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As impressive as President Obama's re-election victory is, it's worth pausing to appreciate the larger context, because it wasn't just his presidency on the line.
Had Obama come up short, the immediate threats to key public policies would have been significant, but the more sweeping consequence would have been the lasting damage to a progressive vision of governance.
It's easy to imagine the recriminations this morning had the election gone the other way. The president's 2008 victory would come to be seen as a faddish fluke, but more importantly, everything Obama fought for in his first term would be evidence of failure. For the foreseeable future, presidents would be told not to be ambitious, not to use government as a tool to make a material difference in the lives of working families, and not to rely on Keynesian economics to grow the economy through investments ... or they too will end up as a one-term disappointment.
The 2012 election, then, can be seen as a referendum on Obama's presidency -- a test he passed yesterday in impressive fashion -- and a referendum on the liberal experiment.
It's what makes the president's electoral success, not just significant in the short term, but important in the long term. Obama's agenda has a new opportunity to make a meaningful, positive difference in the lives of America's middle class, but it also establishes a precedent for history -- presidents can pursue big, bold, consequential priorities, and be rewarded for it.
As for whether or not the president has earned a "mandate," early indications suggest the media establishment has already made up its mind. It was 11:12 p.m. last night when Ohio went to Obama, assuring his second term, and it was 11:41 p.m. -- just 29 minutes later -- when National Journal published an item insisting that Obama's victory "comes with no mandate."
Let's consider exactly what this means -- and why the question itself is rather dubious.
The amorphous idea of a "mandate" is based on the notion that a candidate runs on an agenda, gets elected, and earns the right to expect that his or her agenda will be given a shot. Those arguing that Obama lacks a mandate apparently believe the president wasn't pushing a specific enough vision during the campaign, and should therefore adjust his expectations downwards.
I understand the point, but I'm not sure it matters. For one thing, Obama really did present a relatively detailed agenda, which includes measures that are quite popular with the American mainstream. For another -- and this is important -- Obama won big. Once Florida is called, the president will end 2012 with 332 electoral votes and a majority of the popular vote.
To put that in context, Obama easily surpassed George W. Bush's two victories -- and Republicans had no problem saying he had a mandate -- and is now the most successful Democratic presidential candidate since FDR (Clinton won twice, but came up short of popular-vote majorities both times).
I don't imagine congressional Republicans would care if the president had won 538 electoral votes -- which makes the debate over mandates itself something of a moot point -- but if anyone has earned the right to a fair hearing of his policy priorities, it's Barack Obama.
But even putting that debate aside, as the dust settles on a long, difficult election cycle, the fact remains that Republicans saw an opportunity to win, and threw everything they had at President Obama. This morning, he's still standing.
So, too, is progressive governance.
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Fatigue will set in for the dreamers of a hate so solid they can taste it , when we pull the hate out of their cold dead hands .
My hope at this moment is that people all over our nation now see how irrelevant FOXNEWS and Tea Partying Republicans are to our national discussion of who we are as a national people and what we can achieve in our nation of exceptionalism!
I watched the evening from the conquered camp! The level of groveling going on over there at FOX was much too much unbecoming for a network that says it is fair and balanced! What we've learned over the course of this election cycle is that some among us think if they merely say something is true, it's true without a scad of evidence!
I have no need now to ever watch the FOX channel again since it serves sentient people no relevant purpose and offers nothing positive to our quest to make our nation a better place for all! -Kevo
I very briefly paused between MSNBC and CNN this morning- just in time to hear John Funt whine about all the voter fraud that took place yesterday. Both of them.
Apparently, once the Koolaid is swallowed, there is no emetic strong enough to bring it back up.
-I'm gonna go back there for a spell; I love the smell of Schadenfreude in the morning!
Actually, last night was the only night that I was ever sorry that I didn't have access to Fox News. I wished something awful that I could watch their melt down live... what a pity...
Was I the only one who thought the TV sound went on the fritz during Mr Romney's concession speech? Where were the BOO's, the catcalls, the disrespect of the result?? Does this offer a glimmer of hope (or does it mean the Republicans have gotten better at vetting their audiences?)
An exulting moment and a relief. No doubt that now there will be hundreds of hours of analyzing the twists and turns of campaign strategies to determine how this election has been steered to reach its goal. A valuable exercise yet let's remember some basics. We Americans don't want politicians messing around with our freedoms. There is much to be done to undo the voter suppression that has been legislated around the country. Politicians need to open their eyes, ears and hearts so that they fully understand that the result of this election is the voice of Americans saying that we, the people, refuse to allow what we do in our bedrooms or with our bodies to be legislated. And we really want leadership that will level the playing field so that the whole country can nurture and benefit from the power of the people, the tremendous creativity, strength and optimism of all of Americans.
It ain't over 'til it's over.
Every public officeholder swears an oath of office. Ask yourself, 'What's the point of ANY additional pledge?' Follow the money.
Any officeholder who genuinely believes in representative government should have already publicly denounced the Teaparty/Taliban's efforts to disenfranchise Americans.
If you stood in line to vote, write your STATE legislators an invitation to the 21st century. Washington state voters had their ballots weeks before election day.
The Teaparty/Taliban are still afraid of women making decisions. (John 8:3-11)
Trickle down not only doesn't spur economic growth, it stifles it.
"Corporations are people" = "He with the most gold rules"
Well said.
And now I have to sit here and listen all day at work to my two bosses complain about how the "inmates are running the asylum, and we're all doomed!"
But, inside you can laugh your head off knowing that they are the inmates.
Worried: BBC has a clear tape of the boos online right now. No question about it.
Every progressive voter who lives in a Congressional District with a Republican Congressman and that includes me needs to demand that he/she renounce the no new taxes pledge to Grover Norquist and demand that all Congressmen come together to fix our tax code so that it is fair and so that it can generate enough revenue to pay for the things the nation needs to grow and compete in a global economy.
And coming together means that the far right has to come to the center and not that the Democrats move all the way over to the right.
Link?
Wow. My head was spinning from Rachel's brilliant take on the election as an affirmation of 2008, and you coined the "Dreamers of Hate" term. I am clearly a donkey amidst a pack of racehorses.
I can't say enough about the young people who marched forward into the cannon fire and stood up for decency and humanity, defying the ugly people jeering them. You are patriots. YOU are the future of America.
kevo, every time I see or hear Limpy screaming or mocking liberals, "illegals", feminazis, sluts… man loving man … racial slurs….I scream STFU! and pray he retires to his own desert island.
He is responsible (and those choosing to listen) for a good amount of the b.s. and anger in this country. He needs to go away. Well, he's always calling me/us names and blaming me/us for all his "misery". I feel so sorry for him and his poor deprived ditto head victims. Sad for them all. Time to turn off the angry clowns.
DC Sessions: This could be the one. There is some booing in the beginning, but I'm not going through the whole thing again, so I don't know about anything after the first few seconds. I went to the BBC website looking for it since no link was included and just saw your comment. So, again, maybe this is it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20234161
Well said, Steve. Well said.
A solid win, and a mandate. And we don't need the other side to recognize it as a mandate to make it so.
Tax reform, immigration, education...Hit them with bill after bill and do not let them get up. Ignore their proposals, re-introduce our own again and again until they relent.
Expect everything. Cede nothing.
Absolutely. Dems need to propose solid legislation, and challenge the House to deliver. The onus has to clearly be on House conservatives, and if they continue their behavior, Dems will have to "clean House" in 2014. Voters are sick and tired of this BS.
Yes He Did. He cheated somehow to get this 2nd election.
Cokie Roberts, Faux News shill that she is, was on NPR this morning insisting that President Obama now needs to reach out to the majority Republicans in the House and the minority in the Senate - to bring all of America together.....that he has to do this immediately.
When do the Republicans have to realize that their agenda and policies don't appeal to "all of America," but only the angry, uneducated, white parts?
It ain't just
CookieCokie; the MSM is all "reach across the aise" today. Have they forgotten what happened when Obama tried that in 2009?She also said that because older voters were more likely to vote for Romney, and the proportion of older voters is increasing, Obama needs to be concerned about older voters. Sorry, Cokie -- I will not turn into a Republican when I turn 60 (which isn't that far off). I'll still be in favor of gay marriage and reproductive rights, I'll still oppose treating corporations as people, and I'll still celebrate the increasing ethnic and racial diversity of this country while deploring the income gap between the top 1% and the people who clean up after them.
Of course this is the same Cokie Roberts who said last time around that Obama shouldn't have vacationed in Hawaii (which has been a state for a while now...) because it's "exotic" to most Americans.
Just think what will happen after the rest of the ACA kicks in and people start realizing it is a GOOD thing . All those redstaters going Huh? What? I can get no pre condition insurance at reasonable prices???
Noticed that about Rmoney's concession speech, that it was up to the President to "reach across the aisle". Been there, done that.
i heard that too,,romney lied till the end,,,mr obama tried and tried to reach across the aisle,,the republicans blocked him and said no over and over,to everything mr obama proposed,,,i am over 60 and white,,but my brain is good,,i voted mr obama because he has a good brain and integrity,,,romney does not have an ounce of integrity,,,today is a great day for me,,mr obama all the way,,i am from florida,,,i do not know yet for the votes,,i hope florida voters saw how bad the republicans are with scott inn charge here,, 2 more years and get rid of him,,and i hope the charges against romney stick for that auto bailout and he goes in jail along with all the republicans cheaters with votes manipulation
Doesn't anyone remember Shrubbie Bush saying he got a mandate?
edit: Yep, I see it in the article. So if shrub had a Mandate why wouldn't Obama have a mandate? Oh, thats right, attribution, where the reality of a reality depends on whose doing what, and not the actual reality.
Golly, thats right, click 'reply to post' then changing ones mind and reloading the page to 'reply to thread' and it still replies to post.
.
Someone needs to remind Roberts that the President tried to do that already (remember the tax cuts?) and they shat all over him. I dunno how he's going to get them to cooperate, but it certainly isn't by giving in to the demands of the tealiban. You never negotiate with terrorists, after all.
Rant mode = on
If anyone on NPR needs to retire before dotage grips her more it's Cokie Roberts. Junior Cokie (Mara Liasson) can follow her. TV time turns radio folks stupid.
And as equal opportunity wasters of air time, let's diminish or retire the verbose Mr. Inskeep and useless trivia fiend Ken Rudin (the last time a left handed congressman won an odd numbered district was... )
Rant mode = off
Sorry 'bout that. There's so much more to be happy about this morning.
Yes, the usual suspects are falling all over themselves trying to pretend that this election somehow means that those on the right are now entitled to whatever they want. No doubt the trolls will be working overtime on this blog spreading that sort of propaganda.
Roberts and others have this all backwards; instead of telling the President he needs to reach across the aisle, they should be telling the GOP not to slap the President's hand away when it comes across the aisle.
At least NPR makes a serious effort to present views from both sides as public radio should. It is not easy for Republicans to go up against people with great intelligence and awesome credentials like Rachel Maddow!
Karl Rove said the same thing last night on Fox - that Obama would have to reach across the isle first and end the partisan stalemate. I almost choked.....let's be honest about Republican agenda of NO Cooperation for the last 4 years.
They are the ones who need to do the reaching out. We will meet them in the middle of the road, but we will not go to their house.
As I just said in a post above, we must stay active and demand that the Republicans work with the Democrats.
Now that we all have Obama for a second term (YEAH!!! Ultra COOL!!!), it's time for the obstructionist "mission-to-make-Obama-one-term-prez" folks to get a grip, cooperate like they're elected to do, quit this refuse to play nicely nonsense when they meet up with reasoned opposition, and take a deep one. Kinda reminds me of toddlers holding their breath when they can't get get their way.
That's the only part that counts.
I thought he did in his speech last night. He was very classy! (Loved the chosen song.) Republicans need to learn that "reaching across the isle" does not mean giving in to their insane demands.
National Putz Radio - I personally won't miss either NPR or PBS when someone has the good sense to put them out of their misery. I used to always listen to them or watch them, but no more (other than Moyers). Their analysis is crap. The only NPR I listen to anymore is KUSC (last classical music station on the air) and KKJZ (last jazz station on the air). None of the "both sides do it" idiots like the otherwise-unemployable Mara Liason or Cokie Roberts, both of whom make most of their money shilling for Faux Snooze.
As of now Obama leads the popular vote with 2.6 million votes or roughly 2.3 %. Since the elections are a really expensive enterprise: why not scrap them entirely and just ask Nate Silver who knew it all up front?
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
I become a "Nate-believer" since they called it yesterday. Amazing...!
I just love it when he laughs at the pundits and their "GUT" feelings .
I wish someone would have asked Mourning Joe today how his "gut" was after his previous proclamation
I like the way Charlie Pierce (Charles P. Pierce) eviscerates the concept of "gut feelings in his book Idiot America.
Somebody should introduce Nate to Brian Williams. I'm still a bit fuzzy from lack of sleep (etc.) but I'm pretty sure I recall hearing Brian, several times, toward the end of his broadcast, noting that "no pundits" had predicted the lopsided results in the electoral college, or something to that effect. Maybe he just doesn't consider Nate Silver to be a "pundit"?
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Pretzel
Nate Silver doesn't consider himself a pundit. In fact on The Colbert Report he voiced his dislike of them.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/420765/november-05-2012/nate-silver
Maybe not a mandate, but a true indictment that you can't lie and buy your way to the presidency. I never underestimate the ignorance of the electorate, but have more faith that most people are getting more info, and using it. Good luck America. The rest of the world would have made it a landslide.
It was a victory over money and a journalism class that finds polls and gaffes more important that facts or policies. Unfortunately the same can't be said about House races. Nonetheless, it is a great relief for now.
Those House races are going to be a challenge until 2022 because of the redistricting after the 2010 census. Ohio had a chance to take redistricting away from the state legislature but it was defeated with lots of money (more than $7 million) in advertising against it.
We Dems will be glad that 2020 is a presidential election year and have to hope that voter turnout will be as good for us then as it was yesterday. That is a long time to wait......
Exactly...gerrymandering is more dangerous than any amount of campaign money combine. It is what keeps people like Michelle Bachmann in office because the majority of people in her district will always elect her and when they are not majority anymore, they'll redistrict until they got the demography they want.
Until people realize that gerrymandering is actually a backward election (where the official elect their people instead of people electing their official) and push to make a change, everything will stay pretty much the same.
Yes Just-Comment, gerrymandering has got to go. In Illinois it worked for the Democrats and in many red states it worked for the Republicans. Whatever party is in power in a state they have this extra weapon to keep the power.
skip
Voters in California voted to turn over redistricting to a bipartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2008. Republicans tried to challenge the new map this year but failed. Well actually they realized the maps were fairer to them than they first thought.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Yes-on-Prop-40-for-fair-redistricting-3954742.php
So at least here in California were are trying to do something about gerrymandering.
With possible court appointments and a promised updating of the Senate rules from Sen. H Reid it may be possible to more accurately accommodate our Constitutions requirement of representation with a suit asking for it .
Challenges to gerrymandering , the accepted and beloved security for the sinecure seeking congressional maladroit . Unloved by American citizens , who have to look after their own work , asking so called legislators to be adults .
What is understood by deliberative bodies , consensus , progress , honor or a joke ?
A fixed game , AKA , gerrymandering , offers none of these curious principles . Welfare for the crony capitalists and their lying , pimping armies of lobbyists . Lobbyists out number , outspend , and still have time to write legislation for our poor "legitimate" sycophants of congress .
Glass Steagal repealed
Speculators legitimized
Life time sinecures for know , do , nothing legislators
Lobbyists stand your ground and write the nations laws !
What could be worse .
Something must be done about the gerrymandering the Republicans have been so successful in accomplishing. Their idea of winning elections is gaming the system, whether through making registration drives impractical, voter suppression through voter ID laws or cutbacks in early voting.
I have not seen national numbers but I have to believe the House results are skewed in the favor of the GOP because they are very good at drawing district lines (maybe not so good for Allen West)
I have often said that if DC was a bastion of conservatism it would have two Senators and a rep or two.
Democrats need to do more about keeping the House representative by paying attention to gerrymandering.
Oh BULL!!!!! That is what I said as soon as the talking heads started spitting that "mandate" vile exactly 15 secs after the election was called.
Had Romney squeaked by with a win by 1.5 electoral votes they would have immediately declared a GOP mandate. Romney could have lost the popular, and they still would have declared it a GOP mandate... they did it 2000.
But Obama cleaned up, and that's all that matters, so they can stuff it.
OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!!!
First things first, Harry Reid needs to go all in on senate reform and end this silly 60 vote super majority nonsense. Majority rules in America and we have the majority in the senate.
Next, it is essential we find a way to neutralize the tea party house. It's time to play some serious hardball with these characters. I'm not sure exactly how to achieve this, but my strategy would be a relentless flood of bills forcing them to take positions regularly, exposing their obstructionism on a daily basis so their own constituents will finally get sick of them and vote them out.
At any rate, I agree 100% with Steven's synopsis that Obama and the democrats DO have a mandate to continue with their policies. The only question is will they grab the bull by the horns and run with it.
they should take the bull by the horns,,i am so happy all those donors to romney,,millions and millions for nothing,they lost their money,,,the president has a grass root followers team,,,and all those ads with romney,,it was so many lies in them,,at the end i changed channel on tv over and over not to see romney,,they were all flip flop ads,,so many of them,,,,it was embarassing to present those to us ,like if we would believe anything he said,when he said the opposite the week before,,i am so happy we do not have to see romney anymore and his stepford wife,,all that money would be so good for sandy's victims,,what a waste
I think the "mandate" was that Americans are sick of the extremist Tea Party! It's time the elected realize the electorate is moderate. We want to feel secure in our financial future, our homes, our health, our families. We want diversity in our representatives, to truly reflect the faces of the nation. We spoke, we won. That is the mandate.
I do not think it is so much a matter of flooding them with bills as it is a matter of flooding them with mail and petitions to force them to vote on the bills that are submitted, like the jobs bill, the dream act, tax reform to make the rich pay their share. We may need to "occupy the Congress." What we must NOT do is what we did in 2008 and 2010 and that is abandon the President in the White House to do our work alone. He said as much last night in his acceptance speech. We have to keep being activists. And the President must keep leading and asking us to follow and do our part. That is what Democracy in all about.
I intend to keep my Republican Congressman's (Scott Tipton, 3rd Congressional District of Colorado) feet to the fire. There are many out here who say that that is a hopeless task, but we must not be cynical. We must keep believing "yes we can." We are all tired just as we were in 2008, but we must soldier on.
Sorry folks, Congress is dead on arrival. It will do nothing constructive for the next 2 years. The result will be an even more autocratic President strangling both the economy and civil liberties. Congratulations, you get another opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of progressive politics to knock our country down.
Keep up the good work.
Hmmm... Sounds like that cold crow is a little tough to swallow.
Would you like for us to warm it up the microwave and perhaps make it a bit more chewy for you?
You know. Nothing this hemorrhoid says matters. So easy to ignore.
He lost. For good. And he knows it.
Wingnut World is dead.
Ah shooter, it must not feel good to have your party and your twisted un-american worldview soundly repudiated by the American people (or is that re-FUdiated... lol)
The Tea Party obstructionists in the house will be dealt with. You can bet your bottom dollar that this scenario has been discussed and a strategy is probably already in place.
Your tea party suffered humiliating defeats in the senate, and look for Harry Reid to end this silly 60 vote super majority crap.
Suck it up pal, you lost big time.
I would say, "please don't feed the trolls," but it seems they are already feasting on sour grapes.
The best thing to do Blanks is just have a good cry and get it over with. America is moving forward whether you're on the train or not.
I typically observe a personal "Do Not Feed the Trolls" posting policy, but this was a well-earned Salt-Meet-Wound moment...
That said, Maddow-heads, click that exclamation point with impunity today!!!!! Let 'em know that we ain't havin' it this good day!!!!!
Maybe you should be sharing a box of tissues with Karl Rove, Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh this morning. Let me help you; they're in the room marked "Irrelevant".
AHAHAHAHAHA
I was waiting for the inevitable whine from our little shooter.
Y'all lost. Progressive politics won. Its a great day for America and Americans, even you, shooter.
And it is the Republicans in Congress that aren't working, so again, it is 'your side' that is the problem.
...
I decided to count to 10. Several times.
Congratulations, and good luck.
Doesn't even come close to "meeting halfway", does it? Really, Shooter? Do you really want the same, GroundhogDay bills and votes that do nothing to help your fellow Americans get jobs and move forward? I say, Republicans in both the House and the Senate need to think about the needs of their constitutents and all Americans. It's time to put away childish things!
...... you do realize that these sentences contradict each other, right?
Is the president to blame for the problems or the congress that does nothing? How can the president be autocratic and strangle the economy and civil liberties if he can't get legislation passed? This is so circuitous.
I had intended to respond to a comment from Shooter about violations of civil liberties under the "autocrat" Obama. I see that the post in question has disappeared. At any rate, Shooter was referring to a ruling by a federal judge in Green Bay, WI. The case seems to have gotten little media attention outside of right-wing websites, and indeed this is the first I've heard of it. However, CNET (a site devoted to tech news) has picked up on the news. According to CNET, the court did not authorize placing video cameras without a warrant in your home. What the judge authorized was the placing of video surveillance cameras on property located beyond the home and what is called the curtilage (the area around the home). This ruling was in accordance with what the Justice Department wanted.
According to C-NET, the warrantless surveillance took place in order to catch a couple of Green Bay citizens growing 1000 marijuana plants. The defendants face huge fines and life imprisonment.
That the Obama Justice Department favored diluting the 4th Amendment for the sake of catching some pot growers is a matter of concern. It's no secret that for at lot of us, Obama is not as liberal as we might like him to be. But he is by no means an "autocrat" or (as some conservative friends of mine say) a "communist." And I'd much rather have Obama as president than Romney.
Reference:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57542510-38/court-oks-warrantless-use-of-hidden-surveillance-cameras/
Cartoon, you don't know about executive orders and department rule-writing?
Judy, Govt doesn't create jobs, it just spends money taken from business and it's employees. Tell you what though... let me take another crack at government intervention.
Every year Govt spends a trillion dollars more than it takes in. Rather than spending that trillion dollars on bureaucracy why not send a check to every household. That check would be $10,000.
For many that check would be a life changing event. What do you think?
So scholar, the question I would have about this is to ask how one gets cameras on the property without going into the property. If they are already on the property why haven't they actually looked for the suspected plants.
Is this really to see if the plants (if any) are being cultivated by the owners?
Perhaps you'd also like to explain how Habeas Corpus has been violated leaving the precedent open for Obama to kill any citizen he likes, without due process.
Dead. Airball's world died last night and he knows it.
Shooter, the Gov't "can" create the funding for jobs, unlike giving "the rich" huge tax breaks which never works to create ANY jobs!(and was even the conclusion of the CBO, but the Repubs killed it)
All this BS about giving "job creators" more money to “create jobs” is just BS. The "rich" should be required to pay the SAME RATE as everyone else and not 9% like Mitt (and you KNOW darn well he filed his amended tax return this morning to claim the extra charity deductions so he'll actually only pay the 9% and not the 14% he had to cop to so he’d not look like a total tool!)
For those like Shooter that don't understand how business actually works; A business needs demand to hire more workers… not a rich owner who pays less of a tax rate than his employees! And how is that demand generated??? By giving the middle class that purchases more money.(Either in tax breaks or raises)
Giving one idiot a huge tax break and allowing him to pay 9% while the rest of us pay 20%+ generates nothing other than possibly one idiot purchasing one more car. However, if 100 people got a tax break and they all bought cars that would stimulate demand so there would be a demand to hire more people. Those new workers would then have money to buy cars and create even more demand.(And this applies to all things, not just cars!)
Allowing a segment of the population to pay low tax rates in the hope that they will hire people for no reason is stupid… It hasn’t worked for 10 years, and will continue not to work.
Look, folks! Don't engage him. His world died last night and he wants to feel relevant. You give it to him by engaging.
Stop it.
These can only apply to current law. Doesn't prove your point.
I'll play one of your infamous red herrings: why weren't you complaining about this under Bush? According to you an executive order is the same as a law and Bush was already doing this by executive order which means you agree that we've been doing the same thing since 2003. Additionally Romney would not have repealed this measure. So why aren't you complaining about Romney's desire to continue it and Bush's repeal of Habeas Corpus (since it was his administration that actually did it)? Why does it only bother you when Obama is involved????? Hmm??
If Congress is "dead on arrival," it will be because it has made itself so. The "my way or no way at all" approach has proved itself to be dysfunctional -- worse than dysfunctional -- and so the House and the Senate have to learn to play nicely with others. Otherwise, it is the legislative branch, not the executive, not the judiciary, which will fail -- indeed, has already failed -- in its Constitutional duties.
Why you do it I don't know. But you're helping to keep something alive that should be just left to die. It's desperate to feel power, and engaging it gives it what it wants.
Is it that important to you? Are there not other opportunities to sharpen your debating skills?
Others would just like to be rid of the damned thing! Let it die.
Shooter, the Republican Party needs more leaders like Colin Powell and cast out the Rush Limbaugh's. I really hope you guys can figure this out.
Beaker, I've actually had a business, and no that's not how it works.
Now, I'm not going to say the idea of giving people money is without merit. In fact, last year we spent a trillion dollars on welfare. 83 means-tested programs.
What if we had taken that trillion dollars and instead of giving it to DC bureaucrats one could send a check for $10,000 to every household in America. Oddly enough, the commenters here don't think it's a very good idea. What about you?
Just fu king unbelievable. Really, really fu king unbelievable.
The operative word here is that Hooter (because he's only one boob) had a business. What are you doing now hooter?
Several things strike me about this election. Most important, technology marches on. Romney ran a 20th century race in the 21st century. The Obama campaign ran a 21st century campaign and spent their money wisely. Enormous amounts of money were flushed down the toilet by Citizens United contributors who happily wasted it on television advertizing that didn't really affect the outcome. Self delusion is alive and well. The Fox News bubble didn't serve Republicans well. My note of caution is that a MSNBC bubble won't serve us well either. We all have to get out more. Finally, I don't give a damn what Cokie Roberts and the other old white people say. Obama has a mandate. Old white people, including John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, should reach out to him or get out of the way.
Hey, take it easy on us old white people! I, and many, many of the Obama campaign volunteers that I had the great pleasure of working with were older, and quite white. Talk about dedicated and enthusiastic, tireless down to the wire. It's a happy day for ALL OF US!
Some of us no-longer-young white people are scared to death that we will have to work until we are 85 or so just to afford food, a roof and medical insurance and then have to be a burden to our children when we can no longer work. That's what the Ryan budget means to us. It's too late in the game to start saving to replace Social Security, and impossible to do so when working for just above minimum wage. Last night, we breathed a huge sigh of relief.
For the record, I'm an Obama supporter, total Wonder Bread in ethnicity, and over 55.
Minutes after Ohio was called and MSNBC and others called the election for the President, my 75 year old white sister who lives in a 30 foot camper trailer in a KOA in Arizona called me almost in tears because she had been so afraid that Romney would win and take away her only support which is SS. I know lots of other white seniors who were similarly terrified that Romney and Ryan would get elected and that Republicans would take over Congress and privatize SS and Medicare. Most of those in my community, including me (72) who supported the President and worked on his campaign are white seniors, those over 55.
The President carried about 40% of the white vote. That is a lot of people, and we are grateful for our Black, Latino, and Asian brothers and sisters, young and old, who came together with us to elect the President and the new Democratic Senators and Congressmen/women.
Many of us in our 60s and 70s are veterans of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 70s that made Obama's Presidency possible.
I've read a couple of stories about how Romney supporters were in complete shock over the loss. The Romney campaign had spent millions on internal polling ("Project Orca) which forecasted a Romney landslide and the rubes swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Gotta love it.
Out here in the real world, people were hoping for an Obama win, but knew that it was up for grabs.
Hey - I'm white and 66 and an Obama "fool" all the way, and have been since before he announced he would run the first time. This election really had me scared. I could NOT imagine Ann Romney measuring the drapes.....
It never really made sense to me that Romney, who is my age, and his "associates" couldn't remember back to the 60's ad 70's and the division. Of course he was in France, so...... but since he's eligible for Medicare and is probably getting it based on the idea that he never turns down anything that is due him....
I'm babbling. :) I'm tired and relieved and happy and have spent this whole election trying to prove that all seniors are NOT white haired, uninformed, and sitting at home waiting for meals on wheels. I think you'd be surprised how many seniors are Obama "fools."
And now back to my knitting.
68 here, white, male. Been fighting the Good Fight since JFK's election. Was on Nixon's "Enemies List" and had a 150 page COINTELPRO file (all redacted when they had to give it to me). Was in favor of Obama for President in 2004. To me, he's the embodiment of my family's dream of America since they were among the Germantown Quakers who made the non-ownership of slaves a condition of membership in their community, back in 1688 - the first White Europeans anywhere to do such a thing. A 320 year dream comes true.
I think it's cruel to mislead your own supporters into thinking you "got it on lock".
Why are they so mean and dishonest?
TC
The library I work at gets The Germantown Crier, Interesting history about your family's community.
I think I have a happiness hangover....but it's well worth it
Mornin shooter and you're right congress is a problem so the President only has one choice. to go over their heads and straight to the American people. tel them to tell their representatives to actually do their jobs and stop screwing around. I doubt congress's popularity has improved all that much overnight
If the House GOP doesn't change their ways, they will be the next casualty in 2014. Count on it.
America voted for compassion as a principle in governance. They voted for honesty and against voter suppression. They voted for a moral man rather than one who's alleged morality was for sale for all to see. America decided to be a beacon for the world rather than a stooge for corporate money. I for one am proud.
I am proud as well to have President Obama still in charge. However, I cannot see Republicans being willing to reach across the isle; don't know what McConnell will use as his goal this time since Obama can't run again, but sure he will find something. I am just happy our nation is safe and not in the hands of the Romney/Ryan camp.
Beautifully said.
The people have spoken. Democracy and freedom have won! I am going to celebrate America today. I have selected a song that speaks to me. It's by Paul Robeson, sung 65 years ago in November, 1947.
I hope you will join me in celebrating this day.
http://massachusettsobserver.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-people-have-spoken.html
What is the name of the song? I want to see whether it is on my Robeson CD "Songs of Free men."
"The House I Live In."
In addition to Obama and all those awesome Blue senators (Elizabeth Warren! Claire McCaskill! Sherrod Brown! Tim Kaine!), it's hugely gratifying to see what a big night gay rights had across the country. In addition to gays and lesbians winning marriage rights outright in Maine, Maryland, and Washington State, here in Minnesota we became the first state ever to vote down an anti-gay-marriage ballot amendment. Plus Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay U.S. Senator. And some other guy who decided to openly support marriage equality--I forget his name--won some big national race or other.
Who's up for putting Prop 8 back on the California ballot, just for old times' sake... and for the sake of the brutal thrashing it would inevitably receive?
For all the people who voted in favor that disgusting piece of garbage, or the Minnesota one last night, or any of the thirty others that have prevailed in previous elections: shame on you. In the same way many Americans are ashamed to have ancestors who openly and fervently supported racial segregation and Jim Crow, your descendants will be embarrassed that they're related to you.
What happened was: Wingnut World died.
- the 20th century survived!
- there is still hope for a 21st century that addresses its most pressing problem: climate change
- the New Gilded Age will be addressed
One side was going to wake up and their world would be dead. Our world survived. Wingnut World died.
Individual wingnuts will be amongst us for a good while. But they died as a TRUE threat to us last night. They're getting another chance. We're not giving it to them again.
Had the odious Romney-Ryan won, the opposite would have happened. This would have become a society only haves and have-nots. And the harshest scenarios of the IPCC would have baked into the cake and the world's climate would be forced to suffer the consequences. (It still might.)
America (and the world) dodged a bullet aimed right for the head last night. Make no mistake about that. The Republicans were playing for keeps because they knew it was their last chance to achieve their dream of killing FDR, etc. They won't get another chance.
I hope you are right.
There are a lot of issues to be addressed. I hope the President will push even harder this time to address these issues.
So,will you change your "pen name" ?
Shorter Benen...
Obama won. Disaster averted.
I agree.
President Obama has called upon us to help him for the next four years...I, for one, will call and write, not only my reps., but republicans too...It is time these people hear from us more than once every couple of years...they beg us for money...well I'm wanting something in return...good governance for a start...
Yesssss! Such an amazing night. The only two dark spots are the re-election of my completely odious House rep, and Paul Ryan held on to his House seat. Otherwise, I can't stop smiling.
A big THANK YOU to all the people who waited in line for hours. Your determination was awesome!
And thanks also to msnbc, Rachel, Ed, Chris. Al, and others who gave us an entertaining and smart coverage of a historic election. Without their insightful programs the past few years we would not be informed on the issues.
Beyond Obama's, and the other great wins for democrats in the senate, I personally get a tremendous amount of satisfaction that The Citizen's Untied ruling, Karl Rove and his minions, and the rest of these billionaire robber barons failed.
When are people going to start talking about the FAILURE that is Karl Rove?
And the rejection of bought and paid for politicians?
Great day for American democracy.
And just think: They can't claim all that money as "tax deductions"!
I watched FOX this morning to hear their spin on what happened last night. They called this the most divisive campaign by Dems in the history of this country. It is truly amazing to me, in a funny kind of way, to hear this coming from a a cable channel who spent 24/7 ripping this administration in every way imaginable.
I also listened to CSpan. A woman caller said we did not elect a president but a black man instead of a rich white man. Unfortunately, there are millions in this country who think the same way. Including some of my friends.
Can't wait to hear what Rush Windbag has to say.
Oh yea. My heart bleeds for Karl Rove and all those fat cats, like the Koch Brothers, who spent all that money to buy this election. ;)
Interestingly, that woman was way wrong.
The people who voted democratic voted FOR President Obama.
The people who voted republican voted AGAINST President Obama, not FOR Mitt Romney.
Big difference!
This victory is a victory against a Republican Dynasty. If the Republicans had won, they could point to a Democratic president during an economic collapse THEY THEMSELVES caused, and say "He didn't clean it up in time." And then when, over the next four years, this already-recovering economy completes its recovery, it would always have been the Democrat's fault, and the Republican's victory.
Not only that, but the kind of election campaign run by Romney, touting easily proven lies as truth, would take hold as a strategy that WINS, and that would have been disastrous for the next several presidential elections.
But it goes beyond that to race as well. If the first black President was seen as a failure, when do you think you'd see the next one?
For many reasons completely separate from THIS election's specifics, the Democrats HAD to win last night, and win they did.
But as to who really won the election? I'm ready to call it.
After an unprecedented attack on voter rights by Republican governors - a wave of voter suppression not seen in decades - the voters, enraged, got out to vote, and some stayed in line for hours, up to 8 for some, and stayed in line long after polls closed to ensure their voices were heard.
I call the victory in this election for - THE VOTER.
Sean.
Exactly! The voter won. All the money, and all the voter suppression tactics, and all the FOX and fiends lies lost.
Reminds me of Clinton's second term. He really cemented his legacy as one of the greatest presidents during the second 4. Let's pray that the country continues it's recovery, & the results will leave the same legacy for Pres. Obama.
Bob Scheiffer, and that Norah(I forgot her name) person both said there was no mandate...excuse me? it was a mandate! She also stated Obama was negative...against Bain Capitol....excuse me?
A mandate for women, a mandate for minorities, and a mandate for the poor and disenfranchised.
Akin, Walsh, West, Mandel, Brown, and a slew of other mysogynists and race baiters lost.Pro choice and equal pay won. The Supreme court will not be right wing.It is a mandate.My boys will not be put in harms way by a man who seems to love war.I will keep the social security I have paid into as a nurse for 25 years and a hairdresser for 12 years prior to that. i love my President and am happy.
Why won't they listen to the people?
They are asking for another drubbing in 2014 with Pelosi or another D with Speaker of the House gavel. They are in denial. They thing they can hit us all over the head and drag us to the right.
We aren't stupid, we want Congress to get this 5h!t done.