WHAT IF the president had spoken honestly to the people and asked for their help?

[polichick]

What if, instead of caving to Republican demands and strengthening their narrative and economic philosophy, the president had told the people via an Oval Office statement that Republicans were holding critical legislation hostage? What if he had said it simply and succinctly and then listed the bills - from first-responder healthcare to DADT to unemployment benefits and middle class tax cuts to START - and asked people to contact their representatives?

Where might we be now?

(imo, where we are now is far worse.)


Edit: typo

[Old Codger]

1. For me

He would have gained back a lot of the respect he has lost....

[polichick]

2. For me too, and three generations of my family. nt

[GoldenOldie]

3. Not only gained respect, but united Americans to work together....

much as FDR did during his Fireside Chats during WWII. The road he travels now, continues the greedy power plays. The Government is "We the People," not We the Corporates and as such "We the People," must share the fight and the responsibility to take back our country and make it respected and whole once more.

[polichick]

6. You're right, it asks people to be active - as the prez himself said while campaigning...

'Course this scenario depends upon Obama being in agreement with the people with regard to ending Bush policies, something that I don't take as a given anymore.

[jaxx]

4. He'd still be dirt to some because he didn't do anything.

I can see it now....we want leadership, not passing the buck. There would be plenty of concern and disappointment and nobody would wonder why the house and senate couldn't get it together by now, but let the President try and he's caving.

We've already seen it all, he knows for some whatever he does won't be good enough.

[CakeGrrl]

5. Yes. As if the MSM would give it an objective assessment

Fox News would be screaming, natch, about how the "Take responsibility" President is playing the whiny blame game, with all the punditry falling in line to wonder WHEN he will take responsibility for getting anything done.

And expect the Congressional Repubs to say the same thing, and what, really would the passive do-nothing Dems say in the face of all that, seeing as it took them THIS long to say or do anything with the tax issue?

"What if" indeed.

[polichick]

7. An Oval Office statement allows the prez to speak directly to the people without spin. nt

[jaxx]

10. The President can speak....and people will spin what he says.

They hear what they want to hear and make up the rest if they don't like anything.

[polichick]

11. The most powerful thing he can do is speak directly to the people...

Choosing to cave to hostage-takers instead is dangerous as well as foolish.

[jaxx]

19. Everytime he speaks the naysayers pounce.

We've all been around here long enough to know how it goes.

The right gave in to the left on everything it demanded. This thing of it's a Democratic cave is ridiculous.

They wanted permanent tax cuts, they got 2 years.
They wanted more for the estate tax, they got less.
They didn't want Obama tax cuts to stay, they're staying.
They didn't want unemployment extensions, they got 13 months.
They did want the 2% SS tax, they both won.

[polichick]

23. So what if they pounce - Americans can respond to his words on their own...

Using an Oval Office address is the best way to circumvent the media.

[jaxx]

24. The media watches too.......and reports what they want.

No way does an OO speech get taken verbatim in reporting....or posting.

[polichick]

25. It's televised as he speaks - the people hear it directly...

What's spun later happens after the people have heard it themselves.

[dave29]

32. yes and before and after every speech is the non-stop echo chamber of people throwing out

statements like "caved to hostage takers"

[Kweli4Real]

27. Besides ...

If "the people" (who have lost respect for his "caving") haven't heard him say that exact thing once, if not a hundred times, they would not hear it if he said it from from the Oval Office.

But for accuracy's sake, he hasn't added the "contact your representative" part ... Maybe that would make all the difference in the world. Maybe ...

[polichick]

28. imo it would have made a big difference - and people would know exactly who's on their side...

...and who isn't.

[dave29]

33. I think if you really look closely

they already know that. Especially those who saw a President who fought to get a UI extension, despite Congress's failure to take up tax cut issue before the election.

THESE are the people who are paying attention, and tuning out the noise.

[RufusTFirefly]

49. Yes. It would be spun as "the blame game" and "class warfare"

If the media can convince a frightening number of Americans that the President is a Muslim and a Socialist, they can pretty much do whatever they damn well please.

All the more reason for the President to speak the truth. He's going to be screwed either way. At least with the truth there's a prayer that things will get better.

The worst thing one can do is to fail while trying to be someone you're not. The second worst is to succeed that way.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. Everyone would have listened...

..except those whose minds were already made up.

So here, it would have made no difference.

[polichick]

9. You think his die-hard supporters here would have asked for the deal he cut? nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. He doesn't have any, so it's irrelevant.

In any event, it's like asking for what color skis you're not getting for Christmas -- a sterile, intellectual exercise.

[polichick]

13. Actually, it's not too late for him to do the right thing and engage the people. nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

14. Trying to 'engage the people'...

..via the bully pulpit, is a virtual impossibility. Tiny moves on the margins are all you get. Poli-sci has been looking for examples of the real beast for decades, to no avail.

Go, read, learn.

It doesn't matter if you're a 'great communicator' like Reagan or Clinton, or even FDR.

[polichick]

15. Caving to hostage-takers is dangerous as well as foolish - he's setting...

...us up for an endless stream of sociopathic demands. Anything else is worth a try.

[Davis_X_Machina]

16. He's welcome to try..

...because we all know being seen to try, and fail, in a high-risk strategy, with miniscule prospects for success, is a well-known way to strengthen your hand in future negotiations.

[polichick]

17. What he's done is hand over ANY chance to make progress in future negotiations...

All they have to do is hold something else hostage - this path is crazy, unless he's actually in agreement with them on Bush policies.

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. It's a reasonable compromise...

...under difficult circumstances. I've got too many students for whose families the failure to extend unemployment insurance, or the EITC increases, is a disaster, e.g.

And anything --- that's right, anything -- that stimulates aggregate demand is good policy. The multipliers on the tax cuts are lousy, but the other stuff is targeted right at the people with the maximum marginal propensity to consume.

Sketch for me an alternative that is at least mildly stimulative, and can get through this Congress.
Then sketch for me better alternative that is at least mildly stimulative, and can get through the next Congress.
Or sketch for me an alternative that is all stimulus and can get through this Congress.

It's my day off, I'll wait. You'll be a while.

[polichick]

20. Republicans always need several votes in order to extend unemployment benefits...

The longer it takes, the more people respond and finally they vote for them.

This was no different except the prez was not willing to call Republicans on their shit and hang tough.

Forget the stimulative stuff - if tax cuts worked that way, we'd be sitting pretty. And the tax holiday is setting us up for a raid on Social Security.

The op states what should have been done - and, as I've said, it's not too late.

Caving to hostage-takers is idiocy and we'll be paying for a long time.

Having a day off shouldn't keep you from thinking.

[Davis_X_Machina]

21. Plan, please.

Doing nothing does not qualify.

[polichick]

22. Read and think - I've spelled it out in easy English. nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

26. Do you get 13 months of UI extension?

Or could those inevitably-passed-by-the GOP have fewer months? Or require additional compromises bribes?

If you get at least 13 months...

Is there any additional stimulus in the form of EITC extensions?
Child care and tuition tax credits?
Changes to the depreciation schedule for business purchases of machinery?
Smaller FICA witholding?

I hate Bush, and I'm no fan of rich people either, but spiting the memory of the one, and sticking my finger in the eye of the other, as a sole or primary determinant of policy isn't very wise.

[Kweli4Real]

29. Well Stated ...

It seems folks are more interested in playing "what If" than recognizing "What Is."

[Davis_X_Machina]

31. If the first two words out of someone's mouth aren't...

....'aggregate demand' and the next four aren't 'marginal propensity to consume', I refuse to take them seriously.

Everything else can wait. Everything.

[jenmito]

30. The Senate would still fail to get 60 votes to get Obama's stated agenda through. All

the phone calls to members of Congress wouldn't change the minds of the Conservadems. We'd be exactly where we are now-with Obama having to make a deal to get SOMETHING through so they can move on to DADT repeal, the DREAM Act, the START Treaty, etc.

[Aramchek]

34. he has spoken honestly. you just don't listen. you've made up your mind.

[polichick]

35. When did he ask the people to contact their reps to fight the hostage-takers? NEVER. nt

[Aramchek]

36. he asked us all to contact GOP Senators the other dayregarding DADT

and was ridiculed by the anti-Obamites here.

In your eyes, he is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. ALWAYS.

[polichick]

37. You ask BEFORE you cave to hostage-takers - obviously. nt

[Aramchek]

38. how is your strategy to let all tax cuts expire not "hostage-taking"?

you would have us take up the same tactic that the GOP employs.

and the Middle Class would suffer.

[polichick]

41. That's not my strategy - read more carefully and think before posting. nt

[catgirl]

39. He did ask people to help

He asked them to vote in the mid-term elections. They sat on their fat stupid asses instead. If they has listened, we'd
be at a very different place right now. They didn't listen. This is the consequence of their lack of actions.

Obama now has to deal with even more obstacles than before. Give him some slack, will you?

[niceypoo]

40. Problem is

His right wing policies are driving people AWAY

[JamesA1102]

51. Not Stephanie Miller

She support the President and the tax cut compromise.

[ClassWarrior]

47. He asked our people endorse the right wing narrative that he's accepted. If he had come to us...

...with the moral values that polichick enumerated, that would have been a very different ask.

NGU.

[donheld]

42. He can't have my help till

He fires Goldman Sachs, and runs them out of his white house. He starts showing he's really listening to Howard Dean, Paul Krugman and Elizabeth Warren.
I'm not helping him if he's going to constantly surround himself with people who talk him into caving to Big Business and Republicans. When I hear he's
Ready to face off the Waterloo wishing Repugs and Icy Blue Dogs wherever they may be and really show some guts. Then he'll have my support.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

43. He Asked Voters To Give Him A Democratic Congress To Work With

How did that work out?

[niceypoo]

44. They were put off by his capitulating

It made him look weak and independents dont show up at the ballot box for weakness.

[Pisces]

45. Same place we always are. The people that listen to FOX would not one of those things

passed and the people who listen to MSNBC would want all of it. The majority that don't listen to either wouldn't know WTF the President was talking about until their benefits ran out.

The President is speaking to an echo chamber and he has to get things done. The Freepers on the other side are just as pissed with the compromise. That is why Bohner refuses to say the word.

Grow up people and get realistic. This is the world we live in, not the utopia we wish we did.

[JamesA1102]

46. You mean the same people that gave the GOP control of the House? nt

[ClassWarrior]

48. No, the other people. The independents who turned out for hope and change last time...

...and didn't this time. Allowing a small minority of voters to "give GOP control of the House."

NGU.

[JamesA1102]

50. So those people were going to call congress to have their taxes increased?

Yeah that will work.

[ClassWarrior]

52. And his progressive base, who are ever the ONLY ones who volunteer to get independents to the polls.

Duh. Are you really as confused as you seem?

NGU.

[JamesA1102]

54. So the progressive are going to dial the phone for the independents?

Are you really as delusional as you seem?

[treestar]

55. They are not the ONLY ones who do that

The President will not kowtow to the so called progressives. He will represent the whole country.

If what you said were true, your punishment is the new Republicans Congress. Can blame yourselves. Being spiteful.

[ClassWarrior]

56. Yes, they are the ONLY ones who do that. That's why they're called "the base." They're...

...the party's most basic, diehard supporters.

If what you said were true, you'd have all sorts of undecideds volunteering to get out the vote. :crazy:

NGU.

[The Backlash Cometh]

53. I don't think it would have worked out any different