Can the Obama Presidency be saved?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

You promoted it! Just cuz you aint hearin what you like dont mean hijack!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

are you a squealer ????

Only when I am feeling mean.

[natty bumppo 297]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

are you a squealer ????

Only when I am feeling mean.

are you hearing banjos?

[Jamaican JNR 2]

Saving the Obama Presidency

On this day in 1994, Bill Clinton's presidency was saved.

It didn't look that way at the time. After threatening to keep Congress in session until a health-care bill was passed, then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell gave up and let members return home for their recess. The legislative push for universal health care never recovered, and scarcely 11 weeks later Republicans led by Newt Gingrich woke up to find that they had just won control of both houses of Congress...

Today the lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress take from that 1994 defeat is that they need to avoid Mr. Clinton's "mistakes." Avoiding mistakes, however, is not a winning strategy. A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on.

No doubt that would be a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, given how he has made health care his signature issue. Still, a wiser West Wing ought to have seen this train wreck coming. For months polls have shown a huge gap between the popularity of the president and the unpopularity of his policies. Sooner or later, one of these had to give...

Public skepticism increased when the Congressional Budget Office issued findings contradicting Mr. Obama's claims that his health-care reform would lower costs. And the more Americans have learned about the specifics, the more they dislike the plans. The president understands that he loses when he talks about substantive issues, which is why he's been fudging on the public option. He may not understand that he is closing the gap between his unpopular policies and his personal popularity in the worst way a president can: by reducing his own credibility.

Back in 1994, Mr. Clinton faced pretty much the same problem. Though he too had won the White House promising to be a new kind of Democrat, his first two years had a distinctly liberal tenor: battling over gays in the military, promoting a new energy tax, turning a promised middle-class tax cut into a huge tax hike, and trying to push through universal health care. Though he continues to deny GOP contributions to his success, after his 1994 health-care defeat, Mr. Clinton did what all smart pols do: He appropriated the most appealing parts of his opponents' agenda.

The result was a new Bill Clinton, embracing everything from deregulation and welfare reform to the Defense of Marriage Act. In his 1996 State of the Union, he even struck a Reaganite chord by announcing that "the era of Big Government is over." From this newly held center, Mr. Clinton advanced his presidency and pushed, both successfully and unfairly, to demonize Mr. Gingrich. Mostly he got away with it...

Even in the midst of a Republican resurgence, Mr. Clinton would go on from the defeat to become the first Democrat since FDR to be elected to two terms. By contrast, Mr. Obama's handling of the health-care debate—making villains out of cable television and insurance companies, questioning the motives of those who disagree, imposing artificial deadlines—suggests a rigidity typically associated with a lack of executive experience and responsibility.

At the moment, Mr. Obama plainly remains wedded to the view that the 1994 failure to get a health-care bill through Congress marked a catastrophe for the Clinton presidency rather than its liberation. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said his boss was "quite comfortable" with the idea that sticking to his agenda may well mean "he only lives in this house" for one term. Sounds like a man who appreciates the limits of a president's personal popularity.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...2806338544.html

His presidency was never in doubt. Some folks just have a different view re Health Care. I listened to a Town Hall meeting that the president spoke at approx 2 weeks ago and came away feeling more educated and less ignorant. The #1 question on everyone's mind was "how was he going to foot the cost of health care reform" He suggested several ways and I do think it will work if given the chance to.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

You promoted it! Just cuz you aint hearin what you like dont mean hijack!

Naw, I have never understood your city boys' grab #### games. Sounds kinda gay, even from around here.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

You promoted it! Just cuz you aint hearin what you like dont mean hijack!

Naw, I have never understood your city boys' grab #### games. Sounds kinda gay, even from around here.

I hear ya. Some of the guys here are probably closet fags.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

are you a squealer ????

Only when I am feeling mean.

are you hearing banjos?

Just South Park, and laughing my #### off!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Saving the Obama Presidency

On this day in 1994, Bill Clinton's presidency was saved.

It didn't look that way at the time. After threatening to keep Congress in session until a health-care bill was passed, then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell gave up and let members return home for their recess. The legislative push for universal health care never recovered, and scarcely 11 weeks later Republicans led by Newt Gingrich woke up to find that they had just won control of both houses of Congress...

Today the lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress take from that 1994 defeat is that they need to avoid Mr. Clinton's "mistakes." Avoiding mistakes, however, is not a winning strategy. A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on.

No doubt that would be a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, given how he has made health care his signature issue. Still, a wiser West Wing ought to have seen this train wreck coming. For months polls have shown a huge gap between the popularity of the president and the unpopularity of his policies. Sooner or later, one of these had to give...

Public skepticism increased when the Congressional Budget Office issued findings contradicting Mr. Obama's claims that his health-care reform would lower costs. And the more Americans have learned about the specifics, the more they dislike the plans. The president understands that he loses when he talks about substantive issues, which is why he's been fudging on the public option. He may not understand that he is closing the gap between his unpopular policies and his personal popularity in the worst way a president can: by reducing his own credibility.

Back in 1994, Mr. Clinton faced pretty much the same problem. Though he too had won the White House promising to be a new kind of Democrat, his first two years had a distinctly liberal tenor: battling over gays in the military, promoting a new energy tax, turning a promised middle-class tax cut into a huge tax hike, and trying to push through universal health care. Though he continues to deny GOP contributions to his success, after his 1994 health-care defeat, Mr. Clinton did what all smart pols do: He appropriated the most appealing parts of his opponents' agenda.

The result was a new Bill Clinton, embracing everything from deregulation and welfare reform to the Defense of Marriage Act. In his 1996 State of the Union, he even struck a Reaganite chord by announcing that "the era of Big Government is over." From this newly held center, Mr. Clinton advanced his presidency and pushed, both successfully and unfairly, to demonize Mr. Gingrich. Mostly he got away with it...

Even in the midst of a Republican resurgence, Mr. Clinton would go on from the defeat to become the first Democrat since FDR to be elected to two terms. By contrast, Mr. Obama's handling of the health-care debate—making villains out of cable television and insurance companies, questioning the motives of those who disagree, imposing artificial deadlines—suggests a rigidity typically associated with a lack of executive experience and responsibility.

At the moment, Mr. Obama plainly remains wedded to the view that the 1994 failure to get a health-care bill through Congress marked a catastrophe for the Clinton presidency rather than its liberation. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said his boss was "quite comfortable" with the idea that sticking to his agenda may well mean "he only lives in this house" for one term. Sounds like a man who appreciates the limits of a president's personal popularity.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...2806338544.html

His presidency was never in doubt. Some folks just have a different view re Health Care. I listened to a Town Hall meeting that the president spoke at approx 2 weeks ago and came away feeling more educated and less ignorant. The #1 question on everyone's mind was "how was he going to foot the cost of health care reform" He suggested several ways and I do think it will work if given the chance to.

Which funding solution do you think is the most promising?

[natty bumppo 297]

Saving the Obama Presidency

On this day in 1994, Bill Clinton's presidency was saved.

It didn't look that way at the time. After threatening to keep Congress in session until a health-care bill was passed, then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell gave up and let members return home for their recess. The legislative push for universal health care never recovered, and scarcely 11 weeks later Republicans led by Newt Gingrich woke up to find that they had just won control of both houses of Congress...

Today the lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress take from that 1994 defeat is that they need to avoid Mr. Clinton's "mistakes." Avoiding mistakes, however, is not a winning strategy. A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on.

No doubt that would be a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, given how he has made health care his signature issue. Still, a wiser West Wing ought to have seen this train wreck coming. For months polls have shown a huge gap between the popularity of the president and the unpopularity of his policies. Sooner or later, one of these had to give...

Public skepticism increased when the Congressional Budget Office issued findings contradicting Mr. Obama's claims that his health-care reform would lower costs. And the more Americans have learned about the specifics, the more they dislike the plans. The president understands that he loses when he talks about substantive issues, which is why he's been fudging on the public option. He may not understand that he is closing the gap between his unpopular policies and his personal popularity in the worst way a president can: by reducing his own credibility.

Back in 1994, Mr. Clinton faced pretty much the same problem. Though he too had won the White House promising to be a new kind of Democrat, his first two years had a distinctly liberal tenor: battling over gays in the military, promoting a new energy tax, turning a promised middle-class tax cut into a huge tax hike, and trying to push through universal health care. Though he continues to deny GOP contributions to his success, after his 1994 health-care defeat, Mr. Clinton did what all smart pols do: He appropriated the most appealing parts of his opponents' agenda.

The result was a new Bill Clinton, embracing everything from deregulation and welfare reform to the Defense of Marriage Act. In his 1996 State of the Union, he even struck a Reaganite chord by announcing that "the era of Big Government is over." From this newly held center, Mr. Clinton advanced his presidency and pushed, both successfully and unfairly, to demonize Mr. Gingrich. Mostly he got away with it...

Even in the midst of a Republican resurgence, Mr. Clinton would go on from the defeat to become the first Democrat since FDR to be elected to two terms. By contrast, Mr. Obama's handling of the health-care debate—making villains out of cable television and insurance companies, questioning the motives of those who disagree, imposing artificial deadlines—suggests a rigidity typically associated with a lack of executive experience and responsibility.

At the moment, Mr. Obama plainly remains wedded to the view that the 1994 failure to get a health-care bill through Congress marked a catastrophe for the Clinton presidency rather than its liberation. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said his boss was "quite comfortable" with the idea that sticking to his agenda may well mean "he only lives in this house" for one term. Sounds like a man who appreciates the limits of a president's personal popularity.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...2806338544.html

His presidency was never in doubt. Some folks just have a different view re Health Care. I listened to a Town Hall meeting that the president spoke at approx 2 weeks ago and came away feeling more educated and less ignorant. The #1 question on everyone's mind was "how was he going to foot the cost of health care reform" He suggested several ways and I do think it will work if given the chance to.

Which funding solution do you think is the most promising?

the poster didn't do homework before the meeting ... so the bend-over job was pure ....

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

You promoted it! Just cuz you aint hearin what you like dont mean hijack!

Naw, I have never understood your city boys' grab #### games. Sounds kinda gay, even from around here.

Aint no city boy young one. Get off yo fence and take a fvckin stand!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If it ain't the limey pomps hijacking my thread, it's the boys from Deliverance! Geeez!

You promoted it! Just cuz you aint hearin what you like dont mean hijack!

Naw, I have never understood your city boys' grab #### games. Sounds kinda gay, even from around here.

Aint no city boy young one. Get off yo fence and take a fvckin stand!

I stand on two feet, with my hands grabbing the butt and my finger on the trigger.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Saving the Obama Presidency

On this day in 1994, Bill Clinton's presidency was saved.

It didn't look that way at the time. After threatening to keep Congress in session until a health-care bill was passed, then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell gave up and let members return home for their recess. The legislative push for universal health care never recovered, and scarcely 11 weeks later Republicans led by Newt Gingrich woke up to find that they had just won control of both houses of Congress...

Today the lesson that President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress take from that 1994 defeat is that they need to avoid Mr. Clinton's "mistakes." Avoiding mistakes, however, is not a winning strategy. A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on.

No doubt that would be a bitter pill for Mr. Obama, given how he has made health care his signature issue. Still, a wiser West Wing ought to have seen this train wreck coming. For months polls have shown a huge gap between the popularity of the president and the unpopularity of his policies. Sooner or later, one of these had to give...

Public skepticism increased when the Congressional Budget Office issued findings contradicting Mr. Obama's claims that his health-care reform would lower costs. And the more Americans have learned about the specifics, the more they dislike the plans. The president understands that he loses when he talks about substantive issues, which is why he's been fudging on the public option. He may not understand that he is closing the gap between his unpopular policies and his personal popularity in the worst way a president can: by reducing his own credibility.

Back in 1994, Mr. Clinton faced pretty much the same problem. Though he too had won the White House promising to be a new kind of Democrat, his first two years had a distinctly liberal tenor: battling over gays in the military, promoting a new energy tax, turning a promised middle-class tax cut into a huge tax hike, and trying to push through universal health care. Though he continues to deny GOP contributions to his success, after his 1994 health-care defeat, Mr. Clinton did what all smart pols do: He appropriated the most appealing parts of his opponents' agenda.

The result was a new Bill Clinton, embracing everything from deregulation and welfare reform to the Defense of Marriage Act. In his 1996 State of the Union, he even struck a Reaganite chord by announcing that "the era of Big Government is over." From this newly held center, Mr. Clinton advanced his presidency and pushed, both successfully and unfairly, to demonize Mr. Gingrich. Mostly he got away with it...

Even in the midst of a Republican resurgence, Mr. Clinton would go on from the defeat to become the first Democrat since FDR to be elected to two terms. By contrast, Mr. Obama's handling of the health-care debate—making villains out of cable television and insurance companies, questioning the motives of those who disagree, imposing artificial deadlines—suggests a rigidity typically associated with a lack of executive experience and responsibility.

At the moment, Mr. Obama plainly remains wedded to the view that the 1994 failure to get a health-care bill through Congress marked a catastrophe for the Clinton presidency rather than its liberation. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said his boss was "quite comfortable" with the idea that sticking to his agenda may well mean "he only lives in this house" for one term. Sounds like a man who appreciates the limits of a president's personal popularity.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...2806338544.html

His presidency was never in doubt. Some folks just have a different view re Health Care. I listened to a Town Hall meeting that the president spoke at approx 2 weeks ago and came away feeling more educated and less ignorant. The #1 question on everyone's mind was "how was he going to foot the cost of health care reform" He suggested several ways and I do think it will work if given the chance to.

Which funding solution do you think is the most promising?

WERE FVCKING BROKE! There aint NO FUNDING! WE HAVE NO MONEY! Hes printin the shite like no tomorrow!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

WERE FVCKING BROKE! There aint NO FUNDING! WE HAVE NO MONEY! Hes printin the shite like no tomorrow!

Shhhh! UR scaring the phish!

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

WERE FVCKING BROKE! There aint NO FUNDING! WE HAVE NO MONEY! Hes printin the shite like no tomorrow!

Shhhh! UR scaring the phish!

[Danno 1,228]

I dunno, Bill - it sounds like that's what you are hoping for - for Obama to throw his arms up and say, screw what the American people elected me for, I'm gonna listen the Right because they deserve a second chance.

Now this has got to get the "Odealistic award" in this tread.

Jeez Louis, Stephen do you really believe the majority of people who voted for Barry could even name 3 things obama wanted to get done?

People were tired and voted for something new...... and you can't get "newer" than a Black president.

Now this is not to bust on Obamer, most often people vote the guy with the best hair or who looks better on camera.

Sure Obamer won but seriously don't kid yourself into thinking he had some "mandate", with those election results....in fact if another strong third party had run he might still be the JR. senator from IL.