[buzzjosh]

Julie, I am dis-appointed in BHO because he did not have a contingency plan to push the Health care reform to its logical conclusion - that is, it is THE most important reform measure he can pass in his first term and he should have anticipated problems along the way. He now is fighting an uphill battle to get something salvaged from this mess. What he may be able to get will NOT address the many issue that will continue to hamper fair and just access to health care for all Americans.

We all had our personal reasons for supporting Mr. O in the general elections. I posted before that my primary reason for backing him for office was due to his stand on the damnable, illegal, unjust Bush War for Pig Oil in Iraq. That is going according to his plans and for that Mr. O deserves the thaanks of the entire nation. The Nationalist Republicans can and will holler because these stay at home heros (your son or my son can go to war but not these patriots) see the withdraw from Iraq as some type of defeat. These people love beating up on small countries and waving that piece of cloth and getting all misty eyed.

My second reason for supporting B> Obama was the health care crisis - he, Mr. O said that he would change our grossly unfair system and make the welfare of its citizens a proper role for the US Government. This is a vrty, very important issue for me and I fear that Mr. O has fallen way short of acce[table. I will not blame the blue dog Dems or anybody else for this. Mr. O is the leader of the Democtatic Party and there people he should have used early in this reform effort. Gov. Dean is a good example of a man who could have been a great help.

What is the deal between Mr/ Dean and the O Administration anyhow. Gov. Dean is being treated as if he were incompetent or something by the O Team. Have you ever heard Mr. Dean speak on the health care issue? He knows what he is saying - he is after all an MD and has first hand knowledge that he would have gladly shared.

There are other things that are coming to light that concern me greatly about the Obama Administration. They ( the Administration) has made some kind of secret deal with pharmacological companies to get that sector-industry on board in the reform efforts. The President cuts a backroom deal with Big Pharma?? This sounds more like the machinations of the Bush bunch.

What are the details of this deal? What did Obama give away? What did he get in return? How will Congress react when the details become known? How will the GOP react? What happened to the promises of transparency made in the election campaign? What other deals with who else are lurking somewhere yet to surface?

Mr. Obama promised a new day in government - a new way to exercise power so there would be no inferences of impropriety. Mr. O promised 'change' and I and many others cheered and proudly (that word again/) joined those across the country who believed and longed for that better place around the bend that Barack spole of. Julie, I expected real change and I expected Mr. Obama to do everything to make sure his Administration in no way resembled the failed Bush years.

I expected more than what he has delivered and I had a right to expect that. So far all I see is a nickle's worth of 'change' and that is not sufficient. Am I mad at Mr. O? Not yet, but my level of enthusiasm has dropped considerably and I doubt Mr. O will ever reclaiom the hold he once had on my heart, my energy and my support. I am not alone.

He is making a terrible mistake in so quickly and so cavalierly dismissing his staunch supporters farther Left on the continuum. Big mistake and it may cosy him dearly if he runs for re-election. Would I today, knowing what I do about the thrust of this presidency still have voted for Obama in 2008? I honestly do not have an answer to that question. Do I still support him? Yes, but with many reservations and only one issue at a time.

[alexpinca]

Buzz, I think we all know that in American politics there is going to be no “chicken in every pot” while POG’s have anything to say about it. We all know that the POG’s have a great deal to say about it. Does anyone believe that amateurs staged those Town Hall meetings? Hell the cameras were in place; cute little soccer’s moms were up there screaming for a free America with no socialism. That was professionalism… that was planning…that was POGdom. The real change you’re calling for that all of us support is not going to come from one person, it is going to come from a mass educational effort painting the POG’s for what they are; deceivers, liars, and fools. You think POGdom is going to give up 1/6th of the U.S. economy without a fight? They own all Republicans, most Blue Dog Democrats and they’ve got many of the others scared (this is not unlike what happened after 9/11 to those who would dare challenge going to war against Iraq). DAMN THOSE FOOLS…ONLY YEARS LATER WE HAVE ALL COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT OIL. But there were many of us trying to tell them…but their hearts were full of patriotism, the flag was waving in the background…our soldiers marched off to save the homeland…and our SUV’s from running out of gas.

It was not just strategy that stopped the Clinton Presidency on healthcare, it was a highly orchestrated industry effort….we have fools out there believing that they’re going to pull the plug on grandma, that one eye has to go bad from Myocardial degeneration before they authorized treatment for the other eye, that government healthcare will completely supplant the private sector and that they will be standing in long lines for chest x-rays. THEY DON’T HAVE TO TRUTHFUL OR RIGHT…THEY JUST HAVE TO BE REPETITIVE.

Buzz, I got to tell you that if BHO gave the far left the attention you believe they deserve and ignored the moderates, the entire administration would crash and burn. I have my reservations as well regarding BHO, but I know that at this time and place in history, BHO is the very best we can get…we better ride this horse to a successful conclusion or I guarantee you that you will be my age before you see anything even close again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that will be because the POG's made an even worse mess than 9/08.

[buzzjosh]

I agree that BHO was the best choice in 2008 and I also agree that we as a nation are fortunate that BHO was available in that election. I also agree that on the surface, Mr. O has many skills that serve him well in the White House and yes, I still feel fairly positive about the man. I am not however pleased with the horrible way he has managed the health care reforms efforts and I am seeing other signs that indicate he has his own "control issues" in his positin.

He ihas done things that defy logic, e.g., the mis-handling of the torture memos, the backdoor deal with Big Pharma Companies without input from ANYBODY other than his apointees, his sometimes secretive ways around the White House and his general lack of total transparency which he promised more than once. Some of the things his team dose resembles the things that many people disliked about the Texas twit during those 8 miserable years.

OK, he never claimed to be perfect and I understand that individual styles take getting used to but I seriously question his sliding into a pattern that causes people to question his commitment to issues that he raised numerous times during the long camaigns he ran to get where he is. He was the "Change" candidate who said that he would usher in an era of total transparency and institute a new way to govern.

Among the more Left in the Dem Party he made various statements that could only be interpreted that he would carry on as President in a like manner that he served as Senator. He had the second highest rating as a :ineral in his voting pattern in Congress. When he told me and other SocialDemocrats that we would have a place at the table awe believed him. Everyone understood that it was not possible for him to name a Far Left person to too high an office but we surely expected representation at the levels that did not require Congressional confirmation.

We expected at least one openly gay person to be holding a top level position in HHS DEpt. AND the Justice Dept. That has not happened and it IS a kick in the ribs for the many gay people who were instrumental in Mr. O carrying that demograhic by the wide margain that he did. There has been an gross indifference to these same groups now that Mr. O is in office.

Alex, at least 7-8% of Mr. O's winning margin over J. McCain is directly attributable to the Liberal / SocialDemocrats that voted for him. Do I and others feel taken for granted? Most assuredly and the feeling festers in many people and has reached the level of resentment among some. No one is expecting extra-ordinary attention but we were all expecting more than the pittance that has come our way.

I posted in another thread that Mr. O rode the "change Express" into the White House3. He promised (thousands of times!) to bring real change to our government but I cannot say I see much more than a nickles worth of that change up to this point. There is a saying here (you have all heard it, it may vary a bit by locale) "you dance with the one what brung ya." We are all lined up on the side like a bunch of wall flowers asking to share a dance with the man we all supported like we never supported a candidate before.

Alex, the far Left deserves much, much better that Mr. Obama has given thus far. He msut understand that being shoved away and not taken seriuosly is not the way to maintain support among this demographic. He is making a huge mistake.

[Thoughtful]

Tonight Americans in two states rejected the "change" that has been forced down the throats of Americans the last nine months...noting this is halfway through the 18 months of my prediction of dissatisfaction throughout the majority of this country with the current president. The backlash of the grass roots movement, the tea party folks sneered at a few months back, continues to grow.

There was a statement made in this string that people should vote and also be educated about politicians and the issues...I wonder if this belief applied to all the young people who were whipped into a frenzy after one speech, and then were immediately registered to vote AND THEN immediately were given absentee ballots and voted weeks before the actual election.

As far as corruption, there is much, and it is on both sides of the aisle. I attempted months back to explain that tea parties were not attended by only far right Republicans...they were attended by folks tired of the way our government has forgotten to listen to the people who elected them, who were tired of high spending and the taxes that have to pay for that spending, tired of the garbage and chicanery and fighting we see being exhibited by the people we sent to Washington to SOLVE PROBLEMS, and not worry about whether they returned to Washington after the next election.

Orwellian doublespeak? I could go through the entire post and attribute the same points to those on the left...but doing so only compounds the problems and evades the issues. Liberals and conservatives are going to have conflicting ideas on what is best for the country...we need elected officials who will refuse to lock out those who belong to a different political party, who will look for solutions that may go against the planks of their own party's platform, who will vote their conscience and with the will of the electorate rather than caving in to the pressure their party leaders bring to bear on them. That would be real change.