Obama strikes at the heart of Reaganism

[kpete]

SUN OCT 20, 2013 AT 07:45 AM PDT
Obama strikes at the heart of Reaganism
by Ian Reifowitz



The president spoke about the real pain that the Republican shutdown of government inflicted on the American people. He then used that pain to strike at the very heart of modern Republicanism, the myth put forth by Ronald Reagan that "government is the problem."

OBAMA: In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a difference in people's lives.

We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.

So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse.

The Rest:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/20/1248277/-Obama-strikes-at-the-heart-of-Reaganism

[LWolf]

1. Oh, for Pete's sake.

Pun not intended.

Obama is a fan of Ronald Reagan; at least, of the way he "changed the trajectory" of the country away from "the excesses of the 60s and 70s" (liberal achievements).

He's still working for, supporting, neoliberal economic policies. Like the TPP.

He's no more "striking at the heart of Reaganism" than he's suddenly become a socialist.

[KittyWampus]

4. Obama has acknowledged Reagan's success. That doesn't mean he is a "fan" of his policies.

You mischaracterize what Obama has actually said about Reagan.

But this is very common on DU.

[pangaia]

10. Whoa Nellie

Chill, man. It's Sunday morning....and the trees here in upstate NY are gorgeous..

[LWolf]

12. They're gorgeous here, too.

My cat for once wants to cuddle instead of bite, the dog is waiting patiently, and the horses are munching peacefully on breakfast. The sun is shining from that unique October blue, into our crisp frosty air. There's firewood waiting to be split.

I think I'll go split some, naming each piece after an asshole. Three birds with every whack of the ax: split wood, calories burned, and assholes vanquished.

[pangaia]

14. Ehh, don't worry about the assholes.

Just generates negativity. Just split that wood for the sake of splitting wood and enjoy it.
I used to split about 20 pick-up loads every winter- after cutting up slab wood with a buzz saw run off the PTO on my tractor... then stack it. I had a 'Russian' tile stove. Wonderful heat source....

Now going for a walk along the lake...

[KittyWampus]

21. You mean the assholes that can't comprehend what Obama actually says? And post infantile smilies?

[pangaia]

22. Yup, why think about them while splitting wood?

It just ruins the experience of splitting wood, causes heartburn, damages the immune system, causes anger, emotional upset, maybe even cancer.

[Enthusiast]

42. What did Obama say about being like a moderate Republican?

Didn't he say his policies wouldn't be much different than those of the 1980s moderate Republican? I remember the moderate Republicans from the 1980s, they were terrible! Reagan was considered a moderate Republican.

[KittyWampus]

20. your reading comprehension is sorely lacking and your asinine smilie is just sad.

But thanks for linking to the quote that PROVES you don't know how to grasp what others are actually saying.

[AtomicKitten]

13. full quote

"I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what is different is the times. I do think that, for example, the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. They felt like with all the excesses of the 60s and the 70s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think he tapped into what people were already feeling. Which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

[KittyWampus]

19. Thanks for PROVING my point and the inability of some DU'ers to comprehend what people

actually say.

[Doctor_J]

16. What exactly were the excesses of the 60's and 70's that the president thought

it was good for Reagan to get rid of? Voting Rights Act? Civil Rights Act? Medicare?

And why doesn't he call out the Republicans? Does he not want to take back the House next year?

[cstanleytech]

25. Might have just as well been refering to excesses of things like the draft and the vietnam war. nt

[Doctor_J]

29. Reagan tapped into the antiwar sentiment?

[cstanleytech]

32. In a way, yes.

Otherwise its hard to explain how he could have won over Carter who imo was a good president.

[JHB]

36. "In a way" meaning he tapped into anti-anti-war sentiment

He went straight for "the commies will take over everyting if we give them half a chance, and those peaceniks are giving them better than half" paranoia.

[treestar]

31. He was saying that was what the people of that time felt.

Not that it was his opinion.

[Enthusiast]

43. The Fairness Doctrine?

[Doctor_J]

44. reinstating that would be the single most deadly strike against the fascists

Unfortunately our dc dems don't seem to care about that

[Enthusiast]

45. I know it.

[hfojvt]

18. the heart of Reaganism isn't anti-government

it's anti-tax and Obama has spent six years PROMOTING the heart of Reaganism http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3885098

But I would say that Obama is certainly correct in what he said there about Reagan. Reagan did "change the trajectory" of the country, especially after the resounding defeat of Mondale. After that BOTH major parties became anti-tax. And now both major parties are anti-deficit (although that was true, at least for Carter, pre-Reagan).

Making an honest assesment of what Reagan did, does not, however, make somebody a fan of Reagan.

[okaawhatever]

34. I agree. You said the "heart" of Reaganism isn't anti-gov't but the speeches sure were.

Due in part to the same conservative wing that became the tea party. My takeaway from Obama's speech was that Reagan was elected at a unique time in history when Americans were looking for something radically different. I'm not sure we knew what it was but with interest rates, the economy, oil embargo, people felt pain in their everyday lives that they could only attribute to the gov't.
Had the economy not been in the shape it was in, I don't think Reagan could have accomplished what he did. Just as Obama inherited a crap storm, Reagan inherited the end of one and the resulting changes were credited way too much to him, making us turn a blind eye to the real damage being done to our future. As Obama mentioned, when Nixon and Clinton were elected, there wasn't a mandate for an immediate change in status quo. There was for Reagan and Obama. Just my two cents.

[uponit7771]

35. "Obama is a fan of Ronald Reagan" - winger meme, the amount of winger memes that show up on DU is

... well, ....

[Enthusiast]

41. Plus 1,000,000!

I agree. Where does this support for the TPP come from? This is bullshit. The American people do not want this right wing trade policy shoved down our throat.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Sorry pardner ...

but my strongest neighbor isn't the one with the biggest military.

[vi5]

3. Yeah, right.

As always, "speaking about it" and "doing it" are 2 very different things.

[Laelth]

5. Credit where it is due.

Ronald Reagan was wrong when he said, "Government isn't the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." I give the President credit for chipping away at this centerpiece of modern conservatism. It's a lie that needs further debunking, and if Ted Cruz and company want to give us another shutdown to remind the American people how much they really do value the Federal Government of the United States, I say, "More power to them."



-Laelth

[Turbineguy]

9. The reason these stupid teabaggers

are recruited to run for congress is to make happen Reagan's "Government IS the problem" mantra. The whole idea is to fill the government at all levels with incompetent morons. Then indeed, government will not function and will have to be abolished in favor of "market based controls". These sorts of things are difficult to manage. It's sort of like maintaining your car in such a way the engine quits and the wheels fall off just as you drive through the gate at the scrap yard.

Communism held out the same promise of no government. But somehow, we just never got there....

But still, republicans would need a government, after all somebody needs to be in control of women's reproductive organs.

[Berlum]

7. .

[Tigress DEM]

8. THAT'S MY PRESIDENT!! Awesome points made.

BEST LINE

So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse.

Article has another source same idea, less diplomatically stated. P.J. O' Rourke: "Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it."








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[Baitball Blogger]

11. I think it's obvious that "who is running government" is the problem.

Anyone who pursues the small government format probably plans to exclude the Fourteenth Amendment.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. K&R

And for all the civil servants who continue to get viciously attacked for the misdeeds of the appointees, it is good that at least one President cares.

[Doctor_J]

17. THis is one of the most bizarre opinions I've ever seen at Kos

The president believes in a lot of Reaganism - profit-based health "care", profit-based schools, putting Republicans in the cabinet, weakening or destruction of labor unions, and some other. He even calls himself a moderate Republican.

[BlueJazz]

23. I was thinking the same thing. If I were a public official or even more..a Democratic President, the

...LAST thing I would want to be associated with is a low IQ, third rate actor, failed former President, a crook, a liar and one who has absolutely no idea that he's an inferior leader. I still remember the day that Obama said "Nice things" about Ronnie. I thought "Did I get moved to some other planet during the night?"

Geez...

[Ichingcarpenter]

33. His stances have changed for political opportunism.

as any person that wants to be a successful politician. His so called Lincoln's cabinet of opposition were only a pretext to continue bad policies controlled by the Summers of the capitalistic exploitive system that caused the crash in the first place and exacerbated the situation we are in now.

He is a man between a rock and and hard place. One that sees the need for change but at the same time asking the ones with pathological narcissism of the 'right of kings' banking that caused this breakdown to help him with their own destruction or reform

Ah, the moderate! Middle of the road approach. But meanwhile this approached caused even more radicalism in the republican party and
resentment from the his supporters in the left who warned .... you can't compromise with these ideologues and you need to tell them so, which is what I'm seeing now.

A rock and a hard place. Which 100 of thousands of Occupy saw and he didn't speak up and give them media credence on their righteous outrage

He should have taken that to heart.


The NSA thing worries me on who is really in charge when his opinions on the matters echo the NSA's leaders
Proven liars many times over. Oh,...... they are retiring rather than being fired but it would have been stronger to fire them like Lincoln did with his generals.

I hope that his rock and hard place will be able for him to find his rock of salvation which is the left.

[rocktivity]

24. Despite his Alzheimer's, serving two terms and being dead nearly a decade

Last edited Sun Oct 20, 2013, 08:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Reagan is still the GOP's most viable presidential candidate.


rocktivity

[TeamPooka]

27. Governments are people my friend. nt

[M.G.]

28. Obama and Reaganism

Obama's re-election shattered the conservative myth that America is a center-right country. (Whatever that means.) No one can now say that a center-left candidate can't win the Presidency.


If Obamacare is popular when he leaves office in 2016, I'll be willing to say that he shattered Reaganism by demonstrating that large-scale federal programs can have public support. Until then, I'm up in the air on this one.

[Doctor_J]

30. Obama is more conservative than Reagan

certainly not center-left

[M.G.]

37. I'd have to disagree

I'd have to disagree

Here's the wiki on "center-left."
Sounds like Obama to me:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre-left

[IronLionZion]

38. You can disagree on policy while admiring the tactics and influence

if anyone has any doubts as to whether Reagan was "successful" or not, just look at how everyone on both sides still talks about him so much 3 decades later. We don't hold this much disdain for the Bushes, Nixon, Ford, Eisenhower, or anyone else. And I'm not sure our people love FDR, Clinton, or any Democrat the way their side worships the gipper.

The influence he had on the world will be felt by many future generations to come. Whether its our manufacturing industry or renewable energy or the conflicts in the middle east and latin america, Reagan's people had a hand in all of it.

Good or bad, the Reagan administration changed everything.

[Rex]

39. Why is it the govt is the problem, but not guns?

So, guns don't kill people...the people pulling the trigger do. So by that RWing thought, govt doesn't kill people, the people in charge of the govt does. Govt isn't the problem, the people in charge are the problem.

I knew this a long time ago watching Reagan fuck up this country almost beyond repair. He was projecting and what he really meant is 'I am the problem along with all my fellow GOPers'.

[KG]

40. not hardly.