Monday, January 28, 2013

President Obama is done pussyfooting around!

The other day the President conducted an interview with The New Republic,

During the interview one of the journalists, Franklin Foer, asked the President this question:

When you talk about Washington, oftentimes you use it as a way to describe this type of dysfunction. But it's a very broad brush. It can seem as if you're apportioning blame not just to one party, but to both parties—

In the past President Obama has erred on the side of fairness and said that both sides need to come to the table with workable proposals, roll up their sleeves, and blah blah blah, we all need to work together for the American people. However THIS time it was clear that for his second term the President is NOT going to provide cover for the obstructionist policies of the Republican party.

Well, no, let me be clear. There's not a—there's no equivalence there. In fact, that's one of the biggest problems we've got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value the appearance of impartiality and objectivity. And so the default position for reporting is to say, "A plague on both their houses." On almost every issue, it's, "Well, Democrats and Republicans can't agree"—as opposed to looking at why is it that they can't agree. Who exactly is preventing us from agreeing? 

And I want to be very clear here that Democrats, we've got a lot of warts, and some of the bad habits here in Washington when it comes to lobbyists and money and access really goes to the political system generally. It's not unique to one party. But when it comes to certain positions on issues, when it comes to trying to do what's best for the country, when it comes to really trying to make decisions based on fact as opposed to ideology, when it comes to being willing to compromise, the Democrats, not just here in this White House, but I would say in Congress also, have shown themselves consistently to be willing to do tough things even when it's not convenient, because it's the right thing to do. And we haven't seen that same kind of attitude on the other side. 

Until Republicans feel that there's a real price to pay for them just saying no and being obstructionist, you'll probably see at least a number of them arguing that we should keep on doing it. It worked for them in the 2010 election cycle, and I think there are those who believe that it can work again. I disagree with them, and I think the cost to the country has been enormous. 

But if you look at the most recent fiscal deal, I presented to Speaker Boehner a package that would have called for $1.2 trillion in new revenue—less than I actually think we need, but in the spirit of compromise—and over nine hundred billion dollars in spending cuts, some of which are very difficult. And yet, I'm confident we could have gotten Democratic votes for that package, despite the fact that we were going after some Democratic sacred cows. And had we gotten that done, it would have been good for the economy, and I think it would have changed the political environment in this town. 

Democrats, as painful as it was, as much as we got attacked by some of our core constituencies, were willing to step up because it was the right thing to do. And the other side could not do that.

Oooooh, yeah! Now THAT my friends is how a President who has just received over 55% of the vote calls out the opposition party for sabotaging progress.

No more Mr. Nice Guy, the President is here to kick ass and take names.

God I am loving this second term so far!

P.S. There is more in the article about Obama's plans concerning gun control, and a few other things,  so I encourage you to read it all.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:15 AM

    "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
    -They Live (1988 movie quote)

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  2. Anonymous5:29 AM

    If Sarah Palin was a great journalist, she would of interviewed President Obama and broke the news in facebook.

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  3. Anonymous5:38 AM

    Waaay O/T:

    Thought of someone we all know with this recent blind item about someone faking two pregnancies and showing pics of baby bumps with pillows. Even metions a lawsuit.

    http://blindgossip.com/?p=49092#comments

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  4. I was watching Morning Joe today (for the very last time.) Joe was going on and on about how this President never reached out to the other party in his entire first term. I have no clue who the morons were he was interviewing, but neither on them bothered to correct him. Disgusting. He reached out over and over and over again, and got stabbed in the back for it. So much for that 'liberal media,' huh? When MSNC lies about you, who's left?

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  5. Anonymous6:27 AM

    OT The SAG awards were last night. Julianna Moore won for Game Change again. The clip of VP candidate Palin declaring all the people were coming to see her, not McCain, therefore things will be done her way was chilling. Considering the campaign dressed and coiffed her, created a persona of extreme motherhood, wrote a speech she delivered well then kept her away from interviews she believes she was the universe.

    We truly dodged a bullet. Goimg Rogue validates the point she wanted to run the show her way. She did so since losing dedicated to destroy, annihalate

    the president and everyone who did not repeat or promote her lies. Palin has fallen far, people saw through her yet she holds pretense she is a powerful politician. Good luck with that throne sitting on FB. Reminds me of the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

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  6. Anonymous6:37 AM

    Great answer by the President. Thanks for posting it.

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  7. Anonymous6:46 AM

    President Barack Obama's highest approval rating last year came in Washington, D.C. and his childhood stomping grounds of Hawaii while residents in Utah and Wyoming were most apt to disapprove of his job performance, according to findings from Gallup released Monday.

    At 82.4 percent, Obama's top approval rating for 2012 was in the District of Columbia, easily eclipsing Hawaii at 64.2 percent. Rounding out the top five were Vermont (59.1 percent), Maryland (58.2 percent) and New York (57.9 percent).

    The President's approval rating of 27.9 percent in Utah was the lowest, barely edging Wyoming (28.5 percent) for the distinction. Alaska (31.4 percent), West Virginia (32.6 percent) and North Dakota (32.9 percent) comprised the remainder of the bottom five.

    Obama's average nationwide approval rating for 2012 was 48 percent, according to Gallup, a 4-point bump from the previous year.

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/160133/obama-gets-highest-2012-job-approval-hawaii.aspx

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  8. Anonymous8:16 AM

    Case in point: We now have a "bipartisan" agreement on immigration framework in place that just came out of Senate subcommittee. Unless something is politically expedient to the GOP, like getting Hispanic votes that overwhelmingly voted Democratic in the last election and continue to do so, they obstruct, delay, kill anything that will help the country, except for the rich plutocrats that pump all their dirty money into their campaigns.F*CK ALL OF THEM.

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  9. Anonymous9:33 AM

    The Firing of Sarah Palin Signals the Ultimate Failure of Fox News to Defeat Obama

    ...None of the Palin as a political force of nature narrative is actually true. Her approval ratings were on the decline before the 2008 election had even concluded, but the mainstream media kept pushing the Sarah Palin superstar myth. This unwarranted hype led Fox News to buy into the Sarah Palin myth, and make her one of the centerpieces of their defeat Obama campaign.

    Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck were the two tent poles of the Fox News strategy of endless slurs, fearmongering, and conspiracy theories directed towards and focused on President Obama. In 2009 and 2010, Palin and Beck were the drivers of the Fox News anti-Obama strategy. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are no longer on television, and their declines can be directly attributed to misjudgment at Fox News.

    If the 2012 election revealed anything, it was that Fox News has no ability to influence elections, or the broader the electorate. The cable news ratings leader relentlessly waged war against everything related to Obama. Fox spent years pushing and granting legitimacy to every crazed Obama conspiracy theory that came down the pike. They spent endless hours of daily programming railing against this president, but they underestimated the president’s popularity. Like the Republican Party itself, Fox News misjudged the electorate. They thought 2012 would be just like the 2010, but they were proven wrong when Obama won reelection in a landslide.

    When Fox News pushed Sarah Palin out the door, they were publicly admitting defeat.

    http://www.politicususa.com/firing-sarah-palin-signals-ultimate-failure-fox-news-defeat-obama.html

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    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler6:33 PM

      The operative phrase was "Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck were the two tent poles of the Fox News strategy..."
      If there's a tent involved, can a Palin be far behind?

      Delete
  10. Anonymous9:35 AM

    Sarah Palin’s Obama obsession is so complete that she spent the last three years serving as his cable news stalker. Palin is the human embodiment of Fox News failure. Fox has two spheres of influence. They are able to influence the mainstream media, and the Republican Party. Both the media and the GOP appear absolutely terrified to cross them, but that limited influence was unable to prevent the reelection of a personally popular president.

    Fox News paid Sarah Palin millions of dollars because they thought that she could be the tip of their anti-Obama spear. They mistakenly assumed that Palin would broaden their anti-Obama message. They thought they were buying access to a potential shadow president, and possible 2012 candidate. Instead, they got themselves a political never was who could never get past losing the 2008 election.

    The big story isn’t the overdue expiration of Sarah Palin’s 15 minutes of fame, but that the Fox News emperor is wearing no clothes. Fox News went all in on defeating Obama in 2012 and lost. The demise of Sarah Palin as a national figure represents limitations and systemic failure of right wing media.

    President Obama didn’t just defeat Mitt Romney. He also triumphed over a right wing media machine that was hellbent on stopping him. Obama’s 2012 win vanquished Fox News, and made Sarah Palin the forgettable footnote in history that she always should have been.

    Fox News waved the white flag when they fired Palin. Obama and the left have won both the media battle and the political war, as the Fox News 2012 gambit may be be remembered as their ultimate failure.

    http://www.politicususa.com/firing-sarah-palin-signals-ultimate-failure-fox-news-defeat-obama.html

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  11. Anonymous9:41 AM

    Last week campaign disclosure reports revealed that Hillary Clinton had finally retired the debt from her 2008 presidential campaign—with a little help from the guy who beat her, Barack Obama. Clinton’s debt once totaled more than $20 million, although it had dwindled to about $250,000 by last year. That’s when a team of top Obama donors decided to surprise Clinton, and thank her for her loyal service, by raising enough money to pay off her bills. As secretary of state, she was forbidden from political fundraising.

    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-28/obamas-parting-gift-to-hillary-clinton

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  12. Anonymous9:41 AM

    With the 2012 U.S. election returns now complete, it’s possible to analyze the data and learn some surprising things. Via my Bloomberg colleague Gregory Giroux, here’s one of them: On Election Day, the most pro-Obama county in the entire United States was in South Dakota—and its population is less than 1 percent African American.

    The honor goes to Shannon County, tucked into the southwest corner of South Dakota with a population of about 13,000. Ninety-three percent of the county’s voters supported Obama, the highest percentage of any county in the country. A notable fact about Shannon County: Its population is 94.2 percent Native American—it is home to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation—and only .08 percent black.

    That makes it unusual among intensely pro-Obama counties, which tend to be majority black. Sure enough, the ensuing seven on Giroux’s list are all majority black counties. An additional majority Native American county—Menominee, Wisc.—comes in at No. 9, while Starr County, Tex., and its 96-percent Hispanic population rounds out the top 10.

    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-23/guess-which-county-loves-obama-the-most#r=read

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  13. hedgewytch9:47 AM

    This is the President I voted for. I'm going to enjoy watching GOP heads explode.

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  14. Anonymous10:03 AM

    This is off topic, Gryphen, but you might enjoy reading this article I just came across. Maybe there's hope after all?

    My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A

    I spent New Year's Eve at the red-blooded, all-American epicenter of college football: at the Chick-fil-A Bowl, next to Dan Cathy, as his personal guest. It was among the most unexpected moments of my life.

    Yes, after months of personal phone calls, text messages and in-person meetings, I am coming out in a new way, as a friend of Chick-fil-A's president and COO, Dan Cathy, and I am nervous about it. I have come to know him and Chick-fil-A in ways that I would not have thought possible when I first started hearing from LGBT students about their concerns over the chicken chain's giving practices.

    For many this news of friendship might be shocking. After all, I am an out, 40-year-old gay man and a lifelong activist for equality. I am also the founder and executive director of Campus Pride, the leading national organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college students. Just seven months ago our organization advanced a national campaign against Chick-fil-A for the millions of dollars it donated to anti-LGBT organizations and divisive political groups that work each day to harm hardworking LGBT young people, adults and our families. I have spent quite some time being angry at and deeply distrustful of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A. If he had his way, my husband of 18 years and I would never be legally married.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-l-windmeyer/dan-cathy-chick-fil-a_b_2564379.html

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  15. Anonymous10:43 AM

    Finally, the Republicans Are Afraid

    ...After his Inaugural Address as he stepped back into the U.S. Capitol, President Obama paused, turned around and looked back at the throngs of people waving American flags as far as the eye could see. He said wistfully, “I’m not going to see this again.”

    From his seat in the Inaugural reviewing stands, Speaker Boehner saw the same impressive scene, and he may have grasped its implicit message. The large and diverse crowd personified the Obama coalition — and the mortal threat that it represents to traditional American politics, always dominated by white men of means.

    Of course, the Republicans still have the Right-Wing Machine churning out propaganda to rally the party’s angry white-male base. Plus, the GOP is coming up with more new plans for minimizing the votes of black and brown people and maximizing the political clout of whites, such as a scheme in several states to apportion presidential electors based on the Republicans’ gerrymandered congressional districts.

    But Boehner seems to sense that something fundamental has changed. Perhaps he was playacting a bit when he warned fellow Republicans that Obama hoped to “annihilate” the Republican Party. But – overdramatized or not – Boehner’s alarm suggests that finally it is the Republicans who are afraid.

    http://thedailybanter.com/2013/01/finally-the-republicans-are-afraid/

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  16. Anonymous1:43 PM

    President Obama just called Social Security and Medicare "sacred cows"...and you're PRAISING him for it?? Really?

    I find those comments absolutely disgraceful, not what I voted for, and certainly not what he campaigned on.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:52 PM

      I don't think you know the meaning of the term,or you are attempting to create outrage.
      noun
      an individual, organization, institution, etc., considered to be exempt from criticism or questioning.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous4:43 AM

      2:52 - don't be disingenuous. Please. That is not the way this term was used here, and you know it. President Obama has already put SS cuts on the table so he hardly considers them exempt from anything. But perhaps you think it's OK to cut SS or Medicare.

      Delete
  17. Anita Winecooler6:52 PM

    You know he's serious when he says "Let me be clear" and "And I want to be very clear". The gloves have finally come off!

    And two days after Sarah got canned, her ex boss, Senator John McCain reverses course on his "No Amnesty" approach to Immigration Reform, comes out squarely FOR a "BiPartisan Immigration Reform Bill".

    Hmmm, Why, after getting his ass swacked hard by Hillary Clinton, did he come out with this? Because he's running again, and he couldn't risk having the Democrats enact an "Obama Immigration Reform Act". Because THAT'S exactly why POTUS has been so low keyed in regard to Immigration reform.

    The three dimensional ninja chess playing POTUS at his best!!

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