NYT front page - No win for Obama in Wisconsin no matter what happens.

[underpants]

Wisconsin Puts Obama Between Competing Desires

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/us/politics/21democrats.html?hp

WASHINGTON — The battle in Wisconsin over public employee unions has left President Obama facing a tricky balance between showing solidarity with longtime political supporters and projecting a message in favor of deep spending cuts to reduce the debt.

On Sunday, Republicans continued to censure Mr. Obama for weighing in on the Madison fight. In an interview with a Milwaukee television station on Thursday, the president criticized Mr. Walker for his proposal to restrict the bargaining rights of public employee unions. Republicans also said that political organizers at Democratic headquarters were stoking the protests.

Among Mr. Obama’s critics was Governor Walker. “The president ultimately should stay focused on fixing the federal budget because they’ve got a huge deficit and, believe me, they got their hands full,” Mr. Walker said on “Fox News Sunday.” He also said “more and more” protesters were coming from other states

“This has really kind of put a shot in the arm of the unions and Democratic base,” said Eddie Vale, the political communications director at the A.F.L.-C.I.O., who is returning to Madison on Monday, when even bigger demonstrations are expected on a federal holiday. “If Republicans keep trying to do the same thing in state after state, they’re just going to be building the 2012 get-out-the-vote operation” for Democrats.

[rfranklin]

1. Pssst! Cut the cost of the war machine...

Problem solved.

[4dsc]

2. Damn those outside agitators

eom.

[LeftyAndProud60]

3. Even the NY Times are pushing the deficit bullshit.nt

[LiberalFighter]

4. New York Times clueless

As usual

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. How is what is going in Wisconsin (or in Egypt or anywhere else he doesn't have direct control)

a "win/lose" situation for President Obama? :shrug: How can it be?

[FrenchieCat]

6. The NYT says so....that's how.

Now all they need is enough of us to repeat the big lie, so that it can become true.
That's how it works.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. Oh yeah, silly me

I forgot that if the "liberal media" says something, it must be true. :crazy:

[ClassWarrior]

20. I can't believe how breathtakingly Right Wing that statement is.

NGU.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

22. You did notice that I put quotation marks around the "liberal media" part, right?

Maybe I should've have just used that sarcasm tag thingy. :shrug: If I must spell it out for you (and others whom suddenly might think that I'm a long slumbering right-wing troll who's finally revealed himself), then I will. Piggybacking off of Frenchie's comments, I was merely poking fun at the fact that conservatives believe in the existence of the so-called "liberal media" and that the NYT is one of the primary members of the "liberal media". I happen to disagree with the NYT's assertion in this case that what is going on in Wisconsin is a "win/lose" proposition for President Obama and, as Frenchie was saying, them saying so doesn't make it so. Is that clear enough? Does that sound "right-wing" to you? Flame away but I'm not a troll and I don't know how you could characterize this (or anything else I've ever posted) as being "right-wing".

[ClassWarrior]

24. Finally?

NGU.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. NGU=???

Do you really think I'm a troll?

[ClassWarrior]

29. I believe that anyone who ridicules my fellow DUers...

...is a troll.

NGU.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. Who(m) exactly was I ridiculing?

:shrug:

[ClassWarrior]

14. Oh that's right, anything that random DUers post could TANK his presidency, I tells ya... TANK!

But history in the making would never have any direct affect on Obama.

:eyes:

NGU.

[AtomicKitten]

7. This protest should be the populist framing for the 2012 campaign.

[swilton]

9. I see it as a losing proposition

He can't come down on either side without alienating some faction. His speeches are loaded with qualifiers. Therefore, he's doing what he does best = waffling... While Bush may have been an asshole for any number of reasons, he was decisive and the public likes decisive leaders. Obama appears weak, indecisive and also behind the eight ball on this...Who knows where this will end up and Obama is not being proactive and getting ahead of it.

[Drunken Irishman]

11. You're absolutely right...

Pres. Bush was such a popular president. Americans loved him for his decisiveness. That decisiveness has established him as one of our most beloved and popular leaders in history.

Right up there with Kennedy and Clinton in approval!

[great white snark]

16. Are you high?

What were Bush's approval numbers?

[boppers]

23. wrong place

sorry

[Arkana]

21. Yeah, he should totally be decisively stubborn!

After all, we loved it when Bush decisively mired us in two unwinnable wars in the Middle East. We were enraptured when he decisively passed a tax cut bill that added billions to the deficit. We were positively ecstatic when he decisively rammed through the PATRIOT Act.

Fuck "decisiveness".

[PVnRT]

31. Who's he going to alienate? Union-haters who won't support him anyway?

The NYT gets a nice, big FAIL on this one.

[Danger Mouse]

10. Walker's position is a load of bullshit, though. This isn't about spending cuts, it's about...

union busting and nothing else.

Looks like the New York Times is peddling the shit, too, huh?

[polichick]

12. That's what happens when you adopt the other side's fake narrative...

Things get needlessly muddy.

[ClassWarrior]

13. Exactly!! (See my sigline...)

:thumbsup:

NGU.

[polichick]

15. Your sigline says it all! Makes you wonder who some Dems really work for...

Actually, I stopped wondering a while ago.

[jillan]

19. You just hit the nail on the head. If he stood with main street instead of wall street, this would

be a no brainer for his administration.

[polichick]

25. Yes, if he had stood with main street right from the start when he chose...

...Wall Street tools for his administration, he'd be in a much better position today.

Whether Obama adopts the other side's fake narratives in an attempt to preempt the issue or because he's in the tank for big business, the people lose.

[xchrom]

27. +1

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Stories like these are why Obama should keep his distance from Wisconsin

Instead of talking about the protesters on the front page of the New York times, they're talking about how it relates to Obama's political prospects. Political reporters love any excuse they can get to write about about a beltway process story rather than a story about the issues at hand. I think the White House is doing the best it can to make it clear that the President is against Scott Walker's attempts to do away with the state employees' collective bargaining rights, without making the President the story.

[RBInMaine]

18. You can be FOR working to balance budgets in fair and reasonable ways AND for collective bargaining

rights. It isn't and either/or situation. He just needs to say THAT and then focus on Washington. This is a STATE matter.

[jenmito]

32. Exactly. Even the "Fab 14" who left the state said they'd pay the suggested increases as long as

the unions get to stay in tact and they can keep collective bargaining rights. Obama shares their views and does NOT lose no matter what happens. As a matter of fact, I think he played it just right and wins no matter what happens.

[Democat]

26. During 8 years of Bush, did the NYT ever call for "deep spending cuts"?

No, they were happy to see Bush busting the budget all over.

Now that Obama is in office, they want all spending to stop.

[MasonJar]

33. Maybe it is time for Obama to do what is right. It can't hurt him. His vacillation

is a poor recommendation for a second term.