Where did the "Yes We Can" spirit go?

[cilla4progress]

Listening to President Obama's brief economic remarks this morning, I heard a lot of frustration and probably agony about the lack of cooperation from Congress in moving forward his progressive agenda. Ok, it's a given.

But, the way I understand "Yes We Can," is -- if there's a wall we go around it; a mountain, we climb it; a moat, we swim it. I'm sorry, but I find it a little disappointing. And now, listening to Gibbs explain it? Not at all inspiring.

There's clearly, and understandably, a lot of anger and frustration in the Obama administration right now. But good god man, figure out other ways to achieve your goals! Use FDR as an example! Not Reagan, for goodness sake (unless you can figure out how to inspire your communication machine as he did).

[sailor65]

1. Maybe it was discharged

in a DADT investigation???

[DJ13]

2. Economically, Obama doesnt have a 'progressive agenda'

Its more Robert Rubin than Robert Reich.

[Indydem]

3. It went the way of the Public Option. n/t

[tridim]

4. Yes we can, change the rules in the Senate.

Currently we can't even vote on our ideas.

[T Wolf]

5. It changed into "Yes we can do what we are allowed to" in service to the rethugs and

conservadems.

He has expended no political capital pushing for progressive legislation. Each and every time, he has started from a point that liberals could not really support, and then moved rightward to placate the whack-jobs across the aisle, who then voted against him anyway.

A loss-loss. No progress and a still-energized opposition.

And a double-loss-loss. A lost opportunity for real progress and a discouraged/betrayed base that now has to be appealed to merely on a lesser of two evils basis.

I ran a better campaign in seventh grade as elementary school student council VP who pushed for better assemblies. I didn't start off by asking for lousier assemblies.

[tridim]

6. Are you claiming the Repukes didn't obstruct everything we tried to do?

Why would you do that?

[cilla4progress]

8. Well, I completely agree about the obstruction...

but that's not good enough. We hired him KNOWING it would be this way. That learning curve is getting awfully steep.

Please don't get me wrong - I think in his heart BO is a great man, and by far one of the brightest minds around. I'm just not sure he got enough experience with the POLITICS -- the dirty, national politics, before he was elevated to the Presidency.

I just don't hear any energy there. I think his idealism led him to think he could bring people together in win-wins, and that's why he abandoned so many of his more progressive positions. Now he is licking his wounds. I would like to see him just cast off concerns about how it plays, and do what he knows is right -- and push those around him to do the same (as well as trading some of them in -- Summers, Emmanuel, Geithner?). Can't he see - it didn't work anyway? Compromising not only didn't get him fair dealing from the right, but he has lost many on the left, as well.... This is painful to watch.

[tridim]

10. Compromising *still* secured us the most progressive record in over half a century.

[cilla4progress]

22. The problem is

the impact doesn't take effect for too long out in the future. The pain is NOW.

I've been laid off since December, and just got notice today that my individual health policy is going up $100 for my daughter me. It is now 1/4 of my monthly unemployment benefits!

[Grinchie]

27. Then go Celebrate all your accomplishments...

All of them are nothing compared to what he did on Health Care, which was designed to fail from the start.

Progressive record.. Hah! Two wars based on lies, providing a scaffold under the Oligarchy and the MIC, and pretending to offer a change of business in Washington, while at the same time rehiring Mike Taylor to the USDA.

Progressive... Good god you guys are deluded.

No Green Jobs, No Solar Panels, No Alternate Energy Initiatives, but we do get Ethanol 2.0 based on GMO bacteria.. I'm sure Monsanto loves that idea all the way to the bank.

I guess you cheerleaders haven't figured it out. Those of us that have been thrown under the bus time and again offer NO COMPROMISE hence forth. You guys are on your own, and it will be sweet to watch you crash and burn as a result of your N-Dimensional Chess...

[tridim]

30. Obama announces $400M loan for Abound Solar’s plant in Longmont

http://longmontledger.com/longmont-business/obama-announces-400m-loan-for-abound-solars-plant-in-longmont-money-could-mean-300-new-area/

Take your fucking mis and dis-information elsewhere. This forum is about reality.

[suzie]

38. +1

[Grinchie]

64. Old news bucko -- it's CdTe Technology which is about 20 years out of date..

Nothing like touting some obsolete "Solar Cell" thing based on fucking GLASS. Yes, you heard me.. Thin film Ion deposition on FUCKING GLASS.

Thats the FUCKING TRUTH, andf if you haven't figured it out by now, FUCKING GLASS is expensive to make.. The FUCKING GLASS is heavy, require pure source material, and is a fragile, energy intensive, labor intensive material. I suppose you will say Glass is just sand... Well maybe you better look up how Glass has changed over the years due to the raw materials being mined out in various countries. Then, just imagine a slow, tedious, Ion deposition process that takes hours to accomplish, in a vacuum, using lots of energy, and prone to defects. The throughput is ridiculous, but I guess that doesn't bother you.. All you see is a 400 miilion dollar loan, regardless of whether it is viable or not..

Your fucking reality is nothing more than talking points that are nothing but puffery and facade, drummed up by Hollywood hype artists.

The real breakthrough technologies are producing GIGAWAtts per production run, and we paid for it years ago. Unfortunately, all the product is being shipped to Germany. This project you present can maybe produce a few hundred Megawatts in panels, and pales in comparision. The only thing it will produce is a bunch of rich Contractors to build the plant in the short term, and enrich the Professor that patented the process. Unfortunately, id is obsolete from the start, and therefore will fail, just like the rest of this administrations blunders and stupidity.

Obama only spoke of Photovoltaics for the first ime in July, and even then, he showed that he or his advisors have no clue about the current state of the art.

Go fucking Celebrate.

[dflprincess]

48. LBJ's Great Society was far more progressive

It's a tragedy he let Vietnam get in the way of it. (It's an even greater tragedy that later presidents have learned from his mistake of waging unnecessary wars).

1964 Civil Rights Act
1965 Voting Rights Act
1965 Immigration and Nationality Services Act (abolishing quotas based on country of origin)
1968 Civil Rights Act banning housing discrimination & extending constitutional protections to Native Americans on reservations.

The War of on Poverty which included:
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Job Corps
VISTA
Medicare (which he intended to expand to all Americans)
Medicaid
Model Cities Program (urban redevelopment)
Upward Bound
Legal Aid
Food Stamps
Head Start
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, (the first time significant federal money went to public education)
The Higher Education Act of 1965 increased federal money given to universities
The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 federal aid to local school districtsto address the needs of children with limited English-speaking skills

[suzie]

69. No so-called "progressive" who spends their days here hating Obama would have

believed that LBJ was progressive.

The greatest page would have been filled each day with endless posts about Vietnam.

And ones about how LBJ's domestic agenda was neither far-reaching enough or good enough to overlook Vietnam.

[dflprincess]

70. Acutally, I don't know that LBJ was considered that progressive in his day

(I was young and focused on the mess in Vietnam) but the social programs he pushed were the things mainstream Democrats stood for back then. It is only that the Democratic party has moved so far right that he looks like a liberal today.

With the advantage of hindsight, it is clear that his domestic agenda was far more progressive & ambitious than anything that has been tried by any president since then.

BTW, I don't hate Obama & I knew he was no liberal - but I am disappointed in just how right he has moved since he was a candidate and his continued efforts to pacify the right wing.

[suzie]

71. Many "progressives" were either focused on missing John Kennedy and getting ready

for the next Kennedy, or hating LBJ because he wasn't a Kennedy.

LBJ probably had a once in a generation chance to make a difference with social policies. It was time for Civil Rights legislation, and I think a lot in Congress knew that.

LBJ was left with the memory of a dead young president to help his agenda. Obama has been left with all of the crises that were generated during the previous 8 years.

BTW, I was speaking generically about progressives who would have hated LBJ, not you.

[Steely_Dan]

54. Excellent Post

Probably the best summary of what has happened that I've read here.

-P

[ibegurpard]

55. I agree but

there comes a point when you have to wonder whether it is naivete or if this is indeed the path he wants to be on.

[T Wolf]

66. Point is - Obama did not TRY to do much good. He started each "negotiation" on an issue

by giving away almost everything of value, and then proceeded to give away even more in search of that magic bipartisan agreement.

After failing to get more than one or two rethug votes, he passes a worthless piece of shit legislation and crows about the "victory"...

NOT good enough, dammit. Not by a long shot.

[donco6]

72. +1

And the end.

[villager]

73. +1

n/t

[Nikki Stone1]

46. +1000

+

[Aramchek]

7. you can't just go around Congress

[cilla4progress]

9. He can change personnel, for one.

He can make executive orders, as FDR did... (I don't know as much as I should about this), and yes, you are certainly correct, the President needs Congress in order to pass legislation, but there is SO much more that could be done in terms of leadership, setting the mood, advisers, etc.

[rury]

56. President Obama needs a more liberal Congress

to get progressive legislation passed.
It's that simple.
Too many Blue Dogs in the house and Conservadems in the Senate and ALL Rethuglikkkans voting in opposition to his agenda make it damned near impossible.
Math and civics should make that clear to everybody!!
In the face of those odds, Obama's done a helluva good job getting what we have thus far and he's not done yet!!!!

[WI_DEM]

11. Oh, I dont know--biggest jobs bill in history, HCR, Financial Reform, two Supreme Court nominees

and you're saying he can't achieve his goals?

[cilla4progress]

13. 9.5% unemployment, for one.

It's almost the only thing that matters. The rest you list are too far out in time for most people to appreciate or feel.

At some point, our side needs to wrangle the symbols. That's all the right is about: symbols. There is NO substance there ... they use symbols to lie and, sadly, they succeed.

As substantive as Obama is, and he is, as you indicate, he needs to get the symbols working for him. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of Americans at this over-media-fed, under-intellectualized point in our history respond to. It's what is referred to as "the dog whistle."

[BklnDem75]

28. Rather than 12%?

I'll take that

[cilla4progress]

32. OK

that's a tough sell...

[cilla4progress]

15. What finally really got me was

Gibbs remark, when asked about fixes to the economy by Obama, said "There's only so much that can done." That's going to sting for awhile (and probably come back to haunt him...).

[izquierdista]

12. Into the can

There has always been a back door to health reform. Expand VA eligibility. To spouses, children, other Federal workers, since it is the facet of American health care most like Britain's national health service, expanding it to cover more people gradually moves the goal posts in the right direction and would not draw much attention. Likewise, lowering the age for enrollment in Medicare is another way to get more people into a single-payer program. That is probably why it was fought against by those pushing health insurance reform.

Although it may surprise many of my fans, I'm not the smartest nor the first one on the planet to come up with these workarounds. The fact that the status quo health insurance business model is being left in place and not worked around to the benefit of the average American -- well, draw your own conclusions.

[cilla4progress]

14. I have to agree, Iz.

These are some good ideas. I don't see the conviction I expected...

[Grinchie]

31. Instead, they reduce the number of VA Hospitals and outsource.

All of US Veterans remember the promise of Health Care for life, but it wasn't until they shut down 40% of the VA hospitals over the past 30 years that we realized that it just wasn't available anymore due to the reduction in supply.

This administration is infested with yet another bunch of idiots.

[craigmatic]

16. Yes we can was the campaign slogan. I guess we might is the governing philosophy.

[madamesilverspurs]

17. Yes We Can

Became "Yes HE Can" for too many of us. It was always "We", right up until the inauguration. Then it became "He". And it wasn't Obama who changed that.


-

[Raine1967]

21. I never left the WE part... Thank you! eom.

[cilla4progress]

23. I totally love your attitude

and couldn't agree more.

I am ready and willing to do whatever I can. In my unemployed state, I'm just sending in $3 here and $5 there wherever I can. Hoping my local county Dem committee starts firing up here pretty soon so I can volunteer. I've shot my reputation in my small conservative town as far as future jobs....may as well pull out ALL the stops!

[JoePhilly]

36. Sadly, WE quit on any issue where Obama's ...

"first step" did not equate to a "giant leap for mankind".

The left loses to the right because the right focuses on slow and methodical gains. They rarely have a huge win.

But WE ... We need home runs. No singles, no doubles, no walks. If the ball does not leave the Park, it was an OUT.

[phleshdef]

18. FDR had a crazy huge majority willing to do pretty much whatever he wanted.

Seriously, stop it with the "be like FDR" bullshit! Its irrelevant. You can't be like FDR without the Senate that FDR had to work with.

[cilla4progress]

24. I respectfully disagree

FDR provides a model. We had majorities across the board. You no doubt know the history better than I. But I am talking about TONE. The fighting tone isn't there.

It would be nice to be able to discuss this civilly here. Sheds a little light, doesn't it...

[phleshdef]

35. You CAN'T disagree with historical truth.

Did FDR have or not have a huge majority that got his agenda through or not?

I could sit around and project the tone that I'm freaking superman, but if I can't actually fly, it doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot.

[cilla4progress]

41. I don't know, did he?

How big a majority?

[phleshdef]

43. Just from memory, we had like 60/96 in 1934, 1936 we had 69, 1938 we had 76.

[phleshdef]

44. Also, 17 Republicans signed on for social security passage.

[impik]

19. The left killed it

[DrSteveB]

40. In fact, the left approves of Obama overwhelmingly according to polls

Liberals and Democrats. Don't blame the Left.

[AtomicKitten]

47. Not exactly. They just browbeat people into hiding their light under a bushel.

The light is still burning.

[depakid]

57. LOL- sometimes the projection on these threads surprised even me

Hasn't been the left that's been behind the administration's incessant pandering to the right and gratuitously insulting and backstabbing its own constituencies.

[Name removed]

61. Deleted message

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[depakid]

62. Well, at least you're showing true colors now

straightforward derision is better than projection, for sure.

[peacefreak]

20. I lost a lot of it after being long term unemployed

and having the administration say "no we can't" on a lot of things I care about.

[cilla4progress]

26. That's where I am

I would LOVE to help people work their way through the foreclosure process, or otherwise put my 20+ year career's worth of skills to use to HELP PEOPLE. How about CETA? Much less WPA or CCC.

Oh, and just got notice today that my health insurance premium is going up $117 on my individual policy for my daughter and me (up to 1/4 of my monthly unemployment benefits! You?)

[Grinchie]

33. Thats why it's real "Health Insurance Reform" instead of "Health Care Reform"

Everyoone I speak to is furious about what finally made it through to Obama's desk, and it is nothing more than a checkbox item for the Cheerleaders to spount off about, regardless of whether it is good legislation of not.

That fact of the matter is the Health Insurance Reform is a big fat giveaway to the Insurance companies, which might have threatened another AIG is actually forced to deal with Universal Healthcare. Insurance is just another form of the Banking Cartel which floats the Ponzi Scheme that is the American Economy.

[JTFrog]

25. Fired up and Ready to go!

Dear Friend,

Your registration is confirmed for the following conference:

"September OFA-IN Statewide Volunteer Call "
Thu Sep 2 2010 5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET - 1 hour


Yes we Can!!!

:patriot: :kick: :thumbsup: :bounce: :toast:

[frylock]

29. we've been had

[damntexdem]

34. It faltered because no they didn't.

The Dems failed to do all they could, and they could have done much more to bulldoze past GOP obstructionism.

About the most-optimistic thing left to us is "maybe we could."

[rug]

37. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrQSJ8z3dZg

[Skittles]

39. bummed when it became "Yes we can but we won't"

[dflprincess]

50. Or, as Jon Stewart said last week

"Yes we can - but should we?"

[TheKentuckian]

42. It was hijacked by woodchucks, great and small and transformed into "that's not "pragmatic" "

and "not now".

[Clio the Leo]

45. When he said "we" he didn't just mean his administration; meant everyone...

.... must be very discouraging to him and the Dems in office that the only people calling Capitol Hill are teabaggers.

He STOOD UP to take the oath and we all SAT DOWN to watch him do all the work, haven't gotten up since.

[dflprincess]

51. Really only Teabaggers are calling?

How many calls, emails & letters did most of us make during the healthcare debate asking for real reform that would give us access to care? How much good did it do us?

[Clio the Leo]

59. How many rallies did we hold on the steps of the Capitol?

How many GOP town halls did we disrupt with our righteous indignation?

The teabaggers spanked our hind ends when it came to trying to get Congress' attention.

[DCBob]

49. Its become "Yes We Did". Clearly there is more to do but we have already accomplshed a great deal..

Unfortunately President Obama doesnt get much credit since the media doesnt report it that way since that doesnt attract eyeballs and sell commercials.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

63. Obama has actually done alot and it's early days

[depakid]

52. Went out the window with the public option and drug reimportation

[harun]

53. When we realized it was "Yes, we can continue to get Corporate donations".

[Lyric]

58. The problem is that nobody in the O administration wants to climb the mountains.

They want to sit at the bottom and talk about how much it stinks that the mountain is in the way...but god forbid any of them take an actual RISK and go up and over the damned thing. Besides, if we climb the mountain, what shall our leaders use to frighten us to the polls come November?

"Sure, it sucks that women, minorities, and gays are still second-class citizens. It sucks that your water is poisonous and your air is carcinogenic. It sucks that the poor and the elderly are gonna be eating cat food--assuming they can AFFORD the luxury of cat food. It sucks that Wall Street and the billionaires are 100% in charge, and that public education is now considered a frippery and a social burden. But hey--look at those scary Republicans! Quick, go vote for us because we're not THEM!"

Man, oh man. Sometimes I really don't know where the hell we are anymore.

[LittleBlue]

60. It was mortgaged to the banks by Larry Summers

They own it. There is fuck all left of it.

[smalll]

65. Went the same way as "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" -- or

"have it your way"

or "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" --

Advertising is ephemeral. The plastic-fantastic from Madison Avenue only lasts so long. :shrug:

[Orsino]

67. Crushed by the no-you-can'ts in Congress. n/t

[Name removed]

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