NBC anchor David Gregory on NBC Nightly News (4/9/11) explaining how sees Obama’s 2012 strategy:
And I thought what was striking about what the president said, if you listen to his comments made Friday night, he sounded very much like a Republican talking about the need to cut spending. That’s the re-election play here. He wants the American people to know, particularly those independent voters, that he is in line with what a lot of Americans want, which is less government, trimming down the size and the scope of government. He wants to be able to say, “Look, I brought the sides together, I averted the shutdown, and I’m on board with cutting government spending.” That’s the message he wants to drive next year.
You could have a good argument about whether Obama is really behaving like a Republican. But to me the more revealing part is that Gregory seems to believes this is a wise political strategy, based on his notion that this is what voters want.
As we’ve pointed out before, public opinion polls indicate that voters mostly want someone to do something about jobs. The media believe that the public wants spending cuts–an idea, generally speaking, that is more in line with conservative or Republican ideology. Thus, a Democrat who embraces budget cuts will be portrayed as one doing what the public wants–no matter what the public actually wants.
This is, of course, the very same media that will be covering the 2012 election.
What else would anyone expect from this dog who has trumpeted his admiration for the war criminal Ronald Regan.OBAMA is a closet republican and a betrayer to his base.
That is how the Media restricts the choices the American Eledctorate is presented with.
National Democratic candidates for president only worry about swing voters when they think they are the favorite to get their party’s nomination.
I think what has happened here is that somewhere deep underground, maybe in Colorado, Dick Cheney and maybe G.Bush Sr. are secret mad scientists working in a lab, and they have figured out a way to put the brain of Dubbya inside Obama. Yes, that must be what has happened!
I am becoming really skeptical about Mr. Obama. He nas not really kept any of his promises. Look out medicare and social security!
james francis:
He kept his promise to sign the Health Care Bill into law.
That is something that John McCain NEVER would have done if he had beat Obama in the 2008 election.
Obama put two liberals on the U.S. Supreme Court (Sotomayor and Kagan).
That’s something John McCain would NEVER have done if he had won in the 2008 election. (Note: John McCain said in 2008 that his most admired judge on the court was conservative Antonin Scalia).
Obama signed into law the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell rule. That’s something John McCain NEVER would have done if had he won the 2008 election.
I have no regrets about voting for Obama. And, you bet, I will vote for him again.
Despite his faults, he is STILL better than ANY candidate that the GOP will run next year.
And as far as your warning about Medicare and Social Security, if you listened to his speech, it was made crystal clear that he was NOT going to let Medicare be turned into a voucher system. Not on his watch.
(Though, if a Republican gets elected in 2012 that probably WILL happen).
Obama signed into law the bill that will put tighter controls over what Wall Street does (though not enough controls, in my judgement). John McCain probably would only have signed a bill much more business friendly (more GOP friendly) and with a lot less oversight controls.
Be grateful for what we have achieved with him.
Because under a GOP President, we would not have got ……. even what we got.
David Gregory is a joke, he appears to jump on the band wagon of the MSM to push every Democrat to the right even though the center is so far right now that there is no center. And saying crap like this furthers undermines any credibility he may have once had.
“….that he is in line with what a lot of Americans want, which is less government, trimming down the size and the scope of government.”
I have not seen any polls that demonstrate what Gregory just said.
Just like the teabaggerrethugnut party who says that small government is what the people want and they even assume it is in the Constitution which I have not found any reference to small government, nor does it say anything about big government either, but only conservatives say that about liberals as being what they the liberals want, but it does give the federal government a lot of power to do a great many things for the people, and even limits what states can do. The tenthers think the Tenth Amendment gives equal power to the states which it does not. It just says that if the Constitution allows it, the states can make laws, but so can the people.
Article I
Section 10 – Powers prohibited of States
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
and
Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Obama “sounds…like a Republican”? I was a volunteer in Jerry Brown’s third campaign for the presidency (Oh, Jerry, where is that flat-tax?). Now, Jerry is sounding like a slash-and-burn Republican. Holy Geeez, I hope there is method in the madness. // Jean Clelland-Morin
Obama is between a rock and a hard place. Liberalism does not afford him the vehicle to travel the long and arduous road toward recovery.It offers nothing.And the line between between ideology ,and concrete accomplishments-has Obama tip toeing between the two in an effort to …………..get re elected.Dont sweat it though.Yes he has shown he is a phony.Yes he has angered his base.But……..he will still hold 98% of afro americans.85% of the Dems.Unions…jews(always a surprise to me)etc etc…Same old gang.Nothing will change no matter what he does.Republicans bury their fallen heros.dems re-elect them.
If a Republican were to win the 2012 presidential election (heaven forbid!), we should expect an immediate and head-spinning reversal of the call for reducing the deficit, and Gregory will be right in there with the rest of the corporate media in completely forgetting the things he’s saying today. The Republicans don’t give a rat’s ass about the budget or the deficit. They care about reducing taxes for the rich, and reducing services to everyone else.
Michael thats bull and you must know it.Today we had our credit level downgraded.The world has decided Obama is not serious about cutting the deficit or spending.See liberal lies don’t fly in the real world.Two stupid things the Dems should hang up on the bull rack is # 1…. this corporatism nonsense. And two….this load of manure concerning tax cuts for the rich.Old canards everyone is sick of hearing.Just put your programs out there and we will see how it fairs against the Rs.So far all i hear is tax the rich
new mcclatchy marist poll
“On tackling the deficit, voters by a margin of 2-to-1 support raising taxes on incomes above $250,000, with 64 percent in favor and 33 percent opposed.
Independents supported higher taxes on the wealthy by 63-34 percent; Democrats by 83-15 percent; and Republicans opposed by 43-54 percent.”
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/18/112386/poll-best-way-to-fight-deficits.html#ixzz1JzUyCw4G
Let me reformulate that poll
Do you want taxes raised on you…………or the other guy?
Dumbest poll question i have ever seen
Q.”Do you want taxes raised on youâ┚¬Ã‚¦Ãƒ¢Ã¢”š¬Ã‚¦Ãƒ¢Ã¢”š¬Ã‚¦Ãƒ¢Ã¢”š¬Ã‚¦or the other guy?”
That’s the dumbest poll question i have ever seen.
new Washington Post-ABC News poll:
The only popular idea for deficit reduction is “raising taxes on Americans with incomes over 250-thousand dollars a year,” which is endorsed by 72% of the country.
59% wants policymakers to take a balanced approach — some tax increases, some spending cuts — to deficit reduction.
Again you have to read the wording of these polls. They are so slanted .I would say if you were to ask does the government have the right to take whatever they damn well want from a mans earnings after a hard days work,you would get 100% saying hell no. Isn’t it interesting that you get only 59% agreeing with an innocuous poll that says “lets try a balanced approach”. Indicative of a knee jerk reaction from a part of a nanny society who refuse to give up anything along spending lines. Those things they consider theirs by birth right.
“I would say if you were to ask does the government have the right to take whatever they damn well want from a mans earnings after a hard days work,you would get 100% saying hell no. ‘
Here in reality no one is proposing anything like that. The entire debate has been….should the top 2 marginal rates: the one currently 32% [starting at approx $220,000 of adjusted TAXABLE income] go to 35%, and should the 35% rate [starting at $373,000 of adjusted TAXABLE income] go to 39.6%. That’s it.
“Isn’t it interesting that you get only 59% agreeing with an innocuous poll that says “lets try a balanced approach”. Indicative of a knee jerk reaction from a part of a nanny society who refuse to give up anything along spending lines. Those things they consider theirs by birth right.”
Good grief…the 41% also includes those who don’t want any tax increases, the 59% includes people willing to put spending cuts on the table.
The only knee jerk reaction is yours.
Michael Dineen Says: If a Republican were to win the 2012 presidential election (heaven forbid!), we should expect an immediate and head-spinning reversal of the call for reducing the deficit.
Exactly…the GOP has mastered the art of bait and switch. Before they were elected it was “where are the jobs,” now it’s all deficit, all the time.
Same thing with Medicare. Look how quickly they went from “the Dems are cutting the programs,” to actually cutting the program….to extinction.
“Again you have to read the wording of these polls. They are so slanted .”
Q” Do you support or oppose doing the following to deal with the federal budget deficit, increase taxes on those making more than $250,000.”
Wow! Slanted! Uh, wait……
The perpetually confused Michael e: “Today we had our credit level downgraded.”
Uh, no we didn’t:
Standard & Poor’s has attached a “negative” outlook to the United States’ sterling credit rating. The ratings agency did not actually downgrade America’s debt, currently rated at AAA/A-1+. Rather, it said there is a one-in-three or better chance that it will downgrade it if the United States does not get its fiscal house in order, and quick.
“The world has decided Obama is not serious about cutting the deficit or spending.”
Uh, no. Standard and Poors is a United States-based financial services company, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies …..and this isn’t just about Obama.
The analysts do not think the United States can get its fiscal act together before the 2012 election. That is because changing the country’s fiscal policy is going to require bipartisan cooperation, as well as politically unpalatable program cuts and tax increases, and members of Congress are unlikely to support either option until just after voters can hold them accountable.
http://www.slate.com/id/2291533/
Helen your last paragraph is correct.As to the rest …if you don’t see this blow from standard and poor(negative) and the interconnected international monetary and perceptual view of America as being an acknowledgement of Obama’s failure i am confused.We have been rocked – as a brick pulled out from the teetering tower of Americas fiscal tower sends us swaying. . Although we technically have held our rating -one gets the feeling it is only do to the catastrophic effects that will result from removing it.Talk about shared pain.But we can not string this along.We can not kick the can any longer.All the signs are there.It could not be clearer.No amount of taxation will work unless we stop spending.World leaders have begged us,cajoled us,threatened us,and mocked us.Obama is deaf.
This isn’t “an acknowledgment of Obama’s failure,” it’s an guess on the part of S&P that Congress won’t get its act together to creating a budget agreement with the President until after the next election.
Nobody currently buying U.S. debt has any fears that we would default on it.
S&P are deficit hawks…they gave higher marks to the U.K. for their actions after the Bu$hco collapse, but have been silent as Britain’s austerity program turned their economy negative.
NY Times:
British retail sales plunged 3.5 percent in March, the sharpest monthly downturn in the country in 15 years. And a new report by the Center for Economic and Business Research, an independent research group based here, forecasts that real household income will fall by 2 percent this year. That would make Britain’s income squeeze the worst for two consecutive years since the 1930s.
“My view is that we are in serious danger of a double-dip recession,” said Richard Portes, an economist at the London Business School. “This is going to be a cautionary tale.”
PS
Can you offer an example, or two, of other world leaders telling Obama to stop spending?
James Fallows:
To repeat James Galbraith’s point, as long as the U.S. government doesn’t tie itself up in debt-ceiling insanity, it is not going to default on dollar-based bonds. It can’t.
To repeat Clive Crook’s different but also true point, S&P knows nothing more about U.S. budget prospects than you or I do. They’re saying they have an opinion on the state of Congressional-White house dealings on the budget. Fine. Go on a talk show or start a blog.
I would argue the point of it all being interconnected but of course S and p could be “guessing.”Moving- and the movement to move away from the dollar as the worlds currency and gold standard would of course make this point moot… and us a banana republic overnight.james Galbraith point is salient but to finnish his quote…..”they cant…….because they can always print money to cover”.
You ask for examples of world leaders who believe our current fiscal policy is insane and of course the answer is almost all.China and Russia have been vicious in their condemnation.The European economic summit.East asian ,Pacific Rim,the meeting of south american leaders….It may be a better question and a shorter discourse to say who agrees with the Obama regimes economic posture.I will have to research that
Can you offer an example, or two, of other world leaders telling Obama to stop spending?
Specific quotes from specific leaders with dates, please.
China’s “condemnation” of the U.S has been over our call for them to quit manipulating and devaluing their currency.
I know european leaders who think austerity is better for their countries than stimulus…but that’s a different subject. They have lower poverty and better safety nets…they don’t need stimulus as much….
All the talk about leaving the dollar occurred in 2009 and nothing happened. There’s no recent movement on that subject at all.
Helen I get the feeling…Should I say you give off the impression that all is not as bad or as dark as i would have you believeKYou are not going to try to blow sunshine up me kilts are ya love?I think i am actually bud light in my attitudes to the coming financial breakdown.
Im confused ……You want me to search for quotes that would indicate that foreign leaders are sickened by the excesses inherent in Us economic policy?You want proof that they are begging Obama for restraint in the massive spending and printing of currency?Again are you in the mindset that believes all is well in this sphere?Please read the minutes of any of the worlds economic summits. You see some countries (China) have said, and made it clear that America and her currency are things of the past . This is due to our behavior in the first degree. Everything else including Chinas economic warfare is secondary. Keynesian economics is a horrible joke. You simply cannot continue to spend what you don’t have. Inflation is quickly becoming a crushing burden.Our decline is a pain felt around the globe.Where is the disconnect here?
Can you offer an example, or two, of other world leaders telling Obama to stop spending?
Specific quotes from specific leaders with dates, please. The reason I ask; I want to see what you are using as evidence.
This: “Please read the minutes of any of the worlds economic summits,” does me no good. The specific parts of a specific set of minutes from a specific summit would.
Recently saw [in the WSJ] China telling the U.S. that our trade imbalance with them is too big. That’s because we don’t make enough stuff to export anymore. They chided us for not spending enough on R&D, too.
Sure.Um —–try reading an article by William Patalon,called “three ways China may handle growing Us Dept”.Or a Jenny Booth article called” China and Russia blame Us for financial crisis” if memory serves.You will see the flavor there.Putin has been downright insulting about Obama and his stupidity(yes I do also read world foreign press).To the point that i suspect a racial element.Chinese leaders have used the word insane/insanity many times.Check into their remarks on Obama care.I LOVE China trying to instruct us on how to be a capitalist country.Just love it.
Basically world feeling is this.We are totally out of hand.Using the majority of the worlds resources. Spending money we dont have to support our lifestyles.To the industrialized countries we are socializing the powerhouse US economy sucking it dry and spreading the pain to all the world who need a dynamic US economy.Yesterday it was reported that 18% of people are now on one form or another of Gov assistance.The highest ever was 12.4.We are nearing one third. So as the world is trying to extricate itself from failed policies.We are jumping in.And yes that is Obama.
You have heard the phrase “A gallon of gas?”We call it “O- GALLON of gas”Stupidity reigns over us all till he is gone at least
Jenny Booth “The premiers of China and Russia accused America of sparking the economic crisis as the Davos political and business summit made a gloomy start. Wen Jiabao and Vladimir Putin both blamed “capitalist excesses” for the global downturn, as one followed the other to the podium at the opening of the World Economic Forum last night. ”
Those statements were reported on Jan 29. 2009….one week after Obama took office. They were blaming Bush.
Mr Putin said that he would not criticize the United States, but then added: â┚¬Ã…“I just want to remind you that just a year ago, American delegates speaking from this rostrum emphasised the US economy’s fundamental stability and its cloudless prospects.” Condoleezza Rice, when US secretary of state, gave a speech in Davos last year saying the US economy was safe.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/wef/article5610252.ece
“Check into their remarks on Obama care.” Names and dates please…I can find no evidence they’ve ever said anything about it. I can’t find any Putin insults towards Obama, either. Dates please.
“Yesterday it was reported that 18% of people are now on one form or another of Gov assistance.The highest ever was 12.4.We are nearing one third. ”
Good grief. First, it was 12.4 % ten years ago….it’s been higher since. Second, we have more people on unemployment and food stamps and medicade because the Bush economy crashed. Third, 18% is not nearing a third…..that’s 33%.
“Using the majority of the worlds resources. ”
Uh…the rest of the world has been saying that for decades. The U.S. is 3% of the world’s population and uses 25% of its energy.
“To the industrialized countries we are socializing the powerhouse US economy …”
What? How? Most European countries hold an ownership stake in their car companies. We’re planning on selling our stake in GM. All the European countries have “socialized” healthcare….
“spending”
Virtually all our increases in non-defense spending has been on safety-net programs, unemployment insurance, food stamps, SSI, refundable tax credits, that respond to help families in need during down times. When the economy gets worse, these programs spend more automatically because there are more people qualifying for the benefits.
Krugman :”What we’re seeing isn’t some drastic expansion of Big Government; we’re seeing the government we already had, responding to a terrible economic slump.”
I think you made my point in a sense. Europe is very socialistic ,and it has not worked for them.They are pretty much all trying to extricate themselves from their own mess.Why in the world would we want to revisit their mistakes?
Spending…You forget Obama care?And do you really want to put all government spending and increases since obama under the heading of safety net programs.If you do that.If you take the increases the tarp bailouts,the stym spending and all the rest of it under that heading…you have by default and the size of those numbers vs GNP….. a socialist country.
Krugman.So government is exploding in all aspects of its reach and power for the “good of the people”My oh my where are the founding fathers when you need them?Get the tea party on the line.
TARP happened under Bush.
Spending vs GDP is misleading since GDP tanked because of Bush. Most of the increased “spead” between GDP and spending was caused by the collapse, not the spending.
Outside the safety nets, most of our increased spending in the last two years is in two areas….defense and health care.
If we were actually heading towards socialism, you would think the result of our healthcare “reform” might resemble European models. Sadly it doesn’t.
“So government is exploding in all aspects of its reach and power .”
Our government’s safety net is simply responding the way it was designed to do in a financial emergency.
“Europe is very socialistic ,and it has not worked for them”
In what way? Europe weathered the Bush economic downturn pretty well, although their current austerity moves have hurt. Can you offer examples of what you’re talking about?
——————
“Check into their [China’s] remarks on Obama care.”
Names and dates pleaseâ┚¬Ã‚¦I can find no evidence they’ve ever said anything about it. I can’t find any Putin insults towards Obama, either. Dates please.
Just read “Three ways China may handle growing Us Dept” by William Patalon.
It’s also for early 09 and is mostly speculating what China might do in response to the failure of the Bush economy.
Ironically enough, it also points out that China’s response to the Bush downturn was “a new array of stimulus measures announced earlier this month.”
The author points out our increased debt was being caused by “all the stimulus, bailout and fix-it plans that are being put in place to arrest the U.S. economic decline.”
http://seekingalpha.com/article/127821-three-ways-china-may-handle-growing-u-s-debt
Eight years of Bush trickledown on steroids and the country got run into the ditch. Who could have guessed?
PS
Can you offer an example, or two, of other world leaders telling Obama to stop spending? All I’ve gotten from you so far is leaders talking about Bush.
Helen be reasonable .Sometimes i feel like you are my little niece.I tell her the sky is blue and she says prove it prove it.Do you really need me to be your research analyst to prove how bad things are.Europe is a mess.You must be pulling my leg that we should aspire to be like them.We are of course also a mess.We are borrowing 188 million dollars an hour(say that 10x).Go ahead make that a positive thing. Blaming Bush is as stupid as his people were- when they were blaming Clinton for every miss step in their own administration.He(Bush) stands on the fact that for 7 years we were fine economically in spite of war.Well I say he did not stop, or prepare us for the sub prime failure.27 time he tried to regulate fanny and fred.Well guess what- he failed!…And handed us the nightmare Obama.Believe me Im no fan.
You are also suffering from Google dementia.It feels as if you are looking to its search engines for all your information.If you cant find it ,it doesn’t exist.Very very limited.A little like the people mag of the info highway.Read some books of your choosing.You will get more in depth info that a year of snippets from Google wont give you.For instance read translated Russian newspapers where they routinely savage Obama and his economic policies.Same with China and India where “insane”seems to be a favorite description of our brainiac in chief.Israeli and Japanese publications will startle you.England even is not so nice.Look you can argue till you are blue in the face.You know where this is all going.Smaller government.Less taxation.Personal rights over collective.Less spending.A move to recreate wealth.Im not saying it is forever.These things are cyclical as we have seen.But Obama is a washout.We will see how the next up to bat does