? If the Dems don’t regain control of the House? If the Dems don’t regain control of at least some of the out-of-control state legislatures and governorships?
Because you have to throw all of that into the mix as well. All the whining about what Obama didn’t get done when he supposedly had control of the House and Senate (he really did not because of the Blue Dog caucus in the House and thanks to the likes of Joe LIEberman and Ben Nelson there were NEVER 60 votes in the Senate either) is in the past. Because “he” singlehandedly didn’t “fix” what took the Republicans over 30 years to destroy in only two years – the normal pendulum swing to throw the bums out resulted in a Republican takeover of the House. And a bunch of the Tea-pubs got elected. And the result was a completely dysfunctional legislative branch (I guess I should say a completely destructive legislative branch) of our federal government. Never mind what is happening in the states.
Yes, Obama is not a progressive. He never was. Never claimed to be one. All of us, myself included foisted all our hopes and dreams onto his narrow shoulders. And our dreams slid off and are now pooled in the dust at his feet.
But what do WE want to see in the next four years? Whining about the past and complaining about what “he” didn’t get done gets US nowhere. What do WE want? I don’t hear anything constructive here. Or anywhere else for that matter. Just whine whine whine whine……….
Y.O.Y.O. You are on your own. No W.P.A. like FDR did for the jobless, especially for youth and minorities.
No debt relief for the debt-burdened young folks with their college debts.
No foreclosure relief for those who own homes.
More fear as civil liberties are allowed to be deep-six-ed under Holder, Obama and the SCOTUS.
Maybe even a war on Iran if Obama does not stop making foolish ultimatums Iran cannot possibly meet.
Another 4 winters not spent in Chicago’s frozen tundra.
Another 4 years in a prestigious private school in DC for his daughters.
Well, he certainly has no intention on running on protecting social security from benefit cuts becoz the record is too clear on his attempts and intention to decrease benefits.
Z
I’d be somewhat content just to simply get our civil liberties back to where they were before he came into office … you know the ones that he took from us, many of which he seized all by himself and which those evil republicans had jackshit to do with.
Z
What do I want that he could have done without the Congress?
1 – Equality under the law. Prosecute the war criminals, corporate criminals in general and the financial criminals in particular. This is the purview of the Executive and he could have done it with not one look to the Congress. Instead he prosecutes whistleblowers.
2 – Read number one again.
You obviously don’t read well.
Barbara Boxer did that? Is that the same “liberal” California senator who voted for NDAA, along with 90-some odd of her colleagues?
BSb, I figure , if that’s our future, let’s get on with the decadence and rampant promiscuity before I’m too old to participate.
What about you???
“Read My Slips” could be his campaign slogan. Like when he praised himself for following Republican stalwarts such as Reagan and Romney and the Heritage Ink Tank on the healthcare mandate.
My feelings, exactly. You remember, “Fool me once, shame on you . . .” Well, I’m feeling that I’ve been snookered big time. And even if our leaders don’t understand ‘integrity’ and ‘principles’–I do. NOT voting for Obama is my principled stand . . . and may ultimately be harmful. But hell, we’ve survived Bush; we’ve survived 4 years of mediocrity and incrementalism; I expect that we can survive a whackadoodle Republican . . . or even “O”–but I plan to write-in, vote 3rd party, or leave the top of the ticket blank.
Now that you mention it, I didn’t notice anything in your post that provides your “visions for what YOU think should be the vision for this country for the next four years,” as you so clumsily put it. Deal.
You’ll help with the firing squads, right?
Alice–
He ONLY has so many resources . . . and when you instruct your Justice Department to get harsh on immigration, and prosecute those medical marijuana users, there’s just not enough hours in the day to do what YOU want.s
…nothing they are promising to do…
Probably wise. “We’ll stick a hot poker up your butt” just doesn’t seem like a winner.
I like your post and I share your frustration. I think what disturbs everybody is WE don’t seem to have ANYBODY on our side in Washington. That’s a BIG problem. Frankly, IMO, without campaign finance reform and term lmits, we don’t have much WE CAN do about anything. That would epxlain the lack of reasanable solutions.
Sometimes whining just shows good sense. :)
I’d like for us to stop recklessly drone bombing innocent civilians in foreign countries, I’d like to have obama rescind his war on whistle blowers, I’d like to have him at the very fucking least inform us as to what set of circumstances he believes that he has the right to kill u.s. citizens without a trial, I’d like for him to rescind the retroactive immunity that he gave the banks in the state ag settlement that he very much pushed that lets the banks off for criminal conduct and has them pay a pittance of the damage they’ve caused due to their fraud, I’d like for the total awareness state surveillance of the subjects of this country to stop that even bush wasn’t able to institute, I’d like for his drone bombing not to target funerals and rescuers, I’d like for him to work on a new detention bill that rescinds some of the shit in the one he signed recently in which he insisted that u.s. citizens NOT be exempt from indefinite detention, I’d like for him to state that he does not have the right to start wars without congressional approval, I’d like for the u.s. customs people to stop seizing laptops at the borders of u.s. citizens that have broken no law but only have spoken out about the tyranny of our government, and I’d like for him to go after the wall street criminals criminality instead of only going after their campaign contributions.
That’s just some of the things that I’d like to see him undo that he’s already done, but I guess that’s all crying to you …
Z
Obama 2012: At least he can spell.
I’m only “in it” for the decadence and rampant promiscuity. But, if someone absolutely needs shooting, I can handle that if I have any spare time.
Well, you know, we just whine, whine, whine. It’s not like we get out on the streets and protest. It’s not like some of us get arrested and beaten and shot and pepper-sprayed. It’s not like some Greens and Socialists are running for office.
Oh, wait. Yeah, all that is happening, isn’t it? D’oh! But hey, there’s only seven months till the election. That’s way too short a time for anything major to happen, right? It’s not like a week is an eternity in politics. ;-)
Jill Stein 2012. That’s how you spell democracy.
That’s quite a long list. I DO agree with it however.
But, given four more years, I don’t think we’ll have enough room in this forum.
You’re gonna need bigger blog. Or smaller fonts.
Obama 2012: Sometimes I’m the Smartest Guy in the Room.
Is lokywoky being disingenuous or is he just the troll de jour?
spare us the hand wringing.
Thanks. That was my one inspired thought for the month. Now, I’m exhausted.
Obama 2012: I’ll Be Your Doug.
Okay – that’s a good list. I agree with you on every single one of them and I could add a bunch more just like them. But I have no freakin’ idea just how to get any of that done. Do you? And I don’t mean that in a snarky or mean way – I am serious.
The ACLU and everyone who agrees that these things are bad has been pushing back and fighting against these things in every way they can but there is no response. And the reason is the stacked courts, the dysfunctional Congress, and all the rest of it. The fact that a lot of this crap gets “slipped” into bills and passed without anyone knowing about it – on Up with Chris Hayes, Rep Carolyn Maloney told of an amendment that got stuck on the Highway Funding Bill. It was some stinking piece of crap that was intended to kill the Highway bill. She fought to get the Highway bill passed because it meant a lot of jobs and in the end it did get passed but it also meant this stinking amendment got passed as well. That’s how this crap happens.
And that’s how a lot of other stuff gets done too. It even gets inserted during the conference committee deliberations so neither the House nor the Senate actually sees or votes on it!! Outrageous!
And here is another kicker! If something gets ‘messed up’ at the printer after it leaves the Hill and before it gets to the signing ceremony and the President signs it with the ‘mistake’ – that ‘mistake’ becomes LAW!
If you don’t believe me – it happened about 3 months after Obama took office. Two pages got left out of something. They had to go back and re-pass those two pages and he had to sign them separately to get them back into whatever it was. Unbelievable! So you see the possibilities here for all kinds of shenanigans? I’m jest sayin…
Voting Green
Black Romney/ White Obama, the choice is ours to make.
I want him delivered on his campaign promises.
I think it’s worth noting that change, (we can believe in or otherwise,) happens slowly. Obama is no saint nor has he been anything like what we might have hoped for from a President Nader or a President Sanders. Thing is, he was electable. As such he has worked to find middle ground, which is difficult. So when I judge him and his efforts I am absolutely dissatisfied with all of these things you mention, (all four of them.) I don’t think he should be held responsible for SOPA by the way. But when I consider what he has worked on it’s hard for me to be upset with him. If the medical act is overturned it will be a shame but given how complex and convoluted our legislative process has become it is almost to be expected. (Yes, all of our legislators need to be pushed to simplify the process, to eliminate pork, and be true to the wishes of the people. Abolish the electoral college! Etcetera and so on.) Beyond that he has had some good victories during a time when the average American is simply dumbed down by talk radio and media overload and all that is involved in making house and making ends meet that it is hard to blame them for getting the government they deserve. We all need to take more responsibility for getting our friends and family and fellow citizens informed. When we get there we can have a far better President than this one, (and it would not surprise me to learn that this President would prefer to be that President as well.) Also, to suggest this President is merely concerned with securing a position after his presidency at some Wall Street firm is ignorant and almost malicious.
A caretaker Presidency? The real question to ponder is if Obama is not right for the Democrats,who would they pick in lieu to run, and can this person beat Romney?
That’s the big question: Who can beat Romney?
Tons of finessing of course. Otherwise wait for 2016.
You can have any color you like as long it’s Conservative.
Ego is behind Obysmal’s current run for office. Two-term presidents are ‘real’ presidents. One-termers are just historical ‘losers’.
Most of the items in zeabow’s list can be done by the President himself or on his order by departments which report to him.
As far as the “shenanigans” you mention – if that’s happening, it’s pretty pathetic. If the President and members of Congress don’t know what they are signing/voting for they shouldn’t sign/vote for it. And if they, or their staffs, aren’t capable of comparing one PDF document to another, or are unwilling to get in front of every camera in the media if they detect differences and stay there till the differences are resolved and way in which the differences got there is identified, that’s more reason not to vote for them.
You think THAT’S malicious? How about dropping drones on American Citizens, prosecuting medical marijuana caregivers, doing nothing about AGW except making it worse, refusing to prosecute the banksters who ruined our economy, declining to let the Bush tax cuts on the Rich expire, offering to cut the already meager American social safety net, trampling on the Constitution and our cilvil liberties, etc etc. But we’re supposed to worried about Obama’s fee-fees? Sorry. Try again. He is the president and, if he isn’t up the job, he shouldn’t have run in the first place and he damn sure shouldn’t run again. So why is he? That’s the question at hand. I say Obama is determined to cut the social safety net with his “Grand Bargain” to establish his “transformative” legacy. Others say Obama is just interested in assuring his Wall Street sinecure. The two goals are complementary.
Would targeting of U.S. citizens for assassination be considered malicious?
There’s a flat screen TV Out There and on it CNN has O dangling the Buffet Rule in front of the middle class. ‘Look at that bright shiny thing-y Over There,’ he says. So we won’t notice when he kills Social Security and disables Medicare. Which, as many have well and truly observed above, are to be the center pieces of his legacy.
I agree with your overall points; people go to far but I hold him to a higher standard because of his background and legal training. He is no George W. As far as accepting the incrementalism of major changes that most progressives were hoping for we are not even seeing that. Indeed the changes have been less than incremental going in the opposite direction; nuclear power, defense spending, Justice Department reforms and prosecutions of fraud, appointments to Judgeships and Agencies, (like putting the Monsanto Attorney in charge of EPA), deregulating Oil and Gas, XL etc. Hope and Change have been replaced with cynicism and distrust. This is what I see everyday not just on this blog.
“We Suck Less” still fits nicely on a bumper sticker and has the virtue of being (barely) true.”
Why is that true? Last I checked, Romney hasn’t been going around saying the president can order the killing of any American he wants for any reason he wants and start a war without Congress.
You heard it here first. The two major goals are 1) Re-Deregulation; and 2) De-Reregulation.
When the president does it, that means it’s not [malicious].
– Tricky Dick Obama
I predicted this would happen eight years ago. How time flies.
rahmbo – jr — you forgot to call us all professional lefties.
IF you live in the nice ‘hoods AND you make your living sucking off the DLC “inspired” sell outs, you SHOULD defend 0bummer AND you should blame us know no-bodies!!
IF you aren’t living in those nice hoods, and you’re trying to get those nice hoods, you should blame us know no-bodies.
IF you don’t know what I’m talking about, or, you’re basically a grunt aiding and abetting the first 2 groups for your peanuts and your fancier gerbil wheel, you’re f’king pathetic. have fun being a chump. Oh yeah – and keep blaming us know nobodies !!!
rmm.
Obama’s best case legacy is as big zero, just like the first letter of his name. Now, if that ’0′ includes no war in Iran, I will grant that it is actually a plus. He is beyond mediocre.
Campaign slogan? How about:
What Could Have Been
MORE SURGE!
One would think that someone who supposedly studied FDR’s and Lincoln’s presidencies before taking office would see right away what these got accomplished via executive orders, and go from there. One would also think that the metric of “we need to get done what objectively needs done” instead of “we should only try to get done what is ‘politically viable’ by the DC punditry” would be the gage of success. (“Oh, Mr Lincoln, we need to beat the Confederate army but David Brooks says it’s not ‘political viable’ to fight them in battle”).
Also, the 60 vote requirement in the Senate was bogus from the start, an artificial barrier that could have been circumvented.
-stewartm
Geo H.W. Bush agrees. Begrudgingly.
You never cease to amaze me with your keen analytical mind. It’s so clear to me now. You’re right. Social Security and Medicare are just diversions.
He worked quietly behind the scenes to emasculate popular liberal solutions (like the public option) and keep them from becoming law.
Mr. Brilliant Eleventhy-ith Dimensional Chess also had these strange “gaffes” that just happened to empower the Republican opposition. Like not doing away with the debt ceiling back in 2009, permanently, to keep the incoming Republican House from taking it hostage. Or taking out the severability clause from the ACA just before final passage. Or focusing on messages in 2010 which focus groups studies said made voters want to vote against the Dems.
Me, I don’t think he’s stupid at all. I think that these were all part of the plan. He *wanted* the Republicans to win in 2010, and he wanted them to take the budget hostage, to apparently force the “Grant Bargain” forever gutting the last of the New Deal. The only screwup was that the Republicans fell victim to their own histrionics, no compromise with the “socialist Kenyan Marxist Muslim” became possible.
-stewartm
I gotta vote for….
Obama: WTF?
That’s just priceless.
Others, smarter than me, have accused Obama of playing eleventy-dimensional chess with our country’s future.
I’m not so sure they aren’t right. Figuring out his whole administration is like trying to solve a Rubic’s Cube on Percodan.
Agreed. And I don’t think the Republicans will make the same mistake twice. Somehow they will realize what Obama has offered them — an assault on the Democratic Party’s signature issue and the cornerstone of the American welfare state — and they will wake up long enough to take their winnings off the table. Returning to JW’s query: what, realistically, can Obama hope to accomplish in a second term where he will have far less Congressional strength than in 2008? It can only be what the GOP wants. It was so even when Obama had overwhelming power. Next time will be far worse.
Most everything on that list had nothing to do with any congressional action whatsoever:
1. Recklessly drone bombing innocent civilians in foreign countries
2. obama’s do”j”‘s war on whistle blowers
3. obama’s claim of the right to kill u.s. citizens with no trial
4. obama actually killing u.s. citizens with no trial, no charges
5. obama’s refusal to even layout what set of circumstances he believes that he has the right to kill u.s. citizens without a trial … what limitations he puts on that, if any
6. The total awareness surveillance state now in place and growing by the day that even bush backed down on
7. obama’s policy of drone bombing funerals and rescuers in the aftermath of his reckless drone bombings that purportedly target terrorists
8. obama going to war with libya without congressional approval
9. u.s. customs people seizing u.s. citizens’ laptops at the borders, of citizens that have broken no law but only have spoken out about the tyranny of our government
10. And it is his do”j” that has refused to go after any of the wall street bankster bigwigs
Furthermore:
A. it was obama who insisted that u.s. citizens NOT be exempt from indefinite detention in that recent detention bill. HE ASKED FOR THE SENATE TO NOT EXEMPT U.S. CITIZENS FROM INDEFINITE DETENTION
B. it was the obama administration that drove the retroactive immunity given to the banks in the state ag settlement that lets the banks off for criminal conduct (see: robo-signing AKA FRAUD amongst other crimes) and had them pay a pittance of the damage they’ve caused due to their fraud.
Again, there is not one thing in that list that you can blame on anyone but obama SO QUIT MAKING EXCUSES FOR HIM.
Z
“Me, I don’t think he’s stupid at all. I think that these were all part of the plan. He *wanted* the Republicans to win in 2010, and he wanted them to take the budget hostage, to apparently force the “Grant Bargain” forever gutting the last of the New Deal.”
I couldn’t agree more
Z
He will lead the way to a grand bargain.
He will cut trillions from the budget.
Unemployment? What’s that?
Bringing you the health care you always wanted.
We are wars, like it or else.
We saved the banks so you wouldn’t worry.
Never mind that guy over there behind the curtain. He just runs the drones.
More tax cuts for rich folks so they can employ more people.
Figuring out Obama is simple. There is a key, a unified field, a philosopher’s stone that can be used in every instance. This is it, try it: He’s not on our side.
I haven’t read the comments, so someone probably beat me to this, but I’ll play:
Q: What Does Obama Hope to Accomplish with Another Four Years?
A: The complete dismantling of the social safety net?
A: The formal elimination of the Bill of Rights?
A: Four More Drones Wars?
A: Whatever Goldman Sachs tells him to do?
etc.
He should run against power outages, nuclear meltdowns and above all else, solar flares. The crazy thing is the solution is cheap as hell.
Four Hundred Chernobyls: Solar Flares, Electromagnetic Pulses and Nuclear Armageddon
The Congressionally mandated EMP Commission has studied the threat of both EMP and extreme GMD events and made recommendations to the US Congress to implement protective devices and procedures to ensure the survival of the grid and other critical infrastructures in either event. John Kappenman, author of the Metatech study, estimates that it would cost about $1 billion to build special protective devices into the US grid to protect its EHV transformers from EMP or extreme GMD damage and to build stores of critical replacement parts should some of these items be damaged or destroyed. Kappenman estimates that it would cost significantly less than $1 billion to store at least a year’s worth of diesel fuel for backup generators at each US nuclear facility and to store sets of critical spare parts
So only a couple billion in preventive action could keep the Northern Lights from turning into the End of Days, who can be against that? Yet the bipartisan bill to carry this out, the SHIELD ACT (41 co-sponsors ranging from Carolyn Mahoney to Michelle Bachmann) has been buried in committee since last winter.
Obama should run on this, he could blame Congress for wasting time on political stunts instead of taking action to keep our lights on. He could order Pentagon, per the Defense Production Act, to procure and install the necessary retrofits itself. I’m quite sure the DoD can find $2B in funds to rellocate.
What I love about this issue is it cuts across party lines (there is no pro-solar flare lobby working the halls) and it offers either party’s candidate a chance to 1. scare the hell out of the public, 2. Get them angry at the other team (Congress or President, depending) for being asleep at the switch 3. Promise action ASAP to protect his family and yours.
If Obama doesn’t take the leading oar on this (he does have a certain gift for squandering opportunities), there’s no reason Mitt Romney can’t pick up the issue himself and bravely declare, let the chips fall where they may, he’d rather spend $2 billion to keep America’s nuclear plants from melting down instead of agreeing with President Obama’s to send Brazil a $2 billion (fortuitous number that) in guaranteed loans.
I’m sure the GOP ad guys would figure out the most sensitive, appropriate way to divide the electorate between those people (like Obama) who’d rather spend $2 billion sending foreign aid to Rio de Janeiro (cut to Carnival scenes) versus those people (Romney, you, me, schoolkids everywhere) who’d prefer their President spend $2 billion to keep our lights and our nuclear plants safe (cut to bucolic scenes of pre-Armageddon America). Tough choice there, I know. :o)
When you write:
In the great “Should I vote for Obama as the ‘lesser evil’ or for a third-party, or whatnot?” argument, I could still buy the “lesser evil” argument that Obama was the better choice IF:
Congressional “progressives” were really progressive.
There were a number of occasions—the public option, the debt ceiling, and others–when Obama’s neoliberal policies could have been torpedoed IF the CPC had any principles. Or if Bernie Sanders actually did filibusters instead of “filiBernies”. If Kucinich had the gall to address that crowd and tell them why Obamacare was really RomneyCare (and hence, wouldn’t work). In the end they were too willing to be the ‘good soldiers’.
So the problem goes far beyond O.
-stewartm
Are you sure you are not a political operative ?
For beowulf
You’re probably right.
Can I take the Percodan anyway?????
Ya’ done good.
“Stay thirsty my friend.”
Kudos. Always worthwhile reading my friend. I co-chair the local “Anti-solar flare” initiative in SE TExas. We meet at a local Mexican restaurant and down fajtas, margaritas and many Dos Equis once a month.
Since protesting against solar flares would be useless, that’s prety much ALL we do.
I agree that the problem goes far beyond Obama. The Democratic Party is deeply rotted. OTOH: we only have one president and the squandered opportunity under Obama is something I’ll never get over. I don’t think the world will. As for the Democratic Congressional caucus, I think the Progressive wing, such as it exists, simple doesn’t matter. The CPC budget is routinely ignored by everyone. The Progressives appear to have scant input into crafting legislation and even less power to shape it. Despite their weakness, could the Progressive legislators rebel against Obama and their own leadership? I suppose, but since it hasn’t happened yet I don’t expect it anytime soon. Why haven’t they done so? Partisan loyalty? Fear of personal retribution? Whatever. It is to their shame. It is past time we all became accountable for enabling what is happening to this country.
And one other thought: the DC Bubble is so extremely Conservative today that the Progressives may themselves have succumbed to the groupthink myth that America is a center-right country.
In all likelihood Obama gets reelected.
Raw dog.
I see a probable gov’t shutdown over the horizon unless O gets the trifecta back in Nov. He’ll eat Romney’s lunch, but may wish he hadn’t unless Congress is in his pocket.
A Full Employment Act with living wages for everyone who wants a job. Nationalize the banks and the mortgage industry. Put millions to work rebuilding our infrastructure and refurbishing abandoned homes. A total ban on all private contributions to all political candidates, violations punishable by death. Jamie Dimon sharing a cell with Bubba. Free education for all. Health care, not insurance, for all. Bring the troops home. Close Guantanamo, and repeal the Patriot Act.
May as well legalize and tax marijuana.
And, before you say it, my pony.
Just for starters. I suppose you’ll accuse me of being unrealistic. That’s all right. More of the same just brings us closer to a real revolution, with all of the messiness and chaos THAT can bring. And have a nice day.
Jon, the brief answer to your question is: Barring prolonged $5/gallon gas or a total financial meltdown, yes. That is enough to get Obama re-elected. And if he’s not? No problem. The PTB have their Mormon O-clone.
In short, it does not matter.
Four more years of lies, faux liberalism, and capitulation. And the death of progressive ideas in government. Gee, I can’t wait.
in a sane world, progressives would be expending all their energy to defeat republican obama. Instead we get to vote for the obama 2nd term republican agenda of dismantling social security and Medicare, yet more barbarism and civil rights destruction, and a whole lot of phoney hot air.
Just whine whine whine whine……….
Followed shortly after by vote, vote, vote…
Do not think for a New York minute that Obama has 2012 in the bag. Romney has tons of money and a lock step voting block. Obama has gone out of his way to PISS OFF HIS BASE. He will need every vote he can get including all the pissed off people comment here.
You want my vote: start investigating and prosecuting the fraud and corruption on Wall St. It took down the WORLD economy. Our economy will not recover until the crooks are thrown in jail and the TBTF banks are broken up. Tell Holdner to get off his dead a$$ and do his job. No vote for Obama from me until banksters go to jail.
Which quite frankly means – he isn’t getting my vote. And as a thirty year Democratic party voter , I’m taking everyone I know with me.
For the life of me, I cannot think of a good motto for them.
Obama: WTF
works pretty good.
The old white people want their country back, so he’s going to make sure they get it.
Yes. Obama is NOT a lock by any means, even though I think that Obama thinks he is. There’s 8 months to go til the election. Anything can happen.
Thanks for your list. And no, I was not going to say you are being unrealistic. Why would I? Because I think that your list is the most realistic list of all – the one we all should be wanting and pushing for and working towards.
(And the pony!)
And if it takes a revolution to get there, well then maybe that is just what we need to do. Because the alternative sure isn’t working very well.
As for all the people on this thread who “assume” that I have been defending Obama, I have a long history of voting for candidates that have neither a D or an R behind their name. So never “assume” that I plan on voting for anyone with a D or an R this time or anytime in the future.
Ha Ha!!
Not defending Obama here – criticizing everyone else. The Congress and the Courts are supposed to be our mechanisms for forcing the Executive branch to do things if the Executive branch is not responsive to the “will of the people”.
What I was pointing out – and apparently did not do a good job of – was that because the other two branches of government are (also) so badly broken that the people have lost all ability to leverage any kind of force anywhere.
When FDR told those people “make me do it” they did – using the power of the legislature. Obama issued that same sort of challenge – but we don’t have the same leverage. Ours has been bought up by the Koch brothers, Goldman-Sachs et al and we find ourselves locked out completely from any ability to “make him do it”.
That’s why I brought up all that stuff.
Why should we be required to “make him do it”? We elected him to do it. That is his damn job. And though you say you aren’t defending Obama, you persist in the canard of the helpless president buffeted by forces beyond his control while you ignore the fact that many of the complaints involve Executive action or inaction — DOJ prosecutions (or not), lack of regulatory enforcement, neoliberal cabinet and other key appointees, imperial president overreaching on civil liberties, you name it — for which Obama needs neither the Courts nor Congress. It is Obama’s record in Executive actions that gives meaning to what he has done legislatively. IOW: we know he is a neoliberal corporatist because that is how he conducts his Administration. When he does the same with Legislation, it is hardly a surprise. Don’t blame Joe Lieberman for Barack Obama’s failed presidency. Blame Barack Obama.
change you can’t believe in
Nicely put. I do so much politics — and I have been arrested, now that you mention it — that some people close to me say I’m obsessive. But it’s always nice to have a troll drop in and lecture us.
I vote for the latter.