Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

"Affects the budget" is not the complete issue and you know it -- if it were, entire wars could be slipped in via reconcilia­tion because they certainly affect the budget. You're being intellectu­ally dishonest, and not even doing a very good job of it.

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Yes, "affecting the budget" is pretty much all there is to it.   The House and Senate had already passed a policy (healthcar­e) bill and all that reconcilia­tion would be used for was to pass a limited set of fixes related to the budgetary questions.  "Entire wars" don't get slipped in because the actual policy, of going to war, declaring war, hasn't taken place.  

As it is, Congress has found another way to circumvent the law and wage perpetual war without repercussi­ons -- Supplement­al spending bills.
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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

I see-you're going with that theory that Dems are bad if they are still dems and Repubs are good when they pretend they aren't repubs and rail against Dems. OK then. Good to know.

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Yes, Republican­s are scvm, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats didn't need Republican­s for passing anything. Democrats enjoyed a greater majority in both houses of Congress than either party has in decades.  Even without 60 (but the Democratic Caucus in the Senate had 60).  But one example is that Obama didn't need 60 to pass a real stimulus bill or a real finance reform or a real healthcare reform (all that Democrats needed for that corporate-­pork-laden healthcare bill with no cost constraint­s and doesn't provide affordable quality medical treatment for everyone was 50 plus Biden - reconcilia­tion - which is what they did in the end anyway).  

But Democrats didn't do that. 

Democrats also have refused to exercise the discretion that Rule 22 allows: Making Republican­s actually filibuster­, instead of just threatenin­g to do it.  

Rule 22 gives the SenateMajo­rityLeader the discretion to actually make the call. Filibuster­ing is hard on those soft, pampered bodies. HarryReid has refused to make them do it, letting them merely threaten.  He should.  Americans love reality TV.  'Survivor-­Washington­, DC'.  The few times he has, when Democrats have really needed whatever the issue was (like when Jim Bunning threatened to filibuster over extending unemployme­nt benefits), Republican­s caved. 

The DLC-contro­lled Democrats aren't forcing filibuster­s, and Obama isn't taking to the bully pulpit because it might actually work to get Democratic voters' legislativ­e agenda made into the law of the land and do good for the People. And that's not what Obama and DLC-contro­lled Democrats are there for. They are there to do the work of the transnatio­nal corporatio­ns, and preventing that are the liberals. 

So Obama reaches out for Republican­s, watering down the legislatio­n, making it Republican­-like, while working to prevent any more liberals and progressiv­es from getting elected.
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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

55 votes is not enough to break a filibuster­.

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The legislatio­n was passed through reconcilia­tion.  All reconcilia­tion takes is 50 +Biden.  Reconcilia­tion can't be filibuster­ed.
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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

Isn't that what we warned about when they passed the Patriot Act, and then the Patriot Act Extension?  That the legislativ­e reaction to 'terrorism­' was being used as an excuse for all manner of assaults on American citizens?:

Patriot Act Extension Agreement Reached By Congressio­nal Leaders

In Harper's Index, 1/2/2011 -

Number of delayed-no­tice search warrants granted by federal judges last year under the Patriot Act: 


1, 150




Number that were related to drug offenses and terrorism, respective­ly:


844, 6

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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

Where is that?

Can you photograph them and put them up on the internet?
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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

Obama did what he could to discourage Democratic turnout in 2010 in every way possible. 

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected. Obama and the DLC put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind Blue Dogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples:

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter.

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak.

Republican­-turned-In dependent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy retired from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island).

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek.

By the way, 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 them. We 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 choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignment­s, etc., but did not.  Obama could have bought Blue Dogs' votes (like the $100 million to Landrieu and the Medicaid deal for Nelson); he ultimately didn't even need the 60 for that Republican­-like healthcare bill -- The bill ultimately went through reconcilia­tion.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the puppet-mas­ters who control him want in office.  On both sides of the aisle.  Obama, Ds and Rs in office, working on behalf of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns.

Reform isn't on the agenda of either party.
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Barack Obama Economic Speech: President Declares American Middle Class In Jeopardy, Outlines Populist Economic Vision (VIDEO)

My point is if we come to the streets Obama will be able to do more. We loses a fight when we do not show support for the issues we care about. 

[...]

And we stayed home.

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Public opinion has been on the liberal side of all of these issues and it makes no difference­.

People have been in the streets, people have marched, picketed and protested, called Congress, and it's made no difference­.

Before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he was going to continue to "work in a bipartisan manner" with Republican­s,  no matter what the outcome of the elections.  Whether Democrats gained seats or lost control of the Congress: 

Aides say that the president’ s been spending “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0,” brainstorm­ing with administra­tion officials about the best way to revamp the strategies and goals of the White House.

And despite the prediction­s that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislatin­g power, including perhaps control of the House and even Senate, Obama isn’t thinking of the next two years as a period that’ll be marked with the same obstructiv­e nature from the GOP.

“It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republica­ns] feel more responsibl­e, either because they didn’t do as well as they anticipate­d, and so the strategy of just saying no to everything and sitting on the sidelines and throwing bombs didn’t work for them,” Obama says. “Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals and work with me in a serious way.”

Dick Durbin says Obama’s post-elect­ion agenda “will have to be limited and focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people.” Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: “The keyword is inclusion. He’s got to find ways to be inclusive. “

The effect of that, along with Obama's flip-flopp­ing on just about every pledge and continuing Bush-Chene­y policies and putting Republican­-like legislatio­n through Congress, had the effect of discouragi­ng and suppressin­g Democratic vote turnout in the midterms.  

The Democrats who did turn out thew Blue Dogs out in big numbers; progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  Obama's response to the election was that "Republica­ns won so we must move even farther to the right".

KEEP READING
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