“People are frustrated because we have done our part,” she said. “We put these people in the position to make change and they’re not doing it.”
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20100104
Good god, yes
Just found this quote, it's from an article about two-and-a-half weeks ago, but I think it should be shared:
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The president spent 90 minutes with Politico and this is how he is repaid. The reason there is such strong opposition to the bill is because the GOP propaganda machine has been quite busy, while the Left has been busy working on a bill, any bill. Personally I want single payer, but the fact is, and it is indisputable, the Democrats have neither the numbers or the balls to get it done. So, half a loaf is better than no loaf. We need to start somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWell, I would like to know who is telling the truth?
ReplyDeleteIs this current legislation a give away to the insurance industry? A kind of Medicare Part E?
Or will the industry be reined in as the Democrats claim? And that includes many progressive Democrats too. Can this legislation end "preexisting conditions" without allowing the cartel to exorbitantly raise rates?
I frankly don't think this country is fundamentally disposed toward anything like single payer today. Which approach clearly would make the most sense. Unless the insurance industry would like to become non-profit and heavily regulated: as it is in some European and Asian countries. That approach appears to work fairly well over there, though my primary choice remains single payer.
But where are the votes?
A majority in the Senate would have supported the "public option," or expanding Medicare. But there simply are not the votes in the Congress for this "big government," "socialist," "tax and spend" program.
Hey, in Europe they have genuine Socialist parties. They have Socialism too down south of the border, but we know how to take care of that, don't we? The CIA has been most effective as well as.... well, you know?
Hugo Chavez a dictator? Well, I digress. Much can be said about all these issues. Obama is not a miracle worker. Does the country back a genuine progressive change? The polls indicate maybe not. But could that be simply how the polls are worded?
Wording has a lot to do with it. Wording is how the illogical becomes logical. Wording, right, is how we got into the war in Iraq, for example. Wording scared the sxxit out of us. Wording within the context of a broad cultural predisposition can win man a game.
We believe, of course, that we are the greatest country in the world. Then how can wording build on that.... show me the ways?
Then how are the people represented in our government? Through Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, James Inhofe? The "best government money can buy?"
Sarah Palin?
Where the necessary sixty progressives in the Senate? Where the sane and level headed Democrats in the House who would not kill healthcare over abortion? Brother Stupak and his fellow Blue Dogs have the power to destroy this bill. That must make Stupak feel rather good. Though I suspect he keeps one eye cocked over his shoulder. (Someone might be out to get him, in his own mind. Perhaps even in reality.)
Democracy in action.
Uh, if only we could go back in to our posts to make corrections....
ReplyDeleteNinth paragraph from the top - not "man a game," but "many a game."
Thank you.
Obama Apologists
ReplyDeleteObama Apologists vs. Young Turks
ReplyDeleteSorry about the double posting (don't know how to go back in to make corrections).
ReplyDeleteHere are the two main positions among progressives now about Obama’s lack of action, as put forward by bloggers. The author call it the apologists vs the young Turks and both of them appear to be loyal Democrats.
ReplyDeleteCenk Uygur at Firedoglake takes the apologist position that Obama is just somehow misguided and progressives need to prod him so he will remember his roots, then act. Plus Obama’s inaction is due to an unresponsive system not of his making.
I’m sure Obama is a progressive that would help the average American if he thought he could. But apparently he thinks he can’t. He can only bring them a small amount of change because of what he thinks the system will allow.
Big Tent Democrat at Talk Left takes the young Turk view. Obama was elected with a clear mandate to major change and has failed to act.
But his Presidency so far has been a squandered opportunity. What is surprising is that any self professed progressive Democrat would not express disappointment about this missed historic opportunity.
Those more radical, like the author, say "if it looks, walks, and talks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. On health care, Copenhagen, and financial reform Obama has consistently and unwaveringly supported a corporate America agenda even when it was clearly not in the general interests of the citizenry. He’s plenty smart and capable. He’s acting like he is because that’s what he wants to do, not because he’s forced to or is misguided."
In other words, we don't know.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand Obama promised "change."
He is a chameleon. Running for the presidency he pretty much offered himself as a beacon of hope. His viewer could fill in the blanks, ie, chose what to hope for. Obama would bring it.
His charisma, though, is not founded upon nothing. On air. Like Bush or Palin who also allowed their followers to fill in the blanks. Palin's fans strike me as somewhat pathetic, since they seem to think Sarah is a laundry hanging sister with a baby cradled in her arm who knows all about vacuuming and changing diapers. A voice they've never had representing them before. But I digress.
The argument that Obama is constrained by political reality strikes me as valid. This healthcare battle has, yes, demonstrated that. Bewilderment at his Wall Street ties also strike me as valid. And what are we to make of the war in Afghanistan, which appears like another senseless quagmire?
There's an urgency in our times which Obama can't satisfy. On the MSM he is criticized, literally, for nothing more, often enough, than mere appearances. Last night on MSNBC the pundits were arguing over the manner he spoke about the Christmas terror attack. Was it too soon, too late, too weak, too overbearing.... etc.
Nonsense.
The MSM has a vested interest in exaggerating the immediacy of the news, making huge events out of nothing. This impatience may have seeped into the culture. After all, we face enormous problems too. Obama raised hopes to be elected. The country demands a response. What we have, coming from the right, is chaos. Palin and Limbough are not the best advocates for level headedness and reason.....
One of you out there will turn out to be right. Someone sees what is going on. Not me. I have not made up my mind yet about the Obama presidency, and suspect it is far too early to do so.
Tiller, till your field. There is work to do.
Believe nothing you hear, and only half of what you see.
ReplyDeleteA bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Better safe than sorry.
ReplyDeleteDon’t expect much, and you’ll never be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
ReplyDeleteOops, sorry, seems like I put myself to sleep. I should know better, talking points and boring aphorism have always done it to me. That, and counting sheep, of course.
ReplyDeleteYo bartender, serve me something strong. Make it a double. The good stuff. That bottle you keep behind the counter. Not the tepid stuff that passes for whiskey.
ReplyDeleteSay, did anyone get to see that Bill Moyer’s interview with Matt Taibbi & Robert Kuttner on PBS last month?
Well, Jeremiah, sorry to have done that to you. Sometimes the drink puts me to sleep. That happens too when your candle has burned out at both ends. The flame of youth. Spfffft! And it's all over. Strangers in the night, you know, and all that. Like ships passing on a stormy sea. Though a great beginning could be, It was a Dark and Stormy Night. Seems appropriate for a bar.....
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of passing ships, what happened to the post herein added but a short time ago offering the link to Robert Scheer's piece, "McCain gets it, Obama doesn't?" Try again.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/06-4
What's the matter my lord?
ReplyDeleteBetween who?
ReplyDeleteI mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
ReplyDeleteSlanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.
ReplyDeleteTo edit your posts simply click the trash can icon. Copy your original post and click "delete comment." Then open up a new comment box, paste the old comment in it, make your corrections, and then click "publish." Voila...
ReplyDeleteSo, that being said, I don't like everything the president is doing but I voted for him and have faith that he is doing the right thing, knowing that he knows a helluva lot more about the state of the nation and the world than I do. I'm gonna give the guy a break...
Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of yawning, I think Marxists might be saying "I told you so."
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I can't quite understand how Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" is anything new. Look at our merry band of Wall Street/Financial District operators in action to see how that all works. That has been the rule for centuries.
Is there a magician in the house?
One who can swipe his finger or magic wand through thin air and create - money? Pure money? Collateralized, SIV, CDO, CDS's?
Or even tulips.
I'm sorry Dorgan is leaving. Just watched Ed Schultz oon TV who pleaded with him to stay.... that reassured me I'm not crazy. Dorgan understood and predicted the current economic mess. He also promised, on the Schultz show, that his reimportation drug bill will pass this year. (Backed by the Prince of Darkness, John McCain.) Let's hope that's not mere empty boosterism, unless you believe foreign drug merchants want to poison us. Which appears to be New Jersey's major claim and objection.
Hey, Jeremiah, wake up! Have a drink on me.
As for Hamlet. Whose side was he on, anyway? Does anyone know?
Mike -
ReplyDeleteWe old farts (not you of course) have been knocked around a bit. That's okay. What are old farts there for?
But as an old fart I have accumulated a bit of experience (2 and 2 equals 4wise) and feel compelled to say (bringing a few past lessons to the fore) that that argument, the "president knows more than I," doesn't really work. We have heard it before. Maybe even before you were born.
(Yes, I’m risking the appearance of arrogance, presuming to know what you know. But please let me take the chance? I do so as a friend hoping to help out.)
That argument was, alas, an argument which defenders of the Vietnam War often employed. For both Nixon and LBJ. They were in the White House, they had the inside intelligence, they knew more than you or I.
Truth was, back then, your average high school kid understood that war better than most of the people in the White House. There were many reasons for that, one being that both LBJ and Nixon were looking at their place in history. They were afraid of looking bad. Neither wanted to be the first US president to ever lose a war.
So, as an old fart, all I'm trying to say is, you gotta be critical. You gotta question. Be doubtful. Even the greatest lied. Roosevelt. Lincoln. All of them.
We don’t know yet how Obama will turn out. But we gotta question without flying off the handle. There many on the left who have done just that: fly off the handle, without knowing a blessed thing about what is happening in Washington or the world. Or understanding. They look good only because the Republicans and so-called conservatives look far far worse. And are. The Palinistas are a little hard to beat.
An interesting aspect of our times is that the MSM has woven itself throughout the fabric of modern daily life. The pace of life has greatly increased as a result of this. Calm, ratiocination has become like book reading, serious reading, that is: a thing of the past. Words have a different meaning. The MSM treats communications like a cattle prod.
Now, where’s Polonius? Time to drink with the old fool.
'tis true, 'tis true 'tis pity,
ReplyDeleteand pity 'tis 'tis true.
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
Since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaim the man.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend'
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee!
Oh, why, why didn't poor Hamlet just ignore that ghost who walked the ramparts of Elsinore Castle on that dark winter night, and live happily ever after with Ophelia? Britney's world is so much more simple. And understandable. A logical world in which two and two always equal four.
ReplyDeleteOh well. I like what Hamlet is reading these days.
The great Shakespearean critic Jan Kott said of Hamlet that it is a play that absorbs its times. Janine R. Wedel's Shadow Elite fits the bill.
Janine Wedel is Professor of International Commerce and Policy in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. Dr. Wedel writes about governance, corruption, development, and foreign policy through the unique lens of a social anthropologist. As a fellow at the New America Foundation, Dr. Wedel completed Shadow Elite: How the World's Next Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government and the Free Market, which was just published by Basic Books. In the book, she explores how governments and administrations come and go, but a new breed of power brokers always seem to pop up just where the action is. These players make public decisions without public input--in realms from domestic to foreign and financial policy--and take us into a democracy and accountability-challenged era.
Wedel's previous Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), won the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Nation, The National Interest, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, Salon, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Boston Globe. A four-time Fulbright Fellow, she has also won awards from the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the German Marshall Fund, and the United States Institute of Peace. She has appeared on the BBC, CNN, PBS's Frontline, and National Public Radio, and was an associate producer of three PBS documentaries.