Originally posted by whodeyThe key is determining what is the people's true best interests. As I stated earlier, it is indeed important to find out what the people think and what they want. But it's got to go WAY beyond the el cheapo polling everyone seems to rely on. You have to dig deep into people's souls. And it is indeed extremely important to communicate what you're doing in a clear language that everyone can understand.
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.
But -- once you've done all of that, a leader still has to figure out what is in the people's best interests - and then he must have the courage to do that even if it turns out to be very unpopular. Anyone can sail a ship if the current is flowing in the direction you want to go. It takes a true captain to navigate upstream against howling winds.
Originally posted by Palynka😵
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/obama-liquidates-himself/
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January 26, 2010, 9:01 am
Obama Liquidates Himself
A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?
It’s appalling on every level.
It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to have decided to fire Tim Geithner and replace him with “the rotting corpse of Andrew Mellon” (Mellon was Herbert Hoover’s Treasury Secretary, who according to Hoover told him to “liquidate the workers, liquidate the farmers, purge the rottenness”.)
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And it’s a betrayal of everything Obama’s supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view — and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008. A correspondent writes, “I feel like an idiot for supporting this guy.”
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Originally posted by Hugh GlassDo you think they can get the votes?
Do you think they can get the votes?
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?
if they cut the crap and focus on the main points of the bills, probably yes.
It could drag forever, and people will get even more skeptical.
by people you're reffering to people in congress or the electorate?
I think he may have screwed up with the behind door deals?
yes he did, especially considering all those times he said it would be on c-span.
just another example of how obama was only telling people what they wanted to hear.
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Originally posted by zeeblebotMr. Krugman. FDR wasn't the only person who tried to balance a budget during a fragile economy.
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January 26, 2010, 9:01 am
Obama Liquidates Himself
A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?
It’s appalling on every level.
It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to h ...[text shortened]... defeated in 2008. A correspondent writes, “I feel like an idiot for supporting this guy.”
...
One of the things that might be holding back the recovery is the popular percpetion that the budget is swirling out of control. Even if the fiscal-warming hysteria is mostly a lot of hot air, it's gotten lots of people worried - so a strong plan to get things back under control might be just the thing that's needed to stimulate the economy.
It's very much like early 1993 after Perot got everyone concerned The Deficit. The economy had only begun to recover from the recession and unemployment was near peak levels. But Clinton's response was a vigorous plan to reduce the deficit that included the "biggest tax increase ever known to mankind". The GOP kept predicting that this would push the economy into the abyss.
But the GOP's prophecies were the only thing that went into the abyss. As were the prophecies of anyone trying to draw comparisons with FDR. Almost from the day that budget bill became law, unemployment began to plunge and the great boom of the 1990's was underway. It may well have been because Clinton calmed down the deficit-phobic investors.
Originally posted by FMFA resignation would be a disaster for the country.
I also don't put too much store in the 'political science' that says what the U.S. needs right now is a presidential resignation. Passionate stuff, undoubtedly. But hardly credible.
What Obama needs to do right now is:
1) Focus on jobs and making life easier for the middle class
2) Work in some common sense tax hikes and close silly loopholes and work towards balancing the budget
3) Drop healthcare reform; The US is not ready for it. If that's not plain as day now, it will never be.
4) Cast the environmental issues as "energy savings" policies. The US will sooner sacrifice to decrease consumption of foreign oil so that our trade deficit is lowered and we're not at the mercy of hostile regimes than to protect us from a problem that nobody really seems to know whether it exists.
5) Hunker down. Wait out the storm. Wait for the GOP to slip up. History shows it will happen eventually. Just give either party enough rope; eventually, it will hang itself.
6) Keep talking about bipartisanship. Deal with less controversial issues. Try to pick off one or two Republicans on individual policy issues here and there. Really, if the WH can't figure out how to pick off Olympia Snowe for one major vote, they should hire a new staff. Maybe Josh Lyman is available. One the GOP is fragmented, it will be easier to deal with.
7) Stop making speeches to wholly liberal audiences. Whenever he does, he seems to say something stupid.
Originally posted by sh763) Drop healthcare reform; The US is not ready for it. If that's not plain as day now, it will never be.
A resignation would be a disaster for the country.
What Obama needs to do right now is:
1) Focus on jobs and making life easier for the middle class
2) Work in some common sense tax hikes and close silly loopholes and work towards balancing the budget
3) Drop healthcare reform; The US is not ready for it. If that's not plain as day now, it will neve ...[text shortened]... g speeches to wholly liberal audiences. Whenever he does, he seems to say something stupid.
but that was the base of his whole campaign, that was the "change we can believe in". If he's going to drop it he might as well resign, or at least admit he was a failure and an incompetent leader.
7) Stop making speeches to wholly liberal audiences. Whenever he does, he seems to say something stupid.
do you want him to give speeches to conservative audiences? can you imagine how disastrous that would be?
Originally posted by generalissimoAnd healthcare reform, right now, is change we don't believe in. There are plenty of other issues he can deal with. There will be plenty of time to deal with healthcare once it's clear the economy has recovered.
[b]3) Drop healthcare reform; The US is not ready for it. If that's not plain as day now, it will never be.
but that was the base of his whole campaign, that was the "change we can believe in". If he's going to drop it he might as well resign, or at least admit he was a failure and an incompetent leader.
7) Stop making speeches to wholly l ...[text shortened]... im to give speeches to conservative audiences? can you imagine how disastrous that would be?
The last one was tongue-in-cheek.
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Originally posted by sh76That idea of "fragmenting the GOP" is a good one. The GOP made it clear early on it was going to use the "let's all unite and hope he fails" strategy. What if Obama had started out his presidency by looking for things that Snowe would be willing to vote for? That could've been the kernel around which a truly bipartisan coalition could have been built.
A resignation would be a disaster for the country.
What Obama needs to do right now is:
1) Focus on jobs and making life easier for the middle class
2) Work in some common sense tax hikes and close silly loopholes and work towards balancing the budget
3) Drop healthcare reform; The US is not ready for it. If that's not plain as day now, it will neve g speeches to wholly liberal audiences. Whenever he does, he seems to say something stupid.
I also like the idea of Obama giving speeches to audiences that aren't just made up of his own heavenly choir. It would allow him to directly address his skeptics and even his enemies.
I've always wondered what would happen if Obama agreed to be a guest on the Rush Limbaugh show and accept questions from all the ditto-heads. He'd definitely get the grilling of his life, so he'd have to be extremely prepared. But it would likely be a good learning experience for both Obama and Rush's listeners. It would also be the sort of gutsy thing that real leaders do.