Nbadan
01-24-2010, 01:14 AM
..but,but Joe Pags said there hasn't been any two-party negotiations on health-care...Obstructionists Republicans are hoping the country falls apart for purely political reasons...time to nuke them for the good of the country..
Blueprint for Dems
Where Do We Go From Here?
By Bernie Sanders
This article appeared in the February 1, 2010 edition of The Nation.
January 14, 2010
...In my view, the Democrats--including the president--have absurdly continued to stumble along the path of "bipartisanship" at exactly the same time the Republicans have waged the most vigorous partisan and obstructionist strategy in recent history.
Instead of making it clear that the first two years of the Obama administration would be about digging the country out of the incredible mess that Bush's eight years left us in, (deep recession, financial collapse, record-breaking deficits, disintegrating healthcare system, two wars, lack of respect from the international community, neglect of the environment), Obama, incredibly, has enabled tens of millions of Americans to now believe that Bush's failures are his as well.
Unlike FDR in 1933, who consistently denounced Hoover's Republican policies as the cause of the country's perilous condition, Obama appears very reluctant to be partisan and point out to the American people the cause of our current crises. Can one imagine Obama, for example, telling the American people as Roosevelt did in 1936, "I welcome" the "hatred" of the "economic royalists" whose greed has devastated the country?
In response to Obama's genteel and bipartisan outreach, the Republicans have undertaken an unprecedented campaign of rhetorical savagery. The Right-Wing Echo Chamber of Fox News and talk-radio has implied that Obama is an "illegitimate" president not born in the United States, that he is a friend of terrorists, that he is an antiwhite racist, that he rules unconstitutionally and that his administration reeks of Chicago-style corruption. And those are the respectful attacks!
In the overwhelmingly Democratic Senate the situation has been equally dismal. There, the Senate Finance Committee created a Gang of Six that included three Republicans--two of whom (Grassley and Enzi) are extremely conservative--to determine the shape of healthcare reform. Amid cries of "death panels," "socialized medicine" and "government takeover of health care," the meetings dragged on and on. On the floor of the Senate, the situation has been even worse. The Republicans have played the most obstructionist role ever with a record number of filibusters and other delaying tactics. The Republicans recently even voted temporarily to deny funds to our troops in the field of combat as a way to delay healthcare reform. They are also unanimous in opposing the increase in the debt limit, which if not raised would likely cause the collapse of both the American and the international financial systems.
The result of all this is that Democrats of every stripe and many independents are perplexed, dispirited and sometimes disgusted. Constituency after constituency has been ignored or rejected. Some examples...
SNIP
...The time is short but I believe that the Democrats still have the potential to reverse their fortunes and bring out large numbers of their voters in the coming election. Here are some important steps forward that I believe should be undertaken in the coming months.
§ Perhaps most important, let Obama be Obama. Bring back one of the great inspirational leaders of our time, who is more than capable of taking on the powerful special interests and rallying the American people toward a progressive agenda and a more just society. We have too quickly cast aside the audacity of hope as being too audacious. We need to aspire to more, not less: healthcare for all, education for all, a secure retirement for all, a world at peace and a nation bound together by looking out for what the Constitution called "the general welfare" rather than a series of special interests looking out for their own financial wellbeing.
§ Pass the strongest healthcare reform legislation as soon as feasible - making it clear that it will be significantly improved in the near future. While it was a tragic mistake to believe that a strong bill could pass under the provision that required sixty votes--there was a procedural route that would have required only a simple majority--this legislation does contain a number of provisions that will profoundly help tens of millions of Americans in every state in the country. It is a bill that can be successfully defended in a campaign because, whatever its many weaknesses, it is an indication that we are finally, after countless decades of futility, moving forward. A president and a party that can provide insurance for 31 million more Americans is far preferable to most voters than a party that only says "No."
§ Pass a major bill that creates millions of new jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and moving our energy system in a different and sustainable direction. At a time when we have the most inequitable distribution of wealth and income of any industrialized nation, this bill must be progressively funded. This means taxing the super-rich--the very people whom George W. Bush served so assiduously--in order to make life better for the average American family...
SNIP
...§ Enact Senate reform. It is extremely undemocratic that forty-one percent of the US Senate can thwart the will of the American people, the president, the House of Representatives and a strong majority of the Senate. While individual senators will always have great clout, no one senator should be able to bring the U government to a halt at one of the most perilous periods in American history.
In January 2009 we inaugurated a new president and swore in a new Congress with large Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House. Our nation seemed poised on the brink of a decade of progressive government, a new ascendency of hope and change after eight disastrous years of Republican dominance. One year later the new electoral majority is disintegrating under the weight of continuous Republican attacks and, more important, an unwillingness of both Congress and the president to rally the American people behind the kind of fundamental changes they were anticipating as a result of the election...
The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100201/sanders)
Of course, the only thing I'd change is the part about passing the strongest reform as soon as possible which should come with a caveat: as long as it contains some form of public option.
Blueprint for Dems
Where Do We Go From Here?
By Bernie Sanders
This article appeared in the February 1, 2010 edition of The Nation.
January 14, 2010
...In my view, the Democrats--including the president--have absurdly continued to stumble along the path of "bipartisanship" at exactly the same time the Republicans have waged the most vigorous partisan and obstructionist strategy in recent history.
Instead of making it clear that the first two years of the Obama administration would be about digging the country out of the incredible mess that Bush's eight years left us in, (deep recession, financial collapse, record-breaking deficits, disintegrating healthcare system, two wars, lack of respect from the international community, neglect of the environment), Obama, incredibly, has enabled tens of millions of Americans to now believe that Bush's failures are his as well.
Unlike FDR in 1933, who consistently denounced Hoover's Republican policies as the cause of the country's perilous condition, Obama appears very reluctant to be partisan and point out to the American people the cause of our current crises. Can one imagine Obama, for example, telling the American people as Roosevelt did in 1936, "I welcome" the "hatred" of the "economic royalists" whose greed has devastated the country?
In response to Obama's genteel and bipartisan outreach, the Republicans have undertaken an unprecedented campaign of rhetorical savagery. The Right-Wing Echo Chamber of Fox News and talk-radio has implied that Obama is an "illegitimate" president not born in the United States, that he is a friend of terrorists, that he is an antiwhite racist, that he rules unconstitutionally and that his administration reeks of Chicago-style corruption. And those are the respectful attacks!
In the overwhelmingly Democratic Senate the situation has been equally dismal. There, the Senate Finance Committee created a Gang of Six that included three Republicans--two of whom (Grassley and Enzi) are extremely conservative--to determine the shape of healthcare reform. Amid cries of "death panels," "socialized medicine" and "government takeover of health care," the meetings dragged on and on. On the floor of the Senate, the situation has been even worse. The Republicans have played the most obstructionist role ever with a record number of filibusters and other delaying tactics. The Republicans recently even voted temporarily to deny funds to our troops in the field of combat as a way to delay healthcare reform. They are also unanimous in opposing the increase in the debt limit, which if not raised would likely cause the collapse of both the American and the international financial systems.
The result of all this is that Democrats of every stripe and many independents are perplexed, dispirited and sometimes disgusted. Constituency after constituency has been ignored or rejected. Some examples...
SNIP
...The time is short but I believe that the Democrats still have the potential to reverse their fortunes and bring out large numbers of their voters in the coming election. Here are some important steps forward that I believe should be undertaken in the coming months.
§ Perhaps most important, let Obama be Obama. Bring back one of the great inspirational leaders of our time, who is more than capable of taking on the powerful special interests and rallying the American people toward a progressive agenda and a more just society. We have too quickly cast aside the audacity of hope as being too audacious. We need to aspire to more, not less: healthcare for all, education for all, a secure retirement for all, a world at peace and a nation bound together by looking out for what the Constitution called "the general welfare" rather than a series of special interests looking out for their own financial wellbeing.
§ Pass the strongest healthcare reform legislation as soon as feasible - making it clear that it will be significantly improved in the near future. While it was a tragic mistake to believe that a strong bill could pass under the provision that required sixty votes--there was a procedural route that would have required only a simple majority--this legislation does contain a number of provisions that will profoundly help tens of millions of Americans in every state in the country. It is a bill that can be successfully defended in a campaign because, whatever its many weaknesses, it is an indication that we are finally, after countless decades of futility, moving forward. A president and a party that can provide insurance for 31 million more Americans is far preferable to most voters than a party that only says "No."
§ Pass a major bill that creates millions of new jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and moving our energy system in a different and sustainable direction. At a time when we have the most inequitable distribution of wealth and income of any industrialized nation, this bill must be progressively funded. This means taxing the super-rich--the very people whom George W. Bush served so assiduously--in order to make life better for the average American family...
SNIP
...§ Enact Senate reform. It is extremely undemocratic that forty-one percent of the US Senate can thwart the will of the American people, the president, the House of Representatives and a strong majority of the Senate. While individual senators will always have great clout, no one senator should be able to bring the U government to a halt at one of the most perilous periods in American history.
In January 2009 we inaugurated a new president and swore in a new Congress with large Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House. Our nation seemed poised on the brink of a decade of progressive government, a new ascendency of hope and change after eight disastrous years of Republican dominance. One year later the new electoral majority is disintegrating under the weight of continuous Republican attacks and, more important, an unwillingness of both Congress and the president to rally the American people behind the kind of fundamental changes they were anticipating as a result of the election...
The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100201/sanders)
Of course, the only thing I'd change is the part about passing the strongest reform as soon as possible which should come with a caveat: as long as it contains some form of public option.