Obama finally shows some backbone!
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Dana Milbank isn’t thrilled with the tax-cut compromise, but he loves that President Obama is finally showing some backbone. “For once, reporters could tell Obama was angry without asking White House press secretary Robert Gibbs for evidence,” he writes in the Washington Post. Liberal lawmakers like Peter DeFazio are livid with Obama, but he’s wisely pushing back with the “full force of his office” and good-old-fashioned “hardball politics.”
And while some pundits see the tax compromise as capitulation to the GOP that will lead to more capitulation down the road—Paul Krugman warned of something along those lines yesterday—Milbank flips the premise: “Liberals, if they can see beyond their pique, should realize that the emergence of Obama’s forceful leadership could be good for them,” he writes. “This time, he stood against his Democratic colleagues, but there’s reason to hope that he’ll show his newly discovered spine to the Republicans the next time.”
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Wow. This post is generating some heat. Good one, Mike. I’m still of the opinion that Obama is doing the best with what he’s got. There are three branches of government, and his power to effectuate change is limited, just the way it was intended. In part the constitution and our system of Democracy is designed to keep the pace of change slow. If progressives got everything they wanted as soon as they wanted it, hypothetically so could conservatives when they are in power. Government and politics will not progress towards a more liberal world view until most of Americans have, too, and the conservative world view starts to die off. As long as Americans don’t go survivalist in their outlook, that will be the trend of the future. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it, though.
Just a drive by here, You all know where I stand and so I’ll be quick.. One note if you don’t mind…believe it or not I’m glad my term was used for the President. “The Great Appeaser” I’ve been saying that since the second month he was in office. At first saying that’s what I didn’t want him to become. Be sure when he does do things I agree with I say so and not just say things when I’m not. When he went into the lions den of Republicans, I was so proud of him and said so. It’s not personal..I like the guy.. I even used to defend his odd stance on issues. Always thinking he was smarter than everyone else and it was all just a ploy. It’s easy for tempers to flair…we have a horse in the race..the country.. I hope over the next two years he kicks ass and is swept in for a second term. My gut is things are just going to get worse. Just speaking for me here…what’s extremely hard is to take criticism from people on our side because we don’t go along with what he’s doing.
Bad enough he calls us names… I think it was Van Jones who said..if you want the President to do something ..you have to make him.. That was said of other Presidents to. End note..To MyCue..I hold no hard feelings…sometimes passion is contagious.
Very angry at Obama for calling his base *sanctimonious* for believing he would practice what he preached! At least Jimmy Carter went down in a blaze of glory sticking to his principles… Obama sold out his base completely.
Well said Karen.
As to Obama being a ‘well respected citizen of the world’… well, while I don’t have a thumb on that pulse, I’ve read plenty of AlJazzar, BBC that don’t speak so glowingly of our President nor his backtracking on almost every vow he made to the world community regarding global warming, war and international trade.
But hell, he’s had to dole out the tarp monies and whittle down the banking re-regulations.
Only thing I will say in his defense is he bailed out the automakers (hubby’s a GM retiree) and he got health care through even tho it was without the public option. Other than that, he seems to be sliding very comfortably to the center and I don’t respect that philosophy.
Gwen you really don’t think Al Jazeera is going to support anything the president of the United States does do you? They are, among many other things, the propaganda arm of al Qaeda and other violent Jihadists. If they liked our president I would be very nervous indeed.
Peace 🙂
Obama 2012 🙂
Keith Olbermann summed it up in two sentences:
“In September, Boehner said if he had no other option, of course he would vote to extend tax breaks only for the middle class. So the President and the Democrats gave him another option, naturally.”
I have disagreed with the President on many occasions and I continue to be disappointed by some of his decisions. I am all for standing on principle as an outsider. However I also realize that politics is a different game. Politics is a game of give and take. From what I can see, the President is playing this game to the best of his abilities. He has limited support from his own party (the left and right both attack his policies), he has absolutely no support from the Republicans and very little support from the coalition that elected him.
All I hear from the progressives at this point is how the president isn’t living up to the legacy of FDR. Well FDR had a chance to put health care for all in place and he bargained it away. He got nothing( I’m assuming those on the left would have been happy to do away with social security as well because getting only that would have been seen as a “compromise”). . Ted Kennedy had a chance to champion Jimmy Carter’s deal for health care for all working Americans and he decided to go for it all we ended up with nothing. Kennedy did it because he wanted to run for President and didn’t want to rubber stamp the Carter agenda. No one talks about that either. (But according to the left, that decision should be applauded because he stood on principle. Never mind the fact that he later in life said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his political life.)
I have no idea what the standard is for this President. If he had stood on principle in the health care debate (meaning single payer), we would now have nothing. If he would have stood on principle during the fight for financial reform, we would have nothing. This president doesn’t need to grow a set, he has a set. He has decided to set a course of attainable progress. It doesn’t help him with the left (who want some progressive superman to take down the Republicans without so much as a nod to the procedural rules of Congress that wouldn’t allow such a thing), the right continues to call the President a socialist, a communist, a traitor, a Muslim terrorist, etc. How much bravery do you think it takes for someone to act even though they know it will curry no favor with either supporters or detractors?
Frankly I’m of the mind that the President should just finish out his term and go on to become extremely rich as the foremost citizen of the world. Because even if those in the US don’t appreciate him, he is without a doubt the most admired leader in the world today. If the US doesn’t want him, then I guess we don’t deserve him. I’m not defending his decisions. I’ve been just as disappointed in some of them as some of his most vocal critics have been. But I do understand political reality. And after the next election, when those on the left will be, I assume based on their current rhetoric, celebrating the end of the term of the great appeaser, we’ll all get a dose of political reality, Republican style. And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.
MyCue,
Valid point about Kennedy re: healthcare.I hadn’t known about him not supporting Carter’s plans, I know he didn’t stand by Nixon’s healthcare plan which would certainly be better than what we ended up with, as well as the current HCR.
In my observation, human nature causes people to often bitch and moan about almost everything their leaders do. If my union (CWA)saves some jobs in the face of overwhelming company power, the rank and file bitches about it not being enough. The same rank and file who don’t do their picket duty if we’re on strike, who never go to meetings, who never volunteer any time.
Sometimes the rank and file are right to bitch and moan, the union could have done more, and activists are right there leading the charge. Other times, we got all we were gonna get and the rank and file are bitching in the “human nature” way.
Are you maybe saying you don’t like the bitching of the “rank and file” Democrats ? Could be our only disagreement here (lumping you and I both with the activists )is whether we got all we could?
Oso,
I think bitching and moaning is, as you said, is partly human nature. I certainly am guilty of it. But that’s not what I perceive is happening here. At this point, I think I’m done with all of this. It doesn’t help anything. Minds are made up and positions are inflexible. We (and by we, I mean those of us who are not inclined to vote Republican) have basically staked out our positions and are not willing to bend. I would like to remind everyone what happened the last time the democratic party decided that the President wasn’t tough enough, progressive enough, etc. In 1980 Kennedy ran against Jimmy Carter because he supposedly wasn’t doing enough for the base of the party. That election destroyed party unity and resulted in 12 years of Republican administrations, the birth of trickle down economics, the end of union power, sky rocketing deficits, run away deregulation and the birth of a republican political dynasty.
As I said before, I think the president should just serve out his term and then hit the money trail. He should just get as rich as possible, as quickly as possible and since he’s a shill for corporate America, that shouldn’t be too hard.
You are right Mike. It doesn’t help anything and only serves to stoke the fires of frustration. I’m with you on it, except of course for my sign off…
Obama 2012 🙂
Obama is appealing to the people who “REALLY” put him in office, to so-called “Independent/Swing Voter.”
Right is right and left is left and nary the twain shall meet, the swing voters decide every election.
Holte, I’m not actually talking about the folks went to the voting both and cast their vote. I’m talking about those who worked hard day and night, who sweat in the heat of a tarmac to sign up voters, who stood in traffic with signs, who knocked on doors til blisters burst, who hoped and hoped and hoped and manned the phones and worked the change.com blogs, and spoke to strangers who asked you ‘why Obama and not Hillary?’ and who stood in churches on Sunday and asked everyone before they left if they wanted more war? and all the volunteers who changed the minds of Independents in their communities so they would take a look at BHO. THEY ELECTED HIM. How many hours did the comment making people here spend working hard and convincing Independents that he was ‘the one’? They are the ones, as Clinton said yesterday, who “rowed the boat” to get the White House. And the comment that Independents pushed him into office is spoken like someone who’s never been involved intimately in the political process of making, supporting and electing a candidate.
didn’t see Mike pomposity there…. bu****it Mike! 🙂 Peace
spoken like someone who’s never been involved intimately in the political process of making, supporting and electing a candidate. Actually I have, hence the opinion, it’s from experience, plus I have also held an elected office, at the lowest of levels, but nonetheless I was elected. Due to this experience garnered over 45 years ideas get forged from sources other than what I read.
So I’m thinking that you do not accredit the campaign staff or the legion of volunteers who put the vote over…. but the policies and charisma of the candidate?
In the same way that I think those with large fortune owe a debt to the community who helped provide it for a company or individual…. but that is a lost ethic… our banking tells us so.
I am of another ideal. And I am a liberal… but I was taught my values and ethics by upstate NY Republicans.
Holte, I am no stranger to the political process… I’m not going to qualify my my ethic / ideal / opinion that voters are not the ones who do the “REALLY” job of electing a candidate.
It’s a difference of opinion.
Obama did not elect himself. He had the largest in history grassroots phenomenon to put his message across with youth, vigor and value that gave him the win.
and BTW… I do not regret voting for the President. I made a very good choice to work my heart out for a good man. Now, I’m witnessing a reversal of what I discerned as the best choice. Also, for anyone here to say because I dissent with Obama’s policies and actions on legislation that I’m by default voting for a Republican …. is a lack of imagination.
and Holte, MMA is the very same posting place where when I suggested becoming involved in the process of government by getting in touch with White House and posted the phone # and to call further to Reps and Senators I got the condescending shove off …. (just a reminder) for me as well.
This is the best you can come up with, Mike?
Dana Millbank?
The guy states that Obama had never done anything to make him proud until he capitulated to the Republicans on the tax deal, and you trot that out in favor of the president? A Republican finally agrees with something Obama does, and you present that as your defense?
Obama caves in yet again, the Republicans celebrate, like a petulant child he scolds his base – the people who campaigned for him and voted for him – and you call that backbone.
Well Oso, Mike’s right… Obama finally did show some backbone… he told the left, the Democrat “progressive” liberal base who put him in office to go fuck themselves. And btw, the Democratic Congress leveled back at him.
Sorry Gwen! The progressives did not put Obama in office, as Alan pointed out. He was elected by the Independent/swing vote. Fortunately for America the Progressives won’t be able to get him out of office either, regardless of how much they try. There just aren’t enough of them. That bodes well for the Democrats but not for the Republicans as the Progressives have shown themselves to be great allies in the war against the president.
Peace 🙂
Obama 2012 🙂
Oso you need to spend a little time reading as opposed to leaping to conclusions if you think this is some sort of defense of the president. Did you read the front page excerpt?
The fact is I am not a liberal, and I am certainly not a Progressive. I am a moderate. I have the ability to measure and weigh all sides of an argument, while trying to keep raw emotions at bay. So why don’t we try to have some form of civil discourse once in a while without all the combativeness? What do you think my friend?
Obama 2012 🙂
Mike, you need to think a little more before suggesting Oso needs to “spend a little more time reading.” Following that up with a plea for “civil discourse” is contradictory.
I agree with Oso. It’s quite a stretch to take Obama’s caving and try to make it look like proof the man has serious backbone.
Why is it that so many people are seeing this differently?
“but there’s reason to hope that he’ll show his newly discovered spine to the Republicans the next time.”
I don’t see anything complimentary to the president. I think many of those commenting here are so accustomed to believing I am an apologist for the president that they cannot accept that I would post potentially negative information. Oh well…
Obama 2012 🙂
Sorry Mike, the combativeness is right there at the surface these days, has been there since the American people lost big time with HCR.
It was not a good deal. Compromise is part of politics, but if one holds the stronger hand, it should be used. Obama is an extremely intelligent man – he knew he held the upper hand. He could have allowed the cuts to expire, let the Republicans paint themselves as the bad guys willing to sacrifice 98% of the American people for a few millionaires.
This is characteristic of the president, as a moderate I would expect you to be aware of the policy course he has chose, and how it follows the dictates of his major campaign contributors.
This is a political reality, but to trumpet it as backbone – catering to the wealthy while ridiculing those on the left who stand on principle – is incongruous with the political reality.
There’s a flip side there. So, Obama holds firm on principal now, tells the republicans “no deal” on the tax breaks for the wealthy. Fine. Come the end of January, the newly republican-majority House puts out a bill doing the exact same thing that this week’s “deal” does…only maybe it will do even less for the middle and lower class, Senate tags along because evidently despite the fact that the republicans do NOT have a majority, they have a majority, and Obama either:
1. Signs the new January/February bill that is exactly like this deal only maybe it won’t be at all in favor of the middle/lower class, and looks like he’s abandoning the base that doesn’t want tax cuts; or
2. Obama veto’s the January/February bill and looks like he’s abandoning his base and the rest of the country, as well.
I dunno, you tell me, I think he’s in a hole either way. frankly, I’m not all about principal, I’m more about the reality of a situation and what can be done with said situation, and this situation stinks either way. We’ve got both sides talking about tax cuts creating jobs, which it assuredly does not save for possibly seasonal jobs in the IRS to deal with the extra schedules on the 1040, and we’ve got a country where “taxes” has become one of the seven deadly sins. Ok, it always was a deadly sin, but a necessary sin, and it still is.
Me? I’m sick of the wealthy sucking on the public dole teat, and I’d like to see some old fashioned fistigloves on the Congress’ floor, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. We’ve got a group of blowhards who don’t have a clue what reality is (republicans) and we’ve got a bunch of blowhards who don’t have a clue what reality is – democrats. See Mary Landrieu on CSpan2 Friday night when she picked up Bernie Sander’s mini-filli-buster when she was going on about $500,000/year income being a lot of money in Louisiana and not a lot in New York or California – bullshit, it’s a lot no matter where one lives.
I agree with Bee. Every word.
I guess I’m confused. I really thought the “Obama shows backbone” was tongue in cheek. Anyway Oso thanks as always for your good humor.
Obama 2012 🙂 🙂 🙂
All is well my friend. I appreciate all of our interactions. I particularly enjoy the fact that we can agree to disagree without vitriol.