26 Jan 10
Maybe it's time to figure out what the voters actually want.
You can't just rely on these hit and run polls - "do you support this program?" - "do you support the president's agenda?" - "do you have a favorable view of the president" - "which of the following five topics concerns you the most?"
Any teacher knows that true-false and multiple-choice tests are poor (but cheap) ways to measure things. You need to have essay questions.
What you need to do is to get a representative sample of voters - and then do a relatively extensive interview with each member of the sample to find out:
1. Do they really have any idea what the president's agenda actually is? Do they really know what's in the bills being considered by Congress? If lots of people have no idea what's going on, you'll know a top priority has to be improving basic communications.
2. Assuming the people do know the basic facts - find out IN DETAIL what concerns people have about these bills and what specific things worry them.
3. Ask the people what other things the president needs to focus more on. If they say something vague like "jobs" - ask them again to provide DETAILS about the things they're thinking about and what they'd like to see the president do in this regard.
This type of process needs to be done frequently by the administration. The media also needs to be doing this sort of thing as well.
26 Jan 10
Originally posted by whodeyObama should resign from the Presidency and become a Representative At Large for the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives. He'd be able to bring about some meaningful change there, because no substantive change is possible through the political system. The Presidency is a waste of his talents.
In the wake of the NHC debacle, what should President Obama do now? Should he continues all efforts to revive NHC? Should he refocus on what the voters are which is probably jobs? Or is there other things he should be doing?
Discuss.
26 Jan 10
Originally posted by rwingettThat's odd, most libs credited The Great W Bush as having implented HUGE changes.🙄
Obama should resign from the Presidency and become a Representative At Large for the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives. He'd be able to bring about some meaningful change there, because no substantive change is possible through the political system. The Presidency is a waste of his talents.
26 Jan 10
Originally posted by whodeyHe should grow a spine and do what he set out to do.
In the wake of the NHC debacle, what should President Obama do now? Should he continues all efforts to revive NHC? Should he refocus on what the voters are which is probably jobs? Or is there other things he should be doing?
Discuss.
who cares about the opinion polls? they change all the time.
It is very clear that some of the things proposed are never going to happen (public option), but still, Im sure he can reform the system if he pressurizes the democratic majority.
26 Jan 10
Originally posted by generalissimoWow.. I pretty much agree with you.
He should grow a spine and do what he set out to do.
who cares about the opinion polls? they change all the time.
It is very clear that some of the things proposed are never going to happen (public option), but still, Im sure he can reform the system if he pressurizes the democratic majority.
Good to see 🙂
27 Jan 10
Originally posted by generalissimoDo you think they can get the votes?
He should grow a spine and do what he set out to do.
who cares about the opinion polls? they change all the time.
It is very clear that some of the things proposed are never going to happen (public option), but still, Im sure he can reform the system if he pressurizes the democratic majority.
What kind of time frame would it require now? It could drag forever, and people will get even more skeptical.
I think he may have screwed up with the behind door deals?
27 Jan 10
6 edits
Originally posted by generalissimoYour reaction is polar opposite of Melanerpes post. One seems to be advocating polling and educating the public and doing PR and possibly hinting at changing ones position if this fails compared to saying to hell with what everyone thinks. In comparing "W" and Obama, we saw that "W" was unpopular due to his stance on the war among other things, however, he simply ignored this critisim and seemed to thumb his noes at it. Obama, on the other hand, is unpopular because of his spending and issues with preoccupation with NHC, among other things, when everyone is focused on the high unemployment. However, I did notice after the Brown election that Obama has said he will now vowed to begin to reduce spending and has begun to talk about jobs. Thus far, he appears to be rejecting your advice, although, my guess is this gesture is superficial. My guess is that he will ultimatly thumb his nose at the polls much like "W" did.
He should grow a spine and do what he set out to do.
who cares about the opinion polls? they change all the time.
It is very clear that some of the things proposed are never going to happen (public option), but still, Im sure he can reform the system if he pressurizes the democratic majority.
In short, I guess it is the dilemma of whether one should govern based upon what one is compelled to do or govern to represent the wishes of the masses in terms of what they compelled for you to do.
27 Jan 10
Originally posted by rwingettHow could he bring about meaninful changes there as opposed to where he is now? In addition, who in the hell is the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives?
Obama should resign from the Presidency and become a Representative At Large for the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives. He'd be able to bring about some meaningful change there, because no substantive change is possible through the political system. The Presidency is a waste of his talents.
27 Jan 10
Originally posted by whodeyResign his presidency......that would do more for the country that anything..
In the wake of the NHC debacle, what should President Obama do now? Should he continues all efforts to revive NHC? Should he refocus on what the voters are which is probably jobs? Or is there other things he should be doing?
Discuss.
27 Jan 10
Originally posted by whodeyYes, that is the crux of the dilemma I think.
Your reaction is polar opposite of Melanerpes post. One seems to be advocating polling and educating the public and doing PR and possibly hinting at changing ones position if this fails compared to saying to hell with what everyone thinks. In comparing "W" and Obama, we saw that "W" was unpopular due to his stance on the war among other things, however, he ...[text shortened]... overn to represent the wishes of the masses in terms of what they compelled for you to do.
27 Jan 10
Originally posted by whodeyhttp://www.usworker.coop/front
How could he bring about meaninful changes there as opposed to where he is now? In addition, who in the hell is the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives?
The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives is a national grassroots membership organization of and for worker cooperatives, other democratic workplaces, and the organizations which support the growth and continued development of worker cooperatives.
Most people don't even know that worker cooperatives even exist in this country. Michael Moore's last movie, Capitalism, A Love Story, brought the topic to people's attention, but having a big name representative like Obama could really bring the whole topic to the forefront of public consciousness. Promoting and helping to foster worker cooperatives would do more to bring about substantive change in this country than would anything he is likely to accomplish as President of a system that is specifically designed to block change and promote the status quo. The system doesn't bring about change, it only reacts to changes that are fostered from without the system.