The President Obama we voted for

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barack_obama/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2010/01/29/obama_and_the_house_gop

The President Obama we voted for
I'll let a smart friend explain why Obama beat the GOP and won back his base, at least for a glorious day
By Joan Walsh

snip//

I wasn't optimistic about Obama's plans to attend the House GOP gathering. I thought it might be more of his wrongheaded bipartisanship. I didn't raise a ruckus; it was his Friday to spend the way he wanted to. I just didn't expect much.

But like a lot of people in both parties -- especially the House GOP aides who set it up and let the TV cameras roll -- I was honestly blown away by Obama's performance. Like a lot of Democrats, I was very happy to see him engage and question and answer -- and at times kick some ill-informed and obstreperous GOP ass. I tried not to ask where this fighting man had been for these last months; he was clearly that president we voted for and I thought better late than never.

Mike Madden captured it all in (near) real time here. My friend Melissa Harris-Lacewell rewound the film for us, back to her Chicago days with Obama the law professor, to remind us how he and why he pulled today's feat off, here. She, and I, didn't expect someone who fulfilled all of our progressive political dreams when we voted for him in 2008. But we did expect him to tangle with -- and defeat -- his antagonists, politically, rhetorically, intellectually, sometimes morally, far more often than he has this year. So today was a relief and a revelation for a lot of us.

I am looking forward to seeing a whole lot more of this president in the coming months. Everyone who wants bipartisanship should be calling for monthly sessions like this. Sadly, but not surprisingly, Republicans aren't. GOP Rep. Mike Pence told Hardball's Chris Matthews, shortly after his draining session with the president, that he's not anxious for a rerun. :)

I'd like to see monthly prime-time Q&As with the president and Congress: with Senate Republicans, as well as with Congressional progressives. Imagine Obama going head to head with public option proponents the way he did with the GOP today. I'd be rooting for his antagonists on that one, but it would be great political theater.

I don't expect Republicans to clamor for more of the drubbing they got today, but Democrats should push for that kind of engagement. I'd sacrifice prime time presidential speeches and press conferences for the give and take of regular Obama/Congress sessions. Any engaged American would. Why wouldn't the GOP?

[msongs]

1. theater and entertainment are transitory, it is ACTION that counts nt

[treestar]

4. This is our system in action

It is not "theater." There are no "actions" except the ones described in the constitution.

[Lorien]

8. Amen. Enough of the rhetoric. Action and results should be what impress any of us

anyone who is swayed by words alone needs to step away from the television for a good long while.

[Yuugal]

9. +1

[hisownpetard]

2. "... a relief and a revelation." True! He was magnificent - not letting them steamroll him,

calling them out on their misinformation, taking their run-on questions apart and answering
them with grit and wit.

No notes, no teleprompters, no panel of experts standing in back of him to step forward when questions fall within the
parameters of their particular area of expertise. Just him, himself, against 140 rabid Rethuglicans out to make him look small.

And he won, hands down. The man is a giant.

I have not felt that amount of palpable pride since the day of the inauguration. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Keep it up!

[treestar]

3. I'm hoping the voters who voted their asses in

The ones who grandstanded with so called "questions" whom the President smacked down so elegantly - seriously question their "representatives" and call them and scold them to cooperate with the President.

[Submariner]

5. "Obama got destroyed, it was awesome."

Obviously Joan Walsh must have been watching another TV channel.

Because, from Freepturdville,they saw it differently:

To: ColdOne

Obama got destroyed, it was awesome.


30 posted on Friday, January 29, 2010 5:48:07 PM by Dragonspirit (Always remember President Token won only by defecting on his CFR pledge.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies>


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440355/posts

I posted this quote yesterday, but if you haven't seen it, I thought you might like a chuckle :rofl:

The scary part is that they walk among us, and have the right to vote! :scared:

[Gregorian]

7. It must be dark in that cave of denial.

Come out into the light, little ones!

[Frustratedlady]

11. They are under the influence of Kool-Aid.

They need to be de-programmed.

[Gregorian]

6. It's overdue! We demand more transparency in our representatives.

The lack of transparent relationship between our representatives has cost this country a seriously great deal.

The republicans can only function in darkness. I can say something this general in times like this. They weren't always this way. But now we have to dig ourselves out of a multiplicity of layered scams against us. The rightwing media noise machine, and the cheaters in Congress.

More televised discussion! Less hiding.

And yes, I have a lot to learn from Obama. I'm pointing fingers. I'm emotional. And I don't have Obama's strenth. Not yet.

[dkf]

10. Linky not working?