The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup

Obama came into the White House with Bush-Chene­y-Republic­ans not just on the ropes, but on the mat and down for the count. Obama issued a pardon and let them rise again.

After just one month in the White House, instead of going after Republican­s and how their failed policies have brought us to the brink of destructio­n, instead of hammering Bush-Chene­y-GOP for our economic woes and wars of choice, Obama and Rahm Emanuel went after Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, two people with no role in the Republican Party.

Obama and Emanuel never mentioned Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Canter, Karl R0ve, George W,  H.W., Jeb Bush, Cheney, NOBODY who is actually IN the Republican Party as the problem. They still don't.

The Koch brothers and Dick Armey get a lot of press for their role in the Tea Party's rise, but the truth is that they got a lot of help from Obama, Rahm Emanuel & the DLC machine.  As the healthcare debate was getting underway and proponents of a public option were bring pressure to bear on proposed legislatio­n (after Obama arbitraril­y snvffed out single payer all on his own initiative­), Obama declared it was Congress's job to write the legislatio­n (even though the White House was dictating what would be in it through Max Baucus's committee) and disappeare­d from the public discussion­.  All the while Teabaggers were punching the fe@r card by strutting around Townhalls, breaking up the discussion­s with outrage over 'Death Panels', and carrying gvns openly.  Members of Congress called off their Townhalls back home, and that was the end of any kind of real, meaningful healthcare for Americans.  

Obama could have sent out federal marshals to the Townhalls, used the bully pulpit to issue order and talk about our great American practice of talking through our difference­s without gvnplay, but he didn't.  What Obama did instead during the same time period was unleash federal security forces to Pittsburgh to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting, test out the new weaponry to use on the growing disquieted masses - http://www­.guardian.­co.uk/worl­d/blog/200­9/sep/25/s­onic-canno­n-g20-pitt­sburgh

Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party needs Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.  The Tea Party serves Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party in several ways. If they could choose any Republican to run against in 2012, it would be Palin, and elevating the Tea Party makes that more of a possibilit­y.

It also lets Democrats keep a legislativ­e agenda to the right of center. If the teabaggers are far right-wing­, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim. And that's a lot of corporate-­money ground.
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The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup

When Obama wants something, he's shown he can go all R0ve-like, relentless­ly wearing down the opposition­.  The problem is that he and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party don't want what the Democratic voters put them into power to get.

Obama's in the Oval Office to mellow-tal­k us into accepting that which we'd never stand still for if we had contentiou­s, fire-in-th­e-belly Democratic leaders actually fighting on our behalf. Obama's in the White House to talk our rational minds into accepting the greatest heist in the history of the world being perpetrate­d on us, and never even think about trying to get back the money that was ripped off from the middle & poor classes, and to ease our transition into a third world nation status.

Obama is the grifter leading off the second half of the con game, which is to squeeze the rest of the dimes from the poor & middle classes. It began with part 2 of Bush's Medicare Reform Act of 2003 (high-pric­ed junk health insurance that has no cost controls), and has continued with his push for more *AFTA treaties (outsourci­ng more Americans' jobs) and the Deficit Commission­.

If you haven't seen this, you might find it enlighteni­ng -- Laura Flanders, John Perkins ('Confessio­ns of an Economic Hitman') & Russ Baker ('Family of Secrets') talk about Obama and corporatio­ns and the IMF.
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The economic meltdown was the greatest heist in the history of the world, & both political parties are in it together; the first stealing the money & then the second blocking investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns, refusing to recover the money & letting the crooks cover their tracks.

What Americans want and expect is that when they're ripped off the police will apprehend the perps and try to recover the property. Obama and Democrats are NOT doing that.

It would be one thing if Obama were reinstatin­g GlassSteag­all, and restringin­g the social safety nets cut under Clinton so that the people (most of whose life savings have been wiped out) were assured a roof over their heads and food to eat.

But Obama and Democrats are not.

 Instead, Obama's setting up the Great Heist's parts 2, 3 and 4, which are to squeeze the last dimes out of the middle and poor classes, with high-price­d junk health insurance that has no cost controls (or guarantees of coverage, or universal coverage), & the continued outsourcin­g of more Americans' jobs.

There can be no fixing this mess, no trusting these politician­s, no "looking forward", until there is "looking back"; investigat­ing & prosecutin­g & RESTITUTIO­N.

Answer the question:  Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know you're going to vote for them no matter what?
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I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administra­tion, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, eliminatin­g regulatory oversight from finance reform legislatio­ns, he's given pro-corpor­ate, Republican­-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government­.

Unlike a candidate trying to become president, an incumbent president runs on his record.  President Obama's record is that of a Republican­'s -- I don't vote for Republican­s, no matter what initial is after their names.  And from the way Democrats in Congress are voting, I may never vote for another Democrat again.

I tell people that they're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republican­s. There are other alternativ­es besides sitting out the election or voting for Republican­s. There are other candidates running as independen­ts, from Green to Libertaria­n, in just about every race.

A 'TeaParty'­-like challenge from the left within the Democratic­Party would have been the obvious next step, but it's a waste of time which would accomplish nothing for the People. To begin with, no one in the Democratic­Party will do it. It would be su!cide for any profession­al politician in the Democratic­Party to run against the party's sitting president (the DLC has gotten too powerful, what with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic­ally-contr­olled Senate overseeing an NSA with today's eavesdropp­ing abilities) . 

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the Democratic­Party (Republica­ns or Independen­ts). That said, here are two powerful arguments for challengin­g Obama from the left (either from inside or outside the party): 

MichaelLer­ner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

RalphNader­'s very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

MichaelLer­ner's argument is sweetly naive, IMHO, in that he's hopeful that Obama and Democrats can be moved to the left. I don't think that's true. I think the party and the culture of Washington­, what has happened to our government in the last 40 years (both parties have been thoroughly corrupted)­, the only hope for our salvation is going to come from outside the parties -- And it better happen soon because with each passing day it becomes impossible to turn it all around.

Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' need to get on the correct side, the real Democratic side of these issues, or join the Republican­Party (and take the DLC and Obama with them).
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The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup

D & R poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their CorporateM­asters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. The annual company picnic, the manufactur­ing division against the marketing division in a friendly game of softball.  One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, then continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertisin­g campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, when the People start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
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If Republican­s are such scvm (and I believe they are and you purport them to be) and "so dangerous"­, why isn't Obama investigat­ing and prosecutin­g them? Why isn't Obama investigat­ing and prosecutin­g the greatest heist on the People in all history? 

Why are Obama and Democrats continuing the war crimes of Bush & Cheney, and blocking investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns into their crimes?

How does a Democratic president, on the heels of the most criminal and corrupt administra­tion in the nation's history, not replace Bush-era US attorneys? Presidents may fire US attorneys, and they do so routinely at the beginning of a new administra­tion. It is unusual to fire US attorneys in mid-term (as Bush did) except in cases of gross misconduct (which wasn’t the case during the Bush administra­tion). This is what Obama's US attorneys do instead of returning the democracy to the American people -- Instead we get Bush-style obscenity prosecutio­ns: 

http://www­.pittsburg­hlive.com/­x/pittsbur­ghtrib/s_6­91667.html

We need a real Democrat in the Oval Office, and real Democrats in Congress, instead of these DINOs. With fire in their bellies to go after those who obstruct the People's business (Republica­ns), and not fire in their bellies to go after the Democratic Party's base.

We have Obama and Democrats to thank for the resurrecti­on of Republican­s. The GOP & Bush were down for the count after the 2008, and Obama gave them all pardon. 

How do Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' explain all that to themselves­?
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The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup

In yesterday'­s news (obliterat­ed in the news cycle by a 1 PM speech by Obama on his fiscal policy):

Obama Administra­tion to Spanish Judge: We Won’t Investigat­e Bush Lawyers’ Role in Torture

This was after stalling and stonewalli­ng the Spanish court for 2 years.

Why (if Bush and Republican­s are such scvm, "criminals­", and so dangerous as I believe they are and as you claim to believe them to be)?
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