To restart our stalled agenda, you'd begin by...

[OmahaBlueDog]

I'd like to gauge where DUers stand on what to do to get our agenda refocused and moving.

[yurbud]

1. 1-3. Pelosi gets a barely passing grade with me--BARELY

The other three are cement overshoes when we need a lifejacket.

[WatchWhatISay]

5. Quickly passing HCR with a public option that is available to anyone who wants it

That would go far to restore my faith that this party is not also (in addition to the Republican party) a tool of big business.

[yurbud]

9. I would overlook a lot of other sins for that, and it would restore my confidence in our democracy

[PDJane]

2. Making damn sure that there was a lot of media

out there giving the public my agenda and my talking points.....and ensuring that there was a blitz of positive media about the need to provide things like health care, education, water systems, and a public power system and grid in order to provide for the public security, since the nation seems to be hung up on national security. I mean what happens to security if the corporations decide that it's not in their interest to supply it?

[OmahaBlueDog]

13. Is Robert Gibbs/ the WH PR department part of the problem? (n/t)

[Jamastiene]

3. Tie health care reform (with the public option) to National Security™©®

Pass it with the next defense legislation. No one can or will complain. A sick populace cannot fight back against terrorists...and anyone who votes against National Security™©®...well, we know what happens to them.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. Many forget that food stamps came out of WWII. The military said they lost many draftees to .....

..conditions caused by malnutrition.

Taking the half-a-loaf approach, should we consider a push for universal care/Medicare for ages 0-18 and universal maternity and pre-natal care?

[Bluebear]

4. I can't possible choose between 1, 2 and 3.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Supporting the President for a change.

That hasn't happened since the start of the debate on the Stimulus.
That was like a week into his Presidency.

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. Oh no...anything but that

:sarcasm:

I do steadfastly support the President, but I think many others in the establishment are not serving him/us well.

[appal_jack]

36. too bad Obama kissed Wall St. Ass instead of embracing progressives

I supported the President during the campaign, based upon what he was telling us then.

But oh-so-shortly-after-the-inauguration,Obama showed his true colors by picking Geithner, Summers, and for that matter, Rahmbo. Matter of fact, most of these folks were part of the Obama team even before the inauguration. But progressives were told to wait and be patient, or, like Van Jones, sent packing prematurely.

The moves that the President and his team made early in his tenure and during the Stimulus showed us his that We the People rate a distant second (if at all) to the entrenched power of private capital and corporatist hegemony. Too much of Obama's substantive initiatives ever-since have borne out these mal-adjusted priorities.

Should we progressives still wait and be patient?

Should we get excited about re-packaged Repub ideas instead? Subsidies for nukes? Tax breaks for business instead of a real jobs program? Subsidies for 'Clean' Coal? A health care proposal that is significantly more conservative than what Nixon was ready to do almost 40 years ago?

Obama's best opportunity is behind him. We are now in an election year.

I hope the Dem's grow a spine and prove my words above to be completely wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

-app

[yurbud]

8. a cabinet job swap: Duncan & Geithner

Geithner would go to Department of Ed and Duncan would go to Treasury.

That way, teachers would get millions in bonus and get to write their own rules under Geithner, and Duncan would fire everyone on Wall Street and replace them with contractors who get paid a fraction as much.

[OmahaBlueDog]

11. I thought about "Cabinet Shakeup" as an option

Interesting idea :)

[LWolf]

16. .

:spray:

[leftstreet]

18. ROFL

:rofl:

You should make this an OP: I propose a cabinet job swap

:applause:

[yurbud]

34. I did!

[Hannah Bell]

10. tax changes to collect more from the top 1% & taking my case to the people

directly, bypassing the mainstream media.

also organizing people to push back for reform.

i.e. utilizing the popular support obama had post-election in a meaningful way; as a power bloc.

[LWolf]

14. 1-4 plus:

Replace Arne Duncan.

With an educator who would truly support, and defend public education, working to make it abundantly healthy and productive.

[AngryAmish]

15. Making every Republikkkan eat 5 lbs of dog shit

That is why we have the Secret Service.

[Jamastiene]

32. Only 5 lbs.?

I'd rather see them endure about 25 pounds. :evilgrin:

[customerserviceguy]

17. An issue other than healthcare

Jobs would be the best thing to focus on.

For those above wanting a public option with HCR, it ain't gonna happen. We're about 2-4 weeks away from this thing blowing up in the House. At that point, we will be scrambling for an issue to take to November.

[OhioChick]

19. +1000 n/t

[gleaner]

20. I chose other ..

I want to see Rahm Emmanuel go in the worst way, but he is not the only problem. First I would accept the "resignations" of every Bush appointee who still works in this administration, regardless of jog. This includes the military officers who oversee the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. I would replace them with my own appointees who were more liberal and not affiliated with the Republican party either in the past or present. I would insist on oversight of government programs like mortgage relief and I would push and enforce some stringent regulations on the banks, and stock markets. No more bailouts ever. They could stand or fall based on their own actions like the rest of us.

I would replace Harry Reid, definitely, and I would start systematically informing the American public through all the media outlets I could muster (except Faux news, of course) of the procedural changes that the Bush white house brought to Congress which makes it so hard to get anything passed or to break the gridlock. Every time something failed to pass, I would make sure that everyone knew why and who had opposed it by name. I would ask the people from their districts to contact them with an opinion. I would have the White House make many, many public speeches on what they want to do and who in Congress prevents them. If the news media would not cooperate with broadcasting this I would deny access to White House press conferences. I would deny Faux news all access and make it clear that whatever they reported was done so without access and without basis in fact.

That would be a good start.;)

[DailyGrind51]

21. Replace Rahm with Debbie Wasserman Schultz and listen to the "blue dogs" yelp!

[OmahaBlueDog]

22. Wasserman Schultz is very effective in the House. Replace Rahm with Howard Dean

[ChromeFoundry]

23. JOBS. How many millions lost their unemployment benefits today? n/t

[Stevenmarc]

24. Silicone ball implants

[rampart]

25. i'd start bt erecting guilletines on the capitol steps

[OmahaBlueDog]

30. Thank you, Madame DeFarge

Don't lose your head over this

[SlingBlade]

26. The ONLY way to go forward in my opinion rest here ....

The Democratic Party Suicide Prevention Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7814462

Don't let us down Dems, We may NEVER get another chance.

[Dogmudgeon]

27. Getting whiners like us off our asses

Not everyone here fits into the category of "whiners", but we know who we are.

My point isn't "blame and shame" -- it's "if we don't do it, it doesn't get done".

Our elected officials are NOT supposed to be our Scoutmasters or our private valets. They are supposed to be our paid experts in statecraft.

You want change? Start by picking up the phone to your local rep or senators.

--d!

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Harry Reid is useless.

I'm not thrilled with Kaine or Rahm, either.

I still like Pelosi.

[OmahaBlueDog]

31. You might also wish to see this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7813805

[Warren DeMontague]

33. Thanks.

Voted.

[Individualist]

29. Abolish DLC.

[Johonny]

35. I'd start some website where people could post their frustration

daily(hourly) as sort of a group therapy for the politically obsessed.

[readmoreoften]

37. I'd organize a mass movement to put all these thugs in prison and start from scratch.

With a few notable exceptions on the Democratic side, almost entirely in the House, I'd imprison the whole of congress. What can I say, I'm feeling bipartisan.