The Truth About Obama's Record | Mother Jones:
"Here's the good news: this record of progressive accomplishment officially makes Obama the most successful domestic Democratic president of the last 40 years. And here's the bad news: this shoddy collection of centrist, watered down, corporatist sellout legislation was all it took to make Obama the most successful domestic Democratic president of the last 40 years. Take your pick."
The last line of the blurb nails it.
Blaming the blogosphere for Democratic Failures | Crooks and Liars
Here's the thing. What matters is whether policy works. It does not matter if what Obama did was more left wing than anything that's been done in a while (though in absolute terms I would argue it mostly wasn't left wing, the health care plan, for example, was essentially a Republican plan from the 90s), what matters is if it was left wing enough (big enough stimulus, smart enough health care plan) to improve people's lives enough that they noticed.
It wasn't, and that's all that matters. Policies such as the stimulus were not done well enough, and everyone from Nobel prize winners with good predictive records like Stiglitz and and Krugman, down to nobodies like me, predicted it at the time. The President hired the wrong people to give him advice, didn't even do as much as many of them wanted, and now we all pay the price.
Sometimes half doesn't work. Half-assed rarely does. All Obama's half assed "left wing" policies have done is discredit the left for another generation. Combined with the ability of the media, Republicans and hysterical Tea Baggers unable to use a dictionary to define him as a "socialist" this means that Obama's policies are seen as left wing, and left wing policies are seen to have failed.
I don't want Obama doing anything I agree with, because he will screw it up and discredit it. In this respect he is like Bush. He is poison because he is incompetent at policy.
So, in short, game over.
"A trio of progressive House members took direct aim at their colleagues in the Senate on Saturday, declaring that the upper chamber 'sucks,' has a 'toxic effect' on the legislative process, and would cost House Democrats seats in the 2010 election."
Not gonna do it.
Rep. Nadler: Investigate torture or face road to ‘tyranny’ | Raw Story
"If you don’t prosecute, or if you don’t investigate, then what you’re saying is government can do anything," Nadler argued. "And that’s a formula for tyranny. So I think it’s very important." As for looking forward and not backwards? "By that standard you’d never prosecute any crime."White House officials and some analysts fear that a drawn-out investigation, which would be virulently fought by Republicans, would drain the capacity of Democrats to advance their domestic agenda.
Nadler argues that to sustain a democracy, it's vitally important to hold lawmakers accountable for their crimes – even more so than with private citizens. "People who break the law, ought to be held accountable," he said, "especially if they’re in government, because they have more power."
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They use to be my alternative to Wal-Mart. No longer. Will not step foot in another Target.
I called and told them so, too. If you feel the same, call. Select 'Store Experience'. Stay on the line until you talk to someone.
Target Store Merchandise : Contact Us : Help : Target: "1-800-440-0680."
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The response to the wing-nut email is priceless
Daily Kos: the email i will probably regret sending--edited with thanks and some responses_____
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