Third, Obama’s performance on health care reform has been abysmal. Rather than show genuine leadership, he left if up to the corporate-controlled House and Senate to create highly delusional and deceptive health care reform bills. What the country needed was a president that was a champion for a single-payer universal health care system. Instead, what we will surely get is a bill that Obama will happily sign and then declare victory even though very few Americans will see lower costs, better insurance coverage, more affordable access to health care or the freedom to get into a first-rate government program.
In sum, Obama’s policies and tactics are killing Americans, not metaphorically but literally. For these reasons alone, Americans should make it clear that they have lost confidence in President Obama. He needs to see that the vast majority of Americans are suffering too much in so many ways that he needs to make a sharp turn in his policies, programs and staff. Better to be a really good, historic one-term president than a losing two-termer.
Time for more Americans to stop succumbing to Obama’s slick talk and promises and start demanding very loudly that their government work more aggressively to fix the burdens hitting at least a third of the population. Our current domestic conditions are so dire that if history provided any appropriate message, then President Obama should be made to see that the radical, revolutionary talk coming mostly from the right will surely become shared by the larger fraction of suffering Americans seeing themselves as liberals, independents and progressives. The time for revolution is now. Will it be peaceful or violent? That is what our political leaders (with their full stomachs, nice homes, secure income and great health care insurance) should be made to stay awake at night thinking about.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
I'm not sure I've ever agreed with one of your articles before, Joel, but even though it may be a sign of the apocalypse, I think you're 100% dead on here.
Dave
2 - zingzing
while i agree with you that he should cut ties with the political/business elite and become a real reformist, that's very unfortunately not the way politics work, is it? what you're saying leads towards either complete impotency or totalitarianism. if you can think of a way that he can get shit done without the people around him (whoever they happen to be) and the business community, i'm all ears.
on the wars, i think he should decrease the numbers in iraq to bolster those in afghanistan, take care of the taliban, then get the fuck out. after nearly a decade, things need to be tied off, at best.
our current health care system is broken. our new one, whenever that happens, will be a work in progress. this single-payer system makes a lot of sense, in its own way. whatever covers to most while fucking over the least is whatever is best.
obama is making a lot of hard decisions, including some that are going to piss off his backers. like the afghanistan announcement. but that's not unusual. i hope that he asserts himself more, and i hope he has success doing what he thinks is right, and i hope that that shuts up the right wing's nonsense.
3 - Christine
Great article, Joel.
4 - handyguy
Whatever. More blah blah blah from the we-hate-everything-Obama-says-or-does [or might possibly say or do].
The amount of angst and agita he engenders in the right is enough to erase any doubts I might have. Upsetting ding-dongs is a good thing.
5 - Silas Kain
Yikes! It must be the end of days! The Right and Left are giving Joel props! Right now I see him as a one term President but for entirely different reasons. We're one track to a civil war in this country and in the new Information Age, the ramifications of such will be swift as a surgeon's scalpel.
on the wars, i think he should decrease the numbers in iraq to bolster those in afghanistan, take care of the taliban, then get the fuck out. after nearly a decade, things need to be tied off, at best.
Make pot legal. Stop spending wasted dollars on a war against a plant that could become America's next cash crop. Let's also grow our own poppies and have a controlled heroin distribution system which will kill off the drug lords and make a massive impact on Taliban revenues.
our current health care system is broken. our new one, whenever that happens, will be a work in progress. this single-payer system makes a lot of sense, in its own way.
It's the only way. Time to get our of the health for profit paradigm and face reality. We are a nation that needs to care for its' own through a comprehensive preventative health and maintenance program. It's also time to make physical education an integral part of the school curriculum from preschool.
Imagine, for a moment, taking the site of the World Trade Center and erecting a tower that was rampant with urban hydroponic gardens and helix wind turbines to generate the power. Sounds stupid, huh? Well, give people the seeds they will learn to feed themselves, even on Wall Street.
Obama has the vision. He doesn't have the political clout. He's the first Black President and this political system is using that little diddy to their advantage. Barack Obama has the weight of 200+ years of racial divide upon his shoulders. Is there a white man among you who is willing to take that burden?
6 - handyguy
Silas, honestly, the things that come out of your mouth. Do you give even two seconds worth of thought first, or just start typing...and whatever spews out, you leave it on the page?
7 - Arch Conservative
"Obama has the vision."
Unfortunately for him the portion of the American population that wants absolutely nothing at all to do with that vision is roughly 50% and climbing.
8 - Baritone
I don't believe Joel or anyone so far commenting here have any sense of the ebb and flow of a typical presidential term.
The state of the issues now at hand seem to preclude a second Obama term. However, I'd (almost) be willing to bet that most of these issues will be passe' by the time the 2012 campaign gets into full swing.
If they're not, if unemployment remains high, if Afghanistan is still rockin & rollin, etc., then the current predictions will likely come to pass.
However, unless we once again suffer terrorist attacks, or some other presently unforseen cataclysmic event occurs, unemployment will likely not be the dire issue it is today, health care change will be history - whether adopted or not, the economy will have essentially recovered and the powers that be will have subsided our involvement in Afghanistan and there will only be a token remnant of our troops in Iraq. Even at that, I won't predict an Obama victory in 2012, but his situation will likely not be nearly so rocky come the campaign as it now appears.
B
9 - Baronius
And another surprise, as Baritone and I agree. The pivotal issues in the 2012 election may very well be the Chinese Civil War, the appellate court corruption scandal, and the agribusiness bailout. Political fortunes will shift at least once in the next three years.
10 - Silas Kain
Silas, honestly, the things that come out of your mouth. Do you give even two seconds worth of thought first, or just start typing...and whatever spews out, you leave it on the page?
I allow the Holy Spirit to work through my hands to the keyboard.
Unfortunately for him the portion of the American population that wants absolutely nothing at all to do with that vision is roughly 50% and climbing.
I curse the day I went to work for Ronald Reagan.
11 - Silas Kain
I don't believe Joel or anyone so far commenting here have any sense of the ebb and flow of a typical presidential term.
That would be true IF this was a typical Presidential term. Again, Barack Obama has a heavier burden by virtue of his race. To ignore that simple premise is to continue ignoring the simple fact that racism, sexism and homophobia are thriving in America. The Far Right is the ultimate domestic enemy and to think otherwise is tantamount to being an ostrich with its' head buried in the Arab desert.
12 - Glenn Contrarian
Silas -
I don't know that the Far Right is the "ultimate" domestic enemy...but they've certainly been successful so far in their wars on education, on the middle class, on the environment, on the economy, on anyone who doesn't look/act/think like they do, on our international reputation, and on our national honor.
But they're the only REAL patriots, the only REAL Americans, right?
13 - zingzing
they're the only ones who like torture, but can't recognize it when they see/do it.
14 - Silas Kain
Indeed, Glenn. The behavior of the Far Right is proof positive that we humans are evolved from apes.
15 - Baritone
Not that this has anything to do with this thread, but Keith Olbermann pointed out last nite that Sarah Palin included in her book a quote supposedly attributed to former UCLA BB Coach, John Wooden, when in fact it was a (near) quote from a native American named John WoodenLEG. I suppose one could forgive sister Sarah for not noticing the difference - apparently she used a web site dedicated to famous quotes - but you'd think that someone in the publishing house would have thought to check it out. The rush to publication apparently precludes any fact checking, which would have perhaps avoided the many errors so far discovered in the book. I guess going "rogue" includes playing fast and loose with the truth.
B
16 - Silas Kain
Has anyone stopped to consider that the Far Right has more in common with baboons than Barack Obama? Is that a racially charged statement? You betcha! It's time we had a serious chat about the underlying causes for the political/religious divides in this country. To the White Far Right, Blacks are only useful when they are corralled into Christian Churches tithing to their White Christian Crusader Lords. Meanwhile, these same duplicitous, adulterous, closeted Far Right Christians smoke their cigars and joints in back rooms thinking of other ways to control the minorities. Are we to look at John Ensign and Tom Coburn as respectable political leaders? I think not. They, through their works and association with C Street, are promoting a law in Uganda which would make homosexuality punishable by death. That's right. That's the work they are doing. It's sick. It's immoral. It's contrary to the teachings of Christ. We've got some serious issues in America and this is the time to act. We can no longer tolerate scum like Coburn and Ensign to walk the hallowed halls of the Rotunda.
17 - Baronius
Silas, Barack Obama's presidency is empirically typical. He got roughly the same percentages of the same groups and regions as any successful Democrat. He's seen his poll numbers go up and down based on his performance and external factors. There's no reason to anticipate that racism will begin to affect his presidency.
18 - Lumpy
OMG Palin misattributed a quote! Burn her!!!
19 - Baronius
Lumpy, I don't know if you've heard about this example of great writing:
"The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn't work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around an empty beer bottle."
20 - Silas Kain
That writing is compelling. A literary masterpiece. Sarah Palin is right up there with Hemmingway, Shakespeare and um, never mind. If it weren't for Todd Palin, I wouldn't even bother to watch her.
21 - Baritone
The point Lump, was that it should never have made it into print. To mis-quote, or mis-attribute a quote say from a podium is one thing. For such to appear in a book backed by a major publisher that the drooling minions of Ms. Palin are apparently buying (and, perhaps actually reading) by the ton, is at best careless, and at worst, an indication that the entire work is suspect in its accuracy and its veracity.
But, I suppose in this case, if one is to consider the source...
In a related issue, apparently Carrie Prejean is now considered by some to have a future in politics. Just thinking about it sends shivers up my dockers.
How bout this: Palin/Prejean in 2012. It can't miss. It's even better than Palin/Beck, unless The Glenster would agree to having some implants. Hmmm. Put that in your pipe and yada, yada, yada...
B
22 - Silas Kain
How bout this: Palin/Prejean in 2012. It can't miss. It's even better than Palin/Beck, unless The Glenster would agree to having some implants. Hmmm. Put that in your pipe and yada, yada, yada...
If there were ever a reasonable argument for the advance of the "homosexual agenda" it is Carrie Prejean. The thought of her womb actually spitting out another human is frightening. But, then again, the probability of her reproducing is quite slim as she only performs solo acts.
Back to the topic at hand, I still don't see Mr. Obama winning a 2nd term, even at this early stage. He rode into office with high expectations that have fallen flat. The problem I have is that dissatisfaction with Obama may lead to gains by the Far Right which is an alternative I am not prepared to accept.
I notice that no one specifically addressed my proposal in a fundamental shift change in our nation's drug policies. Why is that? Does anyone recognize that a major part of the Afghan problem is heroin (poppies)? Defense contractors get richer. Afghan drug lords get richer. And the American taxpayer is on the verge of bankruptcy. We might as well become the United States of China at this point. At least then we'd have health care reform and people like Madoff would be executed.
23 - El Bicho
"I still don't see Mr. Obama winning a 2nd term, even at this early stage."
Good thing he doesn't have to at this early stage. These premature predictions are ridiculous and a waste of time
24 - Silas Kain
On that point, I will concede.
25 - Matthew T. Sussman
But, then again, the probability of her reproducing is quite slim as she only performs solo acts.
Right now she's dating St. Louis Rams backup quarterback Kyle Boller, who has never had a reputation for finding the open target.
We'll be alright.