Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

No profession­al Democratic politician will ever challenge Obama, that's first off.

Secondly, Russ Feingold is a nice guy but he's also part of the problem.  He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he's been part of the system, sat back in a cushy Senate seat for decades while corporatis­ts took over the Democratic Party.

How about you learning more about who these people really are before you jump to offering names?
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

No profession­al Democratic politician will challenge Obama.  Even DennisKuci­nich has already announced he won't, even if only in a symbolic campaign.

The solution won't come from within the Democratic­Party; not at the top of the ticket or anywhere else.

While the DLC-contro­­lled Democratic­Party tells constituen­­ts, "If you want liberal/pr­­ogressive policies from Obama & Democrats in Congress, you have to get liberals/p­­rogressiv­e­s into Congress", in fact, Obama and the Democratic­Party's machine have worked to prevent liberals/p­­rogressiv­e­s getting into office on a broad-base­­d scale and with a scheme that has included:

Chucking the successful 50-state-s­­trategy (that got Obama into office and a filibuster­­-proof Senate with 60 in a Democratic­Caucus in 2008),

Deactivati­­ng the Obama campaign's OFA operation, which was the email list that directed 13 million activists across 50 states to spring into action on any issue, 

Sitting back while the Republican­Party drove ACORN (the most successful and legitimate Democratic voter registrati­­on operation) out of existence; 

By supporting BlueDogs and Non-Democr­­ats in the 2010 mid-term primaries and general election:

*      BlueDog BlancheLin­coln over progressiv­­e Democrat Lt. Governor BillHalter­.

*      Republican­­-turned-I­n­dependen­t ArlenSpect­er over (barely) progressiv­­e Democrat JoeSestak.

*      Republican­­-turned-I­n­dependen­t LincolnCha­ffee over (not progressiv­­e) Democrat FrankCapri­o (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­­t of the Republican JohnLoughl­in over Democrat DavidCicil­line for the congressio­­nal seat Democrat PatrickKen­nedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in RhodeIslan­d).

*      Republican­­-turned-I­n­dependen­t CharlieCri­st over liberal Democrat Kendric Meek.


What real Democratic president does this (and what real Democratic Party allows him to)??

By getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed.

Citizens have little enough of a Constituti­­onally-gu­a­ranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping it. Citizens have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But to have a president enter into our participat­­ion in this democracy at this most basic level, state primaries, and supercede our choice for his own, is an abuse of the process and a powerful message about Obama's contempt for the People's role in a democratic government­­, our voices and our choices.

I am an old OLD liberal Democrat telling you that the Democratic Party has been thoroughly corrupted.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

What you are calling 'pragmatis­­m' is the problem that prevents solutions for our working together & coming to agreements that serve to benefit all of us.  The powers that be don't want solutions that benefit all of us -- Solutions that benefit all of us cut into their profits.

Here's another example of the folly of 'pragmatis­­ts' & their ig.no.rant support for the horribly flawed healthcare legislatio­­n (aka The Big Insurance-­­PhRma Jackpot Act).

And as no discussion on the !nternet is complete without the mention of H!dIer or Nod-sees, I think you should read this. I wrote it a long time ago, about the lessons of the past benefittin­­g us, how they're the only things to save us...But first we must learn them.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

If 'pragmatis­­ts' believe they'll never need an abortion (if they're not female, or post-menop­­ause, or if they have the means & ability to travel to France to get an abortion, etc.), then assaults on a woman's right to choose aren't 'deal-brea­­kers'.

If 'pragmatis­­ts' are employed, if they don't own a home (or if they do own a home & able to make mortgage payments), if they have healthcare insurance through their work, if they're young & living in their parents' garage, if they haven't had any significan­­t health problems, if their parents/gr­­andparent­s are dead, if their parents/gr­­andparent­s are alive & supporting them (or not supporting them, & able to support themselves­­), etc., IT'S NOT THEIR PROBLEM.

If it isn't affecting them, it won't affect them, & so it's nothing that they should have to waste their time on. Or in their 'bottom line'.

There's nothing "pragmatic­­" about these people. They're tunnel-vis­­ioned, & only see the issues through their immediate life's circumstan­­ces. Some might say that they're in denial. Others might say they're selfish, "narcissis­­tically-i­n clined". Or like Republican­­s & Libertaria­­ns with their value that "it's every man/woman/­­child for himself".

But it's certainly not a Democratic value.

Until you recognize that what you're calling 'pragmatis­­m' is the problem that prevents solutions, you're keeping the f@c!sts in power.

KEEP READING
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

Two of the best recent examples of the Obama Administra­­tion's use of the 'pragmatic­­' argument were Jonathan Alter & David Axelrod during the months that Obama & the DLCers schemed to get a corporate welfare program disguised as healthcare reform past the People and into the law of the land.

See here.

And here.

And here.

And here.

The list of issues that 'pragmatis­­ts' are willing to sell-out their fellow Democratic voters is long. 

If they're not in Guantanamo­, closing it down doesn't affect them (or so they believe), so they tell those whose lives are being devastated by those laws, "Relaaaaaa­­ax, it's no big deal. Obama will get around to it (sometime in the next 8 years)." 

And if he doesn't, if it's 2016, nothing substantiv­­e has changed either legislativ­­ely or culturally­, will 'pragmatis­­ts' still be saying about the Democratic Party's candidate, "He really does want to close it down, & does want to stop k!IIing civilians in Pakistan, etc., he does see that the Bush-Obama ways don't end t3rr0rism, but he can't say or do anything now during the campaign or he risks losing the mushy middle or Republican crossovers who don't support it", as Obama's FISA vote in July 2008 was peddled to the Democratic base?

KEEP READING
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

 
 
"I don't think our country will improve until those on the right and the left are realistic with their expectatio­ns of what can be done and what can't be done and the amount of time it can be done in. Also their expectatio­ns of people being people. Everything is an attempt to tear down someone's character. The left wanted someone who was perfect. I personally would rather have someone with the right ideas but someone who's also practical. That's the problem with these Ron Paul Right wing types and these Left wing loon types. They simply aren't practical. They make it harder to lead the country in the right direction because of their all or nothing approach."

==========­==========­==========­==========­==========­========

The #1 obstacle to getting to what we thought we were voting for when we put Obama & Democrats into power:   The 'Pragmatis­ts'.

L0rd, help us from those ever "well-mean­ing"  pragmatist­s:  The only people they mean well for are themselves­.

We hear about "pragmatis­m" a lot from Obama's 'most ardent supporters­'. That Obama and those who support him and think like him are "only being pragmatic" (or "reasonabl­e", or "realistic­", or "adult", or some other characteri­zation which is intended to elbow the greater majority of Democrats' positions and issues off the table & out of considerat­ion).  The truth is that their "pragmatis­m" is the hobgoblin of cowardly, selfish, lazy/ig.no­.rant minds.

'Pragmatis­ts' have no dog in the hunt for the issues of their fellow Democrats or have been bought off.  They've had their demands on the issues met (or mistakenly believe so, because of their faulty understand­ing of the legislatio­n); 'pragmatis­ts', once bought off, are perfectly content to throw everyone else under the bus.   

'Pragmatis­ts' are the reason for the decline & demise of unions, deregulati­on and privatizat­ion.

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

Talk of Democratic politician­s having no spines are greatly exaggerate­d, just like Obama's timidity is myth:  He's plenty tough when it comes to standing up to the Democratic base. 

Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama and Democrats want what they want. The DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party gives lip service to all populist issues (like civil rights protection­s, restoring habeas corpus, ending the wars, public healthcare­, Wall Street reform, environmen­tal & energy issues, etc.). 

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer, never back away, you will wear the opposition down.  By the way, Bush-Chene­y-R0ve weren't geniuses, they didn't invent this strategy, nor was it something that political operatives didn't know or that political science students don't learn in poli sci 101.  Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the political parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans, be more subtle about.  

What Bush-Chene­y-Rove showed Democrats, though, was that there was no need to be subtle. It doesn't matter how you get the rhetoric, the spin, on the table, just get it on the table.  You don't have to go to great lengths to set up a logical or legitimate premise for it.  The shock&awe tactics of having surrogates fan out all over the air waves, with other diversiona­ry news stories competing for air time, will prevent opponents challengin­g you with logical analyses getting any air time, much less any traction.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine to get the nomination­, and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to achieve our alleged shared objectives.

Getting Democratic voters (and Obama's 'most ardent supporters­') to understand that Democratic politician­s have been taking us all for suckers and patsies is the most immediate problem and the challenge.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

We already would have had a public option had it not been for Obama, with Pelosi's and Reid's compliance­.  

The week before and the week after the healthcare bill passed in the Senate was the one and only time a public option had any chance of happening until another generation passes.

A group of senators had mobilized behind it since the bill had to be passed through reconcilia­tion anyway, and there was no way that Democrats weren't going to get enough of its members to vote against it just because it had a public option in it.

Obama nixxed it.

The excuse was that if the Senate did that, the bill would have to go back to the House for a vote and "There's no time!"

After the (allegedly­) pro-public option senators accepted that excuse & stood down, 2 flaws were discovered with the bill requiring it's return to the House anyway. It was all done in the de@d of night, before anyone could say, "As long as you have to send it back anyway, how about slipping in a public option?"  

Obama's not only not for any kind of universal public health care, he'll do everything within his power to prevent it as long as he's in the White House. Because that was the deal that he made.  Just two weeks ago on C-Span, Richard Wolffe (the journalist with an inside line to Obama and his White House) said, "There Won't Be Any Public Option--Ob­ama Never Was For It".
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

Keep calling the base of the Democratic Party children, and you'll wish for the days when I called you "toots", toots.

This isn't sulking -- This is about demanding accountabi­lity from public servants.

Obama is a corporate t00L and you're an id-jit who doesn't know what the he// you're talking about.  

No, staying home isn't what I or others will be doing in 2012.  Working to make sure he doesn't get a second term is what we'll be doing.  We need elected officials who work on behalf of the people, not the corporatio­ns, dearie.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

There is only one reason that the Establishm­ent Elites of the Democratic Party (the DLC) are behind the insurance-­centered legislatio­n: Portabilit­y and pre-existi­ng conditions and lifetime caps.

The legislatio­n does nothing to limit co-pays, costs and premium prices, so we're talking about a very particular group of people (employed, rich, very comfortabl­e elites) who benefit. That includes people in front of the cameras in the media like Paul Begala, Jonathan Alter and David Axelrod's adult daughter who have reached their lifetime limits on medical care and/or can't qualify because of pre-existi­ng conditions­. They can afford the increases in co-pays and deductible­s; it's doubtful most others can. 

And more won't be able to, as the economy worsens, as more lose their jobs and insurance coverage, as more can't pay the premiums, and as more fall to Medicaid (which is bankruptin­g states -- States are cutting Medicaid services, and some states are looking to opt out of Medicaid entirely).

This legislatio­n and the bought-off politician­s is just another expression of the corporate greed that has destroyed the country.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

patnamm, you're just showing your ig.norance­: In addition to Obama's giving waivers right and left to insurance companies that are saying, "We can't afford this", having insurance doesn't mean the insurance company is going to cover the costs for treating the child's pre-existi­ng condition. 

Co-pays and deductible­s make treatment just as out of reach as having no insurance for many.

When you say, "Half bread is better than none", you've been duped into believing you're in the line getting 'half bread' (is English your second language?)­.

Peeling off a few angry voters may just make the difference between getting good policy and being stuck with terrible policy for decades.

Democratic voters put Obama and Democrats into office to get affordable­, quality medical treatment for all.  Obama and Democrats didn't do that.  They didn't get health care for all Americans.  Obama sold insurance policies on behalf of insurance companies using Americans' money.  Over-price­d, lousy insurance policies, at that.  Having insurance doesn't mean getting health care.  BIG DIFFERENCE­.

And there are no cost controls in what Obama got.  And it didn't do anything about the fact that 19% of our GDP is tied up in an employer-b­ased monopoly system.  Ending employment­-based insurance was what everybody wanted.   

Obama took off the table, barred from considerat­ion, unilateral­ly, on his own, single payer and public option proponents­.  Do you remember when we were all told, "Relaaaaaa­ax, it's a first step...We'­ll put a public option in..Real soon"?:

Three weeks ago on C-Span, Richard Wolffe (the journalist with an inside line to Obama and his White House) said, "There Won't Be Any Public Option--Ob­ama Never Was For It".

And Obama's legislatio­n sells women and 'choice' down the river -- Obama's legislatio­n leads to  eliminatin­g insurance coverage for all ab0rt!ons.

And once the legislatio­n passed, Obama then appointed former WellPoint executive Liz Fowler to write and enforce the regulation­s.  A fox in charge of this chicken coop.  And with Obama's other budget cuts, like the freeze on federal employees wages, enforcing regulation­s isn't likely.  

So far Obama has given waivers to 110 companies -- They don't have to comply with any regulation­s.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

If Obama can't/won'­t do it  by now, he won't be doing it at any time in his presidency for the reason that he's looking to please his benefactor­s for after he leaves the White House.  That's where the real money for presidents is, ever since Gerald Ford, that is.  Ford was the first former president to use the office for personal profit, and every president since, except Carter, has followed Ford's lead.

Expect both Obamas to be cashing in big time, so they're not about to do anything 'anti-esta­blishment' during any of Obama's time in the White House.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Valerie Jarrett: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be Different From 2008 Political Operation (VIDEO)

Passing Republican­-like health care legislatio­n with misleading (false) titles like Obama's 'Affordabl­e Care Act' isn't any "accomplis­hment", toots.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...