What do you want to hear in the State of the Union address?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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How about “rae gets a free pony”??
Cynical side: Obama switches his party to Republican and continues his efforts at hastening the downfall of the country with his true face.
Magical pony side: Abandonment of bipartisanship, combative tone blasting the GOP for obstruction and announcing the nuclear option to be implemented soonest. Rescission of the Afghan surge as unworkable in light of the Xmas bomber. Extensive tax increases on the wealthy. Push to finish HCR. Firing of Summers, Geithner, and Emmanuel effective immediately. Repeal of DADT this year with no reservations.
Pass The Damn Bill.
that, times a thousand. And if he continues with his present half-assed lack of leadership on HCR and the whole thing dies, I’m done with him.
That would be a good start.
No Republican response.
Yes, a rep silence would be a welcome sound
(Sounds of foot tapping, clock ticking.)
I’m waiting.
35 years later.
I’m still waiting….
(Tap tap tap, tick tick tick…)
AG
Agreement.
health care
jobs
What is said, in this speech or any other, means nothing. It is what is done (or not) that matters to me.
I/we will not be watching.
I just came here to write exactly that comment. Looks like we agree. Words are CHEAP.
What is it that you think presidents do, exactly? Cut brush?
Nope.
Twist arms. Shaft lobbyists. Kick GOP butt.
You mean go out there and twist their arms and kick their butts? Or are you talking about the evil WORDS?
Well, maybe evil words like:
“Eh, Ben, you know about Offutt Air Force Base. We’re thinking of consolidating it with Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and moving SACCOM operations there.”
And then start doing it. One visible step at a time.
Or:
“Blanche, you know about Pine Bluff Arsenal. They make specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products. We can easily move consolidate that with similar facilities and reduce the deficit.”
And then cut the orders to do it.
And, yes, I know the wingnut blogs accused Rahm Emmanuel of doing something like that and argued that Obama was weakening national security.
But then again bruises and anal-pedal extraction operations would show some real seriousness.
I think it’s pretty clear that I, and a lot of other people, are more interested in a government that gets good results for its people than in hearing more platitudes, from either side.
Oh, and keep the condescension to yourself, you smug fuck.
( @DaveW, just to be clear)
I’d like to hear:
HEY WE CREATED LOTS OF GREEN ENERGY JOBS YOU FUCKERS WANTED US TO LEAVE TO EUROPE SO YOUR SAUDI BOSSES COULD CONTROL US- KISS MY ASS!!
I invite you to read my vulgar analyis
http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2010/1/27/84728/0040
Evidence as to why he’s not lying this time.
Now, compare this with what he actually does say.
“I resign” would do just fine for me.
I see you are a President Joe Biden fan.
From 2001 – 2009, we had 8 years of unopposed Conservative ideology running the federal government. The result was middle class unemployment and foreclosures on a massive scale, over a trillion dollars and thousands of lives wasted on an unnecessary war, and the unraveling of American values of decency and the rule of law. We cannot afford one more month of following a failed ideology clung to by conservatives in both parties. That is not the bipartisanship I was working for.
I firmly believed that Republicans and Democrats could work together for the good of the country, and I still hope that that’s true. But I will not cling to a belief that prevents me from relieving the hardship of families who urgently need jobs and health care, good public education and an income on which to retire in dignity.
The American people have been too patient, and we have been too slow. Accordingly, I will be implementing the following policies…
reconciliation for healthcare
fixing “too big to fail”
regulating credit card companies
50% tax rate on the portion of income over $1 million and bonuses over $50 thousand.
Sounds good to me.
I think he should do what Reagan did, only the opposite. He must stand by the stimulus, stand by the steps he’s taken to reduce unemployment; he should convince America WHY the steps he’s taken were necessary; he must take conservatism head on, expose the Republicans for their hypocrisy, call out his own party for being spineless, and make the case for liberalism.
It’s not how it’s going to happen, though. At least, I wouldn’t make bets on it. If I were a betting man, I’d bet he’ll say something like:
“The left wants to spend all of this money, the right wants to slash these things across the board, I’m in the middle; look at me, ineffective leader who tries appealing to independents!”
We are suffering from an economic near-collapse brought on by a failed ideology of “free markets” and “small government” — an ideology that masks its war on ordinary Americans with cynical and deceptive appeals to great ideals like liberty and the merit system. I have spent political capital and wasted precious time seeking to give those who brought disaster upon us a chance to redeem themselves and work with us to repair the damage they have done. Their response has been unmistakable: they have chosen to use every propaganda outlet, every parliamentary trick to cripple our every effort to bring America back to its people.
Enough. Beginning tonight, our experiment is finished. With two wars, a massive economic crisis, a people hurting from unemployment and stagnant pay, a broken healthcare system, and enormous challenges in environment and energy, we can no longer afford the luxury of reaching out a hand to those whose only reflex is to try and rip it off.
Beginning tonight, we will do whatever it takes to achieve historic reform legislation that guarantees every America access to good, affordable healthcare. We will begin the process of dismantling the perversions of Senate rules that enables a small minority to force its will on the majority. We will, starting now, create decent-paying jobs rebuilding our gutted infrastructure, bringing our education system from preschool through university back up to world-class standards, and preparing to make America the global leader in the transition to sustainable energy and environmental recovery.
We will finance those vital endeavors by overhauling our tax structure and cutting out waste and overpayments in government, starting with the military and its contractors. We will return to the income tax levels that brought us prosperity and progress under President Eisenhower. To put an end to corporate tax avoidance through hiding profits, we will initiate a corporate revenue tax of two percent on all corporations in the US reporting more than one million dollars in revenue. Our aim will be high: to bring the American ideals of equality, justice, freedom, and community back as the new blueprints for a more perfect union.
I like that a lot.
I like that a lot, too. I would be most happy if he just called out the Republicans for being radical obstructionists. He ran on bipartisanship. Fine. Be bipartisan. But when the other party refuses to work at all with you, they should be stigmatized for it. That’s what we need to hear.
Just for laffs:
….all right, all right, settle down. Thank you. Here’s a few simple rules for understanding my morally bankrupt opponents. When they say tax cuts, they mean tax cuts for rich white dudes like them and their corporate cronies. We’re talking about people who make a minimum of 200 grand a year. We’re talking about people with vacation homes, trust funds, multiple luxury cars, that kind of thing. Now, I don’t have anything against those people, many are quite nice. But they’re doing just fine. They’re well provided for. When they say government spending is out of control, that’s code for spending money on people who don’t live in gated communities, in other words, the vast majority of Americans, and they’re pissed that this money might not go to corporate welfare and pork barrel war machine contracts. See, they don’t have any problem robbing the taxpayers blind. But it’s all supposed to go to their people, the right people. Don’t you get it?
Now, as you’re quivering in your poorly heated and insulated home, wondering if your job is secure or if things will get progressively worse, know this: these assholes created this situation. Katrina wasn’t a fluke: that’s how they do business. And all their shouting is about one thing and one thing only: taking us straight back to the world of tax-cuts for the wealthy, eliminating social services for everybody else, Ponzi schemes on an international scale overseen by corporate double-agents-in other words-party appointed regulators, vast industrial scale pollution that will poison our planet for countless generations, and so on, all designed to make them richer and you poorer. That’s what it’s all about: taking more and more of the public wealth, of our future well being, for their select group of insiders. That’s it.
Now, democrats ARE pussies. I freely admit that. We’ve got some of the most corrupt, lying sacks of shit in the business. But to all of you sitting out there in the crumbling infrastructure and economy of America, I want you to know one thing, to burn this in your mind: Republicans don’t give a flying f— about you. They are actively seeking to f— you. And you know this.
I am sick of hearing words that don’t translate into action. The word change is meaningless unless change happens.
I don’t want to hear a thing in the State of the Union address, I want to SEE things happen.