POSTED BY ORHAN
Measured and persuasive, last night President Obama was the soul of moderation, rationality, and responsibility as he made the case for passing his version of the debt deal. But he did leave a few items out of his story:
He blamed his predecessor for squandering the budget on two wars and a prescription drug program. But he neglected to mention that he continued those wars, and expanded American military operations into new countries; meanwhile he secretly bargained away the public option with the same pharmaceutical companies that had benefitted from the drug program he criticized.
He pointed out that Americans making under $250K would see no tax increase at all. But he neglected to mention that those same Americans will be in fact paying more, by having to make up for the cuts to Social Security and Medicare out of their own pockets.
He called his plan a balanced approach and said no one would be required to sacrifice too much, while acknowledging the cuts would be “painful”. But he neglected to mention that he was planning Social Security and Medicare cuts as far back as January 2009; the kind of cuts a Republican president could never push through.
Obama’s narrative of reason and compromise heroically standing up to the Tea Party’s barbarian hordes was quite stirring, and if one ignores the fact that he just happened to shit-can fundamental Democratic principles and programs as the first step in the process, quite true. No doubt at this moment, Democrats are battling tooth and nail to get his version of the debt ceiling deal passed, a deal they would have fought to the death if proposed by George W. Bush.
All in all, it was an excellent speech; classic Obama.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
I THINK IT INTERESTING THAT NO ONE COMMENTED ON THIS STATEMENT WHICH IS CERTAINLY THE MOST INTERESTING ON THE BLOG…..IT WAS A GREAT SPEACH, AREN’T THEY ALL, AND THE WARS GO ON AND THOUSANDS DIE AND WALL STREET DIRECTS WASHINGTON….AND THE TEA PARTY, NEVER BURDENED WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY, SINKS THE SHIP INSTEAD OF DUMPING THE TEA OVERBOARD.
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That comment thing is a mystery Jay – some of my favorite posts I’ve written (and was really proud of) have elicited not a single comment.
Invisible to you (but not me) are stats that tell me this post had pretty good readership even if no one left a commnet.
Now if only ORHAN would post more often!!!
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He’s busy–storing weapons, food, and gold in his mountain hideaway 🙂
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You’ll let me know where it is when the time comes, right?
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Of course; you’re one of The Elect.
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