"He talked before the election about what he wanted to do, and he’s done it"

[impik]

News Analysis
Obama Pushes Through Agenda Despite Political Risks
If passage of the financial regulatory overhaul on Thursday proves anything about President Obama, it is this: He knows how to push big bills through a balky Congress. But Mr. Obama’s legislative success poses a paradox: while he may be winning on Capitol Hill, he is losing with voters at a time of economic distress, and soon may be forced to scale back his ambitions.

The financial regulatory bill is the final piece of a legislative hat trick that also included the stimulus bill and the landmark new health care law. Over the last 18 months, Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congress have made considerable inroads in passing what could be the most ambitious agenda in decades.

Mr. Obama has done what he promised when he ran for office in 2008: he has used government as an instrument to try to narrow the gaps between the haves and the have-nots. He has injected $787 billion in tax dollars into the economy, provided health coverage to 32 million uninsured and now, reordered the relationship among Washington, Wall Street, investors and consumers.

But as he has done so, the political context has changed around him. Today, with unemployment remaining persistently near double digits despite the scale of the stimulus program and the BP oil spill having raised questions about his administration’s competence, Mr. Obama’s signature legislation is providing ammunition to conservatives who argue that government is the problem, not the solution.


They clearly made a decision that political capital was something that should be used, not saved,” said Steven Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who worked for years as a senior leadership aide on Capitol Hill. “The reality is, he talked before the election about what he wanted to do, and he’s done it. He didn’t trim his sails, he didn’t change his philosophy. He didn’t compromise. The test will come in the fall: can he and Democrats in Congress make the case to the American people that what he did was the right thing to do?”




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/16assess.html?_r=1&hp

[Diane R]

1. For the naysayers out there.....

[impik]

3. Look at them unreccing like crazy. Hilarious.

[Hekate]

2. Kickity

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[vaberella]

4. This is true. It may not be perfectly what he's been after, but a great deal.n/t

[depakid]

5. One thing for sure- one could have looked at the record and seen what was coming

[dionysus]

8. .

:nopity:

[JoePhilly]

6. The politics of this are easy to understand when you consider ...

~40% of Americans are right wingers who are AGAINST anything Obama does, claining he goes to far.

~40% of Americans are Democrats who SUPPORT Obama and think that he's making good progress.

~10% of Americans are SHEEP who could go either way on a whim and will often join either of these groups if they appear to gain a majority.

And then, ~10% of the left tends to be AGAINST Obama on specific issues, claiming he does not go far enough.

The Media combines the 40% from the right, and the 10% of the left, who OPPOSE Obama on any particular issue. They then "report" that 50% of America is AGAINST what Obama is doing because this is a "center-right country" and clearly he is going TOO FAR.

Some % of the SHEEP drift to the OPPOSE Obama posiiton.

Final result ... as reported by the media ...

56% OPPOSE Obama because he's going too far
44% Support Obama

[DevonRex]

7. Thank you impik. K&R. nt

[cliffordu]

9. KIcketty and recced fo sho.