"I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it".

[Avalux]

- Franklin Roosevelt to Labor leaders after his election in 1932

Remember one thing, even if you feel like giving up:

President Obama is a Progressive.

I read this article in January and thought it might be a good idea to post it now, especially since so many people are feeling discouraged these days. Obama is counting on us to push him and after only 9 months in office, now is not the time to waver.

How to Push Obama

For today's liberals and progressives, who find themselves moving from the comfortably predictable opposition stance of the Bush-Cheney interregnum to the more challenging position of dealing with the first Democratic President elected with something akin to a mandate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, it is important to see Barack Obama for who he is and his administration for what it can be. The best way to do this is not by listening to Obama's Republican detractors-or to the lite-Republicans of the Washington Democratic establishment-but by hearing the President- elect in his own words.

After he secured the delegates required to claim the Democratic nomination, Obama found himself at a town hall meeting in suburban Atlanta, where he was grilled about whether-having run as a primary-season progressive-he was now shifting to the center.

The Senator was clearly offended by the suggestion. "Let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center or that I'm flip-flopping or this or that or the other," he began. "You know, the people who say this apparently haven't been listening to me."

Obama continued: "I am somebody who is no doubt progressive. I believe in a tax code that we need to make more fair. I believe in universal health care. I believe in making college affordable. I believe in paying our teachers more money. I believe in early childhood education. I believe in a whole lot of things that make me progressive."

http://www.progressive.org/mag/nichols0109.html

[DJ13]

1. "I believe in these things, but I lack the will to push for them on my own"?

[Avalux]

2. If you think one man can do it alone, you're delusional.

It's the people of this country who have the power. Have you written letters, made phone calls? Would you march?

[DJ13]

3. Of course he cant, but he can try like Roosevelt tried

By your measure FDR would have just given up a year into his first term.

[Avalux]

4. I'm sorry you're one of those who think Obama has failed us.

When he signs a health insurance reform bill with a strong public option, what will you say then?

[Hekate]

5. For some, nothing he does will ever, ever be enough.

Makes me want to :argh:

Hekate

[DJ13]

7. Wrong

Im one of those who believes he can try harder and become the great President we know he can be.

I refuse to buy the excuses as to why he just cant seem to follow through on his claims of being a Progressive when our party has its strongest position in decades.

I know he cant go it alone, but he has to try before we'll know how far he can get by himself.

[RJDem]

6. LOL -- Obama is NOT a progressive

At best he is a centrist Democrat. What was that that people said here during the primaries? Something along the lines that he was like a blank mirror that reflected back to people the values they wanted to see in him, and not necessarily his actual views or policy positions? That was the best description of him I have ever seen.

What he says and what he does are two very different things. Is taxing the middle class on their current benefits a way to make the tax system more fair? No, not at all. Is making a middle class family that can't afford healthcare buy it without a mechanism to truly lower the cost of healthcare progressive? Not in the least. Where is the universal health care proposal? Hell, he has even said he could live without the public option, which is the ONLY mechanism to actually make private healthcare insurance compete on price.

Pay teachers more? Sure haven't seen that proposal, but I have seen his charter schools baloney, which is in essence giving rich people free private schools to their children.

His administration is rife with lobbyists -- all on "waivers" from his stated policy of course. His financial sector people are the same as Bush's and being just as generous to the fat cats on wall street.

First he was against NAFTA then he was for it. Same with FISA, and the patriot act, and on and on and on.

If you really wanted a progressive that had a viable chance of being elected you should have voted for HRC. She is majorly to the left of Bill, AND Obama. Progressives that voted for Obama got pwned.

[Avalux]

8. At best? LOL.

Your post is nothing more than a collection of anti-Obama talking points.

[RJDem]

9. Yes, at best

He'd fit in equally as well as a moderate republican. And I am sorry, what part of my so-called "talking points" isn't true? Did he not say he was against FISA, the patriot act, NAFTA, then do something completely different? Did he not tell us lobbyists were bad news then hire loads of them for his administration? Did he not turn his back on universal healthcare and say he could live without the public option? Did he not work behind closed doors to make a deal with big Pharma?

I mean, come on, which part of what I posted isn't factual?

You know, if liberals were as entralled with the liberal agenda and liberal values as they are with Obama (who is just a politician) we might actually get something accomplished in this country.

[Cha]

10. President Obama is making progress.

..this is as of July 20, 2009, courtesy of Political Tiger~ PO also just gave a Mission Statement Address to the UN that has a vision of a peaceful world..and the UN just approved a Resolution to rid the world of nukes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33001551/ns/world_news-unit... /


Political Tiger (1000+ posts) Mon Jul-20-09 06:36 PM
Original message

"What your President has accomplished just 6 months into his first term"

Signed executive orders to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year, ban torture and end the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and define treatment of Detainees.

Reversed restrictions on stem cell research.

Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Reducing discrimination based on gender, age, religion, or race.

Signed an executive order reversing the ban that prohibits funding to international family planning groups that provide abortions. Gag rule revoked (Mexico City policy).

Creates the White House Council on Women and Girls "to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families."

Signed a Presidental Memorandum extending federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers and announced support for the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009.

Reverses U.S. position on LGBT Issues at the UN: At the "Durban Review Conference," U.S. supports language condemning “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.”

Signed executive order requiring federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.

Reversed a Bush order requiring federal contractors to post notice that workers can limit financial support of unions serving as their exclusive bargaining representatives.

Signed executive order preventing federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses meant to influence workers deciding whether to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.

Created a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners.

Expanded eligibility for the refinancing portion of the Making Home Affordable plan to help Americans struggling with distressed mortgages refinance at lower interest rates, even if they owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are now worth.

Established a credit card "bill of rights".

Expanded loan programs for small businesses.

Extended and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch.

Expanded eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP).

Expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners.

Created a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.

Appoints Vice President Joe Biden to Oversee Stimulus Plan Payouts.

Granted a reprieve to Liberian immigrants facing imminent expulsion.

Directed military leaders to end war in Iraq.

Allowing Caskets to be photographed when the return from Iraq with family approval.

Released nine previously secret internal Justice Department memos and opinions defining the legal limits of government power in combating terrorism.

On Arab TV Network, Obama Urges Dialogue.

Gave a speech in Cairo engaging the Muslim and Arab world.

Bars independent contractors from conducting interrogations of terror suspects.

Granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.

Ordered the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush.

Restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program.

Released presidential records.

Required new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.

Pushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors.

Invites gay families to the Easter Egg Roll as part of the Obama administration's outreach to diverse communities.

Created a White House Office on Urban Policy.

Increased funding for the NEA.

Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.

Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps.

Banned lobbyist gifts to executive employees.

Investment in all types of alternative energy.

Enacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars.

Support for high-speed rail.

Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes.

Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.

Created the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers to help auto industry workers transition to new manufacturing opportunities, including jobs in alternative energy.

Stopped raids on medical marijuana dispensers.

Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic to ever serve on the Supreme Court.

Appointed more than 60 openly LGBT persons to positions in the executive branch.

Issues Presidential Proclamation for Pride, proclaiming June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

Signed a mercury reduction pact with 140 other nations.

Signed the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act to curb wasteful spending by the Pentagon. Intended to price contracts and budgets lower; may potentially save billions of dollars in defense.

Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which serves to protect two million acres of land and creates a new system of land conservation for the Bureau of Land Management.

Phase out government payments to crop producers making more than $500,000 a year and eliminates subsidies for cotton storage to help trim the U.S. budget deficit.

Cut funding for a proposed U.S. nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain.

Restored Endangered Species Act Provision requiring U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.

Orders The Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration "to protect and restore the health, heritage, natural resources, and social and economic value of the Nation's largest estuarine ecosystem and the natural sustainability of its watershed."

Signed the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act designating two million additional acres of public wilderness areas the highest level of government protection from logging and other forms of commercial use and development.

Signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act which will expedite the search for cures and treatments for millions of Americans living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, stroke, MS, Parkinson's and many other diseases and disorders.

Established The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, a new system for updating medical records of servicemen and women both during and after their military careers.

Established the White House Office of Health Reform

Created new and stronger safety standards to safeguard the country's food supply.

and

Got his daughters a new puppy!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8538282

[RJDem]

11. you forgot one....

Hired someone to keep a meaningless list of executive orders he signed that ANY Democrat would have signed, enacted, etc.

Hell, the stack of exec orders were probably waiting for him on day one, drawn up by the Democratic party.

Any many of them are just words, with no practical impact or effect. And frankly some of them are just ridiclous items that he has no control over, but that apparently political noobs are happy to give him credit for, and others of them are just extensions of things that even Bush had in place.

Nice document dump, though.

[Cha]

12. Yeah, President Obama is making progress whether

you open your eyes or not.

He's out there doing the work while you sit around and talk about "dumps".

Love the job they're doing.

[RJDem]

14. THIS is how they get you

Everything on this list is either a wish list item, easily signed by the president, or a bone with no teeth -- to politicians and interest groups whose support he needed to get elected. I'm not critical of that. EVERY president, regardless of party, does these things. If they didn't agree to lists like this they wouldn't get elected.

But is he progressive? Is he a leader? He seems more than willing to turn his back on 65-75 percent of his constituents that want a public option on healthcare.

Here is the acid test that will foreshadow his entire presidency: IF he signs a "healthcare reform" bill that mandates that people purchase health insurance without a public option in the bill, it will, literally, be the largest gift to a for profit industry in the history of the country, and possibly the world.

He has already sold us out to big pharma, and wall street.

I have been in the political side of the healthcare industry for 25 yrs, and here is my advice to you about ANY politician -- watch what they do, not what they say.

Final word, if he does veto a healthcare reform bill without a public option (which is the ONLY mechanism that will reduce health insurance costs by way of competition) I promise to post on the front page of DU "I was wrong about Obama!!!!"

[Avalux]

13. Thanks for posting this.

:hi:

[Cha]

15. You're welcome..I saved it from

Political Tiger's excellent post back in July.

Pretty soon we're going to have to update!

[Orsino]

16. He might be just progressive enough...

...to save the republic.

Any president, though, could be "made to do it." It merely appears our chances are a little better with President Obama.