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We’ve officially gone around the bend.
OFA, the organizing arm of the DNC, originally began its life as an organization trying to get someone elected on the platform of hope, change, and progressive policies. You had a public option in health care, cap and trade, a more progressive tax system, diplomacy abroad, and a belief in American values of equality and opportunity.
Here’s what OFA is reduced to. I just got this email:
A decade of irresponsible spending led to a projected $1.3 trillion deficit that President Obama inherited upon taking office — putting America on an unsustainable fiscal course.
From Day One, this administration’s top focus has been growing the economy and putting Americans back to work — and that will never change.
The economy is growing again, yet all across America families and businesses have been tightening their belts. The President knows their government must do the same.
Yesterday, he announced a proposal to freeze pay for non-military federal employees for two years — a plan that will lead to $60 billion in savings over 10 years. It’s one of many tough choices the President has made to cut costs in the upcoming budget to begin to put our nation’s fiscal house in order. And it follows directly from this administration’s dedication to stretching federal dollars and reining in the long-term deficit.
Now, if you listen to some talk radio hosts or a few of the talking heads on cable news, you’ll hear a very different assessment of our fiscal policies. These voices ignore the irresponsibility of the past while pinning the blame for “reckless spending” solely on this administration. It would make a good fairy tale if it weren’t so dangerously untrue.
But these voices — as loud as they are — are spreading bunk. Cutting costs and spending responsibly has been a cornerstone of this administration’s record. And we need your help to get the truth out there.
Will you take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor today to set the record straight?
That’s right, the organizing project of the Democratic National Committee wants you to organize in support of freezing public worker salaries.
And don’t worry, later in the email, OFA tells you how the Administration has really been responsible on this issue – they’ve frozen salaries of White House officials and political appointees, froze non-defense discretionary spending, and more.
So go out there and sharpen those pencils and tell everyone how great it is to cut people’s pay!
No joke: http://my.barackobama.com/FiscalResponsibilityLTE
I can’t wait to see the open rate on this one. And the unsubscribe rate.
UPDATE: I’d say “turning on the base” is almost an understatement in this context. Triangulation sounds about right.
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33.2% of these jobs are union
simply unbelievable
p.s. and hey, didn’t the 50,000 TSA employees gain the right to join a union, just this month ?!?!
You know what’s really sad? Plenty of those OFA people will write those letters.
In the meantime, O is starting a “new dialog” with the rethugs…
yep, I posted it on my FB page and two of ‘em “liked” it
Since “irresponsible” seems to be Obama’s hotbutton-trigger word, it should be used on him every day, multiple times, by everyone everywhere.
“It is irresponsible for this administration to freeze Federal worker’s pay and show such little regard for the anti-stimulus factor that represents in this troubled economy.”
“Triangulation sounds about right.”
O-Bollocks. Try Bermuda Triangulation.
So who is so stupid that they do not get the Cheney greeting from the DNC? NEVER vote for a Democrat again! To do so is to beg for abuse! End the fiction of the 2-Party State. Without the Democratic Party to blame Republicans will have to take responsibility for their own policies and we can have some new Parties that actually represent Liberal and Progressive ideas. NEVER vote for a Democrat again! (What are the Republicans going to do with complete control of the government – enact the policies that the Democrats are already caving on?) NEVER vote for a Democrat again!
I think that this is an excellent first step.
Since the sole purpose of this action is to show fiscal discipline, if we freeze pay on all government workers we must include all employees of government contractors, and reduce contractors pay to the equivalent government job they are replacing. It would make government more efficient.
For those contractors which have overhead expenses like executive pay in excess of the equivalent government executive, obviously we cannot afford with our budget deficit to keep them on and would have to save money by bringing the jobs into the government. Since on average government workers are paid 22% less than the equivalent private sector worker, this would apply to most contracts and would result in a vast saving.
We shouldn’t use government workers in cases where private contractors are more efficient (with equivalent benefits and working conditions)
Of course we also have to put a freeze on lobbyist pay to the equivalent of the standard unrepresented voter.
In order to hire a lobbyist, the hiring firm would have to freeze pay increases for two years also.
Lawyers pay for suits where the government is involved must be limited to the equivalent pay for the government lawyers. This will make business more efficient and increase profits.
Yes, I am eager to the the Obama Administration cut back on inefficient contractors, wasteful lobbyists, and high priced lawyers.
KBISFB (Keep Believing It Shit For Brains)
has anyone mentioned these same federal employees saw their medical insurance premiums rise by 7% just this month ?
it’s just jawdroppingly… I’m not even going to use the word “audacious”. but it’s something alright.
more and more, i think he’s going to be primaried. I don’t know who’s going to do it, or how it will play out, but I think it’s coming.
FU Barack, slash the pay of senate staffers and maybe we can discuss “fair”
Actually, it is an effective tool (http://my.barackobama.com/FiscalResponsibilityLTE) and I used it to send a letter to every paper they have expanding on my comment.
A Federal Worker Pay Freeze Is An Excellent First Step
President Obama’s proposal, which has to be passed by the GOP/Tea Party House, will freeze all non-military government workers (not including GOP/Tea Party elected officials or staff) for two years.
Since the sole purpose of this action is to show fiscal discipline, if we freeze pay on all government workers we must include all employees of government contractors, and reduce contractors costs to the equivalent government job they are replacing.
For those contractors which have overhead expenses like executive pay in excess of the equivalent government executive, obviously we cannot afford with our budget deficit to keep them on and would have to save money by bringing the jobs into the government.
Since on average government workers are paid 22% less than the equivalent private sector worker, this would apply to most contracts and would result in a vast saving especially if we apply it to Defense spending.
We shouldn’t use government workers in cases where private contractors are more efficient (with equivalent benefits and working conditions).
Of course we also have to put a freeze on lobbyist pay to the equivalent of the standard unrepresented voter. In order to hire a lobbyist, the hiring firm would have to freeze pay increases for two years also.
Lawyers pay for suits where the government is involved must be limited to the equivalent pay for the government lawyers. This will make business more efficient and increase profits.
Yes, I am eager to see the Obama Administration and the GOP/Tea Party cut back on inefficient contractors, wasteful lobbyists, and high priced lawyers. It will reduce our deficit which is the only important thing these days.
Your’s truly, an ex-OFA subscriber.
You know, it is INDEED a nifty tool, and I just used it to send off the following to all my local papers, including the NYT, FT, and the WP:
Once again, the Obama administration is ably assisting the Republican Party in scoring goals on the Democrat’s own goal line.
I will believe the President’s paeans on the virtues of belt-tightening, if and when he prescribes those virtues to the ultra-rich. So far, other than rhetorically, he (along with the Republican Party) has been keen to visit cuts, and threats of cuts, on the middle class safety net.
To suggest (as he is doing) that federal employees can “afford” a wage freeze (any more than any other regular American can) is an affront to working people everywhere, and gives credence to the rising new theme among the ultra-rich that if anyone in the middle class is doing OK, they’re doing TOO well, and should be prepared to pare back their pensions, their wages, their medical coverage, while the ultra-rich get…TAX CUTS.
Make no mistake, the rich are coveting the social security trust fund, and resent what little safety-net the middle class has. Their goal is to set the middle class against itself: “Look at those overpaid teachers! They’re taking money from YOU! You should demand it back!”
Thanks to President Obama’s stupid gesture, the know-nothings’ desire to wreck the middle class has been advanced right down to the goal line.
I wonder whatever happened to the Barack Obama I voted for? Who replaced him with this empty suit?
(I regret “the rich are coveting”…it should be “the rich covet”…but my finger was just itchin’ to press that SEND button!! Couldn’t help myself!!)
You know, it IS a nifty tool. I just used it to send the following:
Once again, the Obama administration is ably assisting the Republican Party in scoring goals on the Democrat’s own goal line.
I will believe the President’s paeans on the virtues of belt-tightening, if and when he prescribes those virtues to the ultra-rich. So far, other than rhetorically, he (along with the Republican Party) has been keen to visit cuts, and threats of cuts, on the middle class safety net.
To suggest (as he is doing) that federal employees can “afford” a wage freeze (any more than any other regular American can) is an affront to working people everywhere, and gives credence to the rising new theme among the ultra-rich that if anyone in the middle class is doing OK, they’re doing TOO well, and should be prepared to pare back their pensions, their wages, their medical coverage, while the ultra-rich get…TAX CUTS.
Make no mistake, the rich are coveting the social security trust fund, and resent what little safety-net the middle class has. Their goal is to set the middle class against itself: “Look at those overpaid teachers! They’re taking money from YOU! You should demand it back!”
Thanks to President Obama’s stupid gesture, the know-nothings’ desire to wreck the middle class has been advanced right down to the goal line.
I wonder whatever happened to the Barack Obama I voted for? Who replaced him with this empty suit?
Don’t you know they need that money to ship out more porn scanners in their ongoing efforts to enrich themselves? Stop spreading “bunk,” this freeze is patriotic and . . . erm, ugh, duuuh . . . somehow good for everyone. Or something.
This is a great ideal, I’ll write a letter to the editor tomorrow for everyone to forward to their local newspapers. Liberals/Progressive must voice their disgust with Obama’s capitulations to the Republican Tea Party. Why should any Progressive ever vote Democratic again? It’s the same as electing a Republican. Obama must be removed in 2012 or there is no hope for the Democratic Party or middle class Americans. We need Liberal/Progressives with a national platform to call for Obama’s resignation. Please help Jane Hamsher! We must encourage and support a serious Democratic primary challenger now, time is running out. Lets take back our once great Democratic Party from the weak Corporate “Democrats” that have betrayed it’s core values.
“From Day One, this administration’s top focus has been growing the economy and putting Americans back to work”
WTF??!!@ REALLY??!!
Someone at OFA is gonna lose their job over this fiasco — how many letters will be generated OPPOSED to Obama’s foolish freeze?
It’s bad enough to stick it to your base but to rub their noses in it is something else again.
Removing Obama will not bring Liberalism to America. As a first step we need to bury the rotting carcass of the Democratic Party. I am quite happy to see 95% of the government under Republican control. Will the policies enacted change? Will they still be able to blame Liberals for their own failures? Grow a set, Liberals and Progressives! NEVER vote for a Democrat again! Demand a Party that represents your views!
The Spokane Spokesman-Review had just such a letter. They wondered why the federal government hadn’t done it sooner as federal workers need to share in the pain. Not a surprise for this paper, but it was disgusting.
Obama’s policies got the Republicans elected en masse. Very bad timing for us as this will be a redistricting year, which will enable the R’s to redraw the maps in their favor and get more R’s into the House.
Let the tax cuts for anyone making over $100,000 or even $50,000 expire. Round up all the bases and military and bring them all home. That is, you could do that IF you wanted to do something that would draw down the deficit.
I’m in favor of spending on public works projects to take us to alternative energy and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.
I’m sure this OFA email will go down well with the local CO Dems – NOT!
OFA already stormed in and overrode the local party choice for Senator – Andy Romanoff. Pat Waak (CO-Dem party head) is NOT going to like this attempt.
Absolutely fucking disgusting. I should support President Stupid Asshole for re-election because exactly WHY???
Hey Mr. Prezident. You want to save money. Fire the eight hundred thousand privatized Stasi working for SAIC and Marvin Bush. And stop the wars that are making us poor. And release the people imprisoned for marijuana violations. Otherwise Mr. Prezident we may have to repeat 1968.
Edit is back!!!!
Edit: Wow! Edit is back!!!
Obama cares only about Obama.
He needs to be removed.
Too bad O won’t be the one losing his job.
Late to this party, but my gosh could they get worse on their messaging? Who is going to support fellow Americans getting the shaft?
I came to the conclusion about 9 months ago that the proper spelling for this organization if OFAL.
I would write a heart felt letter to the President, sadly the content could be the same as the one I would write to Bush.
See they do not go in for the poignet I have not job and house shit. So its best to keep it simple.
Dear Mr. President,
Fuck you.
Sincerly,
The People
To which he would respond:
It’s not quite as jaw-dropping as it would’ve been a few months back. Too bad I’ve become inured to ReTHUG tactics from hard-right NeoCon Obama.
I would be *somewhat* mollified IF, and only IF, Obama pulled this manuever by saying that this wage freeze would be in effect from the POTUS on down, including all staffers of the Admin, all Senators & Representatives & their staffers, all of the SCOTUS and their staffers, etc.
Yet it’s not. It’s aimed solely and strictly at the serfs, who, once again, get to take it where the sun don’t shine, whilst our putatively “elected” crooks rip us all off yet again.
Anyone who votes a straight “Democratic” or “Republican” or even “Tea Party” ticket is living in abject denial. Creeps. Wake up before we’re all through (to paraphrase the Lost Poets & Gill Scott Herron).
New president, same fucking song.
“Dear Mr. President”
(Pink, feat. Indigo Girls)
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and
You’re not better than me.
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind.
They’re all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.
What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don’t know nothing ’bout hard work
Dear Mr. President,
You’d never take a walk with me.
Would you? (no)
chances are good, for the White House political arm excels at exceeding even our worst expectations.
Jumping the shark, scr*wing the pooch and burning the base at the same time. Very impressive.
Propping up the banks, screwing the little guy, allowing massive inequality to go unchecked, making endless war – that’s fiscal responsibility?
Two more years of this train wreck of a president and the country will be completely in the toilet.
Tax cuts for millionairs and Social Security cuts? Fuck you.
If I saw this prick I would turn my back on him (and the fucking office he rode in on).
Yeah, reduce aggregate demand during a recession. Friggin’ brilliant.
Is he that malicious, or that stupid? I would be hesitant to call him stupid, but if not stupid, then you have to conclude he’s malicious.
-stewartm
Fixed it for you…
… literal tears.
Not the bullshit crocidile tears of millionares.
Obama’s a hard-right NeoCon ReTHUG. Obama got HIS, you can go get f*cked.
Obama is maliciously & egregiously greedy; bought off by the corporations. Get used to it. There’s more to come, I’m sure.
Yep. They think we are too damn stupid to see through that net.
Yep. I’ve disliked the guy from the first time I heard about him, though of course, I couldn’t articulate why or advance any evidence for my knee jerk reaction. So for a year or so, while he was running for office, I just kept saying: Yep. Yep. Yep. As the evidence piled up. But in the last year or so, he leaves even me slack jawed.
Oh, I’m sure there’s more to come.
A lot, I hope. I’m going to write a letter, but it won’t be the one they expect!
Whether they’re Democrats or Republicans bourgeoisie capitalists are bourgeoisie capitalists. The one Party state has nothing to offer the other 90% of us anything but grief. Peace
If you have a Democratic member of Congress, now would be a great time to ask him or her where they stand. They need to feel the heat, so that they can make the White House feel the heat.
At least he didn’t cut and run!
/s
Definitely! I’m seeing the writing on the walls already. The Dems are play acting like they are working hard, while they are barely pushing the broom. When the repugs win or stop every move, they will look at you like a lazy kid and say, I did what I was supposed to do.
I just didn’t take the trash out.
Muuuhhhaaaw!
Like O’s snot-nosed reps at Netroots Nation sneered at me in August 2008 (when it was obvious he was the D candidate): So what’s your choice? Who else ya gonna vote for?
Huh, thanks for the link David.
I just sent a LTE to I don’t know how many newspapers (I clicked on every one of ‘em *g*). Not that it’ll get published, but boy oh boy would I have a smile on my face if one did get published and I used their own tool to get it published.
BWAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!
In case you’re wondering, I, um, well I did stray from the suggested content. A bit.
The pay freeze is projected to save $5bn in two years.
This is the cost of two weeks of “necessary” war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It would have bought more war under Bush — a couple of months at first and then about six weeks.
We got more bang for the buck with Bush.
I’m with you eCAHN. I knew something didn’t make sense to me about him. As I said back in the primaries my gut feel for Obama just felt wrong. Couldn’t articulate it why but is was there. I see I havt’a listen to my gut feel.. BO is just abysmal as a Democratic President. He is no TRUE Democratic, he has abandoned the People and is showing fealty to the MOTU!! What a fucking waste of my vote.
Three points:
1. Health care, Medicare buy in, medicare competitive biding for drugs, and the ability for Medicare to pay doctors outside the US.
Let’s see some outsourcing in this sector, and some competition.
2. Defense. End two expensive useless wars.
3. The Rich got the benefit of our Social Security Payments since the Greedspan commission in the ’80s. We want our money back.
Do share some snippets.. please oh please?
Just like defense spending in the Papa Bush era: they closed military bases right and left (like closing two of the three Air Force bases the A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” tank-killer flew out of, right after it had proved its military value in the first Gulf War), but they still had plenty of money for high-tech, big-ticket toys that made the rich defense contractors richer. Nothing for the troops, everything for the tycoons.
You left out nuking the fridge!
You have a point….This guy is worse than Bush,for all of Bush’s idiocy I don’t think Bush would have froze the pay of someone making 36K/yr.
Like I have said in previous post on this site,Obama is going to do more damage to to the Dem party if he is Prez for another 4yrs folks…remember he has Harry Reid at his side to complete the tasks.
and that is the story from here on now…..loot the treasury
Is it greed? Is he expecting some personal reward? I doubt that now.
What disappoints me the most about the man was after Bush and Reagan and all the unreality-based politics, that we might actually get leadership that was reality-based.
What we got were not only betrayals, but things like the stupid “spending freeze”, the stupid Catfood commission, now this stupid government employee freeze. This is not principled policy, based on hard economic realities, it’s pandering–pandering approval from people who will never approve and for votes from those who will never vote for him. And pandering based on myths that run against those hard economic realities. The government does not run deficits because we pay government workers too much–in fact, they’re underpaid compared to their private counterparts.
One of the things that voters respect from leaders are strength and principles. Obama has made it clear he doesn’t have any principles–except perhaps the specious Villager “virtue” of “bipartisanship”, aka “Democrats helping Republicans pass the conservative agenda”.
Someone said here that he hated to see Bush give speeches because he knew Bush meant it, as awful and as stupid as the content was. He then said he hated to hear Obama speak because no matter how uplifting the rhetoric, he *doesn’t mean it*. There is no principle, not even in protecting those most vulnerable, where it’s a case of “over my dead body”.
I also have come to believe that Obama does not grasp the magnitude and reality of peoples’ suffering in this country. If he had, we’d not only have better real health care reform, it would have been implemented *immediately*, not in 2014. We’d have a WPA to take effect *immediately*, not just wistfully hope the job numbers turned around. We’d have had a moratorium on foreclosures back in Jan 2009.
All I can think of is that Mr. Harvard preppie school graduate thinks that we’ve all got it good, and that the effects of the Recession is that we’ve had to sell a yacht or two. Just like his Harvard Federalist Society chums might have had to do.
stewartm
Your vote was not wasted. Nothing will ever change until the electorate becomes so disillusioned that it forces real change. The election of Obama is just another nail in the coffin of the oligarchy. Peace
For a couple more weeks, I have Evan Bayh. So no, it would be a waste of time.
Sorry, but believe it or not, I’ve already forgotten.
LOL, after I read your post I hit backspace several times hoping it would take me back and I could see it again, but it said page no longer available or something.
No worry’s. Quite sure it wasn’t pulitzer material. *g*
If by some miracle it gets printed though, I’ll be able to show you. And I will too, cause if it gets printed, I’m gonna come back here and laugh about how their own tool helped get my LTE printed.
Is it greed? Is he expecting some personal reward? I doubt that now.
What disappoints me the most about the man was after Bush and Reagan and all the unreality-based politics, that we might actually get leadership that was reality-based.
What we got were not only betrayals, but things like the stupid “spending freeze”, the stupid Catfood commission, now this stupid government employee freeze. This is not principled policy, based on hard economic realities, it’s pandering–pandering approval from people who will never approve and for votes from those who will never vote for him. And pandering based on myths that run against those hard economic realities. The government does not run deficits because we pay government workers too much–in fact, they’re underpaid compared to their private counterparts.
One of the things that voters respect from leaders are strength and principles. Obama has made it clear he doesn’t have any principles–except perhaps the specious Villager “virtue” of “bipartisanship”, aka “Democrats helping Republicans pass the conservative agenda”.
Someone said here that he hated to see Bush give speeches because he knew Bush meant it, as awful and as stupid as the content was. He then said he hated to hear Obama speak because no matter how uplifting the rhetoric, he *doesn’t mean it*. There is no principle, not even in protecting those most vulnerable, where it’s a case of “over my dead body”.
I also have come to believe that Obama does not grasp the magnitude and reality of peoples’ suffering in this country. If he had, we’d not only have
betterreal health care reform, it would have been implemented *immediately*, not in 2014. We’d have a WPA to take effect *immediately*, not just wistfully hope the job numbers turned around. We’d have had a moratorium on foreclosures back in Jan 2009.All I can think of is that Mr. Harvard preppie school graduate thinks that we’ve all got it good, and that the effects of the Recession is that we’ve had to sell a yacht or two. Just like his Harvard Federalist Society chums might have had to do.
stewartm
Ha. Yeah, I did too. I almost put “Thanks to OFA for providing this handy tool to register my objection.” But I didn’t.
Sadly, it seems more and more each day that the only thing that is going to make real change is blood in the streets. I definitely don’t advocate this but every day there is something that the administration does to enrich the few while screwing over the majority of Americans. And this was supposed to be the administration of hope and change. What’s left but bloodshed? that is howa lot of tall change has come to this country in the past. The money has corrupted everybody that has the power to make the change necessary. It doesn’t matter what the people want or how they vote… It stays the same. I weep for my children and the country that they will have to grow up in. I don’t know what to tell them or where to go from here. Obama has ruined my faith in the American dream.
mokay!
Source: Think Progress
Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners
Every week, the Tea Party Nation hosts a weekly radio program, calling itself a “home for conservatives.” Two weeks ago, Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips hosted the program and discussed changes that he felt should be made to voting rights in the United States. He explained that the founders of the country originally put “certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote.” He continued, “One of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners”:
PHILLIPS: The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn’t you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners.
I never had much confidence in him – I’m now very glad that I emphasized, in conversations at the time, that Obama himself wasn’t the issue. The main goals in 2008 were:
(1) Preventing John “My fellow prisoners” McCain from blowing up the world;
(2) Getting as many people interested in politics as possible, especially new voters.
Still, I was willing to give O the benefit of the doubt for two years. That’s now over, and this obscene pay freeze was the last straw. I think it would be a tactical mistake to primary him – the Congress and the state governments are likely to be a more rewarding focus – but if somehow a progressive did successfully primary him and win the general election, I can tell you that I wouldn’t miss O’s presence in the White House at all.
LOL, good one!
I sooo hope someone’s gets published.
Oh Goodie! Now the American citizens will learn their true standing. If you don’t like the term peasant, you can call yourself a serf, or even a gutter rat. They don’t care. They’re eyes are on being courtiers to the King.
just look at the Gulf
TOTAL SHITWEASL EMPTY SUIT
It’s clear that Obama is running for re-election. So everything he does needs to be seen in the context of his campaign.
When I see something like this I wonder, which votes exactly does he think this will gain him?
“Obama has ruined my faith in the American dream.” That’s a good thing because it was always only a dream. Reality is better than fantasy. Peace
Ya know, he sure has dissapointed us all, but I put more blame on the Dems. We had a majority in BOTH houses, then elected a so-called Dem Prez. The things they have managed to do were all half-assed! If you think about it, everything that was accomplished is lacking in the major ingredients to make it worthwhile.
hahahaha,till their houses get repoed
dumb dicks
With the “rocket docket”, Florida is already well on its way to being the world’s northernmost banana republic. Although, in fairness, it seems that Matt Taibbi’s exposés have led to at least some improvement in the openness of these Star Chambers to the public.
If only white, Christian, heterosexual, bigoted, homophobic, married-with-children, upper class (landowners in Colonial days) males voted, they would get the government they want.
Yep. I’ve contemplated writing Bernanke and Geithner a letter to ask why I still have to pay my mortgage.
Gawddammit.
These fuckers are getten’ more brazen every day.
He’s banking on the black vote, the Hispanic vote and the idiot moderate vote. Unfortunately for him he’s already lost the Left and the Right. And with two more years to go the Left will take the black and Hispanic vote away from him. What if they gave an election and only Republicans showed up? Peace
Is Matt the only journalist alive that researches and reports on timely subjects?
See November, 2010.
I was afraid if I used that tag line it would be less likely to be published. I hope someone from OFA is reviewing the letters.
DIMS
Eleven Dems, all Blue Dogs, voted against bill to extend unemployment benefits today
How many Blue Dogs support the extension of all the Bush tax cuts? Most, if not all, I expect. Deficits don’t matter when it comes to tax cuts, they pay for themselves, you know. The Blue Dogs believe this insanely ridiculous lie–just like Republicans. And, several of them were defeated in November. Good riddance, I say!
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll579.xml
I respectfully disagree. My grandfather raised a family of four working one factory job. He worked only forty hoursa week, my grandmother stayed home to take care of kids. They weren’t rich but, they always had food on the table, clothes on their backs, reliable transportation, and all the kids went to college without putting the family in huge debt and, he was able to retire at 55. Considering how things are going today in this country, that seems like one hell of a dream to be living.
Wow. I’m dumbfounded.
That’s it, exactly! I understand the short-term frustration and discouragement, but the real victory of 2008 was the high turnout, especially of new voters – not the election of Obama. Now we just need to figure out how to make that happen every time, even in non-Presidential years. “Arise!”
great letter!
Yes.
The community is local. I guess he never would have made it to office if his rules were in place.
LOL!
jump the shark moment and then some
ditto
There’s a problem with this scenario in present day America. The manufacturing jobs all went to China. My grandfather raised 4 kids, working for GM for years. Retired at 55 as well.
GM just took away his medical benefits and slashed his pension. He’s going to lose his home. All while GM launches a MASSIVE initial public offering and rakes in the profits.
That American dream doesn’t exist any more. There are no living wage jobs.
The problem is thata lot of new voters turned out for change and got more of the same. I wouldn’t count on them turning out again.
This bird in the White House totaly disgusts me. My father was a Democratic Ward boss in the late 40s and early 50s. He is rolling over in his grave now. What a disgusting prick this President is! The Democratic Party is no longer the party of the working people. I am done voting for the Democrats.
I wonder how many teatards actually own property.
That’s my point… The American dream is alive and well… In China.
So the UNIONS will call a GENERAL STRIKE right? Hitting on a captive workforce is really low. It just is one step from requiring all lowly folks to give up Social Security…..
TAX the Damn Rich and stay the hell off of hard working citizens Obama. Tax the Corporations- deliver some regulations to keep money and jobs in the USA.
AND Get back the billions from the Wall Street/banking crooks- go after fraud. Stop all Corporate Welfare now.
Or are you working with them and not us?
Probably only the seniors, the ones that are probably hating all the social security talk right now.
oops, edited to say ONLY
This is the sentiment among my generation (I’m 26).
We suited up, showed up, put in work, and got fucked.
Why should we do it all again?
This is not how I feel. I’m more active in the process now than I was in 2008. More knowledgable as well.
The majority of my friends and peers, however, feel “fuck ‘em, leave ‘em pissed.” should be our new motto.
I’d love to see all of the folks at the VA Hospitals and the Social Security Administration walk off the job.
Gosh, if only unions were still for the worker, this would be a no brainer.
What the shit?!?! Edit is back? It must be Christmas time!
My friends are in the same boat
Ho-ho-ho! See, only the repugs hate the holidays.
Grinch is on at my house. Gotta go watch. I need to grab some lines to tell everybody cause there will not be a good one at my house.
Have a good one.
Keep in mind that your grandfathers “comfort” came at the expense of millions of blacks and Hispanics who had little or no work and eked out a survival in ghettoes. Peace
My first impression was that Obama was another Clinton (I loathe Clinton as the father of globalization–no Repug could have passed NAFTA) who would use triangulation. Later I supported him because he said all the right things (change from the people to DC, people support his campaign so special interests wouldn’t own him, etc.) Sadly, my first impression was correct. Just like Clinton destroyed unions (blue collar labor), I believe Obama will try to destroy social security but that is a fight we can win if we start organizing now and present a united front.
as far as Dem vs. Repug, I think of them as two whores trying to snag the same john.
If you really want to leave ‘em pissed, keep crawling up the asses. Peace
What they are (Obama and Clinton) are bourgeoisie capitalists trying to save capitalism and consolidate their own wealth at the expense of the rest of us peons. Peace
There are those 25 to 30 percenters who, like the same number of bush supporters, will support their man no matter what.
Obama is a republican, plain and simple. I know he liked the election results.
Good example. Like, who did Obama think he was pleasing by first of all, announcing that he would start allowing drilling? Sarah Palin? Then by coddling BP? Joe Barton?
Does he think, like, he’s in the running for the same crowd that votes for both of these?
What America is crying for is for leadership that says 1) it cares about the needs of ordinary people, and 2) it won’t put up with no crap or specious resistance to the contrary. Whatever the reason, Mr. Appeaser doesn’t meet the standard.
stewartm
Hello FDLers, this is my first posting after have been a long time reader of this site. I admit over the past 2 years that I have been upset by the negativity regarding Obama here. I must say now that you guys were right and Obama has frankly been a disaster for progressive values. This email blast by OFA is the last straw. Thank you for your voices of reason and common sense.
Being an anarchist, I’ve had about as much “leadership” as I can stomach. Peace
So, I should never expecta comfortable living wage because the Hispanics and the blacks and women were given more rights?
Welcome to FireDogLake, crnabrian!
/~~~
TBogg is upstairs!
Barack Obama Buys A Lawnmower
Reason and common sense dictates that you continue your journey right on through the looking glass. Nothing is as it appears and without a guide you may go completely insane. Good luck though. Peace.
It’s always worth reading these crappy letters/press releases from OFA and their ilk, because certain shopworn phrases from them will soon be turning up in Letters to the Editor, comments on Krugman’s blog, and lo, perhaps even in comments here. [We KNOW they'll be posted over at the Great Orange Satan.]
Marvelous how folks all seem to think of these sterling points at the same time.
Welcome to the Lake, and thanks for your acknowledgment and kind words.
I hope you didn’t say too many bad things about us pups in your prior life. Please spread the word to others who might find this site educational.
Again, welcome.
If the top 2% owns 80% of the wealth and the bottom 98% owns the other 20% the answer to your question is quite obvious. That is unless we (98%) can wrest another 78% out of the hands of the top 2%. Peace
I posted a comment on Krugman’s blog earlier today [he was damning and succinct] that this is Obama’s latest version of “well, where else would they go?”
I.e., like with gays and progressives, Obama feels, perhaps thanks to his “guidance” from Rahm, that Federal workers know that the Republicans hate them, so they wouldn’t vote for them. He can thus crap all over them, believing that they, like gays and progressives, will “hold their noses and vote Democratic.”
The lessons of Martha Coakley and Nov. 3, 2010 have clearly not sunk in to his feeble brain.
Hey, Obama, there aren’t merely TWO choices. There’s a third one: STAY HOME on election day. I predict this will get personal for him in 2012.
That was very cool and just about the most fun I’ve had all day. :) Using Obama’s own resources to send out my letters of complaint!
That. Was. Perfect.
Who’s on first? I don’t know! Third base. Peace
Welcome, crnabrian. Hope to see more of you.
I did too. I sure hope the OFA folks are reading those LTEs so they can see what we’re using their nifty tool for!
Why haven’t there been cries for Tim Kaine to resign. He managed the the most ineffective campaign in history. Only press conference in the mid-terms was to announce that they came up with a new logo. Even now where are the ads to counteract the Pete Peterson ads. They spent no money in Ohio, we were slaughtered. And now this crap. Maybe they want us to start campaigning to cut Social Security next.
It is time that we start thinking about the primaries in 2012. There is no reason to wait. Even if Obama wins in 12, he has shown himself to be a conservadem. We need a strong block of progressive candidates support American issues like SSN, Medicare and the like.
Kaine should resign in disgrace.
Eli is upstairs!
Cuobama
One of the things that just floors me about all this — and in particular, hearing your grandfather’s tale — is what do they expect us to do as we age, or attempt to plan for our later years???
** we can’t rely on social security
** we can’t rely on a pension. Few jobs have them anymore, and the ones that do feel no remorse over slashing/eliminating them
** we can’t rely on the value of our home
** we can’t rely on the value of any “savings”/401(k), whatever, as that can be crushed in any Wall Street crash
** we can’t rely on medical benefits, either via our past job, or via Medicare [I'm on Medicare, so I know]
What on earth do they expect us to do? If the answer is “move in with your kids,” well, that’s not a good option when your kids can’t find work.
Really, just how do they think the “specifics” on this are going to work?
I think we all know what we must do and that is get him out of the White House before he gives away the ranch. We can not allow this man to run for reelection without a serious primary challenge from the left. Other than that our only hope is Issa does have something to impeach him on.
Ok I despise the OFA. But really, I have no issue with the salary freeze. Most Americans have had their incomes frozen for sometime. Really the government has to save somewhere. Cities are shuttering libraries and closing parks. And I am supposed to have some leftist rage about some bureaucrats not getting a yearly raise?
We have been looted. These are criminals. Period. Specific is pain and fraud and no law or justice.
I used the OFA link to write a letter.
I’ve now officially come out in my local community as opposing Obama from the Left with the letter I wrote. Oh well.
No, you are supposed to understand that this actually makes things worse for you. Reducing demand during a massive economic downturn is bad for everyone. This is Herbert Hooverism.
Absolutely. Anyone who has any difficulty at all in understanding this point needs to read Paul Krugman’s 2009 book, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. This is a second edition of his original The Return of Depression Economics (2000), which I read around the time of the Bush-Kerry election. Highly recommended.
I can understand the temptation to stay at home, but it would be cutting off your nose to spite your face. That’s what we need to get people to understand. If you can’t stomach the thought of voting for any of the existing candidates, go to the polls anyway and do a protest vote: third-party, write-in, whatever. Staying home sends only one message: I’m too demoralized to do anything about my problems.. It’s worse in some ways than voting Republican! The Tea Party has the Republican leadership scared; despite all their astroturfing efforts, they don’t have full control of the Tea Party, and they must be worried that some Tea Partiers will see nothing helpful getting done over the next two years, and realize they’ve been had. Those Tea Partiers might well flip to the other side, and be doubly outraged at having been used as pawns. The Republican leadership need have no such worries about those who merely stay home.
Example: I never liked Bill Clinton from the start, and I’ve never voted for him. I’m both a progressive and an ex-conservative, and I found Clinton totally unacceptable from both perspectives. In 1992, I voted for a far-left radical third-party candidate whose name I can’t even remember; in 1996, I voted for Nader. While my choice of candidates might be criticized, I wasn’t part of any percentage of non-voters reported in any poll. I’m not ashamed of what I did in those years. I am, to this day, ashamed of not having voted in 1988, and having implicated myself in letting Papa Bush sail into the White House past Michael Dukakis. And although there are many critical things I could say about Dukakis, none of them give me any comfort whatsoever about my failure to vote. My advice: don’t create memories like that for yourself.
And get through to everyone around you that they shouldn’t, either. The importance of get-out-the-vote campaigns, and of political activism generally, is not tied to any one candidate. A charismatic candidate (like the Obama of 2008) can help, but voting remains critically important regardless.
Where was this concern for fiscal discipline back when Bush was flying pallets of cash into Iraq?
Any plan to cut costs that ignores the military and the costs of the wars is simply not “serious”.
Amen!
On the other I’ve voted and been a Democrat all my life. I will never vote for another Democrat. If a Democrat wants my vote they need to find another letter to put after their name. I am done with the 2-Party fiction.
Congratulations, FDL community, you may have been scammed.
I’m on the OFA mailing list, and I never received any such e-mail as the one described in the Dayen post. Given the ease with which politically convenient disinformation is propagated nowadays (e.g. James O’Keefe’s faked ACORN videos), I wanted verification before I lowered the hammer on OFA.
So a friend who’s an actual OFA organizer clued me in. The only official OFA campaigns going on right now are DADT repeal and DREAM Act passage.
What about the link mentioned in the Dayen post? Oh, there actually is a page on the OFA website. However, that particular address is part of the very open social networking portion of the website. ANYBODY can post an event or start a campaign…even, say, a fake letter-writing campaign apparently designed to discredit OFA and President Obama.
Of course, I have no proof that the creator of this controversial letter-writing campaign was a right-wing troublemaker. But I’m certainly not going to rush to judgment on this particular issue.
Yeah right. Get the middle class to screw themselves like Republicans – the newest fake version of which is Barack Obama – have been preaching for decades. Eat shit and die.
Or maybe you could just check the OFA front page. You don’t have to go to the blog section to see this crap, it’s on the OFA front page.
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php?splash=false
The front page article is called “Next Steps in Tackling the Deficit”. And it does advocate the federal salary freeze.
And the front page videos include one on “Fiscal Responsibility” with links to a whitehouse youtube of Obama peddling the salary freeze.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeZ4nfvr01g&feature=player_embedded
BTW, welcome to FDL!
Well, at least we know what Obama’s getting the Oligarch’s for Christmas.
What does OFA stand for anyway? Organizing Fiscal Austerity?
/s
Waaaay back during the primaries, lambert at Correntewire.com suggested Obama was trying to take over the Democratic Party and make it the Obama Party. He called it a leveraged buyout, sometimes a hostile takeover.
Now, we can see that in many important areas, based on his actions Obama is a conservative, a Reagan Republican. This Fed employees’ pay freeze gambit is right out of Republicans’ Cheap Labor handbook.
Seems the Republicans have taken over the Democratic Party.
Which is pretty stunning, given out down and out they were after BushBoy’s extravaganza. Utterly amazing. And brought to us by Obama and his handlers!
Uh, there are no Democractic Party anti-Pete Peterson ads because Obama now controls the party apparatus, and Obama created the Cat Food Commission for Pete Peterson and other Austerians after Congress refused to set up such a commission.
This is what Obama wants to do. He believes this is good for the nation. He is a Reagan Republican elected under the Democratic Party colors and platform.
Just think of him as a conservative, and then there’s no need to try to rationalize what he’s doing. He’s doing what a conservative would do.
Tim Kaine is only doing what Obama and his crew want done.
Why so much bitterness out there? This makes perfect sense. This is a freeze, not a cut. Most Americans have been without salary increases and bonuses for the past two years (myself included) while federal workers have benefited from both…at taxpayer expense no less. In these difficult economic times I am perplexed as to why so many of you think this is a bad idea. Unless of course you are a federal employee…
Last night I used the nifty tool and wrote to express my extreme displeasure. Even titled my letter “NEVER vote for Democrats Again.” :) I basically said that it was time for the Democratic party to die a quick death now that it’s basically nothing more than the moderate arm of the Republican party. And guess what!!!
My local paper called today to verify my letter because they might print it. ohhhhhh I feel so delicously naughty tonight!!!!
Because, the less money that goes into the economy the worse the overall economy will get.
And this is money that is spreat rather broadly to working class people rahter than money focused entirely at the top of the economic pyramid.
Basically, the salary freeze is a big anti-stimulous. Good for the idle rich, horrible for everyone else.