Barack Obama had a lot of great ideas, but I think people have forgotten how many times he gave up without a fight. His motto seemed to be, “We can’t win, so why try.” I really blame him for the demoralized Democratic base that stayed home and allowed Donald Trump’s win.
Harris needs to fight for progressive ideals, even if she doesn’t always bring home a victory.
Obama lost the House of Representatives in years 3 and 4. And again in years 5 and 6. Then he lose both the House of Reps and the Senate in years 7 and 8. That was the thanks he got for passing the ACA. He pushed for progress, and the left voters never showed up.
You want progress? You need to vote and give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories. It’s Congress that passes legislation.
The ACA is a huge black mark on Obama’s legacy. Clinton certainly wasn’t going to push for universal healthcare. She was just a terrible candidate.
It was just really hard to get excited to pay 1100$ a month for bare bones family insurance. (At the time…it’s closer to 2500 a month today).
Oh the most progressive healthcare reform ever is suddenly a bad thing? Fucking lol.
Want more? Vote and give them consistent and overwhelming victories. 2 years every 16 years is going to be slow. Bump that up champ.
Want more? Vote and give them consistent and overwhelming victories.
Lucy with the football.
Hello Mr Crab! You have graced me with two messages today. What shall we cover today? Oh, that they “take away” something. Ok let’s cover how much power they have had:
They have had control of all 3 (house of reps, senate, and presidency) for 4 years of the last 24 years. If you to go back further, then it’s 6 years of the last 44 fucking years. If you want more progress, then you’re gonna have to up that!
Is this where you complain that they didn’t do everything, everywhere, all at once when they had control? If so, then I say that writing up legislation takes time, energy, and political capital. You can’t do literally everything, everywhere, all at once.
Ok we’ll see how this conversation goes huh MrCrab.
They have had control of all 3 (house of reps, senate, and presidency) for 4 years of the last 24 years.
And they wasted as much of that as possible. How large does the majority have to be? How long do we have to hold it before Democrats actually keep their fucking promises to someone other than Netanyahu?
When will Democrats start using the majorities we give them?
Yup there is Mr Crab! so I’ll just C+P
Writing up legislation takes time, energy, and political capital. You can’t do literally everything, everywhere, all at once.
Here’s a very short list of what Biden has done: Green energy, EV investment, union empowerment, student debt forgiveness, marijuana rescheduling and pardons, infrastructure, drug price controls, Chips act, PACT act, etc etc etc. Non-competes banned (by FTC along ‘party lines’). Pardoning people kicked out for being gay. Supporting Ukraine.
But you want to suggest they aren’t using the majority to do anything.
I wonder if that will suffice for this conversation!
Your first sentence is a joke right? Most progressive health care ever is a misnomer. It was Romneycare rebranded.
Get a clue
It’s a joke if your “black mark” is a joke. Like it or not, it was and is the most progressive healthcare ever, on a federal level if you want to be pedantic. Get a clue indeed.
Which brings us back to: If you want more, then you have to give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories.
In what way was it more progressive than Medicare and Medicaid?
Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society is the high-water mark of progressive domestic legislation. Nothing in the 60 years since then is remotely close - quite the opposite, actually
Oh the most progressive healthcare reform ever
In America? That was Medicaid, and was established in 1965 by adding Title XIX to the Social Security Act. The PPACA was the biggest increase in enrollment since it was established, but was by no means universal or even approaching the scope of the original act.
Except every time Democrats do win then the excuse becomes that they can’t unite the party.
Walz is the perfect solution for this excuse. He passed progressive policies weekly in the governorship with a 1 seat majority. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about this ballot that are new. You could of course argue the same thing about early Obama, but I trust Walz.
What evidence is there that Kamal will even try to pass an agenda that is similar to what Walz did in Minnesota?
I think Walz is the most progressive governor in the country and would love to see his policies implemented on a national level. What evidence is there that Kamala’s administration will even attempt to enact those policies? She has been light on policy, with the exception of supporting Israel and building the wall via the bipartisan immigration bill that the Dems are now running on.
I’m assuming Tester wins in Montana and dems have a blue house and 50/50 senate. But even with that, idk why we would presume she would be as progressive as Walz
When do they win? They need all 3 of House of Representatives, Senate, and Presidency to do much of anything. And they’ve had that for, drumroll please, 4 of the last 24 years. Or 6 years of the last 44 years. They basically never win. So they are forced to compromise and then they go to the center to find voters.
And when they do get all 3, Obama passed the ACA, Biden passed green energy, student debt, drug price control, etc,. And the thanks they get is to then lose the midterm elections. Thanks voters that don’s show up!
Biden did historically well in the midterms tbh. If it wasn’t for gerrymandering and a population capped House, Dems would still have complete control of Congress
Yeah but it still kneecaps them. He can’t even do a sweetheart border deal without the House.
Yeah my point is that voters did show up. Dems did historically well in 2022 for an incumbent party
Its just that the structure of our electoral politics favors rural areas and gerrymandered districts. Which currently means the red team benefits. Which isn’t the fault of recent voters
He still lost the house. Not enough showed up.
That was the thanks he got for the ACA
I was paying for health insurance when the ACA was passed. My cost went up and my coverage got worse, and nowadays I can’t afford any coverage at all despite making too much money to qualify for Medicaid. The ACA increased “access to healthcare” but it was an absolute, unmitigated failure - Obama got exactly what he deserved for it.
You want [more] progress? You need to vote and give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories.
So they can find just enough no votes like they always fucking do.
Hello Mr Crab! What should we cover today? Oh ok it looks like you’re on a semi-conspiracy that they will “find” aka you are implying create no votes. I think it’s enough to call out the conspiracy. I wonder if that’s enough for this one.
It’s not a conspiracy to notice that the party breaks its promises.
Ah MrCrab, you are implying that they do nothing, ever, anywhere, that any one of their voters want. Thus the semiconspiracy. As addressed in my other reply, you can’t do everything, everywhere, all at once. Because: Writing up legislation takes time, energy, and political capital. You can’t do literally everything, everywhere, all at once.
I make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but my ACA premiums, net of tax credit, are $0. Sorry it hasn’t worked for you, but that’s obviously not the universal outcome.
To be clear the ACA was Romneycare…not progress.
Romneycare that didn’t kick into action until 2014. And because state agencies got to rebrand their programs, you had some crazy A/B poll testing results.
In Kentucky, a new Marist poll conducted for NBC News finds that 57 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable view of “Obamacare,” the shorthand commonly used to label the 2010 Affordable Care Act. That’s compared with only 33 percent who give it a thumbs up – hardly surprising in a state where the president’s approval rating hovers just above 30 percent.
By comparison, when Kentucky voters were asked to give their impression of “kynect,” the state exchange created as a result of the health care law, the picture was quite different.
A plurality – 29 percent – said they have a favorable impression of kynect, compared to 22 percent who said they view the system unfavorably. Twenty-seven percent said they hadn’t heard of kynect, and an additional 21 percent said they were unsure.
Chicken or the egg?
I look at it as a Mexican standoff. The protest left voter is not going to win this Mexican Standoff because the Dems have an out to go for the center voter. Which is a voter that actually shows up. The leftist has no alternative. Bemoan the two party system if you want, but there is no alternative.
When the left doesn’t show up, Dems just go to the center even more.
Democrats past center decades ago. Harris’ acceptance speech was full fledged right wing
Call it whatever you want, when they lose they will go to where the votes are. They have an out in this Mexican Standoff. You don’t.
And as they go to where the votes are, republicans, they should be abandoned by left leaning voters.
Depends if you want to stop them from going center. They will go where the votes are. When you don’t vote, you tell them to not do anything left ever. “Don’t bother with us, there’s no support over here!” Congrats, it’s the biggest self own ever.
He didn’t give up, he was all talk with no intent of action.
never forget he authorized the extra-judicial drone-bombing of an American child.
Obama is just a character. He is the charming face of the bloodthirsty elite.
Look at his recordIf he were not attractive and charming people would be treating him like Pelosi
I’m convinced liberals are really just sneaky centrists. We need to rid the party of neo liberals
It is really quite something how Obama almost categorically opted to give up without a fight on virtually every issue. He had to be dragged across the finish line for the ACA and was trying to kill the public option before Lieberman even took that charge up.
The backroom politics of the Obama years should have primed anyone for what came after.
I thought Pelosi was all about old farts getting out of the way and leaving room for the next generations.
She IS an old fart refusing to get out of the way even though she has (in name only) relinquished control tp one of the 5 or fewer Democrats in Congress who exhibit even more disdain for the Left than she does herself.
She’s older than Bernie ffs!
Bernie who, probably partly because he was an elite athlete in his youth and still goes for a run every day, is roughly a decade or two sharper than most people around his age, including Pelosi.
I think Pelosi is still sharp, she’s just out of touch. Could happen to people of any age, but decades in politics is not doing any favours.
Bernie is very much not out of touch.
I think Pelosi is still sharp, she’s just out of touch
Good point. I accidentally conflated the two related but very much distinct concepts 😁
Fuck you Pelosi.
itt; a bunch of people that don’t know it takes 2/3rds of a majority to pass anything and that a whole bunch of extremely partisan issues will just sail through congress even though the affordable care act barely made it through.
Now if only they fucking showed up to vote.
Yes neoliberals, let’s continue to govern from the center. Because that’s worked so well the last forty years as the right has moved the Overton window to the point where we no longer have a left wing party.
I think it’s worth mentioning again that all this hope and excitement comes with the first candidates that aren’t Boomers.
Let’s win elections by just all becoming republicans and letting the billionaires win! That’s what compromise looks like to these people.
Obama was a boomer?
Boomer generation; 1946 - 1964…
…Obama, born 1961.
So yes, technically he was a Boomer.
Damn. I thought he was like 20 years younger.
He was! 20 years ago.
Harris 1964. So she’s also a boomer.
But Biden is not a boomer. Born 1942, he’s part of the silent generation. He’s the first non-boomer since Bush senior.
Also, three of the last five presidents were born in 1946 - Bush, Clinton, and Trump. Annus horribilis.
Generations aren’t written in stone, but the Boomers are generally defined as 1946-1964 and Obama was 1961. So younger Boomer.
Now “boomer” just means old person. Gen Z are happy to refer to older millenials and younger Gen X as boomers, because why bother educating yourself.
because language evolves, and now the word “boomer” is more useful as a word to describe old people with a specific mindset rather than as a word for people born in a specific lapse of time
I think the “specific mindset” is also one that is out of touch with every younger generation.
yea, that mindset of being out of touch and thinking your generation was the last good one, that kinda mindset
(at least that’s how i see it)
They’re all shit lol. But the actual boomer generation were definitely some of the worst of the worst. Benefiting in ways most can’t even comprehend from the generations that came before them. Eagerly gobbling it all up. Acting like they earned it . But then leaving none for those that came after and just generally souring things on every possible measure. I’m doing the things their parents grandparents Etc fought for.
There are always exceptions. Possibly as I’m even an exception to my own generation. But there are definitely some rules that can be broadly applied.
The Dems have had control of all 3 House of Reps, Senate, and Presidency for 6 years out of the last 44 years. And you wonder why they’re forced to compromise?
Every time they lose (like they’ve lost for 38 years out of the 44 years), they are forced to compromise and they go to the center to find voters. You want them to not go to the center? Then they need to win first.
I’m happy to see your Ctrl, C, and P buttons are in fine working condition. Do you have a valid argument though?
You mean V, you can’t even get your attacks right.
Argument is valid and was given. And since you were oh so polite, do you have a valid counter, or do you only have attacks?
I may or may not reply since you already showed who you are. More attacks = no reply.
I truly see neoliberals as on the right these days.
They want us to be slaves.
We don’t want the center. Her main selling point is that she is not 80+years old. The bar is that low. Nobody gives a shit about policy at this point, it’s gotten that bad. Anything but a geriatric convict.
Yes, they do want them, but they are too stupid to understand that so you have to lie to them about the medicine. Progressives need to stfu for a second and win the election. Go sit in the corner and seeth with Hasan about how kamala is a genocidal bitch or whatever, see you in October.
Progressives need to stfu
The entirety of centrist messaging,
That wasn’t even the entirety of my 3 sentence comment.
You padded it a bit, yes.
People like the popular progressive ideals and they don’t like the unpopular ones.
Harris should support a higher minimum wage and not support Medicare replacing private insurance or taking money away from the police.
Not sure why people want to generalize the popularity of some of their positions to the popularity of all positions. If all their positions were super popular there would be more people in The Squad.
The "center"from what? The GQP is no longer a valid political ideology, they’ve gone full cult. I doubt it even still matters if you tell them you will consider their proposals, they will still portray her as the devil. Harris should still do the decent presidential thing and help address their problems like those of the border, like Biden tried to do, but she’s obligated to the people and their demands, not their party’s.
healthcare pls
Beautifully stated. Summer Lee rocks.
lived in her district in PA, voted for her twice
she’s never done anything with power, all she does is campaign and go on the news
That’s all governing is now though. Prostrate yourself to gather up as much money so you can buy your next election and smuggle enough away to enrich yourself or at least pay for all the nice things you want and then provide sound bites to keep your political party relevant while you rely on the already existing infrastructure that you pray doesn’t deteriorate further while you are in office so that you don’t have to do anything.
The problem is that it’s all been in place for so long that we aren’t going to do anything if it costs money or effort and the elder elites of the party set the standard of money being the most important metric for your contributions to the government and party that its all you can focus on.
We are back to positions being mostly an indicator of money and family conmections which is why young power hungry men like the Republican party more simply because the threshold is lowered if you are engrained enough in their political zeitgeist.
The empire is receeding but those in power don’t care as long as they get to enjoy the fruit of their parents labor just a little bit longer.
People want progressive ideals as policy, but losing the messaging war for 4 decades has taken its toll.
You cannot associate these policies with an ideology. Just call it common sense. Or the Fuck Billionaires Agenda. Whatever.
You can’t undo decades of media programming by telling people that they would all agree with you if they just paid closer attention. Losing strategy.
They aren’t even trying to win the messaging war. Instead of pointing out how unbelievably horrible the republican plan of deporting 20 million undocumented migrants, they capitulated and moved further right on immigration.
People do like the policies though. Even republicans. You might be the one not paying attention.
That’s what they said, but suggested calling it something other than what it is to appeal to the American public.
Maybe you night not be the one to paying attention.
The center that’s been pulled to the right of Reagan? Is it that center she means?
If so, she is in fact claiming Harris should govern with Republican policies.
I hope America responds with a roaring NO to that.Yeah we did, that’s why Hillary lost. That’s why Biden was so unappealing.
If I were American, I’d drag everyone I know to a voting booth to vote for Harris.
I really hope she wins, both for America and the rest of the world.
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