Will Obama Still Have a Hand After Reaching Out to Republicans?
By David Neiwert Saturday Jan 03, 2009 3:00pm
According to this CNN report yesterday, Barack Obama is looking to woo Republican support for his economic plans. Indeed, Obama is sitting down with some of the GOP leadership on Monday.
But the Village View is pronounced herein by the Politico's Ken Vogel:
As long as Obama is appearing not to be catering to the Left base of the Democratic Party, and is making at least to involve Republicans and not alienate them, I believe he will be able to claim that he is taking a post-partisan approach.
I don't know if that's the actual thinking within the Obama camp, but that's clearly the view of Beltway Insiders who are hoping beyond hope that their whole prefabricated version of reality does not crumble about their ankles entirely: If you just keep the stinking dirty hippies out of the picture and kiss conservative ass, everything will be cool. (That, after all, is their worldview.)
Of course, the reality is that Mitch McConnell has already put the brakes by intimating he'll get out the filibuster on Obama's plan. They'll pay lip service to "bipartisanship" when they meet with Obama, but will do everything in their power to screw him over every step of the way and make sure nothing gets done.
After all, that's what's in their best interest -- otherwise they have little hope of winning in 2010 and none in 2012. And as we've witnessed over the past eight years, the national interest comes in a distant last place for Republicans in that competition.
So it will be interesting to watch this play out over the next weeks and months. We've known all along that Obama is a reach-out-to-your-enemy kind of guy; it's a big part of what made him so electable.
But the experience of the past eight years has made clear that the Republican idea of bipartisanship involves hot pokers and nether regions. When you reach out to them, usually all you have left to show for it is a hand gnawed down to the bone.
If you want a classic example of it, take a gander at the Sean Hannity Forum discussion of Obama's Republican outreach. It includes the following gems:
Nothing is new about Obama, nothing, his lying bs has been around since the Garden of Eden. He is a snake and I recommend the Republicans tell him, do not call me, I will call you
___It will most likely be the same old story....bipartisan means Conservatives have to cross over to the liberal side and never the other way around. I hope the conservatives can stick to thier guns (before they get outlawed)
___Obama lied.
Obama cheated.
Obama stole.
Obama helped slaughter living, breathing, helpless babies.
Obama is nothing but a cheap moldy old Hippie Leftover pile of human **** with the same integrity and moral capacity for basic human intelligence I'd look for in a pack of rabid hyenas.
He's going DOWN as fast as I can pray him into the hell he so richly deserves because of the sheer hell he's helped dump on too many American heads.
Right along with the rest of the Greedy Moral Degenerates who helped but that immoral piece of walking human filth into power.
Boss Tweed would vomit over the crimes of the current Democratic Swine Lords of Infinite Greed and Corruption.
___
I'm more interested in an outreach to CONSERVATIVES, rather than Republicans or RINOs. Obama's going to have to stop his baby-killing agenda, and protect American citizens, rather than the "rights" of terrorists who want to kill us.
__
When does child-destroying NAMBLA and it's brutal protectors, the ACLU, go to prison?
When do judges who release Mexican Drug Thugs go to trial for miscarriage of justice and refusal to obey the laws?
When do we see justice and compassion and decent concern for the lives and well-being of American citizens restored to our governments?
Then and only then will I tolerate the existence of the moral sludge who call themselves "democrats" -- when all they really are are are Mafia Thugs made rich by bribery and graft and corruption -- traitors and liars and thieves.
No more HIPPIE ********: these thugs have slaughtered too many Americans over the past 4 decades. ENOUGH
___
Personally, I prefer to see them NOT accomplish something. We owe the economic crisis to the mortgage "accomplishments" of Congress' willful intentions over decades, and then covering up the high risk position of Fannie Mae, the Typhoid Mary of the financial markets.
That's the conservative way: Pray for failure. No wonder they finally got the boot. No wonder they're fast becoming irrelevant.
And after dealing with them up close and getting a taste of their "bipartisanship," Obama may decide that those stinking dirty hippies are not something to run from after all.
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Obama will just the next US President war criminal supporting the phony wars on Terror and on Drugs.
He will continue most of the US Empire building/consolidation project started by the Republicans.
are you looking in that crystal ball
you have conveniently hidden up your a..h0le?
it seems that if you had been around whenjesus had
just started his teachings, you would have shit on his head
at every moment. i am not comparing obama to jesus, just
the bs you reichwingnuts devour like manure.
Cut off all funding to southern red staters starting with Mitch McConnell's home state of Kentucky. Southern Redstaters voters want to keep Republicans in power in an affort to thwart the agenda of the rest of the country? Cut offl funding to their states.
And I for one expect this to be Obama's response to the republican's non-response. You don't want to play ball with me? Fine. You are benched. Let's see how long they hold out when their constituents realize the pork is no longer on their dinner tables and start calling for their heads.
Obama comes out on top on this one; don't return evil for evil. It just takes you down to their level.
The Sean Hannity forum is so "Fair and Balanced". lol
I certainly hope that he is smart enough to realize in the face of the torrent of bullshit in the lead up to the inauguration that you cannot compromise with these folks. I also hope he is tough enough to seriously kick their asses to the curb. Not sure as yet, but am encouraged by the fact that he grew up in the Chicago system. That is not politics for the faint of heart.
There are no mirrors in republican's surroundings. I constantly wonder that Obama is making a naive calculation in assuming republicans can be reasonable, just, fair or even redeemable. I am convinced, in their current form and population, they can not. Like poisonous spiders, they will do what comes naturally.
The conservatives have been pulling comments from liberal blogs for years and using them to represent the wacko lib point of view. I'm not so sure we should start using the same tactic against them.
Who cares what they talk about on the Sean Hannity forum. When is Obama going to have something to say about Gaza? When Russia invaded Georgia he wasn't shy about giving his opinion.
Don't get me started on the Zionists headlock American politicians are in.
Of what use could that possibly serve?
aren't we supposed to be the grownups?
you are kidding, aren't you?
or was that a rhetorical question?
Yeah, they "lost," if by that you mean they got out from under responsibility for fixing the most catastrophic collection of corrupt clusterfucks ever committed against ANY Nation by ANY ruling cabal since the Medicis...
they did NOT vote for McCain/Palin, they were rejecting Obama...
and they are NOT GONNA experience a life-changing epiphany anytime soon, and they're not gonna change their minds...
We are STILL unbelievably fucked, no matter what. Totally, inexorably, irremediably FUCKED.
Obama's first address to the nation should outline the programs that he would like to pass and name those standing in the way. People want change and the only way to get it is to get rid of the obstructionists.
His second address should be to tell the Israelis they have to go back to their 1967 borders, or else no more aid.
you don't really see how this government works do you?
that was quite funny. A US President telling the Israeli's off. ROFLMAO
No matter what Obama does it won't be enough. The conservatives complained about the liberal media and the media went conservative. They still complain about the liberal media. They'll still complain about Obama even if his entire cabinet consisted of Republicans.
"He's going DOWN as fast as I can pray him into the hell he so richly deserves because of the sheer hell he's helped dump on too many American heads."
"Right along with the rest of the Greedy Moral Degenerates who helped but that immoral piece of walking human filth into power."
"Boss Tweed would vomit over the crimes of the current Democratic Swine Lords of Infinite Greed and Corruption."
Hey wingers and Hannity forum posters...go reread the chapter on "projection".
The most insane among us are always accusing the opposition of the shit they themselves are up to.
He'll be talking to the hand.
The repugs think they're all that and a bag of chips, some bean dip, and Beano.
Do people still talk in that obnoxious way?
Obama is counting on the fact that he and the rest of the spineless democrats have caved into giving the Bush administration everything they wanted on everything from the patriot act, to war in Iraq, to wiretapping immunity, and even the bankster bailout. (Nancy didnt even serve imPEACHment pie)...never even made it to the table!
I guess he figgers its time for the republickins to return the flavor?
He probly doesnt have to work so hard to make it look bi-partisan...repubs will bend over...its their turn to be bottom boy!
Repups and dems appear to be good friends to me, and will continue to eat at the banquet table together at the taxpayers exense.
Republicans wont approve Obama's stimulus plan right away...they will just hold out for a few prisons and work camps instead of bridges and roads...and Obama will say ok since you guys caved in on the bailout...
Why do we ALWAYS have to dumb ourselves down; to the level of republicans?? Hey; here's an idea; reach out to Democrats and Progressives!!
We are like the Evangelicals are to the Republican party. They will pay lip service to us but do nothing. They know we have nowhere else to go. That is the genius of the two party system.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be Obama's worst headache.
They will not have the spine to stand up to the minority republican cr!me synd!cate in congress.
It's not going to feel like the Dems are even in control. Pitty.
watch....I'd call it a push.
Is like reaching out to a rabid dog! You will probably get bit and end up costing you a lot of money.
The best thing you could do is put a bullet between their eyes. It's quick and can be done from a distance to avoid being bitten. One thing for sure it's a lot cheaper then getting a bill from a hospital and doctors after being bitten by a rabid dog or republican!
...should give Nancy Pelosi some shootin' lessons!
she could use em!
They like to pretend that they understand the classics; but, they don't.
When one finds oneself out of political favor; what is one to do?
If you make yourself a nuisance then you will not be invited to the smoke-filled meetings.
The key to regaining power when you fall out of favor is to make yourself useful.
Machiavelli wrote the Prince, after falling from favor, as a way of convincing the powers-that-be that he could be useful.
Karl Rove thinks that he is the modern day version of Machiavelli; yet, the bulk of the Prince is a warning to not act capriciously.
This early opposition and cry-babying by the GOP is a good thing for Progressives.
Let them become a troublesome nuisance. All it means is that they will not have input on what happens.
My first thought about these wingnuts is "geez, unhinge much?". But then I realized they may be upset about the Wall Street bailouts, and blaming the Dems for them.
And I think back to writing letters and calling Dem members of congress to warn them not to take ownership of the Wall Street bailout, as it would be a fiasco. And most likely a corrupt fiasco at that. And their names would be all over it.
But the Dem congress took ownership anyway. And now they'll have to listen to the unhinged wingnuts place the blame entirely on them.
Ah, and the second comment was probably about Blago. What a hysterical reaction to the Blago incident. But not a surprise.
I like Obama but I am waiting for him to show the people who voted for him what he is going to do. He must remember compromise is good when its to our benefit not the republicans. For to long the republicans have had their way now they are out of power and need to be reminded of that point. Obama must ask the support of the people if those senators try to block anything that Obama wants to do. It will not look good on the republicans to always being the wall that stops progress. More than ever the public won't stand for this stonewalling by the republicans. They still think this was just a once in a life time fluke that Obama is the president. They seem to forget he is the president because the majority of people support his issues. They want government in our lives.
Count your fingers afterward.
.
The insane RAGE these people display is the key to their being so easily manipulated by the unscrupulous RightWing Machine.
It's horrible to realize these vicious persons are merely repeating what FOX (Hannity & Orally) is telling them, over and over.
over and over and over and over.
Same thing I've been warning about for a couple months. These people are not conservatives--they hate America and the government. They are traitors and should be given one chance and one chance only to start doing something for the country (and their constituents) then go away.
Unfortunately, Pelosi and Reid are part of the opposition party and will never do anything to pass worthwhile legislation and stop the obstructionist filibusters. They won't investigate or impeach, because they are themselves implicated in many of the illegalities of the last few years.
Not much change I can believe in, sorry.
If the enthusiasm and momentum from Obama's victory can be tapped, Pelosi, Reid, and Lieberman will all be out of office come 2012.
Sean Hannity's and the rest of the reichwingnuttia
bastards apparent intent to destroy America more
than bush/cheney already has, just makes you want
to hurt them all as bad as you can....well, karma
works best and these bastards are headed over the
cliff....and they are pushing themselves....lol lol lol
Wow. I read with fascination the rantings of the right wing posters. After eight long years of failure after failure ad nauseam from the republicans, I figured that they would see the failure of their ways and adopt a new strategy which any normal and sane person(s) would do. Instead they're only getting worse, delusional and paranoid which leads to one conclusion, they aren't normal or sane, to put it mildly.
I believe many of these people are mentally unstable, or at the very least irrational and completely brainwashed.
Obama should reach out to all the repugs in the house and senate and stick them in handcuffs! After all they are all a bunch of crooks and need to be put in frigin jail!
Projection, much?
makes democracy and bipartisanship impossible. the party of lincoln is now the party of limbaugh.
the GOP relies completely on talk radio to do the groundwork repetition to create the alternate reality they and the lazy corporate media talking heads live in. it is idiotic for any dem politician to think republicans want bipartisanship or cooperation while the AM radio waves are dominated by 1000 limbaugh and hannity stations blasting attacks on anything remotely progressive. as long as the talk radio monopoly remains intact it is naive and stupid for dems to seek bipartisanship or trust republican pols who promise it.
I hate to ask: How many posts until one is "Hannitized"?
I think I need to go shower in sewage to get the stank off...
They are going to be the dumbest of the dumb, aren't they? Naturally their rantings are not even coherent, never mind actually having a subject, noun and verb all in the same sentence.
I am appalled at the polarization that is showing itself in public, even in casual business meetings.
We have a couple "righties" in our professional organization, and last week they started in with some of this, "Obama is the Holy One, the Chosen" and it was just amazing. I don't know any progressives who refer to Barack that way; this has to be coming from the likes of comedian Limbaugh and the Bill-O'Liely propaganda machines.
And the worse they get, the worse we react, is there no end to it?
How can our nation get anything done when we are being divided this way? Who benefits?
If you see batshit insane comments but in a creative way, you're on Bill O'Reilly's turf. If it's just plain stupid, you've been lobotomized by Glen Beck.
But when you see the two mixed together, you're in Hannity-land.
LOL, that was good.
Republicans do not share power, period. They will not compromise. If Obama extends his hand out in a show of bipartisanship, the repubs will be looking for a knife to cut it off. There might be a few good republicans, but for the most part, they're rotten to the core.
Obama is proving to be unexceptional in that regard.
If I'm not mistaken, it's in Chicago, a notoriously treacherous environment. Not only did he survived, but thrived.
I'm also pretty sure that Obama has read more books than Team of Rivals.
If one looks at his previous history, Obama can teach the Republiscums a trick or two about playing hardball. Right now, he is giving them a chance to do good. If they refuse, they are just grabbing the rope that BO will use to hang them high and dry.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
I hope you are right. the repugs should never get any chance to run anything ever again. they will screw any body who gets in there was. the last 8 years proves this.
Does that Wingnut commenter realize that Democrats are not proud of Tammany Hall (especially those of us in New York)? That's like me saying - "If Strom Thurmond were alive today, he'd be ashamed at how wimpy and politically correct the Republicans have become."
Oh, wait....
Did Reslugs ever reach out to Dem's in the last eight years that they ruined America??
"When does child-destroying NAMBLA and it's brutal protectors, the ACLU, go to prison?"
It's funny. They just don't get that NAMBLA is a joke. And if it did exist, Republican lawmakers would run it.
Sometimes I wonder how much trouble the Wingnuts would be in if more lbverals owned guns. They'd shut-up fairly damn quick, me thinks.
No. He won't. He'ss going to extend his hand, but pull back a stump. Then he's going to extend his remaining hand. He'll pull back a stump again. then he'll offer his foot. Same result. Then he'll offer his other foot. Same result. Then he'll stick out his neck. His head will go missing.
Some people just have to learn the hard way, and some people never learn at all.
By the time it's all said and done, it isn't going to be an issue of failing to learn because a particular ideology got in the way of it, it's going to be a matter of having repeatedly deployed lofty-sounding rhetoric so as to distract from attention away from complicity.
R-Wingers demand Obama not show any sides with his party or else?
And the R-wingers circulat, "Obama the magic Negro" CD's for republican bias consumption as a rally battle cry to obstruct the Democrats.
Not to mention that such childish bigotry must be Rush Limbaugh's advice to R-Wingers. If Republicans think this is cute then they have absolutely no reasonable justification of have any ability(s) to be diplomatic on America's domestic front let alone foriegn affairs.
I noticed not one republican asked the Supreme Court Justices to work for a dollar recently when the Sup. Court Justices asked for a pay raise and C.O.L.A.. Republicans didn't gavel the S.C. Justices with the fact of America is in debt and becoming insolvent.
Your right about enjoying the whining of the Republican party.
One of my favorites was immediately after the '06 thumping in the House of Representatives. Dem Speaker nancy Pelosi announced the House would be working more hours and days of the week.
Republicans went on TV to cry that it was to hard to work a full week and see their families and such. How would they find the time for Lobbyists and paid junkets to golf courses in Scotland?
It was so stressing for them. They have no clue what work is when they address the UAW as they did over the auto industry bridge loan(s).
If only Hannity had to deal with union labor with his shows production or home repairs, etc. The tears and fears that we would hear and see.
My God the ammount of projection in those brief comments is staggering, these sad, pathetic losers are able to see every imaginable evil in every Democrat alive and yet they casually ignore the real crimes being commited by those they whole-heartedly support, and instead project their crimes on the Dems.
I'd laugh if I did not know these idiots were serious.
I think that what Obama is doing is like a "50 State Strategy" for Congress.
Funny - I got banned at the Hannity forum after making one post - I had asked if Hannity had ever served in the military. I received a message telling me I was banned for "disrespecting" the host...
You can't handle the truth.
I've always called it the republican't war on reality (as opposed to the fake war on X-mas). They have been fighting this particular war for a while now, and they keep losing the battles. Reality eventually wins out, and when you snap back to it the shock can be devastating.
The delusional right is in for an extreamly rude awakening.
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