Pres. Obama: "We have had the most ... progressive legislative session in at least a generation."

[Clio the Leo]

“Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get – to see the glass as half empty,” Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Greenwich, Conn. “If we get an historic health care bill passed – ‘oh, well, the public option wasn’t there. ‘ If you get the financial reform bill passed – ‘then, well, I don't know about this particularly derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that.’ ‘And gosh, we haven’t yet brought about world peace, and – I thought that was going to happen quicker.’

As his supporters laughed, Obama added, “You know who you are.”

“We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation,” he continued. “And so I want everybody here to – when you are talking to your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers, I want you to feel good about the support that you've provided, because you didn’t send me there to do what was easy; you sent me there to do what was hard. We have tackled some of the hardest problems facing this country and we did so in the midst of crisis, and we are succeeding.”

Video:
http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2010/09/16/HP/A/38215/Pres+Obama+Remarks+at+Connecticut+Atty+Gen+Richard+Blumenthal+Fundraiser.aspx


quote excerpted from:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0910/next_up_world_peace_4c9c519c-f031-4474-87b4-07b12e0f8b2c.html

[ClarkUSA]

1. Damned straight. Glad to see the Prez correct the lies. Time to GOTV in CT and across the nation.

Join up here: http://www.democrats.org

[Lost4words]

3. rah rah

so glad we got all those pesky problems solved :sarcasm:

[ClarkUSA]

8. Got anything except baseless snark? Some people can't give credit to Pres. Obama for anything.

Well, there are plenty of us who can. And we will. :hi:

[Lost4words]

11. I would expect nothing less from you

:hi:

[mkultra]

20. and we expect nothing more from you

[Lost4words]

46. well then you are in error, but thats the norm isnt it!

with your mind locked like a safe you will learn nothing

[_ed_]

52. I give him credit for:

- not pressuring Congress to repeal DADT; not implementing a stop-loss to end DADT discharges
- defending DOMA in federal court
- not extending full federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
- claiming the power to assassinate American citizens
- claiming the "state secrets" doctrine in ways Bush never could have envisioned
- meaningless (from my perspective as a small business owner) healthcare reform
- meaningless financial reform
- completely ignoring climate change
- giving lip service to veterans and veterans' issues
- escalating Afghanistan
- conducting illegal strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, etc
- calling the Iraq war over when soldiers still die every day

I care about policy, not politicians.

[stevenleser]

65. At least seven of which are outright incorrect assertions. But thats OK, we're used to that stuff by

now.

[27inCali]

22. what reasonable adult expected any of those problems

to be completely solved within 2 years? Serious progress has been made, just because there is still more work to do doesn't mean the work that has been done is meaningless.

and who is claiming that the problems are solved? Rather, the work continues, we make progress where we can, knowing that the problems this country has are complex and intertwined and the corporations have to many plants in the House and Senate to get anything too Progressive through all at once, no it will be a slow trickle, and agonizing trickle -and even with the best most progressive leadership, it's going to take a decade if not a generation to rebuild this country from the damage the Bush years did. No amount of animus directed at Obama will change that, rather, it only serves to make things worse.

[Lost4words]

47. there are times where you must take one step backward,

in order to go two steps forward,......after Obamas remarks in CT, I have made the decision to value my vote since my lifelong party and our president do not. I am too old to settle for the lesser of two evils as we march headlong into fascism!

but enjoy your apparent nearsightedness,....

[Inuca]

53. You are indeed

lost for words.

[Dream Girl]

57. What are you doing here? Really....

[Usrename]

26. Damn straight. I'm still glad he closed Gitmo on his first day.

Even if he had to keep it open to do it.

This is change that matters.

[Lost4words]

48. LOL, sums it up pretty much, IYAM!

[elleng]

2. This should be a DU headliner!!!

As well as elsewhere.

[monmouth]

4. Proof he reads DU!....n/t

[TBF]

6. Nope, just proof that he talks to Gibbs. nt

[Lost4words]

49. Gibbs parrots BHO, not the other way around IMO

it is pretty clear this admin has disdain for anyone who REALLY expected a fighter for substantive change and has the Moxie to say so out loud.

[NJmaverick]

5. K & R!

[scheming daemons]

7. The President is 100% correct... and could have been talking to many on DU

[Lost4words]

50. he may be bitching about me, but he is laughing at you!

[flamingdem]

9. K n R sister! nt

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. Well said Mr. President! (nt)

[hootinholler]

12. Most progressive in a generation?

Er, at least a generation?

Gosh Mr President, I'd like some evidence that this last 2 years are on par with the great society. In fact I'll settle for evidence that you didn't start negotiations on the issues by handcuffing yourself.

Progress? Yes I'll give you some credit, you made some progress but claiming the most progressive in a generation? That seems to be reaching a bit.

-Hoot

[Wednesdays]

13. "Great Society" was 45 years ago, so that's outside "a generation"

Having said that, an overview of the legislation that's come from Washington since 1981 will show that the bar wasn't set very high.

[happyslug]

19. The biblical definition of a Generation is 40 years, even includes the early 1970s

And thus we have to go by to LBJ and the Great Society AND its echo, the post first few years of Nixon's administration and then Watergate Congress of 1974, which passed the following (This was the most Progressive Congress the US has had since the Great Depression do to the post Watergate GOP debacle, it started BEFORE that debacle as GOP members of Congress, fearing for their seats refused to stop the following from being passed AND Nixon and later Ford signing them into law hoping to maintain some popularity with the Public:

1. Supplemental Security Income (SSI), today $764 a month plus whatever your state supplements it by Pennsylvania adds $22.10). This is the "Standard of Need" as determined by Congress in 1967 and income indexed since that date. This is the minimal amount of money you need to survive in the US. If your income is less then $674 you are NOT receiving enough money to pay for housing, food, transportation etc. SSI is for those people who can NOT work AND are not eligible for Social Security Disability (or whose Social Security disability is less then $674 a month). SSI is reduced by any other source of Income (Including Social Security Disability). While administrated by Social Security, it is funded via Income Taxes NOT Social Security Taxes (While the definition of Disability is the same for SSI AND Social Security Disability, i.e disabled for one program, disabled for BOTH programs, the difference is how much work history you have). This was technically created in 1972, but implemented in 1974 see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Security_Income

2. Federal Funding to Education WITH the restriction that no money can go to segregated schools. This was really killed segregation in the US education system. Yes, Segregation survived till the 1970s even through the Supreme Court declared it Unconstitutional in 1954. Segregation did not die till Local School District, always in need of funds, agreed to desegregate in exchange for Federal Funds. Now, Federal Funding could go to schools that had an "imbalance" of race (i.e. overwhelming white or black) but this could no longer be the result of any LEGAL action by the Schools involved. i.e. reflected what neighborhoods the schools pulled from NOT white to one school, blacks in another even if both from the same area. http://www.archives.nysed.gov/edpolicy/research/res_essay_contents.shtml See the following for more details on the Desegregation fight: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/school.pdf

3. Changed Public Housing Projects to being housing for people on Welfare or similar level of Income. Prior to 1974 anyone who was "low Income" people (which was defined as anyone below MEDIAN Income, roughly $50,000 today) could get into public housing. Furthermore local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs)could and did require that any applicate for housing have a good history of paying rent AND a steady source of income (Welfare was almost NEVER good enough to get into Public Housing pre-1974). This high definition of "Low Income" meant that most Public Housing Project could and did exclude people on Welfare for they did NOT have enough family income OR had a history of NOT paying rent (Even then Welfare did NOT equal average monthly rent). In 1974 Congress invented two new Categories. "Low-Low Income" and "Low-Low-Low Income". Most people on welfare are not only "low income" but also "Low-Low-Low Income". After 1974 Local Public Housing Agencies MUST make preference for such "Low-Low-Low Income" people, not exclude them as was common pre-1974.

4. Congress, finally forbade ALL spending in South East Asia, ending any possibility of US re-intervening in Vietnam, putting the end to that conflict. See, Now this site attacks Congress decision, but it ended the war http://hnn.us/articles/31400.html

5. Over Nixon's Veto passed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act, Creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Nixon then packed it with people who hated it and tried to kill it by going over broad so that by 1976 OSHA had a bad reputation. With the election of Carter in 1976 he was able to put OSHA on a more even keel and became a great part of the safety net in the US (Reagan tried to undo the the improvements Carter had done, but Carter had put in some good people who made sure the Civil Service employees knew their rights so prevented a return to how OSHA was run under Nixon). http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/mono-osha13introtoc.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration

[mkultra]

21. sorry but we have dictionaries now. try one.

[happyslug]

35. So what is the definition of the term "Generation" do you use??

A fruit fly "generation" is less then a day

A dog "Generation" can be a two years.

Most people have children at about age 25, some earlier some later. Theoretical it can be 14 years. I once had such a situation, a Grandmother age 30, She gave birth before age 15 as did her daughter (I did not start till feel old till I had a client who was a 35 year old Grandfather who was a couple of years younger then I was, in his case he had father a child at about 15 AND then his daughter had a child at about 15). No one is claiming 15 years is a generation, and 20 is to close to 30 to be just one generation.

Given the problems with some teenagers have children, but most people do NOT have children till their early or mid 20s, 40 years is a traditional human generation measurement. A 40 year generation avoids the problem of changing age of first marriage. For example according to US Census Data (first gather with the 1890 Census), in the 1890 US Census the average age of marriage was about 26 for males, 22 for females. Both ages DROPPED till it bottom out about 1956 at 22.5 for males and 20.1 for females. After 1956 age at first marriage then INCREASED, till woman caught up with their 1890 ages about 1979, and men in the 1990 census.

US Census data on ages of First Marriages:
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/tabMS-2.pdf

If we use 40 years as a human generation we can exclude those years of life pre-puberty, and cuts out those people over age 50. Thus permits some overlap of generation, but keeps it to a minim-un. Thus 40 years as a generation is used in the bible and other sources. It is believe to be one of the sources for the use of 40 days in the Bible AND other sources.

Now we have to watch the term 40. In non-generational measurement (and even in generational measurement) it was NEVER intended to be an exact 40 years in length. This reflected that 40 was always viewed as a "Magic Term" of art in the oral traditions. This came out of the use of 40 in measurement of day. 40 became a measurement term for any period more then a month but less then a season, thus in the days when most people did NOT keep track of the day of the year a good way to say more the a month but less then a season). When reading ancient text you have to watch for "magic" terms like 7, 14, 30, 40, etc. These did NOT always equal 7, 14, 30 or even 40 days/weeks/Months/years. When more precise terms are used, they tend to be accurate, but when these "magic" terms are used, they are approximations at best. And that is how most people use the term generation to this day, it is a approximate measurement of time NOT the exact time for a generation to come of age.

I use the term "Magic terms" NOT in the sense that some magic was implied into these numbers, but that these were terms of art well known to the speaker of the oral story (and the bible was an oral tradition way before it was a written series of books) AND the people hearing the stories. Everyone knew they were NOT exact accounting of the time being spoke of, but an approximate guess as to that time.

[mkultra]

45. I see, Its not that you werent aware of them, its that you dont know how to use them

They state clearly what the real colloquial meaning is. frankly your just twisting the meaning of a word in order to cast Obama in a negative light.

[happyslug]

60. I cast Obama in a Negative light?

All I pointed out is that we have done almost nothing of real importance since the 1970s, Yes the American with Disability Act was passed in 1990, but in comparison to what had been done earlier minor (yes, a lot of Disabled people found work, and sidewalks were made more wheel chair usable, but that is minor compared to leaving 10% of the population who are African American the right to vote). The ADA act had minor economic affect, unlike the great Society programs and Medicare that put the final touches of the effort to get most Senior Citizen out of poverty.

Yes, Compared to FDR, Truman and LBJ, Obams'a efforts are minor (JFK had a similar record of achievements, a lot of talk and but no action till LBJ was President). On the other hand compared to Reagan, Ford and both Bushes he has been outstanding. I voted for him, and will probably vote for him in 2012 and he has meet my expectations (I did NOT expect much from him, neither he, Hillary or even Bill Clinton were anyway near the left wing of the Democratic Party and as such he has done more then I expected). Compared to the GOP President since WWII, he has been to the left, but given who the GOP elected that was NOT that hard to do (Nixon may be viewed as the most left wing, with Eisenhower either beating out Nixon, or coming in a close second).

Obama, does NOT have the problem Clinton had (a Democratic Congress with a huge Southern base that was more Conservative then the GOP, these are now members of the GOP, but the key to the Democratic Majority under Carter, Reagan (House only), and the elder Bush), followed by six years of GOP controlled House and Senate. Obama has the most left wing Congress since FDR (Truman's Democratic Congresses were NOT that left wing for the same reason the above Democratic Congresses were NOT that left wing, depended to much on Conservative Southern Congressmen).

Thus Obama had the ability to work the Senate and the House to get things passed, and he failed (Or more precisely he failed to get what the left wing wanted and the COuntry needed, he passed what the Medical Insurance Companies wanted and what other big donors wanted NOT want was needed). Now any successful politician MUST compromise and get what is possible, but Obama could have obtain single payer health care, the people wanted it and once passed would have been accepted even by people who claim they opposed it today, he could have closed Gitmo, he could have withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan (or at least STOP making veil threats to Iran). I did NOT expect him to do any of a the above and will point out those failures, on the other hand my attack is from the left not the right and unless someone from the economic left (The Social Left does NOT impress me, turns off more people then they turn on i.e. Labor) runs as a write in or a third party I will vote for Obama. I wish he was more left wing, especially on Economic issues but he is better then anyone the GOP will nominate.

[zipplewrath]

68. 15 years

As I recall, sociologists and historians tend to use 15 years as a "generation". 20 years always made a bit more sense to me, only because it is the time span for one generation to start procreating the next one.

Clinton was considered to be the first president of the generation after the WWII generation. He was the first one that wasn't eligible for the WWII draft.

Obama wasn't eligible for the Vietnam draft, that probably makes him of the generation which followed Clinton.

I've heard the claim that "Obama is the most progressive in XXX". It's a pretty easy claim to make because there hasn't been a truly progressive president since about LBJ. Maybe Carter but he was severly hamstrung for several reasons. So any of these claims are true on the face of it since it has been a long time since we've had a progressive president. However, that also places the bar extremely low.

[Clio the Leo]

33. lol @ "the Biblical definition...."

DU cites the Bible as the basis for an argument ...... Hell has just frozen over.

[happyslug]

36. The Bible is a collection of Stories, well known to many people

I ran across one site where Collage professors were complaining to many Collage Students did NOT know the stories of the bible, and thus they had to explain to the students the BIBLICAL Stories behind references to the Bible in many Novels AND other works of literature. WHAT was the story behind many of the paintings of the old masters. When these books and paintings were done the authors and artist could rely on such stories being common knowledge to the people who read the book or looked at the painting. Even people who did NOT read and write would have heard those stories of the bible read to them in the Masses almost everyone went to pre-1900.

Many of these stores are still well known (Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath, Noah and his arc etc. But some of the other stories of the bible ARE NOT known as well as they were in the pass, Most of the story of the Kings of Israel and Judah for example and the stories of the Judges i.e. pre-Kingdom of Israel. Most people do NOT even know that David was NOT the First king of Israel, but that was Saul, and while most people know that Solomon was King David's son AND know the story of David and Bathsheba, but not that Bathsheba was King Solomon's MOTHER. Most people do not even know the most successful military leader between Joshua and David, was a female judge by the name of Deborah (who was an important person during pre-kingdom Israel).

Many readers have read Moby Dick and read of Captain Ahab, but the author picked that name deliberately for it was the name of a King of Israel (after Israel and Judea were two different kingdom) who was a very successful king, but HOW he was able to succeed ensured the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. i.e Captain Ahab would be a successful king, but he would die in battle AND after his death all that he had built would be destroyed (Ahab's sons would succeed him, but be overthrown by one of their generals in a coup). The same with Captain Ahab, he would be successful, but he would die in battle with the white whale AND his ship would also be destroyed soon after his death.

Yes, the Bible had a huge affect on a lot of writers and artists (many old master are drawings of stories of the bible). Several Collage professors have said they wish they students had at least read the bible once, so they be exposed to the stories in the bible as well as authors who wrote the books the student will be reading AND the artists whose art the Students will be studying (Religious Dogma was the last thing on those professors minds, but at least understanding the dogma can help with historical references, for example Karl Marx observation that during the English Civil War, biblical terms were all the rage, but afterward Locke and other justified the English Civil War on non-biblical terms including "Life, Liberty and Property" (Jefferson would change the phase to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Thus even Marx shows he had read the bible and used it as one of many references when trying to make his points which it that case was that during a revolution that revolution is justified by ancient theories, but once the revolution is over it is justified NOT by ancient and wide spread stories (as in the bible) but by what had been won by whom in the Revolution.

My comment is the bible is a good source of stories that most people have been exposed to sometime in their life and as such should be read so that you have at least been exposed to those stories. To many schools are so afraid of "teaching" religion that the bible is NOT taught at all and that hurst many students in Collage when it comes to understand some of the biblical references used in other books and works of art.

[boppers]

37. WTF? Why should college students be expected to know a fantasy book?

Would you expect them to know the Bhagavad Gita, or Lord of the Rings? If their specialty was in, oh, Greek art, sure, there's an expectation to know those myths, but if your line of study doesn't involve mythical beings, why should you be expected to know it?

[rpannier]

44. Considering the large collection of literature out uses Biblical references and allusions

They should know enough of it to understand the references and allusions and be able to intelligently comment on them

Examples:
Shakespeare Plays
Paradise Lost
King Arthur
Billy Budd
Most Medieval Literature

And yes, they should learn Greek and Roman Mythology so they understand those references in major works of literature as weel

[happyslug]

59. Because the stories are that well known

It is like the stories of the Ancient Pagan gods, the stories of those gods are still heard and told today, mostly in movies, but also in speeches and other works. I was watching the Colbert Report today and he reverted to Peter Sellers famous role as Dr. Stangelove in the movie of that name. We all knew what Colbert was doing for we all know the movie. It is fiction, but it makes several good points.

Many of the stories of the Bible are similar, well know to those people who have been exposed to them, but unknown ot those that have not been. Unlike Dr Stangelove (in existence only since 1961), the stories of the Bible go back at least 2000 years (and if we are talking of the Old Testament, 2500 years). Throughout history people have made allusions to those stories, not only in stories, but in art, letters, and other stories (Captain Ahab is modeled after King Ahab of the Bible for instance). People have USED those stories, just like people have used Dickens and his various books, Jules Verne and his books and Shakespeare and his works. In my opinion for a person to be a well educated, "Well Rounded" person you should have read these books, they are so inter wined with modern society.

I am also an advocate of having people read other books of theology, including Adam Smith and his "Wealth of Nations", and Karl Marx and "Das Kapital", just so people can understand the economic theory and ideology of both writers AND HOW THAT IDEOLOGY HAS BECOME THE DOGMA OF TODAY (Especially of the Right wing and the "Invisible hand of the Market", which is NOT in the "Wealth of Nations" but in another of his works. This includes those parts of the Economy where even Adam Smith said only the government could the job.

We have to remember the Bible was put together of various well known stories of what is now the Middle East. Most were given a Jewish spin, but those stories with that Jewish Spin are the most known stories in the world and has been for at least 2000 years. It is part of the base where Dickens, Verne and Shakespeare would later write they own stories on. That is all I am pointing out and it is a base we all need to fully understand the classics and a good part of our own history. You can reject the dogma of those stories, but you have to at least know they exist AND they they are common stories throughout history.

Our television based society has caused problems, for example a few years ago it came out that a huge part of Bush's administration called themselves the "Vulcans". Many on DU, unfamiliar with the Mythology of Ancient Greece an Rome thought it was a reference to Star Trek, when it was a group ho modeled themselves after Roman god Vulcan, who had been the god of fire AND making weapons. They saw themselves as the producers of "Weapons" that would permit them to control Society via the net, Computer, high tech and military might. The exact OPPOSITE of what Star Trek Vulcans were portrayed as. Many of these elite had gone to European schools and been exposed to the ancient gods and what those gods stood for, and still stand for. No one worships those gods, but those gods have an innate imagery that is still usable today. The same with the stories of the bible, many of those stories messages are still effective today, if we want to listen to them AND even if we reject those lessons, others have heard those same lessons and use the imagery of those messages for their own purposes. To understand such actions we have to understand where such people are coming from, and one source s the stories of the bible and for that reason we should understand those stories if for no other reasons.

[boppers]

61. Well put, lots of food for thought in there...

So, would you advocate broad study of the Bible, Koran, Star Trek, LOTR, Lewis, Lady Gaga, Chaucer, Lao Tsu, etc.?

Oh, and FWIW, Vulcans in Star Trek are a species capable of immense violence and warfare, hence the *need* for training in logic and emotion, to suppress/manage their intense innate violent, warring nature... which the Romulans (who share a common bloodline with Vulcans) did not....

Which, I guess, sort of makes your point. Those without knowledge of Vulcan/Mulciber, ancient roman faith, and modern SciFi, wind up having an incomplete understanding of their subject matter. I can grok<1> that.

<1> See what I did there?

[phleshdef]

14. The great society is exactly the last generation he is referring to.

Duh.

[phleshdef]

15. The great society is exactly the last generation he is referring to.

Duh.

[scheming daemons]

16. Dude... a "generation" is 20 to 30 years... do the math

[impik]

18. And when was the great society? Should i buy you a a calendar?

But hey, you give him "some credit". That is big.

[impik]

17. The truth hurts to some people here

[VMI Dem]

23. We get nothing done on gay civil rights, and they're all "you got nothing done on gay civil rights"

[boppers]

38. I suggest you make that claim to Matthew Shephard's mom. In Person.

If you survive that, you should try talking to Dan Choi.

edit: apostrophe

[CakeGrrl]

24. Obvious in the real world, not so much in the blogosphere. n/t

[Hello_Kitty]

25. Well it's nice to see he's bashing the Left himself instead sending a spokesman.

:shrug:

[chill_wind]

29. There's that.

And UGH. Just... ugh.

[boppers]

39. The chronic bashers aren't the Left.

They're something else entirely.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Safetykitten]

27. Ya know....

It must be quite a feat to live in this bubble he apparently has constructed with his advisors. It really is amazing that he just does not get it, or he thinks that he has base to give away.

This should be played for him when he does not get second term.

[Hello_Kitty]

28. It's such a nice extra touch that he said it at a $30K a plate fundraiser.

Really classy.

[JamesA1102]

30. Mr. President, don't confuse the demagogues with facts. nt

[MadHound]

31. And that is a sad, sad statement about the state of Dems in this country

Not that this session was particularly progressive, it wasn't. But Obama is probablycorrect in stating that it is the most progressive in a generation. Just goes to show how far to the right the party has moved over the past few decades.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

66. About the country, not about the party.

It's America as a whole, not the Democrats specifically, that is far right.

The myth of a silent liberal majority is a very comforting one, but it's also a very harmful one because it makes it much harder for the left to campaign effectively.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[girl gone mad]

34. It's all over but the shouting..

so I guess they're just going to keep shouting at liberals.

[boppers]

40. I don't know your posting history...

...but there is a long tradition at DU of shouting at the liberals, be they Hillary, Obama, Clinton, etc.

We all shout a lot, because it's a big tent.

[Hissyspit]

41. "Oh, well, the public option wasn’t there?"

"Oh, well, the public option wasn’t there???"

OH, WELL. Whatever.

[Vinca]

42. It's only life and death, Hissy. Get off your high horse.

:argh:

[Skittles]

62. come, Vinca, we will kick Hissy ass

where does someone get off, caring about WE THE PEOPLE

[RBInMaine]

43. We didn't get purity, but we god damn fucking well have gotten PROGRESS. No more fucking naysaying !

[Juche]

54. He is right

This was a productive session of congress. Health reform, credit card reform, financial reform, the stimulus bill, SCHIP expansion, Ledbetter,

My impression is that liberals like me went through a period of disappointment, then rebounded. I was fairly disappointed back around winter, then slowly rebounded and saw all the accomplishments. It is good the disappointment has been gotten out of the way and I realize the dems while not perfect are doing a B+ job and if allowed to continue will make the country far better over the long term.

[paulk]

55. I think the '92 legislative session was more "progressive"

where, with a whole lot fewer Democrats in Congress, they had the balls to rescind the Reagan era tax cuts for the wealthy.

They understood that sometimes established policy is so harmful to the country that a 180 is needed. The Obama administration and the current majority Dem Congress don't understand that we needed a 180 on the Bush years, not the bi-partisan kick the can down the road "progressive legislation" we've gotten so far.

His populist rhetoric in recent weeks is encouraging - but Obama's talk has proven cheap before. We'll see if it's just because there's an election coming rather than a true change of heart. I'm hoping for the latter. And I'm hoping that my "hope" isn't just another cheap campaign slogan this time around...

[ibegurpard]

56. Insurance company protection, financial regulation with no teeth, school privatization

any other progressive ideals i'm missing here?

[NorthCarolina]

58. Oh, so slightly more progressive than since the Clinton administration?

That speaks volumes. America expected a hard left turn following the 2008 elections, and now a majority of Americans are clamoring for a third party. One that advocates for the people. I think that says it all right there.

[SHRED]

63. From full-on Corporatism to Corporatism-Lite so yeah...

...you are correct Mr. President.

Still looking for Presidential leadership that focuses on the working-class however.


----

[Umbral]

64. Talk about damning with faint praise. nt

[MaeScott]

67. We have gotten progress...

..but it will take time to build on the foundation that was laid, and we have these conservadems that need to either go rethug or go home.
Don't let the media set the arrative. Speak up loudly...and often.