TYT: Obama Daily Show Interview By Jon Stewart - Analysis

Run time: 09:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5_eqlzXRtk   Posted on YouTube: October 29, 2010 By YouTube Member: TheYoungTurks Views on YouTube: 250   Posted on DU: October 29, 2010 By DU Member: Bullet1987 Views on DU: 1765

 

I thought it was an outstanding interview with serious questions about things that have bothered progressives. I still think we need to cut Obama a bit of a break. Hold him accountable, feet to the fire, etc., but realize he really did inherit a huge huge mess. He's been in office less than two years with an opposition Party whose sole mission is to bring him down, not help the country. He's working within a dysfunctional system. He had to prioritize and compromise. He can't do this stuff alone. My biggest complaint about the administration AND the Dems is their poor messaging and failure to get out there and sell their policies, explain themselves, explain their vision, etc. The let the Republican Noise machine completely take over, and that's all people heard.

it took over 30 years to screw this country up and progressives like Cenk expect it to be fixed in 20 freakin months by a president who needs 60 votes to get anything passed in the senate (not the usual 51 votes).

Did he ever look at the audience and ask them "WHO GOT A TAX CUT LAST YEAR?"

exactly right..Obama seemed to be on the defensive with Stewart's questions. Obama said to hold him accountable..well he has been.
Great interview by Stewart.

not informed about what the president and congress has done the past 20 months....like Obama said, there are things that became law that people do not know about. Plus, Stewart acts like Obama promised change in 20 months. Over and over during the 2008 campaign and even on election night in Chicago, Obama made it very clear thst change will TAKE TIME and it will be VERY HARD and that we have to HAVE PATIENCE.

The Presdient has made big changes, substantive changes, that will help millions of Americans. But especially in Health Care their legislation did not get any cost controls. The public option was never supposed to be single payer. It's purpose was to force Health Insurance Companies to really compete at a low level rather than adding frills at the top.

The Health Care bill is the most progessive piece of legislation passed since Medicare and Medicaide. However, like Social Security as originally passed, it has flaws that will eventually need to be addressed. Cost controls are the cenral issue.

If Stewart and Cenk were as informed as they claim to be then they would be fully aware that even democrats opposed the Public Option. There were not enough votes in the Senate---end of story. Obama cannot control the path of the Senate nor did he have a super majority of around 65 dems to stop a fililbuster by Republicans.

Let's look at this rationally people. I hate rehashing this but I'm really tired of the misinformation. People may say that 60 votes shouldn't matter but for a filibuster it's essential. It's required. And that is what Obama was up against. And Obama is right, you can't throw out 100% of a bill because you don't have 10%. It's unrealistic. You have to realize that Republicans have some power. Obama is not the ultimate ruler, he's a monarch, he has a division of power and there is the fact that he and Congress are two different departments.

This is not even respected by people like Cenk and Stewart. They say they're disappointed but they seem to be willing to get everything shut down as long as---they get what they want. They wont' get what they want at all. He passed historical measures that can hopefully be amended later, but there is massive change that was not there for years. He closed the donut whole, he removed the gender discrimination in health care---and everyone is like he didn't do this or that. His statement was 100% valid.

You'll notice that it was the Repubs and Dems in Congress who didn't even help with cost control. These are the same Dems who want to push the tax cuts for the rich in 2011. They don't want Obama to let them drop and extend only to the middle class and poor. So I don't know what you mean. Obama doesn't control much of these things but we have Dirty Dems who dont' help the progressive cause.

I seriously believe the problem we have is entirely due to the lack of progressive Dems or even progressive Repubs in Congress. This is not Obama's fault. I think we would have had single payer if Obama had the progressives in office to push that forward. But he doesn't. Yet people spend most of the time complaining about Obama over things he really doesn't control when we should be targeting the Senators and Reps.

This is why I notice the change in Rachel Maddow's reporting. She has moved away form targeting the President himself as she used to do and really went towards the real problem the Congressemen, the Governors---the low level officials who are not progressive and who are continuously defeating this nation. She realized the same problem and I think it's because she has faith in the President. And I definitely have faith. People like to think that he's so anti-progressive---when in reality much if not all he passed is extremely progressive and he wanted even more progressive things that were lost because of the lack of votes.

Agin, when looking at everything one would realize that yes the buck stops with him. But the law being written and voted into place does not!

But that doesn't mean the bill is not flawed and eventually needs to be addressed.
If the buck must stop with him, them he also must share blame for the flaws in the bill.

It doesn't work in this context. You people just want to blame on someone even if it's illogical and nonsensical. At one point, one must say to themselves---he may be the President---but the blame lies entirely on another entity that is flawed and hence we have flawed legislation. If you'd push more national progressives into local, rep, and senate seats---that's the first step is stopping the blood flow. You go to the source and in this case, it's not Obama.

It is for the President to set the agenda. And,the bill, though it is the most Progressive bill signed by a President since Medicare and Medicaid, is still deeply flawed. It was passed with no real controls on the Health Insurance Companies prices.

That is a valid critique of a good bill, and one that must be addressed, and President Obama should set that as a priority.

I am not criticizing Obama. I am just pointing out that more needs to be done. That is called taking a progressive stance, though I am a liberal not a progressive.

Take a moment and think about what you've just typed.

Stewart is one of the most informed people in the country right now.
It's his job.

This post is weak.