The Official List of Issues That The Left Wanted Obama To Do In 18 Months

[Yavin4]

- Nationalize Bank of America, Citibank, and all other Wall Street banks

- Nationalize AIG

- Nationalize the entire Auto industry in order to save jobs

- Pass a stimulus bill three times as much as the one he passed

- Pass single-payer health care into law, and barring that pass the public option into law

- Pass climate change into law

- Take on the health insurance industry

- Take on the pharmaceutical industry

- Take on the Republicans

- Take on the conservative Democrats

- Take on the media

- Take on Fox News

- Nationalize BP

- End DADT

- End DOMA

- Pass a FDR style WPA and CCC jobs bill into law

- Institute major financial reform

- Put Dick Cheney on trial

- Put George Bush on trial

- Pull out immediately from Iraq

- Pull out immediately from Afghanistan

- Stop Outsourcing jobs entirely

- End Free Trade agreements immediately

- End the Patriot Act

- Close GITMO

- Legalize Marijuana

- Legalize Gay Marriage

- Legalize all illegal immigrants

- Break up media monopolies

And failure to do any of these items right fucking now just goes to show that Obama is nothing more than a corporatist puppet.

When folks on the left say that they will abandon Obama because he hasn't completed all of the tasks on this list, then you know why the American progressive movement is not nearly as successful as progressive movements are in other advanced democracies nor should it be taken seriously as a real political movement here in America.

Anyone who thinks that all of that could be done in 18 months, or if at all, is either naive or ignorant or both.

[gateley]

1. Well done. And yeah, that's kind of what I envisioned happening but that was

just wishful fantasizing. Good job!

[xchrom]

2. I just wanted him to get a bucket of water an put that fire

That's blazing in your hair out.

[mkultra]

3. If he doesnt do anything toward Legalizing Marijuana im abstaining

[WonderGrunion]

29. He NEVER campaigned on legalizing marijuana

no matter what you might have envisioned during a bong bender.

[mkultra]

82. but he promised to be a fierce advocate.

[Jennicut]

4. That is quite a list, puts things into perspective.

Fighting to get anything through Congress is pain in that ass as it is...

[hedgehog]

5. What we need to remember is that a large number of people in this

country did not vote for Obama and are suspicious of his every proposal. We do, after all, model ourselves as an electoral democracy.

[Yavin4]

6. For Every One Person Who Thinks That Obama Is A Corporatist Sell Out

Probably 1000 or more think that he's extremely liberal. That's the political dynamic in America.

[girl gone mad]

120. The people I talk to who think he's a socialist..

community organizer also think he's a corporatist sell-out.

Just saying.

[yurbud]

125. so whether we have a Democratic or Republican president or Congress, we should get...

Republican policies?

Why bother to have elections then?

[hedgehog]

146. Obama is head of the Executive branch only; he has to work with

both the Legislative and Judicial branches. WE may have a Democratic President, but we only have a sort-of Democratic Congress. Given that every rule in the Senate ( including the very existence of the Senate itself) is designed to give the minority veto control, I'd say Obama has done pretty well to get this far.

[yurbud]

147. oddly, those Senate rules didn't seem to stop much during the Bush years.

it seems the rules are only an obstacle to things that help regular people. When something benefits the rich, both parties usher it to the front of the line.

[JDPriestly]

7. Seriously invest in alternative energy

Prosecute those who authorized torture.

Prosecute those who authorized illegal wiretapping.

Amend the Patriot Act to protect the privacy of innocent Americans.

[JoseGaspar]

8. That's not a bad list... it isn't exhaustive but it is not bad.

Your statement on the "Left" wanting this done "right now", on the other hand, is very confused. If you go over your own list, you will find that out of your 29 items, this administration has explicitly rejected or moved to enact the opposite in 24 of the 29 cases. There will be no "progress" on these, as a point of policy, even if people are willing to wait until the cows come home.

In four of the remaining five items, this administration has not made much progress despite it's stated goals. There is only one item, "financial reform", which has arguably been achieved and that one is controversial and dubious enough to make most Leftists cringe.

Congratulations. You have proven the exact opposite of that which you set out to prove. You have made it clear that the Left has little to hope for from the Obama administration, which simply does not share its program or objectives.

Not even a little bit...

[Yavin4]

9. See What I Mean By Naive

There's been progress made on most of the issues on the list. Yet, you've abandoned all hope because he hasn't done it exactly the way you personally wanted them done.

You are judging the presidency on the basis of how he should please you and forget all about the millions of other voters who disagree with you.

[JoseGaspar]

16. First, grow up...

... then, read your list again.

First three items - "nationalize". No "progress", no nationalizations, none intended... ever.

Next item - 3x the Stimulus package. Self explanatory. 1x the Stimulus is not 3x the stimulus and there is no intent for another 2x.

Next item - single payer. No intention. Private insurance "reform", instead.

Next six items - "Take On". Secret deal with big pharma, support for ConservaDems, no "take ons" on the others. "Not his style."

Another "nationalize" (BP). Uh huh. More like BP privatized the EPA.

Next two items - DOMA & DADT. We are halfway through the list before we even hit one where there is stated intent. Hasn't happened yet.

Next item - Pass FDR style WPA... Nope. Only private solutions. No "FDR style" anything.

Next item - Financial reform. If you want to hang your hat on this one, be my guest.

Next two - Prosecute Bush and Cheney. Nope. Not gonna happen. "No body is above the law"... That is why they are.

Next two - Immediate pullout from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nope. No better than Bush on Iraq (unless it slips further), escalation in Afghanistan.

Next two - stop outsourcing and end Free Trade Agreements. Nope. No progress and no intent.

Next - End Patriot Act. Nope. No progress and no intent.

Next - Close GITMO. Not yet...

Next three - Legalize Marijuana, Gay Marriage, and all illegal immigrants. Nope. No progress and no intent.(The position against Gay Marriage was stated, gratuitously, again yesterday.)

Last item - Break up Media Monopolies. Nope. No progress and no intent.


And, there you have it.

Your problem is that you don't agree with this list and don't want the "Left" to advance it.... because you are not "Left". You want to advance some other list (other than the one you wrote).

Well, that's OK. That is what politics is about.

Get it?

[Radical Activist]

19. Your post reminds me of an 80's dance song by Dead or Alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv5qLsLYoo

[JoseGaspar]

22. Yeah, well...

You find the intent for all those nationalizations and you let me know.

And, I'm a big fan of yours too, "Che"...

[Radical Activist]

90. I guess you missed the point.

Obama didn't run as a socialist. The fact that he isn't nationalizing industries is about as relevant as his lack of support for building a giant laser on the moon. I'd rather organize than get all weepy about it.

[JoseGaspar]

99. Well then, "Che", you don't have a beef.

The OP implied that Obama supported the things on his list and that the Left had not given him enough time. I disagreed and you just agreed with me. You then implied that I spin and substituted your topic on "realism" for the OP's.

Who is spinning?

This may come as a shock to you but I was commenting on the OP's opinions and not on yours, which I have read way too many times.

And, some of us don't "weep".

[Yavin4]

101. "The OP implied that Obama supported the things on his list "

You have extremely poor reading comprehension skills. I implied no such thing.

My list is what the LEFT wanted Obama to do, and it's based on blog posts, editorials, and other comments by prominent Progressives and Leftist.

[JoseGaspar]

124. You are right. You implied no such thing.

You said it... outright.

"Anyone who thinks that all of that could be done in 18 months, or if at all, is either naive or ignorant or both."

Now, why would anyone expect Obama to do in 18 months what he didn't support and never had any intention of doing in the first place?

You have conflated 2 different, broad-brush slanders into one incoherent mess... and you remain unapologeticly insulting despite that.

Good for you. Your case is overwhelming. You should be a trial lawyer.

[Name removed]

105. Deleted message

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

[girl gone mad]

126. He did effectively nationalize industries.

What do you think happened with the auto bailout and Fannie and Freddie?

The FDIC has nationalized over 100 banks this year.

It's just the too big to fails that have been turned into zombies for no good reason.

[smiley]

20. wow

that was rude

[JoseGaspar]

97. Strange sense of propriety, you have there Smiley.

Ritual beatings of the Left, in the most gratuitous terms, get not a peep from you... but should there be an answer, that is "rude".

What a shame that actual leftists show up while we are drinking our afternoon tea. How tiresome that they take offense at being called "naive" or foolish.

One lump or two?

[Skittles]

151. I LIKE YOUR STYLE, JOSEGASPAR

Yes INDEED

[Skittles]

150. LOL

facts are "rude" :rofl:

[great white snark]

21. What condescending crap.

No intent for sigle pay? Closing Gitmo?

[JoseGaspar]

100. Condescension, like ettiquette, is in the eye of the beholder, Mr. White.

If you read what I wrote, you would find that I saw two categories in the list: items that this administration never supported and items that this administration claimed to support but has not yet implemented. Single-payer is in the first category and GITMO is in the second.

Did I miss the administration's fight for single payer? All I heard was that it came off the table.

As far as GITMO goes, it is still open... despite stated intent... and it doesn't even require any congressional action to close it.

I suspect what you really want to do is to go straight to the elaborate explanation rather to deal with the point. If so, please spare me. The explanation is not really on the table at the moment.

[Yavin4]

102. Let Me Make The Intention of My Post Crystal Clear

My intention was to show how UNREASONABLE Obama's critics from the left have been throughout his young presidency.

The left demanded that each item be done right away, and when they didn't happen, they claimed that Obama is a corporatist tool. Never mind that what they were demanding is IMPOSSIBLE to do given the constraints of the presidency and political reality.

[bvar22]

36. K&R ^^ post #16 by JoseGaspar

Well Done!
:patriot:

[Robeson]

42. That's about as good as it gets...

...excellent summation.

[jgraz]

47. The internets. They're for winning

Nicely done. :thumbsup:

[dflprincess]

59. +10000

:applause:

[Milo_Bloom]

62. BINGO!

What they seem to miss is that items like the Heath Insurance Act and many other items are not "progress", but, in fact pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of what "the left" wanted.

Worse, by providing half assed solutions to these problems Obama has insured they are taken off the table for decades.. so through his political cowardice, he has assured we will nto see real solutions to many of our worst problems for decades to come.

[maryf]

69. Wow!!

thanks, that made my day!

[TCJ70]

86. Well said...

...and it's definitely not about speed of progress, but the direction of that progress.

[Skittles]

149. CORRECT

DAMNED disappointing and no amount of pretzel-twisting can change that fact

[impik]

10. The next president will give them all that, and even more

[inna]

11. it's the direction, not the speed.

The problem is that Obama is moving in the wrong direction on some of the issues you listed.

[Yavin4]

12. Let's See

The health insurance and financial industries saw major regulatory reform.

We are winding down in Iraq

The largest stimulus bill possible was passed into law.

Two liberal female justices were confirmed to the court.

SCHIP program was passed into law.

The auto and banking industries are re-paying tax payers for the bailouts.


And there's more. From a person who has lived under Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, I see progressive change in the right direction. In fact, I see it as the most progressive that a president can possibly be in America today.

[TBF]

49. I've lived under all those presidents as well,

and if you don't see echos of Reagan in Obama's privatization policies then you weren't paying attention the first time around.

[maryf]

68. you are looking in a totally different direction than I am...

I don't see how you see...I'm flumoxed in fact

[alc]

13. my list is much simpler

* keep lobbyists out of the administration (1 or 2 exceptions ok. 10+ not ok)
* don't have secret meetings with lobbyist
* don't make secret deals with big corps (i.e. pharma)
* don't use signing statements
* improve response to FOIA requests

All pretty simple things that don't require congress and would rebuild my trust in the government (at least the executive branch). Without these things I don't trust that they are working on the other things the way they claim. I don't expect the other things to get done in 18 months but I'd like to trust that they are making they effort they claim. I don't know what the real efforts are and if their motives have us in mind or business or something else.

[Yavin4]

15. If Obama Is So Cozy with Lobbyists and Big Business Special Interests

Then why are they donating millions to the Republicans?

To you, Obama is suspected corporatist.

To them, he's a bloody socialist.

These are the extremes through which we view our politics.

[alc]

14. deleted. double post

[Donnachaidh]

17. wow -- your marginalization of the left is REPUBLICAN in it's splendor!

Mission Accomplished, right?

:puke:

[maryf]

70. Yay, nt

[FrenchieCat]

18. Awe man......you forgot

fix the voting machines, forgive everyone's mortgage and credit card loans, make education free,
pull big wage earning jobs out of his ass for everyone, and hold a State Dinner for Fidel Castro!! :(

[LostinVA]

74. "and hold a State Dinner for Fidel Castro!! " -- I love the Red Baiting on DU

And, I am not a Communist nor a pure Socialist.

[jgraz]

77. Mix in the blind loyalty to authority and it's like we're back in the 1950s

You can almost hear the theme to Happy Days, can't you?

[LostinVA]

145. I agree

And, it's very upsetting and disturbing...

[Sebastian Doyle]

107. Fix the voting machines?

First of all, they can't be fixed. Their inherent purpose is to make a verified count of votes impossible. The only way to "fix" them is individually with a chainsaw or sledgehammer. Or collectively with a nuclear warhead, assuming we could get every last one of them in one place, like a nuclear testing ground in Nevada. :nuke:

Every Democrat should be opposed to these fraudulent pieces of shit. Especially someone who champions a President who will not have the turnout he had in 2008 when he is up for re-election, and therefore will be in serious danger of an electro-fraud based "loss" to whichever mutant the Repukes run against him.

[TheKentuckian]

23. No such time frame expectation by even a teeny tiny minority. Probably not articulated by a soul but

an anomaly or two cannot be excluded from possibility.

The frustration is not about speed but direction. In a hundred Obama terms we'd not reach any of those goals because he's not even meandering at glacial pace toward them but rather on the whole continuing to set course for corporate rule and playing global police for the purposes of securing their extraction, trade routes, and general control.

[Exilednight]

24. That's a long list, and one that many would disagree with. I put five things on my list ...........

1. HCR with a public option and no mandate.

2. Remove ALL forces from Iraq by targeted time in campaign. Granted, he adjusted the date by pushing it back one month, but, and this is a big but, he is leaving behind 50,000 troops and a small army of private contractors.

3. Close Gitmo. This is an easy one, and doesn't even require Congress to pass legislation. He just needs to issue an executive order and work out a deal with a state that will take them and hold them until they can either be tried in a court or released.

4. Begin dismantling the unPATRIOT ACT. No one is really going to believe that he can get rid of the whole thing in one fail swoop, but he can start taking it apart piece by piece and letting other parts sunset. Sadly, Obama has chosen to renew several parts of the unPATRIOT ACT.

5. Stop this game of "everything is on the table". I would rather win or lose big, then win a little and lose big at the same time.

Most of your list is just a joke. I have never heard or read on this board, or anywhere else on a truly progressive site, that they want parts of American industry nationalized. I have seen people argue for the legalization of marijuana, but I haven't seen anyone say that it has to be a top priority. Bush and Cheney on trial would be nice, not doing so shows that we believe, as a nation, that we are above the rest of the world, but only hurts our image as a "rule of law nation" and our "human rights superiority".

To be honest, I think many liberals and progressives would of been happy to see three big promises fully kept, or at least a sincere effort to try and achieve a full campaign promise. Instead, we got duped by a guy who started campaigning for 2012 three months after he took office.

[flamingdem]

84. Most progressives are not so psycho to attempt to destroy Obama if they did not get those things

except for some we know that don't seem to care about the results of their resentment.

I find it sad and wish they would hang in there in this imperfect country we share.

[Exilednight]

95. Progressives will not be Obama's undoing, Obama will will be Obama's undoing. n/t

[flamingdem]

98. All democratically minded people are responsible for fighting the Right nt

[Exilednight]

110. That includes Obama, who I thought had ...........

it in him to go after the right. He seriously lacks a spine when it comes to rethugs.

[flamingdem]

112. He has his issues but he's accomplished a lot considering the opposition

who HATE HIM and would take the whole country down to DESTROY him, don't you agree?

Perhaps you see him as all powerful and that is not the reality of the presidency.

[Exilednight]

114. No, I don't agree.

He compromised way too much on HCR.

Extended parts of the non-PATRIOT ACT.

Folded on big pharma.

Folded on gitmo.

And is going to compromise when it comes to the draw down of Iraq.

[DailyGrind51]

127. It is better to promise little, but deliver much, than to promise much, but deliver little!

[Ignis]

25. You SHOW that strawman who's boss!

And now, for the next events in the Make Stuff Up To Win Olympics!

- Shadow-Boxing
- Strip Solitaire
- Solo Circle Jerk

[jgraz]

33. Not to be picky, but...

How, exactly, does one perform a "solo circle jerk"?

[Ignis]

122. I'd start with a personal-size pizza.

Otherwise, you'll be there all night.

[grahamhgreen]

26. Pointless to even argue this. He's moving in the wrong direction. nt

[jgraz]

27. Arguments are so much easier when you make up both sides, aren't they?

Looks like someone needs another time out.

[boppers]

28. You forgot eliminating racism!

Racism still exists, therefore, Obama is at fault!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

32. Mow my lawn...

Haven't seen the guy all last summer and this summer. Looks like I'll have to do it myself.

Thanks for nothing (except the whole rescuing the economy thing).

[jgraz]

30. The Official List of Things That Obama Wanted The Left To Do In 18 Months

1. Vote for him.

2. Donate to him.

3. Volunteer for him.

4. Shut the fuck up.

[unapatriciated]

31. .....

:rofl: :rofl:

[TBF]

50. lol - and so accurate

:pals:

[Touchdown]

60. DUzy!

:rofl:

[Starry Messenger]

66. Zing! nt

[LostinVA]

75. +1

[great white snark]

92. Exactly who the hell is telling you to shut up?

You're free to make as much noise as you want while history passes you by.

[jgraz]

96. You cannot be serious with this

The only person whom history is passing by is our illustrious President as he blows opportunity after opportunity for real change.

[mochajava666]

128. That was great

I admire your patience trying to argue with these people.

[Hekate]

34. Psychological projection of fantasies onto a candidate will get you every time.

I thought the year leading up to the election and inauguration was worthy of being a dissertation topic at my old graduate school, which has interdisciplinary programs in mythology, depth psychology, and archetypal psychology.

In-depth research into PUBLIC REACTION to Obama through any of these lenses would be incredible. I watched this play out at DU and sometimes my jaw just dropped at the depth and height of the fantasizing about what this man would do. It was like Dorothy heading out to see the Wizard of Oz. "Do you think he can give me a brain?"--"He can! He *must*!"

What Obama did was make over 500 campaign promises. The Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact Truth-o-meter http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ reckons he has broken under 1/2 of 1%. If it's something dear to your heart, like going to the moon, that may sour your opinion of Obama. But in reality he is doing 99.9% of what he said he would do in his campaign.

Hekate

[SunsetDreams]

35. Wow that number is higher than even I thought

thank you Hekate for the link.

[bvar22]

38. Its not the quantity.

Its the quality and scale of the broken promises:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-15-2010/respect-my-authoritah

[jgraz]

41. Why the hell would anyone critically evaluate Obama's promises?

We've got a PULITZER PRIZE WINNING WEBSITE telling us what to think! We don't need no stinkin brains!!!

[Hekate]

43. roflmao Did you just say that?

:spray: :rofl:

[jgraz]

48. Yeah, it's called sarcasm.

Did you need a label?

[Exilednight]

54. Let's put this in a different perspective ............

Using the website you provided, Obama has only kept 120 out of 505 promises.

Now, to be fair, 120 is a pretty good size number, but most of those were fairly simple promises.

The disturbing number is the amount of compromises and stalled initiatives. Only 38 promises have been compromised and 20 broken promises, but they were the big issues that got him elected. HCR, Transparency in Government and End Revolving Door for Lobbyist. There are several more, but I will just use the website you gave me. We won't even get into closing gitmo or how he reauthorized parts of the unPATRIOT ACT.

[niceypoo]

79. 99.9% ??

Not according to your own link. Did you think nobody would click on it?

The Obameter Scorecard

* Promise Kept 120

* Compromise 38

* Promise Broken 20

* Stalled 81

* In the Works 243

* Not yet rated 3

PolitiFact has compiled more than 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter.

We rate their status as Not Yet Rated, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.

The report card at right provides an up-to-the-minute tally of all the promises.

[jgraz]

81. Proof of the delusion right there

Post a link, insist it's the ONE TRUE METRIC of Obama's presidency, then ignore the information and simply assert that "in reality he is doing 99.9% of what he said he would do in his campaign".

Sad. Really, just sad.

[Radical Activist]

113. That's an important part of it.

I also think there are people who supported other candidates because they were looking for something psychologically or stylistically that Obama doesn't offer and probably never will.

Hillary offered to be a strong authority figure in a time of crisis who will solve your problems for you. Edwards offered an entertaining style that pandered to what liberals want to hear. Obama is unlikely to ever fill either of those roles. He asked for a popular movement to help solve problems and speaks in terms that appeal to moderates. That will never be emotionally or psychologically satisfying to people who want something else, no matter what he does on the issues.

[ibegurpard]

37. you forgot the ponies

[vaberella]

39. Shit...talk about strawman. So what you're saying then is that Obama did nothing in 18 months.

Wow...just wow. Just really fuckin' wow.

[dionysus]

64. vabs, i think you really missed his point there.

[vaberella]

65. I did?! What did I miss, things go over my head all the time.

I thought he was trying to say that Obama did nothing, because all he did do was not important to the American people or what we voted for him to do. Just the list the OP put up was the important stuff and O failed on that.

[dionysus]

67. no, he's saying that a certain group here thinks that obama should have completed the whole list by

now, and that he's terrible for not.

also many of the things on the list wouldn't be possible for him to do anyways.

[vaberella]

103. Ugh...I didn't get that at all. OVER my head.

Thanks for clearing it up dionysus.

[Skittles]

152. oh, he has worked his ass off

just not for us

[treestar]

40. You've just summed it up!

:yourock:

[depakid]

44. He had one major task from which most others depended-

return accountability under the rule of law to pre-Bush norms (and that includes activities at the administrative agencies).

He wilfully failed to do that- and the consequences for this and future generation can't be underestimated.

The most glaring one being the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico.

[Stoic]

45. As usual you distort the argument.

Nobody I know wanted him to get this done "right fucking now". We wanted him to START pushing this agenda aggressively. Hell, I'd give him props for TRYING and not succeeding. But that's not what happened.

[Spazito]

46. Well done and right on point...

Recommended.

[Warren Stupidity]

51. this op is shit.

[harun]

57. Yes it is. Primary reason why is Obama isn't even saying he is working for many

of those things, he isn't saying he advocates most of them. Many he is actively fighting against. In other words, not trying.

So once we see the walk and the talk, and then something doesn't happen, post's like the OP will have a basis. Until then, as you say... "shit".

[MadMaddie]

52. That is a great way to look at what is really going on.

[RBInMaine]

53. You are spot on correct in that ANYONE who thinks all this could be done is ignorant in the EXTREME.

1) Nationalizing all these banks: Would NEVER pass congress.
2) They essentially did "ationalize" the auto industry with loans and they ARE creating jobs now.
3) The stimulus they passed was as much as could be passed by this congress.
4) Too much oppostion to cap and trade in the Senate. Senate rules, like it or not.
5) Single Payer and public option couldn't pass congress. Blame them.
6) The health bill took on the health and drug companies (and banks with the student loan part) which is why they lobbied to heavily against it.
7) They've taken on the Republicans, used reconciliation to pass healthcare, and have beaten them down on numberous bills and two SCOTUS nominees.
8) Dems have a more diverse caucus. Better to have moderate to conservative Dems in some districts than ultra right wing TeaIdiot RePUKES.
9)They've taken on FOX news, head on. Guess some people were asleep.
10)DODT is on the way out. Sorry they can't do it in five minutes.
11) This isn't the 30's and Obama doesn't have FDR's caucus nor a great depression. All those programs couldn't pass today's congress.
12) Major progress on Wall St. reform WAS passed, best they could get. Another good start.
13) Putting Bush and Cheney on trial could not happen. I guess we'd also have to put Carter on trial for aiding Saddam and the Afgans covertly in the late 1970's. I guess we'd have to dig up LBJ and put him on trial for Vietnam. Bush and Cheney were rotten, but putting them on trial would never happen even if Kucinich was president.
14) Ending the trade agreements is easier said than done. We have ALWAYS traded overseas. ALWAYS. However, they do need to be reworked, but not eliminated. That would cause pushback. Remember, we export too. Want to end US exports?
15) You can't pull out of ANY major theater of operations "immediately." It would take months just to get all the troops and equipment out. And combat operations are ending in Iraq anyway. The other, diverted by Iraq, is on a timetable.
16) We should end tax incentives for outsourcing, some of which has just been done with the stimulus extension. Can't entirely end overseas operations.
17) Working on closing GITMO. Complicated. No one wants the prisoners in their backyard.
18) Can't just up and legalize marijuana nationally. It is very much a state issue anyway, as is gay marriage. Plus it is a gateway drug and needs to at least be controlled like tobacco, booze, prescription drugs, etc.
19) I agree with the media monopolies part. Deregulation there was an error with unintended circumstances. We'll see where this goes.

To say that Obama is "corporatist puppet" short of doing all this means they have no sense of the political process and have an undoable purist worldview. It is naive and outside the mainstream of rational thought. Anyone who thinks this list is possible needs a political science 101 class in a big way. Obama is one part of the government, not all of it. We have a system that FORCES compromise, as intended, for better or worse. Great post. Many really need to grow up. Given all that Obama have been able to achieve in this environment is extraordinary per Maddow. I'll trust her judgement as a "progressive."

[Peacetrain]

55. A reality check for sure!

[harun]

56. If I was prez I would do that in a week.

Of course some people wouldn't like the whole dissolving of U.S. Senate portion of my plan.

[vaberella]

63. Ain't that the truth. Uphold the rule of law and Constitution but destroy the Senate.

It's sheer brilliance.

[Touchdown]

58. What sugared cereal do you eat? Your prize sucks!

I can only assume that's where you got that drivel, because it's too big to pull out of your ass.

You should switch to Sugar Smacks. :hi:

[jgraz]

80. .

:spray:

[madinmaryland]

83. I think Sugar Smack was a DUer. Not sure if she is still around.

:shrug:

[dionysus]

61. ooooh, well done.

:popcorn:

[blindpig]

71. Hardly the point

The point is that this administration is in opposition to most of those points and apparently indifferent to the rest. So too the Democratic Party establishment. Which begs the question, "Why would people who believe that those points are the desired direction of our society cling to the Democratic Party like Linus to his security blanket?"

[hulka38]

72. And he did none of it.

"And failure to do any of these items right fucking now just goes to show that Obama is nothing more than a corporatist puppet."

That is complete bs.

[shotten99]

73. Your assessment is sad, but true.

[niceypoo]

76. A lot of strawman threads like this one lately

I will never understand what drives people to opt for fake memes. If your positions are sound, no manufactured attacks are necessary.

[jgraz]

78. The Official List of Issues That The Sensible Center Wanted Obama To Do In 18 Months

- Get elected

- Stay elected

- Give, like, totally AWESOME speeches

- Take a beach picture with his shirt off (squeee!!)

- Maybe, I dunno, pass some stuff or something

- Did we mention the TOTALLY AWESOME speeches?

- Uh..

- He's still elected, right?

[flamingdem]

85. A big wet kiss to the GOP lovely sir or madame nt

[Dr.Phool]

88. Now, you see why it's so hard to be a de-programmer.

[kiva]

129. You forgot

- get a dog

See, it all looks so successful when you look at it this way.

[firedupdem]

87. Well done! n/t

[Steely_Dan]

89. Do You Just Not Get It?

It IS NOT so much a matter of what he has or hasn't accomplished. It is the direction he has taken on so many issues that clearly abandon the tenets of our party. Simple.

-PLA

[grantcart]

93. absolutely - actual accomplishments are irrelevent - our party isn't

based on accomplishing something and when he does accomplish something, even if it means less suffering, it detracts from this most important tenet of our party.

[Yavin4]

104. So, Passing Major Health Insurance and Financial Reform

Placing two women liberal justices on the SCOTUS.

And on and on.

This is not moving in the right direction? How so?

[Sebastian Doyle]

108. If he did all of those things, maybe.

But instead, this is what happened.

Mandatory payments to insurance industry criminals. NOT reform. (Best solution: Single payer. Acceptable compromise: a true public option, forcing the corporations to compete for business and either clean up their act or disappear)

Creating a new shell game under the guise of "reform" to give the "Federal" reserve more power over the financial system. NOT reform (going back to the actual FDR reforms that worked for decades would have been the right solution)

"Two women liberal justices on the SCOTUS"?? Well, they are both women. And they're now both justices on the SCOTUS. Liberal? Don't think so. Kagan, in particular, was the wrong choice to replace Stevens. She should have been saved for a potential replacement for a hard right wing Bush Crime Family stooge like Fat Tony or Clarence the Clown (or even Opie Roberts, given rumors about his health leading to an "early retirement")

[Scurrilous]

91. K & R

:thumbsup:

[liquid diamond]

94. That is the basis of the new divide here at DU.

If Obama doesn't obey the left's demands immediately, he is a black Bush. It's the woodchucks vs. the Veruca Salts.

[Yavin4]

106. The Real Problem Here Is That The American Left Has Done NOTHING

in America for the past 30+ years aside from being strident.

They do not organize.

They do not push for major social and economic change.

They do nothing but complain.

[Sebastian Doyle]

109. What planet do you live on?

The American Left put your Lord and Savior in the goddamn White House.

[Yavin4]

117. They Did No Such Thing And You Know It

Obama won the WH on his own. He was not the LEFT candidate. Not by a long shot. The LEFT candidates were John Edwards and Kucinich, not Obama.

Obama won the nomination because he out-organized Hillary, and he won the support of the super delegates at the very end.

The LEFT was NOT critical in his election.

The only "victory" that the Left can lay claim to was throwing a very close Florida election to Bush in 2000, and even that was set up by those stupid butterfly ballots.

[Sebastian Doyle]

118. I see Rahm has you completely brainwashed.

Fact is, us "fucking retards" ARE the Democratic party.

The REAL Democratic party that is. The party of FDR, JFK, Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Paul Wellstone, and Howard Dean, among others.

[kiva]

130. Bookmarking this for the next time you tell

us that it is our duty to vote or the Repugs will win. Since "The LEFT was NOT critical in his election" then it shouldn't matter who we vote for, right?

[jgraz]

131. There you go again, with your fancy "logic" and "thinking"

Don't you know the way to win elections is to throw hysterical tantrums at anyone who doesn't robotically parrot the party line?

[Yavin4]

134. Bookmark All You Want. You Won't See Any Such Posts From Me.

The Left is a do-nothing, all-talk, hot-air small portion of the electorate. They exist in little hubs here and there, and they are not critical to electoral success. If they were, we'd be a much more progressive nation.

[jgraz]

133. Remind us. What did you do during the 08 election?

Do any phone banking?

Walk any precincts?

Make significant donations?


See, The Left was doing all that while you were on the couch posting badly-capitalized nonsense on teh internets.

[Yavin4]

135. See, You Think That That's All There's To A Progressive Movement, Getting Someone Elected

A true Progressive movement is MUCH MORE than getting one person elected or seeing a political party in power. It's about organizing in the streets and fighting for SPECIFIC things such as the right to form a union, voting rights acts, civil rights, the feminist movement, etc.

The best recent example of a true Progressive movement in the last 30 years was the ACT-UP campaign which challenged and changed the wya America thought about AIDs and the process for creating drugs to stop the disease. That was a real Progressive movement, and it didn't involve getting someone elected to office.

Show me another example of such a movement in the past 30 years.

[jgraz]

136. Thanks. That answered my question quite clearly.

What you did to get Obama elected:

1. Jack

2. Shit

Remember that the next time you feel like posting about who the "real" Democrats are.

[Yavin4]

137. Thank You for Proving My Point As Well

You think that a Progressive movement is all about getting someone elected to office.

The early union movement, the Civil Rights movement, the Feminist movement, the GLBT movement, and the Enviromental movement all back in the day thought differently and were far more successful in getting the meaningful change that you so desire.

[jgraz]

139. By all means, please continue to advise real activists from your comfy computer chair.

But be careful -- we wouldn't want you to strain a wrist muscle. After all, your contributions have been SOOOO valuable up to this point. :eyes:

[Yavin4]

140. "real activists"?!?!

So, pray tell what have these "real activists" done in the past 30 years? Please provide a list, and no, electing someone to an office is not an example of activism.

Please list the major social, political, environmental, economic victories that these "real activists" have done:

[jgraz]

142. type, type, type

Oooh, you can almost TASTE the political effectiveness.

[Yavin4]

143. So, You Have Nothing

Thanks again for proving my point.

[jgraz]

153. Your point and your credibility have both been destroyed

But feel free to pretend otherwise if it keeps you from throwing another hissy fit.

[spoony]

156. The only thing you've proven in this thread

is that you are a colossal, left-baiting pillock.

[jgraz]

157. .

:spray: :thumbsup:

[liquid diamond]

121. Right. But they do talk a good fucking game online. n/t

[Ignis]

148. What a crock of shit.

The Left worked against the IWR, but it's pretty hard to have any effect when a bunch of (D) politicians decide to vote for it anyway.

Also, disabled access legislation? You think the Right organized that and pushed it through? Dream on.

Every single scrap of environmental legislation? Thank the Left for that.

Maybe these aren't important issues to you, but they are to progressives.

[Yavin4]

154. Let's Review

"The Left worked against the IWR" -- that just shows the Left's complete ineffectiveness.

"disabled access legislation" -- Bush I signed that into law. You really think that the Left was responsible for that? Too funny.

"Every single scrap of environmental legislation" -- Yes, most of those laws were decades ago from the late 60s and 70s.

The Left has been completely useless to stop the class war assault on the middle class. Completely useless to bring about HCR until Obama did it.


Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

[Ignis]

158. Yes, your post was pathetic. Thanks for admitting it up front.

But you still haven't provided a scrap of support for any of your claims. :dunce: That's probably because you can't, given that most of your claims above are complete fabrications.

I can only conclude you just enjoy making shit up. :shrug:

[Phx_Dem]

111. +100

[quiet.american]

115. Tell it brother! No doubt, that plain truth stings many here. nt

[Orsino]

116. The official list of Issues that the Center would like us to forget about.

Not to mention the two previous centuries in which these things were not accomplished. We needed them long ago--not just in the past eighteen months.

[killbotfactory]

119. If people can't accept compromise they should stop following politics

Unless they like being disappointed, bitter, and pissed off all the fucking time. Some people here seem emotionally invested in ignoring any good that has come from this presidency, like if they realize that Obama isn't the biggest incompetent shitheel on the planet their world view will be turned upside down. No matter how progressive and awesome a president is, there is no getting around our political system which forces compromise and overwhelmingly favors moneyed interests. The problems we have are SYSTEMIC, not due to whatever personal failings people want to pin on Obama.

[depakid]

123. Might want to read about the administration's "efforts" on financial regulation

before coming to that conclusion:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/188551?RS_show_page=0

[bluethruandthru]

132. Do you need a broader brush?

I didn't expect this at all. But I did expect him to stand up for the party's ideals and work towards them. It's really great to come to DU and be treated to the same gross generalizations about what I am and what I believe that I get from the right wing/tea party idiots. Thanks!

[Enthusiast]

138. Although I have been critical of

the President I certainly didn't expect this in 18 months. And I don't know anyone that expected "all that" be done in 18 months.

However, just a single issue, the pharmaceutical industry, will illustrate why so many of us are dissatisfied. Americans, especially thinking Americans, simply do not feel they should have to pay a huge subsidy to the already wealthy (greedy) pharmaceutical industry. Drug prices could have and should have been reined in when HCR was enacted. There is no excuse for this, none.

[Yavin4]

141. My List is a Compilation From What Progressives Were Demanding Over the Past 18 Months

For example, in early 2009, many progressives, such as Paul Krugaman, were screaming for nationalization of the banking industry.

[Enthusiast]

144. Nationalizing the failed banks

would certainly have been a positive.

[Ignis]

159. So you say, yet you can't support any of those claims.

That's probably because they're made-up bullshit, being the product of a febrile imagination and a sputtering hatred for anyone to the left of Atilla the Hun.

:dunce:

[spoony]

155. Left-bashing, DU's acceptable stupidity

*pats OP's head* There there, the scary liberals will all be gone soon, and you can have your Republican-lite party to yourselves.

[Barack2theFuture]

160. A friend of mine, who was a supporter but has become highly critical of Obama,

says he is angry not for what Obama has not been able to do (which is bad enough), but that what he *has* done has been damaging to the Democratic brand, far too heavily influenced by reaganist ideas, or downright radically conservative