Why couldn't Obama do this?

[lindac007]

What if President Obama were to campaign in front of bridges, roads, dams, etc. that are in desperate need of repair, with a large (VERY LARGE) sign showing people working on the project and a picture of the end result and the words: "NEED A JOB? NEED A BRIDGE (ROAD, DAM, ETC)? CALL REPUBLICANS IN THE CONGRESS AND TELL THEM TO STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH THE INFRASTRUCTURE, THE ECONOMY AND YOUR LIFE". He could do this in fifty days or less (two states a day?), every state in the union, and since this is the construction season, it would have a real impact.

Of course, there are others who would do this a hell of a lot better than I can, but what if he were to take it directly to the House of Reps leadership and laid it on right back on them. Some aides could even be in the crowd passing out congressional phone numbers and urging people to call "right now".

I have been frustrated that more is not being done showcasing the urgent need for infrastructure repair and the recalcitrance of the Republicans who are more interested in power than in jobs for people in this country.

[madokie]

1. Send it to the Whitehouse

I think its a good idea

[GoCubsGo]

2. He has.

Last year:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-assails-boehner-mcconnell-jobs-bill-ohio-bridge/story?id=14584433


It wouldn't hurt for him to do it again, however.

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. But we're heading into the season when it would count.

Americans don't know or care what was done last year.

[GoCubsGo]

25. And, as I said at the end of my post.

It would be a good idea for him to go back and do it again.

[tularetom]

3. It would interfere with his two most important activities

Schmoozing wealthy and influential campaign contributors and to a somewhat lesser extent, presidentin' (it's hard work according to "W&quot .

[Myrina]

8. +100

n/t

[JNelson6563]

12. lolz

*pointing&laughing*

[JNelson6563]

11. Wow! Certainly a fair assessment

at least as far as the Freepers are concerned. You forgot to bitch about the teleprompters.

Always good to see who signs on to agree with this sort of nonsense though so in that way your tripe serves a purpose. Brings your fellow clueless out into the sunshine for all of us to see.



Julie

[goclark]

15. Right you are ~

It is so easy to see the difference ~

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. lol--forgot to bitch about the teleprompters. Hee hee

using a Captain Codpiece line to describe President Obama? WTF?

Where am I again? I thought this was DU, a community of progressives who are intelligent, educated and who deal in reality?

what's the funny new meme.....Oh yeah....Haters gonna hate. Potaters gonna potate.

[tularetom]

23. My my, rather harsh words

To be directed against someone who has already contributed the maximum allowed by law to the president's re-election campaign. I assume you have done the same.

Yes, I'm more than a little disappointed in him. But I'll be a Democrat until the day I die and I consider the alternative to be unacceptable. Which is why I believe his election is important enough to do more than just talk about.

But I don't get the sly little dig about teleprompters. Even if I were the rotten SOB you seem to think I am, why would I bitch about them?

[emilyg]

26. +1

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. It seems like he, or maybe party big wigs, are still stuck on the notion

of united states, ignoring the reality that surrounds us. We haven't been united since the 60's.

This is exactly the kind of campaign we need to sweep the elections. Hit them hard, all day every day. Make it known that any Democrat that doesn't follow this tactic will stand completely alone unless we can find a cooperative candidate for the next primary.

[lindac007]

6. Is there a place I can send it to?

Because, I truly believe that the President has to make it clear to the electorate that the Republicans don't care about The American People. It has to resonate in all his speeches and in all his campaign appearances. Link Romney to the Congressional Republicans and I think he would have a winner there.

And I think the best place to start is with this country's infrastructure.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

14. whitehouse.gov

"Contact us" - upper right corner.

[Chan790]

28. Not the White House...

they are by law required to segregate any campaign activities from activities connected to the duties of office. If you sent it to the WH, it gets circ-binned because it has to. They can't forward it to the campaign and they can't do anything under "duties of office" that could be construed as campaigning.

Send it to the Obama campaign. http://www.barackobama.com/contact-us/

[ProfessionalLeftist]

30. Of course you're right!

Thanks!

[HereSince1628]

7. What if? I think we know the answer.

In as much as Obama has actually done that with bridges, and nothing came of it from Congress. We don't have to guess.

The awful thing about the state of politics in the US is that it's all about being able to be the party in power. Actually governing and dealing with the highest priority needs of the nation is a distant afterthought.

The rationale for getting elected is that without winning a majority you have nothing. Why do the people's elected representatives in the minority have NOTHING? Why must narrow margins mean that the interests of the 40-49.9% can be completely discarded?

The answer has something to do with election victories having become categorical endowments...and that happened because politicians in power WANTED it that way. They are the ones that constructed rules for the operation of the House and Senate that enforce just that. The people got no vote on that.

Where there is no need for compromise, for hearing the concerns of the minority, there is only a tyranny of the majority.

[PragmaticLiberal]

9. President Obama has basically been doing this for months.

For example, Obama held a rally in John Boehner's district and focused on a bridge that needed upgrading.


There are other examples like this. Just google them.

[GeorgeGist]

22. I Googled, I failed to find anything more recent than 2011.

May I see your Google results? Thanks in advance.

[PragmaticLiberal]

31. After Googling it I couldn't find it either.

So I guess I have to say "my fault".

[chervilant]

10. Great idea!

While he's at it, maybe he could pledge to stop the drone attacks that are slaughtering women and children...

[Arkana]

13. He has done that.

Those big ARRA signs you saw in front of every infrastructure project weren't there because people thought they looked pretty, and Obama's been pushing infrastructure improvements ever since he took office.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

17. HE HAS!!!!! Media blackout!!!

[Enrique]

18. he could, but it contradicts his other message

he wants to get credit for being a spending cutter. In my opinion he should get credit, he should point out that the Romney is lying when he talks about an Obama spending binge.But that's because Obama has already forgone on the big spending approach.

If he had taken the big spending approach from the beginning, it would have worked because it would be a consistent message: big spending in a recession is good for the economy short term because of the stimulus and long term because we will benefit from the infrastructure improvements.

[Historic NY]

19. Well let him come to my neighborhood....

they are foaming, gluing & cabling the underside decking of a 1949 bridge by me its a major state highway that spans the north - south route along the west side of the Hudson River. The adjacent bridge built in 1886 is crumbling so much they closed off the walkway. It pretty scary to see the amount of tanker trucks traveling over the newer span daily.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. Why are people blaming the president rather than Congress who BLOCKED

many of these projects and JOBS bills! Why do we Democrats fall for this? They want us to blame Obama and NOT the Republicans. I am so sick and tired of this!

Please STOP blaming Democrats and Obama!!!

Here:

http://www.kare11.com/news/article/977922/391/Obama-gives-jobs-speech-in-Minnesota

And here:

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/obama-pushes-sen-approve-60b-roads-jobs-bill

[lindac007]

21. Hasn't done it enough, certainly not lately

I think he could be in every state in the union. Things are falling apart so badly almost everywhere. He should be linking Romney to the Republican congress every chance he gets and talk about the jobs bill that is totally stalled in the House and has been since September. That has major components for infrastructure.

I was listening to Bill Clinton link Romney to the Republicans at the fund raiser last night (Chuck Todd's show on MSNBC) and he gave a powerful indictment of the Mittster and the Republicans congress. We need more and more of that, from the President himself and from all of this surrogates.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

24. you do look worried

[progress2k12nbynd]

27. We should have been doing this long before "crumbling infrastructure" became a buzzword in 2007

Our bridges, roads, schools, etc. have been crumbling for decades and yet no one talked about it until it became a viable political weapon after the Minnesota bridge collapsed in 2007. I guarantee if we had brought this to light much much earlier it could have been fixed at a fraction of the cost that it will be today

[woo me with science]

29. They needed the money for drones. nt