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Elizabeth Warren asks why is Obama appointing so many people from Citigroup

ONW said:
How do you unite a country under the leadership of a strong unifying executive when the other party's leader says their top priority is to make you a one-term President and promises to vote against anything you attempt to enact?
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You proclaim him to be a strong unifying executive and then immediately provide evidence that he's not. :noidea:

I get that it's easy to blame the "extremists" on the right when you're on the left (much like those on the right like to blame the extremists on the left), but I think you're kidding yourself if you believe that Obama was somehow a strong unifier. He talked the talk but never walked it. His approval ratings reflect that now. As his overall approval falls, the issue that people most disapprove of is the handling of health care, the issue on which he has been the most belligerent and shown no desire for unification.
 
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You're assuming it is possible to be a uniter in this political climate.

I definitely agree Obama wasted his political capital by giving it to Pelosi and Reid. No question there. But Republicans were dug in well before that. They were dug in right after he was elected and they weren't budging.
 
PhDeac said:
You're assuming it is possible to be a uniter in this political climate.

I definitely agree Obama wasted his political capital by giving it to Pelosi and Reid. No question there. But Republicans were dug in well before that. They were dug in right after he was elected and they weren't budging.
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Then he should have used his capital to bring them along (or crush them) and not a terrible piece of legislation that nearly no one (left and right) wanted. He punted on first a 10 from the oppositions 30 yard line.
 
He didn't punt. Reid and Pelosi are on his team. They just suck. He just handed it off to Josh Harris instead of keeping it.

He should have come up with this own plan and had his cabinet lead the charge to push it through. He didn't recruit a strong cabinet who use his bully pulpit. I was one of the first people here to use the terms "Legislator-in-Chief" and "Junior President from Illinois." I know he messed up. But don't act like Pubs were dug in as a consequence of Obamacare.
 
RacerDeac said:
You proclaim him to be a strong unifying executive and then immediately provide evidence that he's not. :noidea:

I get that it's easy to blame the "extremists" on the right when you're on the left (much like those on the right like to blame the extremists on the left), but I think you're kidding yourself if you believe that Obama was somehow a strong unifier. He talked the talk but never walked it. His approval ratings reflect that now. As his overall approval falls, the issue that people most disapprove of is the handling of health care, the issue on which he has been the most belligerent and shown no desire for unification.
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Again, how do you unify two groups when one's expressed intention is the other one's absolute failure at everything? Including the ideas that they came up with years ago? No desire for unification was attempting to torpedo the ACA rather than sitting down, doing the usual tit for tat, acting like adults, and trying to get things right for the constituents who elected you, not sound bites for MSNBC and FOX.
 
ONW said:
Again, how do you unify two groups when one's expressed intention is the other one's absolute failure at everything? Including the ideas that they came up with years ago? No desire for unification was attempting to torpedo the ACA rather than sitting down, doing the usual tit for tat, acting like adults, and trying to get things right for the constituents who elected you, not sound bites for MSNBC and FOX.
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A better leader (or executive) would have figured it out...especially with the wave of popularity he rode into office on. Again, if you want to be the leader of the free world you can't just throw your hands up and give up because you can't get the opposition party to agree with you. For god sake...that is what the man campaigned on. Do you think he would have won if he said "I will being hope and change to America if the republicans agree with me"?
 
No, but on the other hand, I'm an informed voter who knows how government works, so when Kennedy's illness and death ended the supermajority, we all know Obama had to get the Republicans to play ball and they weren't.
 
Then he should have made them pay the price until they did. For a guy that ran two amazing campaigns he is not very good at governing politics.
 
Pay what price? What political price is worse than how bad they got killed in 2008? They hunkered down BECAUSE they paid the price.
 
PhDeac said:
Pay what price? What political price is worse than how bad they got killed in 2008? They hunkered down BECAUSE they paid the price.
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Pay the price politically for opposing his policies that he has sold to the American public. He never did that. The only price they paid was a combo of the President's personal popularity (not so much his policies) coattails and pubs going way too far extreme. Look at the George W Bush model. He was able to pass funding for the Iraq Serge in May 07 with nearly 90 democrat votes in the House when that war could not have been more unpopular. He didn't do it because the Dems are nicer than the Pubs. He got those votes because they were scared as hell to oppose him. Obama has never been able to scare the Pubs into submission. Blame the Pubs all you want but the President never made his case well enough to the public on legislative issues.
 
What price though?

I'm not disagreeing that Obama never made his case. Not at all. But what price could the Pubs pay worse than the beating they took in 2008?
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
Pay the price politically for opposing his policies that he has sold to the American public. He never did that. The only price they paid was a combo of the President's personal popularity (not so much his policies) coattails and pubs going way too far extreme. Look at the George W Bush model. He was able to pass funding for the Iraq Serge in May 07 with nearly 90 democrat votes in the House when that war could not have been more unpopular. He didn't do it because the Dems are nicer than the Pubs. He got those votes because they were scared as hell to oppose him. Obama has never been able to scare the Pubs into submission. Blame the Pubs all you want but the President never made his case well enough to the public on legislative issues.
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You want to call scaring the opposition into submission good leadership?
 
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ONW said:
You want to call scaring the opposition into submission as good leadership?
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Skins is a Republican. What do you expect?
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
Pay the price politically for opposing his policies that he has sold to the American public. He never did that. The only price they paid was a combo of the President's personal popularity (not so much his policies) coattails and pubs going way too far extreme. Look at the George W Bush model. He was able to pass funding for the Iraq Serge in May 07 with nearly 90 democrat votes in the House when that war could not have been more unpopular. He didn't do it because the Dems are nicer than the Pubs. He got those votes because they were scared as hell to oppose him. Obama has never been able to scare the Pubs into submission. Blame the Pubs all you want but the President never made his case well enough to the public on legislative issues.
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So the successful "Serge" is a result of democrats being pussies and voting for it? Interesting.
 
either that or they were all for it
 
PhDeac said:
What price though?

I'm not disagreeing that Obama never made his case. Not at all. But what price could the Pubs pay worse than the beating they took in 2008?
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Then don't bitch about the Republicans not voting for his policies. If he is not willing to or not able to make the case he opens the door for obstruction.
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
Even if I were a republican (I am not) I have no idea what that even means.
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Hey don't worry about it...progressives need to file you somewhere if you don't toe the line.

You keep it up and you'll be a "flat earth creationist" in no time.

:)
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
A better leader (or executive) would have figured it out...especially with the wave of popularity he rode into office on. Again, if you want to be the leader of the free world you can't just throw your hands up and give up because you can't get the opposition party to agree with you. For god sake...that is what the man campaigned on. Do you think he would have won if he said "I will being hope and change to America if the republicans agree with me"?
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meh, fuck Obama but this is poppycock.
 
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