Recently in President Barack Obama Category

Here he is:

Bark Bark Woof Woof

I can make a couple of predictions, though: before the speech the pundits will agree that this is The Most Important Speech President Obama Will Ever Deliver and that his presidency, his legacy, and his whole reason for being Hangs In the Balance. After it's over, the Republicans will shake their head sadly and wonder why the president isn't being bipartisan enough, which, according to House Minority Leader John Boehner, means that he's not caving in to the demands of the Republicans. And I am sure that someone will point out that only Time Will Tell how well the speech went... at least until Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, Charles Krauthammer and the rest of the Villagers can get back to tweeting.

Posted without comment. Well, other then the fact that I stole the entire second graph from MB's post. Because, you see, I am a lazy blogger. Always have been. Damn proud to say so, too.

So there.

Sew buttons on your underwear.

Sigh.

Alright. Alright. I'll stop now.

Because it made me laugh.



Great ending, too.

Hat Tip P⁶

Okay, you managed along most of your bills through congress. However, what you did not do is lead. The President Of The United States needs to lead, not manage. You have safely guided your various agenda bills through the house and senate. At no time did you show courage by taking a risk.

Now, as your closest advisers tell you to move towards the center; as they tell you to become even more dedicated to bi-partisanship; as they whisper to you to be cautious: tell them all to go to helI.

It is time for you to do a 180. They did not like health care reform as negotiated? Then throw the whole damn thing out and demand pure universal health care. Not universal health insurance, or single payer, but national health care.

Stop playing their God damned game, sir. Go out, take charge, set the tone. You have been led. Hell, you allowed yourself to be led. Now, cowboy up. Throw caution to the wind. Push for what you deem to be impossible, take the ridicule and derision and lead this country, Damn It.

I have to rush out the door soon to deposit The Fuskers™ off at school and then run to get a cashier's check for the rent. However, I felt moved to comment on the Afghanistan "surge." Yes, I am using terror marks. The surge is just a fancy way of saying escalation. That we discuss it as short-term does not change the fact it is an escalation. Again, having not seen the speech, or read it, the response from most quarters of Progressive Blogstonia suggests that President Obama is not happy with his choice, and that all things considered, knows Afghanistan is the dead albatross around his neck.

Like, did you know President Obama wanted a taco?

You mean the Obama Administration is upholding the constitution?

Because, you know, I can.

Watch CBS Videos Online

This is what the conservatives have done for decades; they spoke their mind, regardless of it's political correctness. Hell, they did not even care if it was based on facts, or simply ignorant opinion, they said whatever they damn well pleased. Nice to see someone follow the conservative's playbook.

Novotny: John, what about this controversy over opposition to Obama's speech to school children?

Harwood: I've got to tell you Monica, I've been watching politics for a long time and this is, this one is really over the top. What it shows you is there are a lot of cynical people who try to fan controversy and let's face it, in a country of three hundred million people there are a lot of stupid people too, because if you believe that's it's somehow unhealthy for kids for the President to say work hard and stay in school, you're stupid.

Novotny: Ouch.

Harwood: In fact, I'm worried for some of those kids, I'm worried for some of those kids of those parents who are upset. I'm not sure they're smart enough to raise those kids.

More of this please. Seriously, we need more people from the progressive side of the isle speaking their mind. Honestly, no matter what, the rabid, right-wing conservatives are going to screech, whine, and basically holler, whatever the subject or issue. So, call them out on their ignorance, their stupidity, and their hypocrisy. The conservatives have shown quite some time ago that they are simply not interested in a civil, rational, educated debate. They are all about being the squeaky wheel looking to get the grease. So, let us simply squeak louder.

And it is not who you would think.

(TPM) In a set of bullet points listed under a heading, "Extension of the Speech," one of the points used to say: "Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. [highlighted by me] These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

However, that bullet point now reads as follows: "Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

I understand the speech is targeted at adolescents. However, whoever wrote the bullet point on the website with the phrase "help the president" is the idiot. Maybe in some alternate reality, or a return to yesteryear, one could think about writing a phrase in such a manner. But in today's reality, it was an obvious open door for the bat-shit crazies to walk through. And walk through they did. What the hell did the White House expect?

So, in this one situation, I really can not get worked up over the lather now foaming on the mouths of various right wing politicians and pundits. Like a dog who always drools, foaming is the natural state for bat-shit crazy right wing fanatics. It is what they do, after all.

Look, in Blogstonia we know not to feed the trolls. It is obvious the White House failed to remember that particular lesson.

Honestly, though, how could they forget their opponents are more immature than adolescents?

I don't think President Obama has a tightly run administration. At least, this article seems to suggest there just might be some loose cannons running about, making claims unsupported by the President.

White House officials sought to reassure Democratic groups and activists that they did not intend to rule out the public option, a position they are able to maintain, for now, because no final version of the bill exists. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina told some groups involved in the effort that the administration's positions have not changed.

In any event, my earlier pronouncement stands: No public option, no second term

Update: Andy agrees with me.

We should not lower our expectations on health care. We won the election and a bad plan could lose the next one-America needs real reform.

No public option, Mr. President, no second term. It is really that simple. 

Dusty wants to know why a teabagger would bring a gun to President Obama's Town Hall meeting.



I don't give a rat's ass about any gun law; when the President of the United States is coming to the area, all guns should be locked away, not out in public. This is bullshit. Freedom of speech does not allow for a person to advocate the killing of another man, and that is what this man is advocating.

Ian Walsh believes President Obama is just about done being proactive. I agree.

The Republican/conservative brightness before the burn out I keep thinking is happening, only gets brighter and brighter, and not in a good way. As the Birthers, Tea baggers, and generally just mad at the world types, descend upon the town hall meetings, I realize that my imagining of their behavior falls quantitatively short of their capabilities.

Then, Ian had this to say:

They took the lesson of the Clinton administration to be "don't enflame (sic) the fanatics on the right--avoid social issues, and don't slash the military".  They were, of course, wrong: the radical right (and there is hardly a non-radical right left) will oppose Obama no matter what he does and if Obama is unwilling to use to the full might of the administrative apparatus against them, they will simply take advantage of his weakness to escalate.  Tactics which are seen to work, will not be abandoned, to the contrary, they will be used more and more.

don't enflame (sic) the fanatics on the right--avoid social issues

Suddenly, my imagination made a quantum jump that pictured a radical increase in the use of deadly force, with a resultant increase in dead minorities (including gay, lesbian, and transgenders).

Now, I am not about to believe one way or another that President Obama understood this possible scenario. Still, to pick health care as his first major policy push might have been for other reasons besides the time was right. Regardless of whether he recognized it was a policy that could result in the least amount of insanity and violence, in the end, it is what happened.

Ask yourself this; had President Obama picked an African American jurist for the Supreme Court, just what kind of push back do you think would have happened? Unlike health care, an African American nominee to the Supreme Court is a racial element that would have inflamed the radical right even more then the current push for health reform. I don't know about you, but my imagination in this situation includes some serious killings, maybe even a lynching or three.

What? You think that's too far? If there are calls by influential leaders of the radical right for people to bring guns to town hall meetings, my suggestion of lynchings had President Obama attempted to place an African American on the Supreme Court is going to far? Considering how easy it is for the radical right followers to kill gays, lesbians, and transgenders during less politically decisive times, any push to end DADT, or otherwise legislate equal rights for sexual orientation, would suddenly result in a decrease of killings? We are talking about a section of the electorate that thinks it is funny to print out liberal hunting licenses.

So, for whatever reason, President Obama went the path of least resistance. But, Ian is right. No matter what policy the President pursues, the radical right will fight back. And they will use any action they perceive to have already been effective. If the push for health reform does stall, and no bill is forthcoming this year, I too believe the President is dead in the water. He will achieve no further legislative goals. And even if he does pass health care reform, I still believe he's dead in the water, simply because the radical right, already inflamed and instilled with an Armageddon mindset, will simply believe the end is nigh and make a homicidal/suicidal push. They are going to take as many with them as possible.

In my opinion, any further legislative attempts by the President and violence is assured. It is already occurring. If President Obama manages to shove a version of health reform through congress, he's going to be faced with one angry, pissed off radical right. He will pretty much be unable to overcome any further resistance because civil unrest is only going to continue. Chances are, it will take up most of his administration's attention.

So, once he's done with as much of the legislative work he can realistically achieve, I suggest he turn his attention to judicial/legal house cleaning. Unleash the Justice Department and force a searching and fearless constitutional inventory of our government. There is a world of hurt in it, with much latent corruption and incompetence set to cause further decades of pain and suffering, thereby weakening our country. If he truly wants to be seen as an agent of change, the more important task he faces is exposure of the past administration's eight years of malfeasance and criminality. Hell, cleaning up the last 30 years of modern conservative governance is one damn fine legacy, if you ask me.

Now, I do not believe President Obama wants that for a legacy. But most people do not get to choose their destiny, it chooses them.

But when a President does it, it's suddenly a big deal?

All cynicism aside, this is ridiculous. All it really does is prove the lie to the concept "a man you'd want to have a beer with" floated when Bush was running for President. Obviously, considering the media circus around this "beer," I'd never want to have a beer with anyone who's going to be President. I just don't want to have to deal with all the bullshit.

One can only hope that more of this will become common place as Obama's term moves forward

Update: And just after initially publishing this post, I found this.

More please. More. More. More!

The Democratic Party may not yet have power in the Senate; but it's obvious by this C&R post that progressives in the country do have power

Update: As always, Digby is suspicious.

And yes, I moved this up.

What he said.

I've not much to add to the debate about Obama's efforts at bipartisanship. Better bloggers than I have made hay over that subject.

However, I do have an opinion. I also go to the bathroom a lot. Anyway, when it comes to Obama's efforts, I am willing to allow him his timing. I figure, at some point, he is going to discontinue the following efforts:

Time

When Barack Obama informed congressional Republicans last month that he would support a controversial parliamentary move to protect health-care reform from a filibuster in the Senate, they were furious. That meant the bill could pass with a simple majority of 51 votes, eliminating the need for any GOP support. Where, they demanded, was the bipartisanship the President had promised? So, right there in the Cabinet Room, the President put a proposal on the table, according to two people who were present. Obama said he was willing to curb malpractice awards, a move long sought by Republicans that is certain to bring strong opposition from the trial lawyers who fund the Democratic Party.

What, he wanted to know, did the Republicans have to offer in return?

Nothing, it turned out. Republicans were unprepared to make any concessions, if they had any to make. But the encounter did make some Democrats wish they could see more of that kind of presidential engagement on the issue that Obama says is his top legislative priority. "I want the White House involved, maybe to be at the table," says Senator Chris Dodd, the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "It's very important." (See five truths about health care in America.)

Look, Obama has shown good judgment, patience, and an innate sense of timing. It was on display during the election. Now, though, people are reacting to the current political situation as if he's lost that particular set of skills. I suspect he will know when to stop giving the GOP an opportunity to participate in the crafting of bills and just work with the Democratic caucuses in the congress.

I voted for the man because I believed he would be able to do the job as he saw fit, not as I saw fit. So far, he's managed to achieve a semblance of what I see fit. Not a perfect fit, but I'm not one to truly judge. Now, don't get me wrong; I do judge. But I also go to the bathroom a lot.

Bitching about President Obama being boring it bullshit. He's the President of the United States, not a traveling entertainment company.

It may not be pretty. It may not be quite enough. But all things considered, Obama got it done.

(CNN) -- The U.S. Senate gave final approval Friday to a $787 billion recovery package that President Obama hopes will help boost an economy in freefall[sic] with a combination of government spending and tax cuts and credits.

Now, while the Republicans may whine about it's lack of effectiveness, I think enough people in the nation saw how they were obstructionists, showing only concern for their political standing, and not caring one iota for the majority of Americans who are currently suffering through this economic crisis.

Oh, and let's get one thing straight; bipartisanship is a process, not a result. President Obama recognizes this fact, while the Republicans fail to grasp this simple concept.

(CNN) -- The Obama administration's $838 billion economic stimulus plan survived a key vote in the Senate, putting a compromise version of the bill on track for passage Tuesday.

At this point, any stimulus plan is better than none. And it looks like those provisions that were pulled during negotiations, President Obama plans on introducing in separate legislation.

Wow, a president that can write his own op-ed piece. It's like a dream.

John Amato is upset at Obama's late use of his internet/email list.

I have a question for the Obama staff. Why was the Democratic Party so miserable in trying to explain your stimulus plan to the American people when the mass media finally gave them some air time? Why did you let the messaging get away from you? Why wasn't this LIST immediately implemented to take the lead on the messaging of his economic plan? Don't you think it's a little late to remember that this LIST existed?

Obviously, I don't believe Obama forgot the list. In fact, I am quite sure he knows it's there. But there is such a think as over kill. During a presidential campaign, we all are more than willing to put up with a constant stream of email's requesting donations, enlisting aid, etc., etc., etc. But there is no campaign. This is a different situation, with different expectations. Are people willing to put up with the same level of emails from the President? Will it even work? And if it does, will it work every time he breaks it out?

Now, I don't even begin to believe I have the answers to those questions. But to assume that the power of that list is going to work now that he is in the Oval Office is presumptuous. Of course, I know he's going to use the list. That's a given. But I also understand why he's been hesitant until know. Had he used it earlier, when the debate on the stimulus bill was just starting up, and it failed, what then?

When the use of the internet first occurred with Dean's campaign, the one thing I noticed was it's rapid fire response. The ability to generate donations was instantaneous. What use to take weeks, happened in 24 hours. Also, the response of progressive and moderate blogs to counter the lies and distortions of the Republican talking points was also rapid. This ability to immediately respond makes the net a better defensive tool.

The greatest weakness of the progressive movement has been it's impatience. John Amato is putting that impatience on display. Can we all remember: