David Plouffe responded to HairyAnna’s silly article, and I think perhaps he would like to behead the Queen (or maybe that’s just me projecting).
” While I appreciate Arianna Huffington’s kind words about my book on the 2008 Presidential campaign of Barack Obama, I could not disagree more with the suggestion that somehow the President Obama of 2009 has lost touch with candidate Obama in 2008.
Frustration about the pace of change, even disagreement on select issues, of course is understandable. But stepping back a bit, as those of us in the Obama orbit have learned to do, reveals an administration that already has made a significant down payment on the change so many fought for last year. I remain confident in the president’s unique ability not just to lead us through the many challenges and crises of the moment, but also to accomplish the tough, smart, long-term projects of energy and health care reform — problems that Washington has long ignored but that will secure a more equitable and prosperous future for all Americans.
During the campaign, the president offered three core promises to the American people. First, he promised to wake up every day thinking about how to improve the lives of the middle class, a task made more urgent by the historic economic calamity that greeted him as he took office. Some suggested that all that could or should be done was to perform triage on the financial system and allow economic events to take their normal course. But the president undertook strong action to stabilize the banking system, as well as the auto industry. These were things he had to do — not things he wanted to do — and of course they had little political upside. But President Obama is a leader; he did not run to occupy the Oval Office but to lead from it, and many times that means playing a bad hand as effectively as possible.
The president’s actions to stabilize the banking and auto sectors may well have prevented another Great Depression from visiting this country; certainly these measures avoided additional drastic job losses and foreclosures, of which we have already had far too many.
But while dealing with these crises during his first ten months, the president has kept his sights squarely focused on the middle class. He passed a Recovery Act that saved and created a million jobs — many of these backbone middle-class jobs like teachers, firefighters, and police officers — and made historic investments in green energy and technology jobs. His actions spurred a 73 percent increase in lending to small businesses, allowing them to expand and create new jobs; helped hundreds of thousands of responsible Americans keep their homes; and cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. He’s expanded health care for children, passed equal pay for equal work legislation, and expanded stem cell research. And he is now closer than any president in decades to passing health reform that bans insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions, outlaws insurance discrimination based on gender, and caps what patients can be charged out-of-pocket. This effort will be key, because job growth — and the kind of robust economic growth our country needs to create a strong job-producing climate — won’t come without finally getting health care costs under control. Health insurance reform is a key piece of job-growth strategy, as employers of every size can attest.
President Obama’s second core campaign promise was to make government more transparent and accountable, to rebuild a sacred trust that had been seriously eroded. And he has delivered. He closed the revolving door, forbidding anyone who works in his administration from lobbying when they leave their jobs. For the first time in history, names of visitors to the White House will be released, so every American can see which interests and individuals are visiting their government. And the groundbreaking website recovery.gov is allowing Americans to trace every dollar spent and every job created or saved from the recovery act, adding a level of transparency never before seen.
The third core pillar the president offered America was the chance to rebuild and strengthen our relationship with the rest of the world. Doing so would to allow us to solve shared problems and maximize shared opportunities, and to more effectively confront the terrorism and foreign policy challenges faced by the entire world.
He is, of course, delivering on that promise, to a degree even his most hardened detractors would strain to effectively or credibly criticize. The president is winding down the war in Iraq, just as he promised he would during the campaign. And he is working thoughtfully and with great care to determine our next phase in Afghanistan, always keeping the long view in mind. Surely we can all agree this is a refreshing change from the approach to Iraq of six and seven years ago.
Is there much work left to be done? Of course. Is the president satisfied with where we are on jobs? No; the problem weighs on him every day as he works to accelerate job growth and negotiates a cooperative relationship with the private sector, where the bulk of these new jobs must be generated.
The economy is growing again, much sooner than most experts predicted. If growth continues, it should lead to job growth. And the president’s bold leadership has played a significant role in our economy starting to right itself.
But he understands that unless we make much-needed progress on health care and energy, we will not be as strong a country in the decades to come as any of us would like. Our future truly depends on finally getting Washington to start confronting long-term challenges instead of ducking them. This is asking a lot. Washington is often reserved when it needs to be bold, and political when it should be addressing substance and principle. It is too often focused on the next election, not the next generation.
This is one of the president’s great strengths. All he cares about, no matter the barbs and arrows shot his way, is to finally deliver on health insurance and energy reform so that we can ensure our country’s greatness, and provide a solid economic foundation for American workers today and tomorrow.
Arianna Huffington has written much that I agree with. But when it comes to her opinion on the president and his record so far, or her suggestion that there is some great difference between the president and the candidate, I have to register the strongest possible dissent. A year after our historic victory, I have never been more certain that Barack Obama is uniquely suited to lead the country at this unparalleled moment. His values; his ability and desire to think long term; his determination to avoid the easy road of political expedience and to rebuild trust between the American people and their government — these are exactly what American needs right now. As on any journey, there will be twists and turns, ups and downs. But the change so many of us fought for so passionately last year is becoming a reality in front of our eyes, if we focus squarely enough to see it. And when the decisions he is making today finally resolve into a complete picture years down the road, we will find ourselves living in a stronger, fairer, and more prosperous America. And we will cherish the small part all of us played in electing this unique leader, a man befitting this critical moment in our history.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-plouffe/president-obama-and-candi_b_343985.html
KillgoreTrout
bito
* Americans Elect has officially given up...Time Out for O/T
Caru
BourneID
SueInCa
AdLib
kesmarn
Excellent, BFF.Time Out for O/T
Plouffe is scheduled to be on NPR’s “Fresh Air” today.
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Does anybody watch Beck or Hannity or OReilly or listen to Limbaugh or any of those others? I only see small clips of these guys on Olbermann or Maddow but I know some people actually watch. I’m pretty sure these people bash KO and Maddow but I’m wondering if they ever go after Arianna. Does anyone know?
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I have on occasion watched Beck, Hannity/Oreilly, but not at length…makes my blood pressure go up too high.
A friend, with a stronger stomach, watches more than I. She knows my HP background and I’m sure she would share if that was happening. Only time I heard of HP being brought up was when they were outraged because Nico Pitney was allowed to ask O a question during a press conference this past June.
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I can’t watch them either. It’s my aversion to lying and stupidity, probably. If you haven’t looked at them, try
http://www.newshounds.us/
http://www.newscorpse.com/
Both provide good summaries of the tomfoolery going on daily at Fox.
Good Morning, HITO.
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Same here. They make me gag.
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Thanks for the support last night. The moose bake is on the schedule!
Playing it semi-straight Sarah was interesting. BTW, you got a new fan last night via my PUMA Ann fighting sock.
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HA HA….I should have known that was you.
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I am attempting to write with FranNotFromCA in a slightly different style than I usually do, no word contradictions (“don’t” does not occur) But I’ve used this sock variant before. I used to have StanNotFromCA, and cancelled it when I purged socks a few weeks ago.
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So are you FrannotfromCA?
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You can’t post PlanetPOV’s link on hp, eh?
Just tried. Pended into hell.
Anyway around that?
Thanks.
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The redirect is http://planetpov.wordpress.com/
Or some people are putting the PlanetPOV stuff in their profile and then telling people to go look in their profile.
Evening, HITO
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I think we had it redirected. Can’t remember that address though.
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Good stuff to point out. Unfortunately the Imperatrix is more interested in driving a message.
Just wanted some thoughts on this regarding our cyber-siren luring of unsuspecting progressive sojourners with her shrill sensationalism:
“In modern Greek, the word malakas is used metaphorically in everyday speech to define the individual that uses no common sense, who instead repeats the same mistakes many times over, while maintaining an attitude of self-righteousness.”
http://www.malakas.org/malakas.html
P.S., fem. is malakism
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Hmm, unicode support less than desirable for eta and omega transliteration – malakismene, malako.
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Thanks for posting this. I see huffy has let a couple response articles get through. But her mission was accomplished she got attention for herself and her website and it really does not matter that her argument is bullshite.
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That’s what I figure. Her aim was very likely to get pretty much what she got…..attention from the WH, and thus, the rest of the world. blech.
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I was just over at the article, earlier all the responses were negative, but there’s whole lot of posters who I do not know…could it be some of us…flooding the place with positive responses…I got a couple in, but then started to get scrubbed…this will teach the wicked witch of the left
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Nicole, thanks for posting this, reading this article by Plouffe makes the other “journalist” at Huffington Poo look like hacks… I didn’t see this this morning and I’m very suprised that The Queen Bee actually let go through…then I saw the responses…90% negative, so that means her evil plans are working…
Thank you…
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I was one of the supporters and got ONE comment through. Where would she be if she were not naysaying? I am very troubled by her willingness to report UNATTRIBUTED “insider” comments about what Obama does or does not want to do, all of which have been wrong. Obama has snakes in the WH – I know two of them, one personally – and am pretty sure they are the sources. Why would she give aid and comfort to two pretty conservative people with agendas of their own? Well – it makes headlines, right? She never retracts any of it either. In CA she is entirely responsible for Schwarzenegger’s win – when he finally agreed to a debate, he was asked what HE would do to clean up the state’s mess, Arianna broke in, and he never EVER had to say anything at all so no one realized what a buffoon he was. She’s a headline grabber, and nothing more.
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My pleasure. She is something. What exactly that is, I will leave to Kalima to describe since she does such a beautiful job of it!!
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OT Grabamop. Who is that person at HP who dislikes my Sarah impression so badly? I saw you fanned him, and he doesn’t like Sarah P, but what is his issue?
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It’s obvious that Hairyanna wants to make the news. I can’t imagine what her opinion will be of the elections today.
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I think I will stay away from HP tomorrow. I am afraid I would wind up banned.
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Arianna = Queen of posturing for a cause, hers.
Obama = King of the majority, who never had a silver spoon embedded in his palate, unlike his predecessor. He gets us and thank God for that.
Excellent work Nicole.
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Thanks, I just did a c & p. She is big on posturing, isn’t she?!
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Excellent article. With lots of facts and examples to support Plouffe’s argument. I look forward to the day when he will be posting articles on this site, where the comment section might do his piece justice, rather than simply listing the latest talking points from right wing talk radio — as the current HP comment section is doing.
This article really needs to be sent to the NYT as an op ed. I don’t think we have seen as articulate an enumeration of Mr. Obama’s accomplishments during this short time in office in any other publication.
I think I’ll break my boycott to make this suggestion in the HP comment section. I wonder if I’ll get scrubbed….
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I agree. I suspect you will be scrubbed however. I didn’t even bother to comment over there, although I may just post a few kudos.
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I think our Kudos would get scrubbed, went over to Huff, because I can’t believe this was actually posted there…the comment section was all negative responses…seems like The Queen is getting what she wants…
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Excellent. The main page on HP makes it look like the Triad of Power, with Arianna in a central role. Next she’ll have a poster sized version of her face plastered all over the main. Is it my imagination or is she getting just a teeny bit out of control with the Arianna for Empress propaganda?
I caught a bit of Wolf Blitzer interviewing Axelrod, Gibb and Anita Dunn today. I’m sure I’m prejudiced but those people strike me as genuine human beings with honorable intentions. Compare it with the vibe you get when you see Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. They were talking about the night of the election and what it felt like to first address Obama as the preident-elect and how they were all awkward about it, especially Obama. Call me an idealistic sucker, but I got all teary watching them talk about it.
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esribacat, I saw the same interview while cooking dinner, tears did come to my eyes when they were talking about their children and how a black man, and women as the speaker of the house, are now the norm for them…and of course Wolf Ditzer tried to ruin the moment…but they were better than him and he failed to find a fault…loved every moment of the interview…Isn’t wonderful to have reall intelligent adults in the White House….
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Do you know if the interview is posted online anywhere, BDM?
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Try the CNN.com archives, there might be a transcript section for each show’s segments..it was shown between 6:oo – 6:30 pm EST, I’m not sure of the exact time..
It was a great interview, except for some of Wolf’s stupid questions…these guys were good, didn’t bite and stayed on topic…
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Okay, thanks BDM!!
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escribacat, *THANK YOU*
you’ve given me a GREAT idea!!!
AC
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Ohh, can’t wait to see it!!!
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Plastered all over the main or used as a watermark on each page? Imagine a ghost Arianna staring back at you no matter where you go at HP? And it would stay in view no matter how much scrolling you did? Ahhhhhgggg.
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BITE your tongue!!!
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And like on Freecell, the eyes would track your curser with every move.
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OMG, I think that would definitely cure me of my addiction!
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I feel the same way about Obama’s people, escriba. And, I absolutely think that AH is caught up in a power fantasy.
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Kudos to Plouffe and if I was wearing one, I’d tip my hat for him. Oops, the Empress will not be amused, I love it!!
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I don’t imagine he’ll be getting asked back to post again, and who needs him with Bill Maher to parrot what she’s writing?
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Ha ha….I can just imagine the urge to scrub him that came over her. But then she would lose the cachet of having him respond to her silly ass article.
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I imagine her with a mouthful of bile after reading it, having a foot stomping tantrum in her “ivory” penthouse talking to her “Mirror. Mirror on the wall……”
Makes me wanna holla and throw up both my hands!!
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Perfect! Thanks for posting it, Khirad!
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Kalima..your discription of The Empress/Queen is wonderful…I read sleeping beauty to my 5 yr old niece all the time..I’m envisioning this scene that you describe using a Disney setting…the mirror is very large and the face of the ‘mean Queen’ as my niece calls her…LOL!
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Thank you BDM, I can’t get the image of the Wicked Queen staring in her mirror out of my head when I see or read about the naked Empress. It amuses me for hours on end.
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I know what you mean, envisioning her naked is a bit much…but I’m sure she has had some work done and exercises all the time… “you know the cameras darling, put 10 lbs. on you” …she says in her most outragous ZA ZA Gabor voice!
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Naked, good Lord, I just got a touch of the “vapours” pass the smelling salts please!
About that voice……….
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Bawahahahaha…….I would so pay to see that!
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Me too and I would pay the paparazzi who landed the first exclusive pictures of the reddened face and the rumpled hair after she had tried to pull it out in handfuls.
I have a photo somewhere that came about when I stopped my IPod news podcast during the time she was on, it’s hilarious but I don’t know how to get it to show here and might use it in a later post.
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I can’t wait to see it, Kalima!!
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I might just upload it into the PlanetPOV library so that someone else can use it. I have nothing nice or new to write about HRH anyway.
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Bravo!
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Thanks for posting this, Nicole!
Nice post, Nicole, and thanks. Like many, I initially wondered why Her Majesty would allow a dissenting opinion to appear on her site. But you answered the question perfectly yourself when you said she wouldn’t want to “lose the cachet of having him respond to her silly ass article.” Great observation, wise woman!
Aryanna is a genuine mercenary. A trend-surfer who would surprise nobody if she became so “disillusioned” with our Prez that she “had to” veer back to the right.
PuffHo…for a while it was a nice place to visit. Donn’t want to live there, though!
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Yeah, unfortunately she got almost exactly what she wanted. The only way it could have been better for her is if Plouffe’s article been more complimentary to her own analysis.
I am glad he refuted her bs, but far fewer people will see it than saw hers, and it did provide her with another notch in her crown.
*sigh*
Like Nellie said, if I had the money, I would so fund a competitor.
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Maybe—we have met that competitor and it is us!
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He did do good. I had to post it. I was thrilled to see it, actually!!
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