Krugman: Whatever It Takes? No, It Takes Whatever

[ProSense]

Whatever It Takes? No, It Takes Whatever

I think Josh Marshall gets this right. Obama came across relatively relaxed last night, basically because he knows two things: he isn’t getting anything substantive out of the GOP, but he’s achieved a lot, and his signature achievement is looking increasingly secure. The real theme of the SOTU was “Whatever.”

I think the fading of the deficit both in reality and as an issue is important here. A missive from Fix the Debt landed in my inbox:

We are disappointed that President Obama did not choose to place a greater focus on our nation’s long-term debt problems in tonight’s State of the Union address. The President should be actively working with Congress seeking solutions to our debt problem rather than relegating it to the political sidelines. The State of the Union was a chance for him to lead on this issue instead of leaving these tough choices to be made by the next President.

That’s the whine of people who have found themselves irrelevant. Obama isn’t afraid of the big bad deficit any more, and he knows that there won’t be a Grand Bargain, so there’s nothing he can or should do on the front that absorbed so much of his energy for three years...health reform. Substantively, there has been an impressive comeback from the two horrible first months. The workability of the law is now clear — in California, which never had the teething troubles, enrollments are running ahead of expectations, most insurers are pretty sanguine about the age and health mix, and the polling is slowly improving.

Republicans are meeting these developments with a mixture of denial and Benghazification — insistence that the law is collapsing, that people may be signing up but they won’t actually pay for their policies, etc., combined with the belief that if they just tell a few more dubious horror stories about rate shock or losing your favorite doctor, the public will rise up and demand repeal.

- more -

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/whatever-it-takes-no-it-takes-whatever

[DetlefK]

1. Repeal Benghazi!

[Whisp]

28. Repeal Ben Gazzara too.

[DonCoquixote]

2. The problem is

Most of us knew five years ago that "bipartisanship" would not work. It should not have taken five damn years to get here.

[rurallib]

4. don't be too sure we are "here" yet

I have heard the President draw a line before only to erase, sometimes even the next day.
As I have said before I love the speaking or campaigning Obama so much more than the executive Obama.

[CTyankee]

5. It was a hard lesson that Obama had to learn and I feel bad for him...

despite all the handwringing, he DID try to make a deal with Boehner. I'm reading that whole chapter right now in the Halperin-Heileman book "Double Down." It's sad. His WHite HOuse staff finally had to come right out and tell him that his dealing nicely with Boehner only made him look weaker in the public mind. But of course if he didn't, he'd be accused of not being willing to compromise. It was a lose-lose situation for the President. And so much of it was rooted in racism. Disgraceful.

[Whisp]

29. I thnk Obama is a quick study

and learned this lesson a long time ago, but tactics and and strategy plays into the timing.

Would he have been able to achieve what he miraculously has in this ultra negative environment if he started with the Executive Orders before now?

I give Obama all the credit in the world and will always believe he is the smartest guy in the room and I can't feel bad for him for that reason, in that way.

[babylonsister]

6. He's damned either way.

From the left for attempting to have a dialogue, and from the right had he not attempted it.

The guy can't win.

[last1standing]

7. He was damned from the right even while he insulted and ignored the left.

I don't feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for all the people his center-right policies and incompetent compromises have harmed over the last five years. Obama will live in comfort the rest of his life while many will go hungry and homeless because he failed to lead this nation out of the depravity that the bush years left us in.

Feel free to rant now about how mean I am and how ODS has taken over. I just read that stuff as "baaaa baaaa baaaaa!"

[ProSense]

8. ODS

"I don't feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for all the people his center-right policies and incompetent compromises have harmed over the last five years."

Yeah, Obamacare is killing people. Death panels.

[last1standing]

9. "Baaaa baaaa baaaaa!"

"Baaaaa."

[ProSense]

10. LOL!

Death panels!

[last1standing]

12. "Baaaaa!"

"Baaa Baaaaa!"

[ProSense]

14. For you

while you laugh.

Salt Lake City joins Phoenix in ending veteran homelessness

By Sara Kugler

Salt Lake City, Utah, is the second city in the United States to end chronic homelessness amongst military veterans, Mayor Ralph Becker said on Sunday’s Melissa Harris-Perry. The first was Phoenix, Ariz., which declared an end to the issue on Dec. 18...Salt Lake City now has only eight veterans who remain homeless, but only because they have said those individuals say they do not want homes. Becker pledged the city would continue to work with them.

Calling it “inexcusable” and “unacceptable” for homelessness to be a persistent problem “in a society like ours,” the mayor praised the collaboration between all levels of government and the private sector in achieving the goal. “This is a decision that was made by the whole community, and we’ve been dedicated to it for many years,” Becker explained. “The resources, while never enough, have come forward from every part of the community.”

Becker also credited the Obama administration, saying their focus on homeless veterans has made it easier to access resources and support for the initiative. “The federal government is a critical partner in providing resources in many ways – some of it financial, some of it expertise, some of it sharing ideas that come from other areas,” he said.

The federal government unveiled a ten-year plan to prevent and end homelessnessm in 2010...More than 600,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. About 9% of them are veterans...Salt Lake City has focused first on homeless veterans, but is committed to working to reduce the greater homeless population in the city. The December 2013 United States Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Survey reported that the number homeless families in Salt Lake City decreased by 20% and homeless individuals by 10% last year.

- more -

http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/mayor-declares-end-vet-homelessness

Phoenix Becomes First City To End Chronic Homelessness Among Veterans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024217875

<...>

The plan puts us on a path to end Veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015; and to ending homelessness among children, families, and youth by 2020. The Plan presents strategies building upon the lesson that mainstream housing, health, education, and human service programs must be fully engaged and coordinated to prevent and end homelessness, including...

<...>

http://usich.gov/opening_doors/

Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act
https://www.onecpd.info/homelessness-assistance/hearth-act/

[Capt. Obvious]

18. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

On Wed Jan 29, 2014, 08:11 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

"Baaaa baaaa baaaaa!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4407615

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Pure and simple trolling. Nothing to add to a discussion except repeatedly call people sheep. How many times did this poster do this in this thread?

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Jan 29, 2014, 08:18 AM, and the Jury voted 3-3 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Obama Derangement Syndrome is forcing me to leave this post unhidden, even though Prosense is more of a bot than a sheep.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Quit your whining?
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Not nice. Make a supportable argument if you disagree.
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: .,.
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Ok initially said leave it alone but then I saw that this same poster was giving this same "Baa Baa" nonsense response several times. I would say maybe all the responses of this type should be hidden. This is just silly and juvenile.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[last1standing]

19. LOL! One should always expect an alert when responding to certain posters.

It's how the DU jury system is gamed. Alert everything because eventually you'll get enough of your supporters on the jury.

Thanks for posting the results.


Almost forgot: Baaaaa!

[DonCoquixote]

20. wow

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Obama Derangement Syndrome is forcing me to leave this post unhidden, even though Prosense is more of a bot than a sheep.

The Juror managed to do a TOS violation in the very act of enforcing the tos...gotta love the jury system.

[ProSense]

24. That's pretty funny.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Obama Derangement Syndrome is forcing me to leave this post unhidden, even though Prosense is more of a bot than a sheep.

True mark of a coward.

[last1standing]

27. I hate to say it but I'm going to agree with you on this one.

If you're going to be part of a jury, do it for the right reasons and don't use it as a forum to insult other posters. If they had called you out for goading posters then alerting on them, I'd agree. But I can't agree with spewing insults from a position when the recipient can't respond. It's very disrespectful.

[tabasco]

31. duhhhhhhh duhhhhhhh duhhhhhh

[babylonsister]

11. Bitter, party of one.

Please enlighten me as to how the President is supposed to get shit done when one entire party is hellbent on destroying him and whatever he'd like to get accomplished.
Yea, blame Obama. Sounds sort of republicanny to me.

[last1standing]

13. "Baaaa, baaa baaaa baaaa."

n/t

[DonCoquixote]

21. keep being a sheep

Because all the baa baa baa will not disguise hard facts, thank you.

[last1standing]

22. I couldn't agree more.

Only a sheep would believe and recite base propaganda.

[DonCoquixote]

25. cute

You can call the fact that people's hate of the democratic party "base propaganda", those of us in Florida saw it in action. Granted, as a swing state voter, I do not have the luxury of just wiring in a name and feeling good about it, so while some people indulge in playtime, I will be out voting making a difference, however small it might be.

[Cha]

16. Lol.. do you

hear sheep?

[ProSense]

17. .

[last1standing]

23. She should.

she's standing with the herd.

[Whisp]

30. I hear sheep dip...

[Drunken Irishman]

26. He had no choice...

1) Obama didn't reach across the aisle in policy in the first two years of his presidency. Much of the compromise was within his own party - trying to get conservative and moderate Democrats on board with the largest stimulus in American history, a reforming of our healthcare system that, in years past, proved toxic to anyone who touched it, and other policies that, while mainstream, weren't necessarily mainstream in huge chunks of the country.

2) Obama was forced to reach across the aisle when Republicans won back control of the House in 2010. He had no choice - they controlled half the legislative branch. No bill was ever going to get through the Republican-controlled House, especially one dominated by right-wing ideologues, that didn't at least, in part, placate a huge chunk of their own base. Even now, when it comes to a great deal of policy, Obama is limited in his scope. He can't just go extend unemployment benefits through an executive order or do the same with a national minimum wage. It does take compromise to do that - no matter how many times some DUers tell themselves all he has to do is propose liberal, aggressive agendas and the right-wing will just go along with it.

It's why, no matter who wins in 2016, if Republicans still control the House, even if it's Elizabeth Warren sits in the Oval Office, the only way the government will get anything pushed through is with compromise.

It is what it is.

[pampango]

3. "Republicans are meeting these developments with a mixture of denial and Benghazification ...

insistence that the law is collapsing, that people may be signing up but they won’t actually pay for their policies, etc., combined with the belief that if they just tell a few more dubious horror stories about rate shock or losing your favorite doctor, the public will rise up and demand repeal.

I think the fading of the deficit both in reality and as an issue is important here.

That’s the whine of people who have found themselves irrelevant. Obama isn’t afraid of the big bad deficit any more, and he knows that there won’t be a Grand Bargain, so there’s nothing he can or should do on the front that absorbed so much of his energy for three years.

Meanwhile, health reform. Substantively, there has been an impressive comeback from the two horrible first months. The workability of the law is now clear — in California, which never had the teething troubles, enrollments are running ahead of expectations, most insurers are pretty sanguine about the age and health mix, and the polling is slowly improving.

[FSogol]

15. Benghazification! K&R. n/t

[Skraxx]

32. Obama's in the "fuck you guys" phase of his Presidency

GOP won't know what's hitting them. Their shits about to get massively fucked up.