I don't know that tragedy is the word. I mean I think a guy has to really stand for something and to have accomplished something before he becomes a tragic figure in failing himself and others. LBJ was a tragedy.

I try not to pile on Obama, because he's really just a symptom of the problem, i.e., the utter fecklessness of the Demcratic party.

I knew as early as the FISA vote that Obama wasn't going to be who I wanted him to be. I certainly knew by the time he put Hillary at State that he'd played the anti-war crowd for fools.

But I won't forgive him for playing with the lives of tens of millions by not taking healthCARE seriously. It didn't have to be a pork bill. It didn't have to be a corporate welfare bill. It didn't have to be the Lieberman-Nelson bill. It could have been and should have been a bill with heart and soul defining what it means to be a social justice Democrat in the 21st century and defining a way forward in solidarity for equity for the middle class. Instead he used it as political tactic to make his mark before 2012. He didn't care about the issue and the people could tell.

Bluebell -- there have been times, during the primary and since Obama took office, when I have read what you wrote and thought: "Er, maybe; yes -- I can see why at the extreme edge of accountability, what you say might be exactly right...but, Bluebell, surely your view is extreme, surely the truth is somewhat between A and B.....
Until -- now.
Bluebell, I think you are absolutely right when you say:
"It could have been and should have been a bill with heart and soul defining what it means to be a social justice Democrat in the 21st century and defining a way forward in solidarity for equity for the middle class. Instead he [Obama] used it as a political tactic to make his mark before 2012. He didn't care about the issue and the people could tell.
Bluebell : sad, but actually true.

I don't think I would call LBJ a tragedy. LBJ had some guts. Right or wrong he stood up for what he believed in which is a lot more than I can say about these centrist dems.

The only thing I can remember from my HS Senior Math class was said by the teacher just before he resigned after the teacher's strike.

"There comes a time when you have to make a decision. Right or wrong you have to make a decision."

C

Additionally, Obama did not take PAC funds. All the money he raised from whomever came from individual donations. They may have bundled it but is was individual with the limit of $2500 per person

Any time someones tells me what someone's state of mind is I tend to disregard what they say.
Conspiracy theories may give one comfort as a way of explaining something complex - but that does not make them true.

Is it possible the Wall Street crowd figured it out?

This Obama phenomenon, this Obama train, was leaving the station, either you get on board or you'd be left behind.

Problem is; Obama forgot Wall Street only came on board AFTER the grassroots had brought Obama the early victories.

Wall street fearing being on the wrong side of the populist movement, decided to curry favor with Obama and Obama reciprocating.
Money talks and the peasant class walks

Obama forgot, the grassroots base provided the initial inertia; otherwise Obama would have been another flash in the pan.

Maybe fools gold?

lol

when you have the anxiety that the country has now because of the economy the people do not want a weak leader.

they feel even less secure.

I couldn't disagree more with Lind's dishonest assessment, and his revisionist history absolving Wall Street of the Bush Era is disgusting. Oh! The money people were appalled by this "neo-Confederate" totem in the White House, were they? Hogwash. Under Bush II, Reagan/Clinton deregulation became full-out non-regulation and the banking and investment industries lapped it up. Yeah... it was all the fault of those gun-loving hillbillies and their throwback President. Don't blame us filthy rich for the meltdown! But way down here in the real world, Wall Street loved Bush and threw in with Obama after his team started getting populated with the likes of Larry Summers and Robert Hormats, and other "old reliables". They screwed us and now they want us to kiss them.

Bush may have been the Prez, but Cheney was the Alpha.

SO, I suppose his new Glass-Steagall redux will somehoe get labeled "desperation tactics" despite the fact he's been working on it since BEFORE he came to office.

Re-regulation of the financial sector?

De-cooking the books?

Un-derivitiving?

And I recall, he did mention this more than once, both before and after election. But now that he's bringing it to it's eventual fruition, to protect The People from unscrupulous financial managers, he will be accused of pandering to "the left."

Actually Resistance, Wall Street was on board from the jump with Obama. So were the health insurance and drug industries.

"That's why I became an early critic."

Could you post a link to something you wrote BEFORE you were a critic?

I'd like to see that conversion process take place in your personal timeline.

Surely you have posted something somewhere that assures us you have not always been critical of Obama, and therefore certifies your veracity on this post?

"could have been and should have been a bill with heart and soul..."

...should have? you bet. I agree wholeheartedly.

Could have?

That is just naive.

Until we detach our politicians from the corporate teat, don't ever expect them to accomplish what is best for their street-level constituents.

I'm all for pointing fingers at the guilty parties, but blaming Obama for what 10,000 beltway insiders have accomplished over the centuries just defers everyone away from the real problem, and that is Big Money in control of Government.

And considering that the Supreme Court's Corporate 5 just made their corporate breastfeeding legal in public places, the obstacles are not going to diminish, quite the contrary, the free-for-all is just beginning.

That's utter nonsense, built on too many fallacies to count. One of which is that everyone who contributed money, and lists an employer in the finance industry was giving money in a coordinated effort to sway the policy choices of the potential administration. And where are you making up the idea that somehow, big finance was their with the cash at the end when it mattered. That's total BS.

The Left agrees that it's not at fault, we know. The Center also wasn't at fault according to them, nor the White House, nor the state party, nor the Kennedys, nor Coakley's team.

Whatever group we're in, the first thing we know is that we were not at fault.

The explanation is only provided to support the pre-existing conclusion.

Whoever's fault it is, I find myself most concerned with the continued result. Banks in crisis? Banks get money. Health care crisis? Pass a law requiring people to give money to health care companies. The money keeps ending up in the hands of giant companies and those who run them. That's a problem.

What's more narcissistic than voting?

Blame the Left?

That's like blaming a rube for getting cheated at a carnival midway, or getting angry at the ventriloquist's dummy for what was said, or criticising an imbecile for flunking out of medical school. Besides, even if it were the left's fault, blaming them is about as classy as cursing the deaf, or performing pantomime for the blind.

Ohyez