No matter how you slice this, it is a sign of the utter weakness of

[roguevalley]

Obama that things have come to this. He stands for nothing and so he will accept anything. He had 80% polls support and he pissed it away. He is utterly, utterly weak before the world.

[texanwitch]

1. He doesn't stand for anything that I can see except for big business.

I can't watch or listen to him anymore, haven't for awhile.

This is sad.

[woo me with science]

26. He does stand for Wall Street.

This was not a cave. It was a collusion.

[ClarkUSA]

45. Yeah, that's why Romney is getting 2x the contributions as Pres. Obama from that sector.

:sarcasm:

[woo me with science]

50. What a silly argument.

Obviously they would be interested in influencing only one party. :sarcasm:

Sorry Clark. People aren't buying that line anymore.

[ClarkUSA]

51. Yes, that's how I would characterize your meme. Facts contradict you. Again.

[woo me with science]

59. Those are pretty ironic words

for a boy who spits out his reality sandwiches:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x724983#725087

It is immeasurably sad to be witnessing the purchase and moral/ethical disintegration of the Democratic Party. It must be a yeoman's job to defend this President's policies when they are so destructive and will cause such widespread pain.

You have your work cut out for you.

[andlor]

77. +1

[ProSense]

2. Yup, he voted in the Republicans

made them into assholes and hostage-takers.

Republicans, Democrats, all Americans have every right to blame this catastrophe on the "utter weakness of Obama."

What a crock of shit!

[Hawkowl]

4. Well Lieberman at least

And backed corporate tools in primaries in places like Arkansas, which then soundly got their asses kicked. Obama is responsible. That is the definition of leader. :rofl:

[Ikonoklast]

5. Id take every Blue Dog that lost over any Teabagger now in office.

Give me a Democratic House that has Blue Dogs that vote with me 80% of the time versus Teabaggers that vote against me 100% of the time?

HELL YES.

[msongs]

6. poor helpless obama total victim of circumstances..lol nt

[Kahuna]

76. No. He's a victim of clueless voters and people who refuse to vote

for their own best interest.

[quaker bill]

16. Indeed +1

[treestar]

53. They want a left wing dictator

Face it, their real problem is with our form of government. They disagreed with Obama, at his inauguration, saying we would not abandon our ideals. They wanted him to be worse than Bush when it came to claiming executive power.

[Monk06]

3. Let me be the last post to this know nothing, Obama is the Anti Christ, knowthing thread. n/t

[roguevalley]

70. knowthing. :)

[Monk06]

82. The utilization of spell check is inversely proportional to the number of glasses of wine consumed

before posting. :)

[handmade34]

7. you have fallen victim to their plot

mighty forces have been spending millions and fighting hard to get you to the point of posting this... so sad.

Barack Obama has accomplished much considering what he has been up against... shame on you

[Bluebear]

11. lol

[Lorien]

14. In your own words, just what has he "accomplished"?

Name ten things that benefit workers, the environment, and the poor.

[Cosmocat]

21. OK

1) CAFE improvements
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/business/energy-environment/obama-reveals-details-of-gas-mileage-rules.html

2) President Obama has signed the toughest set of Wall Street regulations and consumer protections against greedy financial practices since the Great Depression.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-07-21/news/27070452_1_reform-bill-president-obama-gop-filibuster

3) HCR
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html

4) Lilly Ledbetter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Ledbetter_Fair_Pay_Act_of_2009

5) After Bush vetoed extending it twice, extended SCHIP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Children%27s_Health_Insurance_Program

6) Mathew Sheppard hate crimes bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard_and_James_Byrd,_Jr._Hate_Crimes_Prevention_Act

7) Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard_and_James_Byrd,_Jr._Hate_Crimes_Prevention_Act

8) Some good stuff on the environment including steps to improve air quality
http://www.slate.com/id/2298723/

9) Extended unemployment benefits
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-to-sign-unemployment-benefits-extension/1

10 Twice
http://politicalaffairs.net/pres-obama-extends-unemployment-benefits/

[XemaSab]

40. He's been utterly, utterly tepid on the environment and gay rights

n/t

[Cosmocat]

44. Yeah ...

A bit more than tepid on both ...

He hasn't been Teddy Roosevelt with the environment, for sure. But, he has done a lot of off the radar things for the environment, as noted in the link I provided.

Again, he got Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed, and again, has done a lot of little things to advance gay rights

http://www.thegrio.com/politics/obama-extends-health-care-rights-to-gay-partners.php

This was after this http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/obama-extend-health-care-benefits-gay-partners-federal-employees/

Again, the man did not campaign as a fire breathing liberal. And, there is something between being a fire breathing liberal and what some want to portray him as here. I also would once again note, he is president, not dictator - if our Ds in congress fought harder and put more progressive legislation in from him, he would sign it.

[Divernan]

20. "Spending millions?" White House pays staffer taxpayer dollars to squash progressives.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/meet-the-white-houses-new-story-squasher-director-of-progressive-media/
Meet the White House’s New Story Squasher & ‘Director of Progressive Media’

Headline: "Just so you know, your tax dollars are now paying for a “director of progressive media & online response” within the White House. Translation: a dedicated enforcer and story squasher that loves the liberal media.

“This week, Jesse Lee will move from the new media department into a role in the communications department as Director of Progressive Media & Online Response,” Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in an internal memo provided to The Huffington Post. “For the last two years, Jesse has often worn two hats working in new media and serving as the White House’s liaison with the progressive media and online community. Starting this week, Jesse will take on the second role full time working on outreach, strategy and response.”

How does HuffPo take that? “The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position tucked inside their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community.”

If the name Jesse Lee sounds familiar it’s probably because back in 2009 he wrote a White House blog post bashing Glenn Beck."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yup. Jesse Lee is tasked with "improving relations with the progressive online community" - that translates the same as Obama's cutting funding to Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid to "improve" those programs.

[zalinda]

If Obama just turned left once in a while

this guy wouldn't be needed.

zalinda

[woo me with science]

71. Well, to be fair,

the ones they have at work now aren't doing such a convincing job... :eyes:

Yup, prioritize Newspeak over defending the vulnerable.
They can't help themselves. Corporations are all about advertising.

[treestar]

54. Amen! This kind of thing has Rove written all over it.

Or Rovian. Attack their strengths. Attack them by posing as being of them - the internet makes it so easy.

[secondwind]

58. I'm going to agree with you.

[CakeGrrl]

8. Bullshit.

[Skittles]

9. it's not bs

his pandering to repukes from day one gave them the power to pull this garbage now - and what does Obama do? Panders to them endlessly. IT IS SICKENING.

[Citizen Worker]

10. I would argue that Obama is not pandering to the right, he actually agrees with them. This allows

the right to move further to the right and center becomes the right. That's where we are folks and there's no dragging the democratic party back to the left. Ain't gonna happen. We had better fight for the few crumbs left or just be quiet.

[Skittles]

12. this all just fucking STINKS

we should have, COULD HAVE, done so much better than this :(

[blkmusclmachine]

13. The WH is completely compromised. "Bi-partisanship" is the cover.

n/t

[Divernan]

17. GOP/Obama definition of "bi-partisanship": twice as partisan

[joshcryer]

15. He didn't campaign on being strong.

[Divernan]

18. Excellent observation!

[Cosmocat]

22. People wanted to project whatever they wanted to project ...

on him, it was part of his marketing of his presidency, but ...

The right saw a deranged socialist, the left saw a progressive champion.

Interestingly, the people on the right who saw a deranged socialist STILL see a deranged socialist, the people on the left who saw a progressive champion see a sell out.

I see nothing in him now that I did not see when he campaigned.

He campaigned on changing the tone in DC. Sorry, THAT was what he campaigned on, and he has and continues to make good on his campaign promise. That the republicans are bat snot crazy, partisan to death lunatics does not change that he is holding up HIS end.

End of the day, if the Ds in congress fought as hard as the Rs, he would look a lot more progressive. He did not write HCR, CONGRESS did. People act like he would have vetoed universal health care if it got to his desk. He signed what congress was BARELY able to pass.

But, it's HIS fault the first major HCR in about half a century is not universal health care, and that we got the first HCR in half a century is completely irrelevant because it is not universal health care.

[Creideiki]

33. Gridlock and Partisanship is changed?

Because that's what the "tone in DC" was before and oddly, that's what it is now.

I hope Obama's Changing his underwear, because that's likely the only Change that's come to Washington.

[joshcryer]

43. The Change he brought was no more Bush.

He never said he'd revolutionize DC, in fact, his rhetoric was quite the opposite. He campaigned that he was going to effectively be neutral. It was the perfect moderate message to send.

[Vanje]

79. Ah. Remembering Obama's uplifting candidacy.

"The Audacity of Not Standing for Much of Anything"

"Change We can believe in but won't likely see"

I like his new one:

WTF!
"Wimp the Future!"
"Want the Futile!"

[joshcryer]

42. Yep.

[Kahuna]

19. It's his fault? He's one man. The voters are to blame. They allowed

the freaks to gain control as REPRESENTATIVES of the people. When more of their people are REPRESENTED, they get to control the agenda. That's how it works. Sure, the president could allow a default, but that would affect not just us, but the the world and maybe plunge us into a depression.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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

[pscot]

39. Yeah. That will work great

as a theme for the re-election campaign: you suck, so vote for me.

[rug]

24. His first cut shouldn't have been to his testicles.

[Divernan]

25. Obama delivered the unkindest cut of all to his progressive supporters & the Dem. party

After all the other broken campaign promises, to cut and slash Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid goes beyond disappointment and disillusionment to betrayal and treachery.

Marcus Antonius:
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty
heart. . . .
Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 2, 181–186

Marc Antony's great speech on the assassination of Julius Caesar (Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears)—which has very quickly turned into a character assassination of Brutus, a prominent republican, Caesar's friend and one of Caesar's murderers.

When Antony calls Brutus's stabbing of Caesar "the most unkindest cut of all," he is playing on two senses of "unkind"—"inhumane" and "unnatural." According to Antony, when Brutus literally "cut" the loving Caesar, a bloody deed was compounded with ingratitude. It wasn't the wound that killed Caesar, says Antony, but Brutus's treachery.

[rug]

30. Apt quote, apt analysis.

This Administration is becoming a compendium of shakespeare's greates hits.

Macbeth:
If we should fail?

Lady Macbeth:
We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail.

Macbeth Act 1, scene 7, 59–61

[woo me with science]

27. Not weakness at all.

He is accomplishing exactly what he wants.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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

[woo me with science]

32. This is an assault on the poor, the elderly, the unemployed, and the most vulnerable among us, yes.

It's a particularly vicious assault, because it will slash critical support to our most vulnerable even while deep spending cuts ensure that this economy will continue to falter and their pain will increase.

This plan will be a moral and ethical abomination. Many, many human beings are going to suffer, and those who are already suffering are going to suffer even more. Meanwhile, the wars rage on, and the obscenely wealthy get to keep their tax breaks.

All the guffawing and dismissiveness of these simple facts says a lot about what this party has become.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

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

[woo me with science]

38. And here we have it, my friends.

Jokes and sneering, as we are bargaining away the food money of the elderly poor.

Witness the compassion and morality of the new Democratic Party. It says a lot when you have to go to "raping nuns" in order to make your candidate's theft of food and retirement money from the elderly poor seem reasonable.

[MissDeeds]

31. Spot on

No one who is averse to being a leader should ever run for president. Lead or get out of the way.

K&R

[Autumn]

34. He isn't weak. He is getting exactly what he wants

Who the fuck else you going to vote for Sucker. We are screwed.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

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

[great white snark]

41. They'll be serving whine in your whaaambulance.

Nothing "rougue" about a common tantrum.

[ClarkUSA]

46. Why? How would you have accomplished more as POTUS on this issue against the Teabagger House?

It's easy to point fingers when you're not doing a damned thing.

[Armstead]

47. My housecat could have done better

[ClarkUSA]

48. You're making as much sense as you usually do. I'm still waiting for a cogent answer.

[treestar]

57. Your house cat for President

Our savior, who will be tough.

How tough are you with opposition to your will? What do you do when someone wants you to do something you don't want to do?

Do you have a boss? If boss asks you to do something you don't want to do, do you stand up to him?

We do not live in the 19th century west. We live in a civilized society.

[Armstead]

68. My housecat is very tough

We are dealing with an opposition who does have the mentality of the 19th Century West. It IS possible, however, to fight thme strategically without stooping to their level without completely caving.

But I don't see any evidence in this current mess of any give-and-take. It's just we give and they take -- and worst yet, we then try to justify their taking by saying that was the best thing to do.

As for your other question, my boss and I each know the others' limits. Although the bottom line is that he's the boss, we have respect for each other and are able to work through differences.We do have disagreements occasionally, but we both want the business to succeed, and share basic agreement on how to do that. I often compromise, or even give in, but he also realizes my limits and that he needs me and does the same.

,

[treestar]

69. Read some of their media

They complain of caving too. They do not just get, they do have to give in too. They know the President will not sign many bills they would like to have pass. The situation is what it is. People here seem to want to ignore that and pretend that it's an all or nothing battle - a simple, who is tougher, like between the sheriff and the bad guy in the 19th century.

[Armstead]

73. There is only one thing that is all-or-nothing

We cannot to go into default as a nation. That is an all or nothing point that probably at least 85 percent of the country would agree with across the political spectrum...Only the rabid teabaggers feel otherwise, and they are a minority.

Everything else is optional window dressing, that did not have to be tied to this.

We all can huff and puff and try to negotiate longer term solutions to the other stuff after this basic piece of necessary housekeeping is done. There are many possible options, including peas that progressives would be willing to eat if there were ever an effort at real two-way compromise.

But the bottom line is that Obama caved into the demands of the extreme right before it even started.

[treestar]

75. Simply not true

Why do you want to look at it so negatively? Caving to them would be agreeing to the Ryan plan.

Giving them anything at all is not caving.

They would write a bill abolishing every social program and every regulation. Signing that would be caving.

Are they cowards because the don't at least try?

It's scary how similar this is to debating Republicans, with a double standard applied where the Rs get all the breaks and the Ds get judged harshly.

It's like a marriage where the wife blames herself for everything the husband does wrong and the husband does too.

[Fearless]

49. You tell Congress that the only thing you will sign is a clean increase. Period.

No talks. No compromises. No politicking. Make a huge speech in front of a large crowd that cuts to social programs will kill Americans and that it is time for the wealthy who got us into this mess to clean it up. End three wars and bring soldiers home from abroad to show that you are serious about cutting spending too. Cite that every single time someone says that he isn't cutting spending. Get endorsements by AARP and the major unions. Rise the wave of public support and veto any piece of crap that comes to you. This should have been done months ago. If he had been seen as rock solid, the Republicans would have caved. Now we're giving them everything they want. Everything.

[ClarkUSA]

55. Pres. Obama did want that but the Kamikazi Teabagger House refused.

You seem to think their ilk can be swayed by populist politicking. Have you been watching what's been their behavior during the past few months?

[Fearless]

60. They only represent about 40 votes in the house.

In the senate you can count them on your hands. They do not hold real power. They just shout and scare people into listening.

[ClarkUSA]

61. "They do not hold real power." That's a ridiculous conclusion. Neither of your comments are credible

No one in the political world agrees with you, either. If that's what you think, then you haven't been paying attention to what's been happening in Congress since January.

[Fearless]

62. They hold no real power only perceived power. They do not have the numbers to hold real power.

[ClarkUSA]

65. Wrong. Their influence forced Boehner to shift his plan rightward in order to get it passed.

The Republican freshmen of the 112th Congress may never see the legislation of their dreams become law, but the scope of their victory in reshaping the debt ceiling bill to reflect the fiscal hawkishness of the most conservative House members cannot be overstated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/us/politics/30freshmen.html?_r=1&ref=politics

[Fearless]

67. Boehner could as easily have sided closer to Dems. He chose not to.

He chose to support the Tea Party instead of being bipartisan. He is afraid of their blather.

[ClarkUSA]

72. "as easily"? Um, no. Not if he wanted to run unopposed in the next election.

<< He chose to support the Tea Party instead of being bipartisan. He is afraid of their blather. >>

You and I agree on one thing, at least.

[Fearless]

84. He will be opposed anyways at least for the Leader position

That much is already clear.

[ClarkUSA]

66. dupe

[Divernan]

85. Yes you are.

[ClarkUSA]

64. self-delete

[Hippo_Tron]

83. I actually agree with you on this, Teabagger strength is really overblown

However, I also don't think Obama really caved on anything of substance tonight. What he did was kick this down the road for another several months (and that he did cave on since he said he wouldn't do that). This deal basically doesn't amount to anything other than a way for both sides to spin that they got something.

[Name removed]

56. Deleted sub-thread

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

[treestar]

52. Blah, Blah, Blah

Really sick of this. If he's so weak, it's the so called base's fault. Who wouldn't be weak when his base has abandoned him?

[Scurrilous]

63. He's worse than Hitler! n/t

[Whisp]

74. unrec for bullshittery

[RBInMaine]

78. Oh bull fucking shit. You are talking fringe purist nonsense. Get a clue.

[Vanje]

80. Reccing! because the people who are unreccing...

are poopoo heads

[Supersedeas]

81. cave and cave and cave and cave and cave until there no more tike to cave again?

then declare victory for compromise