NYTimes on the budget deal

(via Glenn Greenwald in Common Dreams)


No matter how the immediate issue is resolved, Mr. Obama, in his failed effort for greater deficit reduction, has put on the table far more in reductions for future years' spending, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, than he did in new revenue from the wealthy and corporations. He proposed fewer cuts in military spending and more in health care than a bipartisan Senate group that includes one of the chamber's most conservative Republicans. . . .

But by this month, in ultimately unsuccessful talks with Speaker John A. Boehner, Mr. Obama tentatively agreed to a plan that was farther to the right than that of the majority of the fiscal commission and a bipartisan group of senators, the so-called Gang of Six. It also included a slow rise in the Medicare eligibility age to 67 from 65, and, after 2015, a change in the formula for Social Security cost-of-living adjustments long sought by economists.

How can the leader of the Democratic Party wage an all-out war on the ostensible core beliefs of the Party's voters in this manner and expect not just to survive, but thrive politically? Democratic Party functionaries are not shy about saying exactly what they're thinking in this regard:
...



http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/31-6

...Obama would *NEVER* countenance cuts to Medicare, etc.?

My how quickly things change!

Does anyone still believe that this Bozo will be re-elected in 2012?
The economy will be (by design) crashing, he'll have participated in
cuts to Medicare (and likely much more), and the Republicans will
hang "Obamacare" (mandated insurance purchases) around his neck
*EVEN IF* Romney is his opponent.

Tesha

with social security and medicare cutters.

Anyone who thought he would never cut these, are part of the large mass of The Deluded.

For some, whatever he does, it will always be, ...but...he's better than the opposition.

How can the leader of the Democratic Party wage an all-out war on the ostensible core beliefs of the Party's voters in this manner and expect not just to survive, but thrive politically?

He won't. He's now despised by every Repuke and a large segment of Dems.

What a tragedy

"liberals" and "progressives" declared Obama the Savior.

All these people who gave up their powers of discernment, of critical thinking.

I kinda understand the wish for a Savior but still...

As you'll recall, most Progressives were disgusted by the time
the 2008 Primary season had whittled our "choices" down to
Tweedledee and Tweedledum; we *KNEW* by then that the
next President would be a DLC asshole, it was just a question
of which one.

Did we support Obama once he was the annointed one?
Of course we did.

Would we have chosen him from among all possible Democrats?
Hell no, and now you all know why.

Tesha

proactively. So did my son.

We were duped.

I *KNEW* he'd be a DLC/corporate tool and that he
wouldn't work towards the ideals that I hold dear.
But I did hope he'd at least be a competent politician
in the Bill Clinton "Turd Way" mold.

I didn't expect he'd be a complete turncoat to the
Democratic Party, though, laying waste to its great
accomplishments of 2006 and 2008 (not to mention
the entire New Deal and Great Society) within his
first few years in office. My expectations changed,
of course, once he began making Cabinet appointments
and made it clear that all the crimes of the Bush
Administration would go unpunished and even
uninvestigated.

At this point, I'd be *VERY HAPPY* if he had the decency
not to stand for re-election as a Democrat, because he's
no sort of Democrat that I can support again. He's welcome
to quietly stand down, run as a Republican or an outright
Third-Party candidate, but I no longer want him at the head
of my Party, damaging it in every way he's been doing.

Tesha

Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, said polling data showed that at this point in his term, Mr. Obama, compared with past Democratic presidents, was doing as well or better with Democratic voters. "Whatever qualms or questions they may have about this policy or that policy, at the end of the day the one thing they're absolutely certain of -- they're going to hate these Republican candidates," Mr. Mellman said. "So I'm not honestly all that worried about a solid or enthusiastic base.”

1. Look at how bad the economy was he took over

2. Why didn't the voters come out in droves -- it's our fault

3. He's playing chess

4. He has to face all the obstructionism


Maybe it's way past time for his LBJ moment where he bows gracefully out of the race for 2012.

If he stays he will seriously hurt any downstream progressive candidates.

Time to go Barry. In these times we desperately need an FDR, not a Hoover.