Mark Whittaker, the NBC News Washington Bureau Chief who replaced Tim Russert, on Chris Matthews this weekend:
MATTHEWS: OK. Who’s going to break it to the blogosphere? They don’t like anything that looks like a give to the right. Where are they going to be on this thing? Are they going to give him a break if he doesn’t go hard left, if he doesn’t do what they want?
Mr. WHITAKER: I think that Obama has to worry as much about the far left as he does about the far right. But, look, you know, I think that it could be a plus for him in some ways because I think they are going to give him what you might call Sister Souljah moments, when he can stand up to them.
MATTHEWS: Right.
Mr. WHITAKER: I’ve been talking to some veterans of those early Clinton wars who think that particularly this issue–the card check push by the labor unions to change the rules on organizing could be a moment for him, either by delaying that, standing up to the unions, of positioning himself more in the middle and making it harder for the far right to position him the way they tried to during the campaign.
Right. Why doesn’t he tell the unions to forget about Employee Free Choice? It would make so many people who never liked Obama so very happy.
Well, there’s this, where Obama pledges repeatedly on the campaign trail that passage of the Employee Free Choice will be a priority:
And then there’s this, where Obama spent a day with union member and home health care worker Pauline Beck:
The Bush tax cuts have helped the nation’s top 1 percent increase their share of the wealth to levels unseen since 1928, just prior to the Great Depression. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty grew 26% from the time Bush took office through 2007. The war on unions has been unrelenting, and as Krugman notes, unions are one of the strongest institutional forces for income equality.
I realize the issue of poverty and labor don’t generally affect the lives of the DC chattering class, but they really need to give the class war stuff a rest.
If Obama extends the Bush tax cuts and tells Pauline Beck to get stuffed, he really would become the soulless hack they’ve always accused him of being.
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Good morning, Jane.
i don’t understand “Sister Souljah moments”. help?
From wiki:
“In United States politics, a Sister Souljah moment is a politician’s public repudiation of an allegedly extremist person or group, statement, or position perceived to have some association with the politician or their party. Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party, although such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician’s allies and the party’s base voters.”
Jane,
Obi is courting the right, he has a nice pro Irak war cabinet with not a single anti Irak voice among them. Will he make them “do the right thing” or will he bend to the right to “appease” the the chattering class and the power players? This may be a tactic, but it remains to be seen.
Every action he makes as distinct from his “pandering to the people” rhetoric indicates he a DINO. He’s stood pretty silent as Wall Street loots the people and leaves them drowning in a the economic mess WALL street created for MAIN street.
Not much hope there Obi.
NO NO NO.
You should “wait and see.”
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Fuck.
The media gasbags are some of our leading class warriors. All of them are in the upper 1% and jealously hold on to their privileged status. I think it is past time that the rest of us start fighting back. A top marginal tax rate of 95% on income over $250K would be a good start.
Obama’s up at some sort of governors’ conference. Live on cnbc which has gone to commercial right now during introductions.
thanks, i do understand that part. i’ll look up the rest.
The fact that “Sistah Souljah” is still used as shorthand for anything is testament to how brain dead the press continue to be more than a decade later. What glib vapidity and total lack of intellect or empathy these shits have.
I blame Clinton.
heh
Word to Whitaker — take the beam outa your own frackin’ eye first before you start talking about blogger motes.
Is this more spin by the Clinton people another leak? The economy is going to get worse the Clinton people have never understood that the GOP Hates Them!
Obama will need the Unions and the Left to get through the next few months.
If he wants to trust the DLC more than us fine but we are not leaking our agenda and saying its Obama’s.
Obama should Sister Souljah the DLC.
right on
The “let them eat cake” mindset of the chattering class is disgusting. They are not representatives of an honest 4th Estate but rather representatives of corporate and personal greed and the status quo.
It may be that there is no one who can turn the sinking ship of state around. I am still keeping a tiny corner of hope that we did not meet the new boss, same as the old boss. A tiny corner.
Biden on CNN talking to governors about fast tracking ready-to-go infrastructure projects coupled with long term planning.
I’m wellin’ up with hope.
Whitaker and Matthews, go take your shallow partisan pot stirring and eff yourselves.
OT realizing that you are a CNBC fan did you see this
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA6618023.html
Obama’s up on cnbc.
What the chattering class blithely ignores is, they are Sister Souljah.
cnn, also
Just what support does the DLC bring Obama this is the same group of Spineless twerps who could not end the war with a majority in the House and the Senate and a President with a 300% approval rating that was head down further.
By not acting by playing it safe they drove their approval rating below Bush’s!
Imagine how big we could have one this election if we had run on strong leadership and that we had ended the war.
These are extreme times moderates like the DLC will be ignored by everyone. Who will shape the change to come us or them?
Glad you got up in a ready-to-go mood this morning.
LOL
Who could have anticipated …
I’m not a cnbc “fan.” I watch it for clues for what’s going on in financial markets that are not available elsewhere. Have to cut thru a lot of garbage though.
Thanks for the link.
Sorry 30% approval rating
Obama hopes to “save” or create 2.5 millions jobs. That’s a HUGE change in vocabulary about his jobs goal.
In terms of infrastructure, while we certainly need to maintain our roads and bridges, will the new administration try to curb our enthusiasm for cars? The situation with oil is not good and getting worse. That is a whole nother ship to turn around, or aground as the case may be. It is all tied together with Iraq, GM, and jobs.
Mark Whittaker’s philosophy explains perfectly why blogs have been so extraordinarily successful. The blogosphere is a meritocracy where good, well written ideas succeed and the crap sinks fast.
NBC is still a craptocracy where the crap floats to the top of the hierarchy where it bubbles and festers.
Obama’s speech is mostly about fiscal responsibility for federal govt. Seems a bad time to raise that subject. What’s that a dog whistle for?
I see in re reading, that’s it’s only Tweety who mentions Unions – quelle surprise ! have he and Andy Stern ever been in the same room, building, zip code ?!?!?
anyone not expecting a President Obama to use us as his “bad cop” aint payin’ attention
A mass transit initiative could be a first step in weening Americans from the tit of the private auto. No reason why Detroit couldn’t shift part of their manufacturing to mass transit options i.e. light rail, street cars, non polluting busses, transcontinental high speed rail etc.
what the hell ?!?!? now I see the Whitaker quote about standing up to Labor, my bad.
Hah! And people thought Tim Russert was bad! This replacement is many times worse! This guy’s moral compass is non-existent. Hopefully this fact will be brought to NBC’s attention ASAP. They need to do what you do with all weeds; pull them out before they get a chance to spread. Without unions and the netroots, Obama would not win any election, including his next. He doesn’t have to change positions on this; all he has to do is follow thru on his promises and remember his roots. If he doesn’t, we’re all sunk, and we know it, even if NBC’s Mark Whitaker has no clue.
High speed freight rail from coast to coast would probably save the most fuel.
His intelligence is also nonexistent, and he always seems like he’s about to nod off.
yeah. That caught my ear, too.
oh, did I mention the AFL-CIO alone has a $30 million dollar war chest set aside to remind November’s winnahs to keep their promises ?!?!?
thanks! more please?
btw, anyone have an online streaming link?
It’s getting like the USSR. Gotta see who’s standing next to whom and which single word change in speeches.
He didn’t say much more. He’s there to “listen” and hopes to hear good ideas that work for states. Reached out specially to Rs. (Gosh, it would be nice if he reached out to us. *sighing*)
Did you see my recap of the Volcker speech on the prior thread?
Need a high speed rail network with hubs. It should be of the magnitude of Eisenhowers interstate system. It will also require massive improvements to the grid.
The trains own the land around their tracks they could put up windfarms along their track in deserted areas to power a high speed electric freight train.
They could sell the extra power they don’t need and make a profit.
now that is FABULOUS news!
Lots of jobs:)
If Mark Whittaker thinks it is a bright idea to Sister Souljah the unions, Obama can kiss his re-election hopes goodbye. Then again, being a GE tool, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the DC Bureau Chief of NBC. He doesn’t give a damn about the little people. They don’t watch the Sunday talk fests anyway.
Or maybe even a nationwide grid. Heard the other day the U.S. is the only country without one. (Guess that includes Canada, so it can’t be an issue of constructing one over vast amounts of empty space.)
It’s amazing how many people actually think Russert was a “journalist.” Many are saying he set the bar high when in fact he set it so low Gregory was the only one able to limbo under it on his back.
I know I’ve been drinking quite heavily since January 20, 2001, but did I miss all of Bush’s “Souljah” moments, when he told the oil companies, the obscenely wealthy, the war profiteers, the right-wing wackjobs, the crazed evangelicals, the neocons, etc. to go screw themselves? Because I don’t remember any of that. And did I also miss the crapitudinous MSM urging Bush to do any such thing? Because I seem to have missed that too.
And the blogosphere and the unions helped Obama get elected; Souljah never did that for Clinton. So yeah, there’s that difference too. As best I can tell, a Souljah moment involves symbolically kicking someone to the curb to send a message — not crapping on everybody who worked so hard for you.
Oh come on now, you’re making way too much sense. There is NO possibility that will happen. Remember John Snow? That’s about the calibre of the rail execs.
yes, thanks. haven’t listened for myself yet though…
Booyah! lol
Whittaker is just another GE corprorate lobbyist pimp. A real journalist would expose the crimes of General Electric, who owns Whittaker. GE is polluting the world with Nuclear Power, Unclean Coal, and Toxic Plastics.
Thats why Government should step in, also we should regulate the airlines again after all they still have not paid back that money Bush lent them after 9/11 or was that a give away?
What makes you think that there’s enough talent in govt to run all those industries?
Well good to see NBC has found a shill worthy of the great Russert. Whittaker is the prick you would find next to you on the Titanic, water up to his neck, giving you hell for criticizing the captain. Maybe he thinks the captain could tread water long enough to have a Sister Souljah moment with you.
Everytime I think that the MSM could not be any more braindead than it has already shown itself to be, an episode like this pops up. The Age of Stupid is still with us.
re whittaker. well, i guess this is to be expected. big pressure on obama from class warriors with very big soap boxes. and i don’t think there is anything that obama can do to stop it – if he capitulates this time it will just be something more outrageous next time. i’m not sure we can expect any politician to be able to stand up to that kind of pressure unless there is a countervailing force.
maybe, out of necessity, the msm will roll back some of these programs. ad $$ are going to get real short. that would be a good thing, imo.
Maybe Whitaker can get together with Charlie Gibson and they can both bemoan the capital gains tax.
We need a new definition for “talent” for all industries. The root cause of the failure of many industries is the catering to wall street who wants profits, they want them here and they want them now.
When pulling weeds it’s important to pull it out by the roots otherwise another weed will pop up. The root is the corporate media. As long as the current corporate media is the source for most of Americas information they will continue to do what they do, create rich celebrities and shill for corporate and personal greed.
20,000 US troops preparing to take to the streets of US Cities.
The Martial Law Plan (End Game) continues apace.
“Homeland”
“SS Troops”
Got Hitler?
Can they really be worse than the current CEO’s? GM’s CEO for example (I have been following him for years) has been wrong about hybrids.
He put out the story that Toyota was loosing a few hundred bucks on every Prius they sold. He pushed UV’s and Humvee’s.
GM’s market share and profits has gone down for decades! It would be hard for Obama to top that kind of failure!
I’m less familiar with the CEO’s of the other industries.
Obama could ask Warren Buffet if he knows anybody to run the companies.
Good Morning Jane!
Puff puff, can’t keep up with the pack this mornin’.
What’d you put in that chow?
Or do a tv show like Trump’s you’re fired or whatever it was called
I like it lets start with the banks:)
Hmmmm. Interesting idea.
I don’t know how much worse CEOs could get. We’ve been continuously surprised on the downside by our masters in both business & politics.
Very precise and succinct. Thank you.
Oh, I forgot, we are a “centre write” nation.
The MSM, Matthews and his ilk prominent among them, have become the ”nattering nabobs of negativism”. They are desperately trying to undercut blogs, as if they were an overly luxuriant pope wondering how to compete with a a too-charismatic Luther.
The MSM copy blog scoops nearly verbatim and without attribution, then deride blogs as if they were a hapless bastard son they don’t want to discover is an heir to the family fortune. Blogs are synonymous (hint to Chris Matthews, it means, ”the same as”) with the ”hateful Left”, though it’s always said without discussion of where the MSM put the center. To the MSM, blogs have sneaked into an institutional horse race with them, a nag in the Derby, so to speak.
It’s a useful distraction, I suppose, a way to avoid public discussion of the articulately posed questions about the thorny issues and policies that affect our safety, security and daily freedoms. Heaven knows that if being a journalist meant covering those, the MSM’s ”talent” would have to drop their toupee tape and style gel and do some homework, at which time having faultless bones and skin but an IQ of room temperature might become somewhat less desirable.
someone needs to look around a bit more ..imo .. work on “roads and bridges” doesn’t create all that many jobs any more .. it’s not the 1960’s anymore in terms of the labor force required to build highways ..