To continue with this sidebar for a moment, all through my childhood my mom had a framed bust photo (or was it a painting?) of JFK on some wall wherever we lived at the time, and a non-painted, ceramic bust on a curio in the living room. This was from the mid '60s and throughout the '70s and early '80s when I went away to college. She probably still has both pieces somewhere in her house.
Do you have any idea why?
Maybe you should join and, you know, show them the way …
ah, so … progressives aren’t primarying Obama because … because … they are … afraid … of JFK? 
Well, to be fair, his picture apparently did kill a whole bunch of popes.
Careful! Do not speak that name aloud!
Virtually all I’ve talked to utterly adore him.
He is, as the saying goes, the HNIC.
Why would I want to be part of either the old white losers(the Tea Party) or the bitter white losers(the OWS)?
Or are you referring to the working families party?
Since I’m not married, don’t have kids, and am not poor, that would make me look more than a little presumptuous.
The Half-Negro In Charge?
Uh, why? What does that have to do with how left or right wing he is or his economic policies or health care reform or anything like that? I’m arguing about Obama’s position on the right/left spectrum, not about what American minorities may or may not feel about him.
And unless they are idiots it’s simply to be expected that minorities are going to support him pretty much regardless of his positions and regardless of whether or not they like him because the Republicans are heavily dominated by white racists and have been for decades.
Don’t worry, they’ll take anybody. (And, if you live in the UK, you can join the Labour Party without presenting a union card! Imagine!)
I understand why black people love having a black man as President, but I bet the smarter ones wish it were somebody a lot less Republican-ish than Obama.
Not only have people never really heard of them, but they don’t run their own candidates. In nearly every election, the Working Families Party endorses a candidate who they feel supports their platform the best. Most of the time, this is the Democrat candidate (including Obama in 2008). Through a quirk in New York law, they’re considered a separate party (and receive state funding) if enough vote for the “D” name on their ballot line. It’s call fusion voting.
I’m sure someday they’ll run candidates of their own. But nowadays, to be a progressive in New York state means to support the Democrats.
Well, of course. The WFP (like the New Party before it) was organized around that strategy – that is why it has a presence only in a few states that allow electoral fusion. (Most states don’t.)
That’s really not my experience. Although some are still awash in the euphoria of having a black president, it has dissipated quite a bit, and many are openly critical of him, although most say they will vote for him again.
“The WFP was launched with the agenda of well-paying jobs, affordable housing, accessible health care, better public schools and more investment in public services.”
I don’t see why well paying jobs cannot be the result of policy instead of handouts.
I don’t see why affordable housing cannot be the result of policy rather than handouts.
I don’t see why acessible health care or even a single payer system is completely out of touch with financial reality.
I don’t see why better public schools and mroe investment in public services is out of touch with financial reality.
Which of these goals do you oppose because o0f the price tag?
I’m assuming you intend to pay your secretary at least $10/hour and I see no reason why your secretary would be excluded from whatever universal health care system we put into place.
Yeah, I never got that either. We are the best but we can’t get our act together enough to provide services that almsot every other developed country in the world provides to its citizens.
I know plenty of Republicans that are to the left of him (granted they are NY Republicans but still).
To be fair, when black people do it they just call them homeless. And when they march, noone seems to care.
A) I’m pretty sure that Obama will be able to rely on the black vote and that there will be a very high turnout in both the black and racist communities.
B) At least some are relieved that people no longer associate the words “black politician” to folks like Marion Barry or Al Sharpton.
You ignore the free market economy. If you mandate a “living wage”, then the cost of goods and services go up, and those at the bottom of the heap make no meaningful progress. Progressives seem to have this false notion that the things they want have no costs associated with them. Everything costs something–TANSTAAFL.
Actually, they do.
Almost everything you have or ever had is a free lunch.
Your cite is talking about living wage requirements relating to government contractors. That’s not in the same zip code as requiring private businesses to pay living wages to unskilled workers. If McDonald’s has to pay $15/hour to the kid working the drivethrough, the price of your value meal will go up. Consumers may have more money, but they’ll be paying higher prices, with no real gain in purchasing power.