[WS:] And what is the source of this information? Is it how you interpret this administration's actions, or is there a reliable record that these are the stated purposes of this administration's policies?
Wojtek
On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 11:40 PM, Chuck Grimes <c123grimes at att.net> wrote:
>
> The issue here is whether the Democrats as the governing party could have
> taken steps to make things better - or to at least go less badly. That's the
> issue which liberals and those to their left have been addressing. Their
> argument is that the Obama administration could have confronted the
> Republicans and pursued policies which would have sustained its popularity.
> Their model is the Roosevelt administration, which immediately and
> effectively moved to restructure the banking industry, create jobs, and
> prevent foreclosures in open defiance of the "monied interests" Marv
> Gandall
>
> -------------
>
> There is a key significant difference between the Democratic administration
> of FDR and Obama. The former wanted to save the little guy from too much
> suffering and fix the economy, and the latter didn't.
>
> In fact the Obama administration wanted to save the monied interest and
> block any liberal or progressive pressure to change the system. Obama, Reid,
> and Pelosi conspired to frustrate any movement from the Progressive Caucus
> or outside liberal constituencies by pretending to be chained to a 2/3
> majority on changing anything.
>
> Obama inherited a massive extension of executive power and could have made
> most of the important changes needed by executive fiat---changes FDR had to
> wrestle out of Congress and the courts. Notice almost none of JK Galbriath's
> suggested changes needed any congressional support. They were all internal
> changes to the executive branch.
>
> Pelosi ruled with an iron hand on the Progressive Caucus throat, claiming
> the need to save the worthless Blue Dog House seats. She could have had the
> Blue Dogs by the short hairs and said, go along with us or die. Reid played
> possum with any rule or proceedure that would have marginalized the stupid
> Blue Dogs. What were those assholes doing with committee chairmenships in
> the first place? They should have been out in the wastelands of Interior and
> Agriculture oversight subcommittees dealing pork back home to earn their
> keep.
>
> While most of the voting public probably didn't follow these details they
> certainly understood they were sold out. So they reacted in predictable
> directions: liberals stayed home and reactionaries froathed at the mouth.
>
> Do the maps at PatchWork Nation and the correlation between foreclosure
> rates, Boomtown USA, which are mostly the exurbs---where the Tea Party drew
> much of its support (mapped as TP meets).
>
> Now think about a national housing recovery act and the presence of Federal
> Housing Authority field offices, helping these Boomtown areas manage their
> shit mortages for reduced fair rates, some supplemental income help, and a
> big picture of Barack Obama above the information tables. Now when you went
> over to the fed civil service jobs center and it had the same picture,
> well...
>
> I suppose some sickos would put a swatika on the picture of the guy who
> just saved their house from the bank and saved their ass, but at a guess
> those would be much fewer. FDR mounted a huge USA government propaganda
> campaign (by employing the art crowd) to sell his projects and never missed
> a chance to remind the public just who was saving their ass from the
> wasteland of capitalism.
>
> Marv also posted something on the Enthusiasm Gap. This kind pollster name
> bothers me, because it says nothing. If a candidate is not in office,
> enthusiasum is driven by promises. If the candidate is in office like the
> Democrats were, the ethusiasum is driven by services delivered. All promise
> and no delivery. It really ain't that hard.
>
> As for getting out the vote, I guess we forget the trashing of ACORN and
> the dismantling of federal funding support for voter registration---fucking
> duh. And then there are those voter tricky states like Illinois, Indiana,
> Ohio, and Florida...
>
> Now for a music break from your great grandfather's generation, I Left My
> Baby, with Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie, originally LA 1938, but in my time
> also LA, your grandfather's time this is the late 50s tv version:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_g78VXusH4
>
> Mostly the same guys twenty years later. Retitled, Blues for Obama and the
> Democrats:
>
> When I leave you baby
> Count the days I am gone.
>
> When I leave you baby
> Count the days I am gone.
>
> Where there ain't no love
> There ain't no getting along.
>
> CG
>
>
>
>
>
>
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