DISQUS

GusII · 1 month ago

Maybe someone in the Whitehouse needs to 'man up.'

larryv · 1 month ago

ha ha ha ha...you are kidding right. The brain trust...that covey of ball-less bunch?

Chris From Maine · 1 month ago

Obama is getting desperate now. He wants ANY bill as long as it does SOMETHING.

He's willing to sell out his base (us) in order to get something he can run on in 2012.

Hope? Change? Nah, just same old BS.

larryv · 1 month ago

HE HAS BEEN AND HAS SOLD OUT HIS BASE BACK IN JUNE. TODAY AINT NEW.

nicho · 1 month ago

Yeah -- hope and change are kind of dead for 2012 -- and he'll probably have a split Congress starting in Jan 2011. So, he had better get some solid accomplishments under his belt in the coming 11 months.

larryv · 1 month ago

If he cannot get off a dime now with a majority do you really think it will change between now and 2010 election. The Brain Trust believes they are cleaver as shit and do not need to do anything different other than maybe tact right. The question is who do we primary for prez in 2011?

cereal · 1 month ago

I think it's official now that Obama kind of sucks.

His pathetic wishy-washiness, refusal to stand up for what he campaigned on and was elected for, his betrayal of key supporters and issues (like gay rights)..it's inexcusable and nauseating.

The wingnuts' caricature of Obama as a tyrannical Stalinist Fascist Muslim activist out to drink baby blood..it's of course howlingly delusional and insane, but even more so due to the fact that so far, Obama makes Bill Clinton look like Che Guevara.

Asterix · 1 month ago

Yes, but he's black and has a Nobel peace prize. And after he's out of office, he'll rake in a pile with speaking engagements.

larryv · 1 month ago

Great...then in 2013 he will not have to worry about a mortgage payment, unemployment check, groceries, the girls education Good for him.

NotTimothyGeithner · 1 month ago

He gets a Presidential pension for life. Anyone making those lifetime pensions Presidents, Congressmen, Senators, Generals should be banned from earning additional money after they are out of the job. It would solve a lot of problems.

larryv · 1 month ago

Hey if he can make a buck...God bless him...I just want him and the others to pay for individual health care insurance from United Health or BC/BS and be locked out of the taxpayer supported insurance they get while in office. No medicare.

NotTimothyGeithner · 1 month ago

I figure if you ban that kind income, theres no incentive to reward corporate buddies beyond campaign contributions. If you want that kind of money do it without the use of a public office.

cereal · 1 month ago

He can appear in those motivational seminars with Bush.

Gates · 1 month ago

But what if the only way to get any bill passed is to make it moderate. wouldn't it be better to get something passed rather than nothing?

the crustybastard · 1 month ago

No.

ezpz · 1 month ago

No.

NotTimothyGeithner · 1 month ago

No, because many things are complex issues involved. Its like baking something. I'll use pancakes as an example because I have some concept of whats in them, but if you don't use eggs, you get hard pancakes that taste awful. In which case the pancakes without eggs are worse than no pancakes at all because you wasted resources on useless pancakes.

Obviously this is analogy but grand sweeping legislation in healthcare which doesn't tackle the fundamental problem (i.e. healthcare monopolization) is wasted and won't work. It will work against us because the GOP will run ads that go like this,"trillions for healthcare, rising premiums, and donors to the Obama administration making millions, where did the money go."

Thats why nothing can be better than something. Legislation for the sake of legislation is as bad bi-partisanship for the sake of bi-partisanship.

cereal · 1 month ago

that's possibly true, given the Party of No and that many "democrats" are basically Republicans.

however, he hasn't even TRIED. The American public, in poll after poll, support a public option. CBO scoring and so on make this a no brainer. Yet Obama's position was to start off weak, selling even this moderate compromise out..for what, so that he could get Sen Snowe on board?!?

If the man had guts, he'd come out early and public for a single-payer national health care plan, and fight for it - reminding Democratic members of COngress who won the election and why. If Republicans want to object, he should say "fine, object, I don't care - you lost, nobody likes you, and you can throw all the tantrums you want - we're doing what Americans want and what they elected me and the Democratic Congress to do."

Then down the road if he really had to negotiate, he could end up with a strong public option or what have you, making clear this is a compromise and making sure that the Dems who thwarted him will pay with their seats. And he'd be on TV and in public every day, in simple terms, making his case and calling out GOP lies and nonsense for what they are.

That's what a leader would do, someone who believed the crap he spouted during the campaign.

monopole · 1 month ago

Can't expect Barack "The buck doesn't even get near here" Obama to make a decision, 'cause that might be mistaken for leadership.

philboyd studge · 1 month ago

Have you ever seen a more gutless president? Each day he amazes me all over again. He's not just lowering the bar, he's digging it a trench.

akaison · 1 month ago

Again, he's an old lady driving 25 miles per hour in a 75 mile per hour lane. You are never going to convince that old biddy that they need to get up to speed or else she's going to kill herself and everyone around her. You are never going to convince President Obama that his need to be cautious is dangerous.

pender · 1 month ago

You know, I'm not sure why we should support the Democrats' health care reform plan at all without credible assurances that gay people won't be excluded.

the crustybastard · 1 month ago

Yeah, because they've been so awesome in terms of following through on their promises to the LGBTs.

soundboyjeff · 1 month ago

I'm not confused as to why I voted for Obama, I voted for change.

considering what his version of 'change' seems to be...

I'm confused as to why we have a president in the first place. considering Obama doesn't take a stand for anything until congress passes a law... why not just let congress do everything?

we now have a figurehead. Barrack Obama = Queen of England.

synical · 1 month ago

Political cowardice thy name is the Obama Administration.

SCLiberal · 1 month ago

How in the world did England, on the heels of WWII and near bankruptcy, manage to adopt a single payer system? Are they just smarter or more compassionate than Americans?

Naja pallida · 1 month ago

The BBC actually has a pretty good documentary, with a set of video clips online, called The Birth of the National Health Service - sadly, it's only available to UK IP addresses... but it's pretty simple, they saw a need. They saw people without adequate access to medical care, at a time with food and housing shortages, disease outbreaks like tuberculosis, and widely disparate care availability depending on where people lived or how much money they had. It was a logical solution to a nation-wide problem. Not a cheap one, nor an easy to accomplish one, but a pretty effective one.

SCLiberal · 1 month ago

Interesting that it is not available for Americans to view, isn't it? It says "Not Available in your area"

Kind of like affordable medical care.

larryv · 1 month ago

yes.

the crustybastard · 1 month ago

I'm gay and I'm pretty goddam sick of paying into government programs that my family and I are excluded from enjoying.

Therefore, if this is another one of those programs (and of course it is because Defense of Marriage makes it so) then I'm being forced to side with Republicans.

I'm sure this is somehow Joe's fault. I'll await Mr. Tobias's explanation.