Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions

[bananas]

Source: Washington Post

Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions

By Michael D. Shear and Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 14, 2009; Page A09

CHICAGO, Feb. 13 -- Twenty-four days into his presidency, Barack Obama recorded last night a legislative achievement of the sort that few of his predecessors achieved at any point in their tenure.

In size and scope, there is almost nothing in history to rival the economic stimulus legislation that Obama shepherded through Congress in just over three weeks. And the result -- produced largely without Republican participation -- was remarkably similar to the terms Obama's team outlined even before he was inaugurated: a package of tax cuts and spending totaling about $775 billion.

<snip>

The feat compares only with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's banking system overhaul in 1933, which cleared Congress within days of his inauguration.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303475.html

[fascisthunter]

1. "...feat compares only with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's banking system overhaul in 1933"

um... ok

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. "...and the unoverhaul of the banking system in the proceeding 75 years."

:(

[graywarrior]

2. It's like the Perfect Storm

Him, us, and the state of the world all coming together at the same time.

[1monster]

10. Wow! Graywarrior, You are certainly loved! Nothing-Charlie-Brown-at-the-empty-mailbox-like for you!

:applause:

edit: forgot the hyphens

[BlancheSplanchnik]

12. it's truly synchronicity, isn't it?

I'm glad to have the enormity of this achievement observed.

[BlueCaliDem]

3. Yes, and it's a sad thing the rethugs wanted to block it from happening.

It might not be a perfect bill (in fact, it's pretty much NOT a perfect bill), it's a start because America is hurting something awful and we needed something uber-fast as confidence was dropping.

[No Elephants]

20. They wanted it to happen. They just "don't want their

fingerprints on it." They can reap the benefit of avoiding global economic collapse and, in 2010, they can run on how wasteful the Democrats are--tax and spend Democrats.

They hope to have their cake and eat it, too. I suggest arsenic frosting.

[reasonedthinker]

4. This should just be the start

We have a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize control of most of the military-industrial and financial complex so that we can use it for the good of the people. My biggest complaint about the stimulus bill is that the cap on bank executive pay is way too high.

Among my goals:

We now could set pay scales for all major categories of work and prohibit variations. This will allow a much more fair distribution of the money to people. We can also finally eliminate actual or de facto descrimination across these industries by government-coordinated hiring in these industries, starting with the banks. The administration should be dictating who is hired at Citibank and Goldman, not that same panel of old white men. We could achieve a beautiful rainbow of executives which mirrors our America. We won the election and must assert our control over these busineses.

Think about it: rather than trying to convince the banks to lend and support the lower income citizens, we could have our hand picked employees simply implement the financing our country to desperately needs.

In a second bill, we should immediately raise taxes on the rich and the companies the government has not acquired control of and use the bounty to give to those citizens with less income in the form of monthly allowances, which would encourage spending as they realize that they have a steady stream of income coming in.

We also must insist on a buy America approach so that our citizens that we put to work in our factories and companies have a captive client base. This will create a "virtuous circle" leading to more employment and spending.

To protect the people from false and confusing propoganda, the next bill must include the imposition of the Fairness Doctrine. We absolutely must stop the right from communicating their "message" of hate and distrust. We are correct on all of the issues and do not need the people we are trying to take care of to get misled or confused by this hate. Now is the time to shut them down for good.

Come on, join me. Call your representatives now and tell them to strike now, while we have the chance before the republicans try to regain the upper hand.

[jannyk]

5. Welcome to DU...

Where've ya been?

:hi:

[reasonedthinker]

6. I have been..

Mostly on daily kos and working on the Obama campaign before that.

[wryter2000]

14. Welcome to DU

:hi: And, here's another heart for you.

[progdonkey]

19. Don't feed the troll...

Did you actually read what he/she wrote?

"Pay scales for all categories of work."

"Hand-picked employees implement the financing our country to desperately needs."

The Fairness Doctrine... hello?

I could just cut and paste the entire post, as each line is like a Freeper wet-dream of an evil LIEberal.

I'm kinda disappointed that you two fell for it. :(

Edit to add: And I don't think it's any coincidence that the person is supposedly from New York, NY. San Francisco would've been too obvious, I guess.

[No Elephants]

22. My thought was "Socks up!" Not exactly your typical second post, was it?

[progdonkey]

32. worse... it was the first...

They have two posts because they replied to the reply, saying he/she/IT had been "mostly on Dailykos and working for the Obama campaign before that."

And they still only have two posts.

[ryanmuegge]

15. Nobody in Washington has the guts to do it, so I'd rather just not have the opportunity.

[caraher]

7. "produced largely without Republican participation"

I don't like that bit for two reasons.

1. it supports the GOP "hollow bipartisanship" talking point. If it was without their participation, that was largely their choice.

2. there was FAR too much Republican input into the final product. See tax breaks.

[Beetwasher]

8. Well, How About That?! Some Friggin' RECOGNITION Of HOW AWESOME This Achievement IS!!!

I mean, it's truly an astounding feat.

[Skink]

9. Bush didn't even have to Veto anything for 6 years.

[No Elephants]

21. Except the stem cell research bill. Even the rethugs voted for that.

[intaglio]

11. In 24 days from inauguration 44 has had a landmark bill passed

So what can you expect in the next 18 months? I think that there might really be a wipeout of Republicans at the Mid-terms.

[kimmerspixelated]

13. Isn't it truly awesome!

We've got a Dem prez that's actually accomplishing something! Gobama!
I really feel like this is just the beginning! Get outta da way...Obama's plowing thru!

[Odin2005]

16. Is it just me or is Obama looking more and more like FDR?

:wow:

[No Elephants]

23. He's been doing his best to

evoke Lincoln, FDR and JFK, a political trifecta for a Dem.

(Yes, I know Lincoln was Republican.)

[Ghost Dog]

17. Trillions are the new bilions.

Mere millions are just so last season...

Hyperinflation, anyone?

I wish they'd just stop sniffin' the white powder, for a while.

[No Elephants]

24. Millions are more like 1950 than last season. (I should know. I remember The Millionaire tv series

[llmart]

18. This is wonderful news......

and I love the headline. People need to feel that something is being done because for the past 8 years nothing got done except spending trillions on an illegal and unjust war.

[GliderGuider]

27. So now you're going to spend trillions on illegal and unjust bailouts

I fail to see how that's any better.

[llmart]

35. If you can't support what President Obama.....

is doing then why'd you vote for him? I'm presuming you did.

Sometimes optimism works. You should try it some time. Our country has become so pessimistic and a bunch of naysayers. That doesn't help much. We had plenty to be pessimistic about during the past 8 years, but that was with good reason, starting with the theft of our electoral process in 2000. Our President has asked us for our support and help, so let's at least give it a try.

[No Elephants]

25. I hope we learned our lesson. In the next stimulus package--and there WILL be a next one, don't

make one change for these mofos.

[GliderGuider]

26. Here's a dissenting voice

I know the commentator, and he's no right-winger. He's Dutch, living in Canada on a nascent commune, and he's dedicated to truth before ideology. As an economic prognosticator I'd put him in the same class as Celente and Roubini, and a half a light year ahead of Krugman.

A wet daydream

I saw a Washington Post headline today that read: ”Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions". Now there may be all sorts of political agenda's among reporters and editors, and people may genuinely see things in different ways, but that headline is nothing but a huge pile of horse nonsense. The stimulus plan is a blunder of historic proportions, not a victory. The article touts the speed with which is was set up and pushed through, but that in reality is not exactly a positive aspect. It makes it all worse, not better. There are many voices among economists who have said the plan lacks substance and detail; a large part of the reason why lies in the haste with which it was concocted. Tim Geithner was attacked by his peers yesterday in the G7 meeting for the same reason.

Moreover, we now know that virtually no-one in the Senate and Congress has actually read the plan. You don't get to celebrate $787 billion victories because you're fast, you do that because you're good. Obama has nothing like that to show for the plan, which is a victory only for Wall Street and other corporations that get to profit from it. About 25% of the original TARP funds were completely wasted, and there is zero reason to presume it'll be different this time around. In fact, it's guaranteed to be as bad, simply by the fact that it has been prepared too hastily and with scant attention for details.

The first warning of Obama's upcoming darkest hour will likely not come from the financial sector, however. General Motors today announced a sort of ultimatum for the administration: give us more money, or we'll file for Chapter 11. I have warned about this throughout 2008: Obama should have solved the Detroit situation before becoming president, in order to not let the Formerly Big Three go down on his watch. GM and Ford are stronger symbols of America than any other companies, and their bankruptcies will be held against the president who allows them to fail, in a big way. Detroit needs a minimum of 15 million cars sold in the US market to stay viable. Forecasts for 2009 are 10 million sales, but I bet that is way too high, even as Washington has started handing out cash for car-buyers. Subsidies or no subsidies, sales may fall to as low as 5 million this year.

It's over, dear people, the dream is broken and cannot be mended. Gerald Celente predicts tax revolts and "another evolution" in the US. Listen to what he has to say in the video below. He is not an idiot, he expresses my views and fears to a T. The way things are going today, I don't see how he could be proven wrong. There are many people who say that European models are no better, or even worse, than the American one, but they fail to acknowledge that the American model is gone, forever. It's over. Until and unless we recognize that, and implement measures to make sure there will not be millions of US citizens thrown into the sort of misery we see on TV reports about Somalia and Ethiopia, we are sure to lose out. There will no longer be an American society, and probably not even a country.

[caraher]

28. He may be right, but...

"Obama should have solved the Detroit situation before becoming president, in order to not let the Formerly Big Three go down on his watch."

How was he supposed to do that? Obama did far more in the fictional "Office of the President-Elect" than anyone in memory, but it's pretty unreasonable to criticize someone for what they didn't do before they had the full authority of the office to which they'd been elected.

It's a bit like saying Obama should have gotten us out of Iraq before taking office, so we wouldn't have to leave in defeat under his watch.

I'm also curious as to exactly what your commentator friend thinks we ought to do with the auto industry. I'm more interested in a prescription than a prognostication!

[GliderGuider]

29. I'll ask him. My own prescription is fairly severe

I'd prefer to see the entire global automobile industry crash. Cars are a major part of the problem, from overconsumption of resources to environmental catastrophe to economic unsustainability. They can never be part of the solution, so we should let them go now. Saving them will only make the situation worse.

Needless to say this ecologically-based, system-oriented opinion isn't popular with those who see the problem in narrower terms. Those who believe that the way we live now is the only way we could possibly live see the answer in reform. They have some nasty surprises waiting for them over the next decade or two.

[caraher]

31. Yes, we do need to get away from cars

Put that industrial base to work developing the next generation of transportation systems - which should be light on personal vehicles, whatever the energy source - as we think about more rational ways to restructure our lives, ways that do not require profligate energy use. (Are we living better lives because we have cars? That's a very tough case to make! So let's reinvent our culture...))

[GliderGuider]

33. Yes.

Most of the injury we humans have inflicted on this planet and its other inhabitants has been enabled by our prodigious activity level. The main potentiator of our activity is our mobility. It enables us, even as individuals, to damage widely separated parts of the planet essentially simultaneously, to gather resources from around the globe, and to transport the waste resulting from the consumption of those resources to distant places for "disposal". If we maintain our activity levels we will never stop destroying our world. Electrical transportation may reduce the CO2 we put into the air, but precious little else about our behaviour will change.

When I say the "automobile industry" needs to crash, I'm talking about more than just the gasoline-engine part of it. If human activity levels don't change, we will inevitably destroy the world we know. Unfortunately, we will not make a voluntary decision to abandon personal motorized transportation whether gasoline or electric, so the endgame is assured.

[caraher]

34. I'm a bit more optimistic

I think people can give up their cars if the circumstances are right. For instance, I have an online friend on another web forum who's a single mom in Las Vegas, and she was struggling with car payments. She began to realize that the car was costing her money that she could save with a little more planning and a little more walking. I encouraged her and now she rides the bus or walks. Now, most other folks there were in mourning on her behalf - I was the one person who praised her for reducing her carbon footprint and getting some exercise.

People don't really even want their cars, so much as they can't even imagine life without them. The technologies are there if we can simply re-imagine our lives. It's a radical change, but not impossible.