Don't Blame Obama, Blame the Congress!

[iceman66]

For those of you with short memories, the Democratic Congress, particularly the Senate, has been weak and ineffectual since 1/07, two years before Obama took office. They basically went along with everything Bush wanted, and refused to exercise any oversight or investigative authority.

Everyone kept saying 'things will change when we have a Democratic president'.

Well they didn't!

[polichick]

1. You're assuming the prez did not get the bill he wanted. nt

[Nikki Stone1]

3. + 1

.

[iceman66]

8. You're assuming he did.

[polichick]

11. Well, if he had actually led without double-talk, there wouldn't be any doubt. nt

[LakeSamish706]

2. Except for one problem... Obama knew what he was facing with his fellow

Congress critters before he ran for President! So, once again we should never, never vote for a member of Congress for President ever again. A Governor (and I know this sucks big time.. ugh) is the route to go. Crap, I think that GW Bush was a Governor, and shit that was .. well, ugly.

Seriously, I don't know where to turn for someone good to run as a President.

[Carolina]

9. and he chose Lieberman as his Senate mentor!

Obama also CHOSE Geithner, Summers, Rahm... He has shown his real character by that cast of characters and sadly we believed his articulately packaged hopeful hype.

[pocoloco]

4. Tell me again....what the fuck was his campaign slogan?

[jrtayloriv]

25. I think it was "'Change' is a word my PR team told me to put in my slogan"

Seriously, the fact that you've even seen his campaign slogan in corporate-controlled national television/newspapers/etc should have been a clear sign that he wasn't going to do shit in the first place. But, that aside, his slogan was something like "Change has come to the body count in Afghanistan, to the account balances of dozens of U.S. financial institutions, and to the U.S. debt.", if I recall correctly.

[DJ13]

5. If Obama hadnt cajoled Congress into reauthorizing the war funding I might agree

The moment earlier this year when he sent Rahm to Congress to threaten reluctant members with being cut off from WH support in future campaigns if they didnt authorize the money for the wars showed that Obama has it in him to be forceful with Congress when its something he really needs (or wants).

The lack of using these same hardball tactics on healthcare reform shows its moving in the direction he wanted all along.

[iceman66]

13. It doesn't exactly take a lot of arm twisting to get Congress,

ANY Congress, to authorize war funding.

Health care reform is a little different because it basically requires them to bite the hand that feeds them.

[DJ13]

15. Dont forget, most every new member had ran against the wars

They were, in effect, "biting the hands that fed them" by continuing the funding.

Thats why Rahm had to go in and ruffle some feathers.

[David Zephyr]

Tell that to Senator Dorgan who Obama sabotaged this week.

Barack Obama lied to the American people about allowing folks to get their meds from Canada. And he worked to make sure Dorgan's amendment that would have permitted it failed in Congress.

Blame Congress for that? No, you can only blame Obama. He lied and shot down that needed legislation.

And as DU's AllentownJake has pointed out, Barack Obama in his debate with John McCain spoke out against intrastate insurance companies shopping their wares around. AllentownJake has Barack's own words, and yet it is the fucking bill. Read the LA Times today.

Barack Obama railed against mandates and yet, here he is eager to sign this travesty of a bill that will make all Americans into corporate slaves by fiat to buy their healthcare, something that is free in every civilized nation in the world.

Blame Congress? No, I blame Barack Obama.

He put creating jobs on the back burner for this shit.

Only 4% of mortgages have been modified since he gave away hundreds of billions of banks for that purpose.

Blame Congress? No. Blame Barack Obama.

[iceman66]

17. Drug reimportation was a sham from the get-go

At best, it would have been a temporary stop-gap measure that would only have worked until the drug companies started limiting supplies in Canada.

Obama is trying to get the very best bill possible out of a very difficult Congress. The infamous 'big pharma' deal that everyone hates was NECESSARY to get enough VOTES to pass the bill.

Remember the House bill BARELY passed and we have an 80 SEAT MAJORITY.

[rwheeler31]

6. Some of the Senators are totally bought, all the

Republicans and 4 Democrats and one Independent.

[DJ13]

12. Some of the Senators are totally bought,

and anyone who makes it into the Oval Office is also bought.

[iceman66]

19. Obama is less 'bought' than you think

He could have did the easy thing, and only pushed for legislation that he was sure he could easily pass.

Instead, he is trying his hardest to get us some kind of health care reform, even if it dooms his presidency, because he knows it is what the public NEEDS.

And people here are ready to throw him under the bus because he can't deliver everything they want!

[WeDidIt]

7. Nope. I blame Obama. He failed to lead. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

10. This congress was there when he took office. He set the agenda. He just never worked the room.

You remember Harry Truman. He didn't need excuses. He took responsibility. He also did some hard stuff and some controversial stuff. Like firing American Ceaser when it came to a test of wills.

Harry was a leader.

[LakeSamish706]

20. Strange.. I was totally against Hillary Clinton in the Primaries for the very reasons

that I am now totally against Obama! The more things change, the more they stay the same. ugh.. not good.

[Forkboy]

14. The buck stops over there!

[sendero]

16. I blame both..

... if Obama would have wanted a good bill, he would have gotten one. He stood back and let it all happen. He is no leader.

[tblue]

18. I think the president needs to know we hold him accountable.

He said we should, and he was right.

[bigwillq]

21. Both should be blamed equally (nt)

[dhpgetsit]

22. I blame the stranglehold a few corporations have on our entire political system.

To break it we need to ban all political funding of elections and lobbying efforts on the part of corporations. It is simply legalized bribery at this point.

[Laelth]

23. I think Obama is 95% responsible for this turd of a bill.

I think he has tightly controlled every aspect of the progress of this legislation. I see Rahm's fingerprints all over it. I am not letting the President off the hook, here. This is his doing, almost entirely.

:dem:

-Laelth

[jrtayloriv]

24. No, blame Obama for all of the things he's done (and hasn't done), as well

Obama (according to the stories that we're told as schoolchildren that have us believe that the president is an autonomous decisionmaker, rather than a puppet of big capital) could technically do a lot.

He could repeal all of the illegal Homeland Security Presidential Directives, National Security Presidential Directives, and Executive Orders that Bush decreed during his terms. But Obama won't do that, because they are far too useful in repressing political dissent and dramatically increase corporate dominance both here and abroad.

He could order all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and cease financial and military support of violent states such as Israel and Colombia.

He could order the FBI, NSA, and DHS to stop spying on American citizens.

He could start working towards a more transparent government, and order the release of all information pertaining to U.S. torture and surveillance programs at home and abroad.

He can do quite a bit and he doesn't, which is why the corporate backers of the Democratic party machine chose to promote him in the first place.