"Mr. X" wrote:
>
> Why couldn't a president use his access to the media to call supporters into the streets and apply pressure against his foes? The real question is why Republican presidents got major bills passed and never needed 60 votes? The Dems are spineless cowards who deserve to lose.
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He/she _could_ very easily. And it would definitely work.
But you overlook basic facts. A core function of the President is to _pevent_, by force or guile, any such thing from happening. And in practice, the DP has been especially adept (by intention at times, spontaneoulsy at other times)at abosorbing and bluntin such activity.
Obama seems to be consciously so acting. I'm thinking of his warning in a speech to some group of bankers, that he was all that stood between them and the men with pitchforks.
And also your use of "foes" here is inaccurate. Obama himself does not want,in fact is opposed to, anything like a single-payer plan. His foes, then, are spcifically those who would go to the streets not against his non-foes in Congress but against _him_. And that is what is being discussed in this thread. Why do millions of Americans, whose interests are ddcontrary to the interests Obama serves, nevertheless continue to support him and his ilk.
Carrol