And I forgot to add to the previous comment, to see more about Swiss “direct democracy” by means of referenda go here.

It is well worth the read at a time that we have increasing concern for our own variety of representational democracy.

VOX POPULI

Gerard: For decades people generally have been encouraged NOT to participate in politics except to vote—and that with frequently insufficient information.

Point well taken. Americans are simply not used to political involvement. Politics is more like a spectator sport, except that one votes the winner into office. So, everything depends upon how a candidate plays the game – including televised defamation and slander campaigns, personal appearances, public utterances, photo ops, etc., etc., etc. … ad nauseam

Politics is and can be, however, the alternative, which is grassroots. Meaning that people start their political careers by demonstrating their competence at a local or state level but participate continually in the debate of national and foreign policy – and no better place for that than in on-line forums.

But, they must descend into the crucible. That is, participate in the debate and not simply write commentary. Commentary is one way, as most blogs demonstrate. Some pundit makes a statement and readers offer commentary. There is no real exchange of opinion – except amongst commentators (which is a great advance from the typical exchange of opinion over BBQs and in a bar, or wherever).

Americans are no more lazy about political debate than any other people. But, I can assure fellow Americans that, having lived in Europe all this time, I have understood well the leverage of public demonstration in mass. The French are demonstrating with great frequency, animated by union militants, against the extension of the age of retirement. Apart from the fact that this notion is sheer folly, in an aging population, they do get media time and the debate has become national.

Finally, despite America’s uneven experience with state referendums, it would be a major advance in politics were national referendums authorized by a constitutional amendment. The Swiss have had them for more than a hundred and fifty years. Their benefit? First, since a national referendum can repeal any legislated law, then lawmakers think twice about passing or refusing to pass a law.

That is, for instance, if the American people wanted a Public Option Health Care option and voted so in a national referendum, then Congress would be obliged to propose such a law that would be put to national referendum. If it were accepted, it becomes law and if refused, then Congress would have to go back to the drawing board.

Meaning simply this: Swiss lawmaking descends to the voter lever despite the fact that the Swiss also have a three-party political system. Lawmakers have learned to live with national referendums and thus they make laws in a manner that will avoid refusal by a referendum. (For any group to mount a grassroots referendum, a small percentage of voters must sign the petition, which is validated, and the petition becomes ipso facto  a national referendum.)

Are we too stupid to employ national referendums to break the political gridlock (in its present form in Washington). And is it not more democratic to have a referendum that clearly shows the voter’s will, than a super-majority filibuster in the Senate – which is, clearly, a denial of democracy, since it is an artifice to make proposed legislation die a natural death at the end of a Congressional session.

POST SCRIPTUM

Representational government was a good idea in a nation that, at its inception, had great distances state to state. The Internet has made the earth flat. Distance is no longer a problem in assuring constituency representation.

If we want better government, we (the people) should participate also in its making.

gerard,

Is it possible you live in a Center/Right nation and it is that, not a right-wing, military industrial complex conspiracy, which has moved the majority of Americans to reject every major piece of legislation passed or proposed in the previous 19 months?

You are right to point out that the U.S. has elected its first Negro president.  All the more reason to understand the underlying reasons not a single major solution proposed by the current president has been embraced by the majority of voters.  Obviously race is not the issue.

It seems, well, unproductive not to fully understand that you’re notion of Progress is shared by so few Americans.  There can be no “fundamental change” when considering that nearly 80% of the U.S. population is opposed to the direction of change.

Simply put:  Do you not represent the small minority in the United States?

It seems to be when I re-read through these comments that many people here simply refuse to admit the cumulative power of forces working against
any profound changes in this country that could
eventually lead to anything like a “progressive” or
“liberal” state.
  For one thing, there has not been a half-way well organized “progressive” political constituency here for a long time. In fact, modern technologized life has disintegrated whatever “community-building” politics there could have been.  For decades people generally have been encouraged NOT to participate in politics except to vote—and that with frequently insufficient information.
  Progressives, like everyone else, have allowed themselves to concentrate on personal issues and consumerism, on being comfortable no matter at whose expense in the rest of the world. They may not have liked, but they did not denounce the siphoning off of power, money and resources, upward to the top small minority—which took decades before it became painfully obvious as it is now.
  The election of Obama as the first African American president was the direct result of idealism which inspired millions of voters to hope for a vague progress, but at the time of the election many had only recently become aware of the entrenchment of the military-industrial system brought home gradually through the policies of the Bush reigns.
  But the election of Obama also shook up the non-progressive forces to what they perceived as the “danger” of having an AfricanAmerican president—furthermore, an intelligent, world-minded, young, idealistic man whose very being threatened their “traditional” (reactionary) values. It awakened all the fear and resentment of people who at the same time were just beginning to personally experience the ravages of an economy based on exploitation and injustice leading to unemployment and the Wall Street fiasco in banking, housing and investment. They were poised to pile on and resist with little or no understanding of the roots of the problems.
  After the election, if there had been lots of pressure from below and cooperation at the top, reforms might have been initiated. But no.  Resistance and fear ruled the day and the backlash is now playing itself out. Everybody is angry.  Everybody is fearful.  Everybody is disillusioned and confused.  Obama is a victim more than an instigator of these forces that have been accumulating for decades without timely attention.  Media have compounded ignorance with downright lies.
  Under such stress, it is necessary primarily to keep cool and try to think straight and to act wisely considering both the dangers and the possibilities at hand.
  I know this sounds abstract and moralistic. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it seems to me to be shaking out.
  Advice to the contrary to not vote, to vote Republican in some childish way to “get even” seem like naive and irresponsible reaction, of which we have already had more than enough.
  Let’s talk here about how to work (for example) for campaign financing reform, or building a sense of political responsibility that goes beyond simply “getting out the vote” for elections.  Or how to promote widespread political education down to and up from the grassroots.  How to demand our legitimate right to access to media outlets.  How to cross class barriers and cut down on energy-wasting recrimination.  How to re-awaken a sense of the integrity of democracy - “with liberty and justice for all.”

THE HARD WAY

Anar: if the Democrats win comfortably this year, they won’t change at all.  If they don’t, they might.

So, let’s see, victory or defeat of a political party is the only catalyst for change?

I hope not, because if such is the case then we’ll be simply exchanging seats in Congress and the White House like playing musical chairs.

It’s simple folks—if we do not affect political thinking we cannot expect change. Bitching in a blog is not enough, however cathartic it may be.

Contributing at party meetings, making your points-of-view known, debating the various alternatives as regards policy-making—that what makes for developing a viably effective party platform. Always with the view of selling it to the American public. (KISS = Keep It Simple to Sell.)

At present, we just wait for the next candidate, with 2.3 children, the attractive spouse, who “speaks nice” things about what S/HE wants to do - most of which is not all that well thought out.

Change can occur, but it starts at the grassroots and it is personified by a common political platform and not a pretty face.

Yeah, I know, that’s the hard way ...

Don Farkas, September 29 at 7:08 pm:

Kanomi and Glider, you have not explained why it would be useful for progressives to throw themselves onto the funeral pyre being constructed by the far right wing rather than voting for the best oppositional option.

Well, if the Democrats win comfortably this year, they won’t change at all.  If they don’t, they might.

Raylan:
Well put. I hadn’t seen that much youthful enthusiasm in a long, long time. That’s what makes Obama’s folding to a little pressure so unexcusable- he has totally wasted all of that support. And he has the nerve to wonder where it all went.

The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Yet this is precisely the fear that the Dems should take seriously. Most of the grassroots Dem support is bitching, bitching, bitching …  mostly in a blog.

A Dem “progressive platform” could be more obvious. It needn’t be complex, but it should clearly indicate how recent history shows that Free Market Capitalism has its obvious failings. Notably in Health Care that is destroying this nations competitive edge (because its stratospheric cost is subsidized by the Federal budget) and in Education that can do better to produce students with qualifiable skills necessary in our transition from the Industrial to the Information Age.

Some people, in fact many people, have never heard or read about his transition. And yet, it is only the third kind of epoch in mankind’s history. The first was agricultural, which ended in the latter half of the 19th century, the second the Industrial Age, which is (for us) ending presently. And the third will be the Information Age, which is upon us as the US develops a service-industry oriented Gross Domestic Product structure.

This historical context needs to be made clear to the American public because it necessitates some fundamental consequences. Why? Because if we transitioned and adapted well in the past to such epochal changes, this third one is different. How? For the first time we are transitioning globally, meaning there is plenty of competition about. This could have a serious impact on our lifestyle or extravagant standard of living to which we have become far too accustomed.

We need, I submit, a Churchillian “blood, sweat and tears” promise from our leadership because we are, of sorts, fully within a war of GDPs. Whatever will happen to our employment if the Chinese, after having sucked away our Industrial Advantage, they do the same in the Service Industries (which accounts for 70% of our present GDP output)?

Are you willing to have your next flight (between New York and LA) booked by a back-office agent in Shanghai, on a Chinese airline? Well, that’s an example of what this world of globalization is coming to in terms of services.

@samson
” The Democrat propaganda machine creates all of these scary stories about the Republicans and tries to make everyone so afraid of them that they vote Democrat instead.”
Well no- I voted against the dangerous McCain who wanted to keep the Iraqi war going for 100 years. I don’t need the Dems to fill me with fear - the history of the last administration is enough - violaing civil rights with the Patriot Act - involving us in a stupid expensive terrorist-baiting war - my concern is that the Dems haven’t departed sufficiently from the Rep policies -

Perhaps our President needs to check out Sen. Bernie Sanders take on it: That the Dems were too busy courting a few teasing GOP senators (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe) and kow-towing to Blue-Dog DINOs like Sen. Nelson instead of forcing through dynamic issues.

Too many carrots and not enough sticks to keep Dems on the path to GETTING THINGS DONE!

I blame Reid, Pelosi, and, yes, the President for not swinging hard and fast while they had the votes.

A local perspective: here in the beautiful Buckeye State of Ohio, the Republicans scream against the Democrats, using such key phrases as “Obamacare” and “raising taxes that destroys jobs”. What do they propose instead? A return to the political hacks that were in Washington before. Hey, this the GOP, and when it comes to the tactics of hitting you upside your head with a bottle (dry gulch, as it were) they will do it every time.
In my own local district, Steve Chabot wants his old job back from Congressman Driehaus, even though he continues to claim that Washington IS the problem. Both candidates appeal to the west side catholic, no abortion crowd, and both want to keep funding for the F-35 engine at General Electric.

I do agree with those on this thread that have pointed out that the spineless Democrats are using fear as their ultimate tactic. President Obama’s idiotic assertion that the United States must continue to blow up people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to prevent terrorist attacks, is just as craven and phony as the last Bush administration’s claims. Those who believe that Obama and his Secretary of State are trying to restore diplomacy obviously have not looked at the increase of arms shipments to the “sovereign” state of Israel. The ludicrous idea that the Obama administration is trying to do something about military spending,have never looked into what the planners at the Pentagon have already put in place, throughout the world.
But hey, whatever gets you through the night,right? You can believe whatever you want, damn the factual torpedoes and full speed ahead.

Obama was elected in a landslide of enthusisasm - so the current lukewarm attitude that the Dems constituency has returned to can only be blamed on Milktoast Obama himself.  He came on strong at the beginning only to turn into a ‘can’t we all get along’ pussy tyring to appease the bulldogs across the aisle, who would oppose everything and anything.
The snapping, growling resentment of the poor losing Reps has taken on a life of its own- and become its own party - called the Tea Party.
I think he’s got it now - after pushing through so many compromises in the form of so-called ‘reforms’. It might be too late.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/obama_finds_lack_of_enthusiasm_irresponsible_20100928/#356700

The above link provides the kind of rational argument that was requested by gstoddard @ September 29 at 10:58 pm. It’s pretty damned succinct.

We do have an imperfect and at times dysfunctional democracy, but we still have a
choice to make this November. I don’t disagree with many of the concerns expressed
about the policies of our president and the Democratic majority in the Congress.

The choices expressed here seem to be to vote Democratic, Republican, not vote, or
find a third party candidate. All but the first one seem to assure that the GOP will either
regain control of Congress or come close. In either case it seems that given the
attitude of the GOP vey little will be accomplished in the next two years.

I don’t believe that given the rise in the strengths of so many other nations (China,
India, Brazil and more) that we can afford a 2 year stalemate. While the administration
is deserving of some serious criticism, how can anyone think that the GOP would do
anything constructive?

The Pledge to America borders on being a joke. Paul Ryan has some serious
proposals to confront our fiscal challenges, but he is being ignored by the party
leadership.

If the GOP had its way, there would have been no multibillion dollar commitment by BP
to clean up the gulf and reimburse the injured parties.

The GOP has no rational idea about what to do about our long term deficits. The
President has established a bipartisan deficit commission that will issue
recommendations in November that will at least clarify the options.

A critical concern for the future and my grandchildren are the serious problems with our
educational system. The administration is making a major effort to create the incentives
that may lead to critical improvements. They are challenging a key constituency in the
teachers unions and that is likely reflected in the president’s approval rating.

Hillary Clinton is reorganizing the State Department and there is a renewed emphasis
on diplomacy in many parts of the world. The administration is working hard to bring
international pressure to bear on Iran. The recognize that all efforts must be made to
avoid another war the consequences of which are unpredictable and likely very
dangerous.

The administration is looking seriously for ways to bring some controls to our Defense
Department spending.

The administration is managing the return of control of Iraq to the Iraqis. There will be
many challenges ahead but we making progress so far.

While the escalation in Afghanistan was a serious mistake in my humble opinion, it was
no surprise. Obama made clear his intent during the campaign.

The much criticized health care reform is at least a start. Many of those opposed to it
are concerned that it doesn’t go far enough. The GOP will do all it can to impede the
implementation in the years to come but they have never proposed a serious alternative
that will extend coverage to millions of uninsured or begin the very difficult process of
bringing costs under control.

I could go on. I would like to hear a rational argument for returning control of Congress
to the Republicans.

Kanomi and Glider, you have not explained why it would be useful for progressives to throw themselves onto the funeral pyre being constructed by the far right wing rather than voting for the best oppositional option.  I can not agree with you that it is better for progressives to simply go out in a blaze of glory rather than to suffer the impurity of voting for Democrats during these unfortunate times when extreme theocratic and ideologically driven doctrines have infected our highly stressed but confused populace.  Rather, as a practical matter, it seems clearly better to elect the Democrats as Obama asks and then take the protests directly to them afterwards.

Kanomi, I would fan you if Truthdig had such a function.  You are spot on.  I have had it with the lesser of 2 evil trap crap.  I am voting for what I believe to be right.  As I have been repeating over and over again, it is not about “winning the next phony election”, it is about changing the Democrat Strategist’s decision on what is a winning platform.  It is about changing their march to the Right.  Vote Democrat now and you vote longterm for Corporatocracy.  Don’t walk into the ovens without a protest.  Oh what a horrible world we would have if every voter based their vote on what they believed to be good!  Don’t believe this scam!

No, what is irresponsible is to vote for either of these sham parties in a fake electoral system that is set up to highlight emotional differences of no economic consequence to billionaires, thereby perpetuating the illusion of choice in a system where you have none.

Progressives must abandon a Democratic party that abandoned them years ago, a party that sold them like so much cattle to their corporate paymasters, all for a few crumbs from the masters’ troughs.

The Wall Street bankers completely own the Treasury and they run it on behalf of their criminal brethren. Bastard Petroleum was given free reign to pollute and poison the Gulf, censoring the press and ordering government officials about to do their bidding, lying all the while and barring free assembly and the freedom of the press, on public land.

The health insurance rackets created and paid for a disgusting tax disguised as a health plan that goes directly into their bloated coffers; they utterly dictated the terms of the debate and now will put you into debt slavery for treatments you need just to live.

Most monstrous of all, the budget for blood has only increased under this ‘Democratic President’ and ‘Democratic Congress’ - the insatiable appetite of the corporate war machine for billion dollars worth of coke-snorting mercenaries and death-dealing robots knows no bounds and has no mercy around the globe.

These are the kind of people who own both political parties, and who choose your candidates for you. These are the corporate mafias that tell you who to vote for and what to believe, what to buy and what to think. And don’t forget they bought up and consolidated all of the big media too.

It should be apparent by now to anyone with a heart or a pulse that Obama was nothing but a slickly packaged marketing campaign, put together by the same shameless psychopathic hucksters who sell you overpriced garbage stuffed with poisons, built by sweatshop slave labor.

And Obama’s going to lie and blame the few ethical people who are calling him out for his major role in papering over this cesspool of corruption?

Anyone voting for the Democratic political machine at this point—anyone voluntarily participating in this electoral charade, this veneer of political freedom painted over a gruesome, globalist, corporatist police state—is either morally repugnant, willfully ignorant, or simply delusional; blissfully complicit in war crimes and oblivious to the final dismemberment of their own freedom.

The argument is that it is preferable to elect the Democrats because only they can help make America a kinder and gentler banana republic?  As a practical matter, I guess that’s so.  Thanks for the choice.

for a decent view on this, google greg sargent’s piece in the washington post (!!!):  Dear White House: Here’s how to handle the left’s “whining”

****************

This pertains to o’s once again whining about his
duped dimocrat base, which he is personally
responsible for, whom are no less correct in their
lack of enthusiasm. If o was up for election in 5
weeks, once again I would NOT vote for his
corporate and aipac loving ass.

There isn’t much to say about alternatives since
with the msm playing ‘masters of ceremonies’ the
choices will be very discouraging as hill billy
hillary will no doubt try again to get the clinton
crime family back in the ‘head’ job of america. So,
I would say that the choices leave much to be
desired and voting the ‘least evil’ card… well as
far as current politicans are concerned there is no
such thing as ‘least evil’, especially with the msm
in charge.

But this is just a midterm and here, once again as
is every 2 years, an opportunity to vote out an
incumbent becomes available but along with it
comes the prudent choice of who to replace
those incumbents with in the election. And sad to
say that would take some pretty care analysis of
those running who would be the better choice.

In short, it is up to the people to become
cognitive and make that better choice and not
some yahoo wanting to get elected for his/her
personal financial and political gain.

Listen to the Democrats, and realize that they only have one thing to offer.

Fear.

Just like Bush, Obama runs the politics of fear. The Democrat propaganda machine creates all of these scary stories about the Republicans and tries to make everyone so afraid of them that they vote Democrat instead.

Isn’t is sad that this is all the Democrats have to offer?  Doesn’t that say so much about today’s Democrats?  That today’s Democrats can only practice the politics of Karl Rove?  Same playbook.  They just pasted in a picture of the tea-party instead of OBL.  Regardless, go be very afraid and vote Democrat.

We are supposed to be so afraid of the Republicans.  But of what.  Maybe that under the Republicans wall street will get whatever it wants?  But that’s true under Obama and the Democrats too.

Maybe that under the Republicans the wars will go on?  But that’s true under Obama and the Democrats too.

Maybe that under the Republicans the government will spy on its own people and send the FBI out to kick in the doors of political opponents. But that’s true under Obama and the Democrats too.

Once, there was a real Democrat who said “There is nothing to fear but fear itself”.

Don’t let the Democrat’s and their politics of fear scare you.  Send a loud and clear message of disapproval this November.

DO NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT this Nov.

Lets give Obama full credit for what he’s done.

First, out of the box, he immediately gave hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars to Wall Street.  Do you remember the urgency with which Obama approached that task?  The cries that we were all doomed if the bill didn’t pass on Tuesday. If Wall Street had to wait even until Thursday to get our money, then that would be too late.

Think for a moment about whether Obama has approached any of your issues with similar drive and urgency.  He hasn’t.

Then, Obama dusted off the Bush playbook and ordered a ‘surge’ in Afghanistan. Not once but twice.  Troops in Afghanistan have approximately tripled.  And, more Americans are coming home in body bags and maimed and wounded from Afghanistan than ever before.

And of course, Obama has been firing drones at a regular rate into Pakistani villages.  And starting a proxy war in Pakistan by pushing the Pakistani puppet regime to launch attacks.

And lately, Obama has declared that 50,000 troops and the permanent bases will stay permanently in Iraq.  Or, maybe ‘temporarily’ for an indefinite period in a non-combat role for which they’ll receive combat pay.  With no end in sight.  Just like Bush always wanted.

Then of course, Obama has continued Bush’s spying on Americans.  And now we see Obama’s FBI kicking in the doors of peaceful activists who oppose Obama’s wars.

So, I’m just getting started here, but lets summarize. 

A vote for the Democrats says you like all your money going to wall street.

A vote for the Democrats says you like Bush-style surges for the war in Afghanistan.

A vote for the Democrats says you like the war expanding into Pakistan.  A vote for the Democrats says you like the sort of HG Wells horror of robotic flying machines hovering for hours over villages threatening to fire another deadly missile.

A vote for the Democrats says you like the fact that the Bush-style domestic spying has continued.

A vote for the Democrats says you like the fact that any who oppose Obama’s wars have Obama’s FBI kicking in their front doors.

And oh, by the way, this is the same Obama’s FBI who let everyone one of the Bush-era criminals go scott free.  This is the same Obama’s FBI that let the wall street crooks who stole millions and crashed the economy go free.

Do you like that?  Do you like that Obama sends his FBI to crush political opposition, but meanwhile someone who tortured another human being and left them a physical and mental wreck walks away scott free?

So, the choice is clear.  You can vote Democrat. This sends a loud and clear message that you think all the money should go to wall street, that the wars should continue and escalate even more, that Americans should be spied upon and raided while torturers and the biggest thieves in history walk away free. 

If you believe all of that, then send a loud and clear message of your support by proudly voting Democrat this year.

But, if that’s not the America you wanted, then do not vote Democrat.

This election is an up or down vote of approval on Obama and the Democrats first two years.  If they do well, Obama and the Democrats will rightly feel that their policies have the support of the people.

If you don’t want to send such a message of support, then do not vote Democrat.

If the anti-war opposition has itself organized enough in your area to have a candidate on the ballot, which is rare for some very strange reason, then vote for them.  But no matter what, do not vote Democrat. Write in Mickey Mouse if you have to, but DO NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT.

Most of the comments on here are right on- what a major phony and corporatist Obama is. Like Clinton he is a D in name only. And now his mainstream shills are running around trying to push the same nonsense all over the media. Master shill Paul Begala was on with Jon Stewart the other night feigning ” amazement” over how little credit his boss has been getting for all of his ” accomplishments”

“I think Gen. McChrystal is a fine man, an outstanding soldier, and has served this country very well. ... Having said that, he showed bad judgment. When I put somebody in charge of the lives of 100,000 young men and women ... they’ve got to conduct themselves at the highest standards, and he didn’t meet those standards.”

But, back in the Bad Bush days of 2004, Gen. McChrystal played the central role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death and personally led the writing of Pat Tillman’s fradulent Silver Star (McChrystal was Cheney & Rumsfeld’s “go-to” general and reported directly to them).

Not long ago, in May 2009, President Obama nominated McChrystal for promotion to the Army’s highest rank and as commander of the Afghan war (by the way, Obama fired Gen. McKiernan just to make way for McChrystal). 

So, let me get this right.  Making some embarassing comments to RS “showed poor judgement,” yet lying to Congress and leading the Pat Tillman cover-up met the “highest standards” and “served this country well.”

If you want to learn more, check out “The [Untold] Tillman Story” or “The Emperor’s General” posted at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com

If you get the chance, see the documentary “The Tillman Story.Or read,Mary Tillman’s “Boots on the Ground by Dusk” (at blurb.com) or Krakauer’s paperback edition of “Where Men Win Glory.”

****************

How in hell’s name can anyone be enthused as o
‘mandates’ that they should be when his
‘accomplishments’ for the people are dragging
ass around showing little or no help what so ever
while everything for the ‘gentry’ is
accomplished PDQ providing for them o’s favors
for their benefit?

I don’t see any other alternative but to accept the
old adage of ‘actions speak louder than words’
which are words that is all the people get from o.
Here is today’s example from usatoday website:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theova
l/post/2010/09/obama-we-stopped-the-
bleeding-but-americans-are-still-struggling/1

So, Rigor, you’ve come to the right place if you want to complain about the established order.  But beyond that, what’s your constructive solution?  Besides ‘throw the bums out’, that is, which usually results in not much more than a new set of bums.

The other day I (a white guy) had a conversation
with a customer (a black guy) and a co-worker
(mexican guy). It started when the black guy asked
me to join the local Tea Party movement, and I told
him I already was - but only online, not able to
make the gatherings. The mexican guy wanted to know
if he could participate since his wife & kids are US
Citizens and he was in the process (studying to pass
the exam).
AT NO TIME WAS THE POLITICAL PARTIES, DEM. OR REP.
MENTIONED - BECAUSE IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER
ANYMORE! WE ARE ALL FED UP WITH THIS POLITICAL CLASS
IN WASHINGTON. OBAMA WAS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THIS,
BUT INSTEAD HE EXPANDED THE “PATRIOT ACT” AND IS
SPENDING MONEY ON BAILOUTS THAT OUR GRANDCHILDREN
HAVEN’T MADE YET!
OBAMA IS JUST AS MUCH OF A LIAR AS BUSH WAS, MAYBE
MORE!!

The President claims he needs you to vote so that his party can move forward with their agenda, even though it was he, Barack Obama, who embraced the concept that no good ideas, whatever the source, would be excluded. When the financial rains came, it was he, President Obama and all those smart guys in his cabinet, that decided that providing an umbrella for the richest people in society was appropriate, because those abstract expressions called “financial instruments”, need not be exposed for being the worthless and brutal blackjacks of leverage that they truly are.
No, President Obama, considers Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon’s bonuses acceptable.“I know both these guys,” said President Obama, last February, “They are very savvy businessmen. I, like most of the American people don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of of the free-market system.”

Sometimes the actual truth has a way of leaking out. President Obama revealing that he too is a supplicant to the greed is good ethos, also reveals why any fundamental reform to the abuses in this society will ultimately fail, because in the casino of their creation, its simply not in the cards.
“You are not so naive as to believe you live in democracy?” Gordon, in the first Wall Street movie asked. “Its a free market and you are a part of it.”
Or not. President Obama and the rest of the political minions work overtime to convince you that you are.
It might be wise to do a double take, whenever the rich claim that “we are all in this together.” Whether it is Social Security, education, or those God damn endless wars.

What a difference a year makes. From the beginnings of the Tea Party, in the spring of 2009, liberal Democrats have made no effort to conceal their hatred for the movement. President Obama said the Tea Partiers ought to be thanking him instead of protesting his policies. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Tea Partiers of harboring Nazis. Most famously, actress Janeane Garofalo said “this is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.” Since then, this liberal meme has been repeated endlessly in an attempt to discredit the Tea Party as nothing more than a collection of angry, mean-spirited, old white people.

Meanwhile the movement has played by the rules, organized and grown all over the country, and become a force to be reckoned with in the 2010 midterm congressional elections. At least seven incumbent senators and representatives have been knocked out of office by Tea Party insurgencies.

I’ve been writing it for more than a year. Labeling protesters and critics as racists has been a monumental mistake. The movement is anything but racially segregated. Thirty-five percent of black likely voters identify with the Tea Party, including 17 percent who strongly identify with it. As for the liberal Democrats who have attacked it, the latest CNN/Opinion Research poll finds “likely voters say they are considerably more likely to vote for a candidate the president opposes than one he supports. On the other hand, 50 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a Tea Party-backed candidate while a third of Americans said Tea Party support would dissuade their vote for a candidate.

Meanwhile the president is now attacking his own by calling democrats “irresponsible” and “apathetic”. Vice President Biden is telling democrats to “stop whining”. Sen. Kerry opines that the democrats have “an electorate that doesn’t always pay attention to what’s going on” and are too easily lead by (hope and change) slogans”.

Politics is certainly played on all sides.  This is the first administration in my lifetime, however, that is constantly moved to denigrating and belittling every critic imaginable. Friend and foe alike.

Instant gratification in a dysfunctional system is wishful thinking.

Experience yields more timely results.

The clock is ticking.

Representing the will of We the People over lobbyists and corporations has to be on the front burner. That means doing the right thing for reasons that introduce new clarity for everyone - starting with information.

INFORMATION. What the hell is going on? We can see where the money is going at The National Priorities Project. We can’t afford to pursue the oil and war plan anymore. We need massive support for renewable energy r&d, creating new jobs here, protecting workers here, not fighting boogeymen there. Who are we fighting? What are the facts? WMD? Who lied? Why aren’t we listening to the concerns of thousands of witnesses and many professionals - investigating the apparent demolition of our towers and wtc 7? I digress.

DEMOCRACY. Yes, it’s not working. It’s not a spectator sport. And change IS hard. SERIOUS reform needs to be in the vision to motivate the large number of disenfranchised and disheartened. And yes we can take smaller steps - and be patient - but those steps need to be on-point. No wiggling about torture still being ok, no wiggling about marginal regulations, no more exploiting our troops or our people. Trust is key. Wobbly positions, media spin, impatience all hurts.

Clarity, vision, strength and unity. Don’t blame the people. Effective leadership is self-evident, and it’s not too late to make it happen. Good luck.

“The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.”

Drink seawater, mister!  I wouldn’t vote for you to clean the spit up off the sidewalk.  Irresponsible?  Irresponsible?  Expletive deleted.

Glad I hit a nerve with Sanders, take a look at the bills he’s sponsoring… he’s turned into a corporate shill….I know exactly what I’m talking about…

Oh, so now I’m “irresponsible” for lacking enthusiasm?

Here’s why I lack enthusiasm for this President and the establishment Democratic Party.

He’s kicked gays under the bus by inaugurating his Presidency with prayers from a fundamentalist Christian homophobe, by failing to take executive action to suspend the operation of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in the military, and by making a point of telling the press that he is against gay marriage.

He’s kicked the working class under the bus by failing to promote card-check voting for the establishment of unions.

He’s kicked industry under the bus by appointing Wall Street insiders Summers and Geithner to head up his treasury and manage the economy.

He’s kicked public school teachers under the bus by sending his own children to private school and supporting “reform” initiatives that blame teachers’ unions for school failures that have much more to do with the failure of the surrounding society the teachers have to work in.

He’s kicked everyone under the bus who was in favor of single payer healthcare by taking if off the table before the negotiating even started on health reform, and supporting even the “public option” so weakly that it never had a chance.

He’s kicked everyone under the bus who wants to bring an end to pointless foreign wars and infinitely growing military expenditure by surging in Afghanistan, maintaining a substantial “noncombatant” presence in Iraq, escalating drone attacks in Pakistan, and failing to propose any meaningful reduction in military spending.

He’s kicked everyone under the bus who wants to end the evolution of the CIA and FBI into secret police, surveillance, detention, torture and assassination squads, by refusing to prosecute anyone involved in the Bush-era torture program, by failing to close Guantanamo Bay, by continuing to assert the legality of domestic espionage provisions in the Patriot Act.

He’s kicked Hispanics under the bus by allowing the INS to detain and deport even more undocumented immigrants than under the Bush administration.

He kicked every person who voted for him under the bus by spending practically his whole first year in office blathering on about “bipartisanship” and “post-partisan politics” in the face of a Republican Party who made it clear from day 1 that they were going to give him no cooperation whatsoever. By trying to please Republicans who were determined to oppose anything he did, he started out from unnecessarily weak negotiating positions which then got watered down further. Meanwhile, when people like Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have made rude and disparaging comments about progressives and the “professional left”, the President has not disavowed these statements. Apparently he agrees with them.

I’m tired of getting kicked under the bus. I happen to like my Democratic Congressman, Jim McGovern, who is a whole lot more convincingly progressive than Obama, and although I don’t have much respect for John Kerry, I’d prefer him to another Scott Brown. So yeah, I guess I’ll trudge on over to the polls and vote Democratic on election day. But if the President wants me to start acting enthusiastic, I think he ought to start acting like a REAL Democrat, someone like Howard Dean or Alan Grayson.

Sorry Mr President, I don’t accept your telling me I’m the one to blame here for my lack of enthusisam. You are.

Anarcissie—- you’re right, the state of civil liberties IS worse under Obama. The following is the first paragraph of Amy Goodman’s Truthdig article “FBI Raids and the Criminalization of Dissent:”

Early in the morning on Friday, Sept. 24, FBI agents in Chicago and Minnesota’s Twin Cities kicked in the doors of anti-war activists, brandishing guns, spending hours rifling through their homes. The FBI took away computers, photos, notebooks and other personal property. Residents were issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury in Chicago. It was just the latest in the ongoing crackdown on
dissent in the U.S., targeting peace organizers as supporters of “foreign terrorist organizations.”

It just gets worse & worse.

pointus, September 28 at 11:56 pm:

‘That guy has a lot of gall to even pay lip service to “civil liberties.” His administration is EVERY BIT as egregious an offender of our civil liberties as Cheney/Bush ever were. Google news results for “state secrets” or “online encryption” of you doubt this assertion. ...’

Worse, according to what I read lately.  The EFF thinks so, anyway. 

It’s kind of odd.  I’m wondering if Mr. O and his cronies just don’t get it.  I thought they were just cynical, but the latest bleating about how proggies should be enthusiastic even after they’ve been dumped, scorned and abused mystifies me.  It sounds sincere.

It does seem like a hopeless situation.  I sometimes wonder if the current disillusionment with Obama could provide Progressives with an interesting gambit.  If Nader (or similar, perhaps Grayson) could summon up the energy to run Independent again in 2012 and enough Progressives fed up with the High-jacking of the Democrat Party aligned themselves with that movement, could there then be coerced “talks and a settlement” with Obama prior to the election to force his administration to more Progressive action?  The negotiated settlement would require teeth or we would refuse to settle.  In other words try to bypass the corrupt system and create our own 3 party system of sorts.  Begin to have an impact on Democrat Stategists that have conspired to move the party to the Right.

EMAIL TO WHITE HOUSE ON 9/28/10:

President Obama, you are grasping very poor advice on what you should be saying to the so-called “professional left”—also dubbed “progressives”.  Well, I happen to be a life-long Democrat, a caring Democrat who happens to be in his 75th year and voted in every presidential, Congressional, state and local elections since 1960.  I resent the hell out of your Mr. Gibbs and his condescending “messages” to individuals like myself.  And now we see and hear you using the same type of condescending messages to me and other caring Democrats.  The following news story is extremely disappointing, frustrating and demoralizing to individuals like myself.  We really don’t need you to preach to us about how important it is for us to vote in the November elections.  What we do need is for you to show some movement on all of those promises you made prior to your occupation of the White House—promises to close Gitmo, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, campaign finance reform, voiding of the tax cuts for the wealthy, and I could go on and on.  It would also help if you would quit complaining and whining about our dissatisfaction over your failures.  They are your failures, not ours, and you should be human enough to own up to them.
“President Barack Obama’s lecture to his supporters to snap out of their lethargy is getting a frosty reception from some on the left side of the Democratic coalition.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Obama made a point to argue — “with intensity and passion, repeatedly stabbing the air with his finger” according to the magazine — that his followers in 2008 must not stay home this year.
“It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election,” Obama said.
Whatever complaints they might have about climate change or other issues, Obama said, it is “just irresponsible” that some Democrats and progressives were lacking enthusiasm for the election.
“If people now want to take their ball and go home that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place,” he said. “If you’re serious, now’s exactly the time that people have to step up.”
“I think it is a remarkably condescending message,” said Darcy Burner, the executive director of ProgressCongress.org and the Progressive Congress Action Fund.
Progressives, she said, continue to be deeply involved in policy and in politics and are not at all lethargic or disengaged. . .”

I wonder if Truthdig realizes that to a large extent they are determining the quality of comments by the articles they choose to publish, and thereby emphasize? 
  If you are stimulating predominatnly harsh negative criticism day after day with little else to show signs of constructive work by people who, even though a minority, are giving their energies and means day after day to find and promote helpful solutions to problems, can you say you are more “balanced” than, say, Fox? 
  Sure, it may be somewhat harder to find encouraging articles, but “liberals,” “progressives”
“leftists”, whatever, are not encouraged to act on their best convictions if they see no possibility of gaining ground, and nobody working with any success toward goals of which they approve.
  Please, let’s have more information that offers opportunities for encouragement and creative thought.                 

Conversely, publishing the foibles and follies of the right wing only gives them material to make fun of, deplore or castigate.

Think about it?  What are we doing here? Might it be more useful in solving problems?  Or are we just satisfied with sounding off?

That guy has a lot of gall to even pay lip service to “civil liberties.” His administration is
EVERY BIT as egregious an offender of our civil liberties as Cheney/Bush ever were.
Google news results for “state secrets” or “online encryption” of you doubt this assertion.

To hell with both parties, they’re owned by the very same obscenely rich bastards who
are turning this planet into a poisonous trash heap of war, poverty and devastation.
Obama is just another puppet for Wall Street and its despotic ambitions.
The same über-wealthy fascists who plotted a coup against FDR now run the whole
damn show.

I am sick and damned tired of people telling us we have to buck up. First Charlie Munger, and now the president.

At least Mr. Munger is being honest with his feelings, he’s a billionaire and we’re not, and we had better learn to live with it.

The president on the other hand, built all our hopes up, and then dashed them by being the 2nd Bush administration 3rd term, and he has the gall to tell us to buck up?

You buck up, sir! You can start by firing all those wall street types, asap as in yesterday, and then you can start governing like the liberal you allegedly are.

In other words, start governing like a liberal with a pair.

The bottom line with Barry is this, like most other politicos and businessmen, he is afraid to do what is right. He is afraid to put his reputation on the line for the rest of us (his fucking job I might add) Imagine if FDR would have just “tweeked” things. Imagine Lincoln being wary of offending people with the Gettysburg address or the emancipation proclemation.

Does Barry want to be known as a great President, or a mediocre pragmatist?

And how many more times are the people of the US supposed to choose from the lesser of evils? The last real choice we had for president was between Nixon and Kennedy. Since then we have either had 1 candidate that was far and away a better person (and didn’t vote for them) or scummbags.

Its a real, walk a mile in my shoes kind of article.  While I don’t agree with a lot of Obama’s choices, I get a sense of just how difficult real change is, and the tasks which were set before him.

He makes some strong arguments, and is rather convincing in the need for baby steps of progress, because sweeping change is really impossible.  It really did soften me a bit to Obama and all he has been doing. 

It does leave me wondering what really someone like Nader or Kucinich could accomplish if in the same position.  I doubt very little. 

While it didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy about the president or the democrats.  I do understand the need to keep republicans out of power.  I will vote democrat in my congressional and senate choices, while still chastising them when I can.

Who is the man who is now president? He seemed to metamorphosize into someone else after he got elected.

Into a man, who acted much the same as the previous president, using words to deny the realty that people see and live every day?

Contrary to what Mr. Obama believes, he has not advanced the progressive agenda. He has disoriented it.  By turning to those that are responsible for the collapse and placing them in key positions in his administration.

What he wants people to do, is believe in his words rather than his actions. But his actions are much different than the words he speaks.

What I see is the economic Coups d’etat, of Larry Summers, and the rest of the Goldman Sacks leadership still in very active powerful positions in his administration. Just like they were in the Bush administration before. 

Mr. President there is little for you to be proud of, health care was and is a debacle, so is financial reform, derivatives still rule, and as to openness and honesty the Gulf Disaster completely destroyed your credibility.

So now comes the big fear, vote Democratic or the mean and nasty Republicans will start looting the country again.

Well but if you’d done your job then we wouldn’t be in this position now would we.

I won’t vote for you again, but I will vote for Democratic candidates in close races against lunatics. And I will vote against Democratic incumbents, but not for Republicans.

I will vote green or libertarian instead.

And I will vote against politicians, in sheeps clothing, pretending to be independents, when they are in fact controlled by the plutocracy, and are pursuing the plutocratic agenda. Men like Liberman, and Sanders.

In firing Summers and Emanuel, Obama’s hoping to “rebrand” himself, selling us more of the 2008 Kool Aid and hoping we’ll drink once again. He can again present as a populist since he knows full-well that the R’s will made any liberal agenda impossible and that he’ll secretly still be serving Wall Street.

This is a man with no spine and even less principle. He has done a good job destroying the Democratic Party, however, and for that I give him credit.

I myself will be burning my ballot, preferably for television, if any media event actually gets going. I figure there are at least a million people who would also do that if such an event got organized.

I certainly will not be voting Dem ever again. I am hoping for the kind of monster third party of progressives/indies and disaffected Dems that Naomi Klein recently said that she too hoped would get going, but I am not holding my breath.

Still, I think it is a good thing that in 2010, the Democrats get absolutely crushed. Obama could veto the worst from the R’s, but a vigorouse repudiation of what he and the Dems have done might, in the end, get something else off the ground. Maybe.

Thanks for that.  I found it a very articulate statement of Obama’s thinking and his feelings about what he has and has not been able to accomplish.
The big question that still worries me a lot is the close connection between corporate money and Congress and the White House. That can kill us if there isn’t more indication of a “moral compass” at work. “Moral compasses” do not come easily to either politicians or corporate executive officers; dollar signs will always take precedence unless there is meaningful regulation and consistent communication between ordinary people and the big shots. All media have let us down on this score and actually for part of the wall preventing honest communication. Also, “suveillance” of citizens is over-extended and repressive. Vast sections of the population are totally out of meaningful communication and it seems that only the most bizarre sentiments penetrate class barriers. Not healthy.

I think it is sad that we send our service members to fight and die in foreign
countries to give others a shot at democracy. Voters there literally risk their lives
to get to the polls and here we sit at home because we are not angry enough to
become motivated or we are dissatisfied with the pace of progress.

This is not a one hour TV show where all problems are resolved. Change is hard
but it is happening. Considerable progress has been made in the last 20 months
and positive change can continue if those who were so excited about this
president and his policies can show some enthusiasm and responsibility in what
we claim to be the world’s greatest democracy. Do we mean it in spite of our
many flaws and imperfections?

Health care reform and education reform are just two important programs that
can be brought to a halt if the Party of No takes control of the Congress. The
GOP Pledge for America is devoid of any constructive ideas for finding answers
to our serious challenges. Worse yet the GOP continues to peddle the fiction that
all we have to do is cut spending to control the deficit and then they are unable
to suggest cuts that even begin to address the problem.

Do we really want 2 years of gridlock? Do we want our schools to continue to fail
our youth? Do we want to deny reasonable health care coverage to the millions
who will receive coverage in the coming years. Do we want to be proactive about
participating in the complex world where others (China, Brazil, India, et-al) are
making so much progress while we sit out our elections and let the angry,
frustrated, and often misinformed determine our future?

How much longer are we the voters going to live an a fantasy world where
government can conduct wars and provide for our domestic needs while passing
the cost on to our grandchildren. That is irresponsible.

We can do better but it means renewing the idea of what it means to be a
“citizen.”

Not being “enthusiastic” and not knowing which Party is more likely to do “good” overall (even given that both are bought and paid for by the transnational corps) are two difference things.

I find it hard to be enthusiastic when Obama has been tone-deaf about jobs (among other things) - unquestionably the single most troubling underlying issue in this election.

However, I am not stupid enough to believe that the GOP (much less the TP!) has anything even resembling a realistic plan for the economy or anything else.

So I will unenthusiastically vote Democrat (and perhaps, in some cases, third party), and simply hope that it doesn’t get any worse (which it WILL undr the GOP or TP).

Peace.