What Obama can learn from Bush

[XemaSab]

Bush, for all his failures, knew one thing: any is better than no press.

When Bush spoke at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks, or when he landed on the aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" banner (and the codpiece), or when he said we were going to get bin Laden dead or alive, it attracted media attention. Even though his message was odious, we here on DU talked about it and mocked it, and we remember his words and ideas to this day.

When we elected Obama, we voted for the guy who had the inspiring words and the big ideas.

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."

"I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war."

"We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it's easy, but when it is hard."

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and a Latino America and an Asian America - there's the United States of America."

"This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation it has shown that it can always be perfected."

"America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page of the policies of the past."

Obama needs to get back to this. Bush managed to keep himself in the press every day. Every day on DU and on FReepers (among other sites) we saw both sides examining and reacting to what Bush did that day.

We saw this kind of ability to entrance the media (and ourselves) when Obama was running, so where did this man we voted for go?

Hell, like Bush, even Candidate Obama's gaffes kept him in the press, and kept people interested in him and his candidacy.

And if the man we voted for is now sequestered in the White House, what the hell is wrong with his handlers?

How the hell is THIS the image that comes up when we look for a picture of Obama's reaction to the oil spill?



Obama needs to get up and start being the man of big ideas again.

HE IS HIS OWN BEST REPRESENTATIVE.

Yeah, Obama's a busy guy, but FDR managed to give fireside chats in the thick of the Great Depression and World War II.

The American people desperately want leadership, and we want to be inspired.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, Bush's approval rating was a staggering 92%. This was because Bush got up AND GAVE THE APPEARANCE OF LEADERSHIP.

Obama is the man to give us that leadership now. But he's not delivering what the American people need in this time of crisis.

[Wilms]

1. He learned plenty enough for my taste.

"Change" my ass.


"Why ACLU's Head Honcho is 'Disgusted' With Obama"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x335369

[Joey Kidd]

7. Thanks for the link.

Why is the guy in reply #3 trashing the ACLU ? If it's sarcasm then at this time of night I don't get it. :(

[canetoad]

2. Do you really want

your President to insult you with sount bites?

[Go2Peace]

3. That's hillarious. For good or ill, this is the most managed Democratic

Presidency we have ever had.

I agree, though, that it is better we do not become like them. Transparency is one of the keys to getting back to be a responsive Democracy. We are still moving away from that unfortunately.

[XemaSab]

8. I think communication is a critical part of transparency

Obama's just not putting the message out.

(And if being a bold leader is "being like them," we're all hosed.)

[Joey Kidd]

4. Well...

Obama's soundbites are longer and far better but they're still soundbites.He talks tough but where's the action ? Where's the boot on BP's neck ? I find that pretending to do something when he doesn't is insulting too.

[canetoad]

5. Tell me about this boot

How it should be applied, the expected results?

[Joey Kidd]

6. That's not me who is President of...

a country that is being poisoned by a huge corporation.I'm not surrounded by an army of advisers that must have far more intelligent suggestions to make than I could.But when the President says that he's going to do something and he's doing squat I have the right to ask why he's being so impotent.Is he really in charge ? He was elected to be a leader so he should act like one.He said:"I ultimately take responsibility for solving this crisis"..."I am the president and the buck stops with me." Well do something Mr President.

[XemaSab]

9. I think this is where symbolism comes into play

The republicans are good with meaningless symbolic actions.

Why not try MEANINGFUL symbolic actions?

Why not announce that the White House is going carbon free by the end of the year, and for the deniers, why not frame it as "We're getting off foreign oil right now?"

It's simple, basic, and effective at getting the word out.

[XemaSab]

10. .

:kick:

[tranche]

11. Obama won the day McCain went apeshit and called for suspending their campaigns.

That's the president I and I believe many others voted for.

[bvar22]

12. I don't want the "appearance" of Leadership.

I want the REAL thing.
If Obama would get out front and actually LEAD, the media will follow like the good little puppy dogs they are.

Bush didn't just give the "appearance" of Leadership.
He kicked ass and got things done with narrower majorities than the Democrats have today.

The problem I have with Obama is that I don't want to go where he is leading.

*More War on Terror

*Mandated "customers" for For Profit Corporations

*Increasing Military Spending

*More Patriot Act

*"Reforming" Entitlements the "New Democrat" Way. (Social Security/Medicare)

*More "Free Trade".

More "Fuck You" to Organized LABOR

*More reassuring the very RICH that they will never know a day of discomfort while telling Working Americans we WILL compete with 3rd World Slave Labor for OUR jobs.

*More power and wealth to Big Corporations.

*More Big Business Cronies in charge protecting the American Commons.
The DLC New Team
Progressives Need NOT Apply

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)






"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[Shining Jack]

13. Well said.

I'm totally hopeless about this guy's ability to do anything besides good speeches.Some people are holding him by the cojones or he never had any to begin with.