Roland Martin: Obama's problem? No one fears him

[WI_DEM]

After his Martha's Vineyard vacation, President Obama signaled he was ready to do battle leading up to the 2012 re-election. But the bungling, and eventual capitulation, over when he would address a joint session of Congress to present a jobs plan shows that we have seen more of the same: a decisive action taken by Obama, only to back down and acquiesce to the GOP.

After Obama buckled to Speaker John Boehner by postponing the speech to Thursday, a hardcore Democrat, who hates anything the GOP does and has never voted for a Republican for president, texted me the following: "Does the POTUS need back surgery? I think he does. He needs a spine transplant."

President Obama's feeble attempt to engage his foes is angering those who are ready to do battle and have his back. I've heard it from folks in the labor movement, civil rights leaders, women and young folks. And don't be surprised if polling shows that independents want a president who will stick to his guns, even if they disagree with him on policy.

Americans respond to decisiveness. They respond to a leader who makes clear what he wants and will use the power of the presidency to lead his troops up the hill to take on those who oppose him.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/09/02/martin.obama.power/

[boston bean]

1. Well, that's an obvious observation.

Finally Roland! and Thank you!

[joeybee12]

2. I rarely agree with Roland, but he's right on this one...knr

[Fumesucker]

3. Nah, the real problem is that Republicans fear their base..

While Democrats despise theirs.

[dgibby]

4. That too,

but I also agree with Roland on this one. No one in Congress would have dared to treat LBJ like this and lived to talk about it (metaphorically speaking, of course).

[Fumesucker]

5. With Dubya it would have been literal..

Those Democrats who got anthrax got a warning letter, without the letter they'd have died of it.

[txlibdem]

6. Obama lost my vote when he unilaterally shelved single payer - before any debate had begun

Candidate Obama high tailed it out of Washington when he saw that not everyone was going to pave his path with a red carpet and succumb to his winning smile and great speeches.

President Obama has said and done the opposite of almost EVERYTHING that Candidate Obama claimed he stood for.

But he doesn't have to give a rats ass... he's worth $10 Million Dollars.

[ecstatic]

7. So who are you voting for next year?

Inquiring minds...

[deacon]

8. Probably rick perry. n/t

[txlibdem]

21. Wrong again

Deacon is an interesting name... it brings to mind the following.

http://southern4life.blogspot.com/2011/08/rick-perrys-partner-in-crime-willie.html

[carrowsboy]

9. I'm doing a write-in...

...for Howard Dean.

[FrenchieCat]

14. You might as well not vote than......

cause that's in essence the only thing you will be doing,
and you know it.


Howard Dean to support Obama 2012
http://www.wcax.com/story/13449886/fmr-gov-howard-dean-says-hes-not-running-for-pres-in-2012?redirected=true


HDean: No One Has A Successful "Foreign Policy Record" Like Obama
“But, he’s getting our troops out of Iraq. They’ll be almost all gone by the end of this year, if not all of them. The Afghan war is being drawn down. Osama bin Laden is dead and Muammar Gaddafi is on his way out.Nobody’s had a foreign policy record like that since — I don’t know how far back you’d have to go. Not Ronald Reagan, not George W. Bush. Nobody. I don’t know, you’d have to go back to Harry Truman before — or Franklin Roosevelt before you get a record like that.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/08/23/dean_no_one_has_a_successful_foreign_policy_record_like_obama.html

[treestar]

19. Who has never, ever done a single thing you disagree with?

Hi Howard.

[RickFromMN]

11. I will, reluctantly, vote a straight Democratic ticket, putting my hopes on the Senate Democrats.

I hope the Senate Democrats kill the worst policy shifts.

I hope we get someone better in 2016. 2016 won't come soon enough.

[txlibdem]

20. I will not be voting for the current Republican in Dems clothing, pls see post #16

That is the candidate I will be voting for. One with backbone, not one who changes the date of his address to congress twice to accommodate the Republicans. Not one who has, at every opportunity, backed down to Repuke threats and intimidation. Not one who has, according to Boehner himself, given the opposition 98% of what they wanted.

I am waiting for a true Democrat, a true Progressive, a candidate with a spine, to step forward and bravely throw his or her hat into the ring. That is who I will vote for.

[JanMichael]

23. A conservative. Obama. nt

[FrenchieCat]

12. So that means Obama never had your vote, as he didn't run on the platform of single payer.....

so who DID you vote for?

[txlibdem]

27. You seem to remember things a little differently than I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

"The YouTube video , which isn't the greatest quality, shows Obama speaking in a meeting room to an audience that interrupts him from time to time with applause. A sign on the podium says "AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women's Rights Conference," and Obama sounds like he's giving a campaign speech:

"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its gross national product on health care, cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody."

... from http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/16/barack-obama/obama-statements-single-payer-have-changed-bit/

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Obama during Primaries: 'Transitioning to Single-Payer'
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/obama_during_primaries_transit.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------

But, always the true Politician, he also has made many statements that the never said those things:

Obama vs. Obama on Single Payer

by: David Sirota
Wed Aug 12, 2009 at 09:15

I think President Obama is doing a pretty good job pushing a pretty good health care message. But I just want to point out that he doesn't help himself when he makes verifiably dishonest statements without any explanation whatsoever. Specifically, I'm talking about this from his New Hampshire town hall meeting:

"I have not said I am a single payer supporter." - Barack Obama, 8/11/09

As I noted in a column a few months back, Obama in 2003 explicitly said he supported single payer health care - and that the only obstacle to its enactment was Democrats taking back the White House and the Congress (which, of course, they've subsequently done).

http://www.openleft.com/diary/14576/obama-vs-obama-on-single-payer

And Ezra Klein says he never said or promised anything like Single Payer:
Remembering Obama's campaign health-care plan
...from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/remembering_barack_obamas_camp.html

So, you can go on remembering the way you want to, and I'll take the same privilege if you don't mind.

[geek tragedy]

34. American Thinker is an apparatus of the Republican party.

FAIL.

[txlibdem]

37. It's in the youtube video, right at the start -- YOU FAIL

Read the entire post and you won't look so foolish next time.

[treestar]

18. We were not going to get single payer

And it is too easy to lose your vote. Who is your Congress critter? They must have voted at least once in a way you don't like. So you're never going to vote for him/her again right? Who are your Senators? They cannot have followed your dictates on everything either.

You may as well never vote.

[txlibdem]

33. We'll never get Single Payer with "The Capitulator In Chief" in the Oval Office

But you bring up a good point. My congress critter is John Cornyn, a slimy repuke liar/thug/thief. I consistently vote against him and when I am able to get around better (hopefully my disability is not permanent), I will be marching and knocking on doors to get his oil-soaked bottom out of that chair.

"You may as well never vote." I don't agree. If my vote can send a message, even symbolic, to that politician (or another who follows what the voters actually want) then it's never a waste. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

[thucythucy]

10. When the president said

almost immediately after the election that he didn't want Lieberman removed from any of his committee chairmanships, this signaled that no Democrat anywhere would ever pay a political price for opposing this administration. I mean, imagine if any major Democrat had spoken at the 1960 or 1964 National Republican convention, urging Democrats to vote for Nixon or Goldwater. Can anyone imagine JFK or LBJ giving that joker a pass?

It's been downhill from there.

[FrenchieCat]

13. Yes......it is best when folks are fearful of their President!

I suggest we bring back "W" then!

We feared him and we loathed him,
while many here only loath Obama!

[txlibdem]

16. You need to hear this quote from FDR - it will show you how a real leader acts and speaks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yoZHs6PsU

This is from 72 years ago, tell me if any of it sounds familiar to what we see today?

PS, if you are too busy to hear the entire 3 minutes 18 seconds of it the quote starts about 2:55 or so.

[Logical]

24. You do not get it Frenchie. You never will. We need a fighter, not a coward.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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

[treestar]

17. Unrec

What a crap world it would be where being "feared" would be best.

I remember a scene on Law and Order where some Russian immigrants told the cops that no one is afraid of the cops here in the U.S. (As they would have been in the USSR). That is why this is a great country.

[Logical]

25. You do not understand the post at all. "feared" means politically. Wow, fail!

[treestar]

26. No one should be "feared" in this country

No one should be afraid of anyone. That is our ideal.

You give credence to right wingers who claim we want a thuggish dictatorship like the USSR.

[Logical]

28. You sound like Obama. Gullible as hell. The GOP has kicked Obama in the nuts 10 times and he....

still thinks they are friends.

Unbelievable.

[treestar]

29. The GOP has not "kicked Obama" in any way

not allowed for under our system. They were voted in.

Your language is the language of bullies.

No President has the power to make others "afraid" of him. Leave the fear to Stalin.

[Logical]

30. Wow, ok, you are beyond fixing.

[treestar]

31. Fixing apparently means preferring a thuggish dictatorship

to our system? And apparently insisting that it is that way already?

:rofl:

What a horrible attitude. Do you believe people "fear" you?

[Logical]

36. Do you think the GOP "respects" Obama? Has he demanded any respect? I imagine....

you are the type who let's everyone walk all over you in life.

[SidDithers]

22. Perhaps if Obama started wearing an ascot, he'd be more fearsome...nt

Sid

[treestar]

32. A crown might be helpful

Or one of those uniforms, like Mao's or Stalin's.

[dbt]

35. And whose fault might that be?

Could it be...(reverb on) SATAN?



:evilgrin: