"I understand the frustration and ... anger"

[Clio the Leo]

There is this notion going around in the MSM asking "will the President respond?" "Will he refocus his agenda?"

I would submit that they're about five days behind.....

1/14/10
"But far as I'm concerned however, that's not good enough," Obama said. "My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed and my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people, folks who have not been made whole and who continue to face hardship in this recession."

"We want our money back," the president went on. "And we're gonna get it."

1/17/10
Of course, as we meet here today, one year later, we know the promise of that moment has not yet been fully fulfilled. Because of an era of greed and irresponsibility that sowed the seeds of its own demise, because of persistent economic troubles unaddressed through the generations, because of a banking crisis that brought the financial system to the brink of catastrophe, we are being tested -- in our own lives and as a nation -- as few have been tested before.

Unemployment is at its highest level in more than a quarter of a century. Nowhere is it higher than the African American community. Poverty is on the rise. Home ownership is slipping. Beyond our shores, our sons and daughters are fighting two wars. Closer to home, our Haitian brothers and sisters are in desperate need. Bruised, battered, many people are legitimately feeling doubt, even despair, about the future. Like those who came to this church on that Thursday in 1956, folks are wondering, where do we go from here?

I understand those feelings. I understand the frustration and sometimes anger that so many folks feel as they struggle to stay afloat. I get letters from folks around the country every day; I read 10 a night out of the 40,000 that we receive. And there are stories of hardship and desperation, in some cases, pleading for help: I need a job. I'm about to lose my home. I don't have health care -- it's about to cause my family to be bankrupt. Sometimes you get letters from children: My mama or my daddy have lost their jobs, is there something you can do to help? Ten letters like that a day we read.

So, yes, we're passing through a hard winter.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-remembrance-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

1/17/10

I don't need to tell you we're in tough times right now. We're still dealing with an economic crisis unlike any that we've seen since the Great Depression. It's done a lot of damage to so many people. And even before that storm hit with its full fury, middle-class families were weathering tough economic times, throughout this past decade, working harder and harder just to keep up. So people are frustrated and they're angry, and they have every right to be. I understand. Because progress is slow, and no matter how much progress we make, it can't come fast enough for the people who need help right now, today.

<snip>

But here's what I do know. I do want somebody who's independent. I want a senator who's always going to put the interests of working folks all across Massachusetts first -- ahead of party, ahead of special interests.

<snip>

When the vote comes on taxes, and there's a choice between giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few and corporations that ship American jobs overseas, or giving them to the middle class and businesses that create jobs here, who's going to be on your side?

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/obama-at-coakley-event-i-need-leaders-like-martha-by-my-side.php

... So yeah, he gets it. It will be VERY interesting to see what he says tomorrow.

[Cha]

1. Yes, it will..

and thanks for a little history on this, Clio.

[dkf]

2. I want my aig money back from goldman.

So what do I have to do?

[uponit7771]

3. I thought about this tonight and I pray he'll do different than Clinton and run more to the left...

...with the message at LEAST

[whathehell]

7. According to Thom Hartmann today, he will.

The word out of the White house is that Obama says he is going to become "more populist".

Sounds good to me...He really should to "get it" by now.

[Clio the Leo]

9. HAS become more populist.

... see above.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. He'll be all nice. It's a big fraud. The only people pissed about any of this

are little nobody people.

[Imajika]

5. Brown actually ran against the bank tax..

The guy basically just ran against the establishment and won.

The economy simply has to improve. If it doesn't, we are cooked.

[Clio the Leo]

8. Brown ran against everything....

.... except when he was for those exact same things. If you haven't read the "issues" section of his website do so. He LITERALLY says he's both for AND against health care reform .... for AND against a woman's right to choose, etc. etc.

We were beaten by pablum. Shameful but its true.

[scubadude]

6. With what is at steak they should have been all over this election.

But they weren't.

Sometimes silence shouts!

Scuba