"Obama Hasn't Changed, but Where's the Country That Elected Him?"

If he were leading us in the way we expected him to, we would be right there with him.

I know I would be.

My sense of frustration with him is huge.

And pushing health care 'reform' that was what he mocked in the primary sorta pisses me off big time

Republicans will not let it

He can not just wave a magic-wand it has to pass through congress and the rethugs have already said they will not vote for ANYTHING he wants this year because they feel they were wronged on HCR


Let me repeat something

He can not just wave a magic-wand, BECAUSE HE DOES NOT HAVE ONE. People here act like he has one but just refuses to use it.

What he does have is the bully pulpit, and he finally started using it to get health care reform passed.

He needs to use that tool a lot more.

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and the presidency has a lot more power than some give it credit. He didn't want the public option. He didn't campaign for it and instead brought us a GOP HCR the GOP still doesn't like. And we got no public OptionHe hasn't even tried to pass FOCA and he misled the whole country on DADT. He has placed it on the back burner. It is his request. If we don't do this NOW, we aren't going to do it ever.
And it sure is funny that he can go to bat for a National Day of Prayer and sign an executive order to reinforce the anti abortion language of Hyde but he can't do the important stuff he promised. Odd what he finds a way to do and the things he won't.

oh, I believe he does.

It's not like we're asking for real health care reform that wouldn't make it through a DEM controlled congress or anything.

could write an executive order on this. And he also could have asked for language to be inserted in the current military funding. But he won't do either. I suggest you "study up". He was able to write executive orders for a number of things including bolstering the Hyde Amendement.

I know you really want what you want, but that doesn't change the rule of Law.

You just need another excuse to attack Obama, apparently.
Have you noticed that's all you ever do around here?

is a fantastic start. Atleast until he finally moves, if ever, toward repealing the hideous piece of legislation.

You are being disingenuous with your argument, conflating the two. Most people know the difference, and you stating the obvious (that an EO doesn't overturn DADT) doesn't make my position any less doable or effective.

Join us in the fight to have Obama make an EO. Will ya do it? What would be the harm in it?

Why do you need to fight with Obama?
Has he not made his intentions clear?

How is it fighting Obama, when he believes DADT is bad policy. According to you Obama and I are on the same side.

Why don't you join us! Why wait?

Do you not see the possibility that passing an EO could endanger any action in Congress?

Technically, I see what you're aiming for "No more Gays kicked out in the intervening period."

But don't you know that the Repukes would take an EO and use it as a weapon to kill any attempt to Repeal?

What do you want in the end,
a stopgap or a real fix?

AND work to repeal DADT all together.

How about joining us!

People keep saying Obama doesn't have a magic wand, it's not the right time, he can't do it alone. I keep being told there are SO many variables.

I prefer take the quick route of an EO and work like the dickens on the long road of repealing DADT.

How about you?

With the EO, we will have no discharges, people will become use to the policy. He's been in office over a year now. You never know what the future holds and we are losing precious time.

edit to add: no I do not see how an EO endangers Congress repealing DADT. I see a loss of more Dems in congress as a danger. Hell there aren't enough of them to step up to the plate as it is. So why not an EO?

A single order to his Generals - "Ignore this rule" - will do the trick.

Then, when the time is right, act to overturn it legistively. I just don't see why this is a challenge.

He's the Commander-in-Chief. He can simply order his Generals to refrain from executing the rule, then take his time working the legislative angles.

It's with the SecDef.

The Obama Admin hasn't been very good on the issues that I am passionate about, Choice, Gay rights and seperation of Church and State.

but I assume that is different. Bush wrote many executive orders overriding things passed by Congress.

You really need to get an updated talking points memo.

You do understand that no one but the defenders of the status quo use that 'magic wand' line, don't you? You do comprehend the level of insulting disrespect it is to use that framing? It is dismissive on a level that does not even acknowledge the importance of the goal. It says far more than you think it does, and all it says is about you.

He does have a pen handy though, and he does use it when he wants to. Like signing statements the lock in the secondary status of women! So, why won't he do it for DADT. He could, and don't give me any bull shit that the POTUS can't do this or that. You are the one doing a great injustice to Obama when you say things like that. He isn't some weakling who has no power.

As a matter of fact it is you and other like you, who are insulting the POTUS.

if he gives an order they have to follow it. DADT is not a "law" it's a policy. All Obama has to do is pick up the damn phone and order the Sec-Def to allow gays to openly serve. The Sec-Def passes it on.

The problem isn't getting it done, the problem is rights for gays is not "politically expedient".

And DADT also effects the security of this nation, which also effects everyone.

And that aside, he said DADT would be gone, and he is not acting like it's important now. So yeah, I am disappointed. I had hope for change, not excuses.

is absolutely appalling.

do you really think letting openly gay soldiers go to War is more important than bringing Healthcare to the masses?

should not be discriminated against. National Guard does relief help when natural disasters occur. coming from me, who is strongly against any war of any kind, i can say that in some capacities the military does serve a purpose, as stated above.

take your narrow-minded views elsewhere, and don't even try to bully me.

you're attempting to split hairs here, and it won't matter because you're bigotry is showing. people like you are the reason why gay rights/civil rights always get pushed back and land on the back burner. hope you're happy being complicit in that.

peace.

You cut off your nose to spite your face.

Lasting Change takes time.
Hopping up and down like Rumplestiltskin does nothing to further your cause.

no "those", you.

you have a seemingly bigoted point of view when you declare:

"...Sorry, but it is way more important than DADT."

how can they not be equally important? is civil rights now a 2nd class issue?

and here's another sign of YOUR bigotry:

"Hopping up and down like Rumplestiltskin does nothing to further your cause."

thanks for airing that out for all to see.

peace.

I'll just let Obama follow through on his plans.

We'll see who gets more accomplished in the end.

It's funny how you like to end your posts with "Peace",
when all you seem to do is attack those on your side as being "bigots" just because they have more patience than you do.

go right ahead.

speaking of attacking, me ending my posts with 'peace' is the equivalent of me telling you "peace out".

like, goodbye.

"masses" buy health "insurance" from private companies. HCR was never about health care.

Your attacks on HCR were never about HCR.
You just don't like the man who signed it into law.

I like some pols better than others but at the end of the day they are pols. Obama is just a pol.

I've seen your posts for a long time,
and not one has ever been positive about our President.

and I have often posted favorably about Michelle and the girls. But on the issues that matter to me, choice, seperation of church and state and gay rights, this Admin has left a lot to be desired.

Have you ever supported an Obama policy?

I hope you would at least support his effort to rid the planet of Nuclear Weapons?

"Your attacks on HCR were never about HCR.
You just don't like the man who signed it into law."

And in answer to this, I have always supported any anti nuke policies. BTW, I recently supported the President in requesting hospital polices to allow visitation of Gay partners.I also support much of his plans regarding Wall Steet.

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He seems hell bent on allowing the GOP to hog tie DEMs on the Hill.

and it breaks my heart to see such animosity at DU toward another DEM who worked very hard FOR YEARS to get DEMS elected, but who insists that thinking independently is important.

Enjoy the chorus. But listening to the chorus is a very dangerous and damaging practice. Look across the aisle for proof.

He cannot wave a magic wand and change the 60-vote requirement in the Senate.
And he cannot help it that Martha Coakley was a lousy fucking candidate who caused the Democrats to lose their filibuster-proof majority.
He is not the one allowing the hog tying.

but he doesn't want to. Funny how the GOP were always able to get what they wanted even without a majority. Obama is getting what he wants. He has asked that this not be considered while publicly supporting it. Considering it is likely we will have less seats after Novemeber, refusing to act in any way effectively dooms the issue, just as it dooms the idea of any public option . Obama is getting what he wants, it just isn't what we want.

If the president writes an EO, declaring themselves "not a crook", and that should trump law?

Really?

is a large part of the electorate. ignoring this is a bad idea.

Candidate Obama had some great ideas. President Obama has continued too many of the policies that made so many of us desperate for change in the first place.

other folks have lost confidence due to the change being too small and too slow.
In otherwords, many aren't pleased, and that doesn't bode well for more and faster change
.....now does it?

With what we have that passes for media, there is no true bully pulpit in this country anymore,
as every word is parsed and spinned as soon as it is spoken,
and then just as quickly forgotten by those who insist that the bully pulpit
is what will make everything happen as it should.

As the article states, this President has been consistent in using the bully pulpit,
and in fact, gave 3 eerily similar speeches in 3 years in almost the same place,
but yet folks need to fess up that they barely if at all remember any of them.
Plus folks discount it all away by simply saying ...it's just words!

But then we are to buy in that the Bully pulpit would make all of the difference?
Indeed. not.

He's also used the bully pulpit many times to remind us
that the road would be long, and the climb would be steep...
and yet, folks don't want a long road, or feel they don't deserve a steep climb,
because in their mind, they have suffered enough. And yet, we are still only talking
about 15 months, no matter if one's personal suffering has been much longer than that.

But, well...folks want whatever it is in record time, and not only that,
they aren't even willing to do anything for it, as they see it as owed to them
for suffering for so long....and yet we are still talking about 15 months, no matter.

and so they just sit and wait and threaten while criticizing all the while, adding their
voices to the harmony of discontent of those who don't and never wanted change.
The media counts all of the voices as one; a choir sort of speak....
and change, meanwhile, becomes even harder to do, as the chorus gets louder.

Change then morphs into a paradox; made harder to get done, helped by those very same voices
who demand it.

Same folks have indeed made the bully pulpit serve no purpose,
as it can't even get those who were to support him,
not for the minute but for the long haul, to even give their support that they
conveniently forgot was part of the bargain.

Since that has been proven so by the many words that I have read here,
starting before the inauguration,
then I have to say that those folks never had an ounce of confidence in this man;
nope, they never had it, and they don't want to truly remember that no one said
that it wouldn't be difficult, cause understanding that in their mind would mean acceptance of a slower process than they demand...even though a demand is not a fact, it is only a want, and
they wouldn't want that!

Let me just say, I know which folks I'd have in the foxhole with me for the long battle,
and it wouldn't be those who quiver at every complication, or are quick to anger without
regard to mitigating circumstances beyond their own feelings.

I'm keeping my nose to the grindstone, because that is the only way that I will get what I want;
and I never expected it to be different.

We were warned time and time again...
Change ain't easy, and it certainly doesn't just come and falls neatly into place just
because I wish it. It's never been like that, and there is no reason to have thought that
all of the sudden, presto; it would be.

but more importantly, I never expected anyone to just give me the things that I have been wishing for all of these long years, just simply because I worked hard at electing a person for some short months. had that happened, that would have been the stuff that only happens in fairy tales.
But life was never meant to be no fairy tale; not even close.

Here's the problem: the right dubbed Obama a "messiah". And people are expecting miracles. It is clear to me at least that the President has assigned priorities to the goals he wants to achieve in office, as he must. He has assigned a higher priority to restraining Wall Street than to reversing DADT; seeing as he has to push very hard to pass anything, all changes will take time. Criticize him for that priority determination if you like; it's a fine argument to have. But I think fairness requires admitting he cannot do everything at once. That's just acceptance of reality, dammit.

But you said it better. The Doctor hearts you, Frenchie Cat.

no public option is available. The President signed an executive order to reinforce the Hyde Amendment and has specifically asked that DADT be"delayed".But he has taken action to blur the lines of separation of Church and State by expanding the Office of Faith based Initiatives and is now fighting to preserve a "National day of Prayer", meanwhile he has extended the Patriot Act and supported wiretapping of citizens and the conviction of whistle blowers. Thats quite a lot for 15 months. This isn't the change anyone was expecting. Oh trashing of teachers and the dismanteling of the public education system and the support of vouchers and charter schools can be added to that list.

As the article states, this President has been consistent in using the bully pulpit,
and in fact, gave 3 eerily similar speeches in 3 years in almost the same place,
but yet folks need to fess up that they barely if at all remember any of them.
Plus folks discount it all away by simply saying ...it's just words!

The main folks screaming about Obama not using his "bully pulpit" are the exact same lunatics who demean every speech and utterance he makes as just "pretty speeches." It would be laughable if it wasn't so stupid and transparent.

Not only did the nation not instantly change after his speeches, but it still needs change.

Therefore, we should complain about him, not revere him.

Ghandi died, as well, before the India/Pakistan situation got sorted, so clearly, he's useless as well.

he's done more than I expected in this climate and with the crap he inherited. Speak for yourself.

Well said, CaliforniaPeggy. My sense of frustration with him is also huge.

a lot of people are. Why wouldn't we be.

way he possibly can under the conditions surrounding him. I have no expectations that he should do things my way. He's accomplished so much and is doing an amazing job with all the lies and cheap shots swirling around him.

he only got 53% of the vote. It's not like EVERYONE voted for him and then suddenly turned against him. McCain got 46% of the vote. That's not a small number.

That being said, he did bring change, it's just not the change some people wanted. Bush was a conservative ideologue; Obama is not an ideologue. Some people wanted Obama to be a liberal ideologue, that's just not who he is.

According to them, this just offends them completely to their core. It is somehow tyranny for them to not be in control.

Once again, elections only count when they win (even if they lose the popular vote). The RW echo-chamber and its ability to drive the narrative are even stronger then when Clinton was President.

He turns out to be an incrementalist which is not the change I believed in nor what I voted for. Yeah he is better than a loony righty but that isn't saying much.

and people are big on what is done for them and not other issues

no taxing of benefits. It is he who seems to be ignoring what he said. He said any bill he signed would have a public option. We got no public option, a full tilt mandate, and taxes on benefits.
But of course, you always think the GOP is right.

remind us that campaign promises don't "count", which I find unacceptable. OTOH, apparently promises made once elected only apply when politically expedient.

"He said any bill he signed would have a public option."

Did the Lilly Ledbetter bill have one?

Did he actually say that *ANY BILL* he signed would have a public option?

ANY BILL?

Or is that a lie?

behaviors by both this Administration and my "democratic" state legislators.

No, I'll give you, President Obama is not going to turn this nation into a Corporate Police State all by himself, he's got the establishment democrats and the GOP on his side.

Watching our 'leaders' pontificate and posture feels like viewing something UNREAL: a big nationwide con game within "The Twilight Zone."

I wish that I had taken the blue pill. :(

Watch the movie much more closely. See which ones opt to ignore reality and want to just believe everything is hunky dory and that things aren't going wrong.

Oh, the ironicals.

the poster she posted that pic to said she wishes she had taken the blue pill. Maybe you don't know as much as you think-or you should read a little before trying to ridicule someone else. YOU may end up looking like the foolish one.

Sorry you didn't get it. I was replying to the poster who posted the offering of a blue pill. My comment means that I think that she has one to offer because she has so many for her own use. The poster with the picture defends every aspect of every action that the administration does. Hence her addiction to the blue pills that keep her unaware and happy.

Maybe I do know as much as I think. Or I read before responding to someone. So who ends up looking like the foolish one. Ummmmmm

They'd prefer to leave all responsibility on the backs of political, educational, and social institutions.

stopping these illegal/immoral occupations is FAR BETTER.

Don't tell me about the wonderful lower interests loans for college. The prices are already exorbitant. It's just more FREE CREDIT to continue us as "a debtor nation."

End these occupations and INVEST IN PEOPLE not banks or insurance companies. That's the action of a President who I'd be proud to support. :patriot:

He's all for change until it might affect profits somewhere.

They're busy complaining.

That does not seem too much to ask for and snide remarks about it are pretty telling of the defensiveness of too many.

Wall Street, GMO President. SO that whole "Change-y stuff you can be believe-y in" pledge has really meant, just try and understand that it is better to have a Democratic President standing by while you' re being robbed blind, than a Republican.

Which I guess in some small ways is true, but still... <teeth on edge>

his idea of "change" is not the change they wanted to see.

The country hasn't changed--where's the media who should have been asking these kinds of questions when Bush was in office?


rocktivity

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I don't know you, your attitudes or actions.

However judging by your post, it seems that your definition of racism is, well, wrong. You compare the treatment that a person with a southern accent gets in NYC with racism. Except the trouble is, you can drop that accent, you can learn how to speak without it. You can't change the color of your skin, or your sex, or your sexual orientation.

Plus, there are certain jobs where speaking clearly and professionally is a must. You can be the most intelligent person in the world, but if you can't communicate effectively, you're useless.

As far as white southerners suffering from racism, I'm sorry, but that dog just don't hunt. People ridicule stupidity and ignorance wherever they find it it, north, south, east or west. However given some of the south's recent actions, like proclamation's of Confederate History month, it seems as though the stupid has come to reside below the Mason-Dixon line.

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we will awaken and win. we will do it without the help of those who bash Obama from the left and we will not shed a tear if your issues continue to be back burnered.

Maybe your (and others of like mind) assholish indifference to folk's issues is a big chunk of the problem.

Seems pretty hard to come up with a plurality if you abandon the anti-war people, the environmentalists, teachers, unions, gays, civil libertarians, and those that demand economic fairness.

Your true hope (imo) is that those people will show up holding their noses because otherwise the coalition starts to get really thin because selling out the caucus won't net a single vote, probably won't even gross any. The Reich won't be coming to elect anybody but TeaPubliKlans and the so called middle will float to their closest corner as always.

did they start believing the lies of the crazy RWers after the media gave them legitimacy/constant platforms? Did some start believing the crazy LW purists (like Jane Hamsher) who aligned themselves with the teabaggers? Obama is trying to do what he can-things he campaigned on-and now many people supposedly think he's trying to do "too much too soon" or too much at the same time even though he RAN on doing many things at once.

A big chunk of relatively new independents are either too regressive or too embarrassed to feel comfortable with the TeaPubliKlan label.

Pretending that whole group is "the middle" is a form of blindness.

and slip into the brainwashing by the lying ass MSM and it wasn't hard for many because they didn't know what was going previous to Obama taking office so they believe every damn thing they are told..

Going in he took liberal positions on drilling but he reversed himself. He was pro-public option going in but bargained it away to get a bill big insurance wouldn't oppose. He was for cap and trade before but now he won't even call for a bill. He basically spent his first year fighting and negotiating on health care and bailouts. That's where the public lost patience with him. I don't know maybe he promised too much or maybe he underestimated the right's opposition to him.