If you were working the phones for the Obama campain today, what would you say?

[rug]

[Teaser]

1. I would say

"AWESOMESAUCE"

[90-percent]

2. good question

"I'm exhausted."

-90% jimmy

Second choice would be my Zappa sig line

[Warren Stupidity]

3. I apologize for the last four years. The alternative is worse.

Please give Obama another chance.


I will not be allowed to work the phone banks.

[CantAffordBootstraps]

4. Not sure exactly, but I'd start somewhere around here...

President Obama's 244 Accomplishments

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2010/10/president-obamas-244-accomplishments-part-4/

[Jakes Progress]

5. "God, I'm sorry for what I said two years ago"

"Vote for Obama. The slide into hell will be a little slower that way. "

For the first time in 40 years, I will not be canvassing or doing phone banks. Sure I'll vote Dem, but unless we see some of what we "hoped" I can't muster the face enthusiasm necessary. I'll leave it to the unquestioning faithful. We got plenty. I just don't think they will be all that effective.

[mochajava666]

21. That's where I'm at, too

I'm so sad that he was such an outright liar.

[emilyg]

23. Yes.

[Scurrilous]

6. "Rahm Emanuel was right." n/t

[ProSense]

7. Obama is a Republican

If you're given a choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, vote for the real Republican.

Any Real Republican 2012!

[rug]

8. Oh, come on. What about Lily Ledbetter?

If you're asked about Afghanistan you can say the connection is breaking up.

[Sherman A1]

62. Precisely

and therefore, no support, no money and no vote.

[great white snark]

9. Disguising your voice isn't working Ms. Hamsher. Please stop calling.

[Exilednight]

10. More than your vote, he wants your money. Obama 2012!

[Fuddnik]

11. I'd ask them "How do you spell 'campaign'"?

[Logical]

12. I made over 500 phone calls last election. I am not doing it again. n-t

[whatchamacallit]

13. Fly you fools!

[Jakes Progress]

15. Ah. If only the forests of Lorien were just over the ridge.

[demmiblue]

14. I would tell them to stop being whiny... and then something about Sarah Palin. n/t

[frazzled]

16. I'd say ...

Pay no attention to the nattering nabobs of negativity.

[fugop]

17. Same as I would say every election since 2000...

"It's the Supreme Court, stupid!"

I mean, I actually could come up with a lot of other things, but whenever people tell me, "It's only four years. They're both the same," I can point to the Supreme Court we have today and say, "Wonder what would have happened if we didn't pretend Gore and Bush were the same. Remember Citizens United and ask yourself if it really didn't matter?"

But that's me. I won't throw out the baby with the bathwater ever when it comes to voting. And Obama is MILES ahead of any Republican out there.

[flpoljunkie]

25. It's not an exaggeration to say the Republican alternative would be disastrous on many levels

[Ter]

52. McDonald vs. Chicago unfortunately would have been reversed

That is huge to some of us.

[Hawkowl]

18. He's not as bad as Palin!

Really, that seems to sum up the basic argument I find among his most ardent supporters.

[boston bean]

19. Sorry.... nt

[90-percent]

20. another

A vote for the Republican will cut your arm off.

A vote for Obama will only cost you a few fingers and we'll let you keep your thumb.

-90% Jimmy

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FrenchieCat]

24. I'd say.....

I ask that you work for and donate to this President's re-election campaign today...

The Supreme Court Ruling of Citizen's United has left us with only one rational choice;
Either we fight with the President or we fight with the corporations against him.
Doing nothing is not an option if you truly care.

I'm asking that you give this President...8 years--
because you don't want to wake up being one of those who joined those
saying not only "NO" to 8 years via words and actions,
but even failed to give him 4, 3, 2 or even one 1 year.

There are those who still don't realize that this President was never supposed to get
it all done alone or in record time, but yet instead of ever showing any support,
they threw rocks at him every day, and desingeniously considered that their contributed "actions",
while also pretending that they didn't play a part in helping discourage our base,
while strenghtening the right wings' hand, which is how our opponents won majorities in the house
in 2010.

Sure, you were perhaps thinking this President would be different and get it all done....
but please don't buy into the big lie going around these days; don't join those on our own side
comparing 2.4 years's worth of this Presidency to 12 years of FDR, or even 8 years of Clinton.
Don't join them in their discrimination of having given those Presidents time.....
while actively judging this President negatively every minute of everyday since day one.

So what can you do about helping your own causes,
if you don't think this President is working for you?
Well first, get off your ass and do something positive that will reinforce the President's
hand in the PR battle waged against him by the Right leaning corporate media,
instead of joining with them. Don't allow yourself to be used by Republicans. Don't allow
them to use your opinions against this President to help their own agenda,
which really is the opposite agenda that you surely have.

I'm asking that you join me in defeating the opposition, and not defeating the only person standing in way of the opposition crushing not only your dreams, but those of future generations.

You see, this President stated that his Presidency was just a start to making change.
He has always asked for your help, an although few have given it to him, that is what
I am asking of you today; help him, if for no other reason, to help yourself and your children.

If you don't understand what I have just said, then more simply stated, don't expect this
President to save all of our constantly bitching collective asses by his lonesome while battling the assholes who have the money and the microphones to make your life worse than you could ever imagine.

As hard as times are now, doing nothing will make things much worse, if we allow our imagined ideals to turn us into nothing more than pawns for those who want to crush us like fleas without a second thought.

They've got Citizen United, and we have only you.

Understand that short term satisfaction of saying NO to me today just isn't worth the long term suffering that will befall all of us without fail if we allow the irrational opposition the upper hand by us doing nothing.

So please put your money where your mouth is, and support this President with more than just words, because even words of support simply won't be enough.

[TheKentuckian]

28. Logic fail: The President is an ardent enabler of multi-national corporations and preserver

of the failed and toxic establishment and strengthen "his hand" scuttles a people's agenda because it is diametrically opposed to workers and the poor since his worldview is predicated on corporate power and proto-fascist private/public partnerships as well as bipartisanship with the very folks we cite as the fomenter's of all entropy.

You don't get to call the opposition evil and in the same breath push ideological bipartisanship. The stance is absurd. You can't hold mutually exclusive positions.

Are the Republicans honest brokers and partners or are they wicked dumpsterfucks bringing the world down on our ears??? They can't be both and the party line message is in deep logical conflict.
If they are what you say they are then oppose them instead of giving them credence, cover, and certainly cease pretending they have ideas of merit and negotiate in good faith.

Are the Republicans who you say they are or who Obama says they are because that gulf cannot be bridged. Both appraisals cannot be correct.

[FrenchieCat]

29. You have a faulty opinion.......

IMO.

There will only be 3 choices in this election....

1. choose to support Pres. Obama's re-election

or

2. choose to work against Pres. Obama's re-election

or

3. Do nothing other than complain on how you think things should be,
(problem is that isn't a goal).

[TheKentuckian]

37. All roads seem to lead to the same neighborhood but I asked questions responding to your pitch

that presents plausible options but fails to respond to the meat of the concerns and questions brought.

If my assumptions are faulty the options presented do not address them much less dispel them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. EXACTLY!

You can't say, "Vote for me because the Republicans are evil and will wreck the nation--but I'm going to compromise with them whenever I can."

In particular, compromising when there is no need to compromise (when you have an absolute majority, as was true for two years) and failing to rein in your traitorous, two-faced Blue Dogs looks WEAK, and the voters don't like WEAK.

Instead of going to the Progressive Caucus and doing whatever he had to do to get them to sign on to HCR, he should have gone to the Blue Dogs and done that to them to get them to sign on to a public option.

Otherwise, it looked like he was taking his marching orders from the Blue Dogs. Which he probably was.

[boston bean]

31. Was that you that called the other day?

[rug]

33. That's not half bad, Frenchie.

I think that's the best that can be said. It still sounds hollow, though, especially when stacked up against the first campaign. Sorry.

[FrenchieCat]

35. Sounds hollow to you.....perhaps

but the consequences of continuing to fight this President,
by doing nothing...or more than nothing; attempting to influence others
to do nothing is a much more dangerous exercise to this nation in its consequences
than any "hollowness" you have chosen to read into my post.

[Maat]

36. Ummm ... the President IS WITH the corporations ...

or, better put, he's a tool of the Corporatocracy. Why would I donate to that effort? He showed me that shortly after he took office. He advocated a policy of "prolonged detention." Some of us call that denial of habeas-corpus-related and Geneva-Convention-related rights. Then, it only has gotten progressively worse. The so-called health care bill is exactly what certain devilish corporations wanted.

I had a list of things I expected him to correct when he got in ... he's failed to do so on every count. He's got four wars going (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan - yes, there's a U.S.-funded conflict going on there - and, now, in Libya - don't let anyone fool you, there's U.S.-led forces there).

He isn't slightly better than the other Corporatists ... he IS a Corporatist!

[FrenchieCat]

39. Those making statements that this president is a tool,

while encouraging efforts not to have us not to donate to his campaign are in spite of themselves,
the very tools they decry.....

I say this because these same folks never clarify where their attitudes would leave us with in this very real world of politics; with overwhelming Republican majorities.

In their world, it is their theory that they only need one man following their order in order to solve all of the world's problems, which is an unproven giant crock of shit that would need a dictator at its head. They never mention the media and what they would do about such.....a propaganda organ that would squash flat any and all attempts to get rid of corporations in this capitalistic society.

Tell us how you declaring the President a Corporatist solves any problems? Because I say that it doesn't do diddly squat...

[mwooldri]

26. I won't be working any phones for the Obama campaign at all.

Period.

We won't have a Senatorial election this year but of course all the House races are in play. And the NC legislature will be in play too.

I'd rather work harder on the down-ticket items and press forward the part that there may be a figurehead but it's Congress that legislates and we need more legislation in our favour.

Mark.

[zigzag69]

27. Obama doesn't need your help.

He is now the incumbent and no longer the new kid on the block. The 'change' mantra and grass-roots support is only needed for the new guy who is trying to overcome the establishment. Unless something really bad happens on Obama’s watch, he will be the shoe-in. He doesn’t need people to work his phones – that will be the other guy.

[27inCali]

30. you may not always agree with him

but he is the grown up in the room at a time when a lot of really bad ideas are being pushed and might have a chance to go through with an ideologue Republican.

He needs more Progressives in the House and Senate to push a more Progressive agenda. If Liberals can stand together long enough to do this, we can see a lot of the changes we want.

[harun]

32. I resign.

[johnaries]

34. I would point out his many, many accomplishments despite

the Congressional in-fighting; accomplishments which many people on this board choose to ignore, dismiss, or denigrate.

[lindalou65]

41. Obama campaign

I agree---he has made many accomplishments that many seem to have forgotten so a review is necessary and also to point out that change takes time. And, not everything we want will be achievable in the near term.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cherokeeprogressive]

40. You need to vote for Obama cuz he's the best you'll get in 2012. Got money? Donate today! n/t

[Duer 157099]

43. "Now with TWICE the hope and change!" n/t

[ProgressIn2008]

44. Honestly? "Oh, please. You have no choice and nowhere to go."

I don't believe that, personally, and I think that's actually part of the downward slide. However, if I had to come up with a strategy to convince disaffected and angry progressives, I'd go pragmatic and ruthless. Threaten them with a list of right-wing villains. Shame them with accusations that they don't care about women's rights, the poor, or race relations in this country. Frankly, I think that's where we are right now. I'd even openly and proudly state that this was my strategy, "for the good of the country." Then, I'd hope that the whole thing was a wake up call of cold water.

I could not bear to mouth a bunch of pretty promises I knew were lies. Somehow, that would feel less ethical, not more ethical.

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

45. I would tell them about all the Riders Obama saved us from. good enough?

[craigmatic]

46. That Obama has had a historic presidency and the republicans are bat shit insane.

[chowder66]

47. Turn off your television and turn on your brain. eom

[AtomicKitten]

48. Why do you ask? So you can be prepared with a good comeback before hanging up?

[chowder66]

49. If someone states they are displeased or upset about something

I would like to say that while the buck stops with the President it is our job to encourage our elected officials to stand with our president on the issues that matter most to us. We must ask our officials to show us that they are fighting on our behalf and are willing to go the distance. They need to be more available to their constituants via interviews, events, etc. In turn we need to stand by our elected officials when they need us and even when they don't.

It starts with us.

[90-percent]

50. Another

If we get our mandate back, we promise to actually use it this time.

-90% jimmy

[jab105]

51. I couldnt do it...

with the WAY in which he has given in to Republican framing on every issue, with the way he has met them 80% of the way and called it a victory, I cant find much of a reason to even vote for him myself, much less convince someone else to do so...

[CakeGrrl]

53. "Campain". Freudian?

:rofl:

[rug]

64. lol

[Vinca]

54. The other candidate is worse.

[mkultra]

55. That he rescued us from a depression

[Stoic]

56. I wouldn't. I'm too busy weeping. n/t

[BklnDem75]

57. Simply run down his numerous list of accomplishments...

While pointing out that Obama's only a President and not a king that rules by decree. How working together to get more Progressives in Congress does much more to advance our cause rather than expecting one man to do it by himself.

It's easier than you think.

[Beacool]

58. Nahhhh, it would never happen.

That is, working the phones for Obama. In case I somehow lost my mind and did make calls on his behalf, the only thing I can think of saying is "vote for Obama, he's slightly better than the Republican candidate". Hmmm, not much of a selling point, I better stay home.

:D

[NorthCarolina]

59. I'm sorry. nt

[protect our future]

60. "As usual, vote for the lesser of 2 evils."

[Strawman]

61. Probably read from some script about how scary Sara Palin and Michelle Bachmann are

Not like there is much positive to say to progressives these days. Maybe I might throw in something about what a "landmark achievement" passing Lincoln Chafee's health care bill with the House and 60 votes in the Senate was.

[polichick]

63. I'd say, "He's the lesser of corporate evils - right now...

...that's as good as it gets."