I know this sort of summarization will set the fringe full mooners on the right all atwitter but the last month or so has been pretty good to President Obama:
1. He received a rock star reception in Ireland and now in England Barack Obama has made history by becoming the first American president in history to address both houses of Parliament.
2. Chrysler pays back bailout loan to the feds: "SERGIO MARCHIONNE, Chrysler: We have received confirmation this morning at 10:13 a.m. from Citigroup that Chrysler Group repaid, with interest, by wire transfer to the United States Treasury and by bank transfer to the Canadian government, every penny that had been loaned less than two years ago: Chrysler Pays Back Billions in Bailout Loans: Is the Comeback Complete?: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june11/chrysler_05-24.html
3. The unwinding of TARP continues with the federal government making a small profit on the sale of part of its A.I.G. stock: Treasury Gets Small Profit From Sale of A.I.G. Stock; http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/a-i-g-underwriters-price-stock-sale-at-29/?scp=1&sq=A.I.G.&st=cse
4. In spite of the far right-wing media bleating aloud that Obama had essentially "thrown Israel under the bus", Benjamin Netanyahu in an address before both houses of Congress indicated that it's his responsibility to compromise so as to effect a lasting peace in the MidEast. Cablers Cover Netanyahu Speech to Joint Session of Congress; http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cablers-cover-netanyahu-speech-to-joint-session-of-congress_b68067 While Netanyahu reiterated that he would not support a return to the pre-1967 borders or the wholesale return of Palestinians into Israel, his willingness to compromise is evident in his comments: "I stood before my people and said that I will accept a Palestinian state; it’s time for President Abbas to stand up before his people and say, ‘I will accept a Jewish state. Those six words will change history, With those six words, the Israeli people will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise.” Netanyahu Gives No Ground in Congress Speech; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/middleeast/25diplo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=netanyahu&st=cse
5. Osama bin Laden dead on Obama's watch in what represents the greatest triumph of American intelligence since the discovery of Russian missiles bound for Cuba during the Kennedy Administration . Obama was gracious enough to give George W. Bush the requisite credit for the changes made to our national security apparatus in 2005 that contributed to the eventual demise of Osama bin Laden. He also invited Bush to attend the Ground Zero commemoration. However, in spite of this, much of the far right media refused to give Obama any credit at all for the death of bin Laden, choosing to only focus on that aspect of the event that could be traced back to the Bush era. This lack of tact and grace on the part of far right talking heads does nothing to diminish the fact that the actionable intelligence which led to the decision to kill bin Laden came only eight months ago and the ultimate decision to engage in this high risk mission was made by none other than Barack Obama.
6. The victory of a Democrat in the N.Y. 26th Congressional District can only be seen as a setback for the efforts by Paul Ryan to restructure Medicare and thus a victory for Obama and the Democrats: "There’s no way to spin this result. Both the reality and the perception are in sync: Republicans’ bet on pushing the Ryan Medicare plan through the House has cost them what should have been a totally safe GOP seat. All the other factors – a third-party candidate and the weakness of the Republican nominee – are meaningless. The crazy thing for Republicans is that they walked the plank for a policy that has no chance to become law as long as Barack Obama is in the White House, much like Democrats did on cap and trade...While it is impossible to predict with certainty, it is clear that like much swirling about in politics today, the outcome of the 2012 election (for both president and control of Congress) will be determined in large part by whether there is a grand bargain on deficit reduction (including Medicare changes), and, if there is such a bargain, what the terms of it are; An Omen, Not a Predictive Event
http://thepage.time.com/2011/05/25/an-omen-not-a-predictive-event/#ixzz1NQIJdqBJ
The Bigger Message From NY-26; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/the-bigger-message-from-ny-26.html
7. The defeat of the Ryan budget proposals in a procedural Senate vote today that saw five Republican senators side with the Democrats: Ryan Budget Goes Down; http://thepage.time.com/2011/05/25/ryan-budget-goes-down/
No matter how you cut it, Obama is now on a bit of a roll after having presided over the Democratic defeat of 2010 and the bristling attacks from the far right that have lamely tried to paint him as everything from Fascist to Marxist an angry post colonial black man. His approval rating is the highest it's been since November of 2009: President Obama Job Approval; http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html Is any of this guarantee that he will be re-elected in 2012, no, but it's a hell of a lot better for Obama then things have been since the November 2010 Congressional defeat.
SJG
5/25/11
SJGulitti: Blue City Politics & Commentary
Steven J. Gulitti
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Comments
the repubs start off ahead, the constitution was written for the rich, and only the massive failures of the market in the 20's provided the political impetus to enact progressive legislation. only the leveling of war time controls and strong unions carried those progressive laws to the prosperity of the 50's and 60's.
the progressives can win battles, but they can not win the war without constitutional changes.
They have NO ONE to nominate to LOSE TO OBAMA, as they invariably will.
Looming above all his other achievements is the fact that he got Osama Bin Ladin,without invading another coutnry that never attacked us where the murderous terroist WASN'T hiding.
GOT ANYTHING ELSE LOOMIS?????
My only potential gripe is that we seem to lose our political compass on a regular basis, and we trust media sources that are as biased and shallow as the rest of us are.
Regardless which side of any issue we stand on, it is worth noting that our perspective is subjective at best. For most of us it's biased before we even know what the news on a given issue is.
Fox New leans right, without a doubt. But there are a variety of news sources that lean left, just as plainly. Personally, I like to keep in mind that a high polling result means nothing when it comes to determining a good course of action from a counter-productive course of action. Of course the exact same thing can be said of a poor polling result.
This should be an interesting political season. Sadly, it probably won't be particularly informative, insightful, or enlightening. That takes work, and not many of us (private, political, or media) have the stomach for taking that route when ratings and feelings are at stake.
Rated!
Love the FALSE EQUIVALENCY! Do you mean to tell me that MSNBC's evening line-up is utterly equivalent to FOX -- which is is running candidates froPresident on the Republico-Tea-Party ticket?
Pull my other leg , it's got bells on!
Or at least spin it.
Lets see:
Obama is responsible for getting Bin Laden. Please tell me he was like a great coach to the CIA. He somehow motivated them in a way they were not before. They found him when they found him.
He spoke to both house of parliament. So what. He also fucked up his toast. Cant really blame him though. He cant know everything.
But his handlers are idiots.
Dems win in NY. How is that anything to do with Obama?
A clever trick to run a liberal as a tea party. Good for a special election. Possible tea party and GOP will split votes in 2012. So be it if it is for real. But this "run a liberal stunt" wont work en masse in 2012.
Will Obama win. Maybe. Maybe not. But conversations will have house and senate.
It must be sad to be a liberal desperately trying to hold on the the
idea of success when Obama and liberals controlled the gov for 2 years and all they got done was to pass a health care bill that is 2700 pages of crap under severe constitutional challenge.
Poor low wage employees like McDonalds are just the people Obama said needed help and he sold them down the river with an exception. Wonder how those employees feel about that.
Or at least spin it.
Lets see:
Obama is responsible for getting Bin Laden. Please tell me he was like a great coach to the CIA. He somehow motivated them in a way they were not before. They found him when they found him.
He spoke to both house of parliament. So what. He also fucked up his toast. Cant really blame him though. He cant know everything.
But his handlers are idiots.
Dems win in NY. How is that anything to do with Obama?
A clever trick to run a liberal as a tea party. Good for a special election. Possible tea party and GOP will split votes in 2012. So be it if it is for real. But this "run a liberal stunt" wont work en masse in 2012.
Will Obama win. Maybe. Maybe not. But conversations will have house and senate.
It must be sad to be a liberal desperately trying to hold on the the
idea of success when Obama and liberals controlled the gov for 2 years and all they got done was to pass a health care bill that is 2700 pages of crap under severe constitutional challenge.
Poor low wage employees like McDonalds are just the people Obama said needed help and he sold them down the river with an exception. Wonder how those employees feel about that.
And what was keeping them from finding him before? Why did Dubbyaa go from wanting him "Dead or Alive" to "I really don't think about him all that much?"?
But his handlers are idiots."
Handlers? Oh I see how it works. The nigger can't walk around all by his little pickaninny self. He needs HANDLERS!
Well he's smarter than you, white boy. LIVE WITH IT!!!!
Maybe I should said "advisors" .
Either you are really TOO stupid to know what I meant
or you did know ant just responded like a typical little child
with no real point. I was cutting Obama some slack .
But I did notice that even when he messed up he was clueless and kept on rambling, not noticing what was gong on. One more example of his narcissism blinding him from basic social perception
Any dumb ass would has perceived something was not right. But he just went on and on to the end of his toast.
BTW you have absolutely no basis for determinism who is smarter .
And please don't site his Harvard law degree. Bush graduated from
Yale and Harvard. So what. My last girl friend has a med degree from Yale. She not so smart. I worked my whole career in high tech with people that make them all look stupid. Very few have degrees from those schools. Most don't. Maybe degrees
impress you. They don't impress me.
Do you even know the difference between smart and intelligent.
A smart person may or may not know all the protocol for that toast. An intelligent person would have noticed there was a problem.