Howard Dean Is Right: Obama Isn't Tough Enough-- Democrats Need A Spine Transplant

Doomed from the first day-- Emanuel only knows how to be tough with liberals

This morning I read a sad editorial by Michael Payne at OpEd News, Barack Obama has severely crippled his presidency and the Democrat Party. I get a sense that Michael is expressing what millions of Americans-- primarily, though not exclusively, the ones that voted for Senator Obama in 2008-- are thinking or will soon be thinking.

The stage was set, the expectations high; he entered office with a clear mandate from the people of America who also gave him control of both houses of the U.S. Congress. Millions of Americans were in a state of euphoria, eagerly awaiting the birth of a new era in this nation; anticipating the start of a massive cleansing process that would erase the previous eight years of deceit and lies.

America eagerly waited for that cleansing process to begin and then nothing happened, there has been no cleansing process, and the dark days that this nation had experienced during the years when Bush/Cheney ruled were not swept away by a creative, visionary agenda that would begin the transformation of America.

Instead we got notorious Wall Street shills like Rahm Emanuel and Lawrence Summers put in charge of economic and domestic policy and a continuation of the discredited Bush foreign policies wrapped in snazzier paper... and what looks more and more like incompetence in everything the administration attempts. Bush had no mandate whatsoever and was probably not even legally elected. Obama had a virtual landslide with a huge mandate. Bush ran the country as though the whole nation was behind him; Obama seems scared of his own shadow, as though, down deep in the depths of his soul, he's internalized the Republican talking points that he isn't a legitimate president regardless of what the voters said in 2008. He wants to govern by consensus, although the opposition has clearly stated their only goal is to make sure he fails at everything he tries.

When is he going to tough up and be the leader we thought we were electing. Apparently, not soon. When even the mainstream media started realizing GOP mass and mindless blocking of all of his nominations was looking a little over the top, Obama meekly threatened to use the recess appointment powers presidents have-- and which Bush used liberally-- to overcome the latest spate of pork-hungry filibusterers from the Old Confederacy. The result-- Miss McConnell deigning to allow a few of the nominees he judged to be uncontroversial pass-- was celebrated by the White House as a success... instead of like the disgrace it was. Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, saw exactly what it was-- and he explained it at Huffington Post yesterday:

Senate Republican obstructionists are working overtime to block the interests of working people. Today we hear the White House and Senate have cut a deal with Republicans that will keep President Obama's nominees off the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for even longer.

The NLRB's job is to protect workers' rights-- but for more than two years it has been functioning with only two members instead of the five it should have. Working people need an NLRB that can enforce the National Labor Relations Act-- not one hobbled by vacancies.

President Obama's nominees-- Craig Becker and Mark Pearce-- are highly qualified, well-respected labor lawyers who were nominated seven months ago, in July.

But Senate Republicans have ignored the working people they represent and blocked the appointments.
Yesterday, in a deal with the Republican minority, the Senate confirmed 27 non-controversial Obama appointees. The White House apparently has agreed not to make Presidents Day recess appointments-- a process that allows the president to temporarily appoint his own nominee while Congress is out of session. That means NLRB nominees-- and working people-- are out in the cold.

A big win for the Republicans. A big win for corporations that want to file down the teeth of the NLRB. A big loss for working people... President Obama has to end this farce... [and g]ive recess appointments to Craig Becker and Mark Pearce during the Presidents Day recess so the NLRB can do its job.

Trumka is being very respectful of the president and the presidency. Most progressives are. But that could start changing very soon. In fact, I think it probably will. Beyond the apparent symbolism-- perhaps the best we can hope for anymore-- Obama was the wrong man at the wrong time. Obviously a better choice than John McCain but I don't know a single person who isn't wondering how Hillary Clinton would have done as president. And imagine if we had had it together to elect a proven friend of working families... like Howard Dean:

IT'S A FAR CRY FROM THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL REID SHOULD BE CONVENING, BUT AT LEAST SHOWS THE DEMOCRATS HAVE A BIT OF A PULSE

Apparently neither Pelosi nor Hoyer heard about Scott McClellan's admission yesterday that Bush and Cheney, as well as several of the top cronies in the criminal enterprise known as the Bush Regime, were guilty of outing Valerie Plame, a clear crime. How do I know they didn't hear? They haven't put impeachment back on the table, where the Founding Fathers left it for just such an occurrence. Fortunately Chris Dodd was paying attention and has already asked for a thorough investigation.

"Today's revelations by Mr. McClellan are very disturbing and raise several important questions that need to be answered. If in fact the President of the United of States knowingly instructed his chief spokesman to mislead the American people, there can be no more fundamental betrayal of the public trust.
"During his confirmation process, Attorney General Mukasey said he would act independently. Accordingly, today, I call on the Attorney General to live up to his word and launch an immediate investigation to determine the facts of this case, the extent of any cover up and determine what the President knew and when he knew it."

And Huckabee agrees that this egregious example of Bush criminality needs to investigated. Maybe if all the Republicans running for president tell Pelosi it's ok...

That few Americans-- outside of arch-enablers Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer-- trust Bush any longer is reflected in his rapidly sinking poll numbers, currently in the mid-20s, the lowest of any American president ever.  And today's NY Times reports on another first, the Senate refusing to recess over the holidays, worried-- and rightfully so-- that Bush will go back on his worthless promise not to make recess appointments. And the Democrats know just which sack of crap he plans to burden the American people with this time.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, chose to schedule the so-called pro forma sessions because Mr. Bush took advantage of past recesses to install nominees including John R. Bolton, as ambassador to the United Nations, and, most recently, Sam Fox, a donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as ambassador to Belgium. This time, Democrats were particularly suspicious of plans to appoint as surgeon general a nominee they oppose.

“This is the first time that pro formas have been used to block recess appointments,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid.

No recess appointments? It all comes down to: How far do you trust the "word" of the Bush regime?

In case you haven't heard the news, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made a deal, or at least thinks he has made a deal, with the Bush regime which he at least thinks will mean no hideous recess appointments rolling out of the White House while the Senate is in recess this month. (The alternative was not to actually allow the Senate to recess.)

Naturally, no sooner did word of this deal seep out into the real world than skepticism began to be voiced. Here is Swopa's take on Needlenose last night:

From the Department of Scorpion-Frog Negotiations

Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker passed this along today:

Perhaps a little wiser after seven months in the majority, Democrats have strategized to prevent the White House from utilizing some of its sneakier powers while Congress is in recess.

There'll be no recess appointments this time around, Roll Call reports (sub. req.), meaning the White House won't be taking advantage of Congress' vacation to install any contested nominees. That's due to a deal between Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Last recess, the White House made a number of controversial recess appointments, including Swift Boat backer Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. In order to prevent that sort of thing from happening again, Reid had plotted to keep the Senate in "pro forma" session during the recess -- whereby the Senate floor personnel show up every three days to make it an official session. But now Reid and Bush have made a deal, according to Roll Call. Bush won't make any recess appointments and Reid has promised to move some of his nominees when Senate gets back in session.

Who wants to bet that sometime in the next few weeks, Bush makes some recess appointments anyway?

It may not even be a matter of seeking to appoint someone in particular -- he might just break the deal simply because he can... and he can't resist the temptation.

You have to like the scorpion analogy. However, in fairness to scorpions--real ones, that is, as opposed to those that appear in fables and parables--they don't actually make deals that deny their basic nature. Actual scorpions just do what nature mandates them to do.

Of course, lying compulsively appears to be one of the things that nature mandates Bush regimists to do. Which is another way of saying, in response to Swopa's question "Who wants to bet that sometime in the next few weeks, Bush makes some recess appointments anyway?": Sorry, not us. Sounds like a sucker bet if we ever heard one.