tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post8824528979252638705..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Sunday Question for LiberalsJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-44884101917018015912013-01-23T09:33:48.283-06:002013-01-23T09:33:48.283-06:00Also, +100 irony points for mentioning failed pred...Also, +100 irony points for mentioning failed predictions and saying the stimulus worked in the same sentence without realizing the contradiction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-22566390426850166952013-01-23T09:32:56.913-06:002013-01-23T09:32:56.913-06:00LOL @ all the commenters who hope that the only th...LOL @ all the commenters who hope that the only thing Obama's learned have been about other people's failings. Stay self-aware, chaps.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-26985173140628675652013-01-23T09:32:03.299-06:002013-01-23T09:32:03.299-06:00Unhinged, much?Unhinged, much?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-12964405038426189342013-01-23T09:31:36.491-06:002013-01-23T09:31:36.491-06:00As a Republican, I really, really hope he takes yo...As a Republican, I really, really hope he takes your advice more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-30929839321044068292013-01-21T12:45:13.069-06:002013-01-21T12:45:13.069-06:00Poem for Republicans
You sit in darkness
and wallo...Poem for Republicans<br />You sit in darkness<br />and wallow.<br />Ideals too many<br />else follow;<br />another leads,<br />you concede<br />and close your door.<br /><br />Your message is a blow.<br />Pushing against change <br />in angry sprit.<br />Confederacy well and alive<br />in you<br />and your <br />brothers.<br /><br />Close your door.<br />Sit in darkness.<br />We will watch the winds of change<br />And we will continue to<br />Knock upon your door.<br /><br />You sit in darkness.<br />shoving against <br />the spirits rising;<br />feel the mettle of<br />the peaceful soldiers. <br />We the people, <br />for the people<br />Evoke change.<br /><br />Don’t you feel it?<br />Uplifting and hopeful<br />Tracks vibrating <br />With the essence of<br />The love of <br />The spirit of <br />CHANGE!<br /><br />and we gain<br />Momentum. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Shame on you<br />For your resistance<br />Shame on you<br />For callousness<br />Shame on you<br />For placing <br />A wedge upon<br />Our tracks.<br /><br />I weep for you<br />and others like you<br />as you sit in darkness<br />Our train of change is<br />Going to pass you by<br />As you sit in darkness.<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-83406856196857337972013-01-21T09:41:08.311-06:002013-01-21T09:41:08.311-06:00Government can and does create jobs. Your stimulus...Government can and does create jobs. Your stimulus worked and all the predictions that Republicans and other deficit peacocks made about soaring interest rates, hyperinflation, etc. were wrong. So stop with the austerity already.Ron E.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-33186790080338181852013-01-21T09:39:52.744-06:002013-01-21T09:39:52.744-06:00The truth is the GOP doesn't support the conse...The truth is the GOP doesn't support the conservative base. It supports the industrial/military complex. Until the vast majority of American's wake up to the fact that both parties have only one agenda and that is reelection then the only view our politicians will have is that of those can finance thier campaigns. Without term limits this country is headed for disaster. <br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-33602035779301602992013-01-21T08:12:29.236-06:002013-01-21T08:12:29.236-06:00Ditto.
I suspect that Obama sees politics as the ...Ditto.<br /> I suspect that Obama sees politics as the long game, and is playing it accordingly. As did FDR.<br /><br />Maybe it is megalomania-( most presidents have that affliction)- but I think he wants to join the pantheon of Great Presidents.DAYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05020334090852640605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-61930421476627167842013-01-21T02:40:09.490-06:002013-01-21T02:40:09.490-06:00The establishment GOP has to be made to understand...The establishment GOP has to be made to understand that they can’t win without a strong Libertarian wing.<br /><br />Mark Willis for GOP Chair 2013!<br /><br />StepDownNow.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-34637371519344353002013-01-20T22:47:42.372-06:002013-01-20T22:47:42.372-06:00I second your view. It might be more popular than ...I second your view. It might be more popular than you think. ModeratePolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01721945380057992971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-19521137400260970462013-01-20T22:26:58.002-06:002013-01-20T22:26:58.002-06:00I wish he would learn --
1) That the deficit reall...I wish he would learn --<br />1) That the deficit really is not important<br />2) Reagan is a terrible role model<br />3) When it comes to dealing with Republicans it is impossible to be cynical enough.<br /><br />Sorry if this looks like snark. I am deadly serious.<br /><br />JzBJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-21119187779411065482013-01-20T21:09:09.825-06:002013-01-20T21:09:09.825-06:00Well said.Well said.tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13145639900234999261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-38602209817376680612013-01-20T19:09:07.667-06:002013-01-20T19:09:07.667-06:00He should focus on areas in which the Executive Br...He should focus on areas in which the Executive Branch can act unilaterally to advance the progressive agenda being that Congress is going to be controlled by the GOPAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-76899256058097390602013-01-20T17:05:14.935-06:002013-01-20T17:05:14.935-06:001. Pay a lot of attention to executive branch and...1. Pay a lot of attention to executive branch and judicial nominations - select nominees and then push the Senate to confirm them.<br />2. Recognize when you have leverage and use it. You can't count on the Republican Party to act in the country's interest.<br />3. Use the bully pulpit. It might or might not influence Republican votes in Congress, but it can help make the public more aware of who is gumming up the works on popular initiatives.<br /><br />BTW, I am fairly confident he has learned lessons 2 and 3. Not sure about 1.cgwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10626069163536096203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-61890324397184299232013-01-20T16:29:08.004-06:002013-01-20T16:29:08.004-06:00Don't read David Brooks editorialsDon't read David Brooks editorialsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-91622924382970472202013-01-20T16:19:48.426-06:002013-01-20T16:19:48.426-06:00I'm sure Obama has learned the ropes of the pr...I'm sure Obama has learned the ropes of the presidency, but - unlike everyone above except perhaps David T - I can't think of any Big Lessons he should have learned. <br /><br />In his first two years, with a Dem congress, he racked up huge accomplishments. In the last two years, facing a very tough headwind, he set the stage to win re-election and then thump the GOP.<br /><br />In particular he was playing a terrible hand in 2011 - the GOP had won big in the midterms, and the economy was still effectively in the crapper. But the original debt limit deal turned out to be to his strategic advantage, as we are now seeing.<br /><br />Maybe it isn't 11-dimensional chess, but he has certainly played a few moves ahead of the Republicans.<br />Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-77518487477173545062013-01-20T16:13:06.605-06:002013-01-20T16:13:06.605-06:00I hope Obama will look for ways to enact his agend...I hope Obama will look for ways to enact his agenda outside of just trying to get bills through Congress. Passing laws and budgets is important, but so is appointing judges and staffing the government, he shouldn't do one to the detriment of the other.longwalkdownlyndalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13173899547449318257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-43663825722796362762013-01-20T16:09:37.364-06:002013-01-20T16:09:37.364-06:00What most here have said, boiled down a bit: that ...What most here have said, boiled down a bit: that the destination is not compromise. The destination is good policy; compromise is just a road, one that most often doesn't go where you're headed.andrew longnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-43832639197205061392013-01-20T16:03:56.459-06:002013-01-20T16:03:56.459-06:00I hope he learned that Republicans will never agre...I hope he learned that Republicans will never agree with his agenda and must either find a way to negotiate in a way that does not compromise his goals or stick to his guns and hope he keeps backing them against the wall. Also, like Moneyball said, he needs to explain his policies to the public in a way that is broken down and understandable. I think one of the reasons why people got so confident in Obama was because of Clinton's DNC speech. He managed to dismantle the Republican platform just by translating their rhetoric into English. Obama needs to follow that lead in order to have people by his side.Cris Reyeshttp://theplacefordiscussion.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-72231973143172666052013-01-20T16:01:35.808-06:002013-01-20T16:01:35.808-06:00I'm going to take what seems to be an unpopula...I'm going to take what seems to be an unpopular position here. I think that Obama's posture of negotiating with the Republcans *as if* they were reasonable was good politics--not because it helped him with confirmed Republicans (it didn't) but because it helped convince moderate voters that Obama was reasonable and the GOP was crazy. This no doubt helped Obama to get re-elected and the Democrats to make gains in both the Senate and House last year. And virtually every agreement he eventually reached with the GOP was much less a sell-out than some progressives first labeled it. (Even Krugman admitted that the fiscal cliff deal was not that bad on the merits; he was only worried that it foreshadowed a future cave by Obama on the debt ceiling--and as Krugman has admitted, he was wrong about that.)David Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09260587086663631888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-83635236664331408112013-01-20T15:57:42.502-06:002013-01-20T15:57:42.502-06:00Sorry, I mean "quit" worrying about that...Sorry, I mean "quit" worrying about that.<br />Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-12779739162010292512013-01-20T15:55:04.161-06:002013-01-20T15:55:04.161-06:00I really hope he's begun to understand that yo...I really hope he's begun to understand that you don't achieve bipartisanship by proposing bipartisan policies, you achieve it by holding firm and forcing the other side to knuckle under. Also, the American people are COOL WITH THE FACT THAT YOU'RE BLACK, so quite worrying about that.Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-19752742538023941392013-01-20T15:47:11.510-06:002013-01-20T15:47:11.510-06:00I hope Obama has learned not to underestimate the ...I hope Obama has learned not to underestimate the ignorance of the American people. Regardless of how easy he thinks it is to understand a proposed policy, he needs to communicate with the public as though he were explaining the policy to his daughters when they were kindergartners.MoneyballGovernmenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13931646916119967725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-11991678518483611082013-01-20T15:21:46.801-06:002013-01-20T15:21:46.801-06:00Focus more on judicial nominations.Focus more on judicial nominations.Dan Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947782079761530102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-37586191177260268682013-01-20T15:02:07.588-06:002013-01-20T15:02:07.588-06:00Similarly to Jason, I'd agree that I hope he l...Similarly to Jason, I'd agree that I hope he learns that bipartisanship offers no additional value outside of what it can do to pass good legislation that advances the Democratic agenda.Tybalthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12609530001755953035noreply@blogger.com