Progressives 'Break Up' With Obama
Elise Foley - HuffPo
First Posted: 06/16/11 05:52 PM ET Updated: 06/16/11 06:34 PM ET

<snip>

MINNEAPOLIS -- President Barack Obama is decidedly "not boyfriend anymore," progressive supporters of gay- and immigrant-rights said on Thursday, rebuking the White House for breaking promises to the left while also asking them for money. The message to those in the room for "What to Do When the President is Just Not that Into You," a Netroots Nation panel, was be more demanding, don't take no for an answer and compromises aren't good enough.

Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged from the military for running afoul of its anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, provided a visual when an Organizing for America volunteer stood up and asked him to support Obama in 2012. The man said he did not support gay marriage -- "civil unions?" he offered weakly -- and Choi promptly ripped up an Organizing for America flyer he had been given and threw it back in the man's face.

The four panelists -- Choi, immigration reform supporter Felipe Matos, America Blog writer John Aravosis and Fire Dog Lake Founder Jane Hamsher -- said they are planning to hold the White House's collective feet to the fire for its decisions on civil rights, whether it would hurt Obama's reelection chances or not.

"I would probably vote for the president in the end, but I'd also do everything that I can to shame him," said Aravosis, who writes about gay rights issues. "But I don't think they realize how damaging that is." Although Obama signed a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in December, the panelists decried his failure to take a hard stance for gay marriage. "We always say we simply expected what he promised," Aravosis said "The White House would rather not engage at all -- at least with the big stuff. We were told he'd be a fierce advocate, and he's been not fierce at all and not much of an advocate."

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/16/progressives-break-up-with-obama_n_878698.html

:shrug:

and many progressive values as soon as he got elected.

:smoke:

:beer:

:puke:

:mad:

:nuke:

I don't believe there was ever love. I feel I was just tolerated till he got what he wanted, than thrown away like a used snot rag. :-( :mad:

That financial team sure got appointed pretty early. Summers and Geithner.

still supports the President.

I mean... it can be necessary, and it sucks, but the alternative is SO much worse.

And... I'll need some effective pain relievers to go through it.

:shrug:

Obama is trying eradicate the cancer that ravaged this nation for eight long years. This isn't an easy task given the majority of the populace just elected a carcinogenic house. ;)

He won't let me smoke my medical marijuana!

:evilgrin:

:hi:

to worry about right now. ;)

:hi:

IF he wanted to...

And, I fully understand why.

Bad analogy.

A better analogy would be calling him a doctor that's trying to cure your cancer by putting you in a tent full of benzene. As a strategy it makes absolutely no sense, but he can still claim he's trying to cure you.

reversed the global gag rule, allowing US aid to go to organizations regardless of whether they provide abortions
signed New START Treaty - nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia
increased average fuel economy standards from 27.5mpg to 35.5mpg, starting in 2016
signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers
reversed the policy of barring media coverage during the return of fallen soldiers to Dover Air Force Base
provided the Department of Veterans Affairs with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans
signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health care to 11 million kids -- 4 million of whom were previously uninsured
issued executive order to repeal Bush era restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
ended the Bush administration's CIA program of 'enhanced interrogation methods' by requiring that the Army field manual be used as the guide for terrorism interrogations
established Credit Card Bill of Rights, preventing credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers
passed HCR which will prevent insurance companies from denying insurance because of a pre-existing condition and allows children to remain covered by their parents' insurance until the age of 26

and so on. See my signature line if you're interested in more of what this President has accomplished, even if some pay little attention.

And the first progressive challenger that comes along ...fagedaboudit.

.

0 has fucked us and the constitution from the beginning. His benefits of the doubt have long ago been used up.

see.

but it did. So sorry for the somewhat of a duplicate.

Done!

PB

What he didn't tell you was that he'd be wearing thick, fireproof boots he purchased with all that Wall Street and Corporate cash so all we were doing was keeping his feet nice and toasty.

...they hold his feet to the fire. But still, it's a beginning.

P.S. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

PB

agencies raiding your computer and tapping your phone and if you are in the Military and hold his feet to the fire like Manning did, you will end up being tortured and locked up in the dungeons of Leavenworth to be forgotten about, if not just offed. Its all delusionally made legal if you pretend the country is not governed by a constitution, as administrations have since Nixon; incrementally getting bolder with each new criminally endowed administration. Carter was the last honest soul in this maniacal hysteria of constitution shredding.

Then he sends Rahm Emanuel and Joe Gibbs out to bitch at us when his feet get hot.

I didn't know that I had broken up with Obama.

Good to know! And here I was close to supporting his reelection campaign. Thank goodness Jane Hamsher is there to remind me I don't like Obama anymore.

:rofl:

And...

DREAM Act Supporters: Democrats Shouldn't Count On Us In 2012
Elise Foley - HuffPo
First Posted: 06/16/11 02:51 PM ET Updated: 06/16/11 03:59 PM ET

<snip>

WASHINGTON -- Six months after the Senate voted down a bill to provide legal status to some undocumented students, DREAM Act supporters are mobilizing for 2012, hoping to hold Democrats accountable for failing to pass the bill last year.

Immigration activists say they are tired of Democrats assuming they have support from immigrants, particularly after the failure of the DREAM Act in December. The bill, which would have provided paths to legal status to undocumented youth in exchange for two years of college or military service, failed to pass a filibuster in a 55 to 41 vote.

Five Democrats -- Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Jon Tester (D-Mt.), Max Baucus (D-Mt.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) -- voted against the DREAM Act, while Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) did not vote on the measure.

"Since North Carolina is playing host to the convention, being shy of our criticism for the Democratic approach is not something we plan on doing," Domenic Powell, a member of the North Carolina Dream Team, a group of student supporters of the DREAM Act, said Thursday. "They're crazy to think that we're loyal to them at all."

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/16/dream-act-supporters-demo_n_878306.html

:shrug:

But this article broad brushes an entire ideology. Progressives have not broken up with Obama - or polls would indicate this.

Just because there is a vocal minority out there who have decided they don't like Obama, we're led to believe all progressives must think this way.

Well no. Most liberals and progressives strongly support Obama. He's got great numbers among Democratic and liberal voters.

But they don't report that because that would undermine their argument that Obama is just so hated by everyone!

haha

Then again, I don't think I want to be clumped in with the likes of that vile troll Jane Hamsher. So maybe I'm not their kind of progressive and you know what? I can totally live with that!

Given a choice between Brussel Sprouts and an actual shit-sandwich...

Most people will eat the Brussel Sprouts every time, not matter how much the don't like them.

:shrug:

:hi:

and asparagus and liver. Okra only if it's cooked properly...fried with corn and tomatoes or in gumbo. :-)

Now I'm hungry...

...just like CPAC is entitled to an opinion on the GOP Presidential field.

Neither represents the totality of Party Primary voters, and certainly not voters at large.

Talk about shooting self in foot. Republicans are far worse on this issue.

I think we're also getting tired of this "do as we say or we leave." Leave already!

"One way to ensure Democrats do not take progressive votes for granted is to stop voting for Democrats"

Yeah, a bunch of Rs in control will certainly improve our situation

....AND Organized LABOR.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1154456

...but don't worry.
Be happy.
Keep whistling.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their Excuses.

Ally with Hamsher, and your credibility is totally lost.

Separately... not necessarily a big deal.

If it turns into a trend... VERY big deal.

:shrug:

Markos On Weiner: ‘The Guy’s An Idiot. No Sympathy.’



Isn't Netroots Nation Kos' event?

So a bunch of people who have been slamming the President for nearly two years declare they're breaking up with him.

Stop the presses!!!!

who worked for Ted Stevens and spent his days after the November 2008 election blaming Prop 8 on black voters, and the Choi who "ripped up a flyer he had been given and threw it back in the man's face" -- all in an article published on the website of the often-very-rightwing Ariana Huffington

These people are attention-hounds and wedge-drivers

To see who can be the best Republican president.

:D

:hi:

Seems to me, you must first be with someone....to "break-up"? :eyes:

obvious that their actions will result in the defeat of President Obama and other rational democrats, I plan to sit on my ass and not vote or contribute money to candidates that they love. I am willing to let the republican hell sweep over the country to fuck progressives if progressives insist on drawing sacred blood under the deluded belief that will get them closer to their utopia.

What a surprise, if you don't get your way you're going to take your ball and go home.

Precisely what you've been whining about regarding progressives.

Seriously, these are people who want to accomplish it all sitting down and complaining. They are the backseat drivers of the liberal world.

being a presence at the local level. They are people that rail against big oil polluters while driving smokey assed cars around. People that talk ivory tower concept of creating jobs but have never met a fucking payroll in their lives, OR, created one damned job. People that talk about helping the poor, but never step a foot into neighborhoods where the poor live. Posers all.

Many of these bloggers came about during the darkest days of the booosh regime where any voice in the wilderness was welcome. In the early days I thought people like Hamsher, Aravosis and others did a great deal in bringing people and common cause together. It was their hatred of the boooooosh regime (and mine as well) that was the ties that bound. The election gains in '06 and '08 seems to have given some the idea that they were at the vanguard of these changes and then in '08 that somehow President Obama was to pay close attention to their agendas and comments. When he didn't they now feel the losses last year were also of their import...and in a way they may be right...their insistant back seat driving has created more divides than helped solve problems...burning bridges rather than building them with this administration.

Ralm Emmanuel's statement to progressives that were threatening to damage democrats over narrow differences. Those I's obviously are not watching the republican race. Like blind mites they see no risk by damaging President Obama while making republicans look more sane concurrently. Are they fucking.....?

"narrow differences".

If someone asked on this board "on a scale of 1 to 10, would you support a candidate who does not support universal health care?", you'll probably get three different answers.

Ask the same question about a candidate who does not support gay marriage, and you will probably get three different answers.

What might be a narrow difference to you might be a lot wider to others.

I don't.

The president should continue to ignore them.

Independents (neither Dems nor Repugs) are where elections are won.

:sarcasm:

All this "reach across the aisle" stuff was never going to work in the first place. I am no longer convinced that the current democratic leadership has what it takes to move our party forward.

We spend more time advancing republican causes anymore.

Maybe it's metaphorical, but it does suggest they have the wrong ideas about the "relationship" with politicians.

Politics does not happen like personal relationships, so it's a lousy metaphor.

They will end up in a forced "relationship" with someone who is not only not into them, but wants them gone. It's stupid.

gay rights, womans rights, worker rights, rights for the poor and elderly.. just about every right except those that affect business and the wealthy.

Gore wasn't liberal enough, the Clinton administration was horrible, the Democrats were too compromising, etc.

Those "progressives" didn't vote or voted for Nader and in the end we got George W. Bush.

I guess they don't learn from history.