It Has Got To Be Obama

As much as I am disappointed in the performance of the Obama administration as we approach three years in office, and there are a lot of things he could have been much more aggressive in pushing for, when I compare him to the circus clowns (my apologies to any real circus clowns who may be offended) that are appearing in these so-called debates every week around the country, I know in my heart that the clowns, or the clown that could be president will take us back to 1900  in all ways that matter to the vast majority of the citizens.

Our only hope is to keep President Obama as president and then elect a Democratic congress.  And get rid of the f’ing filibuster.

More Caving

Regarding the President’s speech last night, it appears to me that he has caved in the writing of it.

BooMan has a copy of the speech and .pdf document of talking points for the American Jobs Act.

Here is where he caves (bottom of first page):

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan. To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

“Additional deficit reduction” is not going to come from the Department of Defense.  It has to come from discretionary social programs that hold the country together.  The fabric of society – education, WIC, Medicaid, education – is being ripped asunder.

If there is any net job creation, who will bear the brunt of the costs if not the middle class and the poor?

Success

Okay.  It was not wildly successful.  The Dems in Wisconsin did not take control of the Wisconsin state senate.  They fell one seat short of that.

But they were successful on several counts.

First, they showed the Republican/teatard/Koch-sucking enemies of the working people that they are just not going to sit and take it.  They showed those that are paying attention that when the enemies of the working people try to take away hard earned “rights” that there will be push-back.

Second.  Two sitting Republican state senators have been recalled.  They lost a prestigious position because they followed a Koch-sucking governor.  This fact will give pause in the future to any attempted over-reach by elected officials.

Third.  Nationally, the Dem base, the grass roots can see the positive effects of the recall effort.

Next will be Ohio this November.  Voters will have the opportunity to overturn Gov Kasich’s SB-5 that limits collective bargaining by public employees.

From a 20 July Quinnipiac Univ poll

Opponents of Gov. Kasich’s legislation to limit collective bargaining for public employees retain a 56 – 32 lead in the expected November referendum, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Fighting back works.  Is President Obama paying attention?

Maybe I Was Hasty

On second thought, maybe I was a little hasty in my last post.

Here is an anecdotal example of where a competent person who lacks supervisory experience can have difficulty with a common task.

Mr. Chief broke her right leg in April of this year.  The cast was removed on 20 July, nine days ago.  She is still essentially wheel-chair bound.

This morning, she decided to make some bread pudding.  There was left over milk that she didn’t want to spoil and she had bought an inexpensive loaf of bread for this project.  Chief is assisting.  Getting stuff, toasting bread, being part of the process.

But Mrs. Chief is so used to doing the whole thing herself, she gets confused between telling to do ‘X’ and her reading the recipe and doing ‘Y.’

Anyway, the recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  She put two of each in with the eggs et al, but did catch herself before it got mixed with the bread.

By her having to direct me and then her doing her part things went FUBAR.

She is not used to supervising.  Maybe POTUS has the same problem

I’ve Been Harping

on this for two years.  Or at least since the Dawn Johnson nomination was left to twist in the wind.

From McClatchy:

Does Obama’s inaction stem from his assessment that the United States is an ungovernable cauldron of uncompromising blue state/red state loyalties?

Is his lack of leadership on the debt ceiling a political calculation based on the theory that American voters would blame Congress (or just Republicans) for the first federal default in U.S. history?

Or does his ineffectual leadership reflect his lack of executive experience before the presidency?

The above lists three possibilities.  It does not offer that Obama does not want to offend the big money people that he needs to get re-elected.  Crass?  Unh – uh.

Sadly.  Just.  Reality.

I Did Not Cause This Problem

I was not involved in the repeal of Glass-Steagall.  My name is not Senator Gramm a Republican from Texas.

I did not slice & dice mortgages nor did I set a criminally low tax rate for billionaire hedge fund managers.

In short, “I did not cause this problem.”

And me and other retired seniors and those folks running the checkouts at your local Wal-Mart or local gas station that are making $25 or $40 grand a year did not cause what ever problem some dick-head, teaparty mother-fucker in Washington, DC thinks we should be helping to solve.

If the marginal tax rate cannot go up for those folks earning over a half million a year, then I will not, absolutely will N. O. T. vote for the top of the ticket in Nov 1012.

I will not vote for a Republican.  And, if I am part of some ‘shared’ solution, then that means that President Obama is just a little brighter Republican than his predecessor was.

The Holder Nomination

Eric Holder’s nomination has been approved for full Senate vote. But now there is a controversy over a Washington Times article about one member of the Judiciary Committee who claims that Holder “privately assured” him he would not prosecute former Bush officials for torture:

Pres. Obama To Order Guantanamo Closed

On his inauguration day, Barack Obama directed military prosecutors at Guantanamo to suspend trial proceedings so that cases could be reviewed. Today, on only his second full day in office, Pres. Obama indicated that he and his staff were readying an order to close Guantanamo: