Obama Miscalculated...He Made "Bi-Partisanship" not the "Economic Crisis" his Priority!

[KoKo]

Our Highest Priority
02.04.09 -- 2:19PM
By Josh Marshall

From Theda Skocpol ...

In response to what you are saying: Obama is, sadly, much to blame for giving the Republicans so much leverage. He defined the challenge as biparitsanship not saving the U.S. economy. Right now, he has only one chance to re-set this deteriorating debate: He needs to give a major speech on the economy, explain to Americans what is happening and what must be done. People will, as of now, still listen to him -- and what else is his political capital for?

Speaking as a strong Obama supporter who put my energies and money into it, I am now very disillusioned with him. He spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans -- including negotiating with them to get more into Senate and his administration and giving them virtual veto-power over his agenda -- and also spending time on his personal cool-guy image (as in interview before the Super Bowl). The country is in danger and he ran for president to solve this crisis in a socially inclusionary way. He should be fighting on that front all the time with all his energies -- and he certainly should give a major speech to help educate the public and shape the agenda. That is the least he can and should do. Only that will bypass the media-conserative dynamic that is now in charge.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/our_highest_priority.php

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Obama has just found out that you cannot play nice with Repukes nt

[robinlynne]

9. I don't know if he knows. It was pretty easy to know that some years ago....

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. Well, I think Repukes have made it very clear in the House and now in the Senate nt

[Juche]

14. I would hope he would've known that by now

In his books he talks about how when the GOP controlled the Illinois senate they engaged in the same tactics Gingrich did in the house. He was also a senator for 4 years. FOr a guy with Obama's social and emotional intelligence, if 8 years in the Illinois senate and 4 years in the federal senate didn't wake him up then god help us.

The GOP isn't going to abandon their plutocratic economic policies no matter how bad they fail or how unpopular they are. If Obama is oblivious to this fact then we are in trouble.

[rollingrock]

33. He's more interested in holding hands and singing Kumbaya

he doesn't have the stomach to put up a fight.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. It would seem that you are correct.

[rollingrock]

39. Well, I guess cant blame him all that much

we all know what happens to those that dare to challenge the status quo.

(the Kennedys, Wellstone, etc.)

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. After spending time in the Senate, he should have already known that.

:think:

[depakid]

2. "He spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans."

Turning out not to such a stroke of genius, eh?

better get a clue soon- and play realpolitik, or the stimulus plan's going to be a failure.

[defendandprotect]

Right ---

and besides concessions and then having them dump him . . .

the message of all the appointments made by Obama is pretty much, "we're on the same team"!

[mckara]

3. He Gave the Repugs Enough Rope to Hang Themselves...

We'll soon see whether Obama miscalculated, or whether the Repugs did.

[4_TN_TITANS]

22. "enough rope"

That's the way I see it (at least hope it will play out that way). He knows he'll never get any meaningful cooperation from them, is he setting them up to take the fall for obstructing recovery?

[Kansas Wyatt]

38. I'm hoping he gets the House to agree to removing the parts the PUBICS..

Have thrown a shit fit about, and replaces it with even more help to the middle and lower classes.

Republicans have already said that they could pass that amount, but not with what they are calling pork projects. Fine... Call them on it. Remove the items they singled out, and replace it with more help to working people. The Republicans would be faced with submitting to Obama's way, or they would end up showing the entire country that they have only been obstructing and representing the wealthy class. Oh, and the best part is, now that the Corporate Media has put Republicans in the spotlight to get their point across to the masses, they would be left eating their own shit-burger.

[Skink]

4. I've never thought Obama was particularly liberal. Just sensible.

Trying to work with these guys is not sensible however.

[liberaltrucker]

5. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

So far, anyway. We'll see if he has a "come to Jesus" moment.

[MadMaddie]

6. I think many people still underestimate Obama

and every time he proves the naysayers wrong.

Obama is playing the Repugs and he realizes that the Repugs are too bone headed,childlike and reactionary to even see the chess move.

Have you noticed that everything that Obama has done has been made public? As the Repug constituents continue to lose their jobs, their homes, their health care and their Repug representatives keep stalling, a day of reckoning is coming for the Repugs from their former supporters.

It's been 14 days and many people are being ridiculous in thinking this was going to be magical.

He is doing the right thing....and this too shall pass. President Obama will call check-mate in the near future and force the Repugs to show that they are the party of nothing and they have no interest in helping the country out of this crisis.

[Metta]

7. You are on the money with that. He should just push forward and if they want to come along, fine.

If not, not.

[robinlynne]

10. who cares what they do? 23% of the population, if that many.....

[girl gone mad]

8. And progressives tried to warn him.

He gave the Republicans and the RW of the Democratic party far too much power by rushing to appease them. He's basically put them up on a pedestal at this point, when their rightful place is down in the mud.

[MindMatter]

29. He HAD bipartisanship. It's called 78% popularity

People were with him. Not just Democrats. A lot of Republicans were with him.

They weren't with him because they wanted him to be the best compromiser we have ever seen. They were with him because they honestly felt the country was in a moment of crisis, and they needed to unite behind the guy with a fresh approach.

He is very quickly losing all of us.

He needs to stick to the things he promised to do and make the Republicans pay the price for standing in the way.

[bertman]

42. MindMatter, I really like the way you put that "He HAD bipartisanship. It's called 78%

popularity. . ."

Couldn't agree more.

President Obama is VERY smart and savvy, but I am worried for him because of the people advising him. But we'll see soon enough how this plays out.

[MindMatter]

51. Raum Emmanuel is the problem

He is just a street fighter. He has no guiding principles and no strategic sense.

We are seeing the difference between Axlerod -- a brilliant strategist -- and Emmanuel -- basically just a prick.

[girl gone mad]

52. I agree 100%.

Rahm is at the heart of all of Obama's early failures.

Emmanuel needs to move step aside for the good of our nation.

[leftofthedial]

12. and he picked the exact WRONG people to run the economic team

[FreakinDJ]

13. RATpublicans have been WRONG for 28 years

Why listen to them now - so they can screw up the Stimulus Plan too....

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

15. Better to learn these lessons early. Thankfully Barry is a very quick study

[defendandprotect]

16. "Miscalculated" . . . ????

That's your recommendation for Obama???

It was only "miscalculation" . . . ??

No speeches -- no b.s. --- more positive liberal/progressive action ---

[spanone]

17. 'I am now very disillusioned with him' i'm glad he's had the benefit of a whole two weeks

wrong

[Two Americas]

18. silly argument

One could be disillusioned in 30 seconds with a person - based on what they did in those 30 seconds. No critics are saying anything more than that.

[spanone]

23. oh really, well not me.

i disagree, if that makes me silly who cares?

[Two Americas]

24. fine

You are free to see this as you like. So should others be. Criticizing one error by a person is not the same as rejecting them completely. If you choose to see this as a choice total support or total opposition, you are free to see it that way and choose one or the other. I object to the demand that we all see it that way, and to the attacks on those who do not.

[Triana]

19. Someone else posted this earlier but - I think it is spot on and sent a message

to whitehouse.gov saying the same (I sent them the last paragraph, specifically):


"While it's laudable that President Obama wants to build a bipartisan government, it is clear that his Republican colleagues don't play well with others. President Obama needs to remember that the number one issue facing him and his Democratic colleagues today are the issues that Americans are most concerned about and the number one issue is the economy. The people have spoken. The people care less about creating bipartisanship by reaching across to the recalcitrant minority of Republicans in office and a lot more about job recovery and making their mortgage payments. Tax cuts don't work. $500 in tax savings for people who are struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table feels like an insult. Americans want jobs. Americans need help. Americans voted for change.

It is time for President Obama to make the needs of the American people his number one priority. Bipartisanship efforts are not working and they are distracting the new administration from the task at hand. The American people voted to remove the Republican party from power. America voted for a change. And America is waiting for it. It is time for President Obama to make the economy his first priority. The economy is more important than reaching out to Republicans who still haven't gotten the message that America voted them out of power."

[newtothegame]

20. Obama looks different so YAYYY!!!! n/t

[SemiCharmedQuark]

27. Why do you post that over and over again? What does Obama's race have to do with anything?

[jsamuel]

21. This is one of the main reasons I supported Edwards, then leaned Clinton over Obama in the primaries

I always hoped Obama would prove me wrong.

[dflprincess]

25. I supported Edwards

but then leaned Obama because this is the kind of thing I expected from Clinton and her DLC pals. I had a vague hope Obama would be different - and I still have a vague hope of that. Perhaps he's learned his lesson. He can be polite with the other side, just as long as he makes it clear whose running things now (he should also make it clear to Reid "majority" means)

[rfranklin]

26. And Clinton would be exactly the same in essence....

Unless Kucinich or some one of the same mindset was elected there would be no difference.

[SammyWinstonJack]

37. Same here!

I think if you give them a seat at the table, they'll eat all the food

[Strathos]

28. WHY -WHY -FUCKITY -WHY- WHY -WHY????

You never fuckin' hear of a republican president trying so hard to appease the democrats, so why do democrats try so fuckin' hard to appease the republicans? Maybe they should just giving out blow jobs to the republicans, it might get them somewhere.

I'm still holding out hope for Obama, but I can't last much longer. He's gonna have to give his base a little something, some kind of "thank you for fighting for me" or honestly guys, not to be too dramatic, but my political views will go the way of my religious ones, fairytales and bullshit.

[mascarax]

30. Great title & good point: name a Republican

who tried to appease Democrats.

[Strathos]

32. That's just it, there are none

Republicans get a free pass, while the democrats are french kissing their assholes.

[blackdot]

31. Republicans and Democrats keep trying to pork up his policies.

He has a bill for the economy and both sides want to fill it up with useless pork. Both sides need to use bipartisanship to get this done right and instead they want to fight each other for pork.

[OwnedByFerrets]

36. K and R

[quiet.american]

40. To cop a phrase, "O ye of little faith."

Obama knows what he's doing.

We have to get used to having a president that's smarter than us.

We also have to allow for bumps along the way, and if indeed, he does make mistakes, as he will, we shouldn't stampede towards the exits. We're all in this together.

What "fair-weather friends" we're turning out to be.

He's in office barely two weeks and already the hand-wringing and teeth-knashing are at Defcon One levels.

[KoKo]

41. I could agree with you but why would you say "Obama is smarter than us?"

In what way is one person smarter than another. It seemed an odd statement about Obama that has no basis in fact...is why I ask. :shrug:

[quiet.american]

44. Reference: Bush, the idiot.

Any one of us could have run the country better than that boob.

Plus, Obama is one of the few souls in this world that I will gladly admit is indeed smarter than me; see: his accomplishments. :)

[puebloknot]

47. Faith? "Smarter than us?" I think not.

We don't have the leisure to allow Obama to make mistakes. Time is of the essence. People are dying and losing their homes and their hope.

Obama is not a savior, not a Second Coming of anyone. He's the guy we hired to do the bidding of the majority who elected him.

[quiet.american]

49. Get real. I'm not talking about religion.

And if you really support the man, you know what you've said is front and center on his mind. And you don't have to read his mind to know it. In fact, just moments before your reply, he spoke to just what you said.

He doesn't need prodding from the peanut gallery to know what needs to be done. That's what I mean by "smarter than us."

[puebloknot]

53. Before I sleep, let me say ...

... that every day, I'm torn between deep admiration for Obama, his intelligence, his charm, his humor, his devotion to his family, and concern over his too- fervent "reaching out" to religious right fanatics. I want him to honor the separation of church and state, period.

I believe that the "peanut gallery" would be We the People, whose job it is to keep Obama on track, to the degree that we can. The man has taken on the most burdensome job in the history of mankind, and I'm concerned over what forces may be making it difficult for him to do what his first inclination is in any given situation.

I am also keenly aware that, somewhere in the deep recesses of the man's soul (perhaps hidden even from himself), he may harbor concerns over his own safety and that of his family.

My response to you was out of concern for the "Obama worshipping" I've seen for some time now, and the knee-jerk criticism of any criticism of the man. In many ways, Obama is probably more informed than the majority of us, but we must not become so enthralled with the chrisma of the man that we forget our own duty -- to observe and react to what Obama, et al. are up to -- often in our name.

Apologies for any lack of understanding on my part of what you intended to say. This is an imperfect medium, and I've chastised myself many times for posting short, off-the-cuff responses to something, and causing misunderstanding by doing that.

Peace!

[quiet.american]

57. Peace. :)

And yes, I agree we are the peanut gallery. :) This is the thing, though -- during his campaign, there were many times when people were tearing their hair out in frustration over "what's he doing?!" But as I observed him, I realized this man is very smart about politics, and usually is two or three steps ahead of everyone else in the room. And I agree, he himself has told us it's our job to be engaged and involved, but it's truly disheartening to come to DU and see so many posts whose idea of being engaged is do nothing but tear the man down two weeks into his administration! (That's why lately, I've realized it's time to step away from the DU a bit, and I've started spending that time over at whitehouse.gov).

(Sincere thanks for the olive branch. I truly appreciated it.)

:)

[natrat]

43. some good news

Coming from the Financial Times - the paper of record for Big Money - this story is really an incredible sign that the progressive fair trade movement is gaining real ground and winning the broader political debate:
trade


" The most striking thing about the debate within Washington is how long the measures took to get noticed - and how little they are perceived as a protectionist act...The dwindling band of free-trade Democrats on Capitol Hill has been almost completely silent...

Looking at the political environment and Mr Obama's own journey to the White House, perhaps that is not surprising. Along with his well-known criticisms of the effect on jobs and wages of deals such as Nafta, Mr Obama's campaign singled out Buy American as a symbol of economic patriotism.

The Washington reaction to Buy American suggests that much of Congress and the Obama White House, while still respecting existing treaty commitments, is not going to go out of its way to placate protesting trading partners. The judgment most experts made - that free traders within the Obama administration will have to spend most of their time playing defence - has thus far been vindicated.

As with every story on this topic in the traditional media, the word "protectionist" is irresponsibly thrown around without any interest in defining the term, nor even a half-sentence noting that with corporate agriculture subsidies and massive protections for intellectual property, patents and copyrights, we already live in a protectionist economy.

It's also not clear why any journalist would say it's "striking" that simple procurement rules that have nothing to do with tariffs aren't "perceived as a protectionist act." Why is that "striking?" These rules have nothing to do with tariff protections. And, of course, the New York Times chimed in with its own story portraying an almost completely meaningless amendment as some sort of huge loss for fair traders (that's what you get when you get the lobotomized Forest Gump character named David Sanger attempting - quite pathetically - to report on the substance of economic issues, rather than mere campaign gossip).

But that sound and fury to be expected. The real news here is that we're winning. We're winning votes in the Congress, and we're winning elections on fair trade themes and we're winning the broader debate. We're dragging Washington - kicking and screaming - back towards the center of American public opinion. "


http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=3B9AB28C89B8B542B9660AAF8636D06C?diaryId=11396

[KoKo]

56. It's about time this got some attention...

"Fair Trade Movement"...it's the way to go. No wonder the "Empire of Wall St." is throwing hissy fits.

thanks for the link.

[Dukkha]

45. a hopeless pipe dream that's costing the nation dearly

If he's serious about putting the nation's needs over petty policitcs and he needs to throw down the gauntlet and make a strong stand declaring "enough is enough with your petty bullshit!"

We need balance to move forward. For 8 agonizing years the pendulum was swung so far to the right it was locked in place. Now we need to unhinge it and swing it far to the left so it can finally be brought back to the center balance again. The clueless neocons are in denial that it’s a new era and a new administration in charge, one that has a strong mandate behind it.

We were promised Change, not more of the same. Allowing these compromises for the futile sake of bi-partisanship is not only more of the same, it is dangerous. The economic claps is so fragile we ca no longer risk gambling our future away by allowing the very mistakes that caused it to be implemented in the new administration.

So, for the 100th time…YOU LOST! GET OVER IT! Do your fucking job already!

[Mithreal]

46. I am getting sick of all the Obama chess master rationalizing

President Obama is setting them up so all of America will see that Republicans are obstructionist. What makes anyone think that ANY amount of data is going to have any effect on Republicans or leaners too ashamed to call themselves Republican?

It is still early. The President seems cool and he is smarter than them. The enemy is corporate media and how many rightwing think tanks. They may have lost an election but maybe they know how to play chess too.

Feeling like the pawn, I am.

[NightOwwl]

48. Have you ever negotiated for a raise?

You ask for more than you expect because you know your boss is going to counter with something lower. So you do down a little, he comes up a little and so on. If you calculated correctly, you'll end up with the raise you wanted in the first place.

That's what this "reaching across the aisle" talk was all about. He knew the Pubs were going to savage his plan. So he added some provisions to the bill that were nice to have, but would not affect the economic recovery if they were removed.

I think he's going to end up with the stimulus plan he wanted all along.

[uberblonde]

50. You can't give him a pass on this one.

The fact is, three weeks ago, the Republicans were history. Now they're back in the game and gaining momentum.

If you're going to give him credit for everything that works, you can't ignore it when he really screws up - and he did. He thought he could charm moderate Republicans.

He forgot there aren't any moderate Republicans!

[xchrom]

54. kick

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

55. yup. nt