Posted: Jul 16, 2011 5:49 pm
How many times must we go over this: It is not his willingness to compromise that is the problem, it is the way that he compromises and his utter lack of negotiating skills. Anyone who has ever haggled knows that if you are buying you start low and if you are selling you start high, then you work towards a happy medium. Same goes for politics. Obama, instead of using this tried and true method of negotiation, starts off with a center-right position, then moves closer and closer to the republican position, ending up giving them 80% of what they want while liberals get next to nothing. The worst part is that he consistently does this even when public opinion is far to the left of his own starting position in the negotiation. He did this with the public option, with the Bush tax cuts, and now he is doing it with the budget negotiations. Over 70% of the public prefers raising taxes on the wealthy to cutting Medicare and Social Security, yet he is still deferring to republican positions and even repeating their talking points for them. It is absolutely absurd.
He apparently has no idea how to wield public opinion. The massive public support for these liberal programs means that Obama can and should be more forceful in publicly defending them and attacking the republicans' plan to dismantle them. He should be saying things like: "Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to give tax breaks to the people who ran it into the ground in the first place. They are holding your pensions and healthcare hostage so that the cronies who fill their campaign coffers can buy new yachts. They are engaging in economic terrorism and hostage taking without regard or care for the will and the good of the people." I don't want him to say this just to make me feel better, but because the majority of the public are in favor of the liberal programs and need to have a leader, yes a LEADER, voice their concerns in a forceful way which puts those who would destroy the economy on the spot and on the defensive. Doing so would mean controlling the terms of the debate and mobilizing the will of the populace in his favor. Instead he just passively and nonchalantly lets the repubs spew their talking points and even repeats them. I heard the man say the other day "We need to tighten the belt. Live within our means, like a family does." Right out of the dumb republican quote book. It is an unwarranted legitimization of the thugs' position, which is-tighten your belt America, we're cutting your benefits so us rich white fucks won't have to pay 3% more on our income taxes. What we need is more revenue and less waste. What we need is for the president's talking points and negotiations to match the liberal position, the position that over 70% of the population agrees with.
He apparently has no idea how to wield public opinion. The massive public support for these liberal programs means that Obama can and should be more forceful in publicly defending them and attacking the republicans' plan to dismantle them. He should be saying things like: "Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to give tax breaks to the people who ran it into the ground in the first place. They are holding your pensions and healthcare hostage so that the cronies who fill their campaign coffers can buy new yachts. They are engaging in economic terrorism and hostage taking without regard or care for the will and the good of the people." I don't want him to say this just to make me feel better, but because the majority of the public are in favor of the liberal programs and need to have a leader, yes a LEADER, voice their concerns in a forceful way which puts those who would destroy the economy on the spot and on the defensive. Doing so would mean controlling the terms of the debate and mobilizing the will of the populace in his favor. Instead he just passively and nonchalantly lets the repubs spew their talking points and even repeats them. I heard the man say the other day "We need to tighten the belt. Live within our means, like a family does." Right out of the dumb republican quote book. It is an unwarranted legitimization of the thugs' position, which is-tighten your belt America, we're cutting your benefits so us rich white fucks won't have to pay 3% more on our income taxes. What we need is more revenue and less waste. What we need is for the president's talking points and negotiations to match the liberal position, the position that over 70% of the population agrees with.