"It's only been a year!!1" -- -- -- we've only GOT one year left!

[Bluebear]

2010 could be the last year for "change".

A very scary, and very believable, analysis from Larry Sabato:

"The Obama administration has known for a long time that they will never, and I mean never, have 60 votes in the Senate again," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "They will never, and I mean never, have a 40-seat majority in the House again. This is as good as it's ever going to get for them. They're going to get as much as they can get while they can get it."

Yes, it's on FOX's site, but the source, Sabato, is for real. Democrats in Congress and the White House need to figure out how they're going to achieve their goals within this reality. So far we keep being told "gosh we just don't have those 60 votes." You're never going to have them. So either you don't keep your promises, or you figure out how to work in a system where everything isn't handed to you on a silver platter. Perhaps it's time to start fighting for something.

http://www.americablog.com/

[Bluebear]

1. unrec unrec lol....

whatever :)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. They never had an EFFECTIVE 60 vote majority

It was strictly a technical supermajority- as the HCR debate unmistakeably demonstrated.

[tekisui]

3. Even lower expectations for a sub-60 majority.

I can't wait.x(

[HughMoran]

9. So true

...and yet it is being spun by the 'can never do anything right' people as a sleight of the President - as if he somehow controlled the minds of the 59 + 1 majority.

For those ready to pounce, first check out the political reality in this country -> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=116038&mesg_id=116038

Yes, 76& of Americans self-identify as moderate or conservative. Ooops. Perhaps the President needs to mind control the American people who elected him - many (probably most) of whom are self-identified moderates.

[LoZoccolo]

14. And yet people here won't lift a finger to effectively create more liberals.

To them it's all about punishing representatives in government for actually representing the people they serve, and not just über-progressives.

[ima_sinnic]

16. and watch people like you blame liberal candidates like Nader when your status quo candidates lose

what a hypocrite!

and "our" "representatives in government" are actually representing "the people they serve," the corporate personhoods. that's why we're going to "punish" them by voting 3rd party or writing in names.

ok, feel free to go off on one of your OCD anti-Nader rants--I love watching you melt down!
Nader, Nader, nyah nyah! :rofl:

[HughMoran]

18. Guaranteed nobody will effectively address the supermajority that moderates/conservatives have

If the dull-blade who's already answered you is any indication, their only answer if to taunt you with ad-hominem attacks or ignore the fact that self-identified liberals are only 21% - hardly a position of 'we can set the agenda' power.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Self-identified as 21% but policy-wise a majority.

70% supported single payer.
60% support a woman's right to choose.
etc...

Just because "liberal" has been made a pejorative in this country doesn't mean it's policies aren't largely supported.

[HughMoran]

24. Yes, certain issues are definitely appealing to a majority

I could argue that the 70% single payer was a one-time poll and that the numbers are nowhere near 70% now, but that's not the point.

The point is that many of our Congresspeople (52 Democrats are Blue Dogs! & Senate is similar) come from these less-than-progressive areas and prevent the Democrats from having a majority in the house (Dems have a 40 seat advantage) without having their concerns addressed. Does it suck? Yes, it sucks bad, but the point is (and Hillary can attest to this) you can't just shove legislation down the throats of Congress. If you took away all the seats that are from states where the Dems had to be conservative to get elected, we wouldn't even have a majority in the House and we'd barely have a simple majority in the Senate. Not only that, but major legislation like this is already going to cost us many House seats in marginal districts. As much as we'd like to blame it on the bill not having a public option, these people would lose their seats either way. Don't assume that 90% of those who identify as 'moderates' are actually liberal - that's very likely untrue.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. Exactly

The corporate media whores (probably intentionally) helped the lie along by making a huge deal about Al Franken's eventual victory even though most of us knew damn well that President Obama and/or the Democratic Leadership (i.e. Reid) were NEVER going to get EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT and Democratic-leaning Senator's vote on every single piece of legislation- thus making it seem like, well, President Obama, Reid, et. al just don't have any excuses for failing to pass sufficiently progressive legislation and/or simply ramming legislation through on a whim like the Repubs. :banghead:

[KG]

4. the dems pissed away a once in a decade chance to enact a progressive agenda

but since they're not a progressive political party, or even a particularly liberal one, this should surprise nobody that's been paying attention to what's been going on the last 30 years.

[truedelphi]

6. + 1. n/t

[HowHasItComeToThis]

7. I think you are on the money

[leftstreet]

13. +1

[tango-tee]

15. Indeed. n/t

[Toasterlad]

5. Well, Of Course.

It doesn't take a genius to see that there's no way the Democrats keep control of Congress after midterms. They've run off all the Independents and the Republicans sure as hell won't be voting for them.

Given that Obama can't get anything done NOW, with a Democratic congress, his last two years, with a Republican congress, are going to make his first two look like Disneyworld in heaven.

It's going to be excruciating to watch.

[FrenchieCat]

8. If you call a Big ass stimulus (by historical standards),

a giant progressive budget, health care reform,
and a bunch of items that folks don't consider sexy enough,
as GETTING NOTHING DONE,
then you don't know what in the fuck you are talking about.

"...the opposition has gone in reaction to him. And that's been so exciting -- the Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, Tea Party stuff on the right -- that I think nobody's notice that he's kind of quietly put together the most legislatively accomplished first year of any president in a generation." - Rachel Maddow on Letterman, 1/7/10


Some are so busy smelling their own farts,
they won't understand what is happening,
until they read a history book.

FDR and Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=388x11608

[Donnachaidh]

10. big assed stimulus -- 2 thirds of which have NOT even been used yet

The folks who have been out of work for over a year could certainly use some of the money being held back to bail out the banks.... :sarcasm:

Yes, they HAVE pissed away an opportunity.

[laughingliberal]

21. And after this word from our sponsor we return to regularly scheduled programming. nt

[johnaries]

11. I have a fundamental problem with this "short-term" view.

It's also one of my basic "problems" with corporations. Only looking at the short-term and ignoring the long-term. Corporations only look at what will profit them in the short-term and often sacrifice long-term profits in order to achieve short-term profits.

Like it or not, Obama is looking at the "long-term". This is obvious to anyone who also looks at the long-term rather than the short-term.

Is the term "deferred gratification" really archaic? *sigh*

[Major Hogwash]

12. He's gonna fuck it up for everybody and then blame Congress for his inaction

He's already blaming "forces outside of his control" for some of the other crap that is going on now.

So, how's he going to deal with a 52-2-46 Senate?
About the same way he has dealt with a 58-2-40 Senate, he'll leave it up to them instead of leading them.

And then he will be a lame duck president and everyone will say, "yes, but he was a nice guy, wasn't he?"

Then Jimmy Carter and him can hold long chats by the fireside and tell each other stories about how they tried to get something done by letting the Senate "be the Senate" and corporate America will continue to grow stonger and bigger and require more lenience from a compliant federal government.

[ima_sinnic]

17. +++1

[Frosty1]

20. If this is how you support Democrats

Then what you write is indeed Major Hogwash

[laughingliberal]

23. The House is at huge risk over this "cadillac plan tax" and he knows it

Every one of them has to run for reelection this year and the tax on union workers is destined to alienate one of their biggest constituencies. I don' t think it's an accident. From what I've seen this president is much more comfortable with conservative policies and will have an easier time pushing that with more Republicans in the House and Senate. And he can blame Congress for moving to the right.

[Major Hogwash]

27. And Senator John Forbes Kerry leads that tax plan the same way as the Charge of the Light Brigade

1.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.


4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.


5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.


6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.


Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,
J. E. Tilton and Company, Boston, 1870

[spanone]

19. larry sabato...bwahahahahahaa fuck him

[donheld]

26. We got punked!

[Marr]

28. Obama can move his *real* agenda without a big majority.

The corporate hand-outs and con-jobs on the middle class and poor will continue unabated, regardless of what the scorecard in Congress says. That stuff always moves through the legislative process like a hot knife through butter.

All this "60 vote" shit was just an excuse for why they weren't passing anything that would help YOU. Hell, I'll bet the DLC pricks are delighted to lose some influence in Congress. They won't have to maneuver the left into a losing position so tenaciously anymore.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

29. Obama at times seems dead set

on earning his centrist credentials. Being remembered historically as a crusader of Progressive causes just doesn't seem to be on his agenda.
The cost should be his re-election. Be willing to lose and mean it. The only way he will be a two term president is with the support of the
people that fought the hardest for him, the Progressives. Even then it's going to be rough going. I don't care what he has stated in the
past he will want to be re-elected. We can't be willing to settle for policies on the back burner or promises.