This is a Liberal Country. A Center-Left Nation.
We need to hammer that home to every day to combat the lies of Faux News and Toxic Conservative Radio, which will work to undo the clear liberal mandate handed to President Obama.
But, President Obama faces big challenges now.
First up is Sequestration and the "Fiscal Cliff". Centrists and Republicans will demand Austerity and point to the big divide in the American populace as necessitating The Grand Bargain.
The American People just overwhelmingly rejected The Ryan Buget and the politics of Austerity. We are tired of 30 years of the Republican Economic model of Pissing Down Our Back and Telling Us it's Raining Prosperity. This is a clear mandate to eliminate the Bush Tax Cuts and Reaganomics.
We said No to the Right-Wing model and President Obama needs to say No. The President doesn't need to move halfway to meet the Republicans.
The Grand Bargain is giant screw-job for the Poor and Middle Class. We need to resist, resist, resist. No cuts to Medicare, No reductions to Medicaid, No stealing Social Security for degenerate Wall Street gamblers to flinch.
We need tighter and further regulations on Wall Street. We need to re-empower the SEC. We need to readopt a Financial Transaction Tax to curb the rampant speculation and Hedge Fund gambling associated with Wall Street. President Obama needs to stand next to Senator Elizabeth Warren as she battles for the American People against the Vultures.
The American people did not vote for cuts they voted for much higher Taxes on Millionaires and Billionaires, the elimination of tax subsidies to Oil Conglomerates, effective collection of taxes on Giant Corporate tax cheats, and fair taxes on Capital Gains and Income made by investments.
We need to impose tariffs on foreign made crap, let's make IPhones here in the United States, and punish the Wal Marts and Bain Capital which make money drowning the American manufacturing base and off-shoring jobs.
The Housing Market is still a shambles. Getting out from under the rubble of the Bush Housing Bubble and Republican Recession is going to take time. Austan Goolsebee stated, we have 5 million vacant houses and $700 Billion in negative housing equity. Housing is huge problem.
Next is getting us out of Afghanistan and actually Reducing our Foreign Empire and bloated Warmonger Budget. We need to close bases around the world, we need to scrap wasteful spending on a blue water Navy, we need push to reduce the Drone Campaign. We need to cut the fraud, waste and abuse of the DoD by $500 Billion.
Our involvement in Libya needs to be questioned. And I don't mean Benghazi. Benghazi and Libya are part of a Covert CIA Operation. Republicans aren't going to delve too deeply into it because the more they expose in their baseless partisan witch hunt the more blowback they will create for US abroad and for Republicans within the Intelligence Community.
But, Congress does need to step up and take back control of Military involvement overseas. This is a huge problem as Presidents have expanded their control and played word games to get around the power to declare War invested in the Congress. But, this Congress and previous ones are also culpable because of the Trillions they've given to profligate warmongers and because they are afraid to stop paying to the DoD and Pentagon.
Right now is a time to take a few celebratory victory breathes. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work to get America going away from the policies which aid only the Wealthy and Powerful and make this a country reflect the Liberal Ideas that the American people hold.
Update:
This rejection of the Right-Wing went further than just President Obama's landslide. Republicans Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Tommy Thompson, Denny Rehnberg were all decisively defeated in the Senate. Elizabeth Warren trounced Tea Party darling Scott Brown. Two of the biggest incendarity Republican bomb throwers, Allen West and Joe Walsh, were kicked out of the House. While the straight talking Alan Grayson was voted back in by a 2-1 margain.
"This is a Liberal Country. A Center-Left Nation."
ReplyDeleteYes it is, and Obama needs to govern like it.
I think you overestimate the House GOP. They are stuck. Trapped.
They cannot block Obama's plans and must go along with more spending and more taxes. They will lose the majority in the mid terms if they don't. If we go off the fiscal cliff or technically default on our debt, their intransigence will be blamed.
I predict they will return to their pre-1995 servile crouch and take their meager spoils as they go along to get along.
Be of good cheer! Your progressive moment has arrived.
Silverfiddle,
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you on many issues but, I want a Great Nation. To me a Great Nation takes care of it's citizens and seeks justice.
A Great Nation doesn't spend More than a Trillion a year on a bloated foreign empire. It doesn't have a lower tax rate on those who seek to hide their income in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. It doesn't reward Corporations that cheat on their taxes, which dismantle and send factories to China, and outsource jobs.
President Obama has won Two elections decisively.
This Nation needs to rebuild itself and turn inward. Will it or will Republicans and conservatives continue to call President Obama a Nazi Marxist a Gay Kenyan and a Terrorist Appeaser?
Hopefully, I'm wrong. But, unfortunately, I think we know what most Right-Wingers will do.
A great nation doesn't spend More than a Trillion a year that it doesn't have, putting itself and its citizens in hock. That is a bipartisan problem.
ReplyDeleteI think you give the House GOP too much credit. They are craven politicians. Power and money come before principles.
SF,
ReplyDeleteWe need to cut spending. But, any budget which doesn't cut $500 Billion a year from the DoD isn't a serious effort at Deficit Reduction.
But, the mega explosion of Debt lies at the feet of George W. Bush. His DoD gluttony is responsible for a majority of the Debt.
It is a bipartisan effort. And I think what many conservatives allowed themselves to believe was that their Blame Barack Campaign would convince Americans outside their bubble that it was all Obama's Fault.
And the Right's utter intransigence well... It's been part of the story of President Obama's elections in 2008 and 2012.
Bush comes in for blame, I have said it often myself, but lets keep the numbers straight.
ReplyDeleteObama blew more in 4 years than Bush did in 8.
Having said that, it is a bipartisan issue and my prediction is they do nothing to address it. The craven GOP will go Forward into the abyss with Obama.
Also, do you have some strategic study which suggests a $500 billion cut to DoD.
We both agree waste needs to be cut, but I think we also agree we need to maintain defense and deterrence.
So where does the $500 billion come from?
It's always been my contention that the two major drivers of the massive increase in the deficit have been the lowering of the tax rates and the increase in DoD spending.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these go back 30 and 60 years respectively.
The money that came on Obama tab was spent by previous President's and Congresses.
I just threw out $500 Billion because it's perhaps half the DoD budget. The official DoD budget for FY2013 is $614 Billion. For 2013-2017 the official expedniture is expected to be $3 Trillion.
If we want a Military and Foreign Empire someone is going to have to pay for it. The Rich want the Poor to pay for it and they're going to get it.
Gene,
ReplyDeleteEvery president and government is saddled with previous decisions. By your same rules, I blame Bush's spending on FDR and LBJ.
Obama blew more money than any other president. Face it. It's a verifiable fact.
Please take some time and download the spreadsheets from this website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals
non-discretionary entitlement spending dwarfs defense, but please don't take my word for it, go look for yourself.
I agree with you that we need to stop all these interventions and get the hell out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible.
Yes, LBJ's spending was huge. But, so was Reagan's spending. It's just we have to decide what we are going to spend upon and who gets stuck with the tab.
ReplyDeleteAs for what Obama blew he stepped into a bad situation. Bush spent a large amount of the money that Obama got stuck with the bill for...
Was the Stimulus a waste? I don't think so. Harper's has a piece on what the stimulus did for infrastructure.
The Housing Bubble effects are still being felt we have millions of vacant homes and there is no recovery to be had from new homes being built. Also, while previous Presidents could look to manufacturing here in America for a employment recovery that's been gutted over the last 30 years as well.
The Rich have had a very easy time of it this last decade. Their share of national wealth has gone up. They hold majority of all the assets in the nation.
There hasn't been shared sacrifice since 9/11. And now we are facing the effects of not having fiscal sanity while funding a 12 year plus adventure in Afghanistan, decades long involvement in KFOR, continued presence in HOA, and the 7 year debacle in Iraq. Plus, the accompanied costs of the bases still maintained in Italy, Germany, England, Okinawa...
I'm addressing this in my next post and I'd like your input once I publish it tonight or tomorrow.
Partisan rancor is inevitable, but the divide isn't liberal/conservative it's Super Rich and everybody else.