As one of the strongest US presidents EVER, Obama is bizarro FDR | Salon/Sirota

Obama isn't weak (he just isn't a liberal)
The president has the political muscle to enact a progressive agenda, but he doesn't want to

BY DAVID SIROTA

http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/08/05/obama_fdr_debt_ceiling/index.html


(snip)

...It is silly to insist that the national political events during Obama's term represent a lack of presidential strength or will. And it's more than just silly -- it's a narcissistic form of wishful thinking coming primarily from liberals who desperately want to believe "their" president is with them.

Such apologism, of course, allows liberals to avoid the more painful truth that Obama is one of America's strongest presidents ever and is achieving exactly what he wants.

Obama is not a flaccid Jimmy Carter, as some of his critics insist. He is instead a Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- but a bizarro FDR. He has mustered the legislative strength of his New Deal predecessor -- but he has channeled that strength into propping up the very forces of "organized money" that FDR once challenged.

On healthcare, for instance, Obama passed a Heritage Foundation-inspired bailout of the private health insurance industry, all while undermining other more-progressive proposals. On foreign policy, he escalated old wars and initiated new ones. On civil liberties, he not only continued the Patriot Act and indefinite detention of terrorism suspects but also claimed the right to assassinate American citizens without charge. On financial issues, he fought off every serious proposal to reregulate banks following the economic meltdown; he preserved ongoing bank bailouts; and he resisted pressure to prosecute Wall Street thieves. On fiscal matters, after extending the Bush tax cuts at a time of massive deficits, he has used the debt ceiling negotiations to set the stage for potentially massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare -- cuts that would be far bigger than any of his proposed revenue increases.

As hideous and destructive as it is, this record is anything but weak. It is, on the contrary, demonstrable proof of Obama's impressive political muscle, especially because polls show he has achieved these goals despite the large majority of Americans who oppose them.

(snip)

David Sirota is a best-selling author of the new book "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now."
He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado.
E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com,
follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or
visit his website at www.davidsirota.com.

All those blue linkers with the "list" seem to prove Sirota's point. He's not weak, he just hates liberals.

others who've been saying the same thing for a while. Obama is no Jimmy Carter.

n/t

OM...OM...OM my gawd, we're getting screwing again!

Or can it only be repeatedly apologized for?

a great leader, but nothing could possibly be his fault, or responsibility!"

In other words, we're to believe he's a great, articulate leader who can't get anything done, even with Democratic majorities, and is somehow routinely prevented from forcefully espousing -- and publicly advocating -- necessary, alternative visions.

You're brilliant! I guess it's impossible for some of us to give up on this guy, but whether they think he can't or he won't, the end result is the same. Both you and Sirota are spot on, and I am fed up with people bullying others into swearing allegiance to Obama.

...who was bringing the fight to the Republicans, and not to his "professional liberal" base.

As for the hectoring and bullying - you're right, that's also telling, that so much of his support has come to that.

It's dishonest. It's sickening.

But at least you essentially admit your position of not caring about the real leftward progress.

taking control of Social Security and Medicare is going to be grrrrrreat! You're gonna LOVE it! There will be logos...and brochures...and all sorts of 30-second commercial spots that will actually make you feel smarter and better looking for handing over Social Security to the private market.



:evilgrin:

/sarcasm

etc...

;-)

Leftward?

Has the meaning of this term been totally lost?

to how much $$ gets contributed to our favorite heart throb pols.

this is post-political politics - get with the program!

:evilgrin:

matter what.

And it disgusts me that so many lap his crap up.

It's required by law. Because it is all, ever, and only about this one man who must be reelected at all costs. Don't you remember when we all pledged allegiance to Obama, and screw the republic on which he stands, one nation under surveillance, with austerity and no safety net for all. Except him.

"On healthcare, for instance, Obama passed a Heritage Foundation-inspired bailout of the private health insurance industry"

...garbage!

The health care law is more progressive than Clinton's. It included catastrophic care coverage (picked up for Kerry's 2004 plan), free preventive care for seniors, and it provides a funded path to single payer for states.

Bernie Sanders voted for it (video).

And our left liberal hero Bernie who should be President and primary Obama because if Bernie only held the Presidency we'd get single payer and high taxes on the rich no matter what the make up of Congress - how could such a hero have voted for that corporate health care!!!!!!!! You must be lying!!!!!1111111 Hysteria :nuke: :rofl: :scared:

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SANDERS: At the end of the day, let's be clear, the United States is the only nation in the industrialized world that does not provide health care for all of our people and yet we end up spending almost twice as much as any other country. Is this health care reform bill the bill I would have written? No, it is not.

And one of the changes that I want to see is not to repeal the whole bill, but to give states the flexibility to go forward in more effective ways. In my state I would like to see; and I think we've got a shot at passing a Medicare for all, single payer bill, which in a cost effective way could provide health care to all of our people.

Been strong? Had the balls to vote no?

It IS a right wing Rethuglican devised plan that Obama wholeheartedly adopted. He also then squelched all talk of a public option and single payer with the power of the Presidency. A very strong rightwing approach.

Sanders voted for it because it through a few crumbs towards community health centers.

We do not forget. We're keeping score brother.

one of us. He is a Conservadem or New Democrat.

Liberals are having to come to grips with a Conservative
Democratic Party which has rendered Liberals essentially
irrelevant.

lol

send Democrats to Congress.

Roosevelt had to contend with Republicans who hated
him and Southern Democrats(Blue DOgs?) who gave him
heartburn at every turn.

FDR believed in something therefore he could sell it.

"Hope and change as long as I have over 83% of my own party in Congress"

DADT Repeal Has Been Certified

Breaking: President Endorses DOMA Repeal Bill on Eve of Senate Hearings.

How Obama is shoring up federal authority over Medicaid

Elizabeth Warren: "We would not have a consumer agency if not for President Obama."

WH: Partnership for Sustainable Communities Marks Two Trailblazing Years

N.L.R.B. Rules Would Streamline Unionizing

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Transportation Security Officers' Vote for AFGE

ACLU: Justice Is Served (Fair Sentencing Act made retroactive)

EPA Proposes First National Standard for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants / Mercury and air toxics standards represent one of strongest health protections from air pollution since passage of Clean Air Act

LANDMARK AGREEMENT MOVES 757 SPECIES TOWARD FEDERAL PROTECTION

Human Rights First: Obama Praised for Action Plan to Prevent Mass Atrocities, Genocide

"more seniors receiving free preventive care, discounts in the donut hole"

HHS announces free birth control for women in the U.S.

Fuel Standards

....Obama is a Republican!!!!

I know, I know...teh LIST!!!!

he fucking loves him some reagan

yet, now that Obama is in office 2 years, we don't blame him for the countries problems?

That's some strange logic.

political hearthrob of the day.


excuse me while i download shirtless vacation pics.

:spray:

"excuse me while i download shirtless vacation pics."

:rofl:

Thanks for the laugh, I really needed it today! :)

Cheers!

:scared: :puke:

maybe Obama curtains or Obama bedsheets? :scared: :scared: :scared:

Period. He's not a fool. He's not impotent. He's not been "baited by Republicans." He wants to please corporate America first, last, and always. Those tax cuts are going NOWHERE.

But social programs are, even if he has make Republicans "make him do it."

And the wars are going nowhere but foward and outward.

Perhaps he campaigned as a right-leaning, Wall-street-beholden, crusader against the New Deal.

And we all just misunderstood, somehow.

Now we get it. He's not FDR. He's not even Carter. He dislikes "tax and spend liberals." In a gigantic, job-starved recession, his most fervent wish was the largest spending cut in history, presumably without ending any of the quasi-legal wars and criminal drone assassinations carried out with his approval, every day.

He IS a Democrat. But he is no progressive, no liberal. No way.


So now what?

as POTUS.

does for a living. I'd say if he comes up with great social programs in his next term it will overshadow LBJ. Our last powerful corporate suit as POTUS.

A man that HATED intellectualism, equality and social prosperity! WTF!

K&R

either that, or massively incompetent and clueless; i'd vote for Sirota's interpratation

Heck. That's why I vote for Democrats and why I voted for Obama. It's been my experience that Democrats, by my definition anyway, are people who know how to apply the powers of government to get things done that make life better for ALL Americans.

good article in TruthOut about FDR muscular strategy vis a vis the conservative courts of the day. this fight wasn't about vote-counting, or polling. it was a street fight of sorts -- and it's the kind of strategy that is willing to lose a battle in order to win a war...which assumes that all the sides aren't secretly in collusion behind closed doors.

http://www.truth-out.org/peoples-rogue-fdr-vs-nine-old-men/1312315217

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