Obama's Legacy: Missed Opportunities

President Obama spoke today, his campaign kick-off speech if you will, by sounding like he may have finally found out where they keep his balls. Now we'll have to wait and see if they let him have them. I believe that his greatest failing as a politician and, more importantly as President, is his unwavering need to be liked. He wants all the kids in the sandbox to play with him and hold hands and sing songs. He had both houses of Congress and his own office and the last thing he needed to do was negotiate. He would only play by the rules of bipartisanship with an opponent who made up the rules as they went along.

Medicare for all turned into a life vest and rope for the health insurance industry. Wall Street reform became nothing of the sort. Not only were the criminals responsible for a global financial meltdown never prosecuted, they've been rewarded time and time again. He creates a Consumer Protection Agency and puts in charge probably the most sensible person in the country, and I've heard virtually nothing about it since. He puts in charge of a new commission to explore economic and job growth the CEO of a company that got a $3.5 billion dollar tax refund on over $14 billion dollars of profit. Huh?

Immigration reform disappeared from the conversation after the mid-terms. A Congresswoman gets shot in the head and no real move on gun and/or ammunition control is taken. Protecting the environment lost out to the monied interests in the energy business. And less than a year after the worst environmental disaster in this country's history, his administration is issuing new deep-water drilling permits to the very same companies that caused it. Worse, they're doing that before their investigation is complete and against the recommendations of an independent Dutch engineering firm who reported that the blow out-preventers currently in use simply do not work.  

He did nothing to repeal DADT except start the conversation. Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullin, and the brave service members who spoke out like Lt. Col. Farenbach, Lt. Dan Choi and others deserve all the credit. He did not close Gitmo. He allowed the inhumane imprisonment Bradly Manning. He not only didn't end two wars, or demand a means to at least pay for them, he committed military resources in a third.

Did he do the Libya thing right? That depends on whether or not you can say military intervention and bombing in the same sentence with "for humanitarian reasons" and reconcile that in your head. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but killing people doesn't seem humanitarian to me and is not justifiable. Especially in a case where you only really need to kill one.

He has so far failed to put on the "pair of comfortable shoes" and march in the protests like he said he would if there was an assault on the unions and middle class. In fact, he's said virtually nothing at all. Huge majorities of the people in this country are against what is happening in their states, and the national party is staying out of it. The country wants you and all you do is stand there smiling.

Missed opportunities all. And there are many more. The worst of all, and this goes back to the beginning, he lost control of the conversation, the message as the pundits like to put it, and has never gotten it back. The right wing media machine always has been bigger and more powerful than the lefts, who can't even keep a radio network alive, and he either completely misunderstood that or he thought that being reasonable would make more people like him more. Yes, I meant to say it that way.

I hope that what I heard today is what he'll do tomorrow. I hope he means it and stands straight and to the left of Anthony Weiner and Bernie Sanders...but still somewhat right of Alan Grayson. Barack Obama has to stop protecting us from the bully by giving him his lunch money. Doing that doesn't give the bully any reason to stop being a bully. In fact, it incentive's him. Look how many times the end zone got moved in the budget battle. He gave them $6.5 million more in cuts than they asked for and ultimately that amount is spread out over years, so the immediate impact of all this hand-wringing amounts to less than 1% of the cuts. Who really won that?

And saving Planned Parenthood only cost a billion dollars.

I want to believe. I really do. As a Denver Broncos fan, I've seen many a first quarter that sucked only to have the team shake it off and play better. Mr. Obama is John Elway and it's time for a spinning tackle near the goal line of the Super Bowl. It's time for The Drive. More often than not it's one player on a team that sparks a comeback and more often than not the person is the team leader.

Mr. Obama, it's time to unite your party and get out with the people if you want a second term. Take the lead on the issues that matter to us. If you're going to use the (D) behind your title, start acting like one. And the next time you have the opportunity that you missed today, use a tone that sounds more like you mean it. Stop trying to be the bully's friend and kick a little butt. You kicked sand in their faces and they immediately cried. Good. One thing I learned a long time ago and in a very painful way was that when you stand up to the bully or fight back, win or lose the bullying stops.

Mr. President, it is time for you to lead.

Sincerely,

Hamster Prez

And the Tug of War Begins 4/6/11

On one end of the rope are the Money and on the other the People. I have no omniscience about the outcome, but I sure hope it's the latter. After all, there are 400 of them and 300 million of us. It all really comes down to money and their belief that they can buy the system, the process, and us with it.

We can't let that be our future.

Next, I want a viable Democrat to run against Obama. I mean a real damn Democrat, not the Social Republican we have now. Short of that, I'll take a majority in both Houses again and maybe we can actually get some stuff done. But I'm losing more and more faith in the President as the guy who can fix the messes we're in. He is without question a very smart man, and perhaps the only adult in the room in DC. But he doesn't know diddly about how to do capital P Politics.

A Rolls Royce with a driver named Boehner just pulled up to the White House and handed a silver tray with a box and beautiful bow on it that contains the keys to the government next year. And they don't know what to do with it. Or at least they haven't indicated that they do. Stupid Democrats.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race was a blotch on our legal and political systems. Yes, I'm glad the liberal one won. But I'm not happy about the why. See, it means that if Walker's illegal bill makes it to that once august body it means that it will likely be overturned. And while that's a good thing, what it really means is that I wanted the other candidate to lose because he would do the opposite and that is not what a Supreme Court is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be the final check in the balance of things and it has been perverted by the political process and financial gain.

Citizens United, anyone?

But the alternative, appointment, isn't any better. It does however provide one thing that elections don't, which is a thorough investigation by the other branches. Sometimes they get in because one party has enough votes to approve them easily, like Justice Roberts.

But they are both corrupted by money.

I have said this before, and I will keep on saying it: It has to be about what's right, not who's right. It has been pointed out to me that "right" is subjective and while that's true, I think the majority of us have a pretty good sense of fair play and that what we really want is to just be left alone to enjoy whatever time we have on the planet.

Corporations are not, regardless of the Supreme Court's opinion, people. And as such, they have no compassion or sense of fairness. They have but one objective and that is to post profits, no matter what it costs. There was a segment on Rachel Maddow tonight that talked about this, and I urge you to go check it out at msnbc.com

As a Midwesterner, I am shocked by the outcome of the court race in Wisconsin. The new head of Milwaukee is a Democrat who beat his opponent by almost 2/3. A mere couple of hundred votes difference in the court race is fundamentally incongruous. The values of the Midwest have changed, it seems from when I was a lad there.

I apologize again for the intermittent posts. I find that I require more mental health days lately as the stupidity levels increase.

And the realization that when one looks at the bigger picture, all of this seems pretty petty. The bees are dying in rapid number. The earth is literally falling apart. And we're fighting over imaginary money and perceptions of power.

It's really become rather pathetic.

Maybe we could just start over. You know, replace every last one of our elected officials with people who aren't bought and paid for and who have but one goal and that is to return this country to its core principles and values. You know, where all People are created equal, have the same rights and protections, and where the public and private sectors actually worked together instead of this cat/mouse game they're playing now.

Can we give this country its soul back? I think so, if we haven't collectively lost our own.

Hamster Prez

Comments welcome, here or on facebook. Thanks for reading.

Does anyone else think this is a bad idea? ADT home security offers a key fob remote to unlock your house and disarm your security system. Don't get car-jacked, or lose your keys.

Now, on to the important stuff:

So, polls and voter registration records indicate that less than 25% of the electorate identifies as Republican. Democrats don't fair a whole lot better at just over 30%. That means that 75% of the electorate identifies as either Dem or independent. Let's break this down a little, unscientifically. If 25% are Republican, let's say that half are moderate and half are Tea Party and/or evangelical. The 12% of moderate Republicans, which includes the majority of the religious right, my question is: How do you win elections with only 12%? Anyone?

Arm the Libyan rebels? That's a question being floated around the Sphere of Pundrity and my answer to that is No. My reasons are as follows:

Arming them drags out the conflict and requires more involvement on the ground.

They have to be trained not only in the use of the weapons but also in military warfare. Giving a guy a gun does not make him a soldier.

I think this is a Black Ops situation. It's over in a hurry if he's deposed/taken into custody.

Back home in Wisconsin: Scott Walker has broken the law again by having the rights stripping bill published by a department other than the Secretary of State as required by law in direct violation of the court order preventing the SofS from doing so. He's already started cutting wages, jobs, and benefits. This man is a Dictator Governor. He should be in jail.

Ohio passed its union-busting bills, but the voters will overturn it in the referendum process. Go ahead, they said, we'll just throw it our ourselves. Good for them!

And remember this: IF there is a government shut down, the Tea Party is responsible for it.

Take care, Hamsters...and join Progressives United!

Hamster Prez

A couple of other names are in the enlarging hat of Contenders and Pretenders to the Republican Crown. Newt "I never met a position I wouldn't change my mind on or a dollar I wouldn't keep" Gingrich and Michelle "I write my own history" Bachmann. Think Obama's fretting?

So tonight's question: I wonder if anyone at PETA has considered what would happen if we all stopped eating meat? Where would we put all the cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, etc.? Not only will it be crowded, it will literally smell like crap.

I think it's time we called the Republican governors exactly what they are: State Dictators. They, in lockstep with the Party, are not interested in governing as much as they are in ruling.

Fact:

Corporate America is hoarding profits to the tune of several TRILLION dollars.

Why? Citizen's United allows them to spend all of it, if they want, on elections without disclosing their participation.

Fact:

Hoarding profits keeps money out of the economy. And,

Fact:

Keeping people unemployed while cutting their benefits makes those people more dependent and pliant. And,

Fact:

Cutting education and/or making it too costly for the majority produces an illiterate and uninformed public which makes them more dependent and malleable. And,

Fact:

Privatizing the government is a highly profitable business decision that makes the people more dependent and meek.

Fact:

We must not let this happen.

Okay, now for a little Team Obama bashing, check out this Rachel Maddow exclusive report on the increased oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Enlightening and scary. Watch the first installment (at least) just so that you can be informed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/

And now for something even more amazing, check out this from MSNBC's website:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42260137/ns/business-us_business/

What makes that so amazing is not that we didn't know some of it already, but that MSNBC is still partly owned by GE.

Okay, that's enough for tonight. Good night and good luck.

Hamster Prez

3-23 Ramblings from the Wheel

Hello Hamster Nation. Hope you are all well and reasonably happy. I don't think I have a lot to say tonight, but I never know until I start typing where I'm going. So, let's start off with something easy.

When the Democrats take back control in 19 months, if they don't name Anthony Weiner as Speaker, they're idiots. Unless of course he runs for Senate, which I would wholly endorse. Love that guy.

Which naturally leads us to the Republican contenders and pretenders. First is Mitt "I hate Obamacare even though I created the same thing" Romney. Then there's Haley "there was no racism in the Mississippi I grew up in" Barbour. Mike "can't keep my feet out of my mouth" Huckabee. Sarah "I know foreign policy when I see it" Palin. Tim "I make Al Gore look giddy" Pawlenty. And leading up the pretenders, Donald "I need to fire my hair" Trump.

Really.

But when you look around the Republican Party, is there really anyone any better than that lot? Mitch Daniels has an outside shot if he doesn't get recalled in Indiana. Same for Christie, but I think he's rubbing too many folks the wrong way. None of the governors are likely to survive their whole terms without being recalled or having to work with Democratic majorities in their state houses.

Because of other things happening in the world the protests have fallen further back in the news cycle. But they are still going on, getting larger, recall efforts are progressing, and the People are still fighting back. Now if only the Democrats would get out there and take ownership of this thing, they might actually stop the 30 year Republican takeover of the country.

I was up and had MSNBC on in the background when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. It was the most amazing and disturbing footage I have ever seen. I've seen lots of disaster flicks, but that, the reality of it, was almost too much. And, living only a mile from the beach here in SoCal, a little nerve-wracking as well.

Head Rattling Hypocrisy of the Day: John Boehner's letter to President Obama shaming him for ignoring Congress before using military force in Libya. Really, John? Weren't you there and in full support of Bush's War of Lies? Quite frankly, Obama had no real choice. Things moved very quickly, and you guys only know Quick as a chocolate milk mix.

Well, as I said, not much to say tonight. Just wanted to get back into it. Again, hope you are all well. Stay safe.

Hamster Prez

3-9 Hamster Rant

The news today is too important to sound bite. In the news out of Wisconsin, where the Senate Republicans stripped out the collective bargaining issue of the budget bill (thus proving that it was never about the budget), and by illegally convening and passing the law, demonstrates that they will stop at nothing to disband the unions. What follows will answer last night's question, which was, Why is wealth re-distribution so vilified?

You know what...I'm just over this for tonight. This, I fear, is just gonna get ugly. We all know why where are where we are, and what ultimately led to this. I have not seen this country so polarized since Viet Nam, and we are in the beginning stages. That era started just like this, but we're talking about people's ability just to live here. The stakes are much higher, and there is a growing number of folks in this country getting more and more desperate.

Desperation is a bad enemy to have. SOSAD: There is nothing more dangerous than an enemy with nothing to lose. Caveat: Especially if you're the one trying to take the last of it away.

Irony of the day: The very baubles of technology that they provided us to distract from their agenda are the very things that are going to stop them. We have unprecedented access to the world, and a host of methods with which to organize and defeat them. Fifty thousand people showed up in Madison last Saturday because some guy on Facebook suggested that, even the there was a big rally planned for the following weekend, why not go anyway? Thirty-six hours later, 50,000 people showed up.

Our government is supposed to be a representative system where the politicians are directed by their constituents. Despite polling from every single outfit that does polling telling them that this was not what the voters wanted, they did it anyway. That, Hamsters, is NOT representative government. That's a dictatorship.

And while Wisconsin is the focus, what happened in Michigan is horrifying. Giving the Governor the power to completely dismantle not just unions, but entire city councils, school boards, and government services simply by declaring a fiscal emergency and appointing a single person to take over.

Hamsters, this is more than just about breaking up the unions and destroying the Democratic base...not that either of those by itself is small potatoes, but about the Corporate takeover of America. This is about privatizing services at the state and local level first. Then they can offer the jobs at lower wages and reduced benefits knowing that a job is better to have than not. We'll all be working for the company store.

Corporate America is attempting a coup. Seventeen states, 17, all led by Republican governors are simultaneously launching this attack. Here's a truly disturbing fact: 400 people in this country have more wealth than the bottom 150,000,000 COMBINED.

WTF???

I gotta stop for now, Hamsters. I've never had high blood pressure (I've been mistaken for dead a couple times because it's so low) but I'm pretty sure it's up there right now.

Stay safe, and good luck.

Hamster Prez

3-8 Wheel Ramblings

Starting off tonight is news out of Missouri that the state's Supreme Court has been petitioned to disbar Justice Clarence Thomas for a variety of issues, most notably his failure to disclose his wife's income for 20 years. This, according to the suit filed by a group called Protect Our Elections (POE), is in direct violation of the laws governing the practice of law in that state, where Thomas hangs his legal license. This will not affect his position as a Justice, but may cause the DOJ to look closer into his activities...or lack of same in this case.

Three major stories from Wisconsin. First, the Koch brother's rally over the weekend in support of Scott Walker and his plan drew a whopping 600 people to the largest gathering. At that gathering, the brave 600 listened to right-wing marionette Joe the Plumber (who knew he was still around) calling the unions and their members socialists and communists. What is remarkable about this is that while several thousand people still camp out at the Capitol, 600 people supported Walker.

Second is the recall petitions being circulated against 8 of the Democrats. What is remarkable about this effort is that it is coming from a group out of Utah, which is not Wisconsin, wholly funded by the Koch brothers. The recall petitions being circulated, and signed in droves against the 8 Republican senators and the Governor are home-grown and unfunded by a corporation.

Lastly, Governor Walker is caving. Internal emails out today show that he is changing his mind and is looking to take the collective bargaining issue out of the bill. Michael Steele was just on Rachel Maddow a few minutes ago and called the Wisconsin 14 "wimps", despite the fact that what they did ultimately defeated the Republican Corporatist agenda.

In other state news, Florida's new Republican governor is trying to slash $1.75 Billion dollars from his state's K-12 education budget in an effort not to balance the budget but to give $1.6 Billion dollars in tax cuts to corporations. In Michigan, that state's new Republican governor is proposing tax increases on the senior citizens and poor people again, not to balance the budget of cover any shortfall but instead to give $1.6 Billion in tax cuts to corporations. And let's not forget that the budget shortfall in Wisconsin was a direct result of Walker giving away the budget surplus in tax cuts to corporations. Hey, there are dues to be paid to those who get you elected.

Gingrich, Santorum, Pawlenty, and Daniels were in Iowa over the weekend preaching, yes preaching, social issues agendas in an effort to get the early lead in polling there. In all the sound bites I heard today, not one mentioned the economy or jobs or the war or anything else of importance. Nope. These old white men all talked about abortion and gay marriage and planned parenthood, and the Democrat Socialists.

On that same theme, it's nice to see that the right will still take the bait. Team Obama threw them a bone last week, and they took like a starving dog. When he directed the DOJ to stop defending DOMA, Boehner and the Republicans in the house took up the fight. The bone is this: he knew that they could not walk away from a social issue, which distracts them even more from what they were allegedly elected to do... create jobs. Never mind that it was never their intention to do that as evidenced by the complete lack of any jobs bills or anything that would resemble an economic agenda. No, they've been trying to legislated reproductive rights instead. Not sure what the fiscal impact is of that slate, but gotta love them not trying to fix what they broke.

Todays' Question: Why is the re-distribution of wealth so vilified? My answer tomorrow.

Does anyone who cared about Charlie Sheen still care? Never did, myself. Still don't.

That's tonight's early edition. Stay safe, Hamsters.

Hamster Prez