Mr. President, I support you. Always have. Always will.
I know there are some Obama supporters who are disappointed in you first year. Sir, I am not one of them. Perhaps the difference is that I REMEMBER the promises of CANDIDATE Obama & the promises he made. You never said it would be easy; you never said it would happen at once and you ALWAYS said you could NOT do it alone.
I think it is a miracle you have managed to accomplish as much as you have in one year, more than any President since Franklin Roosevelt given The Situation (and I ain’t talking about the Jersey Shore!). The Rethugs have fought you every step of the way; they’ve made no secret that they hope you will fail & that they will do their part to ensure it (I’m talking to YOU, DeMint!). Remember the Town Halls, sir? It started then. The false cries of “Get the Government out of my life” (then stay out of my uterus!) or “I’m scared. I want my country back” (it’s a new day; lose the sheet, bro!). I call BS on them. How can you take a party that calls themselves Tea Baggers seriously? I mean REALLY!
And let’s be real: there are SOME people, more than we might care to admit, who are simply ticked off that a Black man is president. Period. That is all they need to fuel their “voter outrage” & it’s the last I will say on THAT subject.
Sir, some of your supporters claim you ran on CHANGE but have yet to deliver it. I would argue that you HAVE: there has been a CHANGE in tone, approach, doctrine, even enunciation; stance and swagger (from cruel to cool). That is change I can believe in.
So sir, I support you today as much as I did on that first day in October 2007. I will continue to work on your behalf. I am prepared for the fight ahead. I will not wavier, I will not let you down. I know I can count on you to do the same.
May your heart be light, your spirit strong, your soul nourished and our glorious First Family healthy & happy…today…and forever.
Good luck with your speech tonight!
Love,
Lulu
Apparently, 94% of Bill O’Reilly’s audience approves of our president, too!
http://www2.foxnews.com/polls/poll_results/bg_results_oreilly.jpg__basic_2662.htm
I am genuinely shocked by that number! Is that for real?
I’m not sure if it’s real, but found it here and then went to the site for the link –
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/29/831802/-OReilly-viewers-give-Obama-94-approval
They clearly need more Hannity and Beck. The serial misogynist isn’t sufficiently alarmed by the Commie Fascist plot to compulsory abortions, death panels and mandates that everyone be bicurious. Oh yes, it’s all in the pipeline.
Billo must not be doing his job!
That’s awesome.
KQ I am sure you feel better now that you feel you have effectively called me out and called me “intellectually dishonest”…
Excuse me I used the plural wars, Escalating War… Sending in 30,000 Troops with all it takes to support them and calling it escalation of war is perfectly honest.(no intellect needed on that one)
Not that there is any difference at all but
nellie, I am beginning to become a convert to your statement that the element of this “freeze” is an attempt to use it as a de facto line item veto. On the military spending David Axelrod did not rule out any spending cuts/freezes in military spending
However he also cited the very reasons you gave about not “freezing” the military budget now.
I think having a constitutional scholar as president is going to be a very interesting experience. I personally believe that Obama is going to push the constitutional structure to the limits — but for reasons and in ways very different from what we’ve seen for the past 30 years.
At the R’s get-a-way to day they told Obama that they would support a line item veto on budget matters if it was tied to TAX CUTS! 🙂 Obama replied millionaires don’t need more tax cuts.
From an AP story
Love that straight talk. It’s not McCain’s “Express” — it’s O’s Bullet Train.
Love this line by Obama –
Face to face, Obama urges GOP to work with Dems
(ut, oh – that link is tickling Cher’s neighbor in her bedroom again!)
I wold have loved to have been at that meeting! 👿
OOOOOH!! 😆
Bito & Nellie,
I could not agree more.
The scholarly philosophical approach that Pres Obama has initiated is so incredibly diplomatic and clever that it is devastatingly disarming and frustrating to his opponents. The task of picking and choosing his battles carefully, is the sign of a master of negotiation. Everyday I am awed by his ability to remain firm in the face of such tumultuous events.
Nellie, you, KQuark and AdLib our like smarter, wonkier versions of myself. You articulate, backed up in detail, what I often only intuitively grasp.
This post was no exception. 😀
Thank you, but I must object. 🙂 The articles you post about Iran are some of the most mind bending, intelligent pieces of writing I’ve read anywhere.
I have my niche, I’ll admit. 😉
Well being as no one has done so yet directly, I will apologize.
LuluMay thank you for sharing your own very personal feelings about your President. It was honest and heartfelt as were some of your earlier posts last year.
I’m sorry that you have returned to find your message trampled on and littered with debris, please don’t let this stop you from sharing your thoughts or your pride in your President. I for one am always ready to listen.
Thank you so much for the inspiration.
LULU, you speak from the heart, and I love it. Add my name to your list, your letter is so genuine, Bravo!
Here’s a re-post from last night, but I edited it today.
Let me throw this out. I believe that maybe 10-20% of the country are Liberals. But that same percentage can be said of the far right. The rest are on a spectrum in between. Yet all the noise is coming from the right, and they have the attention of the media and Congress
I share your feelings, Cher. I think progressives need to learn how to voice dissent without creating an echo chamber where all we hear — from all directions — is Obama bashing.
I think there are those hardcore people on the left (whatever that means) who really don’t support this president or his agenda, who would rather vote for a third party, and who really don’t see any difference between Dems and the GOP. They are not going to change their minds. These are like the folks I used to work with in the Green Party. They’re sincere. And I agree w much of their political philosophy — I just don’t agree with their political strategy.
Yes, Nellie. I think we need to be precise when we talk about the Left. There are certainly those who are so far on the Left as to not be Democrats, but actually a Third, more radical party. (I’m not sure where I am on the spectrum, but I am left of Obama but right of the Greens.) But for my point above, I am not talking about the radicals, but about the ones who mistook Obama for a true Progressive and who worked hard to get him elected– not Noam Chomsky territory though. Those are the voters I am worried about.
The thing is, even those like me have plenty to motivate us, even if it is not Obama’s Centrist positions– namely, the fact that to allow the Republicans to regain power would be a honest-to-god end of Democracy. That’s worth fighting AGAINST, in the very same way the Right is fighting against progress. I want the left to get really energized around that, if nothing else!
And to those who dismiss my feelings as voting for “the lesser of two evils” I say, BS. Even if that were true, it’s still worth fighting against the much greater evil. No more false equivalency!
Well said, Cher.
And in all fairness to the president, some of his philosophy is what I would call progressive. He wants health care for everyone, he favors single payer, but he realizes in this environment, we can’t go that way. He wants us to end discrimination based on sexual preference. He’s not all the way to same sex marriage, but he might get there. He believes in a green economy — even though I wince whenever he says “clean coal” (there is no such thing).
So he’s a mixed bag. There is progressive there. There is centrist. There is liberal in there, maybe.
For my part, I support the policies I agree w and work to change the ones I don’t like. Because I believe this is a man who cares about people, so I feel there’s always room for discussion. I never feel that way about the GOP.
Cher, I feel like I’ve spent my entire life voting for the “lesser of two evils.” It’s the nature of the beast — this country is a “superpower” and it behaves like one, both internally and externally. If we could be relieved of that burden, then I think we’d develop naturally into a more Canada-like “personality.” All the complaints that the far left have about this country are valid complaints — but they direct them at single people occupying a position, not at the nation itself. The country itself is the problem, the system is the problem, our history is the problem. I don’t care who we elect — Howard Dean, Ralph Nader, or Kuchinich or Howard Zinn (RIP) — they will still be faced with this monstrosity of a super-capitalist system and they will not be able to transform it alone.
Wow, e’cat, that’s exactly what the analysts at Brookings said in their review of the president’s speech. Maybe they could use another consultant!
Sounds good! I could use the $$! 😆
Cher, what you have expressed has been eating at me for weeks. I have disagreements with the President, but he is still the man I want in the hot seat. BUT, you are right, the left/mid-left/centrist has allowed the GOP to take over the conversation in this country. I do know where I stand on the political sphere, when it comes to fiscal responsibility, I am centrist, when it comes to social responsibility I am at the far left. When it comes to crime, I am probably a little to the right with the exception of the death penalty and our revolving door prisons. I believe in doing the time, but when it is done, a second chance is appropriate.
I am not sure where the “grassroots” excitement went after the election, but it faded with the exception of a flare up every now and then. One thing for sure is that Tim Kaine needs to get out there and start doing his job. He is the Chairman of the Dem party and no one has seen much of him all year long. If being governor and the head of the party was too much for him, he should have stepped aside and let someone else take the reins. Big mistake on the part of the party. Even though Michael Steele is an idiot, he is out there generating publicity and helping the GOP to have their voices heard. We may think it is negative, but show me any republican in office, even under a scandal, that is camera shy. They act like it is nothing, and I always say, they would rather tell a bald faced lie and do a mea cupla afterwards because they know the lie will stick. Truth is not one of their strong points. With that said, I don’t truly believe the republican base is strong enough to win a major election right now. In three years, maybe but I still think reminders of the 8 years of horror are going to hamper any republican opponent. If they win this year and continue to stand in the way of progress, that will be noted as well. People will remember. Because nothing will get done and the middle class will be where they are right now. They do not have the answers and they know it. It will be interesting to see how dems run against them.
That’s a great point, Sue. I have to admit, I didn’t even know Tim Kaine was the Dem chairman. I haven’t noticed a peep from him.
The REAL thing that got Republicans in power was playing to the fears of white Americans. Americans do not believe in what the Republicans are selling it’s more a party based on ethnic identity. Most Americans believe in Democratic policies but voters are not reasonable people.
Dems were exactly where you said you want them to go in the 80’s and early 90’s and they ended up being the minority party. Republicans have made themselves the minority party listening to their base the last two cycles. These are the same arguments the right use and it’s only getting them marginalized more and more with the people.
The numbers you use are not up to date either. It’s 40% who call themselves conservatives and about 20% that call themselves liberal.
So no the left acting like the right wing ideologues is not the answer.
Dems passing legislation and moving the center is the answer. Now if they would just learn that.
That graph amazes me, KQ. I guess I lived in SF so long it seemed like the whole world was liberal. Now I live ten minutes from Planet Boulder (sorry, Adlib, that’s the town’s nickname). What a bubble.
I’ve lived down South for the last 18 years so I think everyone is conservative based on what I see but I grew up in a liberal area of NJ. That probably is why my view of this country’s citizens is different and I think more balanced then some that think liberals somehow are the majority in this country.
The issue I have with the graph and your proposition that the majority of Americans are Center Right is that there is no clarity or consistency as to what “conservative” means.
Someone who believes in balanced budgets but supports a public option may call themselves “conservative”.
Someone who supports the war in Afghanistan and supports a woman’s right to choose though they would never have an abortion themselves may call themselves conservative.
It’s far easier to call oneself a conservative for many reasons than a liberal but the self-application of a title doesn’t mean it’s accurate.
The majority of Americans wanted a Public Option. That’s not conservative. They wanted out of Iraq. That’s not conservative. They wanted Barack Obama as president. That sure ain’t conservative.
Maybe Americans are just trained consumers and can be sold on anything, depending on the product on the pitch?
60-70% of the people wanted to start the war in Iraq too.
It’s not about policies or Dems would win every election I never said people don’t fool themselves who call themselves conservatives. But it is about voters self image. Just denying the facts that people believe themselves to be conservative is misreading the country. I said in another post people identifying themselves as conservatives do so as part of a twisted feeling of ethnic identity.
Even some conservative pundits came out and said they would vote with Obama and it did not change their leanings.
That last thing you said was 100% true the GOP has fooled a nation that was center left who voted on policies to be center right and vote on ethnic identity. The thing we disagree on is how to change the center which I think is simply for the Dems to prove they are capable of governing while others think we need to drags Dems to the left. Centrist Democrat policies are still much better than the party of no.
I agree that labels such as conservative or liberal have, in and of themselves, absolutely no measurable meaning AdLib. A more measurable label would be socially conservative or fiscally liberal but even that is not a true measure of where a person stands on the political scale. A really neat site I discovered a few years back is The Political Compass – a friend of mine, who swears she would never, ever vote anything other than Republican, took the test and was mortified to discover that she was only fiscally conservative – socially, she was very liberal in her views.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/
I’m happy to say I’m further left than both Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama 🙂
That quiz was fun — and my results don’t surprise me at all.
Thanks Mightywoof.
Thanks Mightywoof, that was fun. Didn’t know how far left I realy was…like you, I’m further left than Mandela and Ghandi…
It is a fun test isn’t it 🙂 . I’ve found it useful to start nudging pedantic right-wingers just a little off their perches. So many folks take their political positions from a label – I don’t like liberals so I’m a conservative – without actually examining what their personal beliefs are and what party best represents those beliefs. A bit like the canard that only conservatives can manage a national budget – HA! is all I have to say on that.
Which I guess goes back to what you all seem to be saying on PPOV – do you support a party, right or wrong, or do you walk away in disgust if you don’t get everything you want. My answer is NO – you don’t walk away. To do so is to relinquish any chance of having your voice heard – if a party closely matches your fiscal and social belief system, you should stick with it ‘cos sure as eggs is eggs, the other parties will not represent what you want to accomplish in your life.
That was fun, Mighty! I’m also to the left of everybody and more towards anarchism than everybody. But then, who isn’t? 😉
@ Mighty – You are correct in saying that no one, left or right should abandon a party that is the closest match to their core belief system…by doing that one gives up their voice and their rights.
So many Americans have done that in the past, and since the 2008 Presidential election, I believe the voters woke up to that fact and now are getting more involved in the political process.
This is the one good thing that has come out of the mess of the last 8 yrs, the American people have finally woken up.
Cher, I always thought I was middle of the road with slight left leanings, oh well!
Got my pitchfork and torch, ready when you are! 😆
Hi BDM– I’m ready for the revolt! The thing about those tests is, they do not take so many factors into consideration. I think many people in the middle would be surprised at how left/anarchist they would seem if they took the test too. Also, all the famous people they positioned would need to take it too, also. You betcha!
Cher, I saved this test and may post this link over at HP, if I ever go back there…would be fun to see some neocon taking this test and suddenly seeing that they are a more left than they realized! That would be a hoot! 😯
I’m hovering there myself. My father would be ashamed. 😉
Took the poll and as expected the results showed that I’m a Democrat that leans slightly to the left of center.
Also, took another poll from that site and it is confirmed that I am not a lesbian! 😆
So, my being a “spotter” for my husband is A-Okay!
Thanks, Lulu, for articulating what I feel. I just finished watching SOTU on Whitehouse.gov, and am thrilled by it. I sneaked a peek at that Other Site–surely even they would have been inspired by this speech. But no. Damn, I wish they hadn’t achieved so much influence. I truly don’t understand why any progressives continue to go there.
So what you are saying is you blindly support Ecalating Wars, Freezing/Cuts On Domestic Programs while not Freezing Military Indusdrial Welfare Complex, Taxing Working/Middle Class lucky enough to have Decent Health Care Plans While Making sure The Prez and his Congressional Buddie’s Plans remain Tax Free(not to mention special behind closed door deals with Unions who backed the Prez campaign based on race & gender), The Proliferation of Nuclear Power leaving hazardous Toxic Waste that will haunt future generations for 20,000 years, Secret Military OP’s with Oppressive Despots being directed from the White House, No Presidential Press Conferences for Months on end, Behind Closed Door Deals with Big Pharma,the Praising of the “astonishing progress” of Dubai(Built with Slave Labor)while at the same time Praising Saudi Arabian King Abdullah as a Leader in Interfaith dialogue whose country is one of the most Religiously Oppressive in the World in a speech broadcast across the known Universe and making sure the War Mongering policy’s of the Bush Era stay in place by keeping the handpicked puppets of Dick Cheney in his Administration…
I am damn glad I am a Democrat and not affiliated with the new “progressive Gop movement”
All you need is a couple of patches on a red dress that say “Hope & Change” and you’ll fit right in…
I don’t think there’s anything “blind” or “marching in a red dress” about my continued support. And this sort of stereotyping attack is hardly an appropriate sort of discussion of the issue either.
Stating facts doesn’t equate to sterotyping and “Expressing my POV” is absoultly appropriate…
Your post is an insulting attack on those who disagree with you — not a statement of facts.
Yep, the video is way over the top. I think when hyperbole is used in this way, the credibility of the argument is lost to the rancor.
nellie,
at least they make a great drill team… 😆
If your gonna Jackboot might as well do it 60’s white knee highs… 😉
Your correct I apologize for using the words Hope & Change…
I really should have said “OFA”…
tiger99,
While I respect your right to have a POV. Given the theme of this thread, I think you need to dig a little deeper to find something supportive to say about this topic. Otherwise whats your point.
Are you just here to show us that you have one. If that’s your intent, well maybe you should have resisted slamming all of us who think that this man is one of the finest, maybe “THE” finest man to ever hold this office, and thereby not disturbing the positive energy that is flowing here for most of us. But that’s just my POV.
Actually, ArtMan, I think Tiger has every right to disagree w the post. I don’t agree w his take, and the last line and the video seem a little gratuitous to me. But aside from that, there’s room for discussion.
That’s why we’re here, after all.
Well Nellie,
Touch
Fair enough. But remember — this is a political blog. We live for controversy! As long as we keep it civil.
Nellie, Agreed…
But I believe we should strive to be constructive, always…
Point taken.
Sure but other users have a right to point out that was an unbalanced list with negative spin and a couple outright untruths.
Of course they do. I never said they didn’t. What I’m responding to is the idea that Tiger doesn’t have a right to disagree.
I didn’t really mean it as a disagreement but reading what I wrote it does sound that way. My intention was trying to expound upon the point you were making.
Sometimes my “buts” get in the way and for once my “sure” was not meant to sound snarky. 😉
English is my second language after chemical formulas.
I will consider my point expounded. 😎
We all need to keep our buts under control…
Prove it… Prove all but a couple are false… Any of you… Prove it…
You haven’t because you can’t….
Personally, I don’t jump for that kind of bait. When I post, I support what I post. If you want to make an accusation, it’s up to you to support it, not up to others to disprove something that you present with no evidence.
“Prove it” doesn’t support your point, either.
Tiger, what I think we can agree both agree on is that you set out to create a list solely of the items that you think would paint Obama in the worst possible light.
There can be no dispute that you presented a very one sided picture of the Obama presidency, excluding any and all actions and issues that you and others would applaud.
The same could be done to anyone, you or me, to portray them in a negative light.
I oppose a number of things in your list that Obama has done (though you list things he hasn’t done but may have only proposed) however, I would not prefer a President Romney in 2012 and that is the realistic choice you have to make. If you oppose or will not support Obama, that is one less vote Romney or Palin would need to become president.
For one thing I said “a couple outright untruths” and here’s the proof.
Ending the war in Iraq is not supporting that war. It’s supporting ending the war.
You talked about freezing domestic programs. No cuts on SS and Medicare entitlement domestic programs. Again this points our you intellectual dishonesty because discretionary spending is a small piece of the budget in comparison.
No expanding “wars”.
You talk about the excise taxes in the Senate Bill not mentioning the exemption for collective bargaining agreements agreed upon with labor so very few will be affected. Of course you don’t mention the very liberal subsidies to help working people pay premiums.
You did not even give the full context of the sentence about Dubai in Obama’s Cairo speech let alone you boiled down the whole speech to two words. That’s simply the same dishonesty Republicans use to make points.
“The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai.”
I think people are more “blind” to what the president is doing that they support and totally lose perspective.
I think that they must have conveniently blocked the previous 8 years before out of their minds, therefore forgetting why they elected President Obama in the first place.
His words during his campaign, which I have repeated here since last year over and over again, seem to have been lost in the fog of self gratification.
“Change won’t be easy, there will be sacrifice. I can’t do it alone. I need your help” has fallen on deaf ears for many only concerned with their own agendas in a nation of over 300 million people. I feel that rather than the President has let them down, they have let the President down and now are no better than the meanest RW trolls. Shame on them when they should be aware of the tremendous opposition he has been facing since he took office a year ago.
If all you have to defend President Obama with is the sin’s of Cheney, which is what most only seem to have when push comes to shove then you have nothing to provide in his defense…
There is not a single issue I posted that correlates to what he inherited…
Least you forget most people didn’t actually vote for Obama, they voted against McCain…
I wasn’t addressing you Tiger, so your beef with me is misdirected because I was speaking about progressives who have nothing but their own agendas in mind, if you fit in this group I was generalizing about, then so be it.
As for your premise that people only voted for Obama because they were against McCain, I find it laughable and wonder where your attention was during the primaries and the GE, certainly not with the people who really listened to and appreciated Obama’s message. Maybe 8 years of Bush wasn’t long enough for some people.
And why wouldn’t anyone bring up the pile of steaming s@it which the President inherited, it’s a bloody fact, cleaning up Bush’s mess is also a fact.
Then I misunderstood since your post was on the thread I originated…
The only people who voted for Obama in the General Election was a small contingency of new voters who never voted before and those who supported him during the primaries… The rest voted against McCain and were actually quite vocal about it…
I agree that 8 years of Bush/Cheney was more than enough so that is why I am vocal about ” handpicked puppets of Dick Cheney in his Administration”
and his backing and now of Bush’s man Ben S. Bernanke…
I’m sorry Tiger but the word”only” is totally false in your assumption that the “only” people who voted for Obama were new voters. I know many people in America who were not first time voters, who voted for Obama, I’ve also met many on the various blog sites I’ve been a member of. One friend was even in the planning of the first “Grass roots” support of Obama years before he ever became a candidate, so I beg to differ with your use of the word “only.”
Whether or not some of the people picked for this administration were a mistake, will reveal itself at the end of the President’s first term. I doubt that any of us have a bird’s eye view of everything single thing which might be happening in the WH or the number of legal problems there are to be solved after the Bush gang took full advantage of legal loopholes to further their cockeyed agenda at home and abroad.
Krugman and my economists wanted Bernake reconfirmed. Part of hatred for him is more Huffy group think. Everyone made mistakes before the collapse but since Obama has been in office Bernanke has made all the right moves. You call yourself progressive but continue to look back.
😆 your generalizations are amazing tiger. I voted in every election since 1980. I voted for Obama not against McCain. New voters were not nearly as high as people expected, they just did not show up as much as the group think thought at the time. It’s amazing how new progressives know it all but don’t have the facts to back it up.
No increase in proportion of young voters which are usually the first time voters.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/111331/no-increase-proportion-first-time-voters.aspx
What? We were watching the same GE, right? And paying attention to demographic breakdowns, I trust?
Tiger
He did inherit the two wars and while I do not agree with the escalation in Afghanistan, I can see the reason for doing so. The Taliban are still harboring Al Queda and working with them. Bush let A go to hell in a handbasket while they cleaned out Iraq and filled the industrial military contractors pockets. The bidding for those contractors has now changed. No more no bid contracts will be awarded.
I never said he didn’t inherit 2 Wars…
They may be no bid but they still go to them same ole same ole…
The Iraq war ending is not the same.
One president starts the war, the other brings it to a close. How those two actions can be seen as equal is a mystery to me.
So much of your post is inaccurate, there’s little need to defend the president from what you’ve said. I mentioned Iraq and Afghanistan, above. Another falsehood is the pharma deal — which the Huffington Post tried for months to make into a story, and which has never been corroborated by anyone outside of that website. And it’s not even a news outfit.
You failed to mention that the administration cut taxes for 95 percent of the public.
Why defend against statements that aren’t true?
Actually it is 100% acurate… Let’s be honest what I posted is just the Tip Of the Iceberg…
Actually no. Making a list is not evidence. Saying something does not make it true. This is a heads up I have posted often on HP.
They were kinda hot, though. 😆
Khirad, I didn’t have you pegged for a go-go boot kind of guy. 😆
From your post, Tiger, you sound much more like the progressives who complain about the president’s policies than the centrist Democrats who support them.
I agree w you on nuclear energy, but the rest of the post seems to oversimplify much of what is being done by this administration. Supporting two wars does not seem a fair reflection of what the administration is doing — especially given that these military actions were started by the last administration and left in a mess. We are drawing down in Iraq, and we are bringing Afghanistan to a close, as well.
I would post more, but I need to get back to work.
And on Afghanistan there is a positive outlook.
Afghanistan: Security transition ‘by end of 2010’
Good vidieo of a Q&A with SofS Clinton.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8485861.stm
Progressive=Progress
Really especially when he is ending the war in Iraq.
I think nuclear power is one of those issues liberals made their mind a long time ago. Looking at the record of nuclear energy industry over decades and the advance made with recycling nuclear waste it’s a viable way to produce energy safely.
Well, nuclear is a tough one for me because so much dumping has been done on reservations, and the cancer rates are obscene.
I don’t know that there is such a thing as safe waste disposal.
Nellie, I haven’t heard about dumping on reservations! Unbelievable.
There are a lot of unreported stories related to environmental discrimination. Inner cities also get an unfair share of waste and pollution. And poor rural communities as well. Look what happens in coal country.
People only support Nuclear Power when the waste is not being dumped or transported in their State…
The just love to purchase old Oil Wells here in Okla and dump the Toxic shit down them…
The is no Safe Or Green Nuke Waste… Thank you for pointing this out nellie, the naivety of so many astonishes me sometimes…
This may be of interest to you…
http://newsok.com/toxic-waste-will-go-to-kansas/article/3432883
Even that’s a double edged sword because the tribes are separate sovereignties taking the money for dumping. Of course it’s a spineless way to take the problem out of US jurisdiction but that’s more a political problem caused by NIMBY.
John McCain and Peabody coal transplanted Native Americans off their tribal lands so Peabody coal could work on a new mine. Unfortunately, the senate bill John McCain introduced to do this, moved the Natives to land that was previously used for toxic dumping.
John McCain, Indian Agent
That is criminal! Can’t they sue to regain their land? That’s fraud!
I supplied a link, should have done it first, but, it has been one of those days. There are other links showing the progress the Natives are making to try and overturn this mess. The only thing Mr. McCain has truly done for the Natives in his state is to campaign for their right to have casinos. I believe that is because the senator from Arizona is known to have a major gambling problem.
When the Hopi and Navajo agree on something…
Seriously…
Fill me in on how nuclear waste is not piling up anymore and being recycled, not familiar with that.
All the “fissionable” uranium and plutonium is recycled now. In fact with French breeder reactors about 25% of the fuel they used is recycled. 99.9% of radioactive material is precipitated from cooling water now. New ways to increase this efficiency are always being developed like this novel approach.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/22/e-coli-cleans-up-nuclear-waste-cheaply-efficiently/
Bottom line newer plants produce no fissionable waste, less than 50% total waste that has far lower concentrations of radioactive material than during the 70’s.
Bullshit…
This is clearly outside the terms of use. Let’s get back to a better footing.
You’ve expressed very aggressively your resentment of those who support the president despite their disagreements with him on issues. Instead, you appear to oppose the president and his supporters because he does not completely reflect your positions on issues.
I accept and respect your POV but am curious, if you oppose Obama as president for all these reasons, when he runs for president in 2012, will not your lack of support for him merely contribute to the possibility of putting in a President Romney or President Palin?
If you and others who consider themselves Dems but oppose Obama contributed to that, would you not in the end have far more disagreements with a President Romney or President Palin on policy and the course of the nation than the complaints you list here against Obama and his supporters?
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding your POV but it appears to reflect a purist expectation, that support of a president is unacceptable if that president does not hue to all political views of an individual member. Historically, purism is less reflective of the Democratic Party than it is The GOP. So when you refer to a new
What you said. 😎
Spot on and well said per usual.
A list of complaints is one sided when you don’t balance them with the many things Obama has done towards progress.
You wrote a good list one night on Vox Populi so I don’t need to reiterate for you.
The last thing progressives need to do is mirror ideological right wingers but that’s exactly what people like Huffington have brought to the progressive movement. It’s creating the same type of purist ideology group think and worse people are using the same methods to distort the truth like they practice on the far right.
I do support nuclear energy and giving the Afghanistan war the chance it never had under Bush. I also think the budget needs to come in line but you don’t cut defense in times of war. You forget to mention he is not cutting Medicare and Medicaid or Social Security.
So the French with their nuclear power plants are not progressive?
Praising Bush is just some BS you are making up.
This is the same type of hyperbole I hear every day on Huffy.
I’ve still “got Obama’s back”. Really, I wanted an intelligent, honest, worldly and thoughtful President and I got one. I sometimes wonder if he’d like to “pull a Palin” but I know I can count on him to do the best job he can and to be there for us all. Most certainly he isn’t perfect but when I think of any other alternative I shudder.
President Obama is the President I voted for and he’s doing a fine job. GoUSA!!!!!!!!!
Oops gotta go SOTU….
As he said last night, he doesn’t QUIT – and I believe him. (And was that a jab at Palin or not, way to go Mr. President 🙂 )
I think it was a jab — one the right wing chose not to pick up. The president does take pokes at people from time to time. Always very well cloaked.
Oh, it was definitely a jab – I was using a colloquialism to make the point, which didn’t come through in type. May be because I also had a typo in there!
Gotcha!
My bad — sometimes I don’t pick up!
Hi LuluMay, it’s so good to see you again, I hope that you have been well.
“I know there are some Obama supporters who are disappointed in you first year. Sir, I am not one of them. Perhaps the difference is that I REMEMBER the promises of CANDIDATE Obama & the promises he made. You never said it would be easy; you never said it would happen at once and you ALWAYS said you could NOT do it alone.’
Amen to that, how quickly people have forgotten his words and jumped with such ease on the critical “Judgment” train. I share your trust in the President and know from experience, that change can take a long time. I’m grateful that although I have many faults, I’ve been blessed with penchant for patience and will use it when I know that someone is trying to do their best for me.
Well said, LuluMay. I am another die-hard supporter of President Obama, in that he has not yet done anything that would make me turn my back on him. I have seen some things I don’t like, but I continue to regard him as a true progressive with a vast and powerful army of special interests fighting against his agenda — primarily from the right but also from the left. It grieves me deeply to see the left turn on him the way they have. The viciousness of their attacks is deeply disturbing to me — far worse than the attacks from the right. They have such short memories.
As long as the president’s agenda is always towards progress which I don’t see changing at all I will support him. I’m far far more disapointed with many in the Democratic caucus that are the real ones blocking progress. The president asked for progressive healthcare reform, climate and energy legislation, education reform and regulatory reform etc… But he’s been rebuffed by the paid off in the legislature that watered down everything he wanted. For someone to lead your have to have people willing to follow and while the people accepted the president’s leadership, Congress only cares about satisfying their personal agendas.
The buck stops with the president according to the American people but they need to realize just like with Clinton’s first term it was the Democratic Congress that is letting him down.
Amen.
But if this poll can give you or any of us hope, Americans are not blaming President Obama, but blaming Congress, as they should, and mainly Republicans.
http://jed-lewison.dailykos.com/
Great find Javaz.
People just don’t realize you can’t push a paid off sniveling Congress. The reason Republican congresses get things done is because their agenda fits the moneyed interests while Obama is trying to help the people when Congress is working for the moneyed interests. It’s really that simple.
Man! You nailed that one dead center! Nice!
They are crazy like foxes. Sure presidents when they leave office have their tickets punched for their entire lives afterwards. Just write a memoir and do a few speeches.
But paid for House members and especially Senators have it great in office with no term limits where they really don’t have to do much and live extravagant lifestyles. Since there are 435 members the individual pressures are not bad at all. Then when they do retire they can get a job anywhere with industry as a consultant, with an interest group or cushy think tank.
Zen bow hunting! Good KQ!
Zinnnggg
Exactly! And a snide inside the beltway MSM who thinks it is just darling that Mitch McWaddles said this or Orangina Boehner did that. – instead of asking the tough questions as to why the GOP can talk out of both sides of their mouth. I listened to Dianne Reihm’s show this morning (she had Byron York on a panel…blech!)and she told them that she was tired of hearing how this speech affected the congress, instead of how the people saw it. Because that was all they were focusing on.
LAB, just now getting her show in Tucson. Byron York is hard to take. He seems more interested in being contrary than adding a new thought to the discussion. EJ, I like! Sharon is good.
Byron York fancies himself an intellectual -which is why he has made a home at the Washington Examiner. Or what I like to call Right Wing Examiner.
It’s nice to read such heartfelt support for Obama. It’s rare these days.
I could pick a fight or two with this president’s policies, but I’m with you in supporting his agenda, defending his legislation from the GOP, and keeping the anger out of my challenges to his decisions.
After eight years of day-to-day nightmares, it’s nice to wake up in the morning and not have to open the paper and read about the latest affront to humanity.
Welcome to the Planet!
Very nice and well said, LuLuMay.
Nothing gets to me more than people saying things like, “Obama should have done this” or “Obama should do this”.
I might not be happy with some things that he’s done and things that he’s failed to do, but I respect the man – the man who is our president.
President Obama is a very smart man and savvy politician.
And, I do feel that it is absolutely an American right to criticize our president when the criticism is justified, because we are, after all, Americans and we have the freedom to express our opinions.
And remember, no one should ever blindly follow a politician or political party –
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/06/22/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_17.php
Agreed. I don’t mean to imply that I will follow/support him blindly. I won’t/don’t. But until he gives ME a reason NOT to….;-)
Hi, LuluMay!
Hi Pepe!
LuluMay, so nice to see you!
Thank you for your heartfelt and passionate support for our president.
With all the intensity and huge issues that face us, it is harder to step back and put this president and his challenges in perspective.
I hope that through his SOTU address, Pres. Obama inspires, energizes and reminds people of who he is and how we need to work together to accomplish the big goals ahead.
We need to focus now on how we can bring things to fruition, not how many reasons we have to wag fingers.
Can we get back to where we were a year ago in supporting this president and a Progressive agenda?
Yes we can!