Meet Jim Messina, Obama's 'Enforcer' Against Progressives

[ProudDad]

He's been called "the most powerful person in Washington that you haven't heard of."

In March 2009 the Campaign for America’s Future, a top progressive group in Washington, launched a campaign called “Dog The (Blue) Dogs” to pressure conservative Blue Dog Democrats to support President Obama’s budget. When he heard about the effort, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, who was regarded as the Obama administration’s designated “fixer,” called CAF’s leaders into the White House for a dressing down, according to a CAF official. If the group wanted to join the Common Purpose Project, an exclusive weekly strategy meeting between progressive groups and administration officials, CAF had to drop the campaign. We know how to handle the Blue Dogs better than you do, Messina said. Not wanting to sour its relationship with the White House at this early date, CAF complied, and the campaign quickly disappeared from its website. Despite Messina’s assurance, however, the Blue Dogs would remain a major obstacle to the realization of the president’s legislative agenda.

The hardball tactics used by Messina against CAF exemplified how the Obama administration would operate going forward—insistent on demanding total control, hostile to any public pressure from progressives on dissident Democrats or administration allies, committed to working the system inside Washington rather than changing it. As deputy chief of staff, Messina held the same position once occupied by Karl Rove (and Josh Lyman on The West Wing). He worked as a top lieutenant for Rahm Emanuel and became the administration’s lead enforcer after Emanuel left for Chicago. White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer calls Messina “the most powerful person in Washington that you haven’t heard of.” Messina’s dream job was to become chief of staff. Instead, he recently got an arguably more important assignment—manager of Obama’s re-election campaign.

http://www.alternet.org/story/150467/meet_jim_messina%2C_obama%27s_%27enforcer%27_against_progressives?akid=6779.152900.06YCYx&rd=1&t=18

Gee, I feel all hopey and changey...

[jaxx]

1. Interesting the article blows the excuse that Obama

had a fool proof majority by now saying the blue dogs were monkey wrenches to the agenda.
Thanks.

[ProSense]

2. Jim Messina Is a Perfect Choice to Be Obama's Campaign Manager

Jim Messina Is a Perfect Choice to Be Obama's Campaign Manager

[jaxx]

3. Sounds like the right guy for the job to me.

He does produce results.

[eomer]

7. Yes, as long as we don't care if the results are rightwing.

Yay!

[Ramulux]

8. That article is a complete misrepresentation of his record

[dionysus]

4. ahhhh. today's outrage fix....

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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

[ooglymoogly]

6. Gee could this have anything to do with the undying support of

the fiasco bluedogs blanch Lincoln, Martha Coakley et al and the rug being pulled from progressives like Alan Grayson.

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Arkana]

10. Martha Coakley was no Blue Dog.

I defy you to go through her platform and find anything that says "conservadem" to you. She's been a fantastic AG for Massachusetts, and her only failing was, unfortunately, her complete inability to run a Senate campaign.

And Grayson yanked his own rug out from under him when he decided to tell such a blatant lie about his Republican opponent.

[ooglymoogly]

12. Ah yes, a progressive Attorney General.

A platform is what gets you elected. 0 had one of those.

Martha ran against a real progressive in the primaries.

Martha was no progressive no matter what platform she ran on. Try matching a few of the "platforms" of bluedogs to their actions and see what you come up with.

As far as Alan Grayson is concerned the DLC and the powers that be in the Democratic leadership told Alan to go pound sand and that they had more important races and candidates to concentrate and spend our money on; Blanch Lincoln being one of them; who once again ran against a real progressive who had a real chance of winning, while Blanch had none.

Try to control your contempt for progressives dude.

[Arkana]

16. You can ignore the facts all you want but they're still facts.

It wasn't "hurrrrr contempt for progressives" that made Alan Grayson lose his House race, it was the fact that he decided to lie about his Christian Taliban opponent when there was so much TRUTH to work with.

And you obviously have no idea what Martha Coakley's done for Massachusetts. Her and Mike Capuano were virtually identical on the issues--the only difference was that she promised not to vote for the HCR bill UNLESS it contained a public option. I'd think that would have made her one of you dead-enders' heroes!

[ooglymoogly]

17. I have a name for you to do a little research on, as far as Martha

is concerned....Amirault. She used her heavy hand as AG to keep innocent folks in prison to further her career even though a parole board voted 5 to zip to free them from prison after examining the trumped up evidence to convict at any cost. She is a ruthless, politician who is just that, a politician out of touch with working folk.

I voted for her as the least of two evils because she was all that was available for me as a Democrat to vote for. All my neighbors felt the same about her; except for one who voted Scott, I live in a progressive neighborhood, most of whom able and do give generously to campaigns they believe in, or as you would call them "dead enders" and "losers".

Coakley is just another 0 me-too-er politician clone.

And by the by, name one democrat in a blue state that did not run on a platform that included single payer, (who can resist a chicken in every pot especially when it takes care of everybody and cuts the deficit at the same time?) 0 included, except for a notable honest few, who did not capitulate in the end to 0's back room deal with big insurance and health industry for wealthcare.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Amirault

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/amirault.html

[Arkana]

22. She was an up-and-coming prosecutor. I'm not going to fault her for the fact

that she worked in a broken system that values "the win" over doing what's right.

And while you're at it, why don't you do some research of your own? Like, you know, her leading the charge against DOMA in Massachusetts. Or the fact that Unitil customers would not have gotten any compensation after the 2008 ice storm if it hadn't been for her?

http://www.issues2000.org/senate/Martha_Coakley.htm

There's her issue profile. Tell me, what in it screams "conservadem" other than the fact that she was the favorite in the special election and she wasn't named Mike Capuano?

[ooglymoogly]

18. I assume by your contumelious

pug talking points hyperbole, aimed at the heart of Alan Grayson and his supporters; you were referring to the subject of this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/10/04/907533/-Like-sharia-law-advice-from-Grayson-opponents-gurumentor

Of course corp-media had to destroy Alan, and in Fl. it was not too hard; with a cardboard "church" replete with blinking neon cross strung with xmas tree lights on every corner, especially with a wink and a nod from the Koch funded DLC; this while Rahm was openly recruiting pugs to run as dems.

But I do 'get' where you are coming from.

[Arkana]

23. Continue to defend Grayson all you want

but the fact is that he had so much goddamn truth to work with--his opponent was effectively Christian Taliban--and he chose to run and re-run an ad with a deliberate misquote in it. He should have been smart enough to know that not only is that dishonest, but the media comes down on Democrats a hundred times harder for that kind of shit. I'm not saying it's fair, or right--I'm just saying that's how it is.

And you know what? When a guy falls 15 points behind with less than a few weeks to go, you bet your ass the DCCC is going to yank his funding when there are so many other races that are much closer.

[Arkana]

9. Yeah, just because he tried to whip votes for his boss' health care bill

doesn't mean he's "anti-progressive". The guy's got a proven pro-grassroots record and he worked on Obama 2008 in the higher echelons of the campaign.

[bvar22]

11. More "CHANGE".

I'm close to just letting go,
joining the Happy Parade,
and just accepting the fact that we are ALL Republicans now.

[whistler162]

13. President Obama appoints _________ enemy of Progressives

to the position of ____________


there you go just to make the mindless diatribe easier!

[JoePhilly]

14. +1

[ReggieVeggie]

15. It's nice to have a template

since you need to fill out new data every week or two, it seems

[ProudDad]

20. Yep, here's the template

I hope you can handle the truth...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4?print

And join the struggle on the correct side... :hi:

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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

[craigmatic]

21. So he's not going to run for re-election as a progressive?

I can't say I'm shocked.

[Tesha]

24. This time, *NO ONE* would believe it. (NT)