Make or Break Time for the Middle Class says Obama

[we vs us]

In honor of Gassie's completely cite free post about Obama's speech today, I decided to post something from Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-obama-idUSTRE7B527620111206

"OBAMA HITS REPUBLICANS IN STARKLY POPULIST SPEECH

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama turned up the heat on his Republican foes on Tuesday as he portrayed himself as a champion of the middle class and laid out in the starkest terms yet the populist themes of his 2012 re-election bid.

In a speech meant to echo a historic address given by former President Theodore Roosevelt in the same Kansas town more than 100 years ago, Obama pressed his case for economic policies he insists will benefit ordinary Americans struggling through hard times.

He seized the opportunity to step up pressure on congressional Republicans to extend an expiring payroll tax cut that independent economists say is needed to keep the fragile economic recovery from unraveling.

But Obama's broader message was a call for people to get a "fair shot" and a "fair share" as he pushed for wealthier Americans to pay higher taxes and for Wall Street and Big Business to play by the rules.

"This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class," Obama said in Osawatomie in eastern Kansas. "At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement."

With the 2012 presidential election just 11 months away, Obama's trip was part of a strategy by the president and his fellow Democrats to cast the Republicans as the party beholden to the rich.

Many Republican lawmakers are skeptical that extending the tax cut beyond this year will spur job creation.

But Republican leaders, fearing a possible backlash from voters in the 2012 ballot, have expressed a willingness to find a way to prevent the tax cuts from lapsing. But they remain at odds with Obama and his Democrats on how to fund it.

Obama used his speech to accuse Republicans of suffering from "collective amnesia" about the recent economic and financial crisis, and he strongly defended his Wall Street regulatory overhaul that many Republicans opposed.

Though polls show most Americans support Obama's effort to increase taxes on the wealthy, his public approval ratings remain in the low to mid-40 percent range.

Republicans charged that Obama's latest speech, as well as a series of campaign-style trips to push his stalled $447 billion jobs plan, was intended to distract from the struggling economy and persistently high unemployment, considered damaging for his re-election chances."

[Gaspar]

I watched the speech.  It was sad.  First he thought he was in Texas, then went through the standard class warfare meme, then he finished by attempting to align himself to Teddy Roosevelt. I will never get that 10 minutes back.

He's poised to make his whole campaign about this fairness theme, and not even address economic recovery.  I guess he thinks he can gain momentum by further developing the idea that we are a nation of victims.  I don't think Democrats are that gullible this time around.

[Conan71]

If President Obama was any friend to the middle class, we wouldn't have been maintaining 8.5 to 9+% unemployment the last three years.  Sooner or later, the people who voted him in the last time will realize he hasn't done them any favors.  He's made a lot of noise about it, but he's not reigned in the banksters, the 1%'ers, the scurrilous traders and CEO's who have screwed over everyone else.  No, instead, he's dined with them, vacationed with them, and played golf with them, then blames an obstinate GOP for his utter lack of leadership.

[Hoss]

If President Obama was any friend to the middle class, we wouldn't have been maintaining 8.5 to 9+% unemployment the last three years.  Sooner or later, the people who voted him in the last time will realize he hasn't done them any favors.  He's made a lot of noise about it, but he's not reigned in the banksters, the 1%'ers, the scurrilous traders and CEO's who have screwed over everyone else.  No, instead, he's dined with them, vacationed with them, and played golf with them, then blames an obstinate GOP for his utter lack of leadership.

They're both to blame though.  The GOP's "be against everything he is even if it's a talking point for our party" approach hasn't exactly endeared them to public, as the Congress approval ratings show (single digits).  Even when Dems and the Prez have shown a willingness to attempt compromise, the GOP will have nothing to do with it.

[Conan71]

They're both to blame though.  The GOP's "be against everything he is even if it's a talking point for our party" approach hasn't exactly endeared them to public, as the Congress approval ratings show (single digits).  Even when Dems and the Prez have shown a willingness to attempt compromise, the GOP will have nothing to do with it.

You think President Clinton didn't face that with the GOP revolution and Contract For America in 1994?  He succeeded because he had great leadership skills and knew the benefit of a compromise.  Obama thinks old school Chicago intimidation is a substitute for leadership in Washington and it simply isn't.

[Hoss]

You think President Clinton didn't face that with the GOP revolution and Contract For America in 1994?  He succeeded because he had great leadership skills and knew the benefit of a compromise.  Obama thinks old school Chicago intimidation is a substitute for leadership in Washington and it simply isn't.

That's where we disagree.  The mantra of the current GOP is to get O out at ALL costs, even if that means bringing the country down with it.  In Clinton's presidency, the Republicans cared a little more about the fate of the Untion.  Hell, I'm even beginning to like Coburn these days.  Of all of them, he's beginning to sound sane with his talk of taxing more well-to-do people.  The current rank/file in the GOP right now probably want to tar and feather him.

[Conan71]

That's where we disagree.  The mantra of the current GOP is to get O out at ALL costs, even if that means bringing the country down with it.  In Clinton's presidency, the Republicans cared a little more about the fate of the Untion.  Hell, I'm even beginning to like Coburn these days.  Of all of them, he's beginning to sound sane with his talk of taxing more well-to-do people.  The current rank/file in the GOP right now probably want to tar and feather him.

Get Obama out at all costs?  Hello? Remember White Water and the impeachment of Clinton?

IMO, Clinton faced a far more difficult political environment.  Not only did the Republicans go after him politically, they made it deeply personal.  Obama hasn't had to live daily with a special counsel investigation and what you keep missing is that every olive branch supposedly offered by Obama always has thorns near the stem.

[Hoss]

Get Obama out at all costs?  Hello? Remember White Water and the impeachment of Clinton?

IMO, Clinton faced a far more difficult political environment.  Not only did the Republicans go after him politically, they made it deeply personal.  Obama hasn't had to live daily with a special counsel investigation and what you keep missing is that every olive branch supposedly offered by Obama always has thorns near the stem.

They tried to back door him though and hope that Whitewater, which really wasn't tied so much to him as it was Hillary, would be a way for them to impeach him.  The Repubs this term have out-and-out said their number one goal is to ensure no second term for this president.

And the Repubs don't even reach out for the branch.  They choose to not really listen when it comes time.  But when you have Suntan Boehner running things in the House, that's not so incredibly surprising, is it?

But you've sort of proven my point.  The Rs will stop at nothing to make sure their man makes it or stays in the Executive.  I seem to remember a hotel named Watergate....

[guido911]

They tried to back door him though and hope that Whitewater, which really wasn't tied so much to him as it was Hillary, would be a way for them to impeach him.  The Repubs this term have out-and-out said their number one goal is to ensure no second term for this president.

And the Repubs don't even reach out for the branch.  They choose to not really listen when it comes time.  But when you have Suntan Boehner running things in the House, that's not so incredibly surprising, is it?

But you've sort of proven my point.  The Rs will stop at nothing to make sure their man makes it or stays in the Executive.  I seem to remember a hotel named Watergate....

A post about Clinton and you had to throw in "back door".   

[Conan71]

They tried to back door him though and hope that Whitewater, which really wasn't tied so much to him as it was Hillary, would be a way for them to impeach him.  The Repubs this term have out-and-out said their number one goal is to ensure no second term for this president.

And the Repubs don't even reach out for the branch.  They choose to not really listen when it comes time.  But when you have Suntan Boehner running things in the House, that's not so incredibly surprising, is it?

But you've sort of proven my point.  The Rs will stop at nothing to make sure their man makes it or stays in the Executive.  I seem to remember a hotel named Watergate....

The R's ran for cover from Nixon after Watergate broke.

There's nothing to listen to.  Any offer has something attached to it the President knows the R's will never go for.  Sham jobs bill?  Add some tax increases no one wants, not even the Dems and he can say his jobs bill, which sucked in the first place, can't go anywhere.  Grid-lock in the Democrat-controlled Senate?  No problem, blame the minority Republicans.

I've never seen a President do so little and get away with blaming so many.

[Hoss]

The R's ran for cover from Nixon after Watergate broke.

There's nothing to listen to.  Any offer has something attached to it the President knows the R's will never go for.  Sham jobs bill?  Add some tax increases no one wants, not even the Dems and he can say his jobs bill, which sucked in the first place, can't go anywhere.  Grid-lock in the Democrat-controlled Senate?  No problem, blame the minority Republicans.

I've never seen a President do so little and get away with blaming so many.

What more can he do?  He's at the mercy of Congress -- hell, for that matter ALL Presidents are until it comes time for the veto and even then that's limited.  The GOP this cycle wants nothing to do with him.  They do that at their peril at the polls next time around.

Time for a shakedown, and not just the executive branch, either.

[guido911]

What more can he do?  He's at the mercy of Congress -- hell, for that matter ALL Presidents are until it comes time for the veto and even then that's limited.  The GOP this cycle wants nothing to do with him.  They do that at their peril at the polls next time around.

Time for a shakedown, and not just the executive branch, either.

Come on, Hoss. Obama had overwhelming majorities in both houses for a long time and did nothing to get this economy off center. His party didn't need a single repub vote to get his agenda through. Latourette nails it:

[Hoss]

Come on, Hoss. Obama had overwhelming majorities in both houses for a long time and did nothing to get this economy off center. His party didn't need a single repub vote to get his agenda through. Latourette nails it:

Kinda tough to do when the Senate isn't filibuster-proof.  You do realize that the Republican minority in the Senate filibustered a record number of times, right?

I still say this is a do-nothing congress and has been since 2008.

Look, I'm not always leaning to the left.  But when you're always standing on the fence nothing gets done.

[Red Arrow]

I still say this is a do-nothing congress and has been since 2008.

And we are lucky it has been.  I hate to think of where we would be if Obama, Pelosi, and Reid had gotten what they really wanted.

[we vs us]

And we are lucky it has been.  I hate to think of where we would be if Obama, Pelosi, and Reid had gotten what they really wanted.

We'd have a payroll tax cut, that's for sure.