Where Do We Go From Here?

[dtotire]

Where Do We Go From Here?

Sen. Bernie Sanders

Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont
Posted: January 15, 2010 10:18 AM



One year ago the nation gave a collective sigh of relief as the worst and least popular administration in modern American history came to an end. Not only was the Bush administration heading out the door, but the Republican Party was reeling from two consecutive elections in which it suffered massive losses at all levels.

With a huge taxpayer bailout attempting to prop up a reckless and greedy financial system on the verge of collapse; with 700,000 workers a month losing their jobs in the worst recession since the 1930s; with the continuation of a war in Iraq that we never should have gotten into; with a rapidly increasing national debt caused largely by that unpaid-for war as well as tax breaks for the rich; and with the continued refusal to address or even acknowledge the crisis in global warming, the American people were ready for change.

In Senator Barack Obama, Americans at every level reached out to an inspiring young leader who, through a brilliant campaign, brought enormous energy into the political process. Young people who had never given much thought about elections were not only registering to vote in record-breaking numbers, but their newly-tapped idealism was leading them to actively participate in the campaign. Workers and their unions, who were victims of corporate greed and the ongoing collapse of the middle class, were determined to elect political leadership which represented ordinary Americans, not just the wealthy and large corporations. Women, who had battled for eight years to maintain the reproductive and legal rights they had struggled for over generations, were eagerly awaiting an administration that was on their side. Seniors, who were tired of hearing about Republican efforts to privatize Social Security and Medicare, wanted a president who understood the importance of those vital federal safety-net programs. And minorities and people of color, some of whom had experienced the hurt and humiliation of American apartheid, were ecstatic that the dream of a non-discriminatory society was taking a giant step forward. The result: With a strong voter turnout Barack Obama was elected president; the Democrats picked up 21 seats in the House and seven in the Senate (eight by the time Al Franken survived a recount and court challenge).

lots more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/where-do-we-go-from-here_b_424585.html

[timeforpeace]

1. We'll have a better idea Tuesday night, Bernie.

[flyarm]

2. ahhh Bernie ..didn't you know??????

Rahm Emanuel Tells Liberals To Kiss His Arse

[bvar22]

3. Sanders knocks it out of the park....again.

Wish I could vote for Bernie!

"Unlike FDR in 1933, who consistently denounced Hoover's Republican policies as the cause of the country's perilous condition, Obama appears very reluctant to be "partisan" and point out to the American people the cause of our current crises. Can one imagine Barack Obama, for example, telling the American people as Roosevelt did in 1933, that he "welcomed" the hatred of the "economic royalists" whose greed had devastated the country?

In response to Obama's genteel and bipartisan outreach, the Republicans have undertaken a campaign of rhetorical savagery unprecedented in recent memory. The Right-Wing echo chamber of Fox News and talk radio, to which the Democrats have no equivalent and no interest in developing one, have implied that Obama is an "illegitimate" president not born in the United States, that he is a friend of terrorists, that he is an anti-white racist, that he rules unconstitutionally and that his administration reeks of Chicago-style corruption. And those are the respectful attacks!"

The rest is well worth the read:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/where-do-we-go-from-here_b_424585.html


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone