I Disagree with the MSM pronouncement as fact that Obama must govern from the middle...

[Blackhatjack]

Progressive ideas are not always rejected by those being governed. Sometimes it is the lack of opportunity to put them into play that keeps them from being successful.

I don't see Obama moving far left, but I also don't see him moving to the center to satisfy conservatives and Republicans.

He needs to take the first year and implement those ideas which have been blocked for so long by an obstructionist Republican Party in Congress, and a Republican President.

[begin_within]

1. Obama and congress must go way left, to correct for the atrocities of the right.

[woo me with science]

2. Nah, he's gotta keep his powder dry.

:popcorn:

[ashling]

3. I'm ok with him governing from the middle ...

I just think that the middle needs to be farther to the left :shrug:

[Triana]

4. The M$M has a corporate agenda:

minimize the "damage" to their precious bottom lines and to the shareholder value of their stocks - thus their INSISTENCE and ramming down our collective throats that Obama "must govern from the center"

Since WHEN does the MEDIA tell the President what to do, or SPEAK on behalf of the VOICES who elected this president (us?).

Pretty arrogant and narcissistic of the goddamned lame$tream media, if you ask me. But as corprat-pwned entities with their own self-serving agendas, I HATE he sonsofbitches with a passion anyway.

Hopefully, Obama will do what WE elected him to do and NOT what the lame$tream 21st Century Goebbels Propaganda Arm of the gov't insists he must do (in order to protect their own asses).

They can stuff their corprat agendas up their smelly twats, as far as I'm concerned.

[Cha]

5. Did they say that about fucking bush?

I thought not..they threw everything they fucking had at Obama and he's the Prez elect.

Obama can govern how he damn pleases.

[NYC_SKP]

6. They're going through "Loss of Relevance" withdrawals...

It must be painful not having an election to try to manipulate...

[Double T]

7. If BO wants to be reelected he must govern from the middle.

The minority like governing from the far left or far right.

[No Elephants]

20. I thought so until this morning, but I am changing my mind. FDR did not govern from

the middle. FDR got re-elected more than anyone else ever.

Kennedy did not govern from the middle (of that time). He went on a limb for civil rights. He is still an incredibly popular President. I believe that he would have been re-elected.

LBJ was done in by Vietnam, not by the Great Society.

Reagan did not govern from the middle. Neither did Dummya.

Democrats have been playing defense since Reagan and Gingrich's Contract With America. Neither of those was from the middle.

Obama is more inspiring and charismatic than Reagan. America is in an FDR type situation. He can justify a lot by saying we are in unprecediented straits.

Triangulating may have worked for Clinton in Clinton's day. At this time, though, for Obama, I think triangulating would diminish Obama and Obama's appeal, including among Democrats. By worrying aobut getting re-elected, he may make himself a one term President.

[TheDonkey]

8. I agree. I hate this "center right" and "bipartisanship" crap they keep spewing

America voted for Obama and his platform. Obama should govern from a progressive and Democratic angle. There is no need for us to buttress Democratic governing with "bipartisanship" and other tagwords to sort of make it seem like Democrats alone are incapable of governing.

We don't have to be douchebags like Bush slurring about "spending capital" but Democrats need to work on improving our brand. Obviously the American people are comfortable with us.

[Trajan]

9. Whatever progressive agenda that had been implemented ...

Was a resounding success ...

FUCK the Republicans using the media to demand we be 'bipartisan' ....

These are the same assholes who smoosh out faces into the mud whenever they can ...

We need a LIBERAL program to fix what the GOP has fucked up ...

[abumbyanyothername]

10. Not from the center.

http://www.credoaction.com/sirota/

November 6, 2008 9:28 AM
The Mandate Manipulation Machine Enters Stage Right

As I predicted a while back, the Partisan-Industrial Complex in Washington, D.C. has deployed its quadrennial Mandate Manipulation Machine to make sure that the 65 million Americans who voted for Barack Obama remember that America giving more than 340 electoral votes to an African American billed as a Islamic Marxist terrorist means there is no mandate for real change in this, a country obviously more conservative than ever.

A cursory glance at the newspapers today shows the media teeming with stories quoting incoming Obama administration officials, Democratic Party leaders and spokespeople for corporate front groups insisting that actually, no real change can be made, and what small-bore changes can happen, will have to happen in the very distant future, not soon. My favorite was the one-two punch from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean. Upon hearing of his bigger senate majority, Reid said on Tuesday, "This is not a mandate for a political party or an ideology." A day later, Dean told reporters, "I don't think it's a mandate for the New Deal." Awesome - what a way to project inspiring strength and confidence.

Funny, how three days shifts everything. On Monday most of these people were telling us this was "the most important election of our lifetime" because of the policy changes it promised. By Thursday, with the election over, power safely in the hands of Democrats, and plum government jobs being doled out to old Washington hands, the very same people - as if relieved to finally be able to let out a taboo secret - are saying this "most important election of our lifetime" may actually mean no significant policy changes at all.

<snip>

[katusha]

11. Obama IS the middle

President-elect Barack Obama has just spent nearly the last two years fighting for every state, TWICE!! First he campaigned against Hillary Clinton in the primaries, then he had to run again against John McCain!

Obama has seen every bit of this country high and low and talked to just about every kind of american imagineable. He knows more about what is going on in this country, it's views, thoughts, fears, and passions than any other human being alive at this moment.

[NYC Liberal]

12. If voters wanted a "center-right" agenda they'd have elected McCain.

They didn't. Obama's positions were very clear during the campaign and THAT is what America voted for!

[FrenchieCat]

13. Barack Obama will govern to provide us with what he said he would

when he ran.

It ain't left, it ain't right, it ain't center, it's forward.

He has a mandate for going forward, and fuck the media.

[TahitiNut]

14. I'm against moving the White House to Kansas. It's not far enough to the left.

San Francisco would be OK ... "far left" would be Hawaii. It clearly can't continue to be the far right of Washington, D.C.

[Life Long Dem]

15. Obama is the media.

In communication, media is the storage and transmission tools used to store and deliver information or data. It is often referred to as synonymous with mass media or news media, but may refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media (communication)

[kurt_cagle]

16. Oh, for crying out loud

This whole conversation is degenerating into silliness. Obama is a lawyer and is also a student of the Chicago school of economics. His first course of action is to figure out just how badly the Bushites have damaged the capabilities of the government to influence the economy and will work to undo that damage as much as possible. His second course of action is going to be to get some termination on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in a way that's not going to do long term damage to our military standing globally, and to attempt to repair the relations that the US Government has with the rest of the world. His third course of action will likely be to lay down a plan for energy independence that doesn't end up destroying our agricultural base.

I'm guessing that these three things will likely take the bulk of the next four years. Obama's not going to be setting up any grand new initiatives unless those initiatives can pay for themselves, because he won't have the money to do that. He's likely not going to take a lot of punitive action against the previous administration because it's counterproductive for him - though I suspect that he wouldn't be adverse to a broad class action lawsuit being launched. He's not going to get another Kyoto passed until he has a better idea about what resources he can utilize to make such an action meaningful. He's not going to create a new Department of Peace, not going to try to favor the unions over the big bad corporations, and not going to make a concerted push for gay rights.

On the other hand, he's going to end the trough feeding of mercenary outfits like Blackwater and Halliburton, and will probably axe a lot of black projects that exist solely to grease the palms of contractors. He'll try to make government more transparent, and will use that transparency as leverage to make business more transparent. I suspect that he'll try to apply a more modernist thinking about the economy than currently exists with the Keynesian vs. Galbraith models, and will put people into place in the various departments that are not only untainted by partisan politics but also *gasp* competent at what they do.

In short, he's going to do something that we really haven't had in a long, long time - someone who can actually govern. Obama looks to be the kind of person who is not using the post of President as a way of proving a particular philosophy or enriching his buddies or proving his manhood, but instead is taking responsibility as a leader to insure that the needs of people in this country are, for the most part, met. I'd say that will count for a lot in the days and weeks ahead.

[Morning Dew]

17. He damn well better govern from the middle

of his desk, that is, cuz if he goes left or right he'll ram his knees into drawers and whatnot.

[No Elephants]

18. Has Bush governed from the middle?

[FrenchieCat]

19. Fuck Bush!

This is about repairing the damage, and doing some good. it ain't about pandering, and calculating for the next election starting on day one.

[RepublicanElephant]

21. since obama has MUCH more political capital than dubya did in 2000...

i suggest the msm stfu.

and that obama put the fairness doctrine on his top ten things to do list for 2009.

[bowens43]

22. If you expect anything else, you'll be disappointed.

Have you listened to him? He is center left. He's been VERY clear about that.

[WeDidIt]

23. Obama WILL govern from the middle

The thing is, he'll convince the country that the progressive ideals ARE the center of our politics.

[Frumious B]

24. If he governs from "the middle" then it should be "the middle" of twenty years ago.

IMHO we've moved so far to the right that what used to be the middle is now the left. I've always considered myself pretty middle of the road and my core views haven't changed that much is the last fifteen years or so. However, where there were once certain Republicans I could confidently support in elections and identify with to a certain degree there are now a bunch of batshit, Palin worshiping loonies. These are not people with whom you can sit down and reason. They are people who need to be defeated.