Obama never said "Yes, I can". He said "Yes, WE can!"

[johnaries]

Obama knew that if change would come, it had to come from all of us. I have seen too many posts saying "I worked hard to get him elected" as if that was the end of the story. If you listened to him, his message was that no one person could bring change, but all of us working together could bring the needed change.

I'm sorry, but if I see one more post saying "I worked so hard to get him elected" and sitting back on your fucking laurels with no follow through - I want to come and bitch-slap you personally!

Bottom line: when we got Obama elected, our job wasn't finished - it was just beginning!

"WE are the ones we have been waiting for". NOT "Obama" is the one we have been waiting for.

Yes, Obama and his administration has done many things that are worthy of criticism.

But, I have to admit that I am appalled by people who criticize Obama because they expect him to do everything for them. As if they expected that obama was going to be some kind of Wizard Emperor.

First of all, Obama is no wizard. Secondly - we already had a leader who wanted to be Emperor. Obama is trying to get things accomplished Constitutionally without invoking Imperial powers.

Bottom line - if you don't like the way things are going, blame yourselves - not Obama. Stop whining and blaming, and fucking DO something!

WE are the ones we have been waiting for! Stop focusing your vitriol on Obama and focus it on the Blue Dogs, where it belongs!

[Go2Peace]

1. Actually, we need a leader. Someone else wrote a great post about

how every major movement has/had someone leading people out. Obama nees to Lead. If he were to start taking on the "status quo" and asking people to follow him, then you will see your mass movement.

[treestar]

11. "leading" the "bully pulpit"

What you want is a messiah, a benevolent king. Doesn't exist in this country.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Obama's own words:

"As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership."

I guess he was all confused about what 'exists in this country' when he said that?

[treestar]

16. Maybe he'll get to that after he fixes the economy

And ends the wars?

And that was just for civil unions, so you wouldn't be satisfied anyway.

[Cha]

41. President Obama has

been working on that too.

[Cha]

40. President Obama is leading and we're

(not you) helping him on the ground.

[JDPriestly]

2. What are we supposed to do?

We write and call our members of Congress. We write and call the White House. We go to meetings. We demonstrate. We answer polls. And we have done all these things to make it clear that we want a robust public option or single payer health care reform. And what does Obama do. He snubs single payer advocates and never defines what he really means by a public option.

The whole country (except the bankers) is united in fury about the bail-outs for Wall Street and their huge, piggy pay-checks and bonuses. We have let the president know that we think he should replace his economic advisers, but he does nothing.

What do you propose that we do? How do we get the change we all want?

And, by the way, the worst is yet to come. Now that the president has declared that recovery is here, Congress is set to cut the deficit by reducing domestic spending. Again, we will all protest and ask the president to end the war not the Meals on Wheels programs. But, do you think that President Obama will listen to us? At this point, I am still hoping, but my hope is less and less strong. What do you think we can do that we have not been doing?

[avaistheone1]

5. What you said.

:thumbsup:

[struggle4progress]

6. The Meaning of Community Organizing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElvLp4Oyr0

[treestar]

12. If you do all these things for real

that's the best you can do, and you still can't expect everything to go your way. The rest of the country lives here. They are not progressive.

What is obama supposed to do, kill all the righties, centrists and moderately left Dems?

[dana_b]

35. of course not

but he could stop pandering to them or hiring them.

[paparush]

22. We need to break the Repbulican party and drive it into the sea.

We need to drag thinking men and women out of organized religion.

I'll stop now before I get a visit from agent Mike.

[nosmokes]

3. Sorry, your premise doesn't fly. This royal *we* you speak of is showing up in

droves and eager to do the heavy lifting, but only being allowed into the child's area w/ plastic pails. WTF is Obama w/ the heavy equipment?

[FrenchieCat]

4. What I see are many coming here in droves

eager to even stand in line if they had to,
in order to criticize this President on what they believe he hasn't yet done,
never much acknowledging what he has done, which has been more than many others
have at this time in their presidency.

I don't care if they do....but that's where folks are at this time...
not necessarily eager to do the "heavy lifting" as you would describe
whatever it is you are speaking of.

As the OP stated, this President warned us that the road would be steep,
and long and that we would at time disagree with him....
and he certainly did say that he needed us there and involved in order to
get things done.

What he may have failed to realize is that we would be more involved
in continuously telling him where he falls short via our endless speculation,
and buying all of the bullshit the media sells, than in pushing policies,
and pushing back at those who would prefer to see him fail.

[avaistheone1]

7. Actually FDR had accomplished more by this same time in his presidency,

and the circumstances were more dire then than now.

Too bad Obama has the road map that FDR laid out, but instead Obama has thrown his lot with the banksters and Wall Street.

Let's hope that Obama can do better. If he gets us further involved in Afghanistan I think his presidency is doomed as well as the foreseeable future of the country.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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

[dionysus]

18. didn't you know soiling ones self in self righteous outrage is the highest form of patriotism?

[dionysus]

17. you guys have really played out the word "bankster"

it stopped being clever months ago...

[Cha]

42. Yes, his premise does fly and there is no "royal we" that

you so mistakenly whine about.

[JoeyT]

8. A lot of us have been fighting.

And we're getting rather sick of seeing Obama pushing back against us instead of with us.
We donated, fought to get him elected, and voted for him as well as a Democratic majority.
We're calling and writing our representatives and *still* giving money, money that some of us can ill afford, in an attempt to change the country.
Demanding the rule of law and civil liberties is wishing for a pony. Wanting the prison and military industries to stop owning so much of the country is considered fringe. Civil rights are "too liberal". The middle class and poor being considered last, if at all, gets us berated about chess games and turning ships.

We're not whining, we're tired of fighting the far right only to be slapped down by our own allies. Allies that we fought tooth and nail for. We don't want an Emperor. We want a leader. We're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

"Bottom line - if you don't like the way things are going, blame yourselves - not Obama. Stop whining and blaming, and fucking DO something! "
Yeah, because we're the ones that cave to corporations and ignore the peasants. We're the ones that consider jobless recoveries wonderful things. We're the ones that think "What's Good for Wal-Mart is Good for America.". It's all our fault. Especially since any attempt to "hold his feet to the fire" in any way, shape, or form immediately gets us accused of being in bed with Boss Limbaugh. Good lord what a horrible mental image.

We're not right wingers. We want the exact opposite of the right wingers. We want to see Obama come out as a strong leader. When he does that, he'll have a force for change behind him that hasn't been seen in this country in decades. One that will only gain steam as the change begins working. He won't have to rule by decree the way Bush the Lesser did. People will do what they're told for fear of being voted out of office. You know, the way a democracy is *supposed* to work.
Plus I want to see him kick Joe Lieberman in the nuts.(I consider that my own personal pony.)

[spiritual_gunfighter]

25. Excellent post

especially this

"We're not whining, we're tired of fighting the far right only to be slapped down by our own allies. Allies that we fought tooth and nail for. We don't want an Emperor. We want a leader. We're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

The assumption the OP makes is "if you are complaining on a message board that is probably all you are doing". I have done everything in my power at least to my knowledge, maybe there are other things I can do that I dont know about like writing bills and voting for them, maybe creating policy. Should I start doing that as well???

I am sure Rep. Foster's office is tired of hearing from me, I am sure that is true of Sen. Durbin's office as well. I will continue to do those things. I will continue to support candidates that I feel have my best interests in mind. What I won't do is vote and support candidates that don't have my best interests at heart. That is what it comes down to and that is a question that everyone should ask themselves.

[Sebastian Doyle]

31. "Plus I want to see him kick Joe Lieberman in the nuts"

That would be a futile effort. He doesn't have any.

[Armstead]

38. Problem is we have to fight those who claim to be "on our side" including Obama

That's what I find so frustrating....Many of the people we put in power to represent us are now the biggest obstacles.

[JDPriestly]

45. Thanks, JoeyT. Beautifully said.

These are moral issues. There can be compromise, but the basic moral issues must prevail. Obama cannot base decisions on moral values and keep Geithner and Summers as his appointees. It just doesn't work. Geithner and Summers are tools of the banking industry. They are against the American people and American interests, and as long as Obama keeps them around, I have to doubt Obama's own values.

Unfortunately, events present leaders with limited choices. Obama can either side with the banks and Wall Street or with Americans, American industry and jobs. It's impossible to do both. Thus far, Obama has sided with the bankers, Wall Street and the globalists, not with Americans.

The wars are the result of our perverted trade policy. Take care of our trade policy and the wars will take care of themselves.

So, Obama is failing on economic policy. So how about energy and the environment?

How much have we heard Obama talk about energy independence in the past couple of months? I haven't heard much at all. Yet that is the central issue. A strong drive toward more energy independence will make our workers more competitive, eliminate a large part of our trade deficit and our budget deficit and make a better life for all of us. Obama talked a lot about alternative energy and energy independence during the campaign. But, we haven't heard much about it since.

All we've been talking about is health insurance reform for months and months now. Health insurance reform should have passed long ago. It is a huge failure on Obama's part -- not on ours -- that health insurance reform is not a done deal by now.

We have pushed as hard as we can. The Obama administration has not. Don't try to guilt-trip us. We are not living in the White House. We are not paid to run the country. That's Obama's job.

[treestar]

10. Great post!

I know, I know. Those idiots accusing us of "idolizing" Obama are the ones who are guilty of that themselves. That's why they are so "disappointed." They thought he would just be superman and solve everything immediately.

[AngryAmish]

13. There is no I in Obama

[Clio the Leo]

28. ha ha! Love it! NT

[the other one]

14. Actually we did. Now we deserve results.

WE elected a BLACK man with a wierd name. That was a clear message to
the powers that we demand change NOW.

But Obama is more like supply-side Reagan than FDR.

People are entitled to frustration.

Meet the new boss - same as the old boss.

[Cha]

43. You discredit yourself with your

stupid little saying. Shows you haven't been paying attention..just want to jump on and whine.

[HopeOverFear]

19. Did something happen overnight?

what fresh batch of whiny hell is this?

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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

[Ganja Ninja]

20. If I knew I was going to have to march on Washington with a ..

pitchfork and torch I wouldn't have bothered voting. We elected these people and I expect them to do the work. That's what they get paid for and it's the job of the president to lead the party. Stop blaming the voters and blame the party leaders for allowing the party brand to become diluted and sabotaged by the blue dogs.

[HopeOverFear]

24. *smh*

[Better Believe It]

21. We should blame ourselves for the Great Recession? Since when do we run the government?

So the Democrats who control Congress and the White House do not have any responsibility for what happens in health care "reform" and the economy.

And how does President Obama and the Democratic Party leadership in Congress want us to jump start the economy since we are the ones supposedly in charge now?

That's a pretty lame argument you just presented. Is that the best buck passing talking point you can come up with?

[HopeOverFear]

26. "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...

I'm asking you to believe in yours" - Barack Obama

[Better Believe It]

OK Time to start demonstrating your ability President Obama. We'll back you up.

Just fricken do something .... we need jobs now!

[123m456h789d]

27. DEM teaparty group

Obama is doing a wonderful Job, to bad that some people is to blind to see it. Just like the GOP no matter what he do it never good enough. Look what all the man have done. in the mist of all the mess he have to clean up, this is a hard job, Just because he tell congress what to do don't mean they are goning to do it. Just like some people on this blog, they just like to complain about every thing. ( he should do a palin and walk) and let these ass hole fin for them selves.

[Garam_Masala]

29. Okkkkkk...I will try to vote in US Senate this week...

oops...wait I can't!

[Better Believe It]

33. And I'll strong arm Senators who are relucant to support a strong job creating stimulus

Oh .... that's Rahm Emanuel's job, President Obama!

[Kitsune]

30. We did our part by giving him an almost unheard-of majority.

Apparently he considers his part to be "let the right wingers run away with everything and do my best to maintain the status quo."

[HopeOverFear]

36. I know right? Because he's superhuman and can keep after EVERYONE

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

[Cha]

44. Yeah, time to sit on your ass and whine.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[HughBeaumont]

34. Er, we can't force a bunch of rich white old men to be benevolent and stop loving cash.

Or stop loving and taking advantage of their vast income inequalities. Or tax breaks. Or cheap labor.

Well, we CAN, but that would result in the economy being turned on it's ear, chaos, bedlam, inflation, scenarios ripe for totalitarianism and martial law, etc.

The "you first" citizenry cannot have their lives stopped or harmed in ANY way. One, just ONE arrest would mean losing EVERYthing, and those rich motherfuckers know this.

The only way this unbridled corporatist train wreck is going to be cleaned up is via a much, MUCH needed WPA program. The private sector has proven themselves to be worse than useless as far as job creation goes; they're too cost and quarterly profits batshit to accomplish anything that does anyone other than the cronies a shitspeck of good.

We also need to stop at least one if not BOTH of these wars. Useless beyond argument, futile beyond reason, costly beyond our ability to pay.

[Armstead]

37. Obams has to remember who "we" are though, and stop hanging out with the DLC

[Cha]

39. Thank you, johnaries!

No excuses..that's exactly what he knows and what a lot of us have been doing. Didn't stop at the voting booth.