Obama reaches out to liberal groups to shore up Democratic base after tax deal

In the wake of President Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans, the White House is moving quickly to mend its strained relationship with the Democratic base, reassuring liberal groups, black leaders and labor union officials who opposed the tax compromise that Obama has not abandoned them.

On Friday morning, hours before the president signed into law the $858 billion package extending George W. Bush-era tax cuts as well as jobless benefits, White House aides e-mailed leaders of the black community to hail the compromise as a "major victory for African Americans."

Friday afternoon, Obama hosted a group of union presidents in the Roosevelt Room for what participants described as a cordial meeting in which the two sides agreed to look beyond their differences.

One participant in the 90-minute session said the group asked Obama to help establish a "formalized structure" of communication between the White House staff and the labor movement. The tax deal came up only briefly when Obama explained the benefits of the deal to workers.

"There's been some uncomfortable moments and some large amount of disagreement about substance and tactics," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, a liberal activist group. "But they know some parts of the base are angry with them, and they're trying to make the case why this is the best deal they could get."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/19/AR2010121903537.html

Won't we?

If the President does anything but use a veto pen, there will surely be more sellouts in the legislation the next Congress presents to him.

Like I said two weeks ago when the tax capitulation was announced, we haven't seen anything yet.

But certain compromises are required when you are a Master Triangulator.

Now that nothing liberal can get done, he's a liberal.

But don't worry. With all that talking to the base now there won't be a primary challenge so instead of some fussy liberal getting the nomination we will have two good Republicans to choose from in 2012.


As Harry Truman said,

"If you run a Republican against a Republican, the Republican will win every time."


What a genius. Obama became a liberal just in time for nothing liberal to be able to get passed.

I feel SO MUCH BETTER!!!!


Don't worry.

Obama will tell progressives:


I feel your pain.

Will he shower the GOP with new tax cuts, or will he grow a spine and rejoin the Democratic party?

n/t

the talk is coming from ... choose talker, but not accomplisher of the day: Alan Grayson, Anthony Wiener, etc.. You probably don't mind people talking if they never have to make good on it. Is their talk cheap?

If you don't have to make sure that things like unemployed people losing their help or middle-class families falling of the edge in the next 10 days don't happen, then you can say pretty much anything agreeable. Then the talk is truly cheap, for you don't have to be responsible for any of the consequences. If you actually have to make sure these things don't happen, you have to deal with the devil.

The real blame as such is on the legislature, both houses completely dropped the ball by waiting too damn long to address a problem they all knew was coming, they were too friggin interested in the campaign to bother with doing their jobs.... they are all complicit in this fiasco....

By their deeds shall ye know them.

if such it be. My thread was locked and half of DU is pissed off at me. But the initial premise was proved true. Boomers are a bit touchy on that particular topic. Some people just don't handle criticism very well. :P

Yes or No

I was trying to make a point. A few people got it. I don't say anything here that I would not say to someone's face. I am sorry I was called away immediately after I posted. I try to stick around to defend what I write. I thought it might prove incendiary, but was surprised at the volume of responses and the fact that the thread got locked. For injuring the feelings of 100-million people no less. This place can be painfully PC, but I guess everyone's nerves are a little frayed right now.

Certainly the President knows this.

it'll never happen again. Don't you know I love you?"

nt

First of all, it involves the entire population of this country, not just 2 people.

And secondly, whoever we think the wronged demographic is, they have not been authentically represented politically for several decades, according to the likes of Chris Hedges, in his book Death of the Liberal Class. So whatever the President's very real faults are there's nothing actually effective there on the Left to deal with, just a label more relevant to arguments amongst people who do not even identify themselves by their real names on the internet than anything else, at this point.

So according to Hedges, it would be just as easy to say that it is the Left who is saying "Don't you know I love you" as it is to blame the whole situation on Obama.

It's about strategy. First you lay out your goals, which Democrats did in the 2008 campaign. They correctly identified the Bush Tax Cuts as a huge financial burden on the American people, with zero return. Those tax cuts added over two trillion dollars to the deficit. It didn't matter what label you wanted to apply, most people agreed that we cannot afford to keep these corrupt, greedy Corps in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Then, because of the economy created by the same gang, people have lost their jobs. They needed an extension of Unemployment benefits, not only good for them, but good for the economy. Unlike the Bush Tax Cuts.

The third issue is the Deficit.

All three of these issues were absolute winners for Democrats in the campaign. Yet, rather than move bills to the floor, forcing Republicans to take a stand against the American people, some geniuses in the Democratic Leadership, saved the Republicans from having to show the people just who they stand for, and took these winning issues OFF the table until AFTER the election. Whose insane idea was this? We were in the majority, and probably could have stayed there had Democrats really pushed those issues into the public dialogue.

We knew, as soon as we saw this move not to talk about them, that some nefarious back room dealing was going on. Many people predicted exactly how it would turn out. It isn't hard. And it did.

So, rather than presenting each of these issues separately to the American people, they then allow Republicans to tie UI to the Bush Tax Cuts. Talk about handing over your weapons to the enemy. So, the question is, WHY did they do something so stupid, and NOW tell us 'it's the best we could do'. No, it is not, unless someone was holding a gun to their heads.

anti-thesis in our situation.

I may have mentioned, I am with Chris Hedges on this point; there is no Liberal class, no Left, in this country.

I have been saying that for weeks; why did they let UI get into that situation? I think it may have been the same as the Dem fear of being seen as "weak on Defense" except this time it was fear of being seen as "soft on Socialism". Disgusting! But I ran across some very hateful stuff being said about the unemployed out there on the internet. I think there was a campaign to demonize them as Socialists.

The gun? I keep wondering why Bush's Crash is all but forgotten, when what I was reading about the size, composition, and ownership of what was lost, plus discussions in Basel (Switzerland?) recently amongst international financiers about re-jiggering the standards for equity in financial institutions, pretty much suggests to me that absolutely everything about us, who we are, what we do, our plans, the future of our children, this whole frakking country is on the auction block and anything that anyone who actually knows the specifics of the private information involved, anything they say publicly will send the whole thing down the drain, not to mention how things that a president or a senator could say or do would cause reprisals in the international banking community. That gun?

Yes, they, whoever they are, have sold this country, literally, not metaphorically. They have sold interests even in our education system to foreign investors.

As far as someone exposing the corruption, no treason is a better word imo, maybe it would be better to have the crash come all at once, rather than the slow, painful destruction of the working class we are witnessing with no end in sight. Once it crashes, we can start building again and without the interference of these shadowy Global Entities whoever they are.

But I do agree with everything you said in your post, and I have often wondered if there is a period of time when a president gets to the WH, or most likely before, when he has taken in for a little chat and told how things are. If he's a Dem, they probably tell him he can have a few crumbs to throw to those who elected him, like DADT which in fact they most likely support. The more people willing to die in their wars, the better for them. But it's not for the same reasons we the people have in mind when we support repealing discrimination like that.

If it's a Repub, they probably give him a short list also of what he can do for those who elected him. But neither will be allowed to interfere in the major issues. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why people change so much after they get to DC. The only other reason would be that they have been lying for years, pretending to be something they are not.

And then we have the media. Watching what they are doing to Julian Assange, I am beginning to understand why no one is willing to stick their necks out in the MSM either.

Considering all of it, I can only think the faster it collapses the better. Propping up a house whose founding is crumbling, is just putting off the inevitable. Better to demolish it, be without shelter for a while, and start all over again.

Or maybe I'm just being paranoid ...

Exactly like that but I won't be a part of that kind of relationship! :mad:

however, I'm not optimistic.
When I worked and voted for him, I felt of undercurrent that the Repukes were so bad that Corporate America had to put someone else up. After all Clinton was the the best Repuke prez since RayGun,
Disillusioned Boomer.

If he wants to reach out he should sit down with rachel maddow for 2 hours, I'd want to see that interview.

That's the way they typically describe a meeting between political opponents.

I noticed that too.:eyes:

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I have doubts.

I'd call that biased. And the final sentence of the piece:

"If this administration has a pathway to victory that cuts out the sort of core constituency that has been fighting with him and for him, I'd like to see it," she said.

We've heard it all before for the last two years. Did they ever think that doing all they can to undermine the President might not be well accepted? Probably not. It would require commitment.

Since the topic in question is Obama's relationship with the progressive community, who else would have been more appropriate to have interviewed to satisfy your criteria of "non-bias"? David Axelrod's office? The DLC's public relations crew? Someone in the GOP?

"Biased"??

:wtf:

They have gone to the dark side, bashing constantly and playing 'what if'. They do nothing for the people but stir up the rumors.

That kind of "what if"?

Last I looked, they're still fully liberal Democrats while Obama has rapidly become the socially-liberal Ronald Reagan. If anyone's gone to the "dark side", hasn't been kos or Jane Hamsher.

I wouldn't compare President Obama to Reagan...doesn't make sense. I'd compare him to Barack Obama. Seems like people just can't realize that change is happening.

oi vey
:rofl:

The damage to the nation is done; who gives a crap about his "reaching out", now?

is convenient, if not convincing.

and sells us down the river. He fucking touches SS or Medicare and I'll work actively against him if some good soul will primary him.

:thumbsup: i'm with you 100%!

It's time to move on and keep accomplishing things like the DADT repeal.

very nice young man, we actaully had a nice chat about why I would not be donating. He said he'd been phoning for about 6 hours and hadn't managed to raise any money. We agreed that calling 5 days before Christmas made no sense and was certainly affecting the calls but he also admitted he was hearing a lot of people announce they would pick which candiates they would contribute to and they didn't have any Blue Dogs on their lists. He also said he was getting worried about Obama because the people he was calling all seem to be pretty fed up with him. He said most people mentioned the insurance bill and the tax cuts for the wealthy but quite a few, me included, mentioned they no longer trusted Obama about Social Security either.

Somebody needs to get it through to Obama that all his pretty speeches won't work anymore, people are watching what he does.

'cept my conversion wasn't so nice.... My one single question, how can you expect US to support YOU when even during Obama's trying to convince America how good giving tax breaks to billionaires was he blamed US for the problems with the public option.


Not a dime until 2016.

According to "some people" everyone will be coming out in droves to pledge money and vote for you-know-who. You people are just "noise" that don't live in the "real world"

Or some people have said....

:sarcasm:

..just like he did the Congress.

He could have at least fought for the progressive position. He did not. If he had fought a good fight and lost, the progressives would have been more supportive of him.

But he did not think the progressive position was worth fighting for. He started in the middle and worked his way rightward.

The ultimate betrayal: destruction of SS as we know it.

Obama can go to hell; I'll never believe another word.

He's not a DEM.

Let him put together a 3rd party.

How 'bout "BULL MUSH" Party?

Oh thank god, he invited labor leaders to the white house, that changes EVERYTHING. Does Obama honestly think he can do this tax deal and then just schmooze a few liberal groups and then everything with his base will be fine? Its fucking absurd.

he'll never get another dime out of me or a phone call made for him. :mad:

Don't get me wrong....I agree 1,000,000% When I saw the OP, I immediately thought "go to hell."

I just returned in my head to 2 years ago when I, along with most I knew, was so happy to see a Dem majority & Dem president. I was, indeed, hopeful.

Reading everyone's responses here just hit me so powerfully -- the vehemence of the responses mirror my feelings and are so striking for the anger & betrayal they convey.

Too bad he'll never get it. Either he lacks the insight or he is so enmeshed in the corporatocracy he simply doesn't get why liberal peasants are so enraged by his policies. Or maybe he just expects us to be swayed by false propaganda the way that Bush Republicans were. Our lying eyes & ears haven't been hearing & seeing right over the past two years and he's embracing us to let us know that we're loved even though we're (insert Obama admin insult here).

Whatever...go to hell still stands for me.

that he has not "abandoned" us. Of course he hasn't. He'll be there to deliver those blows every time, with some bland, insincere words of comfort after each blow.

Just bend over and prepare to be reamed again. He's not going to quit while we're still breathing.

well, that was his formal goodbye to liberals.

The White House staff "explains" to the disaffected why it's the best possible deal possible ("Did I say 'best possible'?")... really. They "explain"...

Then, the explanees grumble and have a change of heart... ("Cause, after all, where else can we really go?")

Then the chronically positive start talking about, "Is it OK to like Obama again?"

And American politics slides another decade backwards.

It might have made more sense to fund schools and social services rather than provide tax cuts for wealthy people who will probably forget to ask their accountants how much the tax cut ended up being.

I still feel the same anger and betrayal. I will NEVER forget how little Obama fought to save America. I pray he is challenged by a strong progressive in the primary.

This is all talk. Show me some liberal action. I have no use for the President's liberal "talk."

-Laelth