File Under: They're Not Going to Let You in the Car

By Wade

Politico has posted what may be the first official Obama recognition that he will never be let in the car:

“The day has passed when I expected this to be a full partnership.”

There is hardly any “room for cooperation” in the Republican Party, Obama said.

I'm amazed he tried for as long as he did.

What's in the Tea?

By Dave

To anyone watching, it was pretty evident that the Tea Party movement people were out of their minds. It's an obvious conclusion, if you've had any exposure to their angry screaming over 'death panels', imbecilic hand wringing over 'czars', weird 'new world order' rants, shrill cries of socialism. Add to this an assortment of anti-immigration, anti-evolution, anti-global warming, isolationist rhetoric mixed with an elementary school level understanding of the American Revolution and it's pretty clear that most of these people are well-intentioned people who just happen to be politically unhinged.

Well, others are finally starting to get it too. Jonathan Kay, writing for Newsweek, attended the conference in Nashville and came away pretty shaken:

One of the most bizarre moments of the recent tea-party convention came when blogger Andrew Breitbart delivered a particularly vicious fulmination against the mainstream media, prompting everyone to get up, turn toward the media section at the back of the conference room, and scream, "USA! USA! USA!" But the tea partiers' well-documented obsession with President Obama has hardly been diffused by their knack for finding new enemies.

Steve Malloy, author of Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Ruin Your Life, kicked off the first full day of conference proceedings by warning that Obama and his minions are conspiring to control every aspect of Americans' lives—the colors of their cars, the kind of toilet paper they use, how much time they spend in the shower, the temperature of their homes—all under the guise of U.N. greenhouse-gas-reduction schemes. "Obama isn't a U.S. socialist," Malloy thundered. "He's an international socialist. He envisions a one-world government."
I consider myself a conservative and arrived at this conference as a paid-up, rank-and-file attendee, not one of the bemused New York Times types with a media pass. But I also happen to be writing a book for HarperCollins that focuses on 9/11 conspiracy theories, so I have a pretty good idea where the various screws and nuts can be found in the great toolbox of American political life.

Within a few hours in Nashville, I could tell that what I was hearing wasn't just random rhetorical mortar fire being launched at Obama and his political allies: the salvos followed the established script of New World Order conspiracy theories, which have suffused the dubious right-wing fringes of American politics since the days of the John Birch Society.

No! It's My Senate! You Can't Have Any!

By Wade

This is just wonderful. More BS akin to Ben Nelson holding the health care bill hostage so he could make sure his state and only his state never had to pay for it.

Well, here's the meat of the article:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

Bam. It's like he wanted to give me and the rest of the world the perfect example for why the Republicans don't give a crap what happens to this country, and will take any excuse to make Obama look bad.

Democrats, take note. Listen to Jon Stewart. They're not going to let you in the car! You're being played for fools.

Here's a video of Shelby talking about his thoughts on earmarks in general. I especially like where he says that if you're not proud of it, if you're not willing to openly defend it, you shouldn't do it, as well as when he says that he wouldn't do it for dubious purposes.

Sen. Richard Shelby on earmarks

From TPM again:

Shelby has been tight-lipped about the holds, offering only an unnamed spokesperson to reporters today to explain them.

What's the matter? Not so proud right now?

Great Moments in American Politics

By Dave

For anybody who hasn't seen it, here is the video from Obama's Q&A with the Republican Caucus.



Given the level of political debate over the last year, this back and forth looks all the more remarkable. One, it was great to see Obama demolish the Republican talking points using only facts and logic. Two, it was nice to see Republicans being respectful and actually taking this seriously. All in all, both sides came off looking pretty good.

In a lot of ways, the Q&A reminded me of when the British Prime Minister addresses the House of Commons. There's a give and take, everyone has to be on their toes, and intellectual capacity matters. It would be cool to see this happen more often. I've heard Republicans are already regretting giving a platform to Obama to shoot down their talking points.

So who knows if this is a one-time fluke or the beginning of a new trend, but I can dream can't I.

SOTU Concluding Thoughts

By Dave

Well, first let me say. Live blogging is no joke, it's a lot of work. It's meant, I think, as a first impression type of analysis. What are the things that stick out? What was the initial reaction to certain ideas? Etc. I had fun. Hopefully, it is at least somewhat interesting to readers.

Based on this speech, this is obviously a President focused on domestic issues. The number one priority is to improve what's going on here at home. He's clearly focused on issues abroad. But he barely spent a couple of minutes on foreign policy and only briefly touched on Iran and North Korea.

The bulk of this speech was dedicated to 'feeling your pain.' He made it clear again and again that he knew how people were feeling and he empathized. It was also very policy heavy. Lot's of explaining the rationale for previous policies, and laying the ground for new policies.

A big focus, predictably, was jobs. I'm generally skeptical of the government's ability to create jobs, but I understand the need for the administration to focus on this issue. Some of Obama's ideas seem like they could actually get the job done (no pun intended). Tax breaks and credits for small businesses to hire new people, eliminating the capital gains tax for investing in small businesses, and providing more credit for small businesses all could go a long way to creating jobs.

Again, this is a president who is believes that government needs to work. He's not a socialist, and he's not a corporatist as his critics on the far right and left like to charge. He believes in an effective, active government but look at his policy proposals. Almost all of them try to improve or work with market forces to improve the quality of life for Americans. None of his proposals called for the government to be a primary player. Rather the government will act as a facilitator and a supporter.

I think he needs to drive this political philosophy home in a more forceful and direct fashion.  I know he prefers to show not tell. But this is a narrative that needs to be explicitly spelled out again and again.

Lastly, he was reassuring. He spoke plainly, honestly, and was straight forward. This wasn't the soaring rhetoric of the Obama campaign but it put me at ease and if you've talked to me lately, you know that I have not been at ease. I think this type of talk will resonate with people. It's easy to understand andjust dissipates the shrillness that pervades our political discourse.

Well, these are just some preliminary thoughts. What did you think?

Live Blogging the State of the Union Pt. 1

By Dave

Pre-SOTU: Lots of pomp and circumstance, cabinet members, important people, etc. LET"S GET THIS THING GOING!

9:06 EST:  Ok we're off! Obama comes in. Looking calm and confident. That's good. Shaking hands. Hi, how are ya, Hi, how are ya, Laughing at funny(?) jokes, couple of kisses. All right, let the guy enter!

9:08: Big handshake to Joe Biden!

9:09: Now, he's got his serious face on.

9:10: Nice opening. Connecting this moment to history, how our story fits into the greater context of  American history. Reminding us to move forward as "one people, one nation"

9:13 Reminding us what it looked like when he came in. Two failed wars, awful recession. Congress has acted but we're not out of it yet. He's connecting with the everyday Americans. Reminding them he knows what they're going through.

9:15: "Change has not come fast enough." - Congress has been unable or "unwilling to solve their problems." Nice touch.

9:16: This is Obama's recurring theme:  a government that actually works to solve problems. A government that improves the living standards for it's citizens.

9:17: Never been more hopeful. Still on the "hope" theme.

9:18: We do not quit. We do not let fear govern our emotions. We need a government that embodies their decency and strength. Well said!

9:19: We all hated the bank bailout. Admits it's unpopularity but defends this action as necessary. If the banks had failed Americans would hurt even more. More people would out of work and homeless. This was a good segue to promote his bank fee. Americans rescued the banks. If they can afford to give big bonuses, they can afford to pay back the taxpayers who saved them.

9:20: Thank you! We cut taxes! The FNC propaganda machine has somehow convinced people that taxes have increased. Wrong! Taxes have been cut!

9:21: Not sure about the humor and levity here, but what ev's.

9:22: The stimulus bill has been a hard sell for this administration. This was a good time to set the record straight. It's added jobs, protected services, added teachers and cops, given small business loans, etc. This is a good start but it will take more than one speech to set the record straight, the administration needs to be consistently vocal on these points.

9:25: Jobs is the admins "main focus" in 2010. I don't know about this. I know jobs are important but I'm still a little skeptical about the government's ability to create jobs. However, I do agree with Obama's analysis. Businesses create jobs when the conditions are right to create those jobs. $30 Billion to help community banks sounds like it could go a long way, though.

9:27: Eliminating a capital gains tax on small business investment! Now that might do something!

9:27: Infrastructure. This is a big point for me. America is way behind. There is no reason we don't have high speed rail in this country.

9:28: Cut tax breaks to companies that hire overseas. Yawn! I'm skeptical of the efficacy of this type of policy. I'd have to hear more but companies are hiring overseas for more reasons than just tax breaks. This is also a constant refrain in Washington. We'll see...

9:29: People are hurting. Send a jobs bill without delay!

9:30: Obama dismisses the naysaying and the skeptics that we can't fix long term problems. How long should we wait? China's not waiting. India's not waiting. Germany's not waiting. If we want to be competitive in a global economy, we need to start investing now! Second place isn't good enough for America!

9:33: Doesn't want to hurt banks! We need to protect the American economy. Big banks can't put Americans in jeopardy. Nice touch: lobbyists are trying to kill financial reform. Setting the stage for the debate.

9:35: Energy Investment. This is important. Incentives can play an important role in pushing innovation forward, particularly if the market hasn't caught up. Also mention clean coal and nuclear power.

9:36 Republicans won't stand to support climate change legislation. They'd rather keep polluting, thanks.

9:37: Even if you don't agree with the evidence (which you should), it's still the right thing to do for America's economic and energy futures.

9:38: New Goal: Double exports over the next five years. My sense is that more goes into making American products too expensive than the administration probably wants to deal with. Ugh! More subsidies for American agriculture to export products. This is not necessary.

Live Blogging The SOTU

By Dave

Tonight we're going to try our hand at live-blogging Obama's State of the Union address. It's something we have yet to try at Opedantic, so it should be a fun and exciting challenge. After it's over give us some feedback. What were the most memorable moments to you?

Dear Dems...

By Wade

This letter's specifically for those Democrats and other folks who consider themselves left-leaning and have reached the top-tiers of our national government.

Firstly, please point the guns away from your feet, stop pulling the triggers, and set them down.

It is amazing to me the reaction that the past week has garnered from the lot of you. Dave and I were discussing this, and here's something important to think about: When you all won in 2006, remember how the Republicans all immediately hung their heads in defeat, shuffled across the aisle to you, and admitted in penitent voices that, "you guys were right all along."? No? THEN WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS ABOUT THEM!?

The Republicans have proven over and over again that they don't care how much the country suffers as long as they're able to deny your legislation and make you look bad in the process. They are unwilling to cooperate or compromise. Every single play they make is a running-out-the-clock move. In the upcoming elections, they don't want you to be able to proudly say that you helped thirty million (30,000,000, look at all those pretty zeros) Americans achieve better health. They don't want you to be able to say that you helped tear down the Berlin Wall of pre-existing conditions. You are playing brilliantly into their hands with every in-fight, with every concession, every back-room deal that you think will maintain the favor of your constituents. I say look to Ben Nelson's example. Look at how his political game-playing has served him. Do you think he has a chance at re-election after the stunt he pulled with the health care bill?

The Republicans broadcasted their intent long ago: Waterloo. This entire thing has been their campaign against your collective re-election. You think the party of Strom Thurmond likes seeing President Barack Obama sitting in the Oval Office? How many times do they have to spit in your eye when you reach out for a handshake for you to realize what they're about?

Yes, this last week has been bad. Yes, the Fox Propaganda (and we have propagandists on the left as well, it is not in and of itself a bad thing) network has been your own personal Nostradamus, predicting doom, doom, DOOoooOOOoooOOOM! Don't lose sight of your strengths, your diversity of support, and the overwhelming mandates you've received in the last four years from your country. That should tell you, "Yes, we do support you." "Yes, we want you to succeed." "Yes, we believe that you can make our beloved country even greater."

Most of all: "Yes we can."

A Dainty Little Reminder

by E.doc

For all of us that have forgotten that President Obama is just like you and I, here's a little reminder. Except he probably has a better excuse for getting out of jury duty...











photo courtesy of portlandart.net

Democrat's Implode, Blame Each Other and Decide They Aren't Fit to Govern

By Dave

Well, as predicted, Brown won tonight in MA and the Democrats will lose their 60th vote in the Senate. This isn't the worst news in the world. The Democrats still have a sizable majority and they still have time to make the HCR reform a reality.

The worst news in the world is that congressional and senate Democrats have decided now is the time to admit defeat and lie over on their backs.

See if Dems had any backbone or spine, they could use the next fifteen days until Brown is seated to quickly hash out their differences and pass a conference bill.

But instead we get Democrats like Jim Webb (D-VA) who say stuff like this:

"In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated."

Are you fu*&^ing kidding me!? What bullshit! How dare you abandon the American people!? How cowardly. How disgusting.

51% of Massachusetts voters does not equal a national referendum on health care. You've been working on this for over 9 months, get it done already. Now! The bill you are now abandoning will improve the deficit. It will begin to control health care costs. It will expand coverage to an additional 30 million Americans and it will give new access to people with pre-existing conditions. The American people will respect you when you pass reform and explain to them in clear language what it will do for them.

Fourteen months ago, the American people entrusted Democrats with control of both houses of Congress and the White House. Sen. Webb has all but said that they don't deserve any of it. According to Sen. Webb, we can restore "the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders" by killing the centerpiece of the Democratic legislative agenda. Way to go, Webb!

This is what my head feels like:



Since Sen. Webb has decided to cripple reform in the Senate until the Republican, who opposes reform, can be seated, the only option still available is for the House to pass the Senate Bill, as is, and then try to hash out their differences at a later date, maybe with a reconciliation bill. But it's hard to read how open this path is.

We have optimistic statements from Speaker Pelosi:

 "Whatever happens in Massachusetts, we have to do that," she said. "And whatever happens in Massachusetts we will have quality affordable health care for all Americans, and it will be soon."

 And not so optimistic statements from Rep. Barney Frank:

I have two reactions to the election in Massachusetts. One, I am disappointed. Two, I feel strongly that the Democratic majority in congress must respect the process and make no effort to bypass the electoral results. If Martha Coakley had won, I believe we could have worked out a reasonable compromise between the House and Senate health care bills. But since Scott Brown has won and the Republicans now have 41 votes in the senate, that approach is no longer appropriate. I am hopeful that some Republican senators will be willing to discuss a revised version of health care reform. Because I do not think that the country would be well served by the health care status quo. But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened. Going forward, I hope there will be a serious effort to change the senate rule which means that 59 are not enough to pass major legislation, but those are the rules by which the health care bill was considered, and it would be wrong to change them in the middle of this process.

I don't get it. Don't Democrats understand that this is the choice between necessary and important reform or total, complete, abject failure? 

Failure on HCR means more people will continue to suffer in our broken health care system. No cost control, no reduction of the deficit. It means that even with the greatest majority since the time of LBJ, Democrats can't accomplish their most important legislative agenda. With failure, you tell the world you are unfit to govern. If you fail, you will lose the base and you will lose the center. It means an stronger, more energized opposition. Failure now means failure next November.

For God's sake, pass the Senate Bill in the House. Claim victory and move on. Stop asphyxiating your party with inaction, cowardice, and incompetence.

Pointing Fingers

By Dave

Bernard Avishai at Talking Points Memo vents:

 I wish I had a bluefish dinner for every time Coakley referred to the health package as "not perfect." It all came out so forced and fake.

The real question Democrats have to ask themselves is: how come the greatest piece of social legislation since Medicare is something a progressive Democratic candidate for Ted Kennedy's seat has to speak so defensively about?

And we can look no further than Howard Dean, and MSNBC, and Arianna Huffington, and, yes, some columnists at the Times and bloggers here at TPM--you know, real progressives--who have lambasted Obama again and again since last March over arguable need-to-haves like the "public option," as if nobody else was listening. They've been thinking: "Oh, if only we ran things, how much more subtle would the legislation be," as if 41 senators add up to subtle. Meanwhile the undecideds are thinking: "Hell, if his own people think he's a sell-out and jerk, why should we support this?"

Avishai's frustration is understandable. It seems the Democratic 'big tent' coalition cracked against the unity of the GOP opposition. Unfortunately, and somewhat predictably, Dems began to turn on each other. Unfortunate, because it took conservatives years to eventually turn against Bush. It only took liberals ten months. It's predictable because divide and conquer was their strategy. We've been demoralized because every issue, even the simplest, has required a supermajority to pass. We've been disheartened because logic and reason have been thrown out the window and craziness wins in the 24-hour news cycle. This was their plan all along, and somehow we didn't see it coming.

The real villain has been the Republican Party of No. They made this awful mess we're in. They spent like no tomorrow and caused massive deficits. They illegally wiretapped US citizens. They instigated, not one, but two failed wars. They created secret, illegal torture programs and even now they call for even more torture and more war. They scoffed at global warming and fought against science. They gave the rich tax breaks while cutting programs for the poor, and then had the audacity to sit lazily back when New Orleans drowned.  For eight years, they wasted our time and money with their corruption, lies, and downright incompetence. Americans should hate their guts. But they don't. Conservatives have one advantage. To them politics is war. They admit nothing and give no ground. They know what flag they fight under. Most importantly, they will do anything to resume power.

If we hope to defeat this, Democrats need to rally. They need to find a home under the 'big tent' and they need to find room for others. Stop fighting. Stop pointing fingers at conservative, or liberal, or progressive Dems. If they are willing to work towards the same common goals then we are going to need all of them.

Most of all we need to stop moping because things didn't turn out as idyllically as we had dreamed. Yes, it's true. Health care reform will not usher in a utopian age of health and wellness but it will make things a hell of a lot better than they are today. We've already made huge strides in putting America back on track. Feel good about it. Spread the word. Get back in the game because losing is not an option. Not if you care about the future of our country.

Krugman Sez: Obama Shoulda Blamed Bush More

By Wade

If you've overheard Fox News at all in the past year, it's likely that you've been treated to kvetching about Obama putting too much blame on Bush, and that he ought to live in the present, etc. etc. (a rhetoric notoriously absent when Bush said similar things about Clinton). However, Krugman disagrees(emphasis mine):

The Obama administration’s troubles are the result not of excessive ambition, but of policy and political misjudgments. The stimulus was too small; policy toward the banks wasn’t tough enough; and Mr. Obama didn’t do what Ronald Reagan, who also faced a poor economy early in his administration, did — namely, shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations.

And because it tickles me in relation to my previous post about the WSJ, here's another good Krugman quote:

It’s often forgotten now, but unemployment actually soared after Reagan’s 1981 tax cut. Reagan, however, had a ready answer for critics: everything going wrong was the result of the failed policies of the past. In effect, Reagan spent his first few years in office continuing to run against Jimmy Carter.

I simultaneously agree and disagree with the rest of Krugman's sentiments. On the one hand, he talks about how Obama hasn't really accomplished that much, and how he needs to focus on two remaining options: pushing financial and health care reform. He's right; these are things that must happen. Krugman says that "not passing a bill would surely be [Democrats'] political doom." And he's right.

On the other hand, Dave's had two different posts detailing Obama's accomplishments and effectiveness. Let's not be giving aid and comfort to the enemy now. Make sure the Republicans know that we still want the same things we wanted when we overwhelmingly elected President Obama, and that we're still willing to back him and fight for what Krugman himself calls "the right thing to do."

One of the key strengths of the Party of No is their ability to remain unified while preying on the fractiousness of the left. It's like the Democrats are constantly trying to prevent a big game of rock paper scissors Hippies who hate pollution protest the Union workers who are against Immigrants taking their jobs who are against the Supporters of Gay Marriage and so on down the line (this is obviously not an accurate representation, but you get the point).

What we have to realize is what the right realized long ago: we are stronger than the sum of our parts. Every election they win is a representation of this. Most polls in the past few years put the amount of left-leaning Americans anywhere from five to twenty-five percent above the amount of right-leaning Americans. We have the power, and we need to remember that. It was proven a year ago when we chose Hope and Change over those who sought to continue the downward spiral of the Bush years. Compromising and taking the good with the bad is always better than refusing to accept anything but 100% goodness. Obama knows this well.

Andrew Sullivan: Insightful and Right

By Wade

I'm not even surprised that things look so grim for Coakley. Sad, not surprised.

The first full paragraph sums up the major BS of the last year so succinctly it's beautiful:

I can see no alternative scenario but a huge - staggeringly huge - victory for the FNC/RNC machine tomorrow. They crafted a strategy of total oppositionism to anything Obama proposed a year ago. Remember they gave him zero votes on even the stimulus in his first weeks. They saw health insurance reform as Obama's Waterloo, and, thanks in part to the dithering Democrats, they beat him on that hill. They have successfully channeled all the rage at the massive debt and recession the president inherited on Obama after just one year.

Congratulations, Republicans. Your quagmire in this country is nearly as ugly as the quagmires you've created across the Atlantic.

Massachusetts, I'm talking to you now. I know we've had at least a couple readers from your neck of the woods (and anyone who knows any swing voters there, pass this on).

Don't think of Coakley as a replacement for a beloved figure from a political dynasty. Don't think of her even as the sub-par candidate she is. Think of her as the least objectionable alternative. Think of her as the stop-gap measure to keep Republicans from succeeding in their goal as the "Party of No." Think of her, as we so often must in politics, as a means to an end. Think of her as the instrument that will help enact the health care policies we need in this country, that Ted Kennedy fought for the majority of his political career. Think of her as, at the very least, better than the guy who seems pleased by the idea of violating her back door with a hot metal rod.

I know she's not who we want. All she can be now is who we've got.

Something We Can All Get Behind

By Wade

From a White House mass e-mail:

Yesterday, President Obama announced our proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on the country's largest banks:

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed. And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people...We want our money back, and we're going to get it."

Here's where you can add your name to the list and then donate afterwards, should you so desire.

What has Obama Done For Me Lately?

By Dave

I wanted to spend some time on this because a lot of people mistakenly believe that little has been accomplished in the last year.

Remember how bad things were this time last year? It was awful! The economy was in a tailspin. The banking sector was on the verge of collapse. Massive job loss and foreclosure. Health care costs were strangling our nation. The deficit was growing unchecked. The government didn't care or didn't believe in climate change. World opinion of America was abysmal. We were engaged in two failed wars. We were torturing people for bogus information. Remember all this? Then Obama became president.

What has he done? Well, he:

• Passed a $800b Stimulus Bill that:
• Invested in infrastructure like roads and bridges
• Invested in green, renewable technology
• Invested in new High Speed Rail corridors
  
• Invested in an electric smart grid, weatherizing homes, and alternative energy
  
• Computerized medical records
• Helped cities and states to close gaps in their budgets to maintain services
• Gave $237 Billion in tax cuts for small businesses, college students, and 95% of working families
• Billions for Pell Grants, Headstart, increased teacher salaries and to prevent school layoffs
  
• Expanded Job training programs, unemployment insurance, and food stamp programs
  
• Put people to back work and helped pull our economy back from the brink
  
• Repaired America's damaged image in the world
• Engaged the Muslim world
• Banned the use of torture, including waterboarding, and restricted interrogation to the Army Field manual
  
• Expanded SCHIP to include an additional 4 million children
• Passed new regulation preventing credit card companies from ripping people off
• Proposed new laws in place to protect consumers from mortgage fraud and predatory lending.
• Passed national service legislation which boosted funding for volunteers and for AmeriCorp members
  
• Passed stronger hate crimes law
  
• Reformed defense spending to cut out waste like the F-22
• Had more spending cuts than Bush
• Changed strategy in Afghanistan and increased the number of troops fighting the war
• Withdrew some troops and set a timetable for further withdrawal in Iraq.
  
• Proposed financial regulatory reform.
• Is on the verge of real health care reform. This reform will:
• Prevent insurers from refusing coverage for preexisting conditions for children or from dropping coverage when people get sick and need it the most. 
• No restrictive annual limits or lifetime limits
• Insurers will be required to offer free preventive care like checkups, routine tests and mammogram
• Lower costs for most people
• Insure an additional 30 Million people
  
• Bring down the deficit by $100 Billion in the first 10 years and by a trillion in the second ten years.
• That's not going to appeal to seniors who are now seeing the possibility of that doughnut hole finally closing and so they can finally get discounts on their prescriptions. 
• Tax credits for employers who provide coverage to their employees
  
• Allow kids to stay on their parents plan until they are 26 

Quibble with what you'd like on the list. Not all of it is perfect and there is plenty of room for more work.  But the fact of the matter is this is not a do-nothing congress or a do-nothing president. They have done more good in one year than Bush did in eight and they did it without the help of the Republicans. In fact, they did all of it despite the fierce opposition of Republicans.

Updated: The Guardian has a pretty good timeline of Obama's first year in office. It's worth checking out. 

Better than LBJ?

By Dave

That's what a report from Congressional Quarterly says. Obama won 96.7% of the votes in which he had any stake. That's almost 4 points higher than Lyndon Johnson, the famed arm-twister of the Senate. Not bad at all.

The reason for Obama's success is two-fold. First, the President has been very cautious, almost to a fault, about the fights he's willing engage in. Second, Obama has been very willing to accept compromise in order to secure a victory. There has yet to be an issue in which the President has drawn a line in the sand and declared "We will accept no less than (name your arbitrary breaking point)!" This all goes back to Obama's training as a community organizer. To paraphrase Saul Alinsky: if you come in with nothing, ask for 100% and compromise for 30%, you're 30% ahead! Declare victory and continue to fight another day. Having nothing doesn't leave you or your constituents any better off.

This mentality seems to have made for a good legislative track record. But it has left the liberal base restless. Americans, left and right, like to treat politics like team sports. They want to see their guys win and the other guys lose. Preferably lose big. People want to see you spike the ball in the other guys face. As a result, some on the left claim to be disheartened or even betrayed by Obama.

Personally, I've appreciated the President's style of governance. I like that Obama isn't "The Decider." Maureen Dowd be damned! I like that he doesn't treat us like children. I'm glad we finally have a president who doesn't act catty or petulant. Obama took the distinction between campaigning and governing seriously. We should be proud. It's something the last guys didn't do at all!


But I get it. It would be nice to see Obama put his foot down and get tough on an issue or two. My guess is we'll see more of that in 2010. It's a campaign year, after all. It could be a year to give red meat to the base and get down and dirty against political opponents.

But I wouldn't be surprised if their stellar legislative record suffered, as a result.

Blagojevich is (not?) Blacker Than Obama

By Wade

Sarah Palin may be a joke with air-time behind her now, but Blagojevich is a joke that stopped being funny a long time ago. I thought his disastrous appearance on the Daily Show was bad enough, but he and his hair are still finding their way into the headlines.

[Blagojevich] said in his Esquire interview:
I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little Laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived...

"It was a very stupid thing to say," Blagojevich told Chicago station CBS 2 this morning. "Obviously, I'm not blacker than President Obama."

Remember Rod, the internet never forgets...

Also:

The White House had no official comment.

I wouldn't either.

'Mugged by Reality'

The American right has been frighteningly out of touch with reality for the past year. So it's not surprising to hear Abe Greenwald at NRO claim that Obama's Nobel speech was a 'shift' that demonstrates Obama has been 'mugged by reality.'

Which is funny because it shows the exact opposite. It shows conservatives have come back to earth, however briefly, and now are now standing confused, blinking in the sunlight. Their reaction confirms the obvious: they're are not paying attention. They see in Obama what they've wanted to see, not what actually existed.

The speech is not a shift and it is not a pivot. This is who Obama is and has been for the last year. To anyone listening, this speech was nothing new. Obama has governed from the middle since day one. During the campaign, he made clear his intent in Afghanistan. He made clear who his political influences are, especially his affinity for Reinhold Niebuhr. He has made clear he is not against war, just dumb wars.

Maybe conservatives will stay with us this time, but my guess is that they'll be on the next quixotic Red Dawn-inspired fantasy in no time.