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by Atlantian5
I guess it’s my week to write about polls, because this number in the new Gallup poll on President Obama really jumps out.
Americans see room for improvement in several aspects of President Barack Obama’s leadership at the halfway mark of his term. Their broadest criticism is directed at the president’s record of bringing about changes the country needs — a central theme of his 2008 election campaign — with 70% saying he needs to do a better job of this.
Conversely, only 28% say Obama is “bringing about the changes this country needs.”
So for all the hysterical screetching from the right over the past two years about how Obama is “radically transforming” this country — 70% of Americans don’t think he’s doing enough of that.
Conversely, the President likes to wag his finger at progressives and Democrats generally for being unrealistic about how much change he can deliver. But this poll shows yet again that it’s not just “sanctimonious” and “purist” liberals that are his problem.
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Expect a politician to change politics? We must be “fucking retarded.”
Incremental change that does not offend large piles of money now designated as people we can believe in.
Doesn’t quite have that bumper sticker feel…
Well maybe if we stripped away all those pesky regulations, he’d be able to accomplish something. /s
Right.
“Tinkering around the edges through corporate-friendly policies we can believe in.”
Doesn’t really work, does it?
He changed.
Hmmm. 70%. That’s enough to break any filibuster, right?
No, he didn’t. He tricked us from the very beginning, good and proper.
Boxturtle (Remember the Tom & Jerry cartoons where Tom’s head would turn into a sucker or a donkey?)
Yup that’s more accurate it seems.
What about “Obama/Lieberman: Spare Change is all you’ll have left”?
The real shame is that since the wackos have taken the House of Representatives and enlarged their numbers in the Senate, we have zero chance of seeing the change we need. I lay 100% of the blame on Obama for not standing up and leading. Obama will be lucky to get re-elected in 2012. He blew it big time. Obama is just another Clinton, and we sure as hell don’t need that.
70% think he hasn’t brought enough change while he caters to the 28% that think he’s done enough or too much. And most of them wont vote for him.
Yeah, that works
At what point does “incremental change” slow down to the point where we are “changing” backwards? I never was that good at Quantum Mechanics.
It’s more likely that he lied.
I’m convinced he either
A) Thinks there are enough Dems he hasn’t disillusioned to carry him through next year
-or-
B) He doesn’t care about winning a second term. Which probably means we’re going to see a whoooole lot of nasty legislation over the next two years. He’s going to do as much for his masters as he can in the time he has left.
“Chump Change We Can Believe in.”
He seems to want to do as much damage as possible during his term…he pretty much signaled it before he was even elected…and it started with FISA. We’ll have to duck and cover and hope we don’t end up with Jeb/Liz or something, since Cheney has come out from under his bridge to notify us that BO will only be a one-termer. He needs to be primaried.
Can change slow to the rate that it begins accelerating in reverse? Is there an Event Horizon in there somewhere?
Change: It’s all that’s in your bank accounts.
I want a Palin/Meghan McCain ticket!
So the Left the retards as Rahm calls us, the Left who Lieberman hates and Obama grumbles about is 70%.
That leaves the Tea Baggers at 30% their grass roots movement is the same guys who supported Bush until the end.
BT I’m part of the majority sob I’m with the cool kids and Obama is so desperate to join our group he is acting uncool to do it.
I think the two biggest changes that have occurred under Obama, so far, are the nuking of the left and the resuscitation of the Republicans.
Nuking the left would include the recent shellacking, the reversal in generic polls (whereby Americans are not feeling so good about Democrats anymore), the neutralizing of progressive movements and causes, to say nothing of the incredible drop in morale on the left since 2008. Women are leaving the party in droves. The party is almost literally dissoliving.
And the Republicans are up on their feet like the Living Dead, as surprised as anybody, as unready to rule as ever, and with that extra Tea Party twist. These are truly historic changes, but nightmarish inversions of what we wanted.
A Different Time
C) He knows that the GOP nominee will be so distasteful the the left that they’ll hold their noses and support him as the lesser of evils.
Boxturtle (Cthulhu for President! Don’t settle for the lesser Evil!)
Spew!!!!
He never tricked me, not for one minute. I was never fooled by his speechifyin’ and I only voted for him because I didn’t want there to be the slightest chance that Old Man Crazypants and Miss Media Whore 2008 could get elected. But frankly, I never dreamed he’d be this bad.
I read it as “he hasn’t made enough change, according to 70%”. Now, we don’t know what type of change people were thinking of when they were asked this question. Part of that 70% could account for Rethuglicans who feel he hasn’t been conservative enough.
That made me laugh! Thanks :)
You know, even during Shrub’s 8 years, as much as I hated him and what his administration was doing, I watched the State of the Union addresses. I felt like it was something we all should do. But I have to confess that I’m not sure I’ll watch this one. I think I’ll just be too mad and too frustrated. Obama took a mandate of generational proportions and…nothing. He just let is slip away, and in some cases purposefully sped that slipping away up (see negotiating with AHIP instead of pushing for Medicare for All or a public option).
I don’t believe a word out of his mouth anymore and I just don’t know if I can force myself to listen to him. How about you all?
The problem here is that people actually thought Obama was going to deliver massive changes. When campaigning he seemed to be channeling Lincoln, FDR, JFK,and RFK. The moment I recognized that during the primaries I knew 2 things: first, that he would win the election and second, that there wasn’t a chance in hell he would deliver. Seems to me that if he was truly going to accomplish “change we can believe in” he wouldn’t have started by catering to the usual Washington way of doing business. He said there would be open hearings, no meetings behind closed doors, and that legislation would be available for public viewing to allow people to read and decide if they supported the laws. Instead we got backroom deals, an administration that is actively trying to silence a major whistleblower publisher as well as arresting whistleblowers, and record profits for the insurance and financial sectors. If this is “Change We Can Believe In” I’d hate to see the changes we can’t believe in.
I feel the same, but I’ll watch and feel like an ambulance chaser.
Absolutely true. Though those Republicans overwhelmingly approve of Bush/Cheney, and the premise of the question is “change we need.”
This leftie won’t be voting for him. No more lesser-evilism! I implemented that approach in November when I wrote in “Medicare for All” instead of voting for the incumbent representative member of the Progressive caucus who promised to fight for it and then didn’t.
He has done the reverse of everything. He has betrayed those who voted for him…inexcusable.
I don’t think I’ll watch. Every time I listen to him speak I’m struck by how much he lies or manipulates the facts. I get increasingly angry and eventually just turn off the tv.
Too bad the acually going is 2 years away.
Well, Shrub’s SOTU speeches were great occasions that called for, hell demanded, drinking large quantities of alcohol. Each and every mispronounced word of them.
Looking at Obummah now is like looking in the mirror: everything is the opposite.
Clearly 70% of Americans are: a) f*cking retards, b) need to be drug tested stat (but charged up the yin-yang for said drug testing by the Health Insurance Industry), c) ridiculous “purists,” who have d) one & all joined the “professional left.” Oh, and btw, 70% no longer constitutes a “majority.” To be a “true” majority, it must be 150%, and nothing less.
Plus, geez, everyone who’s anyone realizes that the insanely shrieking victimizing 28% should always get everything they demand, no matter what.
Get with the program, sheeple.
100% of the Plutocratic Oligarchy say he was well worth the price.
Yep. He’s got two more years to stick it to the public on a daily basis.
Does that mean we have to dig up dead Senators to vote on legislation?
Trojan horse is apt.
Heh.
I stopped watching most SOTU addresses after Ray-gun was elected. I swiftly realized what Joe Wilson shouted out: You Lie! applies to each and every one of ‘em.
Couldn’t *bear* to watch Shrub evah! And NOW I cannot *bear* to watch Obomba, even though his speechifying is definitely less cringe-inducing… nonetheless, the Great Pretender lies as much as Shrub and all the rest.
Watching Presidents masquerade is about as interesting as watching Kukla, Fran and Ollie, because they’re both a dull and drab puppet show. At least Dubya brought some serendipitous humor to the occasion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzwaIYN2ZA
Eh – whatever works… aren’t they all vampires or zombies now anyway? And of course, there is always the ever-popular Zombie Reagan…
I won’t watch him. Actions speak louder than words. I’ll watch what he does in the next two years. We are going to take a lot of hurt in that time, because his political advisors believe that the place where they will win the election is the normally Republican suburbs plus women. That means he will continue to lambaste us. Forget the words, and follow the policies. There have been a few good executive orders lately. Prosecution of Assange, if it comes to that is an obvious litmus test, as is the reaction to collapse in Afghanistan (almost sure to happen in the next two years). On the other hand, if we are not annihilated by nuclear exchange in the mean time, we should still be thankful for small favors. I am.
Hey! Stop knocking Kukla, Fran & Ollie… I’d much rather watch them any day (albeit I do like the analogy; thanks for that).
Yep, and the best part are the moderate liberals and the centrists who claim that the things that have “gone our way” are signs of incremental change. Things like the attempt at health care reform and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should not be viewed as incremental change. They should be viewed as minor concessions to prevent the entire liberal base from crucifying the administration in the next election. Of course because nobody gives honest left wing politicians a shot at the Presidency and the GOP seems to be riding the wave of angry anti-everything voters I doubt we will see anything approaching real positive changes in the next decade at least.
Oh yes, indeed, the Elites are very well pleased with their hired shill, Pres Opposite Obama. He has done *exactly* as they ordered.
Don’t you need a Zombie RayGun™ to kill a Zombie Reagan?
It’s all those sanctimonious purists who are to blame. Let’s just throw that out there to obscure what’s really going on in America. And we thought the Republicans were full of deceptive and manipulative sh*t.
Perhaps… or one of those silver tipped stakes covered in garlic or something…
I have a Sanctimonious Purist Donor sticker on my Professional Left card…
Well ReTHUGS are full of it, too. However, we’ve now learned to our peril that Democrats just wanted to “keep up” with the rightwing… and they’ve unfortunately done a d*mnably “good job.” Caveat emptor!
We are “told” that people think he’s doing a good job, by the very people who survive (media) due to the $$$ they get from the people who Barry appeases on a regular basis…same goes for congress..money talks, BS walks. I think it’s all BS…polls/shmolls. They just make this shit up 24/7.
You’re nobody until one or more of Obama’s mouthpieces disses you for your leftwing bona fides…
Yeah, baby: now you’re talking.
I’m starting to think that, too. Maybe it’s all just made up. After all, who’s going to fact-check the pollsters? An organization might get the urge to, then have their purse-strings yanked by the PTB.
Now I’m just waiting for him to “trickle-down” on me. Then I’ll be rich and famous
When a government is controlled by corporations, it is called fascism by definition.
These people piss up.
Good. I hope it gets on their faces and in their mouths.
Me too! hahaha
I listen to Obama just to hear him say Pakistan. I assume he learned to say it that way on his curious trip to the region in his formative years.
Try not to laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhwEvmPBkiE
The title to that video was President Obama Says Its Common Public Knowledge Pakistan ISI Orchestrates Taliban Attacks. If that’s common knowledge, Mr. Puppet, then it’s also common knowledge that the ISI is a division of the CIA. Frankly, it might be knowledge, and it’s out there for all to see, but what good is something to see when so few have eyes to see it.
POCK E. STAHN
To be redundant, I quoted from this not that excellent but still somewhat noteworthy article in the recent Vanity Fair. It’s about the lamestream media, but in particular about Fake. But I think it pretty much applies across the board and not just to the RushGlennSarah’s.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/02/wolcott-201102
It’s just gibberish 24/7/365 meant to fake-out, confuse, obfuscate and otherwise outright lie to one & all. The end.
Yup.
Too true, but what’s it called when no listens or pays attention?
Silent Coup
Sadly, most citizens don’t give a sh*t, and even if they admit that they know this, they don’t really care. And so, then what? The Oligarchs win! wheeeee, and innocents die…. wheee…. and the rich get richer… wheeee…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUy9ePyo6Q
Yeah, baby… now you’re talking yet again. Indeed. And no one cares…
heh…
out of fashion-ism?
We care.
and FWIW….
Too true, most people don’t have the capacity. Reciting Shakespeare to Eggplants would be more effective, so instead I laugh and cry as I watch our collective lives flash in front of us before our last collective breath.
Reach into your pocket or purse. Feel the change. That’s the (small) change you can believe in.
Obama told the truth.
Yes, but we are no one, so “no one” cares.
To many democrats believe “he’s doing the best he can”
All I feel are wooden nickels.
And he is, for his Plutocratic Masters.
heh…along the lines of “it doesn’t matter”…because…”it is all an illusion”…if you follow the question “who am I”…not body, not thinking, etc., you end up with “no one”.
Where did you hear or read that? How do you know?
I don’t see how Obama can sleep at night after he continues to pack his inner circle with key figures from the banking cartel, banksters like Bill Daley and Gene Sperling, especially after knowing that virtually all independent financial experts have said, as Barry Ritholtz points out, that the economy cannot recover until the cartel’s member banks are broken up:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/01/virtually-all-independent-financial-experts-say-that-the-size-of-the-big-banks-is-hurting-the-economy/
Only a sociopath with a heart of stone could lie for the banksters. And it sounds like Glen Ford, who co-founded the Black Agenda Report, would agree with me that Obama fits the profile of a stone-hearted sociopath:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6075
David Dayen has a fresh cross-post ready: Tucson Shooting Video Reinforces Need for Gun Safety Laws
Good one, as usual Cynthia.
I can’t cite a source because I don’t remember when/where I read it, but I *clearly* remember Obama being quoted as saying he wasn’t afraid “to be a one-term President”. At the time I thought that meant he was committed to making serious changes even if it jeopardized his re-election. Now I think he only needed one term to entrench the Bush excesses, make his masters and buddies richer and insure to himself a huge paycheck after he’s out.
BT, what a red herring? The polling is misleading it seems because 75
% of this country identifies themselves as conservatives or independents so whatever change this group wants which has not been achieved, we may all be better off for this deprivation. If some of the 25% “liberal” slice is in the 70% you recite it certainly is in the minority. So what is your point?
Which is why my family has taken to calling him The Oligarch Whisperer.
Yes he did.
Ding.
The problem with the two-party system is that the Dems feel that they need only be the lesser of the evils. That it didn’t work last November can be summed up in two words: hippie punching.
What are your figures based on?
Oh I wasn’t even talking about media (which is a joke since they’re all owned by the corporations with direct ties to other industries screwing things up). My comment was considering the people I know who argue with me about my being unrealistic and too demanding. I consider these folks to be too holding on too tightly to this idea that change can really happen with the falling political participation of the left wing, the absence of any powerful left wingers on Capital Hill, and the ever rising troubles in our federal system. I consider myself a democratic socialist and so of course any conversation I have with my centrist friends eventually results in my views being dismissed with “well you’re talking about socialism, which isn’t what we’re talking about”. I really just wish that more people would talk about politics in a major way. No more squabbling over names and highly volatile but already decided issues like abortion. Just focus on what problems are occurring right now, why it’s happening, and what we can and should do to change it.
I agree with you.
I have to say that the vast majority of my Democratic-voting friends and acquaintances all say something similar: that Obama is “doing the best he can,” or that “it’s not Obama’s fault because of the obstructionist Republicans,” or that “I believe that Obama really cares,” etc ad nauseum.
I hear that A LOT. I think I almost get more “push back” from my trad-Dem friends than from rightwing zealots re Obama.
Very sad. They do NOT want to wake up & smell the coffee and wish to remain in “let’s victimize ourselves to the Republicans” la-la land.
It could also read Tucson Shooting Video Reinforces Need for Involuntary Commitment Laws.
In yet another attempt to exploit the Arizona Shooting Spectacle for gain and /or leverage, the Department of Homeland Security, as announced by Janet (why do so many Janets in high-ranking Government positions look like men) Napolitano, is urging states to take a look at, and revamp if needed, their laws and policies in regards to mental health. One of the congressional advocates for this approach, had the following to say:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/16/lawmakers-close-look-needed-at-mental-health-issues/
Murphy, who worked as a child psychologist before he was elected to Congress, said he hopes members of Congress and those in state Legislatures will be motivated to now “look carefully at their mental health systems and their involuntary commitment system laws,” to prevent future attacks.
And for all those who say it couldn’t happen here…it has happened here. Rent and watch Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling for an entertaining, yet highly disturbing, introduction into the world of Involuntary Commitment. It didn’t just happen in Nazi Germany.
I guess we could look on the bright side. Once we get thrown into the Asylum, we will get to meet each other in person, which probably would never happen otherwise. Wouldn’t that be grand?
heh… I’ll give a try. As I stated, just above, even my trad-Dem voter friends give me push-back when I try to speak about the stark reality of the class war… And the class war is kind of like Voldemort in the Harry Potter Series: it’s the War whose name can never be spoken in our brain-dead society.
The Change We Can Believe In Story written By Obama below
1st Obama endorses the Bush agenda of spying on and killing americans
2nd Obama attacks Unions (the F! the UAW moment screams republican)
3rd Obama double downs on Bush Wars, (now they are Obama wars)
4th Obama attacks Teacher Unions (teacher unions now hate OBAMA)
5th Obama does not attack the Banks? he bails them out? (sorta like what the GOP does)
6th Obama passes the Bob Dole Health Care Bill (Bob Dole is a republican)
7th Obama kills the Public Option
8Th Obama kills Drug Importation
9Th Obama APPOINTS an insurance executive to manage his health care Bill
10th Obama does not APPOINT Dawn Johnsen
11th Obama hand picks the cat food commission to destroy Social Security
12th Obama supports Blanche Lincoln, a candidate who hates Unions, and has no chance of winning
13 Guantanomo still open for business
14.Patriot Act renewed
15. renditions continue
16. Bernanke reappointed
17. Americans targeted for assassination
18 Obama is all for sending more USA jobs off shore
19 Obama is for tax cuts for the RICH!
20. Obama and the TSA porno Scandal
21 Obama freezes federal wages for 2 years
22. OBAMA TARP Funds for Legal Services for Foreclosure Victims Blocked By Treasury
23. Obama lowers estate tax for the rich
24. Obama tax bill of 2010 GUTS Social Security
25. Obama wants WikiLeaks Assange charged with espionage.
26 Obama Fake Net Neutrality Caves to AT&T,Comcast
27 Obama Wall Street Buddies foreclose on USA soldiers Homes
Coming in 2011 the David Axelrod and David Plouffe Comedy Show, these two guys try to get a Con Man name Obama re-elected as President.
Progressives are going to laugh for days at jokes made by David Axelrod “Obama is a progressive”
“Obama cares about the USA middle class” :)
get your pop corn today, so you can enjoy this awesome comedy coming in 2011
If they cannot push prescription medications on us to get us to STFU, I guess involuntary commitment is the next step for those of us who are sanctimonious purist members of the f*cking retarded “professional left.”
Forewarned is forearmed, I suppose.
personally i do not want any more change from Obama. We can live without the kind change hes planning with alan simpson
Thanks for that list (I guess). Definitely highlights *some* of the perfidy, albeit not all of it.
That number that believes that he’s made just the amount of changes needed corresponds nicely with the percentage of people who are diehard right-wing GOP fanatics, true supporters of Cheney/Bush. Of course they think he’s making the right changes; he’s bankrupting the middle class, smothering the working class, and enriching the ruling class.
What is there not to like?
Gallop polling. Yu can check it out at realclearpolitics
The GOP and the Luny Right and some on the Far Left do not like to hear this but OBAMA has actually accomplished as much in two years as few other Presidents have (in four or even eight years), including most of the Democrats and most of the Republican Presidents as well. So, at least he changed one thing… the status quo over the past 50 years. He has also restored American values abroad, which as any educated person would know, was in negative territory for many, many years. However, he must get to the finish line and get there in a hurry….. Close Gitmo and those wars down and bring em home !!!
The problem with your interpretation of this poll, is that when they break down the responses by party, only 9% of Republicans think that Obama is bringing about the changes that are needed, while 53% of Democrats think that he is. I am guessing this means that different people have different definitions of what kind of change is needed. The 70% of people who think we need more change could therefore include people who think we need to do more to reduce government spending, as well as people who think we need to do more to socialize the economy. My guess is that the 70% of dissatisfied people are probably pulling in quite a few very different directions.
http://www.hopeandchange.net
I have a problem with pollsters…they don’t ask everyone, and then they claim a percentage of 100%…they make up most of it. I’ve never been polled and I’m getting older…
Another reason why people say that there is not enough change, the banksters are still stealing from us so let’s move our money http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/2841/
Ok, this is just silly. Here, with only two choices (“bring about change the country needs”), the poll lumps liberals who want him to go further with conservatives/others who wanted change, but in a different direction altogether. In asking the question, the poll doesn’t make any reference to Obama’s campaign pledges for change — what “change the country needs” means is whatever the person taking the poll thinks it is.
This is like the polls asking whether someone likes the health care bill, leaving only yes/no. We know from other polls that provide more options that a significant portion of the “no” answers are from people who think the bill doesn’t go far enough, but inevitably conservatives lump them in with the people who didn’t want health care reform at all to show that their view is supported by a majority.
Simply put, for the poll to have any meaning whatsoever, Gallup needs to ask better questions.
Move it over to me…hahaha
Sometimes, it’s like people can’t read…
“Conversely, only 28% say Obama is “bringing about the changes this country needs.”
So for all the hysterical screetching from the right over the past two years about how Obama is “radically transforming” this country — 70% of Americans don’t think he’s doing enough of that.”
When the right complains about the “radical transforming” of this country, they are referring to what they see as substantial but unnecessary (even harmful) changes. So anyone who looks at President Obama’s performance and concludes, “He is making a lot of changes but they aren’t the ones I think are necessary” would count in the same 70% as those who say “I like what he’s done but he needs to do much, much more of it.”
Perhaps it’s a poorly asked question, but without additional information that was not presented, the OP conclusion is indefensible.
Thank you again for existing, FDL. I’m trying to give you up, to give up politics and news and anger for my health, and only looked in after accidentally hearing what the Alabama governor said about me (and I don’t want him for a brother, how dare he think might).
There are only two political points of view. Both consider Obama a change-bringing liberal. Republicans hate him for it, Democrats love him for it, both spout the same line, just with differing tones of voice, and both are lying to themselves and us. The truth, that he’s a republican, that republicans only pretend to object to him so he can carry on with The Agenda undisturbed by voters of his own party, is (almost)never spoken except here.
This poll is heartening. Or would be, if I hadn’t given up. :D
(I would donate all the time, if I hadn’t heard just those very few voices here that stick up for the Fort Hood killer – not bloggers, only commenters, and only 1 or 2 as far as I’ve seen.
Which brings me to: why is the Arizona shooting starting to seem like the only shooting that has ever happened? It even seems like the only tragedy that’s ever happened. Killed soldiers and killed Iraqis are of more interest to me. I must be bad. My sense of proportion is clearly whacko.)
I know what you mean.
I know some O supporters who won’t speak to me anymore. During a somewhat heated (on their end) conversation I made the point that O was worse than Bush because he has expanded and institutionalized Bush and that I could not, and would not, support him. They were aghast that I would, to summarize and paraphrase, dare to even think about allowing Palin to single-handedly destroy the world and said I had a duty to support Obama and that it was immoral not to.
Some people cling to beliefs as if they are some type of existential truth that must be followed without question or analysis. I’ve known right-wingers like that and I’ve known Christians like that and I know Obama zealots like that.
They don’t poll all Americans, so the poll cannot remotely reflect truth; other than that they could say, ” blank% of the Americans polled”…
atillathebun says
“The GOP and the Luny Right and some on the Far Left do not like to hear this but OBAMA has actually accomplished as much in two years as few other Presidents have (in four or even eight years), including most of the Democrats and most of the Republican Presidents as well”
What group caused the 2008? the Luny Right
What group just pass the Obama/Bob Dole Health Care Insurance Profit Plan? Obama and the Phony Dems
What group just pass the OBAMA/Bush Tax Cuts? Obama and the Phony Dems
What group ignores main street and jumps in the bed with Wall Street? Obama and the Phony Dems
What group just raised taxes on the working poor and cut taxes for the super rich? Obama and Phony Dems
What group has been Right with all the answers and solutions for USA woes, and predicted all of the USA failures for years? Yes the Progressives!
You can learn a lot from a PROGRESSIVE! :)
Why do they mostly report blond, white young women missing…??
See my comment to the same effect and BTs response upthread. The question was posed as “change we need”.
defend this simple poll
80% of americans think the only issue in the USA for last 2 years has been JOBS nothing else
Obama and the GOP ignore the 100,000 pound gorilla called “USA CITIZENS WANTS REAL JOBS” instead they focus on making Health Insurance Companies Rich.
why doesn’t the media talk about the only issue in the USA? because the corporations who are screwing the USA own the Media
so POLLS about BS don’t mean BS!
Ask Americans what is the number 1 issue in USA? and an overwhelming majority will say REAL GOOD PAYING JOBS
I think it is because of the symbolism implicit in the attempted assassination of a political figure. The snap reaction I heard repeatedly was, “So the Second Amendment remedies have begun…” I think this gives people the impression that this was the first shot of something really terrible…or it could be just the sensationalistic curiousity of the moment.
Except… I’ve already decided that I won’t do that. I’ve been a solid left-leaning Democrat for over 30 years, and I’ve had it with Rahm’s attitude bleeding through in Obama’s comments. Obama now has a great deal to prove to me if I’m going to vote for him again. And he doesn’t have much time to prove it. He has two years less change… um, let me rephrase that…
The problem is, a poll of “Americans” is not the same as a poll of actual voters. Politicians are only going to do what actual voters want them to. They care nothing for “Americans.” And in the last election, the actual voters voted for teabagger and republican candidates and right wing policies. Until the actual voters vote differently, hopefully in 2012, most politicians are going to support teabagger and republican policies. If you want to change the world, the best thing, really the only thing for the average person, you can do is get people to vote.
In 2008 a lot of people voted.
the problem is not voting.
the issue with OBAMA and a lot of Dems is that they lie very well.
I enjoy the way Obama and other Dems lie, and smile after they lie. :)
the ability to lie and smile after you lie is a common trait in DC.
That line of “The Republicans are worse” worked fine for them. That is, until Obama proved it wasn’t true. He’s not as stupid as Bush, but he exceeds him in every other fault. I haven’t seen Obama exhibit one trait that I would identify as aligning with Democratic ideals.
How Obama–or any of his stupid shills and enablers–can claim that his presidency has been a success is totally amazing to me. For two years and counting he has literally done nothing about the 10% unemployment (probably more like 20%) or the massive foreclosures. In any sane world, that’s failure! It’s also negligence, as well. I can’t believe he’ll get reelected with his crap record. It shows how far we’ve fallen.
Yes. I know whereat you speak. It’s not just rightwingers who are authoritarians. Authoritarians exist on both sides of the aisle. I call it “stinking thinking” (thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous) and/or being extremely lazy.
Palin was *hired* by the PTB to goad Democrats/liberals/progressives not just to vote for Obama in 2008, but the next time around. Obama is the perfect Trojan Horse darling of the Oligarchy with Palin as his perfect foil. Citizens who fall for that particular bit of the ongoing Kabuki show have really stopped paying any attention to what’s going on. These are generally the same types of people I encounter who refuse to countenance that there’s the enormous class war happening – and I’m talking about both conservative and “leftist” friends. NO ONE wants to admit this simple fact, and I’m still somewhat mystified at the extremely deep denial there is about this factual reality that is completely obvious if you just pay a little attention.
Go figure….
With all due respect, Obama’s presidency has been an outstanding success… for the elites! And that’s who Obama and his admin are serving. So I don’t find at all amazing that they lay claim to success. It all depends on perspective.
I’m not surprised people aren’t talking about “the enormous class war” because it has been going on for over 45 years (if you take the long view it’s been over 130 years). The main problem is people have defined class warfare in this country as an attack against the wealthy instead of an attack by the wealthy against everyone else. Thus, a good chunk of the voters decide to protect the aggressors and the rest vote to fight back only to protect them anyway.
He certainly has changed my opinion of democrats!
I’m voting for Palin. I don’t really believe anyone could work with her.
Jed, I understand your view, however I will respecfully submit one simple question to you and every other “progressive” and/or far left winger. How many of you have ever been elected to be President?…. none
And how many of you will ever be elected President? none
Like the Luny Right might never say, but some in the far right Democratic or even some in the Gop might even say…. there are compromises to be made. This is no fairytale story for our country, its about where we were, (our time might be now) what we want and where we are heading and it can be a very slow process.
The right wing in this country is under rated. They have money, power and a very, very strong backing. And they got billions of bucks. Underestimate them at your peril. They are a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, that means the far left progressive elements get marginalized at times.
Sorry for the blunt truth. But its true….
Hang in there and keep being right…..
:)
No he didn’t. Obama has always been a power-driven fascist willing to sell out anyone to obtain the top job in America of bending over backwards to please the corporate masters. He simply fooled a majority of Americans desperate for real change into thinking he was serious about implementing any.
Thus, the Democrats got crushed in 2010. No surprise.
Obama has been a miserable failure. He’s going to continue being a miserable failure till the end, which will hopefully come in Jan 2013.
Obama did more than marginalize his base in ’09 and ’10. And it’s not just “the far left progressive elements” who feel betrayed by this sellout.
Come on Obama, hurry up and change the entire country!!!
I missed your post on my first scan through the list, but it looks like we’re in agreement that the question as posed was about the “change we need” and not necessarily the “change we got” or the “kind of change Obama has so far endorsed/represented to those polled”.
My comment was targeted at the original poster whose interpretation was sloppy (to be kind). Despite your help, the original poster’s response showed no further understanding. There are always things that people will feel need changing – even those who supported the old administration (maybe they think we need to repeal Social Security or we need to change to a flat tax – both would be changes).
Boy, you really don’t know KFO. It was witty and sharp, and was loved by Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, and James Thurber. You don’t know what you missed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kekg9g819Ks
Actually, this comedy will play out more like a tragedy. SPOILER ALERT: In the next election, just like every other that came before it, the progressive population, despite years of being ignored and unrepresented, will once again march to the polls dutifully and vote for a fake progressive, Obama, one more time.
All the while convincing ourselves that there is something inherently better about a fake progressive than a true blue conservative. When in fact,policy wise there is no difference in the last 4 years compared to the 8 under the Shrub.
It’s already becoming the mantra of the Obama administration so I expect to hear this good Dems vs evil GOP cranked up to feverish pitch by 2012.
Remember, America is the ANTI-Democracy – we don’t vote to put good people in office, we vote to keep worse people out.
The sad reality here is that the Tea Baggers are willing and able to start a third party in response to what they see as lack of representation from the GOP. Not conservative enough, not racial enough, not hateful enough…whatever. Whether their agenda is tweaked or not, the scary fact of reality is that THEY are now a driving force in Congress. Actually manipulating legislation!!!! My GOD!!
Progressives are NOT. What does that say about the future of ‘progressive legislation’ guys?
Seriously?
You’re absolutely right, Mule. It’s been the voting for the lesser of two evils over the past several decades that have gotten us to this point. If people would reject the fallacy that by not voting for one of the two major party candidates one is “wasting their vote,” we would not have the same level of political corruption and ineptitude that we have now. The only wasted vote is the vote not cast. But it is one’s civic duty to vote for the person they feel is best qualified to represent them. If you don’t vote for the person best qualified to represent your views, you’re guaranteeing that your views will never be represented.
His defenders keep yammering about how difficult it is to get things through the Senate because of the republican blockade. That’s true enough. But there are lots of things that could have been done that didn’t have to go through the Senate. Think executive orders, think recess appointments, think departmental regulations. There are a lot of things he could have done that he didn’t do, and it surely appears as if he was afraid of offending the republicans. To quote a senile old man, “That’s not change we can believe in.”