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General George McClellan had built a huge army during the Civil War. It was known as the Army of the Potomac. The problem was he built it and built it. And almost never used it. It seemed as if his objective was simply to make his army larger rather than actually using it to win the war. Eventually Lincoln had to fire him.
The parallels are striking. Rahm Emanuel seems to think his job is to grow the Democratic Party larger and larger, but he’s forgotten that his real objective is to win the war. We’re supposed to be aiming for real policy changes in the end. If we don’t get those policies, then Rahm’s Army of the Potomac will be useless.
The Democrats had huge majorities in the House and 60 senators, but Rahm kept telling us it’s not enough. There are too many conservative Democrats in the Senate, we need more than sixty we were told. That if we just gave Rahm a little larger army then he could engage the enemy. Now we’re down to 59 senators and I can guarantee you, we’re going to get the same argument but even louder. Build my army, build my army!
Fifty-nine senators is a perfectly sufficient army. Go forward. Engage. Fire. You have a colossal 18 senator lead. If you don’t fight with that kind of lead, you’re never going to fight and obviously you don’t know how to win.
It’s a really sad day when you turn Mitch McConnell into General Robert E. Lee. Obama has to at some point come to the same conclusion that Lincoln did when he said, "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time."
At some point we have to fight this war. I hope Obama gets there a little quicker than Lincoln did. I also hope he doesn’t go through the same kind of generals for years on end before he realizes he should bring in a guy like Ulysses S. Grant who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, using his troops and winning the war.
So, who is our Ulysses? If you ask me, it’s General Dean. You might be thinking it’ll be a cold day in hell before the placid Obama brings in a real fighter like Dean. I agree, except if the war is almost lost and you’re desperate for someone who can actually get the job done.
How do I know Howard Dean can get the job done? While he was at the DNC in the 2006 and 2008 campaigns, he was the one that whipped the Republicans and built that Democratic Army of the Potomac in the first place.
66 Comments
Agreed… If Dean will stand up and primary Obama, that is.
The sooner the better.
Lets just say that Lincoln came up with the correct solution in firing McClellan.
History really does have a great tendancy to repeat itself.
You seem to assume that Obama and Rahm’s primary objective in using the Democratic “army” is to advance a liberal agenda. That is naive in my view. In fact, the basic objective of any political party is simply to maintain its power. That is, have enough votes to elect the House majority leader and Senate majority leader who can control what Congress does, and get the President re elected. That’s it, period. Stating this doesn’t mean I endorse that – it’s simply a political reality. And in the view of the party in power, advancing the agenda is only a means to that end, and not necessarily an essential means if you can bamboozle enough voters to not have to do the hard work of actually accomplishing what you’ve told them you’re going to accomplish.
Sorry if I confused you. My point is that Rahm should be fired.
As for my opinion of Obama, I don’t have any real faith in him at this point but I always hope that’s I’m at least somewhat wrong in that assesment.
As for politicians and political parties acting entirely to preserve or grow thier power, sure, that’s true in a vague sense. But it’s not like a ton of politicians didn’t vote for the bank bailouts even knowing that it would cause the voters to boot then from office. Less than 20% of the voting public supported the bailout, they did it anyway… right before an election. And it absolutely killed the Republican party which was already in dangerous waters from the Bush years.
And so far much of what the Obama administration has done will result in Democrats being booted out of office. Brown in Mass is just the start.
Rather than get rid of Rahm and bring in Dean, Obama decided to keep Rahm and bring in Plouffe.
What does that tell you?
Cenk, I think you should consult Neil Young on this topic.
From: “Lookin’ for a Leader” (2006)
I don’t think the person that can pull us out is yet in the house as Neil muses. I think he will come out of the blue and into the black to put the country back, but he has to emerge completely outside of the regular political environment to maintain his independence. We need a movement leader not a political one, because you will never get the brain dead righties to ever love a Democrat. I have hard a time doing so now and I’m a socialist, through and through.
Something far worse than Massachusetts has to happen for Obama to replace the team that’s got him where he is today. We’re always looking for quick fixes such as focusing on the President—that hasn’t been working too well to date. I believe it is time to dig in and focus on County Boards, Public Utility Commissions, mayors and governors. I believe we’re more effective disciplining Blue Dogs and such by defeating them and telling them we’ll do everything to got them out of there. They have to fear voters more than they love the campaign cash.
I love the analogy Cenk uses as a story vehicle.
Sadly, it’s been handily proven to date (especially considering today’s announcement from Obama praising bonuses for bankers) that Obama and The Dem’s are NOT interested in preserving the welfare and well being of we the people but rather have proven their fealty and allegiance to the corporate oligarchy which has BOUGHT our government and elected officials.
I love a good story, but the reality at hand is a nightmare aside from any historical lessons that will NOT be used or heeded in this present existence.
Things are going to have to get really, really bad before anything changes. At that point, I seriously hope that the change is constructive and not just a devastating explosion. President Obama’s term is going to be useless in terms of action being taken on any substantive issue. Congress will continue to to be full of sound and fury, but not action, and 2012 will arrive to continued high unemployment and probably the remnants of the second dip of a double-dip recession/depression. And I’m very much afraid that will usher in the next Republican administration.
The best strategy for 2012 may be to work to ensure that the Republican winner isn’t Sarah Palin. On his present course, Obama can’t win.
Cenk, it’s time that some one told you that santa clause doesn’t exist.
Your error is accepting the dogma that the Administration’s intentions for us are good.
Thank Dog they were not able to shove that unpalatable piece of crap that they crafted down our throats. Some people here remember Rahm’s methods and recognize that they haven’t changed, and they were able to plot his moves in advance this time, while sharing it with us.
He didn’t learn the right lesson – that unpopular legislation would spend all the presidents political capital and cause a “deficit of trust”, instead, he looked at all the cash the republicans were getting from tobacco industries for selling out the health of the citizens and decided he would still Rhamrod terrible legislation through, but he would get paid for it like the republicans did.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/interviews/emmanuel.html
Until and even If Obama recognizes that Rham, Podesta, Axelrod and his banker team are albatrosses, nothing’s going to change. Stop begging, and start working on the Army. Obama represents the status quo and the only army he’s going to use will be to smash the hoovervilles.
you are assuming I see that obama agrees with our principles and disagrees with the neo con, robber baron, nobel class.
that would be a no
he IS a trickle down economist, he demonstrated even before he took office that he believes top down rather then bottom up, he actually believes (as he demonstrated with the banks BEFORE he took office) that “if you give money to the wealthy more then that amount will somehow make it’s way into the economy”
however rediculous tricke down economics is, never the less, obama believes in it
this IS the reason dean does not serve on the obama administration, obama is NO progressive
Yeah, Rahm is a good soldier delivering what Obama wants. Obama just uses Republicans as an excuse.
Bingo! Obama’s principles and “core convictions” would seem to bend with the wind and/or the audience. In that, he is the Zelig of U.S. politics. People see in him whatever they want to see.
Or. If you give $10million bonuses to the bankers from tax payer’s money and the banker “donates” $1million to Oh Bummah! both banker and Oh Bummah! are happy as a dog in heat.
Lincoln ran through a lot of generals, some historians say a bit too quickly, looking for a winning strategy. Obama currently doesn’t seem to suffer from that problem. Dean, as we all know, would fight to win but there would have to be a lot of compromises by Dean in order to join the team. Rahm Emanuel seems to be part of the team, a symptom more than a cause, who believes that the current approach to supporting corporations, including the ongoing bank bailouts, and increased military spending is correct. Dean would have to closely align himself with those values and try to determine a successful strategy from those assumptions.
there would have to be a lot of compromises by Dean in order to join the team.
In other words, defanged, with arms and legs shackled…then he can join “the team.” What a joke this administration has become. I wonder if they’ll get the message after the November elections?
“Huh? Wha’ happened…?”
O/T: Liz Warren…
thanks
Huge majorities don’t mean anything when the people in the majority have no backbone and no stomach for a fight.
Precisely. Easier to just suck on the corporate tit…
Not a good analogy. The Army of the Patomac was not incompetent, just poorly led. This Congress is incompetent. Look at the the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 64. While LBJ tried to claim credit, it was Humphrey and six Republicans led by Republican Everett Dirkson which got it done. I do not expect anything from Reid, Baucus, etc. These are just the residue of Clinton style incompetency.
Pantload here. Yeah the Repub party passed the civil rights legislation and thereby gave up any chance in south. Wait a minute. They have been pursuing the disappointed racists that left the democratic party after Johnson’s signing of the civil rights legislation. This bill was a follow up to Johnson’s civil rights act of 57 and 60. It is true that it took the moral leadership and integrity of Everret Dirksen in getting the bill to passage. But that was back when we had legislative giants in the Congress. Dirksen led a small coalition of Republican members to counteract the racist Dixicrats in Lyndon’s own party. After the civil rights legislation, many of these Dixiecrats left the Democratic party and joined the Republican party. The Republican leadership under Nixon made a concerted effort to cultivate the exiting dixiecrats in their southern strategy.
‘Twould appear, Cenk, that the “troops” are less than enthusiastic …
They feel frozen out, unheeded, dismissed and abused …
They simply ain’t “buyin” …
The “troops” ain’t Congress, the “troops” are us.
Sellin’ hope, at this stage, is about like selling sun tan lotion franchises to Alaskans.
Even if ya can see Russia from Sarah’s old front door …
It doesn’t matter “what” the epiphytic cla$$e$ (and that includes most of the “political cla$$”) say or do.
Inadvertently, they MIGHT do something useful, but it would be by accident and would be immediately “rectified”.
DW
Yes there are 59 votes in the Senate. The problem is 15-20 are centrist DLC type Democrats. Centrist Democrats are socially moderate, but economically conservative. On any given legislation, any of these “Senators” could flip at a moments notice and vote with the Republican minority. There are not 59 progressive Democrats in the U.S. Senate. As such, everything that gets proposed, will get watered down to the point you will not be able to recognize what was proposed to begin with.
Dear Rahm .Go forward or get out of the fucking way.
I don’t know about you folks but ever since the Supreme court gave the Bush administration the Presidency and the constitution to piss all over. I have been putting in so many hours trying to get the Dems back the majority. I get sick thinking about just how many hours that I have given to one Dem after another the last 10 years. Running and participating in their GOTV campaigns, knocking on doors, putting together phone banks, raising money for them, organizing gatherings, sponsoring candidates in our community, bringing in hundreds of volunteers into their offices, organizing buses going to D.C. to lobby etc etc. Fucking thousands of hours the last 10 years. Literally obsessed with getting the Dems back in the saddle.
And what are they doing with all of those hundreds of thousands, millions of hours that people across this nation have given them. The majority of those hours for free. They are squandering it, pissing it away. As if they think we are just going to keep stepping up to the plate for them and kiss their asses while they piss on our heads.
Hell I met Republicans campaigning hard for Obama in Denver during the summer before the Dem Convention. We had Republicans working in offices in Athens Ohio during different GOTV campaigns since 2006.
People are losing steam. Discouraged and disappointed. They have the majority. As Dr. Dean has pointed out if the Republicans had ever been committed to cleaning up the health care catastrophe and they had the majority they would have rolled right over the Dems and gotten it done.
They have nine months to get their shit together and get some much needed business done. This fall the troops are not coming out unless they do and the Republicans know that.
If losing the Lion of the Senate’s seat was not a wake up call nothing will wake them up.
Oh wow, you nailed it for me. I’m so burned out I’m a crispy critter. These Democrats, who seem like better spoken, better-mannered Republicans, are not what I worked so hard for. Fool me once….
Thanks for all you have done. Millions of us out in the fields these last 10 years building up steam getting pissed on along with everything we were fighting for
The troops out in the fields across the nation are losing steam. They are not going to be able to stir re ignite the fires with as Palin referred to the “hopey changey thing”. We need to see action hard actions and results. That will be the only way to get the troops on the ground motivated. The only way
propose excellent legislation and then let the republicans filibuster. when they are done, pass the excellent legislation by simple majority.
oops. i forgot. no excellent legislation.
I love your analogy, I’ve used the same one in discussions with people for months now. I cast Obama himself in the McClellan role though, since I think Rahm is just an extension of Obama’s own strategic vision (or lack thereof). There’s been a lot of attacks on Rahm lately (well deserved), but Obama is the one who hired him, and the one who hasn’t fired him.
If Rahm is just an extention of Obama’s thinking then we are in for some very dark times indeed.
As for the Army of the Potomac, yes it a rag tag bunch. Most of them are effectively AWOL when it comes to the publics interest. I think job number one is to declare neocon politicians to be deserters and work to boot them from both parties.
Rahm’s gonna increase his senate army right down to less than 50 pretty damn soon.
The Obama administration would not have been able to end slavery.
The Obama administration would not have been able to end desegregation.
The Obama administration would not have been able to get voting rights.
The Obama administration is a complete failure and comical to watch.
1 year [Edited by Mod] 1 year that is all they have had. What do you have to say about the disastrous 8 years? Did those thugs represent your views, your beliefs? I know many Republicans who were absolutely disgusted by the Bush,
Cheney, Feith, Wolfowitz murderers.
[Mod Note: Let's please avoid the namecalling.]
Could you send me the name that I called this commenter. ( I generally copy every thing I write). I truly do not remember calling anyone a name. And apologize but would appreciate having the original sent to me
Oooh, an army of Democrats! I’m so scared. Everybody run and hide because the big bad Democrat army is on the march … please.
They’ll all be too busy with their fingers in the air trying to see which way the wind is blowing. Then they’ll call the enemy over for tea to ask, “Why don’t you like me?”
Then there will be the whole “Can’t we all just get along?” skirmish followed by the declaration of victory when they get Joe Lieberman to act like a Democrat … temporarily of course.
While I applaud the author for this post and great metaphor, I can’t help but wonder when we will finally join Sarah Palin and admit all this “Hopey, changey” stuff is a big crock, that Democrats are spineless by principal due to their overly developed need to be reasonable, and that the only way to effect change is to enforce some sort of consequences on the Democrats for screwing this opportunity to change the world.
An army of Democrats … I’ll be laughing all day now.
Tough to swallow that you are part of the Senate’s super minority.
Listen figaro most of the issues that progressives are pushing for effect uninsured Dems, Republicans (too many of them in my neck of the woods, the foothills of the Appalachian mountains) and Independents. Those who are uninsured and under insured cross party lines
Many of the soldiers who were sent to Iraq by a Republican administration based on a pack of lies do not give a rats ass about these elections…they want the truth. They stepped up to the plate and put their own lives on the line based on what the Bush administration lied about.
It’s the issues and how they vote that we should be looking at. They bank literally bank on the peasants scrambling over which party is in control hoping that we think that it matters. Most of them rolled over to Wall street at some point, either through pushing for or voting for deregulation or the bail out.
We all need to look at the issues and how they vote
Obviously you’ve been paying attention to the reality, as opposed to the mythology.
Both parties have sold their soul to the big corporations, they can get all the money they need there, for their poltical purposes, and they know it.
On the premise that the Dems are more redeemable than the Rethugs, just because they are relatively recent converts to the corporate cause, I think our progressive leaders need to call them out publicly for what they either are already, or are aspiring to be, i.e., CORPORATE WHORES.
Maybe if they find themselves labeled as such publicly, on TV, often enough and directly enough, they will start to fear the People’s anger a bit, and be forced to choose sides more openly than they do now, where they blow kisses to the People, and then fuck us in the ass by selling us out to the big corporations.
Is even some harsh language too radical a tactic for progressive leaders?
But..but…on TV? It wouldn’t be covered. Callings-out like these have already occured, and were covered for a half-minute one time, at best, then another mistress of Tiger Woods came out publicly, and so on. (I die laughing at how they call Tiger’s mob of dirty girls “mistresses”–would they be mistresses if he were poor white trailer folk, or would they be skanks?)
“We’re going to have to leave it there.” LOL. That’s what happens on TV when the corporate whores are called out by our progressive leaders. There is no hope for help from that quarter.
Yeah, I agree w/Razorbrain but also with you. I think these whores have been called corporate prostitutes often enough, even briefly on tv (before the next reality show came on), and, as D.Cheney would say: “SO??????”
To think that the so-called “Democratic” party pols would give a rat’s patoot that us “retards” called them “whores” is, sadly, laughable. They are just laughing all the way to the bank. Sticks & stones & all that… names will never harm them.
Frankly most of the population – if they can give a second to consider it in between the latest “confessions” of Tiger’s mistresses – holds all politicians of whatever party in low contempt. So a bunch of dfh liberals calling Congressfarts “corporate whores” would matter little in the scheme of things.
But whatever.
Cenk: you seem like a good guy, and you write in an intelligent way, but you’re missing the boat most of the time. BHO & the dems just aren’t that into YOU or ME or any of us real progressives/liberals/indies whatevers. The party’s over, cenk. Stick a fork in it: BHO’s DONE. Time to move on, and use your considerable intellectual and writing skills on where we go from here, by which I mean: post- Obamarahma.
I don’t kid myself into thinking that rhetoric alone can get the job done. Action, militant action, will be required. But the groundwork has to be laid by rhetoric that makes clear where the battle lines, the division lines, really are.
PEOPLE vs. BIG CORPORATIONS. That is where the battle line must be drawn, and getting that message to millions is best done on TV, even tho the medium is a very imperfect vehicle. We’ve got to make the dialogue painful enough to makes the masses choose sides, then maybe some politicians will as well, as a matter of self-preservation.
But action is where it’s really at. We must have, at the least, a massive general strike that will shut down the economy. At the least.
Obama is a work in progress. He’ll change course and staff, eventually (sooner rather than later). It won’t be by choice and certainly not because centrist policies produce results. Intransigent political parties, terrorism, unemployment, national health care, incessant wars and a global economy on the brink of collapse are not issues that are resolved by committee or compromise. Straddling the fence works on lesser state level issues but not on the world stage, in times of crisis. Obama will discover that capitulation is weakness and ineffective; and if he expects to get reelected, he’ll soon have to walk-the-talk and demonstrate what the electorate demands of its President – the “audacity” to lead.
At this point Obama would seem to take more from Neville Chamberlain than FDR or LBJ.
I would think that the public would be a little bit more patient. After all, it took years of republican rule to get us here. Because everything is not going the way we would like quickly enough is not a good reason to quit. I never believed in cutting off my nose to spite my face. If we give up aren’t we just taking a lot steps backward. Do we really want to put conservatives in charge by not voting? If we don’t go to the voting booths we are in affect giving a vote to people we don’t agree with. Change is not easy, never will be.
Who’s giving up? Nobody’s giving up. We’re just calling for a change in strategy.
All you seem to want to do is keep sending in more troops. Didn’t work for Iraq, didn’t work for Afghanistan, won’t work for the Democrats.
Hope is not a strategy. Fear of the alternative is not a strategy. You are in a position of weakness and yet you want to stay there. Why?
“Change is not easy, never will be.” So why do you want to keep doing the easy thing and keep voting this party into power instead of doing the hard thing and trying something bold?
Nobody is cutting their nose off to spite their face. That analogy is obsolete. We are not doing this for spite. We are doing this because we want a better world and neither party is pursuing that same goal. Both parties are in this for the power. The neocons and the New Democrats are two sides to the same coin. They want corporate money to ensure their power but don’t realize their power lies in the American people.
If they give us what we want, they get what they want–our votes. It is that simple. Their lust for power makes them blind to this simple fact. We need to get rid of their lust for power and replace it with a duty to country. We do that by withholding our votes until they do what we want.
Your strategy is preventing change from occurring and you’re not helping yourself or anyone else by voting along party lines. Vote for people, not parties. These New Democrats are not on your side.
“For this Country to progress its gotta crawl.”
“Make it crawl Pres, Make it crawl”.
“For this Country to really progress its gotta get up and walk”
“Make it walk Pres make it walk”
“For this Country to REALLY progress its gotta run.”
“Make it run Pres, make it run”
“For this Country to run, its gonna take money”
“Let it crawl Pres, let it crawl.”
F.Wilson paraphrase
Obama-Rahm haven’t grasped who is the enemy and who is the army. They attack the army and try (and try and try) to befriend the enemy.
If they are willing and eager to sacrifice the army (who are, after all, merely a bunch of “f***ing retards” and a ragtag rabble of dirty hippies) in the hopes of getting one or two of the enemy to stand with them for a photo-op, then who can blame the army for deserting, or turning on their supposed leaders?
Obama-Rahm are not even trying to win the war, they are only interested in staying in the field (in office) for as long as possible. Just like every other self-centered, sleazy politician, for Obama and Rahm, it’s all about getting elected and staying elected via “campaign contributions”; all of the concerns of the little people over inconsequential things like jobs, homes, and medical care are merely petty annoyances, distractions from the really big problem of convincing rich people to give them money.
He’s a community organizer. He will talk with his enemies. He invites his political opposition to participate in his administration. He is a Constitutional Law Professor. He is a dynamic orator. Maybe he ought to grow a beard.
what an excellent correlation! the only people frightened of the tea partiers and their rants and “enthusiasm” are the congressional democrats!
Fuck ‘em all. The administration, the congress and the MSM too.
Lets start a grass roots movement of disaffected Dems, Liberals, Progressives and even our own lovable kooks from the far left (Dennis Kochinich?) and then “Take It To The Streets”.
By “Take It To The Streets” I mean a gazillion every-man and every-woman PEACEFUL, INTELLIGENT and VOCAL protest march on DC this spring with the theme…
GIVE US OUR DEMOCRACY BACK! End the 60 – End the Gridlock – End the Partisianship!
Sure it’s sounds like it was lifted out of the 60′s Civil Rights Movement but hell it worked then it can damn sure work now.
Anybody know of any grass roots groups or grass roots leaders that are planning something like this? If so please post the info in every comments section of every article on FDL. Thanks…
See ya’ll in DC this spring maybe?
A glorious fantasy. If all it took were wishing, it would be happening already. Don’t give up on the notion, but put some work into the details, and let us know when & from where the bus departs. Meanwhile, there are bills to pay and a lot of us still out of work. Hard to go march in DC while seeking a job in NY. Remember a lot of the demonstrations of the ’60s involved young people, college students and others without kids and mortgages and daily obligations. Get them young ‘uns stirred up and working on this project.
I have savings. I’m frugal. I work at home from my puter. I’ll go.
But I have always wondered how people can be expected to rally in D.C., when most people can’t afford to miss work, and have children, and everything. It would mean extraordinary sacrifice.
As flowers for the abused spouse (us), Obama will fire Rahm Emanuel as a way back into our hearts (screw our minds, the heart is where the easy mush is at). And it will totally do the trick. Every last Democrat to the leftiest liberal will think it has all turned around now, finally. Look how righteous Obama is! I knew it! He gets it now! He’s just too rational, too gentlemanly, TOO much more intelligent than other mortals, but now he has learned. He just needed the year to learn. My goodness, just a year, and look how far he’s come. Now he is finally our president. It doesn’t matter what he’s done, or not done, what he does and fails to do. He won’t do anything differently. But he fired Rahm Emanuel. It’s the symbolism that counts. Rahm is a gigantic symbol, Cheney-esque. This will work!
I don’t care who Mister Oh fires. I concur with one commenter here who expressed feeling that our current leader belongs in prison as the 14th torturer. After a trial, of course.
I love ya Cenk, your heart is in the right(Left)place.
But lets face it our system is rotten to the core.
The only thing that I believe can change it is “IF YOUR IN,THEN YOUR OUT”
Every last one of them. Good and bad (because the probelm is we can no longer tell the differance).
Amen. If they are not going to be part of the solution, then they are part of the problem. I’m still waiting for Boxer, who belatedly supported the public option, to let me know what she is doing at this moment to bring the public option into the reconciliation discussions. I’m not holding my breath. She did vote for cloture on Bernanke after all. Enough!
I realize this approch seems extreme, and I admit that I have a great deal of respect for my own Sen. Feingold, but these people are few and far between.
Dont get me wrong I could never bring myself to vote for a repub.
But if he was primaried, I would vote against even my beloved Feingold.
I will say it again – OUR SYSTEM IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE.
I can’t argue with that.
Can we, and how do we, retrieve it?
By acknowledging and holding those in the Bush administration responsible for a stack of crimes so high that it is hard to choose. But I would start by admitting to the death and destruction that has taken place in Iraq based on a “pack of lies” Even thought our media is complicit in ignoring the death and injury toll in that country some of us in the states are deeply ashamed and deeply remorseful for what our military, contractors etc have done to the people of Iraq.
Start there. The whole world is watching as this administration rolls over the hundreds of thousands of dead bodies in Iraq , Afghanistan, Pakistan as we look as though Israel may have their way and get the Obama administration to either attack or back up an attack on Iran by Israel.
Start by holding the thugs in the Bush administration accountable
I don’t know.
I try very hard to keep my feet on the ground and I take pride in being a student of history.
‘
Unfortunately history has not been very kind to political systems that become so detached from the society that they claim to represent i.e. Rome, France, Russia etc.
Yes, I am afraid, very afraid.
All I can suggest is that, if they are in, then they should be out (see previous comment).
P.S. Should BHO actually get around to firing Rahm, believe me, it will make little difference to me at this point. Too little too late, but I won’t hold my breath. The party’s over.
One presumes Linclon actually wanted to win the Civil War. Now, go kick MedfordTim’s butt.
Mod Note: Rhetorically speaking of course?]
We should have split into two nations and probably three. We are just too big. So screw the Civil War analogy.
Dean?
You’ve got to be kidding.
How about a real progressive, someone who’d fight for single payer instead of the centrist system he created in Vermont and ran on in 2004?
How about someone who would work with true peace activists who opposed the Iraq war instead of the arrogant pseudo-peace candidate who could stand on a stage next to Dennis Kucinich, the only candidate in 2004 to have actually voted against the war, and with a straight face claim that he, Dean, was the only candidate who opposed the war?
How about someone who understands how Keynesian economics works and understands the need for deficit spending in a recession instead of a politician who has always been proud to call himself a fiscal conservative?
I’d suggest someone who isn’t a politician, someone who has strong progressive credentials, someone who has proved himself or herself in movement organization. This would be someone most people would not have heard of before. Someone like Jane Hamsher.
But please, not Howard Dean. Fire Kaine and put Dean back in as Chairman so he can restore the fifty state strategy, one of the few things that he has done that is truly progressive and successful.
Once the POTUS snapped and let loose a barrage of negativity against the banksters, notice how the stock market went down down down; likewise, when the POTUS walked back his comments and respected the big bonuses, notice how the stock market turned and went back up again?
Ya think there’s a correlation between these events? POTUS felt the jerk on his leash then abruptly healed to. Now we proceed smoothly ahead with campaign fundraiser scheduled in NYC later this month, $36K per plate. Up goes the DOW.
The market makers can push stocks up or collapse them at will. Remember that!
I think you’re missing the most basic difference between Lincoln and Obama in this analogy – Lincoln wanted to win the Civil War. Obama clearly isn’t all that interested in making the economy better, getting us out of the ruinous wars we’re fighting (and losing), or making health care available to all Americans. That’s the most basic lesson of the last year – he just doesn’t have the motivation. At this point, I don’t see how it’s possible to give him motivation he doesn’t have.
Therein lies the real problem, and the reason that Rahm will stay right where he is, or be replaced by someone else who can make Obama’s liberal problems go away.