Comments

1
legislating is like sausage - watching it being made isn't pretty. especially now, when the GOP has take douchery to unheard of heights. you'll all fall back in love with him in 2012, because a. republicans suck fascist balls, and b. he's the best president we've had since... ummm... since FDR, i suppose.
2
And all Obama had to do, was give away a bunch of money.
3
no suprise links to palin's mug please
4
I can understand being proud of DADT, but START? Meh. In 1981, it was something, but it seems pretty pointless now. We could reduce our nuclear stockpile by 75% and still have enough to turn the entire planet into a smoking parking lot.
5
@4, yes, but that's hardly a reason to keep it all around, is it? An organized, negotiated way to step down is the ONLY way something as sensitive as a nuclear arsenal is going to be reduced. In particular, I'm interested in cooperating with Russia, as the biggest threat from the Russian arsenal isn't them lobbing missiles at us but Al Qaeda or some other bad guys stealing it, or just having it rot away into the ground like everything else in that christ-awful country. It's not just about reducing the threat of nuclear war (which entirely comes from rogue nations nowadays, not the Cold War).
6
@5 Yes, but it's more expensive to dispose of it then to just keep it around.

Thing about START is, the Russians reducing their stockpile is nice, but their stuff is ill maintained, probably not very functional anyway. They've fallen on hard times since the height of the cold war, and their military has been hit badly.

We're getting rid of our well maintained, very functional weapons. I just don't see how we really come out on top here, especially considering the political capital Obama had to burn to get this thing through. It's not a bad idea; just would have rather seen something like the DREAM act go through.
7
Still no word out of him on the 9/11 first-responders health bill.
8
@6: well-maintained, functional weapons that are redundant and extremely costly.
9
still the biggest douche bag fail tard since carter. nothing can save his pink ass, he's done in '12.
10
@9 and you're 15? with a sense of humor of the abrasive nerd noone likes? great to have you around buddy.
11
@9: You are every bit as clever and relevant as your namesake.
12
Also, he did a great job screwing federal workers.
13
Yeah, some fat pulled out of the fire, I guess.

The thing is (thought experiment)--if Obama had come charging out of the gate as a real fierce advocate, and Congressional Dems in both houses hadn't been pretty much a bunch of spineless turncoat pussies, and the combo had rammed through REAL healthcare reform, DOMA, ENDA, DADT a whole lot earlier, etc., etc.... the party faithful, instead of being demoralized non-voting whiners, would instead been complacent non-voting slugs. Largely the same election results, I would propose, except we would have had all the good stuff, until the newly resurgent Rethugs began undermining it all in 2011. So we would have been even more disappointed than we are now. Will Democrats never learn to stick together, give no quarter, hammer home every advantage?
14
Obama is closing strong?

Harry Reid is closing strong, for sure. Nancy Pelosi is closing strong. Even Lieberman is closing strong.

From my read of the pro-level chess moves, they did it by overcoming their natural urges to look to the White House for leadership, and getting on with it.

History - the kiss-and-tell book kind - may ultimately show this assessment to be in error, but thus far the strongest claim to credit for Obama is Andrew Sullivan's fanciful "he kept Lieberman in the fold".
15
The premise of the original post is that Obama had a "terrible" year. Yes, the tax-cut deal stinks, but he had to move quickly or risk millions of long-term unemployed losing benefits. That would have been a disaster for the economy.

Let's be real: he got quite a bit done, especially health care reform. (No, it's not ideal, but neither was Medicare when it was first passed. A start is a start.)

DADT? Huge!

I'm not complaining.
16

Obama was successful in passing the Tea Party agenda.

If he continues, he may have a job in the future.
17
The House just passed the Food Safety Act too - woot!
18
Can't feel that any of it excuses the Obama Tax Cuts for the Wealthy.
19
Niether of these votes negatively impacts his corporate masters in any way. These are throw ins to give him a little gloss after the sell-out, while they plan their anti-Social Security campaign in the back room.

START shouldn't even be partisan and we are acting like it is a major Democratic victory.

I'm still done.
20
Not to mention the amendment just passed in the UN - that's at the direction of the president, no congress involved.

Nicely done.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40224397
21
@9 - "pink" ass?
22
@9: Your comment needs more DESU.

I do wish that he'd gotten this shit done earlier. Congress spent an awful lot of time being generally useless, and Obama could have accomplished so much moar if he had put on his ass-kicking boots sooner.
23
@ 14

Exactly right!

What did Obama do for DADT anyway? It seems like this success is to be credited to Harry Reid, Pelosi and Lieberman, if anybody.

Face it. We needed an FDR or an LBJ (on domestic matters) and we got a Buchanan -- the dude just bankrupted our country saving big banks and rich people.

Oh well, better luck in 2018!
24
All he had to do is give unpaid tax cuts to billionaires and he can have as many half loafs as he wants. The only downfall are those idiots who are going to have to pay all that debt back. Who was going to pay it again? Talk about worst December ever, in 13 months we get to have another argument about extending unemployment and no bargaining chip, this is just insane. It's so useless.
25
Thank god gays and lesbians can openly serve in the biggest and best financed terrorist organization known to the human race.

The corporatists who need more warm bodies to put into boots to fight for their bottom line are truly pleased to be sure!!
26
If all you care about is the sports-like mentality of "beating" the Republicans, sure, he did "great." If you care about innocent people being locked up without due process, if you care about whistle blowers having their lives destroyed by the Justice Dept., if you care about young soldiers dying for nothing and innocent men, women and children being blown to pieces and burned alive?

If you actually care about those things, then Obama is incapable of doing "great." He's just another amoral destroyer of lives, dependent on partisan loyalists more interested in "beating" Republicans than in actual justice.
27
Fuck you people. Fuck you all. Except Fnarf.

Please wait...

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