Accomplishments or PR?---that is the question.......

[DemocracyInaction]

There is a whoop of a cat fight among Dems on whether Obama has A)accomplished great, historic, blow the cork off legislation or B)he's muddled a few pieces of ineffective garp together and called it "achievement". The part that I feel is missing is that there is just such low functioning, real bad ability to tell the country what the hell has been accomplished-----I mean not just explaining in forceful detail what it means to our lives but, for Christ's sake, a lot of the morAns of this nation don't even realize certain things have been done at all! Soooo, I have to ask myself this question: Is this because the administration is pathetic on that front OR do they not want to grab the mike, and "bring it on home" to the American people because they don't want to expose things then to extensive scrutiny, questioning, rebuttal, etc. In a word, if you believe in it and believe they have "done good", then get the hell out and sing it and refuse to get dragged off the stage. (We need a goddamn Whiskey Rebellion to replace the tea sippers and their "party")!!!!!!!!!!

[Milo_Bloom]

1. So far... it's all PR.

Unfortunately, they have yet to pass any legislation with real teeth to attack the problems they address.

The credit card reform bill is the perfect example. It will not impact anyone's lives in a significant way, since the credit card companies have already figured out ways around the more important provisions. How can you grab the mike and declare victory when so many people had their rates hiked and/or terms of their card agreements changed in the last 12 months so as to make the provisions useless?

[DemocracyInaction]

2. Milo--Bingo--just what I fear

When I wrote this post, it was exactly what I secretly fear. In other words, they aren't crowing all over about all these "acheivements" because they literally believe that by bringing something up to the public it won't advance the Dems but just open the box for the Repukes to destroy them. And that brings up a terrible bottom line: if you can't produce something you can actually run on, then why the hell did you produce it OR who actually did you produce it for (answer: ummmmm, probably not the people). It really is depressing.........

[geek tragedy]

4. They did produce something they can run on.

The big problem is that we're still digging out of the economic hole that Bush left behind.

Leftists who condemn the admin and Congressional Democrats as a failure and sellout are not helping things--they are making it more likely that the Democrats will be replaced by Republicans.

[geek tragedy]

3. The admin has passed a lot of good legislation, and the eeyores

on the left who insist on trashing them are only helping to help Republicans make things worse.

Bitching about HCR and Fin Reg and everything else Obama and the Democrats have done now only feeds the perception that the Democrats suck and need to be replaced.

[Milo_Bloom]

6. What can they run on?

We have a series of weak as water pieces of legislation that wind up benefiting the corporations far more than the people?

HCR? No EFFECTIVE cost controls and a requirement for people to enter into onsided contracts with private companies who profit from your ill health?

Fin Reg? Again, nothing to EFFECTIVELY COMBAT THE PROBLEM. Large banks still able to take wild risks with YOUR money. Debt instruments still able to trade in the dark.

So are we supposed to lie and say these are effective pieces of legislation or steps in the right direction when they aren't?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Maybe the legislation that's been passed so far

didn't go as far as some of us maybe hoped that it would (i.e. public option) but I respectfully disagree with the premise that the new laws like HCR (which no previous Presidents EVER got through Congress in any way, shape, or form) and Finreg are essentially meaningless pieces of paper that won't produce any positive changes, or at least that it's WAY too early to judge their outcome.
Given what President Obama has had to deal with- not only from the Republicans but also some of the members in our party/caucus- I also have serious difficulty with completely dismissing the significance of either of these measures and what they intend to accomplish. It will remain to be seen exactly the kind of impact either measures have, of course, and the final verdict may be that the legislation should've been done differently and/or better but I should point out that nobody ever claimed that what has just been enacated into law is the end point and that it will never be subject to further revisions/reform (which both pieces of legislation will certainly require as time goes by).
I just feel that it's too early to judge either pieces of legislation until they have been implemented for awhile and until we have an opportunity to see how well they do what they are supposed to do. I'm already starting to see people writing posts about HCR already being a failure and the full thing hasn't even been implemented yet and won't be until 2014. We don't have the financial consumer protection apparatus in place yet, either, so until either things are fully implemented, I don't know that anybody can formulate an objective assessment about either of them. :shrug:

So, I guess, if I have to provide a direct answer, the answer would be that we just can't/don't know yet.