Tag: Barack Obama

Obama Says, Pass Healthcare or I will be lynched by the left

OK. That is not exactly what he said; but he basically conveyed the same thought.

President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with many skeptics in the room.

One caucus member told POLITICO that Obama won him over by “essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency” hinged on this week’s health reform vote in the House. The member, who requested anonymity, likened Obama’s remarks to an earlier meeting with progressives when the president said a victory was necessary to keep him “strong” for the next three years of his term.

Another caucus member, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), said, “We went in there already knowing his presidency would be weakened if this thing went down, but the president clearly reinforced the impression the presidency would be damaged by a loss.”

Added Serrano: “He was subtle, but that was the underlying theme of the meeting — the importance of passing this for the health of the presidency.

via President Obama’s pitch: Fate of presidency on the line – Glenn Thrush – POLITICO.com.


I tend to believe that President Obama is going to screwed no matter what he does. Because if the bill passes; there are going to be those who are going to be angry that it did pass; especially those on the right. If it passes, and there is no public option; there are going to be those on the left that are going to be mad about that.  Either way, I think the President and his Presidency are screwed.

But, honestly? It is his own fault, The President, when he was running, made all sorts of outlandish promises and now he is having to make those promises happen. Sometimes, when trying to do that, one runs up against reality and right now for the President; reality bites.

Sometimes, painting one’s self into a corner, can be a bad thing, and this time; it is a bad thing, for everyone involved.

Democrats hit a snag, right?

Well, Yes and No….

The Good News:

The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.

The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.

House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.

Information Republicans say they have received from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office eliminates that option. House Democratic leaders last week began looking at crafting a legislative rule that would allow the House to approve the Senate health care bill, but not forward it to Obama for his signature until the Senate clears the reconciliation package.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved Thursday to put Senate Republicans on the defensive over health care, sending a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in which he dared the GOP to vote against reform.

Reid also defended the Democrats’ use of reconciliation to get a final health care reform bill to the president’s desk, noting that the bulk of health care reform was approved under regular order via the package that cleared the Senate on Christmas Eve. Reid also emphasized that Republicans have used the procedure several times over the years.

via RollCall.com.

The Bad News:

Rep. Paul Ryan says that Democrats are ready to ram a “shell” health care bill through the Budget Committee, on which he serves as ranking Republican member, to use as a vehicle to impose national health care.

In a phone interview with TAS Thursday afternoon, Ryan said that he expects Democrats to begin the complex process on Monday, under which they would have the Budget Committee approve a phantom bill by midnight, which they will then send over to the Rules Committee. At that point, the Rules Committee will strip out all of the language in the phantom bill, and insert the changes to the Senate bill that Democrats have negotiated.

“They don’t have the votes right now, but they’re creating the vehicle so that they can airdrop in whatever changes they want,” Ryan said.

He said that Republicans are outnumbered 2-to-1 on his committee and don’t have the votes to stop the bill there. Democrats will also be able to prevent Republicans from offering any amendments, but GOP members will be able to offer “motions to instruct” the Rules Committee, that Ryan said will be used highlight problems with the “unprecedented” step that Democrats are taking.  – Source: AmSpec Blog

You see why I have not been writing about this? Because it is an exercise in abject stupidity. The way Fox News is hyping it, you would think that there was going to by a nuclear attack. But, it is much ado about nothing. They not going to try and vote until Monday and something tells me, that it will die there. I could be wrong, but, I believe that will happen.

President Obama losing his base because he was oversold

I knew this was coming, long ago..:

Is President Obama losing his base?

Liberal and progressive organizations that helped propel him to the White House are turning on him now, little more than a year after he took office. Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terrorism suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall’s congressional elections.

Polls show that liberals and blacks still approve of the job Obama’s doing. That approval, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the effort to vote, and many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they’re not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall.

“The energized base which transformed the nation and elected our first black president (is) now disengaged,” Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile says. “If this was September, I would hit the panic button.”

via Obama’s liberal base ‘disengaged’ – USATODAY.com.

There are a few thoughts that I have here about this situation:

First off; Obama was mostly elected, because Conservatives stayed home and did not vote, because they felt that John McCain was a lousy candidate — many of these same people disliked Sarah Palin as well. I happen to be one of those people.  Also some of the more elitist Conservatives and libertarians voted for Obama, because of his charm and charisma. Many of those same Conservatives and libertarians are now kicking themselves for that. Because they have painfully figured out, that President Obama is nothing more than a slick talking Chicago politician and it has become painfully aware to these people that they voted for an outright socialist.

Second of all; Many upper middle class and wealthy class white liberals voted for Obama, because they saw this a change to atone for the sins of the of the past of the white race here in America. These same people were tricked into believing that Obama somehow or another would magically solve the problems that are plaguing America right now. This is because Obama was marketed as some sort of Messianic figure that would change the political landscape in America, all because of his black skin, because he was the one that America needed and so on and so forth. Which was nothing more than a slick marketing tactic, this has become painfully aware to the moderates and Independents that voted for him. The question is, did Obama actually do all that? Oh He did alright! Obama successfully managed to get elected and proceeded to turn moderates, Conservative Democrats, and Independents against him! All in six months time; now that my friends takes talent.

Third of all; the far left base has turned against President Obama for basically the same reason listed above. Because the far left liberals thought that Obama was going to beckon to their every whim and pet cause. The far left was under this strange impression that Obama would end the war in Iraq, the very day he was sworn into office and would quickly end the war in Afghanistan. Again, this can be attributed to good marketing or in Obama’s case; excessive marketing of an image.  The problem is, that image was not grounded in reality, because for one; the Iraq war could not have been ended until the date set by the “Status of force agreement” with Iraq and the coalition forces and ending the Afghanistan war would be a threat to National security; Obama might be a socialist Democrat, but he is not a fool. Obama was not about to stop the Afghanistan war and open the floodgates of National Security threats on our Country. Even Obama is not that stupid.

Lastly; what this article does not take into account is the fact that Politics and the political winds do shift, ebb and flow. People get their impression of a man and it usually sticks. Sometimes this works to the advantage of the person in office —- and sometimes it does not. In Obama’s case, because of some of the early failures and because Obama did not kowtow to the far left in his Party, that impression has, so far, not been a good one.

Others: Shot in the Dark

Barack Obama is still in Perpetual Campaign Mode

From the Department of “Why am I not surprised?”:

President Barack Obama’s top advisers are quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign, which is likely to be run out of Chicago and managed by White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, according to Democrats familiar with the discussions.

For now, the planning consists entirely of private conversations, with Obama aides at all levels indulging occasionally in closed-door 2012 discussions while focusing ferociously on the midterm elections and health care reform, the Democratic sources said. “The gathering storm is the 2010 elections,” one top official said.

But the sources said Obama has given every sign of planning to run again and wants the next campaign to resemble the highly successful 2008 effort.

David Axelrod, White House senior adviser, may leave the West Wing to rejoin his family in Chicago and reprise his role as Obama’s muse, overseeing the campaign’s tone, themes, messages and advertising, the sources said.

via Exclusive: White House privately plots 2012 campaign run – Mike Allen – POLITICO.com.

This could be taken a number of different ways. Perhaps the White House knows that they might be in trouble and are getting ready to plan the attack now. Either way, it does seem to be a bit early on. However in the interest on fairness, I will point this out:

Even though the planning is still very preliminary, the campaign is likely to launch in just over a year. President Bill Clinton opened his second presidential campaign in the March after his first midterm congressional elections, and President George W. Bush opened Bush-Cheney ’04 a month later in the political cycle.

So, unlike some of the partisan Bloggers, I will not sit here and act like this is some sort of a new thing with Barack Obama. However, it does show that possibly the White House and the President know that the winds are changing and they are wanting to be ahead of the game.

There is a possibility that this could be a violation of the Hatch act.

Others: Hot Air, National Review Online, JammieWearingFool, CentristNet, Jules Crittenden, Outside The Beltway,,  Left Coast Rebel,  Pundit & Pundette, and Confederate Yankee

For Once, I actually agree with William Kristol

Egad, when an American Conservative like me, and a warmongering Wilsonian Conservative, like Bill Kristol are actually agreeing. You know stuff is fudged up in the Country:

Unable to defend themselves on the merits, the administration and Democratic leaders are trying to change the topic to blaming Bush and Republicans. This is pathetic.

First of all, Obama is president. He has been for almost a year. Whatever mistakes Bush did or didn’t make, Obama is in charge — and the issue isn’t partisan score-settling, it’s whether the system he is in charge of is working. It isn’t.

One reason the system isn’t is some of the people he put in charge — Janet Napolitano and Dennis Blair come to mind. Another reason is certain concrete policy choices they’ve made — e.g., embracing a law enforcement approach and, without even weighing the choice, immediately choosing to treat Abdulmutallab as a criminal suspect, not an enemy combatant.

via The Weekly Standard.

Go read the rest. It is very good….and yes, I agree with it all.

Obama promised change, and change he might be able to deliver, like mending the long standing rift between the Paleo-Conservatives and the notorious Neo-Conservatives. Yeah, I know, not everyone would go along with it. But it would be some, dare I say it? Progress!??! (In the Republican Party? GASP!) 😉

Obama's Wee Wee Redux

The White  House trying to explain Obama’s little wee wee comment.

“It’s a phrase I use,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today, hesitating at his press briefing to offer a physical demonstration of the phraseology.

“Let’s do this in a way that’s family friendly,” Gibbs said. “I think ‘wee-weed up’ is when people get all nervous for no particular reason….

“August of 2008, everybody was nervous about whether the entire presidential campaign was slipping out from the hands of the president,” Gibbs said, turning the page to this August, in which all the president’s critics are declaring his health-care initiatives in peril. “This is sort of an August pundit pattern of people getting overly nervous about something that has a long way to go…

“Bedwetting would probably be the more consumer-friendly term for it,” the press secretary said.

via ‘Wee-weed up:’ White House explains it: The Swamp.

Here’s the Video: (H/T To Breit Bart Via HotAir)

I’m not sure what is more funny, watching Obama making the funny comment or watching Robert Gibbs trying to explain it! 😆 😛 😀

Oh to be a fly on the wall in the oval office after that presser. 😉

“Wee Wee? Why the hell would you use a term like that?!?!?!?”

The White lowers the flag….

While it might a minor one, this is a victory for civil liberties.

The Video:

The Story:

Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan.

E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.”

The “flag” service was introduced Aug. 4, with a White House blog post saying: “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances

to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email

or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said at a briefing shortly after the service launched: “We’re not collecting names from those e-mails. … All we’re asking people to do is if they’re confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we’re happy to help clear that up for you. Nobody is keeping anybody’s names.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote a letter to Obama raising privacy concerns about what the senator called an “Obama monitoring program.”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn wrote. “So I urge you to cease this program immediately.”

In a later statement, Cornyn said: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable. Anyone with access to the flag@whitehouse.gov account has access to the names and email addresses that are collected in that account. … How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy?”

via White House disables e-tip box – Mike Allen – POLITICO.com.

This is just another blunder in a flurry of blunders carried about by this Socialist Administration. Almost as a idiotic as the Nixon Administration’s Enemy list that he had; and just as corrupt. This should be a lesson the Obama Administration that Chicago style politics does not work in Washington D.C. Although, knowing this Administration, that lesson will not be learned very soon at all.

Others: PoliGazette, Hot Air, Babalú Blog, JustOneMinute, Fox News, AmSpecBlog