I’ve got a congregation of Wyden, Merkley, and Blumenhauer. That’s pretty pinko. It’s not my fault we can’t enact a progressive agenda.
Humor. It is a…difficult concept. /Vulcan
I’m jealous. Or rather, I miss that feeling. Luckily Scott Brown is up for reelection this year, and there’s rumors of a serious “Draft Elizabeth Warren” campaign. And I’m in Mike Capuano’s district, one of I believe eight that didn’t even have a Republican challenger in 2010. I think the last time I saw figures for this section of Boston, registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans 16:1, not even counting registered independents like me who are for all intents and purposes incredibly solid Democrats. There seems to be so much of this country that I just couldn’t imagine living in.
The thing is, it’s at worst a purple country, even in the middle of some of the reddest states. I moved to Illinois from Georgia last year, and it was definitely a huge shift in local expectations of government. (It’s amazing the infrastructure of transportation, fire & police availability, well maintained roads, parks, sidewalks, trails, etc. etc. etc. you can get when the prevailing attitude doesn’t equate taxation with theft.) But even so, my new district, Illinois 11th, sent a tea party pod person to Congress in January (to join the financial geniuses insisting we shrink our way into economic growth), and my new state elected a Republican Senator who “now has doubts” about anthropogenic global warming* to Obama’s old seat.
At the same time, even though GA now has one of the worst crooks in the state as its Governor (corrupt Republican Nathan Deal, replacing the fairly decent Republican Sonny Perdue), they also have a pretty good progressive history from the metropolitan centers in the state. Rep. John Lewis, as an example.
No matter your political leanings, you can probably find good company in any state, and can surely affect local politics (as, obviously folks like waterj2 and Enderw24 have stated they do, blessings of the Buddha, the FSM and Og be upon them).
*[sub]Apparently because Al Gore might’ve cheated on Tipper. Sadly, I’m not kidding.[/sub]
I’m not up on my recent American history; when was Hillary Clinton president again?
She was never POTUS. But as First Lady, her effort on health care reform was significant. Chairperson of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, reporting to her husband, then President of the United States.
Frankly, I found it both amazing and disappointing that the general public redirected the blame for the crappy economy away from those who caused the crappy economy and shifted it to the people who happened to be in office at the time and couldn’t clean up the mess in time. But that’s neither here nor there.
The answer to your question is no. I voted. And I voted for Democrats.
Well then don’t lose patience and keep voting for democrats and Obama and give Obama the wherewithall to push through the 2008 agenda. To expect him to ram reason into the Rebublicans and make them vote for his agenda is simply futile.
What I’m finding amazing is that Congress spent the last two months sending the entire economy into stasis with their “Will we default or won’t we?” debacle and now people are all surprised and aghast that today’s job report was mediocre. (And yes, it’s all somehow Obama’s fault.)
Yeah, sure, if I were a business owner, I’d have been happy to hire loads of new people in the face of a very probable economic tsunami.
Didn’t you get the memo? It’s all Obama’s fault, all the time. Business hates the uncertainty of regulations. However, the uncertainty of whether or not the country will go into default? meh…
Prioritization of debt obligations is not enshrined in current law. As far back as 1985 the GAO asserted
The OMB has similar powers, called apportionment, although they have restrictions on them that were imposed in '74 after Nixon jerked around the accounts payable for various programs and contracts for political reasons. They’re not allowed to delay payments indefinitely, only for a month or so in most cases, or maybe longer depending on the lifecycle of the program/contract.This Slate article argues that the existing powers of the Treasury and the OMB are enough to jockey around the current revenues to avoid defaulting on debts, although it means lots of Federal Employees and perhaps contractors would get either furloughed or delayed. Another piece, in the Atlantic, argues the rating’s agencies already assume that if the debt ceiling holds that prioritization will take place and debts will be honored above program expenditures, although that isn’t clearly spelled out in law. The Treasury itself says it’s all fucked up and it doesn’t have guidance on who to pay and who not to and that prioritization or apportionment is just putting icing on a shit sandwich and default will happen sooner or later so stop yanking us around already. Senator Toomey, who proposed a prioritization bill says Treasury is fearmongering and his list of prioritization would have been a good thing and Treasury are assholes for not supporting it.
The Congressional Research Service put together a 25 page paper(pdf) which basically says the same thing Treasury did. That the situation is bad news and although there is wiggle room it won’t be enough to be anything like sustainable. The wiggle room would be in the absence of guiding law, so it would likely spawn lots of court cases and drama, so just don’t go there is their final recommendation.
In any case, there isn’t a clear law which says “Starve the widows and orphans, but make sure you pay Gordon Gecko.” A bold and decisive President could do out of necessity what Nixon did out of avarice, probably with similar results in the end(lots of lawsuits and a law enacted to keep it from happening ever again) but a 40% reduction in revenue could be navigated for a period of time without widows and orphans starving or soldiers not getting their combat rations.
He didn’t stop it. He just stood in front of everyone every day and talked about big deals and fixing the problem permanently but he actually has zero power to do anything about it, and the results bear that out.
I’m not angry at him. He’s doing what his predecessors, dating back to at least JFK, possibly FDR has done, and that’s get dragged into the Congressional mudwrestling. I’m saying we can’t afford that anymore. Congress is theoretically the most powerful branch of government, they can override vetoes, they can impeach Presidents, SCotUS Justices, they’re at least half of the process of Amending the Constitution. But they’re not getting either the credit or the blame for what’s happening in the country. The President has become that face and that voice, largely because they’ve sought out the spotlight. They become every Congressperson’s best friend because most members of Congress need the campaign support from the only really well-known member of government when an election cycle comes up. So the President uses all these non-Constitutional tools, his bully pulpit, promises of fundraising, promises of endorsement, and the party system to try to fight with the people who have actual votes and when those with actual votes don’t care for his fundraising, or promises, or his party’s support, then he’s toothless. As the Republicans proved during the Bush tax cut debacle, and proved again here.
Enjoy,
Steven
OK, let me review, Mtgman; you’re saying first there would’ve been no defaulting on debt because even though there’s no established legal requirement or operative procedural guidance assuring that debts will be prioritized over expenses, there is ample assurance among rating agencies and Congress that prioritization of debts would occur. I can actually accept that. But then you assert almost casually that although “Federal employees and contractors” may assuredly get furloughed or delayed due to drastic prioritization, a bold and decisive POTUS like Mr. Obama could assure, for an indefinite period of time, that widows and orphans would “probably” not starve and soldiers would probably not be denied combat rations.
This ignores two rather glaring consequences, does it not? First, many of those widows and orphans, along with non widowed spouses and non orphaned children, rely for the provision of their roofs, clothing and food on the income earned by those federal workers and employees of contracting companies you mentioned and/or on the product of the machinations, however self centered, of the Gordon Geckoes on Wall Street. And second, those rating agencies were not actually going to wait for overdue T-bills to start languishing in the Treasury’s inbox before they downrated the US, were they now? It was the threat of Congressional failure to approve debt responsibility that was the trigger for that outcome, and all the attendant consequences tied to it.
Nonsense. Utter and absolute twaddle. The President spoke about deal making because he was bloody well hip deep in negotiations, at the request of Congress, negotiations which the results quite well demonstrate were successfully accomplished -surprisingly without actually delivering anything the hostage takers had highlighted as nonnegotiable! Did you miss all those cries for Presidential leadership from the Orange Man and his teabagging cohort while you were developing your sanguine serenity over their recklessness?
As for the rest of your complaint, I note with astonishment that an apparently aware and conscious adult American desires his President to show some leadership by choosing not to lead. Because in your view he’s toothless anyway.
Brilliant.
As to the possibilities if the government had been denied the ability to issue new debt. I’m not saying it would have been milk and honey. It would have sucked a bunch. A faster drop into the second dip of this probable double-dip recession would be the most likely outcome. Obama had no good choices, but there were things he could have done, within the scope of the office of the President, which could have cushioned the blow for the most vulnerable Americans. In reality that’s about all he could have done, act as an airbag when we hit a wall. He may be able to save lives, but we’re still going to be all kinds of fucked up.
Obama is playing the legislature’s game. There’s no way to win since he’s not a legislator anymore. The only way to win is not to play. He needs to show leadership in the Constitutionally defined role of the PotUS. If Boehner is calling him for help, he should say, truthfully, that he has no authority in the legislative process until a bill hits his desk. He will happily give advice on what he is likely to sign versus veto, but that’s it. He’s going hat in hand to freshmen House Members and trying to convince them not to torpedo the country. What he should be doing is redirecting the press corps directly to that Member’s office and saying “I don’t have a bill on my desk, here’s who to ask about why.”
Why do you seem to think Obama has responsibility for shaping legislation now that he’s no longer even a Senator? What in hell makes it a good use of his time to argue with freshman tea party ideologues? The fact that their party leadership, who have much more in terms of actual leverage, aren’t getting anywhere is a huge red flag, but he just jumped right into that tiger’s den anyway.
Oh, and please, please define for me what you think the pros and cons of the deal which were passed are and how they line up with progressive ideals. The characterization of the outcome as “successfully accomplished” seems to be unique to yourself. We may have swerved to avoid the wall, but we’re still headed for the cliff, and accelerating with bullshit like automatic cuts. Automatic cuts are as brilliant a tactic as tax cuts that expire. All you have to do is muster a minority to block an action and you get your way now and in the future.
Enjoy,
Steven
Obama grabbed the wheel to keep the bus on the road. I frankly don’t care that his CDL is expired. And apparently 99% of the country expects him to drive the legislature from the passenger seat, thanks to that precedent you think was established with JFK or maybe FDR. (I’d say it started at least with Jefferson, but I’ll moot whatever president you’d like to blame.)
The problem with not playing is that it isn’t a way to win, it’s only a sure way to lose. I don’t want Obama to miss a second term, so I applaud his leadership. You may call it going “hat in hand” to the Teatards, but I call it schooling them.
Well, I outlined that in this post and this one over in the Elections thread. Rather than repeat, I’ll summarize: The deal does not and could not ever have lined up with progressive ideals. Wish for that in one hand and spit into the other and tell me which one fills up faster.
But aside from some guaranteed cuts to the Defense budget, all the sops to Tea Party austerity demands are smoke and mirrors, easily (and politically quietly) reversible. The deal also prevents further hostage taking over the debt limit this election cycle. It also prevents a budget showdown for this year and sets next year’s budget most of the way through the process. It disposes of the demands for a Balanced Budget Amendment by requiring an up or down vote in the House for passage up to the Senate, where everyone knows it will die. It takes nothing out of this year’s budget and something less than $25 billion out of next year’s. This is not enough by itself to drag the economy. It protects entitlement programs from spending cuts or caps.
It sets up a special committee (so called Super Congress) whose function is to spotlight the ideological battles and allow the Tea Party ethos to shine for all to see. That’s a good thing, because a) the Tea Party are really pretty obviously fucked in the head, and b) no damage can be done because nothing will get decided by that committee.
And it clears the stage for continuing the real discussion on job creation, and allows genuine argument from this toothless-President-who-gave-away-deep-spending-cuts about real investments in infrastructure to promote job growth.
But the deal is dangerous, in that it depends on enough voter turnout among the sane to return a Democratic majority to the House and preserve the bare majority in the Senate. Otherwise actual cuts to entitlements are probably coming.
Aaaaaand, S&P has just downgraded the US credit rating to AA plus from AAA. This will increase borrowing costs for the US Government, effectively increasing the deficit.
Way to go Tea Party and the Republican spineless weasels who now take their orders from the 20% of the population who think that tax increases should be off the table to fix the deficit.
Hope you like the result.
All the financial whizes are telling people not to sell off or trade their positions. Well, I did so back when this whole kerfuffel was still in the pissing stage and I’m glad I did so. It’s only going to get worse. What a bunch of stupid motherfuckers: cut spending during a recession and zero out revenue so you can’t spend even if you need to. Brilliant.
I still don’t get why making it harder to pay off your debt is supposedly a good thing. It’s like charging people who are overdrawn more money. You know, that thing that leads those same people to file for bankruptcy.
I’ve never taken you for someone who was either willfully ignorant, stupid or insane, but if this were all I had to go on to figure you out, I’d wonder if you were all three.
He couldn’t get things done? Really?
You do know that the 111th Congress was the most productive since the fucking 1960s, or don’t you? Maybe not, since you think he couldn’t get things done.
The notion that President Obama got nothing done is so absurd I have to wonder where you’ve been living for the past 3 years.
The only president in recent memory to be inaugurated under worse circumstances than Barack Obama in 2009, was Harry Truman in 1945, who was sworn in on the heels of the Great Depression and still mired in WWII.
Given that this president has had to deal with a global economic meltdown; the imminent collapse of major U.S. industries; the bleeding of millions of jobs; 2 ongoing wars; uprisings and protests in Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya; several massive international environmental disasters, especially the massive earthquake in Haiti and the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in Japan; several terrorist attack attempts here in the U.S., not to mention the bitter fight the Republicans have waged against him every step of the way, it’s amazing that anything got done in this country, let alone the sheer magnitude of what we did accomplish.
This is just a sampling of over 500 pieces of legislation that became law:
- January 29, 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- February 4, 2009: Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
- February 17, 2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- March 30, 2009: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
- April 21, 2009: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
- May 20, 2009: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
- May 20, 2009: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009
- May 22, 2009: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009
- May 22, 2009: Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009
- June 22, 2009: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
- June 30, 2009: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009
- August 6, 2009: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act
- October 15, 2009: Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009
- October 19, 2009: Foreign Evidence Request Efficiency Act of 2009
- October 22, 2009: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act
- October 28, 2009: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- October 30, 2009: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
- November 6, 2009: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
- November 11, 2009: Military Spouses Residency Relief Act
- December 15, 2009: No Social Security Benefits for Prisoners Act of 2009
- December 22, 2009: Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009
- January 27, 2010: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act
- February 16, 2010: Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act
- February 27, 2010: Social Security Disability Applicants’ Access to Professional Representation Act of 2010
- March 4, 2010: Travel Promotion Act
- March 18, 2010: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)
- March 18, 2010: Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009 (Division B) Reestablished “pay-as-you-go”
- March 23, 2010: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- March 30, 2010: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
- March 31, 2010: Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009
- April 7, 2010 Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act
- May 5, 2010: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
- May 17, 2010: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act
- May 24, 2010: Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009
- May 27, 2010: Federal Judiciary Administrative Improvements Act of 2010
- June 9, 2010: Special Agent Samuel Hicks Families of Fallen Heroes Act
- June 25, 2010: Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010
- July 1, 2010: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010
- July 2, 2010: Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010
- July 7, 2010: Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act
- July 21, 2010: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
- July 22, 2010: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
- July 27, 2010: Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010
- August 3, 2010: Fair Sentencing Act of 2010
- August 10, 2010: SPEECH Act of 2010
- August 10, 2010: Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010
- August 11, 2010: United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010
- September 27, 2010: Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010
- September 27, 2010: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010
- September 30, 2010: First Responder Anti-Terrorism Training Resources Act
- September 30, 2010: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010
- October 7, 2010: Reducing Over-Classification Act
- October 7, 2010: Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010
- October 8, 2010: Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2010
- October 7, 2010: Security Cooperation Act of 2010
- October 12, 2010: Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act
- October 12, 2010: Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act Improvements Act of 2010
- October 12, 2010: Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010
- October 13, 2010: Plain Writing Act of 2010
- October 13, 2010: Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010
- October 15, 2010: United States Secret Service Uniformed Division Modernization Act of 2010
- October 30, 2010: International Adoption Simplification Act
- December 9, 2010: Telework Enhancement Act of 2010
- December 9, 2010: Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010
- December 13, 2010: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
- December 14, 2010: Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act
- December 15, 2010: CALM Act
- December 17, 2010: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
- December 18, 2010: Truth in Fur Labeling Act of 2010
- December 18, 2010: Social Security Number Protection Act of 2010
- December 20, 2010: CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010
- December 22, 2010: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010
- December 22, 2010: Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010
- December 22, 2010: Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009
- December 22, 2010: FOR VETS Act of 2010
- December 22, 2010: Preserving Foreign Criminal Assets for Forfeiture Act of 2010
- December 29, 2010: Omnibus Trade Act of 2010
- December 29, 2010 Helping Heroes Keep Their Homes Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: GPRA Modernization Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
- January 4, 2011: America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Supportive Housing for the Elderly Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011 :Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010
- January 4, 2011: Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act
- September 29, 2010: Treaty with the United Kingdom Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation
- September 29, 2010: Treaty with Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation
- September 29, 2010: Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance
- December 22, 2010: New START
- February 23, 2011: Obama declared the Defense of Marriage act unconstitutional and will no longer be defending the cases in the 1st and 2nd circuits.
Compare that in both scope and import, to what the Republicans accomplished over a period of six years of control of both houses and the Presidency, and what they’ve done (or not done) since regaining control of the House of Representatives in 2010. There simply is no comparison.
So what were you saying about him not being able to get things done?
As for your crybaby temper tantrum over how he negotiated the debt reduction deal, you’re so far off the mark you may as well not be in the shooting range at all.
As for you not working your ass off until you’re tired to the bone and your fingers are bleeding, do you want a 7-2 Right-leaning Supreme Court? Because if you don’t help Obama get re-elected and he loses to one of the Republican shitstains who are running, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be retiring during the next term, that’s a given. And Justice Kennedy has said that he only intends to not retire during this term of Obama’s. It’s a question mark as to whether he’d stay or not if Obama is reelected, but if President Romney is sitting in the White House, bye-bye Kennedy and Hello United Koch Brothers of America!
Why? Why would you be willing to see that happen to this country? Why?
Because you’re butthurt?
Do you like Citizens United? Are you okay with the fact that Mitt Romney has now gotten not one, not two, but three mysterious $1 million contributions from completely bogus “corporations” to a PAC in support of him?
$1 million donation to pro-Romney PAC sparks questions
2 Utah companies donate $1 million apiece to Romney PAC
Whose million dollar donations are these? Are they from a foreign government? Is Romney making these donations to himself and funneling it through his PAC so he doesn’t have to disclose that? Was it the Koch Brothers? Was it someone on the Board of ALEC?
You know, maybe you don’t have to be worried about your reproductive freedoms being stripped away from you. Maybe you don’t care if unions are abolished entirely. Maybe you don’t care about these so-called issues you “support,” if you’re willing to abandon them to avoid having to make the morally correct decision and put the country above yourself.
But I’m sorry, the Supreme Court is more important than you, so get the fuck over it and, as Ben Heinman Jr. of The Atlantic says, “Liberals should be working every congressional and senatorial race, starting yesterday. Grass roots politics against conservatives, not Olympian op-eds [or message board posts] against President Obama, is the best answer for liberal critics of the debt-ceiling deal.”
So climb down off your soap box, put on your Big Boy Pants, start supporting your president and get your ass to work for this country.
It’s kinda fun to step back and watch you work, Shayna! It’s not as much fun when we’re defending friends from other friends, but I think you’re doing good here. (Thanks for the link to the Vichy Democrats article. I admit I was feeling fairly lonely in my analysis…)
Thank you, xenophon. Thank you very much.
And you’re welcome for the Vichy Dems link. Their analysis of President Obama’s negotiation and all the possible outcomes is spot on (which means your analysis is, too). For the life of me I don’t understand why otherwise smart Democrats/Liberals/Moderates consistently forget how utterly brilliant Barack Obama is. He shredded nearly every demand the teajadists were insisting on, and at the same time, made them believe they got what they wanted, when the reality is, they got basically nothing.
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