Getting stuff done...

Post #368,278 by hnick 12/21/12 9:52:15 AM Reply	Getting stuff done... I was thinking that he could twist some arms in his own party along the lines that if his people didn't get their head together and their ass behind the program, he will do his best to destroy their political future. He could be rude and use the television to explain to the people how the Republicans are deliberately trying to devastate the middle class and that Social Security has sweet fanny adams to do with the deficit. All this has been said before, but of course, it would require a modicum of leadership ability and at least a vestigial spine. None of this gets done because the poor guy is useless as a margarine dildo. You phrase in more nicely, but it works out the same. I do regret the acrimonious arguments before the election; turns out it really doesn't matter. Sorry about that.
Post #368,286 by Another Scott 12/21/12 1:09:27 PM Reply	The Democratic Party can't impose discipline like that. In the olden days, the Democratic Party Machine was the major source of funding and was able to impose party discipline. Those days are long gone. Unless Citizens United is scaled back, it'll get worse. Who needs a party if you have your own billions or your own billionaire to spend $100M to get elected? What can Obama threaten them with? He's not an LBJ with secret millions to pass around from the White House. He's not going to get Joe Manchin to suddenly be a progressive no matter how many speeches he gives. And it's not working out all that great for the Republicans these days, either. They have the iron discipline, but their Purity campaign is destroying their ability to become more popular and have more votes in the future. Imagine a Democratic Party with iron discipline that was headed by Joe Lieberman... :-( It's going to continue to be a rough slog until the Republicans are crushed and no longer hold leadership. Obama can't do that on his own.... Sorry if I seem preachy on this stuff. I appreciate the arguments. :-) Cheers, Scott.
Post #368,294 by hnick 12/21/12 2:24:27 PM Reply	That may be so... However if he never even tries, it certainly won't happen. It appears that he figures there is no point wasting time standing up for anything at all so he may as well go straight to conciliation. And he doesn't need congressional help to get on the idiot box. But the only times he gets on is to say "We arrived at a BIPARTISAN!!!!! resolution! I gave away the farm... So... to a liberal, what good is this timorous, powerless president?
Post #368,297 by Another Scott 12/21/12 2:53:34 PM Reply	Patience, grasshopper. The powerless one is Boehner. http://www.nytimes.c...cal-solution.html WASHINGTON Â House Speaker John A. Boehner, in the wake of the embarrassing defeat of his backup plan to avert a fiscal crisis in two short weeks, on Friday called on the Senate and President Obama to find a way out, but added that ÂGod only knowsÂ how Washington is going to get control of its finances. With the House headed home for the holidays and the Senate soon to depart, Mr. Boehner gave no hints of a path to avoid the so-called Âfiscal cliff,Â when more than a half trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts and tax increases kick in beginning next month. He said that on Monday, he had delivered his demands to the president for a broad deficit-reduction deal to avoid the crisis. The president delivered his Âbottom linesÂ and told him Âhe couldnÂt go any further.Â [...] The ball is in the Republicans' court, still. While the headline in a subsequent NY Times story says it's up to Obama now, it's clear from the text that it's not - http://www.nytimes.c...n-fails.html?_r=0 I don't expect anything to happen until they return after Christmas. At that point, I still expect us to go over the "cliff", but they may surprise me. Cheers, Scott.
Post #368,313 by boxley 12/21/12 8:02:37 PM Reply	I dont think that cliff is going to be that bad. The markets should pickup because they know that the tax structure at that level was workable for a long time. Defense stocks will be down but I imagine not for long as a bunch of scared politicians of all stripes will take their butts to washington to sort out the war machine. After that it is muddle on as usual Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 57 years. meep

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