Obama should come out with a 2.0 Recovery Plan
By John Amato Friday Oct 03, 2008 3:00pmObama has a lead in all the national polls and has made significant progress in the battleground states at this point. So I think if he wants to cement his run to the White House, he should come out with an updated version of an economic recovery plan that further illustrates his leadership abilities. With his constant call for bipartisanship, he can summon the Republicans to join him for the good of America or he'll be able to paint them as ideologues hellbent on retaining their power in Congress instead of trying to use their authority to help the American people.
It's a simple strategy that could resonate with voters and also knock the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans back on their heels---painting them at obstructing the American dream.
I've never been a fan of calling for bipartisanship because there are no moderate Republicans left in DC since the "Southern strategy" was launched by Gingrich in '94. They've attacked Democrats and liberals at every turn, but as I've said, Obama can use that now to his advantage and it would also finally lead the country in a progressive direction.
The fruits of Conservatism have been finally realized and we can all see that its end game has led this country into ruin so now is the time for a left-wing agenda to guide the country. It will be a difficult task; the Conservatives will continue to kick and scream, but playing the obstructionist game may not help their cause. In any case, if Obama comes out strong and leads with a firm hand he can grab the White House and give us a legitimate shot are restoring America to the promised land.
The ball is in your court now, Obama, will you take it?
Login or Register to post comments.
The die is cast. The country's credit card is maxed and massive tax increases will be forced upon us by the staggering amount of our debt.
Hello New American Century, Not!!
Good thing neither Obama nor Biden referred to the Cartereque malaise.
palin would think that's something you spread on a tuna fish sandwich.
Obama cannot propose or advocate a left wing agenda because he does not represent the left wing. His foreign policy, health care, FISA and bailout votes all confirm that.
I certainly hope he does something along those lines. After reading more about Paulson's past it seems like a revision of the bill would be the least he could do.
Also, I think Obama should hire Naomi Klein as an economic policy adviser. :p
Yea Che, crooks and liars keep getting my hopes up. I was gonna suggest the Kucinich plan to Obama.
Damit I keep forgetting............I keep wanting to forget, hey canned tuna and soups still real cheap at the dollar store, I keep going there every few days and loading up, they keep looking at me funny. ahahahaaa
Obama, is the American 2.0 recovery plan.
Che's Lounge @ 3:
Actually, that would work to his advantage. He could offer up a plan and point to those issues and say, "But I'm not a leftist, this is a centrist plan to help ordinary Americans". Most people would just say, yeah and look at the way the plan benefits them. The ideologues on the right could fume all they want but nobody would be listening.
Oh, and when Obama debates McLame next he shouldn't just bring a gun to the knife fight. He should bring an elephant gun.
Che's Lounge @ 3:
Extremely well said. This post states that "there are no moderate Republicans left in Washington" adding that "they've attacked Democrats and liberals at every turn." What this post leaves out is that 60 per cent of the Democrats, which amounted to 172 of them, voted for the bailout, clearly placing, to use Obama's term, Wall Street over Main Street.
Also, for Obama supporters, and for those who still possess an open mind, it would behoove these people and others to read this cogently and persuasively written piece on the voting for the "lesser of the two evils" theory which ends up, as the writer perceptively points out, as being a delusion as well as a falsehood.
http://prisonerofstarvation.blogspot.com/2008/09/evil-of-lesser-evil.html
Obama is an approved product. The "military industrial mediatainment congressional wall street complex" has already given him
his game plan or he wouldn't have made it this far. I am no Palin supporter, but she did mention that Obama voted for the
2005 Energy Bill, which Clinton did not vote for, I am not a Clinton fan either.
Obama is a tool, and will line the pockets of the rich and commit war crimes just like every president since Wilson.
I am no 911 tuth person either, but Obama is all about the "war on terror" when there is not one scrap of evidence putting the
hijackers on the plane or bin Laden as the organizer. So going into Afghanistan was bullshit but Obama is in favor of it.
Back to the 2.0 version of the bail out. It will never include oversight, it will never include help for the working man, it will never
insure this doesn't happen again.
The goal is to place public funds in private hands and private debt in public hands.
And whether Bush or Obama or McCain is at the helm, that will be the coarse.
To the contrary, the Project for a New American Century has been a resounding success.
Oil is hovering around $100 / bbl. ExxonMobil and other oil companies continue to post record profits. Military contractors have a deployment of over 150,000 in Iraq and are still operating under no-bid contracts. The Middle East has been destabilized and the Cold War is resurgent. Nuclear proliferation is unchecked, the rich are richer than ever before and the middle class is all but extinct. The constitution has been shit-canned along with habeas corpus and most of the bill of rights. Congress just passed a $615 billion "defense" spending bill. The Iraq war has cost nearly $600 billion and continues to drain $10 billion a month, benefiting the military industrialists, lobbyists and chickenshit politicians who care for nothing less than their own skin.
Cheney, Rumsfeld and their cronies have accomplished just about everything they set out to do.
[Deleted. Off topic. Please take it to an Open Thread. Thank you. Site Monitor]
This video points out how [supposedly] unalike Obama and McCain are. One wonders if this video were to somehow air on the corporate airwaves, if there were to be a cosmic shift in how people would vote next month.
http://prisonerofstarvation.blogspot.com/
Excellent idea John and I'd add that it should have a decidedly "populist" slant (since liberals still have a few more years in the wilderness before we're allowed to come home). This one should NOT be for Wall Street but should be for regular Joes and include bankruptcy reform reform and '30s level regulation. Wouldn't have to cost the taxpayers anything but would definitely help keep this from happening again.
If anybody needs a recovery plan it's the McCain/Palin campaign.
http://www.wilytrax.com
Erroll @ 12:
Don't you get it yet? Nader cannot win. Obama wants to rebuild the system from the bottom up. Nobody is going to magically change things overnight. NADER CANNOT WIN!
All true but the "Southern Strategy" started with Nixon in the 60"s.
Couldn't agree more. Time for another New Deal that will strengthen our economy, and sail our country into the 21st century and beyond.
Of course, all the Repubs believes that the world will end at 2012.
Different Anonymous @ 13:
it's our job to make it more progressive, if Obama wins we can push it, if McCain wins we're sunk....
Obama's hands are already tied.
The bailout bill, and the bailout bills to follow, will make him just a spectator of the economy.
Ok, i just donated to the obama campiagn.. BUT i want Obama to be on the attack mode on tuesday.. I dont want any of the "obama doesnt understand" horsecrap been said without obama attacking back.. Pallin was yesterday's story, and thanks to o.j simpson's trial and the bailout, people are alreday done with the pallin character... Now Obama engaged with McSame in ass-kicking 101 in the debate!!!..
that's it
Nader cannot win. But the mofo has been right since a I know him. So, Americans got their values all fucked up, or I'm just another dumb gullible asshole. Nader predicted the total failure of Bush. Then again, that wasn't too difficult of a prediction.
Hey, I know it's not the topic but I just saw Religulous. If you get a chance go check it out. this is the kind of honesty I look for in my discussions.
garcia @ 21:
I predicted the total failure of Bush. I'm not dumb enough that I think I could win the office of the president.
VietVet8666 @ 19:
Obama's "hands tied"? Well, yes they are kinda busy...clutching $10.8 million in contributions from Wall Street.
Securities & Investment $10,847,652
He got paid to implement Hoover 2.0.: Throw money at failing "banks" and watch them fail anyway.
Sad truth is that BHO is no FDR.
As soon as Lehman Brother's went down and the economy was in shock, I wrote in this blog that a "New Deal" type plan was what Obama should come out with.... that was when the Palin phenomenon was at its peak....
but I've noticed some things in these last few weeks.... I used to think Hillary was the most calculating politician out there... but I believe it is Obama... that's how he calmly disposed of her as an opponent. Now he is laying waste to the campaign dreams of the McCain/McCan't ticket.
Coming out strong with a progressive plan is not Obama's style. That is too politically risky. Right now he will continue to organize his electorate in those critical battleground states and make sure that all those independents feel secure that he won't screw things up.... Don't expect a New Deal type plan from Obama until after he is elected.... and his plan probably won't be as progressive as we would all like...
Ron @ 15:
You conveniently neglected to address the point of the video which is how Obama and McCain are much more similar than they are different while a true progressive like Nader gets ignored by the mainstream and liberal media.
ej @ 17:
What happens in 2012? The sun of god's brother coming to visit again? Our calendar is off, that is proven by the pyramids, might be closer to 2150..............................
Time for another New Deal that will strengthen our economy, and sail our country into the 21st century and beyond.
Of course, all the Repubs believes that the world will end at 2012.
-----------------
A New Deal will not strengthen the economy, when a record credit bubble is in the process of deflating.
The 10 year cycle has not turned down yet, thus we have not seen the worst yet. You are just as much in a fantsy land as tose who would believe the world will end with te Mayan calendar.
I would like to see Obama hold back and not commit too much until he is in the white house and knows what the post election landscape of congress is.
Ron @ 15:
Its pretty simple, really. Its all about the lost causes, Ron.
John Amato @ 18:
John
If I may suggest, if you click on the link and read the article at comment #8, you will see, I believe, how very unlikely it is that your well meaning idea would bear much fruit.
Johnny2Bad @ 24:
There's a laundry list here... the Securities and Investment Industry has plenty of money to support both campaigns (McCain has $7M)... but when Obama has raised $470M (http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?id=N00009638) $10M doesn't hold much sway....
Ron @ 15:
Plus, I hardly think that throwing 700 billion at Wall Steet is a 'bottom up" rebuilding plan but that's just me.
I don't see him getting us out of this jam very easily. For the last 8 years, Americans have been accepting the argument that on the individual, corporate and governmental level, we need not live within our means. On the Federal level, that has translated into tax cuts and spending increases, with the difference made up by borrowing.
We already see tightening of credit, and at some point, the borrowing binge will have to end. At that point, the economy will be saddled with paying for the consumption of the past, as well as current consumption. Whether it's paid by taxes, or the tax of inflation by printing dollars, it will be paid. The next administration is going to have to deliver the message that there is no free lunch, a message that many Americans will find difficult to accept.
There's a couple of easy moves, but they're simply not politically palatable with Americans. Ending the "War on Drugs" (aka: War on 4th Amendment) would save $48 B/year. It is desirable to have health care that covers all. To do that with the current system requires spending more. The economical way to do it is to investigate the systems that are used in other countries that cover all their citizens for less cost and copy the best system (aka: single payer health). President Clinton said on Letterman recently that we spend 16% of GDP on health care while other countries who cover everyone are only spending 11% of GDP.
I think, unfortunately, too many Americans have their heads stuck up their asses for Obama to come out with any plan until after the election. I think it's best to stick to the campaign that McCain is four more years of Bush, with no fiscal responsibility, and more expensive nation building and with the people McCain has surrounded himself with, that seems an accurate depiction.
Free trade is another disaster. Proponents say that the trade deficits come back to America as investments. Sovereign wealth funds are buying stock in our companies. To me, that is somewhat equivalent to taking out a reverse mortgage, which only makes sense when your life expectancy is short.
Then there are increasing Social Security and Medicare costs coming as the baby-boomers age. It's a mess, and I hope Obama can come up with a plan - but I think we're up s#!t creek.
Johnny2Bad @ 29:
I may be wrong but, it's 2008, not 1939. Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, this is not a movie.
k1ngothwld @ 31:
Yep. There hedging their bets again. Go short and long and you net out. I get it. Nice strategy really.
It has begun. *ucker Bounds was just on MSNBC crying that the Democrats are lying about McCain's record; on just about everything. And then he proceeds to lie about Obama over and over and over. Does *ucker realize what we all think of him? Or does he care? No! The repugs must have promised him a very, very good job in the McCain administration for him to make such a fool of himself.
Ron @ 15:
What you never addressed was the point of video which is that Obama and McCain are much more alike than they are different. As for your claim that "Obama wants to rebuild the system from the bottom up" you may want to click on the link at comment #8 where the author effectively deflates that argument and proves how Obama and the Democrats will once again fail in their promises to "rebuild the system."
Ron @ 34:
You are wrong. Its 1929 all over again.
As far as it just being a movie, if you don't get the message there, than maybe that's just another lost cause.
"It’s a simple strategy that could resonate with voters and also knock the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans back on their heels—painting them at obstructing the American dream."
This is who the Republicans are looking to for leadership?..........Newt Gingrich?...........Really?
They think they need to follow a washed up partisan hack that works for Fixed Noise?
No wonder the McCain Straight talk Express is in the toilet!
Obama may not have all the solutions, But he's a damn sight better than McFailure
oppss. Should read "then" not "than"
Now that it's October, no one's talking about an October surprise. Here's one for ya. What if Bush vetoes the bill? Clearly congressional Democrats could have gotten a better deal for Main Street if Main Street is to bail out Wall Street.
Didi anybody listen to This American Life this morning? They interviewed Adam Davis about the bailout plan, and according to Davis, the bailout bill that just passed included an option for the bailout to be administered as a stock injection – to buy stock in the companies affected, rather than simply purchasing the (now nearly worthless) "assets" that they're hoping to get rid of. The language inserted in the bill is non-committal, it simply gives those who administer the bailout the option of buying stock rather than assets, it doesn't compel them to do so. There's audio explaining the stock injection option at Planet Money.
Leadership @ 9:
of course you are a troofer
no evidence??
go away...you bother me
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..
* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, yours is a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black
President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that
Registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law
professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over
750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human
Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state
of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,
Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any
real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6
years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the
governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become
the country's second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man
in his eighth decade.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful
daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife
and married the heiress the next month, you're a true Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of
birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex
education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up
pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious
Law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to
raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and
no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a
member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your
family is extremely admirable.
OK, that makes it much more clearer now…
as is evidenced in this thread...many progressives are their own worst enemies
to them, the world is all black and white, and if you dont vote 100 percent the way they want, you are not a progressive
to the right, obama is the "most liberal" senator in the history of this country
to the far left, he is right of mccarthy
he must be doing something right, cuz the nutjobs on both ends dont like him
what obama should do is propose a massive work program....and have the wingnuts explain why we cannot afford that, but can afford compensating millionaire ceo's salaries
lolarusa@42
This is the problem; no one understands the language of the bill. We, the taxpayers, are not privy to the meaning of anything they put in this bill. Only what they want to tell us, keep the little people in the dark. And it probably isn't over. It is almost a given that the gov't will be back asking for more money to "save us!"
Jose H @ 44:
ok....you can stop reprinting the viral email now
especially since palin was a sports reporter...not a weather girl
christ....i am so sick of reading this
Hey John, you took the words right out of my mouth.
This would be especially effective now that McStupid has announced that he wants to ignore the economy and go negative.
With that approach, he should be down around Chimpy numbers by election time.
Johnny2Bad @ 38:
You are at least correct that it is 1929 all over again, but why you would want to listen to the economic advice from a guy whose only training is in obstetrics and gynecology is beyond me.
America has been at this cross roads before. In the 1930's, when America faced a similar situation, Herbert Hoover proposed bailing out Wall Street while FDR said bail out main street. FDR won the election and created the HOLC, The Home Owners' Loan Corporation.
Professor Roubini is one of leading economists in the country and was called upon to testify before the Senate Finance and Banking Committee because he has been predicting all of these events for years. The Financial Times published a review of his:
Financial Times on Roubini’s "12 Steps to Financial Disaster"
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/245171
He was dismissed by many as the "unbearable bear", but in the final analysis he was right and Paulson and Bernanke were consistently wrong! All twelve of the steps are complete and the last one is occurring now.
Professor Nouriel Roubini’s website is rated as the number one site by economists and the numerous economist who visit his website, have proposed a similar solution to what FDR did only larger and with a more systemic approach.
http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/253739/home_home_owners_mortga...
FDR wanted to bailout the Home Owners in Foreclosure... he won and his plan worked... and when the HOLC finally closed its door in 1951, it did so having kept many families in their home, on their farms, and it even turned a slight profit.
Professor Roubini doesn't hide his disgust with the proposed Bail Out plan by Paulson or even the revised plan that is being discussed today:
http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/253783/is_purchasing_700_billi...
Roubini, who has been repeatedly correct, is shooting up red flares a mile a minute as we speak, not just about Paulson’s awful TARP plan but because he sees another monster problem about to unfold and hit us…
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini
To listen to his interview click on the play button at the link
http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=roubini+silent+run&site=wnews&clien...
So the consequence of being wrong here may be more than just having to live with a bad bill... it is "The Mother of all Global Bank Runs" and the total collapse of the entire banking system.
The lower value of the dollar, loss of economic power, loss of jobs, massive increase in national debt, etc, etc.........exactly what could the next Prez (Obama or McCain) actually do? Answer: very little.
Johnny2Bad @ 24:
say it aint so johnny!
Yes, that is a very sad truth indeed. But he is still infinitely better than any republican.
ConcernedCanuck @ 50:
If you read the post above the next President will be forced to do what FDR did which is to buy the home mortgages from the banks and renegotiate long term loans for them.
That keeps the people in their homes and they keep paying what they can as opposed to turning in the keys and walking away from the property.
It also clears the banks of their bad debt and gives the a direct cash infusion which they can then loan to companies or to other banks and revive the interbank loans and lower the Libor rates that companies need for their operating lines of credit to do their daily operations.
This has been done before in the 1930's by FDR... it works... it has to be done or we will face a long deep recession or "The Mother of all Depressions."
Rasputin @ 52:
Then I guess a Depression it will be. It is obvious by both political party leader's actions and votes, that they are too tied to big biz to give a tinker's damn about the little guys. Rich people get massively rich even from Depressions. The last depression expanded some people's wealth as much as it impoverished others.
Noah @ 10:
Unfortunately, since Clinton administration x2, it is the PNAC/AIPAC that rule our country and from their pov the last 7-8 years were even more successful than Clinton's NAFTA and financial systems deregulation. We became their CASH REGISTER and interests of a foreign little country (pop'n ~5 mln) far away took over anything American and have been formidably represented by both Repigs and Dems, steered by Bernanke and his foreign cohort called Feds. It has nothing to do with ANY religion, all about MONEY and POWER.
As much as it would be politically desirable ( and great to lift the spirits !!) for Obama to present some 'better' plan, it would be pretty crazy UNTIL he gets into the WH. He has NO IDEA what is the REAL (how disasterous) status of everything/ANYTHING, and his advisor is Rubin, the AIPAC guy, 5th Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rubin, alongside Lawrence Summers and Paul Volcker, is one of Obama's economic advisers - three aged most arrogant losers, rabid AIPAC stooges.
And, today the word is the totally McInsane campaign and it's lipsticked pitbull spread (from Colorado): " Palin says Obama pals with 'terrorists'" - AIPAC clients are the target group, as usual, and they are the ones constantly busy w/these viral emails. It became an enormous effort to constantly tend to this dual loyalty group "concerns" - including any blatant BS they feel 'concerned' about.
Obama has hands full, the 'proposal' would have to be VERY SERIOUS and DETAILED - I don't think it's possible until AFTER his inaguration. If he surrounds himlself/appoints these AIPAC bastards, NO PLAN will make any sense anyway - we ARE FINISHED as a nation. Sheeple will keep watching American Idol, until the floor falls from under them. We will be locked up in Halliburton re-education centers, learning how to love AIPAC, and our beloved 'allies', as FIRST patriotic duty of every American.
Stopit @ 27:
dark moon comeing soon!
tyree @ 51:
Wish I could. Can't. So I won't.
Further on the Southern Strategy John incorrectly attributed to Gingrich (we all miss a few John, but you miss damn few) - the author of Nixon's Southern Strategy, a cynical and successful plan to exploit the anger of the segregationist south over Johnson's and the Democratic Party sponsorship and successful passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was Kevin Phillips, who has been runnin g a cottage industry writing curmudgeonly bills on the Republicans venality for over 25 years.
His analyses are occasionally heard on NPR but I've never heard him apolgoize for what he unleashed when he hitched the GOP star to racism.
He probably has, I just haven't seen it.
Milo
If this giveaway to Corporate gangsters is any indication of his plans....so much for change. The more things change the more they stay the same.
If we wanted change, we should have put Kucinich in the slot.
2.0 would perhaps break this catastrophe down for the working folks in plain terms, though it's still very complicated. I just wish some bankers owed me about 3 billion dollars, yet in the meantime, I perhaps owe some other jerks 10 billion. Then I may qualify for a bailout.
make that 10 billion more like 40 billion against my (owed to me) 3 billion leverage-wise now. Wait, honey buns, just how many homes do we own... I forget.
Login or Register to post comments.