Barack Obama, the Hawaiian Hammer, Took a Dive

[change_notfinetuning]

Sadly, many of the Democrats I trust the most, such as Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer, Howard Dean, Paul Krugman, Thom Hartmann, etc., have all said that we need to pass the health care bill, even if it is the Senate's version. I will still trust these people, but respectfully disagree with them on this issue.

As I see it, Democrats have all closed ranks because they don't want the Republicans to get any boost from beating Obama on this key issue, which they think will lead to disaster in the midterms. They think that when Obama gives his pretty little speech proclaiming this defeat is a great victory (that deform is reform), Americans will be so giddy with delight that they will flock to the polls and vote like they did in 2008. Fat chance.

Besides worrying about the midterms, Democrats also fear that if this bill fails, it will give Republicans the idea that they are on a roll and can defeat everything else on Obama's agenda, clearly something we all want to prevent. Unfortunately, the flip side is that by passing it, we give Bill Daley and Rahm Emanuel the idea that they are on a roll, can say "fuck the progressives", and go full throttle ahead on passage of their pro-craporate, pro-war agenda and kill or water down everything we were working for, all the while expecting us to come crawling back, tail between our legs, in 2012, because where the fuck else are we gonna go? Palin? Pawlenty?

Sorry, I'm in no bigger hurry to let Emanuel think he can do whatever he wants than the Republicans. This was our one chance for real heath care reform, and the guy we bet on - Barack Obama, the Hawaiian Hammer - took a dive. Yes, we were suckers, but suckers deserve an even break, too.

If you Democratic party/Obama loyalists, admitting that this deform bill is a piece of shit that will have to be fixed later (good luck), feel comfortable empowering Rahm Emanuel to do whatever the hell he wants to do from now on, if this is what blows air up your skirt, then don your tutu and go for it. At least, then, you'll be dressed for all that spinning.

[jezebel]

1. B O R I N G . nt

[jpak]

2. What horseshit

:thumbsdown:

[freddie mertz]

3. I agree. It sucks, Let's organize to change it, challenge it in courts, etc. nt.

[Skidmore]

4. I bet I can guess what side you are on, and it doesn't have the word

"left" in it anywhere.

[change_notfinetuning]

11. I'm on the "left out" side - the side for single payer, troops home now, higher

taxes on the rich, not taxing unemployment benefits, repeal of DOMA and DADT, investigation of previous administration, repeal of parts of Patriot Act, real action on job creation and foreclosures, real regulation of Wall St., etc.

Oh, and I like real patriots who care about what this country was founded on, but I dislike weasels who wear a flag lapel pin for the sole purpose of proving their patriotism. Just in case you were wondering about that, too.

[Skidmore]

16. Well, get used to feeling that way.

Standing still in one place and de facto working to get the Rs back in power is just going to leave you disappointed, because that is what I see happening. No amount of magical thinking is going to get a Nader or a Kucinich elected, no matter how worthy their ideas. I'm left with only two conclusions to draw from some of this angst--either people who seek to undermine the administration are unwilling to seek common ground and to build a future or they are part of the Republican machine.

[blondeatlast]

17. "Hawaiian Hammer"? I like anchovies... nt

[blondeatlast]

5. Next time, can you please just put "Rahm emanuel" in the subject line?

:boring:

[Schema Thing]

7. also "The Great Satan"

[WT Fuheck]

6. I agree we should not empower Emanuel. He should be sent away.

I agree too that Obama "took a dive," although that fix was clearly in from the beginning of his candidacy.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. The fix was in and the voters were played.

x(

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Two frogs walk into a bar. One frog says to the other .........

...... how come we're not hopping? What's with this "walking" shit? Frogs don't walk.

Ribbit. Ribbit.

[AndrewP]

10. The Hawaiian Hammer? Is this a Wrestling thread?

I'm not really an "Obama Loyalist", as I am more of a "Progressive Loyalist". But I really don't care for the freeper nicknames in these discussions.

[Sheepshank]

12. there's a reason the name calling sounds Freeperish

The post is intended to be freeperish, give off freeperish talking points and allude to freeperish sentiment. For me, and this post really was more of a non-post. Yeah, b-o-r-i-n-g pretty much says it.

[phasma ex machina]

13. "deform bill" LOL

[nevergiveup]

14. If Bernie Sanders and Thom Hartmann

think this bill should pass then I will trust them. If you view the throttling down of Rahm Emanuel as more important then the first break-through in health care in 100 years then I really think your priorities are a little out of line. I understand how you feel but you must pull yourself together and look at the big picture. This bill has many problems but its passage will be a monumental foot in the door. This bill must pass.

[change_notfinetuning]

18. This bill will leave the for profit insurance companies more entrenched than

ever. It will make it that much harder to reform it ever in the future. It can only get worse, until people will demand single payer. God knows when that will be. That's why this capitulation to Big Business is a deform bill. And if it is so great, why not put it in place sooner, before the R's have a chance to de-rail it.

[Bluebear]

15. "The HAWAIIAN HAMMER" ???- Oh for god sakes...

IN THIS CORNER>>>>>>

[madamesilverspurs]

19. ppphhhfffftttttttt

[TK421]

20. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine does not approve

Neither does The Polish Hammer, Ivan Putski

[Greyhound]

21. I don't understand the reasoning behind this capitulation.

"We can't pass reform because the big bad insurance companies fund our campaigns and the two big bad Senators won't let us", "but let's get this POS through so that we can 'fix it later'".

So the same industry that can stop us from doing what we want to do will, after another trillion dollars have been slipped into their coffers and their right to existence has been codified, is going to simply roll over and accept these fixes later.
:crazy:
I also seem to recall some assurances that we don't need to worry about NAFTA/GATT because "we can fix it later".

[change_notfinetuning]

28. I recall statements by Obama in the debates that we had to revisit NAFTA. I'm

a patient person, but I just don't see it happening in his presidency.

[OregonBlue]

22. The Hawaiian Hammer took a dive? I hate people who post just to stir things up.

Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer, Howard Dean, Paul Krugman, Thom Hartmann, have all said that we need to pass the bill but Obama took a dive? Go crawl back under your rock.

[Orsino]

23. If you're talking about Congress' bills...

...I think our president is more analogous to the ring announcer or a manager than to one of the boxers.

These aren't his bills, and never will be, bully pulpit notwithstanding.

[change_notfinetuning]

25. After the deals the White House made, Congress's hands were tied in some

areas. As for the bully pulpit, it's about time he used it.

[Ozymanithrax]

24. Rahm Emanuel is Obama's Chief of Staff...

Not the President. He is Obama's asshole and speaks only when the President lets him.

Other than that, it appears you are trolling for flame.

[change_notfinetuning]

26. I am not trolling. I believe it is a very bad bill that should not be passed into

law. In spite of the Republican protestations, they are going to be against everything Obama does just for political sport and gain, but they would be hard pressed to come up with a more pro-insurance company, anti-American people, anti-health care reform bill than this one. It doesn't take 2,000 pages to make health reform. It takes 2,000 pages for the hundreds of lobbyists to get every little thing they wanted in it. There was no transparency, as promised, and there are more lobbyists than ever. I see it doing great harm by putting a broken system on life support, and guess who will be blamed for this disaster?

Anyone who thinks I'm here trolling or I am a Freeper is freeping out of their minds. I'm to the left of most of you, and usually correct, only 15 years before everyone else reaches the same conclusion. This bill is not reform, it is not in our best interests. I just wish that Duers would recognize this, and stop it before it's too late. This is not the change we voted for. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. This is standing for nothing more than getting elected and re-elected. Don't fall for it.

And as for Rahm only being the Chief of Staff, Obama is relying on him for what can and cannot be passed. Rahm is only pushing what he wants it to be, and telling Obama that's the best he can get. Obama wants better, but is taking Emanuel as the final word on what's possible. The idea of picking Emanuel was for his ability to push things through. But first, he's got to want to. I may be wrong, but that's my take.

[blondeatlast]

27. Why the "Hawaiian Hammer"? Using that slur makes you seem childish, stupid,

or feepersih--or all of the above.

[change_notfinetuning]

29. I'm sorry I used that. I didn't realize the connotation it would have here. The

reason was that one thinks of a boxer as someone who takes a dive in a fight. I feel that the White House has made back room deals with PhRMA, for sure, and even if not with others, which we are not sure of, has back-pedaled so many times times in this fight for health care REFORM, including changing the name to health INSURANCE reform, that it reminds me of a boxer who back-pedals and falls down from the gust of wind produced by the punch, rather than from the punch itself.

I chose Hawaiian Hammer for the alliteration, the fact that it sounds like a boxer's nickname, and that I thought that line would get people to look at what I wrote. I feel very strongly that this "reform" should not become law, so I wanted this to be seen. Admit it, not many would have looked at it if instead of "Barack Obama, the Hawaiian Hammer Takes a Dive", I had put "Don't Support This Lousy HRC Bill". Headlines sell the newspapers.

But, honestly, I never did think of it as a slur, or mean it that way either. I apologize to anyone who took it that way, but hope you will consider the substance of what I am saying.

[Ozymanithrax]

30. The entire Republican Caucaus in the House and Senate...

Limbaugh and the Tea Party agree with you.

I will take the word of the Democrats over their side.

But I am a proud incrementalist.