“Mr. Halfway”-"In the end-the President had made the Repubs look bad-but what did he get for it?"

[kpete]

"Because of the extent to which the President had allowed the Republicans to set the terms of the debate, the attitude of numerous congressional Democrats toward him became increasingly sour, even disrespectful. After Obama introduced popular entitlement programs into the budget fight, a Democratic senator described the attitude of a number of his colleagues as:

Resigned disgust at the White House: there they go again. “Mr. Halfway” keeps getting maneuvered around as Republicans move the goalposts on him.

According to a report in The Hill newspaper in late June, the tough-minded, experienced, and blunt Democratic Representative Henry Waxman of California told Obama in a White House meeting that he’d asked several Republicans about their meeting with him the day before, and, “To a person, they said the President’s going to cave.” Then the congressman said to the President of the United States, “And if you’re going to cave, tell us right now.” The President was reported to have been displeased, and responded, “I’m the President of the United States; my words carry weight.”



http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/what-were-they-thinking/?page=2

[DJ13]

1. "my words carry weight.”

....like the rocks falling during a cave in.

[Hawkowl]

9. If you have to TELL somebody you are President

Then your words don't mean shit.

[tularetom]

2. We were all told to STFU when we questioned the health care "reform" bill

So we did.

And then after the trade-the bush-tax-cut-extension-for-unemployment-benefits, we were again told it was a good deal. So once again we STFU.

Now we're hearing talk that the president unilaterally offered to make alterations to the Social Security and Medicare programs which would negatively affect many poor, middle class, and elderly Americans.

And when we dare to express concern that these rumors may indeed be factual, we're called disloyal.

Well, I'm completely loyal - to the Democratic party and the principles it has come to represent. IMO it is the President who has abandoned those principles

I intend to vote for the President in 2012. But that doesn't prevent me from expressing a negative opinion about his negotiating skills.

And I don't expect to be accused of racism or some other bullshit because I do so.

I remember the early days of this administration when the glow was starting to fade and disillusionment was setting in. People said "We voted for Roosevelt but we got Clinton." Well, as dissatisfied as I was with Clinton, I wish we had him back. I think we got Jimmy Carter.

[Selatius]

4. Obama never advertised himself as the next FDR. I was not convinced by his campaign.

There were no candidates in the primaries except Kucinich who advertised their platform as broadly left wing and strongly pro-labor. I was forced to pick Obama because McCain-Palin was the only other option.

[EFerrari]

7. What are we going o do if these cuts happen?

I don't know that the Congressional Democrats can stop them.

[Big Blue Marble]

3. Elizabeth Drew is an excellent journalist of the old school.

Words fail me in reading that the "Grand Bargain" to trade cuts in SS, Medicare, and Medicaid are no more than a strategy
to gain independent votes in the next election and that Obama is being guided in this path by his political advisors.

[DJ13]

5. guided in this path by his political advisors

He needs new advisors, these seem to be Republicans in hiding.

[kath]

6. Not even hiding much, anymore. The masks have slipped.

[JDPriestly]

8. Obama is a joke. He is an absolute joke.

Nobody who understands how to negotiate could take him seriously.

Either Obama does not know what he is doing or he wants to start down the slippery slope of destroying Medicare and Social Security -- a distinct possibility considering his appointment of Geithner and the members of the Cat Food Commission.

Don't expect Obama to be elected in 2012.

The disgust about this will grow over time. Obama has let down a key voter group, a group that goes to the polls quite reliably.

And the public will not blame the Republicans. They will blame Obama because Obama hogged center stage during the "negotiations."

The least Obama could have done, had he been smart, was to let some other individual take the blame for this.

Incredible. Just so naive.

[AtomicKitten]

10. With your avatar, you can't possibly be sporting a straight face.

[quaker bill]

11. Making repugs look bad

what more does one need?