Mass demonstrations and general strikes.

In thinking about recent events, I’m feeling pretty pessimistic. I think Dems have failed the progressives – and frankly, Obama is failing. What has Obama done for the left since he got into office? Even before he got in, he failed on the telecomm immunity issue. And all you have to do is peruse through a few of Glenn Greenwald’s posts to see what he’s done with Gitmo policies (long story short – continuing or even strengthening Bush’s unconstitutional policies). The bank bailout may have turned around the stock market to some extent, but it gave trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to corporations like Goldman Sachs, who now are back to the same old. Where’s the upside for everyday Americans?

And now – the ONE thing that I personally felt may redeem Obama and the Dems – REAL health care reform – looks like it’s falling through. They’re going to put together a lame package and call it “reform”, but nothing will improve for Americans. Then if they need to, they’ll say “oh, we didn’t know it would be like this etc etc” even though those on the left always warned them, just like we did about the Iraq war. When I look at these stupid protests at townhalls, I have to agree with Bill Maher – we live in Stupid America. People here don’t know what to truly get passionate and outraged about – they’re all Fixed News-brainwashed puppies getting worked up about “socialism” and birth certificates instead of illegal wars that are costing them more than they’ll ever know. They protest health care reform that will actually HELP them, their families, and children. And they continue to vote for people (both Repugs and Dems, at this point) that have other interests at heart who won’t fight for them.

Certain liberal blogs also deserve fingers pointed at them, if Obama doesn’t push this through – e.g. HuffPo and DailyKos, which went so far as to endorse Obama and convince everyone that he had progressive interests at heart. Now I do find myself wondering – was Hillary the right choice for this?? Ah, hindsight.

I’m tired and exhausted from this crap. After the elation I felt of Obama winning the presidency a few months ago, I’m astonished that I feel so downright disappointed right now. I know it hasn’t been long since Obama became president (Bush had 8 full years to royally screw things up) – but if health care isn’t fixed NOW when we finally have an opportunity to – I can’t think of much that’s more important to the living standards of most Americans and has such a direct impact. So I ask everyone here if they have more encouraging thoughts. And please tell me, what are the NEXT steps????

I don’t think Hillary would have given us meaningful reform as only Kucinich and Edwards had an inkling of reform. But there’s no reason anything Obama does now should be a surprise, he said it all along with his weird “bipartisan/postpartisan” bull and his hostility of anything slightly left. He even equates womens’ health (e.g. having choice) as one of the “extremes on both sides”. WTF? Who voted for this guy?

as long as buckley versus vallejo is the law of the land.

I have been saying this for some time now. Daschle, the man chosen to be the king of healthcare reform, didn’t just fade away. He’s been there in the wings working on this all along. He works for a lobbying firm and therefore can engage corporations and other lobbyists, providing some cover for Pres. Obama and his promise never to have lobbyists in his White House.

Well, this is going to come down to the people and our representatives in the House.

It’s no secret that I have always had many doubts about Obama and his honesty and tactics, but truly, I never thought that we would be, so quickly, in a position of fighting against Big Health, our new hope-filled president and most of Congress at the same time. I knew this would be an epic battle but never thought that something that 76% of the people want would be so hard to get from our own representatives.

We have to try to avoid getting into the position where at the last minute, after much fighting and then with fanfare, Democrats come up with a public option that nearly everyone will agree to and that will be put into the bill. It will, of course, be co-ops, or as Jonathan Alter said tonight on Countdown, “super co-ops”. If the president, the Speaker and the media team up and start telling us that this is our strong, robust public option, that’s where our toughest and most critical point will be. That will call for massive demonstration, assuming that they don’t do it overnight in a conference committee.

See, one of the biggest problems with the Democrats is that they think we’re stupid and they think that they are so glorious right now that when they hand us chickenshit and call it chicken salad, we’ll believe it. Perhaps this summer, many in Congress will come to their senses. There have to be an increasing number of Congressfolk who are not happy about a bait and switch strategy with this health care bill because they are the ones who will have to pay the price first in elections. There have to be a number of Congresspeople who will be furious that the resources of three committees will have been purposefully wasted if the Senate Finance bill is substituted.

Perhaps Pres. Obama will start coming to his senses too when he finds that his supporters are dropping like flies. I’m not sure *what* will happen within the OFA organization. Will they just line up behind anything the president offers? I tend to think they won’t this time, or that they’ll lose a lot of volunteers if there’s no viable public option.

Somebody better start coming to his/her senses. You can’t keep screwing people over and expect to keep winning. This president ran and was elected largely on trust. After the bail out bill, the stimulus, the lack of accountability for the Bush admin. and all of this with a disastrous economy and job market, that trust is already waning. Without trust, he cannot be effective. He has to come to his senses, and quickly.