Obama: 'It's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics'

[kpete]

Monday, July 19, 2010
Obama: 'It's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics.'
by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 7/19/2010 11:16:00 AM
President Obama just delivered remarks in the Rose Garden on unemployment stating that "it's so essential to pass the unemployment extension that comes up for a vote tomorrow."

Obama had three people standing with him who have been unable to find jobs even as their unemployment benefits have been or will be exhausted. And, he noted how the Senate GOPers have changed the tradition this time:

And, for a long time, there's been a tradition under both Democratic and Republican Presidents to offer relief to the unemployed. That was certainly the case under my predecssor when Republican Senators voted several times to extend emergency unemployment benefits.

But, Obama went further and noted the hypocrisy of the GOP Senators:

And, I have to say after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle class Americans...who really need help.

Obama also blasted the GOP talking point that people on unemployment don't want to work, "That attitude reflects a lack of faith in the American people."

Obama exposed just how craven the GOPers have been:

It's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics. It's time to do what's right. Not for the next elections, but for the middle class.

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

more:
http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/obama-its-time-to-stop-holding-workers.html

[pinto]

1. kick

:kick:

[lillypaddle]

2. Get 'em, Mr. President!

[gratuitous]

3. Yes. Yes it is.

And since this has been going on for about three months now, it's also time (and past time) to call out the obstructionist Republicans for playing politics while millions of people go from dire need to desperate need. More like this, please, Mr. President. Pressure works.

[TK421]

4. I thought we had the 60 votes needed now that Carte Goodwin was appointed?

:shrug: anyway, that was an aggressive speech...I like it!

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Now that is good stuff

Better language.

[FirstTimeVoterAt37]

6. Boy, it's a shame he's not confrontational

Please pardon the :sarcasm:.

[Orsino]

7. This is refreshingly close to the Truth.

:thumbsup:

[earth mom]

8. So it's all Congress's fault, not Obamas fault or responsibility-do I have that right?

Hmm...I wonder what FDR would have say about that if he were alive today...

[ellisonz]

9. No.

FDR would tell you that the US Constitution created three branches of government....

[earth mom]

11. FDR knew that the buck stopped with him. He was the leader and he lead.

Sorry, but you can't twist history like you want to.

[Arkana]

15. Bullshit.

FDR would have realized that you cannot legislate from the Oval Office.

[earth mom]

16. No your post is total BULLSHIT. FDR implemented major programs

and changes that helped the people and he did it even with a ton of opposition.

[Arkana]

18. No, he did not.

He didn't do it alone, at any rate. FDR had even more overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress than Obama does and he STILL did not get everything he wanted in the programs he tried to implement. It's not as simple as you want to make it seem, so don't lie--he didn't write legislation from the Oval Office and you know it. We didn't elect a liberal Bush--get used to it.

[earth mom]

26. I'm not the one doing the lying here. Who got the people to vote for FAKE hope & change?

Betcha won't answer that one now will ya?

[SpartanDem]

28. You still haven't explained the how hold up was Obama's fault

he demanded that Congress pass the extention repeatedly. None that changed the fact that we were a vote short until Byrd's replacement arrived.

[Arkana]

29. Nice dodge--but it won't work.

You're lying--you're trying to tell me that FDR was basically Hugo Chavez. I've read enough about the man to know that he was not.

I'm still wondering why you think FDR wrote and enacted the entire New Deal from his desk. News flash: It takes two branches of government to enact any kind of meaningful and lasting legislation, whether you like it or not.

[POAS]

20. I am unaware of any program

which FDR initiated by executive order. I was under the impression that while FDR proposed many programs that all were put into place through the legislative process.

Can you please point me to an example of an FDR program implemented by executive order without Congressional action?

[SoxFan]

21. Hold on. a second

First of all, the "buck stops here" line belongs to Harry Truman. It was written on a little sign that kept on his desk. It's now on display at the Truman Presidential Library.

Second, FDR had a hellacious time getting his agenda enacted. Some New Deal proposals were rejected by Congress, others were struck down by a hostile SCOTUS, and others were watered down during the dealmaking process. FDR constantly tried to perform a balancing act. The southern conservatives had hesitations about a Harvard educated New Yorker, the socialists and near-socialist left thought he was a stealth robber baron, and Congress was as big a clusterfuck then as it is now.

There are a number of good FDR biographies out there. Please take the time to read one before invoking him in defense of the Veruca Salt Wing of the Democratic Party.

[earth mom]

25. So no one else is allowed to use that term because Truman said it?

:eyes:

FYI-I don't need to be "schooled" by you.

What it all boils down to is that at least FDR gave a shit and worked to implement changes that helped the people.

That ain't happening with the Obama White House and you know it and so does everyone that replied to my post.

[treestar]

24. Only as to the executive branch

The President is head of the executive branch, that stops with him. But the other branches do what they want to do.

[SunsetDreams]

10. well Congress is the one voting on it

FDR would probably hit them over the head too.

[Orsino]

14. Inertia is a large part of the problem, and Congress has much more of that than any president. n/t

[NJmaverick]

19. I think FDR would be impressed at what President Obama has accomplished

[JuniperLea]

22. I do too... eom

[treestar]

23. Yes.

Had Congress passed the extension, Obama, obviously would have signed it. It's only Obama's fault if Congress passes it and he vetoes it. Only then is the President the one holding it up.

[wiggs]

12. OK, but could be much better and more direct. What is "Washington politics"? Don't

both parties play politics? Doesn't that sound more harmless than

"...they are treating every issue like health care, trying to torpedo the process and the results so that it could be 'my waterloo' every other week. I find this offensive and astonishing, not as president but as a citizen of the united states. After running the country into the ground economically and environmentally while in power, they have redoubled their efforts and are continuing to do so in order to fundraise and get re-elected."

I'm of the camp that recognizes (hopes) that PO is a master at message and timing and that he'll continue to be more specific and direct as we get closer to November and to 2012. You can't sustain outrage and astonishment for too long so it's fine with me to hold some back....BUT this has to be exposed and framed better, IMO.

Since we have the issues and dem leaders are behaving more or less like rational professionals, it should be a very easy case to make in November that the gop offers almost nothing. But I've said that before.

[wiggs]

13. Also, for some reason politicians are slow to point out how stimulative

unemployment benefits are...especially as compared to tax cuts for the wealthy. Pundits have been doing it, but why can't Obama?

[Scurrilous]

17. K & R

:thumbsup:

[McCamy Taylor]

27. Yes! This is war. We need more rhetoric like this. Stir up voters.