I just have to say this. My best friend who loved Obama

[warrior1]

and this important to note that she is also black, told me that the problem with Barack is unfortunately a coward. It pained her to say that, and I agreed. But, it this is so, now what? Wouldn't it seem that all of the democrats are yellow too?

[Selatius]

1. The only Democrats who don't fight are the ones that lose.

A lot of Blue Dogs and DLC Democrats are going to be wiped out in November if they don't at least put on a pretense of fighting for the working class interests of their constituents. Otherwise, they will stay home because they are demoralized, and the Republicans will get out their voters and win the seat.

[warrior1]

3. I totally agree with you

[dgibby]

39. Off topic,

but that picture cracks me up! Looks just like my Boomer kitteh (RIP). Thanks.

[Lost4words]

5. thought that 16 years ago and it went the opposite way big time. nt

[warrior1]

2. If you have to unrec this

can you brave enough to face me with a post or two?

[Solomon]

46. The man puts his life in jeopardy every time he goes out

in public. Ask your friend if she could smile and beam in front of hundreds of thousands of people all the while knwoing that people want to kill you dead. Every moment of your life people are plotting to make you dead.

The man is absolutely fearless and this coward wimp talk is totally ridiculous. Some people just need to get a grip.

[Lost4words]

4. Most Americans dont see past their own situation.

If they still have jobs, or what may seem to them as a future, they are OK with things as ther are For the most part IMO.

I am sorry so many are feeling what I felt after Bill Clintons first year 16 years ago.

And how many Clintonites are in this admin?

[warrior1]

6. check this article out

http://www.alternet.org/politics/145297/obama%27s_big_wake_up_call

[Lost4words]

12. Thanks for the link warrior1 one sentence stood out to me and hit home.

Amid the general suffering, Obama is widely seen as collaborating with two popular villains --the me-first bankers and over-educated policy technocrats of the permanent governing elite. Obama made nice with the bankers and loaded up his administration with Harvard policy wonks who really don't know the country.

[Orsino]

30. Or beyond what the TV tells them to believe about their own situations. n/t

[Robb]

7. Why is it "important to note" that she is black? nt

[HipChick]

8. Maybe its supposed to add credence to his statement...kinda like

I have a black friend...

[Robb]

9. Well, I wanted to hear the argument

...but that's where my mind went, too.

[HipChick]

10. Me too...we're on the same page..I wondered where he is going with it too..

[snagglepuss]

17. To stave off accusations of racial bias. Just recently there was a

post about DUers criticizing Obama, the post stating that Obama wouldn't be facing criticism if he were white - that blacks have to outperform whites to prove themselves.

[closeupready]

37. To help dispel charges of racial animus?

??

[tango-tee]

42. That is what I believe as well.

Considering the 90+ per cent approval rating in the African-American community.

[Selatius]

11. Cornel West himself registered disapproval in his note to Obama.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8471606.stm

[Donnachaidh]

15. Mr. West sent an incredible, spot on message!

Thank you for posting the link!

[DisgustedInMN]

19. Excellent, thanks.

[HipChick]

40. so does Cornel West speak for all blacks too?

[Selatius]

41. Do you? nt

[Bucky]

13. Well, you're both wrong. He's no coward. He's made some judgment errors is all.

It can be fixed. I don't think you have to go all Pat Robertson on his ass because of it.

[Lost4words]

14. I used to sound like you re Bill Clinton I thought he could do no wrong

Man did I get that wrong. I hope your assesment is correct, but I have been dissapointed too many times.

[C_Lawyer09]

18. Clinton was a much a political opportunist

But more of a chickenshit. Sat there on his thumbs during and after the Rwandan genocide, because he wouldn't risk political fallout after our troops were killed in Somalia. I thought Bush was a horrible president, but both Clinton and Obama could have use/d half the resolve he had, and just direct it differently. Politics doesn't neccessarily cultivate "leadership" especially in the techno age. If this HCR fallout was happening to LBJ, might have gone "wheels up" in the halls of Congress and started throwing blows.

[Lost4words]

21. agreed!

:hi:

[Orsino]

16. All politicians have to be part-time cowards...

...subordinating their own wishes and popularity to severe strictures of pragmatism.

If President Obama stood up and fought 24/7 for what (I think) he really wants, he would have few, if any, allies in his struggle. He has rightly focused on what could reasonably be achieved--disappointing as this is to those of use who want him to look more like a hero now.

[DisgustedInMN]

20. Way to spin ..

... failure to lead.

Go Team Wellpoint!

[Orsino]

29. It's not just failure to lead.

It's also a failure to be led--and our failure to know what the hell we really ought to want, and to demand that actual legislators accommodate it.

When we're so wishy-washy, it makes even our justified complaints look a bit silly.

[DisgustedInMN]

32. Poppycock.

Millions of us wrote, called, over and over and over and over...

... and the lying cocksuckers you are making excuses for...

Didn't even bother to respond.

Save it for the pompom shakers, the rest of us know better.

[Orsino]

35. "The rest of us" are a minority.

Our elected leaders rarely, if ever, stand up for progressive values.

[DisgustedInMN]

38. Unless it's with ..

... their hat in hand or to ask us to "man the phonebanks", "knock on doors".... etc.

I guess our "leaders" think we are as stupid and easily fooled as Republitards, don't they?

How'd that work out for them in Massachusetts, Tuesday, btw?

[struggle4progress]

22. I disagree. I think he really believes in political compromise. He said at the beginning

he wanted to govern like Lincoln, who was often enormously unpopular for very cautious stepping -- and it seems to me that Obama is doing more or less what he indicated he would do.

[fasttense]

23. No I disagree, he is NO Coward.

If he were a coward, he would be afraid of us too. If he were a coward, he would not have pushed health care reform even in this watered down form. If he were a coward, he would never have run for office. It takes toughness and guts to run against lying, cheating RepubliCONS.

No, he is NOT a Coward. But he does seriously believe that the middle road and compromise, even at the expense of losing support from his base, is the right way to go. Read his books. They are all about negotiating and bringing two sides together in harmony. He comes across as a litigator and not as someone who is a fighter by nature. To him watering down the HCR bill was just the logical thing to do. It wasn't backing down to him, it was how the process works or how litigation works. He honestly believes the American people want harmony and compromise too, it's in his books.

But he is very intelligent. I suspect he is probably one of the smartest President we have ever had. So, I think he will pick up on the fact that with these RepubliCONS, there is NO Middle Road. To them it is all or nothing. You can not compromise with people like that. He will realize the fact that RepubliCONS are more like children with their fingers in their ears, screaming at the top of their lungs, saying: nah-nah, nah, nah-nah.

I think President Obama will realize that you can't negotiate with petulant children. You have to be a parent and adult with child-like behavior. He will have to stand up and treat the RepubliCONS like the little babies they are. He will have to lay down the law, explain clearly to them why he has to do what he is doing, and then act on it, without their input.

[Schema Thing]

24. The last thing Obama is is a coward.

That's idiocy.

[BlueJac]

25. No coward just a sell out!

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. Maybe not a sell out. Maybe he's just being who he was all along.

Nice that he chose to fool so many. :puke:

[Odin2005]

26. K&R

[HughBeaumont]

27. After 11/22/63, it became apparent just who is BOSS.

That was Part I - the Warning to all future candidates.

Part II was the era of corporate spokesmodel Reagan.

Part III (the nail in the coffin) was the selection of Bewsh II.

Nothing to do with cowardice. It has everything to do with survival.

Obama does what they say. We ALL do what THEY say. If he said tomorrow that we're scrapping HCR in favor of Universal Health Care, that the new top tax rate will be 50% and that Corporate America would no longer dictate national policy of any kind henceforth . . . within a year they'd blood-dust him and wouldn't lose a second night's sleep over it.

The elite of this country ARE this bad. They've BEEN this bad for a long, LONG time. They will get their way, come hell or high water. They have the military and the police and every other goon, thug and jackal on their side.

That's just the way it is, unfortunately.

[Fire1]

28. ooooooookay. n/t

[ecstatic]

31. whatever

:eyes:

[dionysus]

34. well, game over then!

:eyes:

[closeupready]

36. I agree.

n/t

[GeorgeGist]

43. Let it be

a kick in Obama's ass.

[OneBlueSky]

44. every elected official in Washington is a coward . . .

they're scared shitless that if they make the wrong move, their corporate funds will be shut off . . . or worse, that corporate funds will be spent to insure they don't get re-elected . . .

seems that everyone we send to Washington ends up in the clutches of the corporate/government oligarchy with the instructions "Play by our rules, or don't play at all." . . . they very quickly start caving to the corporate masters on every issue, and no substantive change ever happens . . . such is the nature of things in this, the 2010st Year of Our Lord -- which is now the perpetual Year of Our Corporate Lords . . .

[Vidar]

45. K&R.