The issue is that what the President seems to consider reasonable compromise many people (and not just the left) see as capitulation or cowardice. He gives away the store before negotiations even start then gives more and calls that sharp trading. I would never want him advising me when I'm trying to buy a new car. It's not just the latest deal but a list of past compromises which his base swallowed hard and accepted. But this one may go too far.
Sorry but I must say it but: Knee-jerk.
Look at this politically: For the last two years, FNC/GOP have painted Obama as the socialist terrorist devil, the reincarnation of Hitler and Stalin mixed with chocolate. He must be stopped!
And they made a deal with him. Imagine McConnell having to go on Sean Hannity and sell to that partisan insane base on why this deal is worth passing.
Remember this was the same shit which happened under Clinton, but of course that is the difference, isn't it Lilo? Liberals were just happy that a national Democratic candidate won for once when Bubba won. With Obama, they (or thought at least) smelled a change, a political wash-over as politically impactful (and as mythically fictional) as the Reagan Revolution.
But none the less, Obama has the same opportunity as Bubba to triangulate against the GOP. Doesn't mean he necessarily will, but look at how right wing, even moreso than Dubya's Presidency in some fronts he is on Foreign Policy. A very cynical opinion, but I wonder if a reason behind the Afghanistan escalation was to blunt any GOP/NeoCon criticism of him going soft on the War on Terror. Notice how Obama abandoned the public trials for terrorists.
Or to put it another: Obama effectively made the GOP agree to a Second Stimulus. If this passes, what will the GOP argue in '12?
Originally Posted By: Lilo
Then he has the unmitigated gall to put some bass in his voice when he's lecturing his supporters? Inconceivable.
Republicans fear their base, Democrats hate their base.
Originally Posted By: Lilo
Most, not all but most of the things in this proposed deal are things that the right wanted, not the left.
There is difference between now and the 3rd of next month when Democrats don't just lose the House, they lose a shitload of Senate seats. Obama had a weak hand (especially with his party pressured to repeal DADT before the NeoCons can derail that reform for several years) and an even weaker hand in a few weeks.
Originally Posted By: Lilo
And the deal does nothing for the 99ers or any future 99ers. It cuts the payroll tax which funds Social Security and will make it more difficult to protect it from those on the Right who want to "save" it. Is it possible that many on the left are whiny delusional dummies? Well yes.
