http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/27/harry-rei...n-gerstein.html

Dangerous Thoughts
Extreme Takeover, Washington Edition

Dan Gerstein, 10.28.09, 12:01 AM EDT

Where partisan politics prevail.


Monday's big news that Harry Reid was opting for the public option in the Senate health care bill provided one of those rare clarifying moments in American politics that actually exceeded the hype it generated. In one fell (and potentially felling) swoop, the soft-spoken Senate Majority Leader gave Democrats sole ownership over the riskiest experiment in social policy since the New Deal, gave the kiss of death to Obama's still-born hope of a new post-partisan era and, most significantly, cemented the reactionary battle lines that will likely shape our national elections for years to come.
...

I don't think Obama set out to do a bait and switch. He can argue for his ambitious domestic policy initiatives on an individual basis as pragmatic and necessary responses to exigent circumstances, starting with the banking and auto bailouts and on through the stimulus package, the cap-and-trade plan on climate change, the wholesale shift to direct student lending and the creation of a new consumer financial regulatory watchdog. But collectively there is no getting around the pattern of expanding federal powers, especially now that the Democrats have cast their lot with the public option.

Nor is there any denying that the new majority in Congress has often pushed Obama's plans in a more traditional liberal direction and drained them of their most innovative facets. The most obvious example is the stimulus package, which became a poster child for old school social pork. You can say that's a separation of powers issue, but the public does not differentiate that way. It was Obama's bill, it's his party. The same holds true for health care (assuming, as many insiders now do, that it is now on track to pass). The result is a growing feeling, especially among wary independents, that we are at the start of a new era of big government.

For Democrats, this means the official end of Bill Clinton's popular "third way" approach to progressive policymaking, which aimed to synthesize the best ideas of both sides. Obama seemed to go both ways on the third way during the campaign, repudiating it at times to win over the left and embracing it at times to win over the middle. But now it's clear there will be little if any synthesizing or triangulating. The president and his allies on Capitol Hill are betting that the suspicion of government that Reagan cultivated for a generation has ebbed enough to buy their activist policies time to work. If they succeed, the left will have driven a stake into the philosophical heart of conservatism.

If these policies fail, though, Democrats will run the risk of being discredited for a generation, much as they were in the '70s and '80s. The danger is particularly high on health care, where the metrics will be as clear as the party's responsibility for the changes to the system. Premium costs will be easily measurable; so will the impact on the deficit. We will know soon if the public option creates more competition, as promised. And we will know soon if the political concessions the Democrats swallowed to make the bill viable have in fact gutted the cost containment measures, as some experts warn. If that happens, it won't just be the party that gets punished, but its governing philosophy.

For the Republicans, this means the pressure is off to come up with a compelling alternative agenda, and they can comfortably revert to the dated dogma of the Reagan Revolution. There were some prominent voices within the GOP who were openly cautioning against being marginalized as the "party of no" earlier in the year. But the prevailing view now is that with the Democrats massively overreaching and overspending, Republicans don't have to make a hard sell on specific solutions (or deal with thorny questions of how to pay for them). They are betting their big picture vision of small government will be enough to win back the independents Bush scared away for next year's midterms and then in 2012.

...

For the rest of us, particularly those in the frustrated middle, this means politics as usual will likely get even more brutal in the short term. The 2010 campaign will be even more impoverished and formulaic. There will be more partisan hardliners on both sides in Congress in 2011--fewer moderate Republican challengers will be nominated, and fewer moderate Democratic incumbents will return. And there will be even more division and paralysis on the serious outstanding challenges that the Democrats won't be able to get to this year. Closing the deficit? Reforming entitlements? Balloon boy has a better chance of getting into NASA.
...

Most voters outside the hard left and right concluded on a gut level that McCain was too much like Bush and that Obama was smart enough and competent enough to take a risk. They would be thrilled to be courted with an honest competition of specific solutions before they go to the polls next fall.

But judging by the past 10 months, that's the last thing we can expect in the foreseeable future. The Republicans will attack government in simplistic, exaggerated terms. The Democrats will defend their programs in simplistic, exaggerated terms. And the frustrated middle will feel like it's been left to watch a looped repeat of a bad reality show--and wishing they could vote the whole bunch off the island.

--------------------------

These are dangerous times for The Republic my friends...dangerous times.

No ....

They are not ...

The REPUBLIC is dead ...

And so ...

Barack Obama is Julius Caesar reborn ...

Or maybe Sulla ....

And so ...

Except Obama lacks Caesar's military prowess ...

But he has his lack of regard for the concept of law other than what flows from the muzzle of a gun or the blade of a spatha ...

And so ...

Haters Hatriots lend me your ear

you are just bitter

90% of America likes what is going on just fine...nobody is dying (except from the flu)

housing values are up
the market is up over six months ago

jobs are starting to hire

life is grand

and the haters, bitter old fools, just hate

The value on my townhouse is WAY down.
The cost of living is WAY up.
There are layoffs everywhere.
Houston is bankrupt.
I AM bitter!

Dear gentle graham ....

Listen, dude ....

I'm kind of hard up for money .....

So to make a buck, I've got to sell the Brooklyn Bridge along with the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels ....

I like you, graham, so I want to give you the first crack at buying them ....

I'm in really tough shape, graham, so I have to confess to you that in your case, it is a buyer's market .....

Why, you've just about got me bent as far backwards over the barrel as I can likely go ....

So you are in the bridge and tunnel bid-ness real cheap here ....

And there are HUGE profits awaiting you as soon as you have the money wired to my off-shore account ....

CODE NUMBER BR549 ....

And so ...

Hi, bigtom .....

Ssssssssssssss'up, dude?

What's the haps down your way?

Working two jobs...
Getting ready for Saturday night...
We have a really big show.
A chance for me to yell and get paid for it.

"What recovery? Americans still gloomy on economy - Americans shrug off signs of recovery as nagging job worries sap consumer confidence"

By ASHLEY M. HEHER, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:45 p.m., Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CHICAGO -- The housing market and stocks may be looking up, but Americans just can't shake their job worries.

In a sign that talk of an economic recovery has yet to soothe a recession-battered nation, consumer confidence fell in October and came in well below what analysts were expecting.

Americans are "quite pessimistic about their future earnings, a sentiment that will likely constrain spending during the holidays," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.

Go for it, bigtom ....

We go through this way but once ....

If graham wasn't afraid of flying, we could have come down there to see you in his corporate jet he just got with some STIMULATION MONEY from Obama .......

And so ...

there are always layoffs

that is just a wedge issue, and many people can be fully happy without money

and it has nothing to do with Obama or Bush

not had 3 wars from bush, and there would be money, but values of homes went to stupid levels, phony numbers for a few years

so there really is only paper loss

and what goes down comes up and will as it has for centuries more

MARKETWATCH Bond Report

Oct. 27, 2009, 4:06 p.m. EDT

"Treasurys jump after demand for 2-year notes hits highest in 2 years - Confidence unexpectedly falls, helping bonds"

By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch

Earlier, Treasurys barely budged after the Case-Shiller home-price index showed home prices fell 11.3% in the last year through August, not as deep as some analysts' expected.

http://www.marketwatch.com/column/Bond%20Report

HATRIOT: Someone who professes to love Barack H. Obama but who hates the United States of America and its constitutional liberties ...

- People's New Work Dictionary

This is what I mean. The article that Indianhead posted is a great topic for discussion. Too bad Indianhead didn't see fit to comment on it. And, then it got taken over by a few people who pretty much drowned it.

This is one of the most inept observers I have read in a long time...

Or maybe Janus, the Roman God with two faces...

Yes ....

Two-faced ....

That sums it up quite well ....

And so ...

HUH?

If it's a great article for discussion then WHY didn't you discuss it?

And HOW could the article possibly be "PRETTY MUCH DROWNED"?

I just went back up to the top of the page, and it looks like it is still floating there to me ....

AH!

Now ....

Okay ...

Yes, I do see .....

Yes, you DID NOT really want to comment on the article nor did you really have anything to say ....

YOU JUST WANTED TO ATTACK PEOPLE IN HERE ....

How droll ...

And so ...

SHAME, SHAME, rla ....

You pretty much drowned IH's article here with that commentary on it ....

What could you have been thinking ....

And so ...

TWO-FACED: double-dealing, false ....

- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

I take Indianhead's posting of the article as a warning to Dems or to Obama. I think Obama should heed the warning of the article. I find it interesting that the author used to work for Joe Lieberman, who just put an obstacle into the path of the liberal Dems' drive for government-run health care. Joe Lieberman is right, as I commented on another topic. I think if the Dems keep going on this big government path, they will be doomed because independents did not vote for big government. They voted against George Bush and for a person they thought was intelligent and moderate.

And, people still like Obama, want him to succeed and hope that this big government stuff is an aberration. They don't like his policies so far.

I agree with the article.

beamer- democrats need NO help from you...YOU AND LEIBERMAN have something in common with each other.

NEW POLL TODAY- except for some morons in the south (with their pitiful few electoral votes that don't matter)- they have completely disintegrated in
the arts of the country that do matter.




Republican Party favorability

Fav Unfav

All 21 67

South 48 37
NE 6 87
Midwest 10 78
West 12 75

Obama has stated on several occassions that the problem isn't whether government is too big or not big enough
and I agree with that. I'm not happy with Obama's performance but I don't think the size of government is a critical
issue, given the over-all situation...Joe Lieberman is a whore and not as bright as most Jews with a college education. I also don't think the guy who wrote this article is the brightest bulb on the block, plus I question his motives...

I AM AN INDEPENDENT AND I AGREE WITH THIS POST ABOVE HERE ...

However, I would also agree in part with rla ....

What I object to is not so much the actual size of the government, which will always be a dynamic factor ....

I am strongly opposed to this DEMOCRAT BIG GOVERNMENT oozing like slime mold into every single aspect of our lives ....

THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO TRANSFORM OUR GOVERNMENT INTO A HUGE WELFARE MACHINE FOR THEM AND THEIRS AT OUR EXPENSE ....

And yet, that is exactly what they are doing under the guise of these BAIL-OUTS and this alleged healthcare reform ....

It is not about what is good for ALL of us ....

It is solely about POWER for them ...

And so ...

wanting better health insurance plans for 50% of the country that does NOT work for the big corps or gov't (as you do beamer, so your plan is good)

is NOT outthere

It is MODERATE view...


where do you get your ideas from beamer? the Wall street conservative Murdock owned Journal???

Indianhead was a cop, so he had a UNION get him his cheapie insurance (even though he hates unions, he loves the benefits)
betcha that is how most people have their cheap insurance

HOWEVER, the small biz man (and 99% of them DON'T MAKE $250,000 PROFIT A YEAR) and the sole proprietor self worker HAS NO UNION WHATSOEVER.

So ours is high

and your bogus bankrupt ameria argument- the health plan adds NOTHING to the debt at all



I am getting fed up with those with cheapie nearly free whining because they are scared they may get hit with an increase-THEY SHOULD

it's like those spinsters who are in apartments in NYC paying $100.00 while everyone else pays $2000 a month and they can't get rid of them due to
some archaic rent frozen areas. Bring in the wreckin' ball.


And most people who voted for Obama WANTED MASSIVE CHANGE beamer, and did NOT vote against Bush- they voted FOR Obama
If one wanted to just vote against Bush, they would have voted for Hillary. And Obama beat Hillary 2 to 1. and Mccain 3 to 1.

Obama has made the mistake of turning his back on America and affiliating himself exclusively with the DEMOCRAT party after independents helped to put him in office ....

And so ...

I don't believe there are independents at all

just people who believe they won't be called for jury duty

most independents are either dems or repubs

and go back to that belief after elections

fickle people

Remember- Beamer voted for the Bush's and Reagan
so a Bush voter will vote for Jeb in the end
He is a Bush, a Bush will always be a Bush

I don't see the problem as his allegiance to the Democratic but his allegiance to the International Party of big Business...

do you agree or disagree RLA that there are not really any independents?

that they are one or the other, and the divide is normally more left/right with the independents on some wedge issues more than financial issues

(i.e.-consservatives are almost 100% republicans, whether they believe it or not, just from their money positions and not wanting to help any person in need)

THE GDP IS UP 3%

highest in more than year!!!

I think the major divide is between, "Moderatly educated, middle class" people and, "Poor, ignorant" people
and the, "Culturally elite financial olligarchy" controls the social system by keeping the two sides turned against each other.

I think the concept of, "GDP" is badly in need of being re-defined. It is not an appropriate index for the economic
domain of a social system which is attempting to maintain a Humanitarian Constitutional Democratic Republic with
an Open Market Economy...

I agree that there is not a functional Independent political party. However, I don's see either the Democratic
Party or the Republican Party as being very functional either...

nobody said functional

The thing I never understood was that Perot, Nader, Paul,etc. never have a REAL party

Nader is mostly dem
Perot is a capitalist republican
Paul is a social republican conservative one issue person, maybe two (taxes and war) but he does not go for libertarian like Larouche(who does NOT like Paul)

they are all selfserving egotists belonging to egotistical party

If they weren't
Paul should have teamed with Kucinich, but didn't

so there is no real option

so you get
Obama
and if you don't want him,
Hello Jeb (or other bush surrogate)

I AM AN INDEPENDENT, graham ....

Not a DEMOCRAT ....

Not A REPUBLICAN ....

Both of which are fringe groups here in America ....

And so ...

IT IS AN ILLUSION BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS PRINTED UP BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE ....

IT IS NOT REAL ....

IT IS AN ILLUSION INTENDED TO GULL THE SUCKERS ....

Guess what, graham ....

And so ...

You can think you are, but you are not
Your views are set in stone from day one

no matter who won, you would write the same thing based on the same stuff

an independent doesn't exist

Of course I do ....

And so ...

and in NO race does independents decide

because when you get right down to it

IF candidate A's voters turn out, he wins
If they don't he loses.

and anyone who didn't know the difference between say Gore and Bush wasn't playing with a straight deck let's say

Chris Christie is a Bushie from day one. Hired to do a hatchet job on dems
He can hem and haw that he is indeendent, but the fat tub of lard is a Bushie
and Bushies run to the right
I bet if you could see the outline in Chris Christie's pants, were he not such a fat tub of lard, it would hang to the right not the left

much like Bush's socks stuffed down his pants whne he yelled MISSION ACCOMLISHED was

That was a high-tech prosthetic device designed by Karl Rove at great expense, graham ....

It WAS NOT just some socks ....

My goodness, who do you think we are talking about here?

Some kid going to a costume party as a fighter jet pilot?

And so ...

independent's just another word for nothing left to lose

"you are not a number, you're a free man" but not independent

it's like going to the dessert bar
You know what you like and don't like
If you don't like Boston Creme Pie, you sure ain't gonna pick that as one of your choice

Speaking of that, graham, I hear the HILLARY is now wearing pants suits with a CLEAVER SLEEVE that were specially designed for her as American secretary of state ....

I guess when she is in places like Pakistan where she is dealing with a lot of Army generals, having that CLEAVER SLEEVE as a part of her outfit commands her a lot of respect ....

Especially as she has what is called the J. WADD model ....

I think she maybe keeps spare kleenex in there ....

So it comes in handy for storage ....

Saves space in her purse for her gun .....

And so ...

Independent is another word for everything to gain ....

And so ...

you ever hear Kris Kristofferson's knockoff answer to "wind beneath my wings"?

he calls it "Sheet between by soles"

You're waxing engimatic again, graham ....

Or Delphic ....

And so ...

"Economic growth expected, but can it be sustained? - The economy appears to be growing, but can it be sustained without government help?"

By ALAN ZIBEL, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:35 p.m., Wednesday, October 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Great Recession may be over, but the recovery is just beginning -- and it doesn't promise to be much easier.

Economists forecast the nation's total output grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent between July and September, after contracting for a record four straight quarters.

That growth has been fueled by a huge influx of government cash, including a temporary tax credit for first-time homeowners and a $1.25 trillion Federal Reserve program to keep mortgage rates low.

While the unemployment rate fell slightly in most metro areas in September, the trend was fueled by discouraged job seekers leaving the work force, according to government data released Wednesday.

"The job market is not recovering at all yet," said Jim Diffley, regional economist for IHS Global Insight.

"We're looking at another jobless recovery."

I am sorry livyjr and other Obama haters that you thought Obama was Helen Keller, the miracle worker

Things don't get better quickly that took decades to fall apart

How naive are you? (and you are not)

Obama forever. Michelle 2016.

I actually thought he was a CON MAN, graham ...

And so far, he hasn't disappointed ....

And graham ....

I LOVE THE DUDE ....

Not in a gay way, you understand, but LOVE nonetheless ....

How could anybody not love him, I'm asking you?

Especially the fat cats on WALL STREET who Obama has been so good to ....

And so ...

Especially the people of the world

where, take out the racist whites and Bush manchurians in the deep south, and his approval rating is near 70%