President Obama to America—Read My Lips, No Transparency

[highplainsdem]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/22670

President Obama to America—Read My Lips, No Transparency

By: americanmuser Thursday January 7, 2010 12:20 am

Many Americans were looking forward to the promise of change extolled by candidate Barack Obama on the presidential campaign trail. “Change” was printed on every campaign sign, button, bumper sticker and placard, and it served as the background in many of candidate Obama’s televised speeches and campaign rallies.

The politically convenient and rewarding cornerstone of candidate Obama’s “change” campaign was transparency. He promised us that he would be a different kind of president.

Well, many Americans are feeling double-crossed and used right now, after voting for candidate Obama because of his promise to bring transparency to Washington, only to now learn that he and other Democrat leaders are excluding America from the democratic process as a healthcare deal is being forged this very moment behind closed doors in secret meetings.

-snip-

This healthcare legislation is so voluminous, complicated, and unintelligible, that it really requires open debate, challenge and understanding in a public forum, rather than partisan drafting behind closed doors and jamming it through to declare some sort of political victory.

Transparency and having C-SPAN in the room during the healthcare negotiations were explicit promises candidate Obama made to Americans. Voters have long memories and don’t look kindly on presidents who violate their own campaign promises, just ask George H.W. Bush, “Read my lips . . .”

[truedelphi]

1. To any who defend his breaking his campaign promises

Politics is all about perception.

George Bush the Elder said "Read my lips -- no new taxes." And his going back on that (Slightly) screwed his pooch.

Obama ran as a Progressive. Yes I am sure those of you who have read his autobiography can point to say, page 214 paragraph nine and say, "No, look he has always been a conservative."

But he ran as a progressive. And some of us have the YouTube links to prove it.

So he may well have to face the fallout of failing to honor his camapign pledges to people.

He certainly has been awfully good about honoring his pledges to the Big Wall Street Corporations, and now to the Insurance and Big Medical Interests.

[FLAprogressive]

2. +1 -- you can't tell the Nonsense crowd anything, though....

[Bluebear]

18. The NonSense crowd

:spray:

[FLAprogressive]

21. I'm glad someone knew where I was going...

...wasn't trying to make it TOO obvious. ;)

[highplainsdem]

3. +1

[TornadoTN]

4. I would rec the hell out of this if I could

It's downright insulting to hear people defend this complete reversal and abandoning of the principles he supposedly held so prominently during the campaign and previous to that.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted sub-thread

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

[Raine]

5. On point ... TOTALLY nt

[sharesunited]

7. The Teabaggers make it impossible to keep this promise.

If they know the time and place, they will show up to disrupt.

[PSPS]

9. The whole "teabagger" media theater was enabled by Obama.

His decision to take the summer off and dismiss the critical nature of the movement's timing with his telling statement about the "silly season" was the death knell of his presidency. His willing abandonment of the stage on the health care issue left it wide open for the RW to fill the vacuum, dealing his term its fatal blow.

[sharesunited]

10. They stormed the Congressional town halls. I'm not sure Obama could do anything about that.

[PSPS]

12. He dropped the ball and let the session end without any bill.

There was tremendous momentum for a meaningful bill when, acting as if nothing special was really going on, he just left town. He should have pressed to keep congress in session until a bill was passed. There was no "teabaggers" until after that.

[laughingliberal]

26. He sure as hell did. Never opened his mouth about it and stayed gone most of August

I kept wondering if he had turned into some sort of idiot. That was before I realized he was opposed to any real reform and was waiting for Baucus' gang of six thugs to finish their corporate blow job bill so he could push it.

[truedelphi]

28. You see it pretty much as I see it. n/t

[truedelphi]

20. And when he went and talked to the Tea Baggers, he deliberately set the stage for

Real reform to fail.

If the best he could do when defending the reform efforts was to say (Back in August) "Well no one knows if the public option will even be in the final bill, and remember it is only one tool of many tools we have to do reform," you have to wonder if he cared at all.

This wouldn't be just a painful thing to recall, if he had always been a pathetic speaker. But we all know he is blessed with the ability to persuade people by his speeches.

Whenever he wants to be mesmerizing, he can be.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. You think they are going to disrupt Congress and CSPAN? lol

[PSPS]

22. No. And that's why Obama won't push for the CSPAN thing despite his "promises."

It's almost like Obama is depending on the teabaggers to give him political cover for his cowardice and/or lies. Without the "teabagger theater" in the background, such media coverage, like CSPAN, would help expose the "opposition" to health care reform for what it really is -- crafting legislation to further destroy the middle class while shoveling the public treasury to "campaign contributors."

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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

[highplainsdem]

11. It's no longer a "heresy" here, if it ever was. Go back through GD and look at the most recommended

threads, and you'll see what I mean.

There's a lot of unhappiness here at the gaping chasm between what Obama promised during the campaign, and what he's doing.

I think this travesty of a healthcare reform bill was the last straw for a lot of progressives.

[PSPS]

27. Apparently, it is. My original message was deleted!

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. The mods let honest criticisms stay up. They do a good job.

[Tim01]

13. I just can't believe he is doing all this shit with a straight face.

It's like he's saying "Yes, I'm doing the opposite of what I said I would do, why is that a problem?" (I made that up, it isn't an actual quote)

[highplainsdem]

14. I can't believe it, either.

[truedelphi]

17. K & R number nine. n/t

[shadesofgray]

19. K&R. Obama is showing his ass - if nothing else.

[DiverDave]

23. He lied

and I'm no gonna get fooled again.

[WT Fuheck]

24. Ouch!

Allusion to the last one-term President may be prescient.

[Vidar]

25. K&R.