Jack & Jill Politics

rikyrah, here's the full Montana townhall meeting on C-Span.

http://www.cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/08/14/HP/…

C-Span doesn't share. :(

The stimulus money has gone to building projects. With respect to foreclosures, Obama should have first instituted a moratorium on foreclosures. Moreover, the banks have no incentive to prevent from foreclosures from happening since they make more money from foreclosures. This I think was a huge oversight on Obama's part. Any way healthcare reform is necessary because high medicals have lead many to file bankruptcy. Another thing is that the healthcare plan is supposed to be deficit neutral.

There were moratoriums on foreclosures(at the state level). Right now many programs are ending. The weakness, IMO, was the mechanism was not insituted into the bankruptcy process. Then by law the mortgage is redone. It will cause distortions in the underlying bonds but we can repackage the bonds.

OT, but
What's going with all the “NOW!NOW!NOW!”ers littering the blogosphere lately?

Obama should overturn DADT/DOMA, NOW!

Obama should close GITMO, NOW!

Obama should pass health care reform, NOW!

Obama should regulates banks, NOW!

Obama should fixed what Bush f*d up, NOW!

For the last 6 months, people have been demanding NOW from Obama on everything, so that he could “use his political capitol” while it was hot. Well now his “capitol” has come back down to normal (but still higher than past Prez) .

Since the inauguration, Obama had been asking for patience, but no body wants to wait for anything nowadays. America has been poisoned by the NOW, NOW, NOW, nature of our lives today. Want food delivered “instantly” to your door, here ya go. Don't waste the time going to the bookstore to by the new book, here's your new kindle, get your books NOW. Don't want to wait to buy your favorite artist music in the stores, get it on ITUNES, NOW!!!

We are all turning into a bunch of Veruca Salts

I don't know if I can take 3 years and 4 months more of this sh*&.

Sounds like you wanted a Wizard not a President.

Yup!

That's why they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years too!

Katie Couric Denounces “Fear” And “Ignorance” Driving People To Town-Halls Forums on Healthcare Reform

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/katie-…

Katie Couric denounced the “fear and frankly ignorance” that is driving people to town-hall forums on health care in her “Notebook” segment.

She expressed alarm that the debate has stirred up a hornet's nest and has “uncovered disturbing attitudes and emotions that have nothing to do with policy. Are we really still debating health care when a man brings a handgun to a church where the President is speaking?”

Read the transcript:

At a town meeting hosted by Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania resident stood up to say that the health care debate has “awakened the sleeping giant.”
Not exactly.

What's it's done, it seems, is stirred a hornets nest, and uncovered disturbing attitudes and emotions that have nothing to do with policy.

Are we really still debating health care when a man brings a handgun to a church where the President is speaking?

How does a swastika spray-painted on a Congressman's office further a discussion about Medicare?

These are tough and challenging times and lots of people are scared about their jobs and the economy. But we can't let fear and frankly ignorance – drown out the serious debate that needs to take place – about an issue that affects the lives of millions of people.

It's time for everyone to take a deep breath and to focus on the task at hand before this sideshow drowns out the main event.

Good Katie! Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil!

You know what I have to say, thank God you were not around during the time of FDR or is it thank God there was no 24 hr news cycle during that time

7 months: Just out of curiosity did you ask anything of BUSH or CLINTON or CARTER or REAGAN in 7 months.

So this is what you want done in 7 months
1. Another Stimulus even though less than 15% is being spent

2. Financial reforms – even though they are working on it now, maybe we should expand congress so they can do more than one thing at a time

3. Scary stuff overseas: like the two wars, darfur etc?? what exactly is overseas and what is your proposal?

4. I can't understand portion of the plan: may be you should read it intently then or pinpoint the portions you don't understand?

5. Deficit: what exactly about them?

6. Punch: you could always have voted for someone else or not for him, he never asked you to drink his punch.

Why expect from him something you never expected from other leaders, and if you did expect the same from other leaders then I bet they all fell short.

P.S. Critics are good, when they are constructive and not pure whining, what is your critic, what is your proposal. I don't see any there but its all good to be frustrated. Frustration should lead to action not oh no the sky is falling.

The bottom line people will continue to loose homes and jobs because the people failed to listen during the Reagan or Clinton administration era that globalization, deregulation, NAFTA and repealing of glass-steagal act will lead to lower wages and shedding of more jobs. Alot of folks spoke but no one listened. there are consequences to actions that cannot be stopped just yet, too many people are making a profit. There has to be a third way to get new jobs. The old ones are gone forever and ever from the states.

Aleth

One of the problems of leadership is you have to make a call on how much your constituency follows an issue. You have to provide reasons it is good and bad but most importantly what it means for you. In regards to this bill it was argued against by many people that those whom are in forclosure did this to themselves by buying to big period.
While there is truth to this the problem is for the vast majority of neighborhoods this is a short sighted response, especially in the economic situation we are facing. An empty house means no taxes, blight, vandalism and all the rest of the attendant ills.
President Obama has countless time had the whip hand and support of the most people and he didn't use it. In fact he called off the dogs by saying we shouldn't govern in anger(bonuses).Attend a town hall he isn't at if that isn't anger I do not know what is.

How many people pushed for the bankruptcy laws in congress during this session? How many people made calls, how many people listened to Dick Durbin call? Moreover over the white house was not willing to spend alot of capital to push it through.

The bankruptcy reform bill was prime and ready to go, a good bill. Nobody fought to let it go, let the bank lobbyist water it down. I am sorry, I am not feeling bad for anybody in terms of the bankruptcy bill because it was really disappointing to see how quiet people where. People shut the hell up. We get what we get when folks seat down and think congress will work for you because you said so.

For 2005 I doubt that any studies have been done. My point was that in 2009 when the bankruptcy bill came up for consideration the issue was dropped.

the bankruptcy bills have been bad because they used to end your debt. The current provisions require you keep much of it.

LOL! Poor Moses, he even asked God to kill him because he couldn't take dealing with all of the complaints and whining anymore. Some think it's sad that Moses didn't get to go into the promised land, but I think he may have been relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with his people anymore.

A trully intelligent leader will always be in for a shitload of headaches because the for the most part he will be leading a bunch of ignorant motherfuckers. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can explain something to someone 100 times, but you can't understand it for them. The presidents in our history that got carte blance to get things done and were trully transformational had events occur that were in their favor. Lincoln had the South start the Civil War, Roosevelt had the Depression and Pearl Harbor, LBJ had the mourning over the Kennedy Assasination to get Civil Rights and Medicare. Clinton had a brief reprive with Oklahoma City. Bush, though transformational in the other direction, had 9/11 which was a double tragedy. We had a terrible loss of life, but it also gave Bush political capital to do what ever he wanted. I hate to say but I think something trully tragic will have to occur for Obama's enemies to back up off of him, even if temporarily.