In November 2012, will you vote Obama or not vote Obama ( = help enable the teabagger agenda)?

[jefferson_dem]

[opihimoimoi]

1. Never ever vote for THE BAIT AND SWITCHERS...VOTE BLUE

[lib2DaBone]

2. A false equivelancy...How about voting for a PROGRESSIVE?

[jefferson_dem]

3. Yes to PROGRESS!

[LoZoccolo]

6. Vote Obama ( = help enable the progressive agenda)

:bounce:

[joentokyo]

18. If Obama ever helps progressives, it will rain lemonade, snow ice cream, and we

will all find The Rock Candy Mountain.

[krawhitham]

62. Name a president in the last 50 years who has done more

Don't worry I'll wait

[dflprincess]

67. Lyndon Johnson

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

CIVIL RIGHTS
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965

THE WAR ON POVERTY
- The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
- Job Corps, whose purpose was to help disadvantaged youth develop marketable skills;
- Neighborhood Youth Corps, established to give poor urban youths work experience and to encourage them to stay in school;
- Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic version of the Peace Corps, which placed concerned citizens with community-based agencies to work towards empowerment of the poor;
- Model Cities Program for urban redevelopment;
- Upward Bound, which assisted poor high school students entering college; legal services for the poor
- Food Stamps program
- Community Action Program, which initiated local Community Action Agencies charged with helping the poor become self-sufficient; and Project
- Head Start, which offered preschool education for poor children.

Major amendments were also made to Social Security in 1965 and 1967 which significantly increased benefits, expanded coverage, and established new programs to combat poverty and raise living standards

EDUCATION
-Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, It ended a long-standing political taboo by providing significant federal aid to public education, initially allotting more than $1 billion to help schools purchase materials and start special education programs to schools with a high concentration of low-income children. The Act established Head Start, which had originally been started by the Office of Economic Opportunity as an eight-week summer program, as a permanent program.

- Higher Education Act of 1965 increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships and low-interest loans for students, and established a national Teacher Corps to provide teachers to poverty-stricken areas of the United States. The Act also began a transition from federally funded institutional assistance to individual student aid.

- The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 offered federal aid to local school districts in assisting them to address the needs of children with limited English-speaking ability until it expired in 2002.

HEALTHCARE
- Medicare
The Social Security Act of 1965 authorized Medicare and provided federal funding for many of the medical costs of older Americans.

- Medicaid
In 1966 welfare recipients of all ages received medical care through the Medicaid program. Medicaid was created on July 30, 1965 under Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965.

Arts and cultural institutions
- National endowments for arts and humanities
- Public broadcasting
- Cultural centers

TRANSPORTATION
- The consolidation of transportation agencies into a cabinet-level Department of Transportation.
- The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 provided $375 million for large-scale urban public or private rail projects in the form of matching funds to cities and states and created the Urban Mass Transit Administration (now the Federal Transit Administration).
- National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the Highway Safety Act of 1966 were enacted, largely as a result of Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed.

Consumer protection
- Cigarette Labeling Act of 1965 required packages to carry warning labels.
- Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 set standards through creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires products identify manufacturer, address, clearly mark quantity and servings.
- Truth-in-Lending Act of 1968 required lenders and credit providers to disclose the full cost of finance charges in both dollars and annual percentage rates, on installment loan and sales.
- Wholesome Poultry Products Act of 1968 required inspection of poultry which must meet federal standards.
- Land Sales Disclosure Act of 1968 provided safeguards against fraudulent practices in the sale of land.
- Radiation Safety Act of 1968 provided standards and recalls for defective electronic products.

ENVIRONMENT
Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments
Wilderness Act of 1964
Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966
National Trails System Act of 1968
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968
Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965
Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965
Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act of 1965
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
Aircraft Noise Abatement Act of 1968

And the tragedy will always be that LBJ let Vietnam and MIC take over and all the good that might have been done in a 2nd term (including his plan to start expanding Medicare coverage) was lost.

[creon]

70. Different era

That was a different era; a different party; a different world.

That was then -- this is now.


Vietnam was LBJ's big mistake.

[dflprincess]

71. The poster asked for a president in the last 50 years

LBJ fits that time frame.

Yes, it was a different party - the corporatists/DLC/"new" Democrats/3rd Way types (whatever you want to call them) had not taken it over and it still represented the working and middle classes.

[creon]

72. more to it than that

but it is not worth an argument.

The most important Branch is Congress.

It is Congress that passes the budget and the laws.

[polmaven]

74. The 89th Congress

had 67 Democrats in the Senate. Do you think that maybe - just maybe - that made a little bit of difference?

[dflprincess]

80. Yeah because those Dixiecrats were so ready to cooperate.

I think that Johnson wanted to pick up where FDR left off and knew how to work members of Congress over made the difference.

And, again, the poster asked for the name of a president who had done more in the last 50 years, they didn't mention anything about the make up of Congress.

[ProudDad]

48. Not so far...

what makes you think he'll change after 2012?

[Exilednight]

39. There's a difference between progress and progressive.

Each Democratic president has made progress, but few have been forward thinking and transformational enough to be considered progressive.

[defendandprotect]

4. +1000% -- let's find one!!

[CakeGrrl]

8. Not false. This is NOVEMBER 2012, and the OP is assuming Pres. Obama will be the one on the ballot.

The OP is asking how many people are willing to throw it to the Republicans assuming President Obama IS the Dem candidate?

[ProudDad]

49. Tweedledee or Tweedledum will win...

Again...

[earthside]

14. Democrats need a different nominee ...

... that's for sure.

I finally watched "Inside Job" (Blu-ray from Netflix) -- and seeing Larry Summers, Timmy Geithner and the list of Goldman Sachs members of this administration's economic team -- well it just made me sick.

We do not have an economic progressive in the White House, like it said in the movie ... Obama is a status quo president.

Just tragic.

[Solomon]

75. Do you really think the "president" picks these people?

LOL I almost wish the most radical guy ever gets in there so you can see who he/she "picks." You imagine that the president has more power than he has.

I saw that documentary too. All it did was to confirm that the president is not really in charge.

[earthside]

78. Then we are already screwed.

Which is probably the truth.

So, it just really doesn't matter much who we 'elect'.

Actually, I can go with that ...

[MissDeeds]

23. That has my vote n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

29. You would if you voted for Obama...

:fistbump:

[onenote]

41. and help enable the tea bagger agenda.

If you are here, you obviously know enough about politics and elections to understand that in November there are only going to be two candidates with a chance of winning the presidency: the Democratic Party nominee and the Republican Party nominee. Obama, barring some unforeseen event, will be the Democratic nominee and the Republican nominee (or their VP nominee) will be someone who will endorse the tea bagger agenda. Now, maybe there will be a third party "progressive" nominee on the ballot here and there (although almost certainly not everywhere) and maybe you could write in someone other than Obama. But every vote that Obama votes effectively helps the Republican/teabagger agenda.

So its not a false equivalency. Its the real world.

[Toucano]

5. Obama = teabagger agenda

They're both "all about" smaller government and less regulation.

[jefferson_dem]

7. Right.

If we had a teabagger POTUS for the past 2.5 years, the list of accomplishments would have looked exactly the same as this - http://b4bmorenews.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-244-accomplishments-of-president.html Yup. Sure would. That's why they all love him so. :crazy:

[ClarkUSA]

10. Negative talk is cheap. Prove it.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[CakeGrrl]

17. Wow, save for the sig line,

this post could've been lifted from FR.

The convergence is bizarre.

[Toucano]

44. And...that's supposed to be a rebuttal?

The irrelevance is bizarre.

[polichick]

32. Yep - the style is different but substance pretty much the same...

Both parties are ensuring the corporate control of our gov't.

[ClarkUSA]

9. Hmm... I just rec'd and it's still at 0? There's quite a bit of denial over the facts in your OP.

[joshcryer]

21. Eh, once you get used to being on the -0 recs side it's kinda amusing when it doesn't work that way.

:hi:

[rury]

11. OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!!

[Keith Bee]

12. Naw, I'm gonna vote for a goddam wingnut who will nuke every other fucking country on Earth!

:dunce:!

[bigwillq]

15. Probably won't.

I am open to exploring other progressive options. It's not that I think any other candidate has any chance against Obama, but it's my vote and I will use it how I wish.

[Tarheel_Dem]

16. Vote Obama. (nt)

:kick:

[CakeGrrl]

19. I will vote Obama, because I understand vote math.

A vote that isn't for Obama? Helps the Republicans. End of story.

[hulka38]

24. And a vote that isn't for Republicans

helps Obama. End of story.

[CakeGrrl]

25. Oh, you mean the way Nader votes helped Al Gore? n/t

[hulka38]

30. Gore did not lose because of Nader.

He lost because of his own inept campaign. Candidates are not entitled to anybody's vote. Earn the vote or don't.

[LoZoccolo]

31. Gore's responsible for losing votes because of running an inept campaign

while Nader is not responsible for getting those votes due to his falsehoods about the difference between Gore and Bush*? Is this what you're saying? Explain to me how not telling the truth very well makes someone more responsible than propagating outright falsehood.

[hulka38]

37. It's really a numbers thing.

The race was Gore's to win and he lost it, or he bumbled into it being close enough that it could be stolen from him. Nader's claim that most Dems and Repubs have little difference between them makes more sense to me now than it did then. There's a lot of truth to what Nader was saying, generally. So even if Nader lied, which I don't accept, you act as though lying is such a rarity in politics. I hear lying coming from the GOP and the WH on a daily basis. Regardless of what Nader said Gore blew it and that's on him, nobody else.

[ProudDad]

50. What "falsehoods"?

You must not have been listening...

I think there's a cure for those knee-jerks now...

[cherokeeprogressive]

85. No shit statement here. +1000 n/t

[Name removed]

20. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MissDeeds]

22. Insipid poll

Talk about push polling...

[CakeGrrl]

27. Not really. The OP is saying that if it's Obama or the Republican, where is your vote going?

Unless you realistically see a viable Ross Perot-type 3rd party candidate in the mix, the assumption of the OP is that it's going to be one of the two in the WH. The question is legit based on the condition that's been set.

[Cali_Democrat]

26. People who didn't support the Iraq war were Saddam enablers

The Republicans told me so.

[jaxx]

28. I will vote for President Obama.

He's done a good job in his 2 years at the helm, I want him to have all 8 years to get us moving out of the BushCo devastation.

[ProudDad]

51. God help us after 6 more years

of Obama pushing the National Security State...(wiretaps, spying, indefinite detention, rendition by other names)...

Expanding the Permanent War Economy(tm)

And his pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda...

Shee-it...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

81. just think of Bachmann or Palin '12

yikes!

[ProudDad]

83. Boogadee - boogadee - boogadee

Get a grip on reality, ok?

Quit waving those ridiculous shrunken heads...

that shit don't work on people whose rational process is still intact...

If Palin and Bachmann didn't exist the Democrats would invent them...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

89. I'm not sure if they would though

[polichick]

33. If Obama is the lesser of the corporate evils, I'll vote for him...

But I'd love the opportunity to vote for a progressive candidate who is devoted to gov't of, by and for the people instead of enabling gov't of, by and for the corporations.

[jschurchin]

35. +1,000

The lesser of two Corporate evil's.

We Are Sooooooooooooo Fucked.

[jefferson_dem]

40. Fair enough.

:thumbsup:

[ProudDad]

52. The struggle is NOT at the ballot box

(except maybe locally)...

It's here:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4?print

[mochajava666]

77. +1

[RBInMaine]

34. Those voting "NO" are obviously holding out for an ideological purity that does not exist.

[Pisces]

36. I no longer care about the"no" vote. They are irrelevant and past reason. Obama will be re-elected

and the naysayers will continue to try and disrupt. Obama 2012 is the only sane vote.

[jefferson_dem]

38. "Vote Obama in 2012 - The Only Sane Choice"

I like it.

[derby378]

43. "Obama in 2012 - Because Disappointing is better than Diabolical"

Hmmmmmmm. Needs work.

[CakeGrrl]

46. Bill Maher: '...the difference between a disappointing friend and a deadly enemy".

Call it whatever anyone likes (or doesn't like), that's the reality.

[derby378]

64. Still needs work

We deserve a better choice than that, especially after enduring eight yeas of Herr Decider. We are owed.

[hulka38]

42. If he can keep it under five unnecessary wars he's earned my vote.

Absolutely no more though. I maintain a high moral standard.

[ProudDad]

53. ...

:rofl:

[last_texas_dem]

45. Considering my home state, my presidential vote is meaningless.

Gotta love that Electoral College...

[ProudDad]

54. And mine...

Arizona... :puke:

[ProudDad]

47. BOGUS

It's not an either/or...

Nice try... :eyes:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4?print

[bvar22]

55. Wouldn't a Loyalty Oath be more effective?

Or is that planned for next week?

[TheKentuckian]

56. Still a good while till sunset, much less bed time.

[PopeRatzo]

57. All about SCOTUS

I will vote for whichever candidate is more likely to nominate an actual human being to replace John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas or Sam Alito.

Next year, I am a single-issue voter. If we don't get Citizens United overturned, we are done for.

That means I will vote for Clarabel the Clown as long as there's a "(D)" after the name.

There is absolutely no chance that I would not vote for Obama in 2012, even if there is a progressive running as an independent. We can't afford another 2000 when Ralph Nader got George W Bush elected.

I loathe corporatists, but I hate the extremist Right-wingers on the Supreme Court even more. We can't risk even the possibility that a vacancy opens up on the Court and a Democrat is not in power.

[ProudDad]

84. Do you keep your money in a bank?

Do you shop at big box stores?

Do you eat at fast food "restaurants"?

If not, good on ya'!

If you do, you're part of the problem...

At least http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/ <-- Starve the fucking banksters!

[mdmc]

58. the electoral vote representing my vote will be cast for Obama

livin in NYS..

[Name removed]

59. Deleted message

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

[LWolf]

60. Other.

I'll vote for the candidate whose words and record put him or her farthest to the left on my ballot, as long as that candidate is not a neoliberal.

My vote has nothing to do with the teabagger agenda; it's earned. I'm looking for a candidate who wants to earn it.

[Beacool]

61. Those are not the only two choices.

There'll be some third party candidates too.

;)

[ZombieHorde]

63. Votes for President Obama don't really count in red states,

If someone in Alabama votes Green for Pres., but Dem. for state and local position, I think this would be the same as voting straight Dem.

[susanr516]

65. True . . .

Living in Texas, I couldn't change the outcome if I cast 100 votes for Obama. I'm really disappointed with him right now. I won't be donating any money to his campaign, but I will be donating and working for downticket Democrats. I'm sure that working for down-ticket Dems will end up getting additional votes for Obama, too. I'll probably end up voting for Obama, but I'm not too enthused about it.

[FrenchieCat]

66. Folks will be kicking themselves one day........

when they realized that they never had had it so good as when Pres. Obama was in office.

The difference between what one wants and what one gets is called political reality,
something that some have deliberately chosen to remain clueless about.

Either one lives in the world of reality,
or one lives in a world of make-believe;
a world where some thought via their private fantasies,
that the President they voted for in November of 2008
was going to reverse every single bad policy there was,
by being a mean fierce progressive SOB that was going to force
needed votes by twisting arms and calling out threats on congress.

They decided that they could only support a president
who would only advanced the policies they personally approved of,
hire only the personnel they decided should be hired,
using only tactics they they okayed; most being yelling real loud and cursing
the Republicans out daily using the script that they wrote.

Since that didn't happen, nor would it,
they decided long ago that the only thing that they would do was
to complain and attack that President over and over and over and over again
due to being frustrated that wish-a-big-mac-daddy President didn't save us all
in 2 years flat.

One day, they will scratch their collective asses while blaming everything and anything,
never on themselves,
but always on that big-mac-daddy President that never ran and was never elected.

Talk about living in the Twilight Zone! This could be a classic episode.

[CakeGrrl]

68. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"

I think that'll be, unfortunately, something very applicable to this Presidency. It happens all the time in other aspects of life.

I only wonder if the next Dem President will get excoriated or have excuses made for them when reality hits and they fail to meet lofty Left expectations?

[creon]

69. For Obama

Obama is one of the few responsible adults in the political class.

Most of the rest are blind kittens or hacks who are only out for what they can get.

[polmaven]

73. of COURSE I will vote for

the president! He has done an excellent job with what he was handed. The only way I would consider not voting for his reelection is if he were not running for reelection. He is running, so I will vote for him.

[NorthCarolina]

76. For me, I am hoping someone will run a campaign on "Real Change". nt

[1stlady]

79. Raises hand!

Will be voting for Obama in 2012!! Hopefully, my state of FL will go blue again!

[Ter]

82. On Election Day, if there is even one US serviceman in Iraq or Afghanistan...

Than certainly not Barack.

[killbotfactory]

86. It's impossible to vote for Obama considering all the progressive legislation he's vetoed.

Oh wait...

[Life Long Liberal]

87. I think all Dems will vote for Obama once they see the fool the GOP runs.

[musicblind]

88. I plan to vote for Obama

I also said last year they need to drop electoral votes and go to popular vote nationwide.

[ebbie15644]

90. I think the question

should be, who will work to get him elected? I will vote for him again, but I am very disappointed in him and I can't say that I will be working, donating or even talking to my friends and relatives telling them to vote for him. I don't feel that he stands with me, I just believe he is the lesser of a bad choice.

[yurbud]

91. the real issue here is how hard people will campaign and how deep in their pocket we'll dig

and most importantly, what return we'll get on our investment.

Obama needs to take some steps toward conciliation with progressives to get us to go all out.

I suggest sacrificing Arne Duncan and putting an actual educator in as secretary of education and not someone looking for a way for Wall Street scammers to make a buck off our kids.

[ncteechur]

92. I will be voting for President Barack H. Obama. Thank you and come again.