Be Prepared, Obama To Double Down

For better or worse, be prepared for seven months of what amounts to all out political war. I'd also anticipate Obama using financial regulation reform to push new regulations to shut down opposing political speech, recently given life by the SCOTUS. Attaching it to the seemingly populist idea of broad financial reform would make it harder for the GOP to fight.

As an aside, I suspect Waxman's announced hearings aimed at business over HCR fall-out is part of even more intimidation aimed at business to come. Early signs do suggest the GOP has finally gotten it, though. Going forward, Obama is not going to be about crafting bi-partisan legislation to govern. Actually, he never was, though the press has given him much cover on that. He is their guy, after all.

Whatever the case, the next seven months going into November are going to be about domination and attempted marginalization, not cooperation. He'll seek to paint the GOP as obstructionist, which, btw, is how the GOP beat Daschle in 2004. I came upon that in looking at opposition to Reid versus Daschle, the only Senate leader to lose his seat since 1952. If the GOP caves, their base will abandon them, resulting in disaster in the fall. At the same time, the people can not afford to stand down, either, as the GOP's minority status leaves them toothless without our many voices behind them. And no matter what, the months ahead are going to be long, hard and increasingly confrontational politically.

Aides say that with the momentum from the most complex domestic bill to pass Congress in 45 years, Obama now will push Congress to close campaign-finance loopholes opened by the Citizens United case, adopt his overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education bill, and perhaps even tackle a clean-energy bill.

“He goes into these into these negotiations, and into these legislative battles, with a stronger hand because people understand that he’s going to fight for what he believes in,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in an interview. “Congress proved to itself that it’s well within their power to do the big things that’ll bring about the type of change that they were elected to bring.”

Comments

[ObeliskToucher]

Daschle

[dave]

Dan- I am reposting my question for you regarding the Jonah Goldberg-NRO post here, because I posted it too late (I think.)

Dan- could you more fully explain your view of NRO? I read the Corner, which (as you know) has many posters- most of whom, seem to be pretty conservative. I kinda see you & them on the same basic ideological wave- just with different perspectives. Am I wrong?

Thanks.

[Dan Riehl]

Dave, I think I answered your question pretty fully two comments above it in that thread. Not sure how else I can magnify it, but would if I did. As with many conservative institutions that came up in and around Reagan (which is not meant to downplay Buckley's role), it has grown old, stale, and more a function of the establishment, than it is a means of yelling stop, anymore.

They aren't fresh, new, or even really confrontational as an institution today, hence the Kathleen Parker's of the world. Are we on the same side in many ways? Sure, when it comes to the individuals there. But as an institution, it had fail written all over it, thus the declining circulation.

By and large, it is of, by and for the elites, conservative, or not. And as I am of the grassroots, the two shall never really meet. That doesn't mean they don't have a role. But with grassroots media on the rise and elitist media on the decline, they just don't interest me very much. They had a tremendous opportunity to merge the two. But I doubt their sensibilities would permit them to do it. Whatever the reason, they never did. They came out here and promptly walled themselves off, just as nearly every other dead tree product has. Hell, even Vanity Fair mixes it up with blogs more than they do.So, I've no real incentive to engage with them, or appreciate them much at all. To me, they represent tremendous opportunity lost in this day and age, as much as anything.

[dave]

Dan- Thanks for the answer.

Dave

[Elmo]

"Aides say that with the momentum (sheet do roll downhill) from the most complex domestic bill to pass Congress in 45 years"

The MSM/24-7/autoplay for the last 36/48 hours ... he's on a roll!

And of course, the parallel meme ... we're all violent/terrorists/racists/neanderthals (Johnnie Mac's gunna lose ... and Sarah is a loser).

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Jimbo]

Dan Riehl is a pussy and a fraud. The GOP is over, done with, ruined. Palin and beck screwed up your hatefest. Now all you have is each other. You can moan and grown, bitch and whine about the Black man in the White House. Or the female Speaker. If it isn't white, male, overweight, uninformed and uneducated - you can't use the information.

Remember: palin is the answer - to her own wealth, not yours.....

[louisc]

These GOP, especially in the Senate, better realize that they are in the fight of their lives.

Democrats, realizing they're probably screwed in November anyway, are more likely to vote for any crap put before them. Are we to assume that only public-minded servants are elected to Congress? These people are sleazy, low-lives who can't get a real job. They are spiteful, vindictive, and hateful. They are going down (or are safe) and they just don't care, if they ever did: "To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."

GOP Senators should use every maneuver they have. They should stall and delay on every issue in any way they can for however long they can with the knowledge that if it comes up for a vote, it will pass. Wait for reinforcements.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Now all you have is each other. You can moan and grown, bitch and whine about the Black man in the White House. Or the female Speaker."

And thanks once again for demonstrating your racist and misogynist views, Jimbo, inasmuch as you insist that Pelosi and Obama are always right because of their skin color and gender, with no reference whatsoever to their character.

What makes you funny is how much you loathe Palin, who threatens the power structure you've created. Your rants against her make it obvious that you believe all women should be helpless slaves to the Obama Party, obediently serving the whims of overweight, uninformed white males like yourself.

[FenelonSpoke]

Hew, Jimbo. Thanks for the latest talking points from the New York Times about Tea Partiers hating a Black President and woman Speaker Of The House house. I''l be sure to pass that on to Sarah Palin,a former VP candidate who has helped to energize the Tea Party base. In case you hadn't noticed, she's a woman. I'll be sure to pass on the info about the Tea Partiers on to Kevin Jackson, a Black Conservative who writes "The Black Sphere" and who has attended dozens and dozens of Tea Party Gatherings and whose webiste is now full of comments from the loving and tolerant left who call him "an Uncle Tom" and worse because he is not on the Democratic Plantation. I'll be sure to pass that on to Lloyd Marcus, an African American and strong member of the Tea Party Movement who has said the real racism he has experienced is from liberals. I'll be sure to pass that on to Kenneth Gladney, an African American Tea Party Member who was brutally attacked and whose finger was bitten off by SEIU thugs. I'l be sure to pass that info on to Jean Smart, the Congressional Rep. from Ohio who has received brutal threats of violence because she voted against Obamacare.

[Bruce]

Jimbo, thanks for illustrating for us what the intellectual depth of a pee stain looks like.

Nothing says "I'm a sad, out-of-touch loser without an original thought in my head." like playing the weathered and frayed race card against your ideological opposites. Come on, man, that's so-o-o-o-o 2008.

Anytime, you'd like to debate the issues in a reality-based fashion (note: it's how we grown-ups do it), I'm sure there will be folks here ready to oblige.

[john]

The only thing Congress demonstrated is that with sufficient bribery they'll pass a bill they haven't even read.

[Elmo]

"Be Prepared, Obama To Double Down"

Twinkletoes trip to Afghanistan is just the start. They really are going to pull out the stops. They really do have no shame. No moral compass. Please, no complacency people, starting to look like they really are going to try and make things worse.

And of course, thing will get warmer.

Stay in pocket. Hang tough. We will destroy them in November. Completely and totally obliterate them.

Nanzi .... who cares. She won't even recognize the place when she gets back (where did everybody go?).

[joyMc]

Obstruction? If the GOP obstructs Barry's agenda, and that is put out there, what is the problem? That is exactly what I want them to do at this point in time. Something tells me I am not alone.

[FenelonSpoke]

Anyway, how can one take seriously a liberal troll who says, "If it isn't white, male, overweight uneducated and uniformed" you can't use the information. Last time I checked Palin is none of those things, and while Christie is a white male and overweight (which is hardly relevant to his political views anyway) he is hardly uneducated and uninformed. What law school do you have your degree from, Jimbo? Jimbo's talking points sound like the taunts of a jr. high student.

[FenelonSpoke]

Whoops; I'm sorry. Of course Palin is white. That of course, is a reason to totally discount her opinions-at least from the perspective of a troll.

[alwaysfiredup]

Gibbs sounds a lot like Bush circa 2005: "I've built up a lot of political capital and I'm gonna spend it." He "spent" it wading into a wholesale restructuring of Social Security, an issue he had not campaigned on and for which there was no majority support. And he slowly bled support for two years, until a changeover in control of Congress made him one of the longest-serving lame ducks I've ever seen. Please, let Obama walk in his footsteps!