Obama Will Roll Over His Opponents

[kpete]

Obama Will Roll Over His Opponents

by BooMan
Sun Jan 18th, 2009 at 11:34:50 AM EST

.......................

He's not moving to the center, he's co-opting the center and making it part of his coalition. If you don't believe, just watch. Obama is going to be the most powerful president since LBJ, and he will leave a similar legacy of progressive legislation.

..............

Barack Obama is not looking to win support for his agenda by breaking Republican filibusters. He's looking to crush all meaningful opposition to his policies. In the words of Conan the Barbarian, he wants to 'defeat his enemies, see them driven before him, and to hear the lamentations of their women." But he is not going to attempt that task by polarizing the debate or bullying through his agenda or using the tactics that the Republicans used under Bush and the Democrats failed to use under Clinton. He doesn't need to do those things. He has the votes to do almost everything he needs to do. He wants more than partisan support. He wants national support. And the way he is going to beat the Republicans on those issues where they might legitimately oppose him is to disorganize them, outorganize them, and rout them.

His rhetoric is tailored not to convince but to disarm. Even his actions are intended to disarm. While Obama brings his army of supporters to bear on national debates, he will bring his potential adversaries into the decision making process. He'll give them a chance to have some input, he'll let them have a conference to go over their concerns, he'll invite them to the White House, and go talk to their columnists in their homes. He'll even agree to things he need not agree to, just to make his would-be adversaries feel important. But at the end of the day, he is going to get the legislation he wants in the basic form that he wants it.

more at:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/1/18/113450/203

[PM Martin]

1. Honestly, if this is true.

Obama being Johnson less Vietnam, would be a great thing for America.
Johnson was the last leader America had that made great progress on economic and social matters.

[tblue37]

16. Nixon established the EPA. He was actually our last successful "liberal" president.

If only he hadn't been such a deceitful, cheating, lying, scary authoritarian scumbag. . . .

Seriously, though, Nixon actually did enact a number of policies of a sort that would now be considered "too far left" for our spineless Republican-lite Dems in Congress to support

[PM Martin]

21. True.

Nixon was more interested in power than policy.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'm hoping that this is what is happening

Imagine the effectiveness of an LBJ administration without Viet Nam. May Obama realize that we need to withdraw from both Iraq and Afghanistan soon.

[supernova]

13. Oh me too ayeshaqqiqa!

I really hope what kpete has laid out here is what is happening.

[Odin2005]

3. This is what I've been saying for a while now.

He isn't "moving towards the center," he's moving the center to him, pulling it back leftward and making the Pukes look like the divisive, obstructionist asses they are. And it that mean goring some of the sacred cows of the 60s Left so be it.

[RC]

5. Obama is right of center already.

The center needs to be pulled back to the Left to be more in line with the rest of the western countries.

Also the criminals in the bu$h administration need to tried for their crimes and put away or they will be back to finish the job.

[Odin2005]

6. I am getting sick of the "Obama is right of center" lie.

[RC]

9. Then where are the Progressives in his cabinet?

Each and every nomination was either center or Right of center.

[Odin2005]

11. Bull.

It's a mix of LIBERALS and centrists. They are only "center-right" if you think only people to the left of Nader are Liberals.

I never use the term "Progressive" because it's come to mean what ever some Obama-hater wants it to mean

Liberals in the cabinet:

Hillary Clinton
Tom Daschle
Shaun Donovan
Eric Shinseki
Hilda Solis
Steven Chu
Eric Holder

[DCKit]

12. "Keep your friends close, your enemies, closer."

Several of his picks really bother me as well, but the President sets the tone, not his appointees. At least that's how I'm hoping it's going to do down.

Regardless, nothing could be worse than the past eight years. BushCo did NOTHING right by any stretch of the imagination.

[cali]

15. wow. who knew that a member of the Progressive Caucus

is right of center? Hilda Solis, Progressive. Melody Barnes, Progressive. And other excellent cabinet picks such as Shaun Donovan, Eric Shinseki, Lisa Jackson, Stephen Chu and Susan Rice- and that's just off the top of my head.

You don't have the foggiest idea of what you're talking about.

[Odin2005]

19. That's why I said "Progressive" has come to mean whatever the Obama-haters want it to mean.

Pathetic, ain't it?

[Historic NY]

4. I feel it too, people will understand soon all he does has a motive..

Obama is not likely to waste much energy on the unachievable. He will marshal his forces in an all out unsuspecting assault. Look how he operates, look how he campaigned, look how he presented hiself in the senate, in Chicago. He may be doing things that upset some people now, but later he will make them wonder why they doubted. You right on about co-opting.

[Hansel]

7. Have to agree with this.

By the time his opponents figure out what he's going to do, it will already be done and they will have gone along with it without realizing it.

Obama has a bit of a passive-aggressive personality, but in a good way for us. I would hate to have him on the other side.

[The River]

8. * With Our Help

I don't doubt he will be very effective, even on his own,
but as he said throughout the campaign: "It isn't about
me(Obama) it's about you (the voter, citizen, activist)".

If as few as 1 in 10 of us who voted for him (7 Mil+) actively lobbied
the obstructionists in the House and Senate when important legislation
is on the line then "we the people" can pass anything we want.

Imagine how quickly Senators X, Y & Z will change their minds
when they have a thousand angry constituents at their office door every day,
dogging their every move or launching recall campaigns in their home states.

All Obama has to do is ask "us" to act on our own behalf.

Being in Virgina I now have nothing but Democrats to lobby
but Webb, Warner and Periello will get email from me 10 times a day
if they don't back Obama on important issues.

[cottonseed]

10. This is basically how I see this going down.

I'm sure there will be a lot things that will piss us off, but I think overall we'll see a move to the left in this country. And more importantly a strong farm system of even more progressive politician's after his 8 years in office. I've been cringing at a lot of the rejection of Obama's decisions as far as personnel go, but with the stench of the conservatives so pervasive in government there's just no way he could do a Bush-style ram rodding approach to government. We'd be broken just as the conservative movement and Republican's are today. If this is the way Obama's going about things, and I think it is, I see it as the only logical way to get us going back in the left direction.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Typo. You forgot "for" before "his".

Glad to be of service. :hi:

[tbyg52]

17. Sure hope that's right. nt

[nickgutierrez]

18. Good theory.

I think that's pretty close to the truth. The things we know about Obama are that he's no dummy, and that he is a ruthless tactician. This is a guy who won his first state senate seat by having several of his rivals removed from the ballot on technicalities. He knows how to play "the game".

During the Presidential campaign, I don't know how many times one of us practically screamed, "stop saying he's right" when he agreed with McCain on some small point, but as it turned out that gave him the opportunity to really turn the screws on points where he disagreed, without looking angry or appearing to pile on unnecessarily.

[Odin2005]

20. I realized the same thing.

I noticed that every praising of an opponent would be followed by brutal pwnage of the policies the opponent supported by Obama.

[sojourner]

22. I think so, given the tack he's taken so far. No "liar" vibe either, unlike *. He's REAL DEAL, imho