There are those on both the Right and Left who assail President Obama for not doing enough as President (or for some on the Right, for doing too much). Some have stated that he has not kept his campaign promises, others say that he has compromised himself and his principles in far too many cases.

Presented for your review, here is just a fraction of items from the list at Politifact.com of campaign promises kept by Pres. Obama. I recommend visiting their site to review the complete 7 page list, it is impressive http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-kept/ :

A SAMPLE OF CAMPAIGN PROMISES KEPT BY PRESIDENT OBAMA:

No. 4: Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes
No. 16: Increase minority access to capital
No. 33: Establish a credit card bill of rights
No. 36: Expand loan programs for small businesses
No. 37: Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes
No. 38: Extend the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single)
No. 48: Close the “doughnut hole” in Medicare prescription drug plan
No. 51: Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions
No. 53: Give tax credits to those who need help to pay health premiums
No. 55: Require large employers to contribute to a national health plan
No. 56: Require children to have health insurance coverage
No. 57: Expand eligibility for Medicaid
No. 58: Expand eligibility for State Children’s Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
No. 63: Require health plans to disclose how much of the premium goes to patient care
No. 65: Establish an independent health institute to provide accurate and objective information
No. 69: In non-competitive markets, force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care
No. 70: Eliminate the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans
No. 93: Reinstate executive order to hire an additional 100,000 federal employees with disabilities within five years.
No. 105: Increase the Veterans Administration budget to recruit and retain more mental health
No. 109: Fully fund the Veterans Administration
No. 113: Expand the Veterans Administration’s number of “centers of excellence” in specialty care
No. 121: Fully fund the Violence Against Women Act
No. 125: Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
No. 126: Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq
No. 132: No permanent bases in Iraq
No. 161: End the abuse of supplemental budgets for war
No. 167: Make U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on anti-terror efforts
No. 172: Open “America Houses” in Islamic cities around the globe
No. 182: Allocate Homeland Security funding according to risk
No. 195: Seek verifiable reductions in nuclear stockpiles
No. 196: Extend monitoring and verification provisions of the START I Treaty
No. 197: Stand down nuclear forces to be reduced under the Moscow Treaty
No. 215: Create a rapid response fund for emerging democracies
No. 222: Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba
No. 225: Establish an Energy Partnership for the Americas
No. 229: Expand the Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers
No. 239: Release presidential records
No. 241: Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
No. 244: Provide affordable, high-quality child care
No. 247: Recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession
No. 259: Reduce subsidies to private student lenders and protect student borrowers
No. 269: Increase funding for national parks and forests
No. 275: Expand Pell grants for low-income students
No. 290: Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors
No. 293: Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
No. 315: Establish ‘Promise Neighborhoods’ for areas of concentrated poverty
No. 359: Rebuild schools in New Orleans
No. 371: Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps
No. 411: Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
No. 422: Create new financial regulations
No. 427: Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees
No. 433: Sign a “universal” health care bill
No. 435: Create new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud
No. 449: Raise fuel economy standards
No. 458: Invest in all types of alternative energy
No. 483: Invest in public transportation
No. 495: Double federal spending for research on clean fuels
No. 500: Increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency
No. 507: Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
No. 513: Reverse restrictions on stem cell research

Again, please keep in mind that this is only a fraction of the promises he has kept. I don’t think there is another president in recent history who could present such a list.

Instead of opinion-based memes, I invite those on the Left and Right to consider the facts of what President Obama has accomplished to benefit the majority of Americans and if they maintain a negative view of him, list what items Bush accomplished to benefit most Americans in the first two years of his presidency or what a Repub candidate in 2012 would do in the first two years of theirs.

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Doj site

Opinion is far from reality or the facts: TRY, George Carlin The Best 3 Minutes of His Career “The American Dream”

ADONAI
Member

As the site’s preeminent Carlin historian, I believe his famous take on the American Dream does not apply here.

For America and Roosevelt
Member

I was already a bit over the age of forty when, still slightly hesitant even in the voting booth, I cast my first vote for a major party Presidential candidate : a real candidate who was really going to win and really be President, whom I would be invested in – and at a crucial and critical juncture in the history of the nation, no less; and so, at over age forty, I went from having no notion of a President being anything other than a lesser or greater cause of nausea, to having one of the very — very — greatest.
The facts speak for themselves. I have no more patience or regard for the bashers on the left than of the right – and, until recently, I would never have thought any equivalence possible. To say today that the two parties are the same, to shout “Bush III”, is to boast of intellectual and moral vacancy; and that is something to which my obligation is nil. What is my obligation is, is to hold to, to represent for, to always speak for the way forwards.

I can’t do it by myself.

No president can.

Remember: Change doesn’t happen from the top.

It happens because of you.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
Forty-fourth President of the United States of America

audadvnc
Member
audadvnc

How does Barack Obama rate in the eyes of a current historian? There’s a great bit on Dan Carlin’s “Common Sense” blog in January:

“… and now you have the current president, who, in the MOST IMPORTANT AREAS, the areas in which he was most excitedly elected because of, whether it was Guantanamo Bay, the War on Terror, or civil liberties, has pushed has pushed the envelope farther than even George W. Bush could, proving once again the same thing we learned under Clinton, that only Nixon could go to China, and only a Democrat could trample on civil liberties in ways that a Republican would have gotten a lot of pushback for doing. Exactly WHEN were we going to CHANGE that policy forever? And the answer is – never…”

KQµårk 死神
Member

I hate to tell you but that’s what progressives voted for but not the real people who got him in office. Independents and moderates who voted him in to fix things like the economy, healthcare system and education.

ghsts
Member

Who do you think convinced many mods and indis to vote Dem in the first place, the gop, it was the TONE of his whole message. When Independent’s moderates answered those polls they were answering to their preconceptions on what FIX meant. To illustrate my point see dictionary below.

FIX Healthcare

Independents: Cut out the rich doctors, waste, big HC rip-offs like $80 aspirin, lower Insurance Premiums, less governmental interference in the free market, as long as they kept their high tech HC and Insurance.

Moderates: Reform medical records, reduce red tape, provide access to low cost Insurance, tax discounts for families, ban pre-existing condition clause, allow collective price negotiation, most Americans helped.

Progressives: Access to Insurance by all Americans, single payer or govt managed free market insurance, regulated industry profits, whatever passes congress.

Liberal: Access for ALL Americans to HC or nothing.

FIX Wall St

Independents: Get the crooked bankers, regulate to prevent excess profiteering, DJI rises to record highs, keep investments safe

Moderates: reform the excesses of Wall St, save our pensions, lock up crooks like Madoff, reform too big to Fail institutions, solve mortigate

Progressives: regulations to control slide, stop-loss measures for stock market, tax and regulation reform, watch dog agencies

Liberals: stop corporate socialism, run the fucking corrupt bankers out of town, raise taxes on wall st profits

These are dead issues for the most part, we got a good slice of all that in compromise but no moderate or Indi or Liberal is going to buy any argument or talking point like ‘see it’s great for you, best we could get you, you should be grateful, vote Obama 2012’. It is futile to start trying to drown out the infinite gop echo chambers, you have to change the debate not play the gop in their home stadium.

I would argue it is best to avoid those two for example, play D and rally those who still have faith but need to be reassured it won’t be more of the same? That is a question because if you can convince the Liberals that things aren’t going to continual move RIGHT we have a chance to rally behind motivation seen in WI.

KQµårk 死神
Member

That’s the point it would have been politically much easier to kick the HCR issue down the road because it’s an area in this political climate that no side feels like they “won”.

It takes real leadership to get hard things accomplished not just the easy stuff.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Oh and yes torture as a policy did end as well.

Read the exit polls from the election sometime and you will see why people voted for him.

coffeegod
Member

So a podcaster proclaimed administrative fail for a president based on one year in office? Wow….

Did Obama gank parking space in front of Carlin or something? Dan seems to have a big ol’ bone to pick with the President. Yeah, I didn’t get my pony or my plastic rocket but I realized long ago messes such as the one Mr. Obama’s administration inherited take years to clean up, not weeks or months.

audadvnc
Member
audadvnc

Mr. Carlin’s not a right wing dittohead, he knows whereof he speaks. You can block your ears to independent thought if you prefer. Or you can learn from life.

How about Pres. Obama’s drone planes? “President Obama is ordering a record number of Predator strikes.”
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/13/inside-the-killing-machine.html

celere
Guest
celere

I quoted most of this excellent list on h p but they wouldn’t let me complete it and wouldn’t allow any mention of PlanetPOV. But they did allow a link to PoitiFact.

Such censorship, hm?

boomer1949
Member

@KQ,

I am so glad you are back!

KQuark says:
02/13/2011 at 10:34 PM
There are plenty of places you can go for your rants and hyperbole.

This was a factual list of accomplishments not personal value judgments, guilt by association politics, regurgitation of half truths and narratives we’ve all heard constantly.

Sad but bumper sticker name calling use to be just a purview of the right.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Cheers boomer. You’re making me blush. 😳

boomer1949
Member

On purpose for sure! 😉

Truth
Member

audadvnc, I hope you stick around for some more time, and are not leaving here thinking that most of us are mindless Obamabots. (I sure am an Obamabot if you will, but certainly not a mindless one.)
I’m saddened that the brainwashing of the left has worked so well on you. We sure don’t need to be of one opinion on everything (and we SURE aren’t), but to me it looks you really bought into the hype that HuffPost, Maher AND the Reichwingers try to stick to Obama, who all the while are bringing NOTHING to the table than their misinformation and insults, and who are grinning broadly while filling their own coffers.

Take your time, decompress, and let’s see which of the criticism is useful to heal America.
And please be aware that those who profit from a perceived fight/split amongst the left are not only the media (it brings them money, peace is boring, as O’Reilly said) , – but the right! Didn’t we all laugh heartily how they were split and how the GnOP would be down for at least 4 decades? Yet instead they managed to turn the tables and sow strife among the left! And, very sadly, Arianna H and Bill Maher are being some of the main players in that.

I think America is finally moving into the right direction. I mean really, how would you expect things to be if McCain/Palin were at the helm! I shudder when I think of that!

See how we can discuss things peacefully here? No need to rile us up against each other to raise the revenue.

And, best of all: there is an EDIT button…. (what would I do if it weren’t there, really…)

audadvnc
Member
audadvnc

Dear Truth and PPOV, I was down on the street protesting the Vietnam war while kids were still being drafted for it. I’ve been around the block with the progressive movement, and seen how many time the message was gutted by self-interested egomaniacs like Whoriana, as well as how that movement was coopted by false liberal leaders such as Clinton and Obama.

Obama’s policies are indistiguishable from the neocons: “It’s America’s global responsibilities and those things foisted upon us by history that drive our policies of containment of popular movements and coddling of corrupt tyrants.” Heck, Obama was backing Mubarek until he was already gone.

Obamabots are deceiving themselves with wishful thinking that the Administration intends to follow through on the planks they ran on in 2008. You need to wake up and clear away those rosy illusions and face the truth if you ever want to get past this niche political backwater.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Here we go with the name calling again if someone does not agree with you. I voted for Obama for one main reason to pass Universal HCR. So the “false leader” who achieved what I voted for makes me an “Obamabot”. You made a statement that was just not true based on what people actually said they voted for. People did not vote for Obama to flip every policy on national security like you did.

I wanted Gitmo closed so did Obama it was one of his first XOs but the congress simply did not fund it. Was that just an illusion too or maybe just a function that a president does not get all he wants because of political realities.

There are plenty of places you can name call members and make baseless claims. I would recommend Alternet.

audadvnc
Member
audadvnc

? You called yourself the Obamabot. And I agree…

KQµårk 死神
Member

Very weak tea. You were just saying the wind was an Obamabot, sure. In reality you meant anyone who supports the president has to be an Obamabot because they don’t agree with you.

Look I’m done responding to you nothing you’ve said is a serious debate. You showed no respect to me so I’m not gonna pretend to respect you.

KevenSeven
Member

One failure worthy of note:

Telling the story competently.

Or beating the reactionaries at their own game of spin.

And there is no excuse. The truth makes perfectly good spin. Just damned do it.

KQµårk 死神
Member

The reactionaries have their own news network and echo machine. The corporate MSM makes up their own narratives as they go along. The truth doesn’t have a chance in that environment. It’s just a numbers game and has nothing to do with what’s in the message.

KevenSeven
Member

There still is no excuse. The reality that exists is the reality that exists. Obama must perform better in the reality that exists, or Dems will continue to lose seats across the nation.

Buddy McCue
Member

You hit the nail on the head when you say “The corporate MSM makes up their own narratives as they go along.”

There always seems to be an over-arching “storyline” in the mainstream media, and a consensus view of how the story goes. If facts fit the storyline, they are reported. When they don’t fit, they are not reported.

I hate that word “narrative” when it applies to journalism. Fiction has its place, but not on the news. I don’t want to be told stories; I just want them to report what happens, whether it fits the agreed-upon narrative or not.

KevenSeven
Member

“There always seems to be…”

Yes. Yes there does.

This did not spring into existence on Jan 20, 2009, now did it?

So it is a reality that Obama should have been aware of. And he is doing a poor job of working in that reality.

Thank you for conceding my point.

Buddy McCue
Member

I agree with you already. That’s not a concession.

But WHY is Obama having such a communication problem? He is articulate as hell. He is intelligent enough to see the media for what it is.

I really don’t understand his problem.

audadvnc
Member
audadvnc

Occam’s Razor comes into play. Obama hasn’t failed at the mission he was assigned – he’s done spectacularly well at furthering the wishes of his PTB patrons. And the leaders of the Progressive movement have been exiled and consigned to rinky dink web sites like this. Hey, I’m here too – I’m just sorry it has so little impact. Which, again, was part of the Big Plan, and Barack Obama is a willing, accomplished player in that machine.

Truth
Member

KevenSeven, admittedly this is one mistake Obama really has: He doesn’t sell himself very well. He prefers just doing his job and, as he said several times, he simply lacks the time to address childish rumors 24/7. Yet during the past 2 months or so he did improve in that respect, and I’m glad David Plouffe is back, for he is the man to pull the right strings in that respect.

Yet still, what the WH says is one thing, what the media say and do another. Just look at what people do for profit and/or for furthering their own hidden agenda? I’m talking about Huffington, Maher and such people who DO NOT BRING A SINGLE THING to the table, but are relentlessly bashing and criticizing (which of course is much easier to do than to create something on their own.). And this is only what was called -until recently!- the left.

So add to that mix no proper media laws, lies that go un-sued and unpunished and big money, that has even their own propaganda tool (aka Fox, and the GnOP’s very sophisticated message apparatus)

Now is all of this Obama’s fault? And what is the proper role for US in that unpleasant situation?

KevenSeven
Member

Is it Obama’s fault that he is not getting it done?

Yes. Whose fault is it, anyway? The facts that propaganda exists and he needs to be better at it are just facts. I don’t care why it is as it is. It just is. I’m old and many pounds over weight. I cannot run a marathon tomorrow. Am I gonna cry about the realities of what it takes to run a marathon, or am I going to find a really good recipe for wallnuts and goranzola over bowties? The second, I think.

And I don’t know what the hell you mean by “media laws”. We have an excellent media law. It says that the govt cannot write any media laws. Read the first amendment for more details.

Any response saying that Obama does not have the time is silly. Obviously Obama does not take the limo out to the gas station, either. He has staff, the DNC has staff, the congressional caucuses have staff.

If Obama is paying no attention to the messaging, none at all, then indeed he is not doing his job. He needs to be part of the process. Perhaps being above it is why he is having a lousy time of it.

KQµårk 死神
Member

I don’d think it’s one extreme or the other. He’s spending time on messaging of course. It’s a matter of priorities and he’d have to spend all his time on messaging to fight the right wing echo chamber and media narratives.

Like I said he could do better but I even think better would never be enough with this media reality.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Like I said Dems are always scrambling for a message the MSM will hold onto because they don’t have an echo machine. When it’s actually time to do the work of governing since Dems actually want to run government that is very very hard like you said as well.

On the flip side I think Clinton and Obama are both great at delivering their message when the campaign is in full gear. Both are far better than any Republican since Reagan during campaign season. Frankly the only one who can touch Obama as a campaigner in the GOP field is Huckabee with his preacher roots.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Oh and what you said is true Dems always fail to get their message across including the white house.

I also think that’s why Dems scramble over and over to find a message because they have to rely on the MSM grabbing a narrative like they did the Obama narrative before the election.

But that’s like saying a punter fails when the horse race is already fixed before hand.

ghsts
Member

@choicelady
This may not be the right thread to debate that issue, I was mistaken in expressing my discontent with Obama/Dem tactics here. I would love to see a new thread along the lines of ‘who/what is the real enemy of a Liberal agenda’. As I see it, your question of HOW (to pass liberal legislation if I got that right)starts by redefining strategy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4PGBSptYCI[/youtube]

e.g. Abolitionists didn’t defeat slavery by writing anti-slavery legislation, they did it by Destroying the underling profit motive through legislation first.

choicelady
Member

Very good point! That is precisely what steps have to be taken on almost ANY issue. Begin where you CAN then move on. Thank you for this!

ghsts
Member

The word is coopetition, glad we’re on the same team just different squads.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Sorry for all of you who didn’t get your pony, I, myself, never expected one in the first place…democracy is messy, democracy is a series of two steps forward and one step back, democracy is compromise…

Obama is not perfect, the legislation that has been passed is not perfect, but it is a start.

Are you perfect? Or are you human also, perfectly imperfect. Do you have everything you want in life? I sure don’t, and I have learned in life that that which is what you wanted so much, is sometimes what is not what you needed to move you forward.

Am I disappointed at some of the decisions that have been made, yes, but I believe it could have been a heck of lot worse with a Republican in the White House…and God knows what could have transpired with The Maverick and his dingbat of a VP in office and in close proximity to the big red button.

ADONAI
Member

I oh so agree hat people pinned unreasonable expectations on this guy.

People say he over promised during his early campaign but what politician hasn’t? It’s called running for President.

I just can’t remember a President ever getting buried so hard for it.

Also,I hate it when people make fun of the “hope and change thing”. They missed the fucking point entirely.

Obama HOPED people would CHANGE and start taking their democracy seriously. He miscalculated. Severely.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

I think too many fail to realize that all a President can do it “Propose” an agenda, that it is Congress that write’s and passes the legislature.

Even though we had the majority, we also had to contend with the Republicans watering down things, lobbyist that threatened to take their ball and go home, blue dogs wanting to get re-elected, I’m surprised anything got done.

ADONAI
Member

Obama’s flourish of major legislation at the end of the year was amazing.

He still doesn’t get enough credit for it.

boomer1949
Member

And I just had a “RNeck” coworker tell me the President is “a piece of shit”. She is also the same individual (some here have heard about) who, shortly after he took office, told me “he should be lynched.”

Just pisses me off that so many people have it in for him because of the color of his skin (and that includes members of his own party too).

KillgoreTrout
Member

BD, I think many on the progressive side, especially the younger people, saw Obama as a progressive during the campaign. But in reality, his platform was nearly identical to Hillary’s. Obama is a centrist, and he made that pretty evident during the campaign.
After 8 years of bush/cheny, people were desperate for even a glimmer of hope. And that is exactly what Obama was selling. I don’t think he was trying to decieve people. I think he was just naive as to how rough the game in DC is played. He may have been a little over confident in his abilities.
Obama is a very intelligent man, and a decent man. It took a while, but he is learning more and more about how the GOPers actually work.

Chernynkaya
Member

Agree completely, Kilgore.

KillgoreTrout
Member

Thanks for your replies Cher and BD.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Agree, he is learning how to play the game and how to get the best that he can get for us, Rome wasn’t built in a day…and sometimes you attract more with honey than you do with vinegar.

boomer1949
Member

Agree three!

Abbyrose86
Member

BigDogMom…I think you summed up my feelings in your post as well.

I couldn’t agree with you more, I don’t even have anything to add!

Sabreen60
Member
Sabreen60

Sometimes I think it’s the nature of the world in which we live. People are looking for instant gratification. I’ll preface this by saying that I love young folks. I used to be young. I love the enthusiasm and the willingness to work hard. I have learned so much from this generation. I think some may need to understand something that being on the planet a while has helped me keep my sanity (somewhat) and that is NOTHING in nature is born an adult. Everything evolves and changes over time. Patience is a virtue – as long as progress is made. Politics, relationships, whatever, develop over time. Work hard and help make the changes you desire. President Obama has a heavy lift. And there forces who have stated that they want him to fail. He has the intellect and the temperament for the job, IMO. We have to continue letting him know where we stand and what we want changed.

KevenSeven
Member

Hey, I think the “you did not get your pony” was my meme.

But feel free to use it.

boomer1949
Member

BDM, I think I’ve gotten at least a couple PLUS Kalima sent me one encrusted with rhinestones a few months back. Seriously, I’m just now getting over the chafing. 😆

Chernynkaya
Member

Personally, while I get that it’s satire, I found it reductionist and insulting. Maybe I’m just grumpy today. Why didn’t Mr. “Reasonable” Bear just call us “Obamabots” and be done with it?

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

😯

So this is where everyone ran off to! I have so much work and study going on lately that I haven’t been able to keep up. Very happy I foud my peeps!

PocketWatch
Member

Kelly, so glad you escaped from behind the Huffington Curtain.

Smell the roses!

8)

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

“escaped from behind the Huffington Curtain.” 😆

KillgoreTrout
Member

LOL!

PocketWatch
Member

BTW, if you want to decompress, see the panel on the rightof the screen, and go to “Everything from ‘Over there’ belongs Over Here”…

It’s a place to discuss recent experiences in all things HP.

8)

Chernynkaya
Member

Thanks, PW!

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

I see that and have been over that way.

Sorry to interrupt the discussions taking place here, just a bit excited I found you guys – And I knew you would all be around the ‘headline’ish area 🙂

I’ll leave.

Chernynkaya
Member

Kelly–you’re welcome wherever you go!

celere
Guest
celere

Thanks, PocketWatch. The weirdness over there is becoming unbearable.

ADONAI
Member

Very happy you made it over! Please make sure to visit us whenever possible.

I need constant positive feedback or I’ll wither up and die.

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

You’re an amazingly, wonderful, thought provoking poster who often thumbs his nose at the ‘powers that be,’ which is what I adore most about you. Kindred souls I say!

ADONAI
Member

🙂

PocketWatch
Member

Innnnput! Need innnnput!

I hear ya!

8)

Sabreen60
Member
Sabreen60

Hey kelly,

So glad to see you here !

Redemption Song II
Guest
Redemption Song II

…me like.

(…and, yes, I voted for Pres. Obama and plan to do so again in 2012. *smile, wink* )

Chernynkaya
Member

Progressives should be proud of this President’s progressive achievements. Instead the armchair activists on the beltway professional left spend their time picking fights with this president rather than with the Republicans. I don’t blame the White House for being frustrated with people who seemed to almost be giddy about the prospect of Democratic losses last November in order to “teach Obama a lesson.” Know what the Dems learned? That voters LIKE THE RIGHT!

The division is NOT being caused by the White House; it is being driven by professional “left” pundits seemingly interested in gaining notoriety. The idea that the President has to lie there and take these unfounded attacks without hitting back just because they happen to be from people claiming the Left is preposterous. Those who are ostensibly on our side arguably do us more harm by making unfair attacks – if only because substance-devoid attacks on a Democratic president is to be expected of the right.

The last time any president did this much in office, booze was illegal.

~~Rachel Maddow

I – and I suspect the White House – am not opposed to all criticism; to paraphrase candidate Obama, I’m opposed to dumb criticism.

Yes, I understand that the White House is supposed to lead, and I believe it is, but the punditocracy that claims the left side of the political spectrum at least has a responsibility to think of the greater good (after all, isn’t that what being a liberal is about?) and in the lead up to the election, work to keep Congress in Democratic hands. Many of them fancy themselves leaders. Well, what leadership are they providing? To me, it seems like they are more interested in blaming Obama for the electoral prospects of Democrats than in improving those odds.

No, this doesn’t mean they need to stop all criticism. But this is not a game. Will we choose to lament and cry about things not being good enough for the ideologues’ taste, or are we going to defend – as Rachel Maddow did – an activist government with progressive achievements and fight like hell to keep going? Our choice may determine the course of history. Jesus! it takes more than one term to turn things around– It takes SEVERAL TERMS!

Since coming to office in January 2009, this White House and most of the Dems in Congress have worked tirelessly to put our country back on the right path. Most importantly, to dig our way out of a huge recession and build an economy that makes America more competitive and our middle class more secure. Some are frustrated that the change we want hasn’t come fast enough for many Americans. That we all understand.

We should all, me included, stop fighting each other and arguing about our differences on certain policies, and instead work together to make sure everyone knows what is at stake because we’ve come too far to turn back now.

ADONAI
Member

I’ve always felt people should support the President regardless of Party. Everyone is in this together.

Disagree with him all you want but we need to stop rooting for failure on both sides.

It doesn’t benefit any of us.

david p canada
Member
david p canada

No kidding.

I might take issue with the way he’s going about certain things, but I hope he succeeds wildly.

ADONAI
Member

I felt the same way about Congress. When the Republicans won I said I hope they do what they said they will.

Bring us jobs. Real deficit reduction. I WANT them to succeed. I hope they drop these silly social agendas they are pursuing and start addressing our economy in a positive way.

boomer1949
Member

I hate to burst your bubble, but it ain’t going to happen.

Congress is still walking around, proud as peacocks, but walking a fine line by not getting down to business. It won’t be long until the Tea Partiers and the like wake up and smell the Jack Daniels.

Marion
Member

You know, Mark Rudd, the ex-SDS Weatherman founder, now a sexagenarian, eschews activists as “big mouths.” He said, had he to relive his youth, he would be more of an organiser, along the lines of MLK and such. Activism, he says, demands quick change and responses. Organising takes much longer, he says – but the results last. He’s a big Obama supporter. Strange things happen when you grow up. And he really did pal around with Bill Ayers.

Chernynkaya
Member

I didn’t know that, Marion. Thanks for that info. Rudd has certainly gotten wisdom with age.

Truth
Member

Cher, I couldn’t agree more with you.

Fi
Member
Fi

You could not believe the sigh of relief, that went around the world, when he was elected, got me out of bed at 4am that morning, and although hubby was happy he was elected, he asked me if he would still be POTUS at 7.30am that morning, and when I said yes, he said he would catch up with him then.

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

Freeedooooom!!!!!

ADONAI
Member

Hello kelly!

Good to see you here!

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

Well, I am here because Carrieantigua told me you left, and you’re one of my favorites. So here I are.

Hey, where do I edit profile and switch pics?

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom
kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

Just used that. Thanks doll 🙂

ADONAI
Member

Hmmmm….. I need to start my own cult! 😉

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

You can call it “The Adonais” since Christian is taken… 😀

ADONAI
Member

That sounds like 50’s doo-wop group.

How about the A-Team? Oh,I hope it’s not taken!

PocketWatch
Member

LOL I think you are your own cult!

(checking for the lightning bolts…)

8)

Redemption Song II
Guest
Redemption Song II

…is v. nice. *smiles*

PocketWatch
Member

KELLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad ta see ya!

8)

DawgBone
Member

Hi Kelly! I was hoping you would defect. Good to see you.

kellyk311
Member
kellyk311

Hey you!

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Welcome to the Planet kelly, feel free to roam around!

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Welcome Kelly, so many new faces the last two days. Glad you are one of them