Mr President, the people will stand behind you...

[kentuck]

when you stand behind them.

When you realize and state clearly that the Social Security did not create one penny of this deficit, then the people will be behind you.

When you realize that the people are sick of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and you do not gain anything politically from continuing them, the people will be behind you.

When you realize that the Republicans want to destroy you and have no intention of working with you in a "bi-partisan" way, the people will be behind you.

When you stand up to the rich and powerful, the people will be behind you.

When you come forward and tell the truth, clearly and without doubt, the people will stand behind you.

When you realize that extending taxcuts for millionaires is not the middle class, then the people will stand behind you.

When you realize that the people who voted for you did not want incremental change of the Bush policies, they wanted them thrown out completely, then the people will stand behind you.

Mr President, you are no longer a Senator. You don't have to look for compromise at every turn. You can demand, with threat of a veto, that the House and Senate act in the people's behalf. Speak softly but carry a big stick. The people are still behind you if you do not lose them by compromising away their interests.

[Tippy]

1. K&R....very good kentuck...send it to him...

[Poboy]

2. Bought and paid for politicians are selling us into slavery, They are intentionally

misrepresenting the situation, so that their paymasters get what they want.
He will retire in luxurious comfort, the representitives will rotate in and out of lucrative lobbying positions, all to the behest and service of the millionare/billionare corporate ruling class.

[Tatiana]

3. He needs to stop acting like a legislator and start using the power of the Presidency.

<snip>

Bluntly put, Obama needs to learn hardball. People saw this in him when he fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and many of us yearn to see more. If he absorbs the lesson of power, he will accept that sometimes in politics you can't split the difference or round off sharp edges. He has to push back aggressively and stand his ground, more like those ruthless opponents trying to bury him. If Congress won't act, the president will. But first he has to switch from cheerleading to honest talk. Tell people what the nation really needs, what Republicans intend to sabotage. In a political street fight, you've got to hit back.

(more...)

http://www.alternet.org/news/148850/does_obama_have_the_guts_to_play_hardball?page=2

[Poboy]

4. Just two days ago, the man used his 'bully pulpit' to champion the

ideas of RONALD REAGAN. "Small government and tax cut asre as American as apple pie".

On what fucking planet is this shit advancing traditional democratic values of FDR?

[katandmoon]

5. K&R. But if you have to TELL him that, at THIS point... it's hopeless.

[judy]

6. Well said kentuck!!

This is going to be a make or break time for all of us. If he stands up to the right, he will be re-elected by a huge margin. Otherwise, he will just be a novelty soon forgotten by History, as Ronald Reagan's face will be carved on Mount Rushmore.
How can he, or Axelrod, or someone not see this????

[bigtree]

7. this is just misleading rhetoric

The President does stand behind Americans.

You and I might not support continuing in Afghanistan or Iraq, but he's drawing down in Iraq and drawing up plans to exit Afghanistan. he's not polling like you suggest on those either.

Most Democrats polled want the President to try and work out differences with the republican opposition.

There have been numerous programs and policies from the President which intend to bolster the working-class and poor. The wall Street reforms passed did just what you suggest, standing up to the rich and powerful. Other initiatives and Executive actions by this President on the environment, labor, also challenge the 'rich'.

The crap about 'telling the truth' is curious. Where are you saying the President isn't 'telling the truth'? Sounds like bullshit to me.

The President's tax proposal, to date, is to permanently extend the tax cuts for the middle-class and to phase out the cuts for the wealthy. That's not supporting cuts for the wealthy over the middle-class, no matter how you spin it or project what Congress might do in the future.

You speak on these issues from a reasonable perspective, but you've exaggerated and misrepresented the intentions and policy of the President to make your hypercritical points.

This is a fail, kentuck, no matter how many hurrahs you get here for posting it.

[kentuck]

10. I do not say that the President isn't "telling the truth"...

I say he hesitates to tell the truth.

[bigtree]

11. heh

yeah, that's some candor there, kentuck

[kentuck]

12. Who's being dishonest?

Where did I say he wasn't telling the truth??

[bigtree]

14. oh, kentuck, of course, you're correct

Asking the President to 'tell the truth' in the middle of a list of exaggerations and misrepresentations of his record and intentions was perfectly candid.

[kentuck]

20. I'm sorry that is your perception...

I don't think it was exaggerated at all. Or misrepresented.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. permanently extend the tax cuts for the middle-class and to phase out the cuts for the wealthy

is bullshit.

NOTHING is permanent. There is no such thing as a 'permanent' tax cut. And, what it does it ties the hands of the government - and lay a shitload of anti-Democratic blame - when it becomes necessary to raise taxes again. You don't remember the shitstorm DaddyBush got with "no new taxes"?

'phase out the cuts for the wealthy' - IOW, let them loot slightly less for the next two years until Obama loses the presidency and the Repubs reverse the decision. Half measures WILL lose him the presidency. Letting the top tier cuts expire as scheduled will not only help preserve his office, but will have an immediate, dramatic effect on the economy as billions are added to the general revenue. If the middle tax cut is held hostage, let it expire too. The simple fact is, the people who are really hurting will not be hurt at all by the tax cut expiring, the middle class cuts are negligible, and only in the upper brackets, where they are affordable, will there be any significant increase.

He's compromising where no compromise is necessary. That is not leadership.

[bigtree]

15. if no tax legislation is ultimately permanent then why are we holding him to this standard?

The President only has his veto as influence over what Congress ultimately decides. He's going to have opposition from members of our own party when tax legislation is crafted. He can reject any compromise, but I don't think he'd have a chance in hell of sustaining a veto over one, if it got passed. He's standing firm, right now, for permanent middle-class tax cuts. He's suggested he'd be open to a temporary extension of the TCFTR. If they do manage to pass legislation extending the cuts for the wealthy again, he can just veto the bill. I don't see the reasoning in criticizing him for some future action which hasn't been proposed.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. "permanent" is a bullshit word.

He could say 'extend the middle class tax cut' and say it honestly. It would mean exactly what he says. Saying "make the middle class tax cut permanent" is bullshit and HE KNOWS IT. Permanent does not mean 'effective for the next ten years or next 25 years'. It means "permanent". And we all know that there's no such thing.

It's a weasel word to make extending the cuts for the rich more palatable - "well, THEIR cuts are temporary, and OURS are permanent" - with no guarantee that 'their' cuts ARE temporary, and a provably false assertion that 'ours' are permanent.

He is bargaining away an effective measure to redress the wealth disparity and the budgetary shortfalls and pretending that it is for the 'middle class' who will NOT be benefited in any way by their own so-called permanent tax cuts.

But of course, HE isn't doing that - the legislation has to come from congress. He is merely laying out to them exactly what HE finds acceptable.

Don't pee on my leg...

[kentuck]

23. You are correct...

Nothing is permanent with Congress. Each new Congress can change the laws anytime they want. Taxcuts cannot be permanent.

[bigtree]

25. well, nothing passed is really permanent, is it?

That fact just points up the ridiculousness of putting so much of the responsibility for what happens solely on the President. Whatever he proposes (and he's made a reasonable proposal) is subject to some future Congress' will and ability. You can take and project just about anything in the future happening to criticize anything he achieves in his term. Ridiculous. He only has so much power and ability.

[donheld]

19. Most of we the LGBT community are questioning his truthfulness

as to being a "strong advocate." You won't admit it, but he's been anything but a strong advocate.

[bigtree]

28. he has not been a 'strong advocate' in that area of concern and need

In many cases his actions have been outright hostile to those. I strongly oppose his efforts (and non-efforts) in that regard, so far.

[donheld]

33. He hasn't been a strong advocate of anything except sucking up to republicans.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

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

[R. P. McMurphy]

8. K & R. Well said Kentuck. n/t

[DirkGently]

9. Here's another "hurrah!" Well said.

[treestar]

16. A leader is supposed to follow all of the people he leads

Sure that makes sense. Defeats the whole point of a leader no?

How can he chase millions of people all with different agendas.

You have it backwards.

[kentuck]

22. First of all...

a million people do not have a million agendas. Many of them believe in the same principles. Quite an exaggeration, I think.

[blindpig]

17. Stockholm Syndrome... n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

24. yup.

[donheld]

18. Exactly right.

[asdjrocky]

26. It's a sham.

I left to believing nothing else could be possible. How else do the Dems look so bad? How else do we have a solid majority and come out with toothless financial reform, no public option on a corporate give-away health care law, and forget about Gitmo and DADT.

Kabuki theater for the masses.

[me b zola]

27. I would love for this to be an ad

With a person from a different walk of life reading each line e.g. a waitress reads the first line, a teacher the next, a deli owner the next, a person of retirement age who is working the next, and so on.

[yodermon]

29. the People will do no such thing. They are fully propagandized by Corp. Media

If he does the things you listed, he will be painted as a leftist extremist, and the masses will believe what fox says.

You are outside the fishbowl of the media-mindfuck looking in.

[Wednesdays]

36. Amen.

America is bought and paid-for, not just the politicians.

[KoKo]

30. Well...we are waiting and hoping...all rests on whether Pelosi Makes It

before President Obama can make a statement. It's best for him to see how it all "sorts out." It's just politics. And you and I would do the same. "Watchful Waiting."

[Skittles]

31. he KNOWS all this

he does NOT CARE

[lonestarnot]

32. And I look at it as though it is his last chance.

[Raine]

35. EXACTLY

you are TOTALLY correct! :thumbsup:

[lunatica]

37. "Speak softly but carry a big stick." Thank you for that

And I hope that's exactly what he plans to do. It's not like we haven't seen glimpses of it.

[mmonk]

38. Good luck with that.