Posted on 01/17/2013 1:23:48 AM PST by Kaslin
To judge from his surly demeanor and defiant words at his press conference on Monday, Barack Obama begins his second term with a strategy to defeat and humiliate Republicans rather than a strategy to govern.
His point blank refusal to negotiate over the debt ceiling was clearly designed to make the House Republicans look bad.
But Obama knows very well that negotiations usually accompany legislation to increase the government's debt limit. As Gordon Gray of the conservative American Action Network points out, most of the 17 increases in the debt ceiling over the last 20 years have been part of broader measures.
Working out what will be in those measures is a matter for negotiation between the legislative and executive branches. That's because the Constitution gives Congress the power to incur debt and the president the power to veto.
Obama supporters like to portray Republican attempts to negotiate as hostage-taking or extortion. But those are violent crimes. Negotiations -- discussions attempting to reach agreement among those who differ -- are peaceful acts.
What we do know, from Bob Woodward's "The Price of Politics," is that Obama is not very good at negotiating. He apparently can't stomach listening to views he does not share.
Perhaps that is to be expected of one who has chosen all his adult life to live in university communities and who made his way upward in the one-party politics of Chicago. Thus on the fiscal cliff he left the unpleasant business of listening to others' views and reaching agreement to Joe Biden.
Obama has laid down another marker in his puzzling nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense.
As the Washington Post editorial writers pointed out, Hagel -- though a nominal Republican -- has stood way to the left of Obama on whether a military option to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program is feasible.
Obama has said repeatedly that that option, however risky and unpalatable, is on the table. Hagel has said it shouldn't be.
It's not at all clear that Hagel has the experience and temperament to head the Pentagon. His vocal defenders tend to concentrate on attacking his detractors rather than make the affirmative case for his qualifications.
Hagel seems likely to be confirmed given his endorsement by Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday. But it's interesting that no Republican senators have spoken up for him and that liberal Democratic senators like Bob Menendez and Ben Cardin have declined to do so.
As defense secretary, Hagel seems likely to cut military personnel and capabilities. There's undoubtedly some detritus that can be swept away. But his nomination seems less aimed at managing the military than tormenting the Republicans.
Then there is gun control. Some recent media polls show majority support for further restrictions on guns. If you phrase the question the right way, you tend to get that kind of response, especially after a horrifying crime like Newtown.
But new restrictions are unlikely to have any significant practical effect. The ban on assault weapons -- a category defined mostly by cosmetics -- certainly had none in the 10 years it was in effect.
The fact is that we have many more guns and many fewer murders than we did 20 years ago. Allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons, as most states do, has not resulted in the street shootouts some predicted.
Strict state gun control laws did not stop the carnage in Newtown or the frequent killings on the streets of Chicago. The push for gun control is more a symbolic gesture than a serious attempt at governing.
Something better can be said about Obama's call for immigration law changes. The need for some change is clear.
That was also true in Obama's first two years, when he did nothing to advance legislation on the subject when Democrats had a solid majorities in Congress.
The question is whether Obama wants legislation or to stick it to the opposition. Many Republicans, like Sen. Marco Rubio, are ready to support legalization of those brought here as children but not immediate legalization for all 11 million illegals.
Negotiations and compromises will be needed to get a bill through Congress. A president interested in governing would not insist on getting his way 100 percent. Whether Obama is such a president is far from clear.
One thing's quite clear.... Obama's an A-hole 100% of the time.
Key word for obama is always "said." What he says and what he believes, of course, are often as different as day and night.
The GOP is going a great job helping him at that.
Look, O said he wont ‘negotiate’. Imagine what Dems would be saying if the GOP said that.
So instead of R party House leaders on TV talking about using the debt limit as leverage and how it wont default the US, (as they did in 2011) they should be talking about O’s ‘my way or the highway’ approach is leading to default, repeating over and over
Here: ‘The President said he wont negotiate, do you realize he is saying he will blow up the economy to get 100% of what he demands in his spending and increased debt? He is holding this country hostage just to bankrupt the country.”.
The GOP used the same rheteric in 2011 Debt limit fight as they are now and they got beat at it, so why the hell are they doing the exact same f..ing thing?
Looks to me like they lost already. They need to leave their bubble and see the real world.
Push for immigration reform? You bet, 12.2 million unemployed, 12 million illegal immigrants. Send illegals home, employ Americans. How is that for immigration reform?
Mmmmmmm.........that sounds an awful lot like the "People's Temple." Rev Jim Jones promised a "better life, hope and change.....and diversity." Tolerant and compassionate Rev Jim Jones brought lotsa Kool-aid (and cases of cyanide) for the diverse crowd that blindly followed him to a place from which there was no escape.
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THE OBAMA WRAP ---These people are even scarier in triumph, when they've clearly mocked democracy and stolen the election. America has witnessed the consequences of a generation inculcated with moral relativity and situation ethics. The ghost of Saul Alinsky lurks behind M/M Obama, Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Anita "Mao" Dunn, Valerie whatsherface, and the rest of the Ohaha ilk.
They clearly see themselves as "deconstructionists"----savagely committed to tearing down America's traditions. Every manaical official govt act is dedicated to chipping away at the bulwark of American freedoms. \
The Obamanations are a virulent anti-American plague of religion haters.......vacant, surly Me-First humanoids who worship at The Church of Whatever Works For Me. Cadres of self-absorbed punks squatting in govt are clearly disturbed---obsessed with religious cleansing and kicking so/con Repubs to the curb.
The Ohaha savages duped the citizenry, led us over a multi-trillion dollar deficit cliff, into massive corrupt bailouts, and atrocities like amnesty.
Their motto: "Everything For Us--Nothing For You."
That same generation inculcated with moral relativity and situation ethics has segued into The Entitlement Generation---better known as "Pay Me--I'm a Victim.
We need to remember that the Obamanoids are ruthless predators w/ no empathy for others and no remorse; anti-social psychopaths who recognize no moral boundaries--aggressively going after what they want, irregardless of the consequences to others.
Paraphrasing Saul Alinsky----the author of evil anti-religious satanism......"they do not have a fixed truth -- truth to them is relative and changing..... they are free from the shackles of dogma."
"How'd I get reelected despite Benghazi, trillion dollar deficits, and a crappy economy?"
"Easy---all Democrats need to win are knee-pads to suckup for votes, a blank check from the US Treasury, a bleeding heart and a steady supply of transfusions."
PARA-MILITARY VOTE-CRAZED DEMOCRATS ARE ON THE MARCH Power-hungry para-military Obama/Democrats w/ patented voter fraud know-how have been empowered by 2012.
PERVERSE CORRUPT DEM THINKING IS REMINSCENT OF THE POST-CIVIL WAR ERA----Carpetbaggers---Northern invaders ----were prominent in Southern politics until 1875, but nearly all left under pressure from paramilitary organizations, then-described in history books as "the military arm of the Democratic Party."
The para-military Obama Dems work openly to violently overthrow established rule......using intimidation and assassination to turn out of office those they could not subjugate.
GENERALISSIMO OBAMA has a litany of remarks about the “invisible and permanent powers-that-be” (Repubs/conservatives) trying to harm a long list of "govt-dependent losers."
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FREEPER ACTION MEMO---In 1875, Hiram Revels, a Mississippi Republican--and the first African-American US Senator-- wrote to then-Pres Ulysses S. Grant denouncing Northern invaders into the post-Civil War south for manipulating the Black vote for personal benefit, and for keeping alive wartime hatreds. (WIKI)
We need to get someone with integrity----like Cong Allen West (not reelected)----- to write letters to his colleagues, and to the media.
Cong West needs to do the following:
(1) decry the agitation and intimidation tactics being used by Obama's thugs,
(2) expose using hatemongering for personal gain,
(3) emphasize the illegalities WRT making threats,
(4) precpitate investigations into fraud and intimidation upon our electoral/legislative system by hate-mongers groups, and,
(5) determine the scope and dimension of subversion these activities are visiting on US ntl security.
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We've seen some pretty shady characters in the political game---but no campaign has produced the likes of the Chi/Mob con artists running Ohaha's sleazy game.
David Axelrod has shown himself to be The Most Sinister Character ever to surface in politics. Axel, Valerie whatsherface, Rahm Emanuel, m/m Ohaha---are the kingpins of crooked Chi/politics---they are very practiced at fixing elections. They know all the sleazy tricks.
THE PLUSPERFECT REASON WHY THE CITIZENRY NEEDS TO BE ARMED
“We’ve got to have a civilian national security force (which answers to me) that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded as the military.” - candidate Barack Obama on his plans for America (can easily be mobilized via Obamacare).
Marxist fa**ot.
A national disgrace.
There aren't enough epithets, actually . . .
Or...when you are too stupid to effectively argue your point (or your point is so stupid that it can't be argued effectively) you stonewall and bluster and throw a hissy fit to prove how adult and righteous you are...
sorry buddy, that reasoning ASSumes that the rin-o-p is actually an adversary of the bambam...
kabuki is as kabuki does...
Puts a lie to the notion that academia is about a dialectic and debating multiple sides of an issue you don’t share.
What do you think the Republicans should do?
Thanks.
Beyond what I posted in : #6??
The problem they have now as like the tax standoff is they have already trapped themselves in their own losing rhetoric, that they are the ones who will use the debt limit as a weapon or hostage, a hostage that in the end they wont be willing to shoot and O knows that.
This goes back to my comment here here see #3
They always use losing rhetoric against O to show their purity to the Rush base who end up mad at them anyway for losing. .
So instead of R party House leaders on TV talking about using the debt limit as leverage and how it wont default the US, (as they did in 2011) they should be talking about O’s ‘my way or the highway’ approach is leading to default, repeating over and over.
That's it? That's all you got? The Republicans should "talk about" Ubama's arrogance?
The Republicans could say what you suggest (and actually they have) until they're blue in the face but it would still, a.) get no traction in the liberal Democrat "mainstream" newsrooms, b.) fall on deaf ears and sound like whining even if it did, and c.) accomplish what "talk", without action, always accomplishes - - nothing.
So, aside from tweaking the rhetoric, what strategy of actions would you suggest the Republicans pursue (other than cave to the African communist and the moocher base of the Democrat party)?
Thanks.
Your comment indicates that you completely miss my point, perhaps on purpose.
Their current plan leads to the cave, after they lose. And then it will be humiliating.
That is not my suggestion, that is what my criticism is about. They are on the fast track to another massive defeat and circular firing squad.
I put that in every comment. I posted that they will cave on taxes as far back as November and even predicted the circular firing squad, and why. And that no one will run against Bohner (you see anyone else posting that?)
Now your negative use of the word ‘rhetoric’ indicates that you have no idea why they ALWAYS lose, in spite of my lectures.
You see Obama’s press conference?
That was lots of rhetoric.
You see his executive orders many of which are meaningless and do nothing???, that was rhetoric.
You see how O won the election in spite of all the predictions here that he will lose?
lots of rhetoric
(BTW,I was right on that too) What do you want, some bill the GOP House can pass that will magically make O resign on the spot, like the Birthers claimed that they could do??
Well There is none. There is no genie in the bottle, if there was Obama would be gone by now.
Win elections, is that to the point enough??
Get voters support and win the WH, more Senate seats and more house seats, not lose them.
It should be obvious, that is Os strategy.
Right now he his strategy is to completely disable the GOP by destroying them, he will taunt them and bait them and be as aggressive as possible and every day demonize and humilate them, this is his second terrm strategy, and key in his plan is their own fracture as a party.
The next few months will not be pretty unless you love O. For them every day will be Christmas.
At least the gun ban wont go anywhere this session of congress, but thats a fig.
Okay then! Now you're talking. Now you're coming up with a winning strategy.
All the Republicans have to do is... what you said. Yeah...
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