Criticized the "professional left" saying, "They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality."
There seems to be a great deal of disappointment with President Obama when it comes to following through his promises to enact legislation that is meaningful and would really bring about “CH
ANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN” as he promised during his campaign.
It is obvious to some of us to his left that he has fallen short of some of these promises and that this President thinks that what he has gotten accomplished is really remarkable and should be greeted with a great deal more enthusiasm by the base of the Democratic Party.
The way we see it, the President has been too accommodating, too soft and much too bipartisan giving in to the Republicans in all of their demands often watering down legislation and giving up very important aspects in order to win their support. What the end result has been that after the Democrats and the President give up all these the Republicans will still not support anything; voting time and time again against anything and everything the Democrats and the President proposes.
It is this “give aways” that watered down Healthcare Legislation by excluding the Public Option which the majority of the American People wanted. It is this attitude that gave us a very weak Economic Reform and the list goes on. Yet, the President and the White House advisors don’t seem to get the drift in the way that we “the professional left” have: That the Republicans, with their obstructionist tactics and saying NO to everything will make legislation weaker and give back nothing in return.
We have seen this come to fruition when trying to accommodate the likes of Blanche Lincoln (who can’t win now) Landry, Nelson, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman.
We have seen how Gay issues have been put in the back burner when Gay Americans gave Obama all their support and contributions…DODT, DOMA and GAY MARRIAGE are still hanging out there in never-never land.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs found himself again having to clarify and backtrack comments he made about his own party after bashing the left in an interview.
This is the second time this summer he's had to explain statements he made and avoid furthering alienating his political base after first predicting last month that Democrats could lose the House in the mid-term elections.
In an interview published in "The Hill" newspaper Tuesday, he unleashed on the left, saying they would never be happy with what the president has done.
He called them the "professional left" saying, "They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality."
Gibbs has now called the statements "inartful" and called for greater unity within the party.
To underscore how his comments created party in-fighting again, some Democratic lawmakers responded negatively to Gibbs' charges.Rep. Ellison, D-Minn. even initially indicated to the liberal website the HuffingtonPost that that he felt Gibbs should be out of his job.
However, his quote in the article appears to still point that he supported a resignation, "That'd be fair, because this isn't the first time. And, again, people of all political shades worked very hard to help the president become the president."
In "The Hill" interview, Gibbs was referring to criticism from those within his own party that President Obama had compromised his values on issues like health care and downsizing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "They wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president," Gibbs said, referring to the very liberal representative from Ohio.
"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said. "I mean, it's crazy."
Gibbs went on to say there are plenty of things this administration has accomplished, "There's 101 things we've done," and included Iraq and health care as two of them.
The press secretary also added that "progressives" in America and outside of the Beltway bubble are not part of this "professional left" and is not representative of those who got Obama in office.
Gibbs then clarified his statements, telling the HuffingtonPost that he was "inartful" and he wanted to renew unity among his party.
He told the website that Democrats, "me included," need to "stop fighting each other and arguing about our differences on certain policies, and instead work together to make sure everyone knows what is at stake because we've come too far to turn back now."
At Tuesday's White House briefing, fill-in briefer Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton was asked about "The Hill" interview. Burton said Gibbs was "having one conversation with one reporter" about "frustrations" and "answered honestly. Shouldn't be read more than that."
Burton then listed items he says the president accomplished, "Our focus isn't on one article in a Hill publication."
The deputy press secretary also responded at the briefing to Ellison's reported charge, "I don't think there's any danger of that happening, next question?"
This comes on the heels of a statement he made on NBC's Meet the Press in July where Gibbs said Democrats had a good chance of losing in the House in the November elections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was furious behind-the-scenes, although later publically said there was no tension between Capitol Hill Democrats and the White House. Gibbs later walked back his prediction and said he thought Democrats would "do very well" in the mid-term elections.
Fox News' John Brandt contributed to this report.
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/10/gibbs-defends-himself-left-baseagain#ixzz0wGcnUiqh
SOURCE: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/10/gibbs-defends-himself-left-baseagain
THIS IS MY POST OF MAY 20, 2010:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
CRITICISM IS NOW PROPITIOUS
I ADMIRE AND SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT
But once in a while it is also a good idea to offer some criticism. That time is now and as a secular-progressive, liberal Democrat I have enough latitude to be able to do it and not be classified as a foe or an adversary. My criticism is offered as my contribution to make things better, perhaps to help with the learning curb.
· President Obama I think was much too naïve in thinking that he could actually work with Republicans and have some bi-partisan legislation come out of it. The Republicans were not interested in working with him, they blatantly and shamelessly wanted him to fail and it should have been clear to the President a couple of months into 
his presidency that the Republicans were not going to play ball.
· President Obama in his quest to work with Republicans allowed the Health Care Bill to be watered down by making concession after concession without any thing in return. I think it was a big mistake not to include the Public Option and also that the Insurance Companies have enough reason to celebrate because what should have been a referendum and a legislation to give Americans an option that would force them to be competitive has ended up in just being a bonanza in the amount of new policies these private insurance companies will be getting.
· I think that President Obama was wrong in promoting off-shore exploration and drilling. It may have been a tactic to deflate the Republican talking point of “drill, baby drill” but we now see how terribly misguided it is to have any kind of oil exploration and drilling in environmentally
· President Obama was wrong in insisting on giving the likes of Specter, Lincoln and Landry his support. These false Corporate Democrats do not deserve any assistance from Democrats. They are not responding to the needs of their constituents or the ideals and goals of the Democratic Party.
· I also think that we are also heading in the wrong direction with this Wall Street and Banking legislation. We are still going to be stuck with “too big to fail” institutions that control over 63% of our economy. That is just not acceptable and we should not water down this legislation like we did Health Care, we should make it more stringent and sweeping.
· President Obama does not defend himself when there are misrepresentations or lies being thrown by his adversaries. This has caused a lot of folks who are misinformed and gullible to reject him on false accusations and character assassination.
And that my friends is what I have to offer at this point. Take it for what is worth.
PHOTO SOURCE: http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/barack-obama-and-firac37263.jpg
http://skepticalbrotha.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/president-obama-thumb.jpg
Labels: CRITICISM IS NOW PROPITIOUS, CRITICIZING OBAMA, political opinions
And then they are scratching their heads asking themselves why we don’t have the enthusiasm to go out and vote in November. We, “the professional left” believe that right is right and wrong is wrong and to pass poor legislation that is going to be ineffective after it has been watered down and stripped of its most important points is totally wrong and unnecessary just to score a few points with Republicans who will end up not voting for it anyhow after all of the concessions.
Are we going to vote for Obama again and all the Democratic candidates? You bet we are but don’t ask us to be enthusiastic because we would only do it because we loathe what the Republicans stand for and for the harm they have done to this country. We will never let America forget the blunders and legacy of the failed Bush presidency.
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