Bluntly put, Obama needs to learn hardball.

[kpete]

Obama Without Tears
William Greider

.....................

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.

Only Obama can decide this about himself, but others can influence the outcome by surrounding him with tough love and new circumstances created by their own direct actions. It does not help Obama to keep telling him he did great but the people misunderstood him. He did lousy, not great, and in many governing dimensions people understood his failures clearly enough. They knew he gave tons of money to bankers and demanded nothing in return. They knew he thought the economy was in recovery. They couldn't believe this intelligent man was that clueless.

Popular forces can blow away the fuzziness. They can mobilize to demonstrate visible support for the president's loftier goals and to warn him off the temptation to pursue a Clintonesque appeasement of the right. Given the fragile status of his presidency, Obama needs to know that caving in is sure to encourage enemies and drive off disheartened supporters. People should, likewise, call out the president's enemies and attack them with the harshness that's out of character for him. The racial McCarthyism of the GOP establishment is a good place to start.

People who still have great hope for Obama can help revive his presidency, but only if they toughen up themselves. Stop holding his hand (he's an adult) and start building a people's agenda that compels the president to change his. Obama won't like this at first—his own supporters talking back—but he can learn to draw strength from their courage. If people fail to step up with their own message, the president will likely fail with his.

more:
http://www.thenation.com/article/156384/obama-without-tears

[babylonsister]

1. I agree. Thanks, kpete, for this. Rec'd. I hope our Prez reads this. nt

[Mimosa]

2. KPete, we get called whiners, leftists and retards when we 'hold his feet to the fire'

I wish it weren't so.

I ceratinly fell for "Yes, we can' and worked and contributed to help candidate Obama become President Obama.

[impik]

14. You don't 'hold his feet to the fire', you burned them

You abandoned him after his first 100 days. (I don't mean *you* personally).

[Mimosa]

15. I praise Obama when he does well (and so do most DUers)

The Obama's trip to India was important. The President and the First Lady represented us well.

Impik, you're pissed at the right wing media and their apparatchiks.

DUers in general support the President more than he seems to be supporting our needs. He messed up on health care reform big time. If it had been done right there would be no question of overturning it. People would understand it, and they would recognise the legislation as beneficial. So far it is not.

[pattmarty]

24. Oh, fucking come on. The only ones that "abandoned" him after..........

.........his first 100 days was the fucking press. I don't remember seeing anything here where people were "abandoning" or criticizing him after him being in office so short a time. Get fucking real. This is two years in, and we know now exactly what we got. He isn't all of a sudden going to change from Clark Kent into superman in the next two.

[Patchuli]

43. I too worked for and contributed to this guy

and I expect better than I have gotten. I DEMAND better than I've gotten. I have not "abandoned" him or the current Dem party although neither of them deserve my butt-busting on their behalf with what they are NOT accomplishing. My husband and I are on our financial knees due to Wall Street/lay-off/houseunderwater. We are much WORSE NOW than we were when I spent a summer answering the phone, inputting data, selling campaign gear, talking people into voting for Obama. Yet the banks he helped are all doing fine. What the hell about the middle class promises he made that are not happening?

I want him to stand up and show some freaking sense and courage and that would include dismantling the "Patriot Act" and getting us the hell out of the wars! That would include not extending tax cuts for the rich even if it means I pay a little more. The HCR bill sucks. I don't care if they do scrap it. I voted Dem. I got Repub-lite policy.

He's not abandoned but he's doing a shitty job. How's that for complete honesty? Not facing it is not going to help any of us.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

66. Yes, I agree basically he's doing a SHITTY job. Take a hint froom FDR and

some of his fireside chats where he got really FIRED UP!!!

Lob a few verbal grenades at the likes of Eric Cantor and Boehner.

[bonzono]

53. Who's Abandoning Whom?

Oh our dear Obungler knows how to play hardball alright but he also knows how to play softball, too. He knows enuff to play softball with his rePubic partners and then turn around and play hardball against his professional lefty base.
Afterall, it's he who habitually keeps abandoning his base, it's not his base that's been abandoning his rotting campaign promises of change we can believe in. He looks more and more like the chimp with each cowardly surrendered bipartisan compromise.
BARF!

[ibegurpard]

3. agree

but he's not listening to that message

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Maybe Obama's getting precisely what he wants

That's the conclusion I've come to. You don't hire the DLC to run Washington if you're trying to help working Americans, or if you're trying to hold majorities in Congress. You don't hire Simpson and Bowles if you want to do anything besides slash Social Security - it'd be like hiring John Gotti to do your gardening.

[ibegurpard]

6. well, there's that too

neither possibility is very comforting is it?

[speppin]

45. yes, perhaps he is at that!!

[Skittles]

56. CORRECT

[SoCalDemGrrl]

67. God I hope you're wrong cuz we didnt mean to vote for the DLC

[Raine]

68. Yes, EXACTLY. Sadly I've come

to that conclusion. :-(

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

7. I'm sure the President knows how to play hardball, he

needs to figure out how create the public perception that he does.

Now, here is an interesting statement:

Popular forces can blow away the fuzziness. They can mobilize to demonstrate visible support for the president's loftier goals and to warn him off the temptation to pursue a Clintonesque appeasement of the right. Given the fragile status of his presidency, Obama needs to know that caving in is sure to encourage enemies and drive off disheartened supporters. People should, likewise, call out the president's enemies and attack them with the harshness that's out of character for him. The racial McCarthyism of the GOP establishment is a good place to start.

[ibegurpard]

9. yeah, with anyone to the left of a republican on policy

edit: and the statment you highlighted is part two of an equation...it will happen when people sense he's delivering on part one.

[ProSense]

11. People can't have it every which way

Look at the response to this OP, it's all over the place.

Hardball is hardball, so either Greider is right or Obama is getting exactly what he wants.

[bigwillq]

49. "I'm sure the President knows how to play hardball,

he needs to figure out how create the public perception that he does."

I agree. :thumbsup:

[tomp]

8. no, he plays very well...for the wrong team.

you need to learn who's side he's on.

ordinary people need to learn hardball.

[impik]

10. "He did lousy"????

The best and most successful president in decades and "he did lousy". Oh well, two more years and this nightmare will be over. Obama can take the family home and leave this country with the leaders people like this writer deserves.


I really can't wait for the years after 2012. It will be hilarious around here.

[Exilednight]

21. The most successful president in the later half of the 20th century is not president ..............

Obama. As far as legislative agenda goes, Carter had the best legislative batting average.

As far as 2012 goes, Obama may or may not win a second term. Who knows, it all depends on the economy. If he does win, it will be due to the fact that he started campaigning for a second term before he was even sworn into office.

[liberation]

40. Well, sure he is the best president of the XXI century...

... but then again, it is not like that is the monumental achievement you paint it to be, given the other president we can compare him against.

You can use all the passive aggressive quips you want, but that still doesn't make your diminishing standards seem any less lowered.

[kentuck]

13. "The racial McCarthyism of the GOP establishment..."

I still trust this President to do what is right, be it late in the evening.

And William Greider is one of the most trust-worthy writers that I know.

The President, and we, would be wise to listen to his words.

The President needs to widen his scope of advisors, in my opinion. Compromise is for senators. The President must take charge and look for compromise after the decision is made, and not vice versa.

I think it might be time to clean house??

Know what I mean?

[Omnibus]

48. Compromise is fine...

but PLEASE, stop "compromising" by giving up half your goals with your initial position, then "compromising" again by completely selling out the left, then "compromising" a third time with a half-centrist half-right bill, only to get raked over the coals for being "too liberal".

They're going to excoriate you anyway for your liberalism regardless, Mr. President. Might as well make honest men of them.

[ruggerson]

16. Not in his character. He ran as the great conciliator.

[ibegurpard]

30. then he needs to change his character or get out of the way

a conciliator is not what we need right now

[jannyk]

17. Thanks kpete - I missed you. Have you been on vacation? nt

[kpete]

18. yep

well rested and ready to go

[kentuck]

19. kpete, you may be our MVP?

:-)

kentuck

peace

[kpete]

26. thanks

since 2000, mr. pete & i vote & go on vacation during the last 2 weeks of the election season...

no computer/phone, just books - i came back especially invigorated this time.

ready for whatever comes...

peace to you kentuck

we are all MVPs here, kpete

[BeyondGeography]

20. The article does contain one glaring mistake

Or at the very least, misjudgment.

This is not Obama's first encounter with devastating political defeat. That happened in 2000, when Bobby Rush beat him by 30 points in a Democratic primary for U.S. Congress.

Greider might have explained why that wasn't "devastating."

There has been a tendency to underestimate Obama when he is down. This article pretty much falls into that category. Obama has not been "rolled" by the bankers and the generals. Both groups would dearly love to see him gone, not because he is a cupcake.

Where I agree with Greider is on the use of power. The tax issue calls for a solo performance by the President. He has the power to impose his own tax regime on this economy, but the getting there, letting the tax cuts expire and playing political chicken with the Republicans until they cave, would be messy. Something Obama might call political game playing. But the time has come for this kind of brinksmanship. It might not happen for any number of reasons, but never having tasted defeat before won't be one of them.

[WillyT]

22. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[Better Believe It]

23. "The Great Compromiser" is simply doing what he's best at.

But he can play hardball against the "professional left".

[TBF]

25. I agree - but the folks who really hired him wouldn't like it.

Remember what they did to Kennedy ...

[impik]

29. Who really hired him? His Muslim terrorists friends?

[TBF]

36. You've been watching too much FAUX news. nt

[radhika]

27. IMHO: Too Much Amateur Psychologizing

Ever since inauguration there has been all these memes accounting for the dearth of effective policy results. Like little Barry is getting gently asked why he isn't doing his schoolwork. Then mom and dad (us?) debate whether tough love or nurturing love or beating up the shcool yard bullies is the right way to help our kid. Here are just a few of the analyses that I hear or read floating around me.


He's playing 11-dimensional chess, they're playing checkers - just wait...

How could anyone deal with such toxic racism? let's prop him up with love...

He's been threatened by the NWO

He's working for a Greater Good, as a peacemaker to bring blue and red into a purple glob..

He's a Manchurian Candidate playing the demonic role he was programmed to play in Kenya

He sold his base out to the bankers and Wall Street to win election

He was selected by bankers and Wall Street to be a pleasing front for their wealth takeover..

He's afraid of the Right Wing Media, so he distances himself from Progressives, minorities, gays etc.

He is personally anti-Progressive, so he distances himself from Progressives, minorities, gays etc.

He's afraid of WHATEVER...or planning someday to do WHATEVER


Some or all of these are possibly true. And NONE of these should mean a rat's as* to the public, since we should be the ones who set the rules of the road for our lives. And we should hold any official accountable for not acting in accordance with the principles espoused as a candidate. Like in the Godfather: "It's not personal, it's business."

[BklnDem75]

28. The Clintons underestimated Obama, too.

He knows hardball.

[dave29]

31. I enjoyed watching him become President playing T-Ball

This was the complaint against him too back then "weak" "does not know how to be mean" "3AM"

Then they scream about Rahm

:eyes:

[Steely_Dan]

32. Sadly...

I don't think that President Obama has the ability to be "tough." I don't think that it is in his character.

[patricia92243]

33. I remember my sister saying he is too nice to be President. I'm not sure if that is a compliment or

a complaint.

[soryang]

59. He's too nice?

Is that why he is waging war every day on peasants in central Asia?

[GinaMaria]

34. not waiting for him to learn anything

got to move on without him. He learns at too slow a rate or isn't really interested in learning. Either way, the people are not getting what they need from him as a leader.

[BlueJac]

35. I am not sure he wants to fight back......

all indications points to caving in and cuting social security.......all Chicago boys style......Friedmanites

[maritzasolito]

37. Vote Repuke so that you are happy all the time...

while the rich get richer and the others get screwed! There is nothing that will make the unhappy happy anyways!

[liberation]

41. Well, when logic and facts do not cooperate to help make your point...

... torture and rape them into submission, no?

How "republican" of you... LOL

[inna]

50. why in the world are you spamming this board with this crap??

this is at least the third time I read this copy-and-pasted crap by you.

:wtf:

[Hubert Flottz]

38. I thought we elected a fighter...

Somebody who had our backs...

[herbm]

39. The President needs to play HARD ball.

[DailyGrind51]

42. Bluntly put, WE need a new candidate in 2012 or our entire 2008 platform is dead!

[Politics_Guy25]

44. The voters will laugh at us if we primary the President

and run to elect as President Palin, Huckabee or Bush.

Independent voter to you, the primary challenge guy: Why the hell should I vote for your guy this time when you screwed up so badly with the last guy?

Primary challenge=Game.Set.Match. President GOP.

Get real.

[grahamhgreen]

47. Only a primary challenge will give FDR democrats a chance to reach the American people.

We need the voters to understand that there is a clear alternative to the plutocratic policies of Obama.

He will continue his pro-corporate agenda and lose anyway. There is no way to save this guy from himself, except, possibly, by such an intervention.

Ideally, he could wake up and grab the FDR mantle before sufferring humiliation in the primaries and debates.

[DailyGrind51]

61. Thank you! Obama has been "pissing on our shoes and telling us it is raining"!

Attempting to make us feel that WE are ungrateful for not appreciating half-measures and down right sell-outs, rather than the substantive reforms, which were part of the 2008 Democratic Party platform and that he promised!

[grahamhgreen]

46. True. Or the 3d chess he's been playing will have been against us!

[veganlush]

51. K&R n/t

[RBInMaine]

52. You're "clueless." He REPEATEDLY said that while we were now gaining jobs, it isn't enough yet, and

the Wall St. reform bill DOES have some teeth in it. If you are saying he gave the banks a lot with nothing required in return, THAT was Bush's bill and it DOES require them to pay it back, and much of it has been repaid. Yes, Obama does need to be more forceful in his rhetoric. That much has been a real shortcoming. But you are filled with hyperbole. If the unemployment rate was at 8% Dems would have won the election, and all this horsehit about Obama would be both moot and on mute.

[thanks_imjustlurking]

54. That's about the size of it.

I've often thought that he's doing about as well as I'd do as President. (Not very well.) I hate to say it, but Id like to think I'd have learned faster. Assuming, of course, that he represents the people, not the corporations - which is up for debate.

[azureblue]

55. The problem is

Obama does now how to, nor does he, keep the Goopers in control. They are all working to undermine him, and he is not taking steps, however brutal, to shut them down. Obama may be far more intelligent, is playing 3D chess and all, but the Goopers work by brute force. This is the Gooper plan, and it is working.

Further, the Dem. congresspeople are not working with Obama to keep the Goopers in check.

[Historic NY]

57. Or to at least to wield a "Big Stick" ala TR.

[Orsino]

58. He proves he understands hardball...

..every time he compromises with forces far too powerful for him. Which is pretty much every day.

I think that those wishing for him to "get tough" prove that they don't understand the current state of American politics. It's not a game of hardball or softball; it's a running retreat from the inevitable.

[Democat]

62. People didn't vote for someone in retreat, they voted for a leader!

It's not okay for Obama to act weak because he's fighting against a big opponent.

[Orsino]

63. I know what people hoped for..

...and if more of us cared, he might have that capacity. But that's not the kind of nation we put him in "charge" of.

[defendandprotect]

60. Obama is playing "hard ball" .... with citizens ... and "soft ball" with corporations...!!!

THAT'S the problem ....

[ljm2002]

64. Obama's prior experience was as a state representative...

...and then as a U.S. Senator. Before that he worked as a community organizer. He really seems to believe that "compromise" and "bipartisanship" are worthy goals in themselves. "Changing the tone in Washington" type stuff. His character along with his experience have molded him into someone who is averse to wielding the levers of raw power. Then you have the constant attacks that try to make him look like a power-mad socialist if not downright communist, and his need to be liked kicks in. This of course is a recipe for disaster, and that is what we have on our hands.

Unfortunately there is not a chance in hell of changing the tone in Washington, and the opposition party, along with the big money players, have no intention of engaging in collegial discussions and then reaching worthy policy goals through compromise on both sides. Ha ha ha, if anyone still believes that then they are fools of the first order.

I find it hard to believe that Obama is a fool of the first order. So what the hell explains his capitulations day in and day out? You tell me! To me it looks as if he is getting exactly what he wants, and the middle class can just kiss its ass goodbye while the USA slides into economic and moral disaster.

[yurbud]

65. compromise goes down better if you see someone fight for you first

one of the things I respected about Bill Clinton was when he stared down Newt on the government shutdown.

Actually, that was about it with him.

[tomm2thumbs]

69. when the people gave him the power in 2008, they expected him to use it!

not allow it to stagnate and dilute into water

[jeanpalmer]

70. It's too late

He blew it when he created the deficit commission and staffed it with Simpson and Bowles. By doing so, he put SS into play. That's unforgivable, for a Democrat. Now we'll be fighting tooth and nail to keep SS. It didn't have to be. He miscalculated, and now has to pay the price.