Giving Credit Where It's Due

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2010/7/22/145211/436

Giving Credit Where It's Due

by BooMan
Thu Jul 22nd, 2010 at 02:52:11 PM EST


What should have been a triumphant week for the president has been tarnished by the stupid firing of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod and all the controversy surrounding it. So, here's a partial list of things Obama has done so far this week. Click on the links (at link) to learn more.

Issued an Executive Order on the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes.

Signed the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, creating the strongest consumer protections in our country's history.

Signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (pdf) as a part of his Accountable Government Initiative, saving us tens of billions of dollars in erroneous payments.

Ushered the Tribal Law and Order Act through Congress.

Finally got the Senate to extend unemployment insurance.

Nominated marshals and judges and ambassadors (all career Senior Foreign Service members, by the way).

Expanded the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target for Federal Operations.

In conjunction with this announcement today, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor, Martha Johnson, Administrator of the General Services Administration, and Ronald Sims, Deputy Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development convened a Clean Energy Economy Forum on Federal leadership in High Performance Sustainable Building.

Saw the Senate Judiciary Committee approve Elena Kagan's nomination and send it the floor.

And hosted UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Look around the progressive blogosphere (including here) and see what people are talking about. They aren't talking about Obama reducing greenhouse emissions from federal employee travel and commuting 13% by 2020. They're not talking about him implementing the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. They're not talking about saving us billions in wasted government payouts. They're not talking about new money and resources to help Tribal law enforcement. They're barely talking about the historic Wall Street Reforms.

You want to know why people are frustrated and unmotivated? It isn't just compromise and obstruction. It's that we don't pay attention to what is getting accomplished and focus way too much on the negative. How many of you knew about all the stuff on that list? Where else would you have learned about it?

[Scurrilous]

1. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Cognitive Bias...not an excuse..just a possible explanation.

A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable facts. The existence of some of these cognitive biases has been verified empirically in the field of psychology.

Cognitive biases are instances of evolved mental behavior. Some are presumably adaptive, for example, because they lead to more effective actions in given contexts or enable faster decisions when faster decisions are of greater value. Others presumably result from a lack of appropriate mental mechanisms, or from the misapplication of a mechanism that is adaptive under different circumstances.

Cognitive bias is a general term that is used to describe many distortions in the human mind that are difficult to eliminate and that lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical interpretation.<1>

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
<snip>
Negativity bias – the tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative than positive experiences or other kinds of information.
<snip>

[NJmaverick]

3. That's for addressing this issue. It's one that really needs to be focused on

[JuniperLea]

4. Bless you!

No wonder it took him until last night to call Ms. Sherrod. Looks like he was kinda busy on things that will benefit ALL Americans.

We don't pay attention, and the media doesn't help either.

The thing that sucks out loud is that sites like DU, HuffPo, DKos, etc., were started partly because the media wasn't serving our needs. We weren't getting all of the news, so we had to set up do-it-yourself news sites. Now, we're being sucked into the same mucky fertilizer that regular news sites suffer.

Stupid, isn't it?

[BrklynLiberal]

5. I always like your posts....

:thumbsup: :hi:

If there was a button that was the opposite of "Ignore", I would use it for you.

[JuniperLea]

17. Back at ya, BrklynLiberal

:hi:

[SpartanDem]

6. This is an important point.

if we don't pay attention why should we have any expectation the MSM will? We are at times our own worst enemy we gripe about he MSM not paying attention, but on DU generally good news drops like a rock. In addition, you have those that use right talking points under the guise of being progressive take HCR, for instance, you had people here saying that people could go to jail. It's kinda hard to debunk a right wing lie when peolple on your side are saying the same thing.

[lillypaddle]

7. Right on!

And I thought it would be impossible, but it seems even more negative around here this week. The President can do NOTHING right and EVERYTHING is his fault. It is wearing me down.

[vaberella]

8. So true Babylonsister. Thanks for the news, you keep me more aware on what's going on than most. nt

[Spazito]

9. Thanks for this!

For those who have asked what Obama has done for the "REAL" people during this past week, here is the answer and it is VERY impressive, imo.

[zipplewrath]

10. Where it's due

Ushered the Tribal Law and Order Act through Congress.

From what I understand, this isn't "his" accomplishment. Some western members of congress have been working this for a long time. He signed it, but it isn't clear he had much to do with getting it through congress.

finally got the Senate to extend unemployment insurance.

Again, assigning credit in the wrong place. He signed it, but the govenor of West Virginia, and Harry Reid were really responsible for this.

Nominated marshals and judges and ambassadors (all career Senior Foreign Service members, by the way).

This is kind of funny because he is going so slow in these nominations. He's way behind his predecessors, and Hillary regularly complains about the process.

Saw the Senate Judiciary Committee approve Elena Kagan's nomination and send it the floor.

Again, a mixed bag. This has as much to do with Reid as Obama, although I'll admit, they may have had something to do with Grahms vote. I do wonder if there was some horse trading going on we don't yet know.


And hosted UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Now yer just scraping. And all this reminds me of is that Cameron was worried about getting troops out by 2015. I'm worried about getting them out by 2012.

I'll give him the rest, and I'm reserving judgement on the banking legislation. It wasn't all that I wanted, but it may be vastly better than that HCR bill.

[babylonsister]

11. You rarely disappoint. nt

[zipplewrath]

14. Thank you

But the real point is that the rabid supporters seem to simultaneously feel a need to claim he's "doing so much" and yet over reach in their assessment. If he were really accomplishing so much, it wouldn't be necessary to over reach. It's like those other lists we see posted regularly, that list amongst his "accomplishments" things that haven't actually happened yet, like closing Gitmo or getting out of Iraq.

[JoePhilly]

16. Is getting us out of Iraq binary?

He said it would take about 16 months. One could track the troop levels if they cared to.

Ignoring the progress made to date is no less of an "over reach" in one's assessment.

[zipplewrath]

22. Who's ignoring

Quite the opposite, I took great notice in my assessment. He's slow rolling the withdrawl, because he wants to. He could go much faster, but chooses not to. His "accomplishment" is that he is executing the SOFA, negotiated by Bush.

[JoePhilly]

30. Slow rolling ... ????

As a candidate, he said it would take about 16 months. It will end up being about 19 months from the day he took office. If you give him a month or 2 to work out details with the generals he is right on track.

Once again ... you seem to be very willing ... almost "rabid" ... in your willingness to attack his progress.

Or was I too semantic there???

[JoePhilly]

18. One added thought ... your use of the phrase "rabid supporters" ...

Supporters are "enthusiastic", "optimistic", "positive".

Detractors are "frustrated", "pessimistic", "negative", "angry".

The term "rabid" usually refers to a wild animal that has become, out of control, aggressive, angry, combative, dangerous.

Which set of terms associated with "rabid" best describe Obama's supporters, versus his detractors?

[zipplewrath]

21. Ha

so you want to discuss semantics?

[JoePhilly]

28. Not really ...

Just suggesting that you might be projecting ... from what I read from you on this thread, "rabid" is not a word you should be using for others.

[newtothegame]

35. +1

[impik]

25. Yea, time to send another one deep under the ignored bus. I don't have time for a*****

[ProSense]

12. Reid nominated Kagan? n/t

[zipplewrath]

15. Obama voted in the senate committee?

Reid runs the senate, not Obama.

[JoePhilly]

19. Obama nominated her, she passed the committee ... that's a win for OBAMA

And it will be a bigger win for Obama when she is confirmed. It will not be Reid's win. Reid did not select her. Reid will get credit for getting OBAMA'S nominee through ... but she is, and always will be ... OBAMA'S Pick.

Or do you want to argue that Reagan's supreme court picks were victories not for him, but for the person who was Sneate Majority leader at the time ... or Bush #1, Clinton, Bush #2.

Getting your nominee to the bench is a victory for the PRESIDENT, not the Senate majority leader.

[zipplewrath]

20. However

it is an accomplishment, this week, for the judiciary committee

[JoePhilly]

26. Yawn.

[zipplewrath]

27. All this critical thinking is making your tired?

Get some sleep. We'll be here in the morning.

[JoePhilly]

29. You didn't say anything worth more than a yawn, And that took effort.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

13. A very good post we must keep promoting the postive at every turn and why it didn't get heard.

[derby378]

23. I have to admit...

...even though I don't have a single drop of Native American blood, I didn't know tribal law enforcement agencies were that strained, since they ultimately answer to the Department of the Interior. But if they need help, I'm certainly glad they're getting it.

[OhioBlue]

31. thank you! k n r. n/t

[BootinUp]

24. Has he got Sean Hannity fired yet?

what good is he then

:sarcasm:

[SunsetDreams]

32. K&R Thank you

[impik]

33. Credit is never due here

[TBF]

34. Not thrilled with Kagan, but I'll give this a rec for extending unemployment insurance. n/t