Zuckerman chimes in; How did this happen?

[robdogbucky]

It kills me to post this, but it is spot on. I grew up in a working class, labor union Democratic family. We worked hard and we fought for everything we got. It just seems now to all have been for naught. Don't tell me I'm whining, that I have a loser mentality, etc. I did not want a pony, I voted for change. Or what I thought was change. I wanted a fair shake. I wanted the rampant greed of Wall St. reined in. I wanted an end to illegal wars draining our democracy at its core. I wanted real healthcare reform. I wanted my gay sisters and brothers to come out of the shadows and into the light of freedom like all other Americans are promised.


He's Done Everything Wrong
by Mort Zuckerman
January 19, 2010 | 11:19pm

Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in 365 days. He’s misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There’s the saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” He didn’t get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn’t address the main issue. This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically.

In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. It’s now worse than it was. I’ve now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that I’ve never seen before. It’s politically corrupt and it’s starting at the top. It’s revolting...

...I’m very disappointed. We endorsed him. I voted for him. I supported him publicly and privately. I hope there are changes. I think he’s already laid in huge problems for the country. The fiscal program was a disaster. You have to get the money as quickly as possible into the economy. They didn’t do that. By end of the first year, only one-third of the money was spent. Why is that?
He should have jammed a stimulus plan into Congress and said, “This is it. No changes. Don’t give me that bullshit. We have a national emergency.” Instead they turned it over to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who can run circles around him.
It’s very sad. It’s really sad...

...It’s really interesting because he had brilliant, brilliant political instincts during the campaign. I don’t know what has happened to them. His appointments present somebody who has a lot to learn about how government works. He better get some very talented businesspeople who know how to implement things. It’s unbelievable. Everybody says so. You can’t believe how dismayed people are. That’s why he’s plunging in the polls..."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-19/hes-done-everything-wrong/p/



rdb

[kudzu22]

1. He purged the progressives from his inner circle

and brought in the fat cat power brokers. Matt Taibbi wrote about it back in December. Broke my heart reading this.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout

[JamesA1102]

4. Taibbi's article has shown to be filled with factual errors

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?base_name=oh_matt_taibbi&month=12&year=2009

[Captain Hilts]

5. Who were the progressives around him?

[Captain Hilts]

7. Thanks. We know who the progressives around FDR were....

Eleanor, Ickes, Perkins, Hopkins, Wallace, Alexander, etc.

Who are/were they around President Obama?

[bread_and_roses]

2. "some talented business people?" - Puleeeezzzzzzz

This guy hasn't noticed that it was all those "talented business people" who between them and the bought and sold politicians enacting their agenda who've run this country into some weird combination of an Imperialist Occupying Oppressor nation and a Banana Republic?

For your first paragraph, I am in total sympathy AND empathy - same background, same hopes for Obama as I. And much of the rest of the column rings true enough. But I had to point out that line, which strikes me as utterly ridiculous.

[eleny]

3. I think that Mort's definition of "change" is different from Obama's

I'm disappointed in some things, too. But Obama wanted shared responsibility and shared problem solving. That would have been very different from the way the Bush administration and the previous 8 Congresses functioned. When Bush didn't get what he wanted he bullied or went Reconciliation or had Frist threaten the nuclear option.

I disagree that Obama "punted". That's just silly and Mort's smarter than that. The president simply approached problems differently. He didn't hand it over with the intention of sitting back in his office chair and observe. I believe that he hoped that Congress could learn to work together thus taking collective credit.

Perhaps his formula works more quickly in the small neighborhood groups Obama worked with as an organizer. It has to take much longer for Congress with the harsh atmosphere that's been developing for decades. Perhaps this is where Obama was shortsighted. He underestimated the Republicans and their corporate masters as well as America's short attention span and thirst for quick fixes.

[Marr]

12. Apparently, Bush understood something Obama does not.

We have a two party system. Ideally, that means the other party has a different, irreconcilable agenda. If voters give you a majority, you push your agenda-- not that of your loser opponents.

That's the happy myth, anyway. The fact is that the two parties are both mouthpieces of Wall Street, with slightly different sales pitches. Obama is a fan of "bipartisanship" because he was elected by the supposedly left party, and he needs an excuse for serving Wall Street. Right-wing politicians like Bush don't need any such excuses.

[robdogbucky]

6. Admittedly Zuckerman is a different creature from Obama

and that no doubt accounts for a lot of the disparities in viewpoints. Of course, hindsight is always 20-20 as well:


Mortimer Benjamin "Mort" Zuckerman (born June 4, 1937)<1> is a Canadian-born American magazine editor, publisher, and real estate billionaire. He is a naturalized citizen of the United States.

In 2008, Zuckerman was the 147th wealthiest American,<2> and in 2007, he was the 188th<3> as per Forbes. In 2006, he was ranked 382.<4> The increase was related to the sale in 2007 of 5 Times Square and 280 Park Avenue in New York, which together realized US$2.5 billion for his company, Boston Properties, Inc.<5>

He has been the publisher/owner of the New York Daily News since 1993 and, as of 2007, is the current Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report. He co-founded Boston Properties, Inc. in 1970. He is chairman of the board, and director...

...In addition to his publishing and real-estate interests, Zuckerman is also a frequent commentator on world affairs, both as an editorialist and on television. He regularly appears on MSNBC and The McLaughlin Group, and writes columns for U.S. News & World Report and the New York Daily News. Since the late 1970s, Zuckerman has donated more than $68,000 to American political candidates, with $42,700 going to Democratic politicians and $24,000 to independent interests..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortimer_Zuckerman



rdb

[eleny]

10. He Personally lost a bundle in the most recent crash of a couple of years ago

I remember him saying so on PBS one Friday night when he was a guest on the McLaughlin Group. Perhaps he thought Obama would get some back for him.

[Unvanguard]

8. "Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage."

Yeah, let's let tens of thousands of people continue dying every year. :eyes:

[JamesA1102]

9. Zuckerman is really off here.

First, the editorial board of his newspaper my have endorsed Obama but Zuckerman himself had been fairly anti-Obama from the day he was sworn in as shown during his appearances on programs like The Mclaughlin Group, Morning Joe, etc.

"This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically."


These statements are simply false. The CBO analyis of both the House and Senate bills have shown that they both reduce costs and lower the deficit. And most people did want to expand coverage which is why the Public Option still polls well. Plus I love it when a Billionaire starts talking about how bad it is to expand Healthcare coverage to the poor and working class.

In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. It’s now worse than it was. I’ve now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that I’ve never seen before. It’s politically corrupt and it’s starting at the top. It’s revolting...

Wow I guess he missed it in 2003 when the GOP passed the Medicare Prescription bill by leaving the vote open for 3 hours past the usual 15 minute deadline while Tom Delay went around strong arming GOP members to vote for it and in one case threatening a retiring member, Nick Smith of Michigan, that the RNC would not fund his son's campaign to replace his father.

Now I'm not endorsing the deals done with Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu to secure their votes. But that is how Congress has always functioned. Calling it worse than before is just a lie as well as a GOP talking point.

The fiscal program was a disaster.

Every economist, even conservative ones, have said exactly the opposite. They have stated that the stimulus bill saved the country from another great depression.

That’s why he’s plunging in the polls.

He's not plunging in the polls. His poll numbers have been about 50% for the last few months.

[eleny]

11. That's my recollection, too, re: his tv appearances

[robdogbucky]

13. This article was directed to me this morning

by a left-wing blogger that I respect. He and I go way back to the S&L fiasco of the late 80s, early 90s. He has been an acquaintance for a while now and I trust him to accurately report. He said this in addition to providing the article:


"Now before you just dismiss at first glance the editorial below, understand this: Mort is no crazy right winger. He worked for President Bill Clinton. And he’s not some hysterical Netroots lefty either. Mort Zuckerman is a down-the-middle kinda guy. But even more importantly, he’s forgotten more about national and international economic policy than most of us will ever know.

I saw him this morning on MSNBC passionately explaining the “whys” and “whats” of the piece below. During the interview he channelled the sorrow, frustration, disappointment and growing sense of betrayal felt by so many who voted for Obama. It seems that for once Republicans were right about something; Obama gives a helluva speech. But that’s apparently where his leadership skills begin and end.

So here we are once more -- nuts to the right of us, wimps to the left, and you and I stuck in the middle again.

“The nation and the world face so many very real problems right now,” Zuckerman said, “and these guys simply don’t know how to govern.”

At the end of Mort’s MSNBC interview the camera did not pull away from him fast enough, and I saw something we don’t see much these days on TV -- a sincerely worried and sad man. Count me in."



So, Steve said Zuckerman was sincere, and the criticism seems to be about the Prez's lack of experience and about those he chose to advise his admin. I read where Zuckerman lost big time in the Madoff ripoffs and indeed he would be one of those looking to recoup and/or punish those responsible for his losses. But I learned one thing from the S&L debacle, that is, you cannot cheat an honest man. Madoff and those like him offered somethings as returns that were too good go be true, hence greed takes over and reason takes a holidya. That is unfortunately human nature. As for the polling referred to, it is indeed still in Obama's favor, and is hovering around 50% overall, with the predictable spike downward displayed by Rasmussen, imagine my surprise. I would assume from that that Zuckerman is more bitter about what has not taken place and has let his emotions take over at times, venting his personal feelings and not accurately reflecting the current polling data.


Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average 1/3 - 1/22 -- 49.4 44.9 +4.5
Gallup 01/20 - 01/22 1547 A 47 47 Tie
Rasmussen Reports 01/20 - 01/22 1500 LV 44 55 -11
CBS News 01/14 - 01/17 1090 A 50 40 +10
Associated Press/GfK 01/12 - 01/17 1008 A 56 42 +14
ABC News/Wash Post 01/12 - 01/15 1083 A 53 44 +9
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl 01/10 - 01/14 1002 A 48 43 +5
FOX News 01/12 - 01/13 900 RV 50 42 +8
Democracy Corps (D) 01/07 - 01/11 1001 RV 50 46 +4
Ipsos/McClatchy 01/07 - 01/11 1336 A 52 45 +7
Quinnipiac 01/05 - 01/11 1767 RV 45 45 Tie
CNN/Opinion Research 01/08 - 01/10 1021 A 51 48 +3
Pew Research 01/06 - 01/10 1504 A 49 42 +7
USA Today/Gallup 01/08 - 01/09 2014 A 50 45 +5
National Journal/FD 01/03 - 01/07 1200 A 47 45 +2

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

Yikes! That is a very difficult format to decipher once it is cut and pasted.


Please discuss further.



rdb

[Jennicut]

14. Obama has made mistakes but Zuckerman?

He is like a DLC type that just loved the Iraq war. Yuck. And don't get me started on his Zionist views.