dagblog - Comments for "DNC CONVENTION FINAL NIGHT - OPEN THREAD"

Christ is laying the

trkingmomoe — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:15:37 +0000

In reply to I despise Christie but this

Christ is laying the foundation for another run for Governor and he will win. Polling shows him beating Rick Scott. Actually I think my cat could beat Rick Scott. Christ was good for Florida when he was in office.

It seems that the ADP is not

AnonymousRm — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:32:44 +0000

In reply to I read more than one

It seems that the ADP is not a statistically valid number. If the geniuses on Wall Street are incapable of doing such simple analysis of facts, it is no wonder that they crashed the economy. They simply do not know what they are doing.

I generally agree with this

DF — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:08:56 +0000

In reply to No, I don't have big ideas

I generally agree with this and your response above. A-man has recently pointed to the Democratic party as a platform on which to sell those big ideas. I think that's more or less correct. That's very much the way Bill Domhoff sees the Democratic Party - as a potential vehicle for for leftists to create the kind of transformation they seek. Of course, elections matter as far as that goes, particularly primaries, but selling the ideas is about more than campaigning.

What we need is for Americans

tmccarthy0 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:57:30 +0000

In reply to This is a refrain that I keep

What we need is for Americans to grow the fuck up.

THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS. Too bad we aren't going to get that are we.

No, I don't have big ideas

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:56:29 +0000

In reply to This is a refrain that I keep

No, I don't have big ideas either. If I did, I'd be writing about them. But I can give you examples. Universal health care was a big idea. The Democrats fought for it for half-a-century. Obama fought for it in its first term. Having kinda-sorta-almost achieved it, he's got nothing to replace it with, no sequel.

Your land tax proposal several months ago was a big idea. So is Dan K's MMT thesis. Those may not be the right big ideas for the Democratic Party, they may not even been good ideas, but they have heft. They would change the country.

Now if you have a big idea that you want to implement, you can't just sit around and wait for the angel-believers to come around to it. You have to fight for the idea, promote it, sell it. You won't make people stop believing in angels, but what you can do, what progressives have done successfully in the past, is give them something else to believe in.

Some people think the Democrats are cowardly or corrupted--afraid or unwilling to bring big ideas to the table. I don't think that's the main problem. It's not like there are legions of big ideas being crushed by the nervous party establishment. I just don't think they have any big ideas. I wish they did, and I wish I did.

This wasn't directed at you,

stillidealistic — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:19:08 +0000

In reply to I'm beginning to believe that

This wasn't directed at you, Peter! It was for everyone on the fence...don't know how or why it ended up as a reply to you. Brain fart I guess!

I'm beginning to believe that

stillidealistic — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:17:23 +0000

In reply to There were a number of good

I'm beginning to believe that who you vote for has little to do with facts and a lot to do with how the candidates, and yes, even their support team, make you feel.

I watched the Republican Convention, having to force myself to stick with it, mentally screaming "you &^%$%^& liar!" more times than I can remember. I noticed with dismay how lily-white the audience was, how angry people seemed to be and I came away from it feeling dirty and deeply ashamed that this is what my country has come to.

I had already felt a little depressed that the race is so close, when I think Obama should be ahead by double digits. The very fact that these people could be in control soon made me very sad, and honestly, even a little angry that people can get away with all the lies, and the people who KNOW they are lying keep quiet, or resort to "nice" words to describe the dishonesty.

On the contrary, the Democratic Convention lifted my spirits. It made me feel proud and hopeful. The diversity portrayed the country as a whole, with all the varying shades of skin color. It felt inclusive, not exclusive. Like anyone and everyone could feel at home here.

Yeah, there probably wasn't a lot of specificity about what Obama's going to do - but does it really matter? Whatever he TRIES to do will be blocked because the American people won't hold the hold the obstructionists accountable. What CAN you do when the monied interests KEEP all that money on the sidelines, hoping they will have one of their own in office next year?

So really it boils down to who do you trust to be the better steward of the country in this terribly dangerous time in our history? Is it the COMPLETELY empty vessel who will do the bidding of his greedy peers - the candidate with "enough digits to sign the legislation the Congress gives him? The one whose primary accomplishment is that he "fires people" in his quest for the almighty dollar? Or is it the man seems to understand what regular folks are experiencing, because he has been there? The one who has shown such appreciation and concern for the troops he commands? The one who had the "brass" to say "GO!" when he had the less than wonderful odds of getting Bin Laden? The one who is trying to avoid a war with Iran, rather appearing to relish the idea of yet another war?

Chances are that whoever wins, they will inherit an improved economy, maybe even one that will take off flying, regardless of the policies that are in place. Do you really want a Republican to be able to take credit for that? To then be given 8 more years to make the country even more awful at its core than it is now? Or stay with the guy who is at TRYING to stick up for the little guy, women and children, and peace in the world?

My vote doesn't really matter because I live in a state that will vote for Obama no matter what.

But yours might. I hope you get past whatever reservations you have about him. Vote against Romney rather than FOR Obama if you must. But please don't let those, those, those (...what's a nice word for assholes?) anal orifices win.

I enjoyed finding and reading

artappraiser — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:15:49 +0000

In reply to It's interesting. In 2008, I

I enjoyed finding and reading your nuanced reply, Orlando.

This is a refrain that I keep

DF — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:10:00 +0000

In reply to I agree with you, A-man, and

This is a refrain that I keep hearing. It's definitely what's been coming out of everyone's mouth on Morning Joe for weeks on end. Where, oh where, are the big ideas? As much as I agree that I think there could and should be bigger ideas at play, how do I square that desire with the reality that one half of our political system is going to do whatever it can to make sure nothing like that ever happens? I'm not surprised to hear that complaint from Brooks, but that's because this is his wheelhouse: constantly issuing the same vague complaint that we just don't hear enough big, bold policy specifics from the candidates. Yet Brooks has absolutely no understanding of what shape policy is required. Would he even know if heard it?

I think you would, but I guess I'm wondering what exactly you thought there was room for that you didn't hear. Brooks is a toolbox who would applaud and has applauded vague bullshit from people like Paul Ryan as bold and specific. Stuff that is, on its face, completely not specific, though it may be worthy of bold simply for the brass ones it took to come up with. So when I hear it from him, I just laugh - my typical response to Brooks et al.

You, though, probably have something better in mind. I'm just not sure what that would be myself. What does America really need right now? Well, we've pretty much played the waiting game on climate change, so we need policies that will help us adapt to it rather than help ameliorate it, but what exactly will those be? We need to be prepared to deal with things like drought and extreme weather. To a large extent, we are prepared for much of that, but is there a broad, bold specific policy that helps us here? I dunno.

We need to improve the economic situation, but how exactly? Well, we need to reduce unemployment, but Congress holds the fiscal keys. The President proposed fiscal stimulus once and got it. Unfortunately, it was oversold. Now, even though it would help people, it seems there's too much resistance to that. Obama could propose more and bigger, but we both know he won't get it. In the face of that reality, what's the point?

We need to reduce the debt, but that's not going to happen on the back of the baby boomers. They've made that abundantly clear. So the reality is we're going to live with debt for a while longer. If we're lucky, Obama will get his way on taxes. He could propose that we raise them even higher as suggested by a number of economists. How does a top marginal rate of 70% sound? He could propose it, but we both know he'll have a battle on his hands just to get Clinton era rates restored on millionaires. Obama could probably do a lot better here by not playing the debt up as an issue so much, but he's already taken ownership of it. Simpson-Bowles will be back.

We need to improve the quality of education in America. Obama has already done quite a few things to approach this. K-12 math and science achievement is in the dumpster. College is getting too expensive. The trouble is, the school systems in this country are administered on a state level. Other than big top-level incentive programs, like the stuff we've been trying in various forms for decades now, what does the federal government do? How do they improve education in states like Kansas and Texas that are hell-bent on flushing science curriculum down the toilet? By Federal mandate? I'm sure that would be extremely popular. Controlling the cost of higher education is probably more feasible, but not when you've got runaway avarice at the highest levels of top flight public institutions like the University of California. Last year, when protests about tuition hikes raged due to a 32% YoY increase in tuition, the Chancellors voted to double their own salaries from $200k to $400k. All while they preside over a crumbling system that once provided world-class educational opportunities to anyone with the gumption to work hard and achieve. What policy proposal at the Federal level fixes this?

The more I think on this, the more I keep coming back to the same notion: What we need is for Americans to grow the fuck up. We need reform to our healthcare system that improves access and controls cost. We also need to get some exercise and stop eating shit that kills us. We need to improve our education system. We also need parents that aren't going to accept that their kids just aren't into math and that the system is going to do all the work for them. We need citizens who can think about the future of energy with more sobriety than "drill, baby, drill." Hell, we need citizens who even value the concept of citizenship, probably the hardest hit in Obama's speech last night. What a novel concept! A nation of people with shared interests. We are not enemies, but friends.

Yet we don't really have that, do we? What we have is a country where somewhere between a quarter and a third of the people think angels are real and climate change isn't. They think that Obama's improvement to the college loan system is more socialistic, not less. Some of them don't even think he's a US citizen or anything else that he actually is. They really regard him as the enemy, the fount of all our problems - even though it's actually them. They're the empty chair people.

Unfortunately, we are plagued by the empty chair people. Obama might not be the hero Gotham deserves, but he is apparently the hero it needs right now. Much as I think there's plenty of room for bolder, better solutions, I have absolutely no confidence that Americans would actually vote for that given the option. I guess that makes the analysis political, which you said you were trying to avoid, but that's still reality.

I read more than one

artappraiser — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:51:29 +0000

In reply to DNC CONVENTION FINAL NIGHT - OPEN THREAD

I read more than one pundit/blogger surmise yesterday that the administration must know that the new employment numbers were going to be positive; well guess what, they were wrong:

Hiring Slows in August, Adding to Pressure on Fed and Obama

New York Times, Sept 7, 2012, 11:19 am

Does put Obama's speech in a somewhat new light...

P.S. The prognosticators were basing it on the ADP report; here is a WSJ blog entry explaining why that's not a smart thing to do.