Throw the Bums Out

Is it time to primary Obama?

Nov. 2: The Death Knell of Corporate Liberalism

Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

(But) Obama didn’t help himself by trying to placate the Republicans and by muddling his messaging.

He didn’t help himself by lowballing the stimulus and by rejecting a moratorium on foreclosures.

He didn’t help himself by playing a Washington insider game, by trying to buy off a couple of Republicans in Congress and by playing footie with huge industries, like the banks and the pharmaceutical companies. . .

He didn’t call people to march on Washington for universal health care, or at least Medicare for all who want it.

You can’t tell an unemployed person that you’d have been twice as unemployed without my help. You need to give that person a job now.

You can’t tell an elderly person you’re closing the donut hole on prescription drugs-by the year 2020. You need to close it now.

You can’t tell an adult with a pre-existing condition that you’ll force insurance companies to cover you-by the year 2014, when you may be dead. You need to cover people now.

You can’t tell families being foreclosed upon that you’re trying hard to keep them in their homes. You need to keep them in their homes now.

h/t lambert @ Corrente

How’d That Bipartisanship Thing Work Out For You?

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks

I’d like to ask all of the people who thought trying to reach out to Republicans in a bipartisan manner would be a good idea — Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama in particular — how’d that work out for you?

h/t Hecate

This has to be my favorite rant

What Athenae said

Here’s the problem, you gutless fucks. You had majorities. And I KNOW, okay, but all America sees is that you had majorities and you wasted them. Because that’s what the GOP told them, and you said, “buh buh buh” and couldn’t point to anything you did right, not even with the unwashed hippies holding your arm up for you. You had majorities, and you had Harry Reid, refusing to be mean to Republicans by shoving stuff through. You had majorities, and you had Barack Obama acting like he was already an ex-president and could be gracious and social with these pricks. You had majorities, used them to do some stuff, and then sat back and acted like we should be grateful when we can fucking count.

We can fucking count, out here. We know what 51 means. We know what 257 means. We’re not morons. And all the procedural whatsit you argue today, about ConservaDems and Blue Dogs, doesn’t mean shit. You had it, and we worked hard to give it to you, and we see you calling things impossible which are just very hard, and we get fucking annoyed, because we don’t get to get away with that shit. Not at our jobs and not in our lives. . . .

You had majorities. You had power and you told us you were powerless. Why would anyone reward that with more power? Why would anyone think that’s a good idea?

Schmucks.

From Starhawke at Dirt Worship

Remember that the real work of change is always going on-if not in Washington, then in thousands of towns and neighborhoods and communities, if not in the halls of power, then in the streets.  Don’t be complacent, but don’t despair.  All around us are allies working for more justice, more freedom, more ecological balance, more peace.    This is not a time to fall back, but to step up, to be bolder, braver, louder, funnier, more inventive, more outrageous, more committed.  Political winds blow back and forth-hold to your deepest values, and we’ll stay the course.

And finally what digby said what Hillary said what Harriet said:

I thought that Hillary Clinton had it right when she said at the Democratic Convention in 2008:

“My mother was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for President. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

So how do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her li[fe] to bring slaves to freedom along the underground railroad.

On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice:

‘If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.’

And even in the darkest moments. That is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going.”