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Barack Obama Q&A at GOP Retreat Is Judged Great Success
Jan 30th, 2010 | 57 responses
Author’s Note: At the suggestion of a TMV reader, the title of this post has been changed.
Obama’s performance was so strong that chagrined Republican legislators told reporters they had made a mistake in agreeing to allow cameras into the session (emphasis is in original):
As Luke Russert reported on MSNBC:
RUSSERT: Tom Cole — former head of the NRCC, congressman from Oklahoma — said, “He scored many points. He did really well.” Barack Obama, for an hour and a half, was able to refute every single Republican talking point used against him on the major issues of the day. In essence, it was almost like a debate where he was front and center for the majority of it. … One Republican said to me, off the record, behind closed doors: “It was a mistake that we allowed the cameras to roll like that. We should not have done that.”
Let’s go straight to the roundup.
President Obama spoke at a Republican House retreat in Baltimore, and did so well that the one GOPer said it was a “mistake” allowing the “cameras to roll like that.” He told them they can’t tell their constituents the president is doing all kinds of crazy things if they seriously want bipartisanship, saying “You’ve given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion. Because, what you’ve been telling your constituents is: this guy’s doing all kinds of crazy stuff that is going to destroy America.” And he remarked how many of them went to ribbon-cutting ceremonies to herald projects they voted against.
James Fallows, Atlantic.com:
Obama should do this more often, and with members of both parties. Also, I would like to hear from spokesmen for the once-strong “Obama can’t possibly think without his teleprompter” camp after watching more than an hour of live Q-and-A.
Scott Payne, The League of Ordinary Gentlemen:
Let me just add that as much as I like seeing this showing from Obama, what I would really like to see is him do the same thing with his own Blue Dog/Reagan Democrat Caucus.
Steve Benen, The Washington Monthly:
Perhaps the most noteworthy portion of today’s event in Baltimore, during the Q&A between President Obama and House Republicans, came during an exchange on health care reform.
The president explained that the “component parts” of the Democratic reform plan are “pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.” Obama reminded GOP lawmakers that they may or may not agree with those three, but by any measure, “that’s not a radical bunch.”
He added, “But if you were to listen to the debate, and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you’d think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. That’s how you guys presented it…. I know you guys disagree, but if you look at the facts of this bill, most independent observers would say this it’s similar to what many Republicans proposed to Bill Clinton when he was doing his debate on health care.
“So all I’m saying is we’ve got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality.”
Marc Ambinder, Atlantic.com:
The moment President Obama began his address to Republicans in Baltimore today, I began to receive e-mails from Democrats: Here’s an except from one of them: “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry that it took a f$$@&$* year for Obama to step into the ring and start throwing some verbal blows… I’m definitely praying at mass on Sunday morning that this Obama doesn’t take another 12 month vacation.”
This e-mail comes from a very influential Democrat.
Accepting the invitation to speak at the House GOP retreat may turn out to be the smartest decision the White House has made in months. Debating a law professor is kind of foolish: the Republican House Caucus has managed to turn Obama’s weakness — his penchant for nuance — into a strength. Plenty of Republicans asked good and probing questions, but Mike Pence, among others, found their arguments simply demolished by the president. (By the way: can we stop with the Obama needs a teleprompter jokes?)
More than the State of the Union — or on top of the State of the Union — this may be a pivotal moment for the future of the presidential agenda on Capitol Hill. (Democrats are loving this. Chris Hayes, The Nation‘s Washington bureau chief, tweeted that he hadn’t liked Obama more since the inauguration.)
… the MSM is already trying to spin it like Obama schooled the Republicans. Of course they are splicing in a lot of Obama footage and leaving much of the Republicans questions and statements on the cutting room floor.
Curt does provide a link to the entire Q&A, so you can judge for yourself the quality of the Republicans’ questions and statements.
As others have noted, the speech very much seemed to be an attempt by the president to show that he is bipartisan, friendly, and open to GOP ideas – no matter how the facts might appear to you. Both sides took the opportunity to play to the cameras of course, with long questions centering on deficits and broken promises, and well-rehearsed answers about the trillions in deficits inherited from President Bush.
According to staff, the House Republicans had invited the president to attend and speak some weeks ago; the White House accepted. The GOP did not suggest that cameras be allowed for the speech because they assumed such an offer would be rejected. The White House asked (last night) to allow cameras and the Republicans eagerly agreed. So if the event seemed political, each side got what it wanted. The GOP is touting the benefits of having the president say – on the record – that they have offered substantive proposals. They also argue that this appearance puts Nancy Pelosi in a tough position: the president promised bipartisanship, and she’s delivering none. They see the chance to knock her down a few more pegs.
Ezra Klein at The Washington Post was particularly happy about the way Pres. Obama set the record straight on how un-radical the health care reform bill is, and how Republicans have spent months misrepresenting it in a way that makes it very hard for them now to switch gears and work cooperatively on the issue. Ezra quotes a long section of the relevant part of the transcript. I will quote a part of that section. This is Obama speaking:
I’m not suggesting that we’re going to agree on everything, whether it’s on health care or energy or what have you, but if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don’t have a lot of room to negotiate with me.
I mean, the fact of the matter is is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable in your own base, in your own party. You’ve given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you’ve been telling your constituents is, “This guy’s doing all kinds of crazy stuff that’s going to destroy America.”
Ezra adds:
As Obama said later in the session, “our constituents start believing us. They don’t know sometimes this is just politics.” And if they don’t know it’s just politics, then legislators can’t act as it’s just politics.
Sam Stein at The Huffington Post (under the headline “Obama Goes To GOP Lions’ Den — and Mauls the Lions”)
President Obama traveled to a House Republican retreat in Baltimore on Friday and delivered a performance that was at once defiant, substantive and engaging. For roughly an hour and a half, Obama lectured GOP leaders and, in a protracted, nationally-televised question-and-answer session, deflected their policy critiques, corrected their misstatements and scolded them for playing petty politics. (Full video and transcript available HERE.)
Mike Pence has been coming in for some praise from conservative bloggers who have singled him out for the question he asked Pres. Obama about his plan to offer tax credits to small businesses as an incentive to hire more employees and raise wages. Pence called it “the Jimmy Carter tax credit.”
Daniel Larison is less complimentary:
Yesterday I said that the GOP remains just as intellectually bankrupt and unimaginative as ever, but I need to amend that in light of Pence’s comments. If possible, the GOP has somehow managed to become even worse than it was in previous years. How else can you explain the desperate bid to reframe tax credits for small business as a job-killing measure? It is tax credits similar to these that the Republicans normally advocate as a matter of course, and it was this sort of thing that Republicans were demanding more of last year during the debate over the stimulus bill. Instead of recognizing this and trying to claim that the administration has adopted one of his party’s solutions, Pence is reduced to the absurdity of claiming that possible tax reduction on businesses that hire new employees is some revival of the dreaded Carter years.
Pence does not attack these credits for being insufficient, nor does he attack them for being unaffordable. He doesn’t even resort to the old favorite of complaining that the tax code is already too complicated and needs to be radically simplified. To make a coherent critique of the measure, Pence could have said any of those things. Instead, he started talking about someone who’s been out of office almost thirty years and who has nothing to do with the current proposal. Plus, he is arguing that tax reduction creates disincentives for growth.
Remarking on Obama’s upcoming meeting with House Republicans, Pence said:
There has been a perception greatly propagated by the majority in Congress and many in the administration to suggest that we are the party of no ideas.
Who could have given them that impression? It certainly couldn’t have been Mike Pence and his heroic resistance to Jimmy Carter tax credits!
White House officials told the Huffington Post they were absolutely ecstatic. MSNBC’s Luke Russert, who was on the scene in Baltimore, relayed that a Republican official and other GOP aides had confided to him that allowing the “cameras to roll like that” was a “mistake.”
The liveliest momoment from a consistently lively (and entertaining) takeoff on “prime minister’s questions” at the House GOP’s retreat this morning. I’m kidding in the headline, needless to say: The One would never stoop to something as crassly partisan as calling someone a teabagger. He leaves that stuff, and the endless crap about “angry mobs” and “evil-mongers” and coded racism, to progressive water-carriers like Reid and Schumer and MSNBC, all of whom are gently, namelessly chastised here with a fleeting admission that “It’s not just on your side, by the way.” The money line about health care: “If you were to listen to the debate and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you’d think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot.” To which I say: Nonsense. A Fabian plot, certainly — some Democrats were even nice enough to admit it — but Bolshevik? Maybe only on Glenn Beck’s show.
Greg Sargent spoke with Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, after the event:
Asked who won today’s face-off, Luntz said something that people on both sides would agree with.
“I call it in favor of the American people,” Luntz said. “I think it was good for everybody. I’ve never seen this before. I’ve never seen the President of one party interacting with the other party.”
Pressed on who had the upper hand, Luntz conceded: “Obama had the advantage. But he always has the advantage” because he’s President. Luntz said it was a boon to Obama, because he “demonstrated bipartisanship before a national audience.”
But Luntz said he’d counsel Republicans to do it again. “It was good for Republicans — it put them on the same level with the president and it will get their ideas heard,” he said.
“I would advise both sides to do it again,” Luntz said. “It should become a tradition. It demonstrates respect for the political process when both sides engage in debate.”
57 Responses to “Barack Obama Q&A at GOP Retreat Is Judged Great Success”
Kathy
Glad to see you posted this, I was beginning to think it was going to be lost in the “Friday night dead zone. It was great to be shown why I voted for this guy. Anybody wanting to find out how to address talking points should watch these exchanges.
“Let me just add that as much as I like seeing this showing from Obama, what I would really like to see is him do the same thing with his own Blue Dog/Reagan Democrat Caucus.”
I totally agree and also think Progressive meme pundits would also profit from the schooling.
Obama had just one simple lesson for both sides of the aisle, simplifying America's problems into sound bytes is simple, but it is factually incorrect and ignores any attempt to solve those problems.
Those on either side who do not want to solve US problems can keep on spewing forth the BS, but they do so at the risk of being exposed for what they are, power hungry little demigods. I repeat, the sooner both sides both sides drop the BS and start working together for American interests, the sooner America's problems will be solved.
The man who was constantly lambasted as a “messiah” promising rainbow unicorns explains to the creators of the meme that a plan that fixes everything without any expenditures doesn't count as a plan.
I also like how the corners of his mouth operate during the session. He feels a lot of perfectly justified contempt and rage, but he keeps the lid on.
I think Obama has done the impossible and deserves another Nobel — he managed to have some reasoned discourse between politicians in the United States. That's like inventing the perpetual motion machine or cold fusion or a complex and interesting Tori Spelling film.
In all seriousness, the right wing has so become the party of NO and so embedded with radicals that they've lost their sanity and value. Obama may be too left-leaning to be effective or successful as POTUS, but at least he's not insane. The GOP needs to dial it back and become intelligent and thoughtful again. Amazingly, Obama has shown them the way. Here's to hoping they learn something.
On a side note, I am getting a little tired of all the Obama-slamming out there. Yes, the country is still a mess. Yes, our current government is going down the wrong path. BUT we have three branches of government, and those who blame POTUS for everything are forgetting that. Remember Congress is (theoretically) 1/3rd of the government, and THIS Congress (Democrat and Republican) is a FAILURE and should be treated as such.
If Obama as POTUS was truly as powerful as folks would like to make him out to be, he would be able to remove Pelosi and Reed and Mitch McConnell from office and put better folks in their place. Alas, only we can do that. Time for the people's rhetoric to change from Obama to this Triumvirate of Stupid and get some REAL change in Washington!
I read the transcript last night. Obama did very well, and made some Republicans look foolish (and some Republicans are foolish), but Paul Ryan held his own as he engaged the president about policy, not just talking points.
I agree with Luntz: we should do this more often. I'm guessing we will because all the favorable coverage from the media on this surely is not lost on the white house. And the Republicans will hopefully learn the lesson that they'll need to come prepared with more than talking points next time, like Paul Ryan did.
I think we should start a whole series of these: “Pelosi. vs. House Blue-Dogs”, “Obama vs. Single-Payer House Liberals”, etc. That would be fun the watch, at the least.
As a side note: if anyone can independently verify the point that Ryan was making (that the president is freezing discretionary spending after raising it 84%), I'd like to see it. I couldn't find anywhere online that made that claim. If it's true though, I think that's a big deal.
That was necessary performance. For the base it showed he has a lot of fight in him. For moderates/indies it shows that he has a keen command of the issues.
As Keith Olberman said, “Itwas 140 against 1 and the one, won.”
Thank you so much, Kathy, for posting this.
If no one had done it by this morning I was going to, as this is quote significant—perhaps even more consequential than his SOTU address.
I especially liked how he debunked Texas Representative Jeb Hensarling's contention that “the new budget, like your old budget,[will] triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy,” and after calling the question “an example of how it’s very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work that we’re going to do because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running a campaign,” went on to take it apart and debunk the Representative's pther allegations piece by piece.
For those who haven't seen this part, or any part, please go to WhiteHouse.gov
As D.A. says:
But then on Friday something remarkable happened — with much less fanfare. The President visited House Republicans at their retreat and answered their questions directly for most of an hour. It was an honest and unscripted discussion where the President took their questions and concerns seriously, acknowledged where they had valid points, and explained genuinely where he felt they were wrong.
In short, it was something that for many Americans has seemed all but inconceivable in American politics — a real discussion with honest disagreements about the challenges we face.
You can watch the video at WhiteHouse.gov:
It is very hard to take a post seriously when the first “reporter” quoted is Luke Russert. If there is a syncophant who demonstrated everything bad about progressives, it would be Luke Russert.
I thought the meeting was great and although I didn't get to listen to the whole thing I thought both Obama and the GOP at times made valid points, and other times lapsed into talking points. I hope both sides came away the better afterwards.
Of course, what the media does not point out is how irrelevant the Republicans are and the one purpose that David Axelrod wants for the Republicans is to serve as a scapegoat. Every Democratic policy is design to leave the Republicans with the blame. That is why the Republicans must be the party of “No.” Any compromise, any bipartisanship, any agreement gives the Democrats and the media an excuse to blame the Republicans.
What the Democrats need to go is realize that the Republicans are irrelevant and decide to make policy where they accept total responsibility for their own policy decisions. Until the Obama Administration and the Democrats are willing to be responsible for their own actions, the appearance of gridlock will continue.
Part of the Obama-Jeb Hensarling exchange (Obama called him Jim)
THE PRESIDENT: Jeb, I know there's a question in there somewhere, because you're making a whole bunch of assertions, half of which I disagree with, and I'm having to sit here listening to them. At some point I know you're going to let me answer. All right.
CONGRESSMAN HENSARLING: That's the question. You are soon to submit a new budget, Mr. President. Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy? That's the question, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Jeb, with all due respect, I've just got to take this last question as an example of how it's very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work that we're going to do, because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running a campaign.
Now, look, let's talk about the budget once again, because I'll go through it with you line by line. The fact of the matter is, is that when we came into office, the deficit was $1.3 trillion. — $1.3 [trillion.] So when you say that suddenly I've got a monthly budget that is higher than the — a monthly deficit that's higher than the annual deficit left by the Republicans, that's factually just not true, and you know it's not true.
And what is true is that we came in already with a $1.3 trillion deficit before I had passed any law. What is true is we came in with $8 trillion worth of debt over the next decade — had nothing to do with anything that we had done. It had to do with the fact that in 2000 when there was a budget surplus of $200 billion, you had a Republican administration and a Republican Congress, and we had two tax cuts that weren't paid for.
You had a prescription drug plan — the biggest entitlement plan, by the way, in several decades — that was passed without it being paid for. You had two wars that were done through supplementals. And then you had $3 trillion projected because of the lost revenue of this recession. That's $8 trillion.
Now, we increased it by a trillion dollars because of the spending that we had to make on the stimulus. I am happy to have any independent fact-checker out there take a look at your presentation versus mine in terms of the accuracy of what I just said.
Now, going forward, here's the deal. I think, Paul, for example, head of the budget committee, has looked at the budget and has made a serious proposal. I've read it. I can tell you what's in it. And there are some ideas in there that I would agree with, but there are some ideas that we should have a healthy debate about because I don't agree with them.
The major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows, is Medicare and Medicaid and our health care spending. Nothing comes close. Social Security we could probably fix the same way Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan sat down together and they could figure something out. That is manageable. Medicare and Medicaid — massive problem down the road. That's where — that's going to be what our children have to worry about.
Now, Paul's approach — and I want to be careful not simplifying this, because I know you've got a lot of detail in your plan — but if I understand it correctly, would say we're going to provide vouchers of some sort for current Medicare recipients at the current level –
Note: The budget doubled, not tripled, the national debt. However, that is still a lot…
I would like to see this kind of event become a yearly tradition: after the SOTU, the President faces a room full of the opposition, live and on camera, and has an open, public discussion with them. There would be times when one party or the other wouldn't like this, but I don't care. It would be a tonic for our democracy.
I agree Kathy. The President did very well at the GOP retreat. The “chastising” portion came off a bit “fatherly” but I think that kind of thing is needed more often. The Congress, too, should chastise the President (throw in the SCOTUS and they should all chastise each other).
“Obama should do this more often, and with members of both parties.”
This statement is the most valuable of your post IMHO. However, I find it hard to believe that the President will take on the Pelosi's and Reids any time soon. The warm embrace of total power is too intoxicating for that.
Awesome post, Kat.
Much good comes of this, a good deal of which is not partisan.
First congratulations to both sides for this engagement, the R's for the invitation, the WH for accepting. As others have said, it should become an annual event.
Second it helps debunk the silly teleprompter myth and shows the president's intelligence and command of issues.
Third, there was a display of ability to discuss issues at a deeper level. Hopefully, if this becomes a regular event, there will be even fewer talking point moments going forward as the sides learn from this experience.
Fourth, the door was opened at least a bit to future bipartisan cooperation, though there is still a bit to go there.
Finally, Obama showed some fight. It is one of the grounds on which many have criticized him, myself included. It is worth applauding that he is now engaging, and it raises some hope that he will continue to do so.
JD, DG and other “non-Democrats” who have commented thusfar.
Thank you for your objective, civil comments.
It is refreshing to see a thread on a political event such as this one, thusfar, without any partisan hate or demonizing. Perhaps, just perhaps, we are onto something new…
Is there a transcript available somewhere? I did not get the chance to watch.
“JD, DG and other “non-Democrats” who have commented thusfar.”
Hate to tell ya, DdW….. I am a Democrat. Have been my entire life.
I think I fall into that dreaded “blue-dog” category
Andy:
Please go to:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/rema…
for a complete transcript, and to whitehouse.gov to watch the video
Dorian
Sad that after just one year you needed to be reminded of why you voted for this guy!
Sorry I mislabeled you.
If could only summon the courage to face his own party now….
Kathy, as you probably know, I share most of your positions on issues and I enjoy reading your posts. However, I have to say, I see the title of this post to be illustrative of part of the problem when it comes to the struggle for unity between differing ideologies. “Barack Obama Demolishes GOP Talking Points at Baltimore Q&A” is a title that reduces an important meeting (and perhaps future such meetings) to a game, a competitive event, a sports metaphor, when in fact meetings like this could hold the key to future understanding and communication between the parties. We desperately need to mend our deep divisions, and that won't happen if one party thinks that by reaching out it has somehow been pranked or played for political gain.
I watched that meeting last night on a C-span clip in it's entirety and was impressed with Obama's intelligence and command of the issues, but even moreso by his genuine desire and determination to address the divisions that are ruining this country. I was also impressed by the willingness of the GOP to have such a meeting. I was heartened to see a crack in the veneer of the old dynamic, and to see a little light shine through. The idea that “bipartisanship” could exist as something other than a rhetorical device seems almost like a new one in this highly cynical environment. But as Obama himself said in that very meeting, the media is a large part of the problem because of the way they portray attempts to resolve issues between the parties.
When our next republican president is in office, I want him to go and speak with the democrats, without the contentious bagage that gets in the way of productive dialogue. When the media sensationalizes and stirs controversy in order to gain viewers, instead of reporting the news, they fall down on thier resonsibility. Given their power to inform the debate and shape information, it isnt enough to expect readers and watchers to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, some can, but most can't. I'm not talking about you now, but about all the blathering that can be seen anytime someone pulls up memeorandum, google news, fox, and whatever the opposite of fox is (that I don't watch). I don't expect miracles, but I still expect the media to be more about reporting and less tinkering or cheerleading.
I realize there is a certain amount of healthy competition between parties and there is nothing wrong with having a some fun. But as I said, I want the republicans to want more meetings like this, and not to see it as a lesson in how not to open up for fear of having it seen portrayed in the media as them getting “demolished”. I want them to feel they've done a GOOD thing by reaching out, regardless of how confused or disingenuous they may seem by democrats.There is far too much at stake for us to jeopardize any opportunities to learn how to work WITH those we disagree with.
Remember, the republicans will be back in power one day and we want whatever happens now to make that day one we can look forward to, not dread.
OK, I hope this comment is being read in the spirit in which it is sent – that being constructive criticism, and I was really just using your title for a taking off point to point at the media outside of TMV. 
And we almost had an insult free comment string. Quick left and right form battle lines and prepare to fire!!
The idea that there will be another Republican president is laughable. Have you looked at the demographic trends in the U.S. Have you seen that the number that government at all levels consumes almost 50% of the economic output of the U.S.? Have you see the voting trends of 20 somethings.
The U.S. is fated to be a one party state where political fights are over who pays the taxes and who gets the benefits. The Democratic primaries are good enough to settle those questions. The middle class whites (a shrinking group will pay the bill) and non-whites will reap huge amounts of the governments money.
What needed therapy for this country. It's appalling that the President has to teach a component of the Legislature that slogans, demonization and trivialization of efforts to deal with profound national issues is bringing serious and possibly irrevocable damage to the Republic. Malicious one liners, organized intransigence does not cut it. Obama made this clear. I believe that many in that audience got the message. If not, we will indeed be unable to tackle our most pressing concerns because many legislators can only think of their election and not leading. Well done President Obama. I again know why I voted for you.
TMSF:
Although your comment followed immediately below JSpencer's, I know you were not referring to his.
JS' comment was right on the mark, and it even made me question the tone of my comments on this thread. I also do not believe that Kathy intended for her post's title to sound so harsh.
Just a thought, and I hope these “feelings” last.
The Obama Administration does not need a the support of a single member of the audience to enact any policy that they want. The only purpose that Congressional Republicans serve is to be the whipping boys of the left. The Republicans should always say no to any Democratic policy as long as people like Axelrod are advising the President. If a single Republicans cooperates with the Democrats, then the Republicans will be blamed for all failures.
Maybe the Obama Administration should develop the ability to accept responsibility for their policy outcomes instead of thinking of ways to blame others.
Thanks for the link Dorian!
Correct I agre with JSpencer's remark I was actually speaking of trinidad1107 's comments.
Thank you.
Excellent comment JSpencer.
Thank-you.
“Russert: …One Republican said to me, off the record, behind closed doors: “It was a mistake that we allowed the cameras to roll like that. We should not have done that.” “
So much for the “off the record”…
I have a lot of disagreements with JSpencer usually, but that was one of the best comments I have seen in awhile. Yesterday was a win for the American citizen. As a center-right person who is highly critical of Obama. While I think Obama did much better in this format and how he handled himself, that to me isn't the point. It was to open more dialogue and try to bring more civility to light and I applaud both sides.
I really enjoyed his takes with Paul Ryan, someone I think brings a very good understanding of fiscal policies. There was a back and forth between the two, we agree on somethings, disagree on others. But it wasn't “GOP talking points”. Maybe not all the GOP acted that way but I hope they learn from Ryan and Obama.
I also would love to see him face his own congress, maybe even just the Progressive Caucus. I think it would be very informative and a bonus to all of us.
trinidad1107 's comments.”
What was insulting about that remark? It will take some courage to take on all the Dem factions.
Thank-you.”
See what a new icon does for some. A tiger can change its stripes.
The courage punch is what annoyed me. Lacking courage or guts is a common bumper sticker punch that I think fits badly with this president but since he is a Dem is commonly used. Take the punch out and I suddenly agree, I want him to go after the Dems as well and hope he does but the way to make that happen is to say so instead of insults that make you look like you would complain regardless.
that make you look like you would complain regardless.”
See, I took it as a positive. As in, he has the courage of his convictions. And, how would you like to face off against Nancy?
I still hold tight to the hope that if some in the GOP play ball the Dems and GOP get a pretty even split after the 2010 election and Reid and Nancy go far far away.
Looking at it from that view though this ended up being a good thread though I am not fond of the title of the submission.
I am not fond of the title of the submission.”
Mental lapse. A butterfly will emerge in the new era.
This seems to be a pretty civil site. Most stories have two side. No one has an absolute lock on the truth. Only the strident ones have their eyes shut.
You're right. The title has been changed.
You are correct, oaechief. There are some notable exceptions, but they ususally end up commenting on and responding to their own comments.
TMV is a great site, that's why I like to post on it.
Dorian
Much better, Kathy
You're right. The title has been changed.”
Wow, the power of the TMV press to seize the new mood of the nation.
Now, if we can only get Shad. to put back his old icon.
The title has been changed.
Unleash the Likes! Let them flow forth like water on the parched flowers of the desert that they may burst into bloom. JSpencer and kathykattenberg! Huzzah!
http://tinyurl.com/yz8w4nr
What trivial is this. Get a life, get some sense of responsibility. I you boys don't want to participate or don't have the coverage to accept any responsibility get out of the way of people who do. We need leaders now,not wimps.
Warmest regards,
Charlie
“The man who was constantly lambasted as a “messiah” promising rainbow unicorns explains to the creators of the meme that a plan that fixes everything without any expenditures doesn't count as a plan.”
I didn't know you were privy to intimate conversations within his administration, or with lib Congre-Dems.
“Luke Russert”
Who? It was bad enough to see a quote by Keith Olbermann (wrong, of course) — instantly disqualified.
It could have gone badly, could have gone well (I suspect it's hyped here, as lefties often hype things), and that's actually the lesser point. The main point is that Obama made the gesture. He can even be criticized for it superficially, as this resembles another campaign feature and one of his defects is that he continues campaigning after November, 2008. However, the gesture was good and “outreach” was one of the best things about his campaign, and him as a candidate.
Now let's see him propose more sensible policy elements, and see the Dems in Congress reform themselves.
1. “Outreach” — again, a good idea.
2. Ah — someone else noticed the other part…
“I thought both Obama and the GOP at times made valid points, and other times lapsed into talking points.”
This was similiar to something else that happened earlier, in fact: The closest analogue to this was the set of speeches Obama and Cheney gave about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and related views on “security policy,” somewhat hyped as “dueling speeches.”