Do you Believe in Magic?
Posted: November 22, 2010 Filed under: Democratic Politics, Surreality | Tags: Nancy Pelosi-0bama Rift 95 CommentsOkay, put this under the heading of I’ll believe it WHEN I see it even though I just read it at The Hill.
When President Obama meets with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi next year, he may face a lot more resistance than he’s used to from his longtime ally.
The shift from Speaker to opposition leader will undoubtedly change Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) relationship with the White House, and may force her away from a president she has rarely abandoned in the past two years.
As Obama decides whether and how much to compromise with the new Republican majority in the House, Pelosi is facing pressure from empowered liberals in her caucus to take a harder line with the administration.
Those liberals, led by a group of four lawmakers who tried unsuccessfully to delay caucus leadership elections last week, say House Democrats were led astray by their allegiance to a flawed White House political strategy during the 111th Congress.“We’re going to have to really push the White House and the Senate,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said. “I think the greatest failing in this Congress was that the House … enabled the White House, and the White House was not always right.
“We’ve got to push them harder from our position,” he added, “to do what Democrats need and what’s expected by Democrats.”
The article is just chock full of little tidbits like Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) from California suggesting that not standing up for Pelosi will she was being used as a target of right wing attacks has created ‘tensions’. There’s even old stories of how Pelosi was unhappy with Clinton triangulation in the 90s. It also answers the age old question of whatever happened to Dick Gephardt that promising man from Missouri.
All I can visualize is her demeanor when she’s around the President. It may be just the contacts or the botox or both, but the word ‘starstruck’ always comes to my mind. Is she really over him?
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I’m with you. I’ll believe it when I see it. Nancy “impeachment is off the table” Pelosi isn’t going to suddenly develop a backbone.
I don’t think it’s about backbone. Pelosi misjudged the 2006 election and the downfall of the GOP in 2008. Pelosi misjudged everything, including Obama.
Amen, sister, Amen! She would have to do a TOTAL MAKE OVER for us to believe that and first see the puddin 😉 !
With Pelosi losing her speaker gavel, I knew this: If she stayed, it meant she was angry with Obama for the loss. Everything I’ve read pointed to that. Pelosi is irrelevant in the house now. Pelosi is a powerful Democratic Party leader, and if she’s at war with Obama, he’s made a powerful enemy. Unlike Bill Clinton (probably that’s why she hated the Clintons) who developed his own support outside the very liberal wing of the Democratic Party, Obama can’t get elected without that support.
Pelosi has great allegiance to the party and wants to help the party.
Pelosi knows that the party is toast if Obama runs in 2012. How far she’ll go to stop Obama is not known. But I think she’s going to work to get someone else to run in 2012. I hope she knows that the only person that has the best chance to win in 2012 is Hillary.
I hope you’re right, Dario. You’re giving me some reason to hope.
same here
Watch the media. If we see more and more negative articles on Obama, it means he’s losing support from important people who feed the media.
By “he” I meant Obama.
Yup. Soros has already announced his disenchantment. I can only imagine more of the rich and powerful will signal they are not amused.
I don’t mean donors, but political insiders who work the apparatus of the party.
“I don’t mean donors, but political insiders who work the apparatus of the party.” I think you are right Dario, and remember these same insiders are the ones that hung Hillary out to dry in 08. Seems to me that all these articles about discussing disappointment with Obama, from those former worshipers, are pretty much repeating the same thing. Using the same sort of points to back up their argument. I don’t know, it almost seems like as if there is another Journolist campaign going on (where all these media folks are working together) to cover their asses because of the fallout that many Obama supporters have had. I mean they were the ones who shoved Hope and Change down our throats.
I hope my comment makes sense…found out today that my son not only has a broken nose, but a fractured skull as well. (that area between the eyes) We go to a specialist in ATL tomorrow to see if he needs reconstructive surgery. Ugh….
It could be another Journolist, but I think it’s oftentimes just memes that move through culture. Political fads, so to speak. People repeat everything until it’s ‘true’ and then after a while, rush to the next ‘truth’. Few seem to examine anything in depth anymore.
I hope your son recovers completely. You can’t seem to get a break lately.
Oh no! You’ve been through so much lately, Minx. I hope your son will be okay. Please keep us posted, and take care of yourself in this stressful time.
Velma Hart has lost her job. She’s the woman who told Obama she was “exhausted” from defending him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112205270.html
Just another unemployment statistic. Not surprising, given the economy and everything Obama has done to make it worse. Still too bad.
I hope she is in a mode to not take prisoners when it comes to Obama’s lack of spine. Remember a lot of the blue dogs got voted out, so that contention is diminished.
Her real problem is the inexperienced spineless president. It is interesting that he is loosing international stature, not all of his doing, but his lack of leadership is recognized.
Nancy delivered for him like a good soldier – now he is the lead in negotiation with the Republicans. Obama showed that he can be rolled by the senate and Republicans.
I hope Pelosi stands up to Teh One for whatever reason. Unfortunately I doubt it will be because she’s developed a true Democratic spine. It’ll more likely be because she’s so P-O’d at him for losing her the Speakership.
Majority Speakership, I meant.
I’ve met Speaker Pelosi on a few occasions and she was one of those people who looked right through you, like you didn’t exist, then found the richest most powerful person in the room (George Lucas, a huge dem donor) and cozied up to him in the most cloying, flirty way. It was awesomely disquieting. And it wasn’t just me that noticed, it was everyone. She likes money and power. She’ll side with whomever can deliver those things. Principles got nothin to do with it.
Pelosi is blaming Obama for what happened in the 2010 election. I think we’ll need popcorn when those two ruthless, power hungry go after each other.
Unless it happens completely behind closed doors. I’m just hoping it’s somewhat public and some Democratic pols discover what the party is supposed to stand for and against.
Well, if Obama’s on the out, then let’s hope some one principled is on the in now.
I’m not saying that Obama is in the out, but I think having Pelosi working against him means he has to regroup. Something is happening. It seems Obama is not supporting Rahm for mayor of Chicago.
I’m not exactly sure he and Rahm parted on the best of terms. Just a feeling I have more than anything.
There’s lots of fighting within the party. Obama blames Rahm and others for his failures, while Pelosi and many in the house blame Obama. Other’s blame Pelosi. The Democrats created their timing b0mb, but no one wants to take responsibility for the mess when it exploded.
Obama always blames everybody but himself.
Thank you, I was beginning to think it was ME (questioning my perception of what I knew I saw), but I see you got/saw the ‘Little Person’ treatment too.
Look to Nancy to be the barometer for what is upcoming in 2012. The House Dems are already telegraphing their anxiety from within the ranks and if President I Don’t Give a Damn capitulates on the Bush tax cuts as has been reported, those remaining Dems are going to throw a huge hissy fit as they see their seats being lost in the next election.
The GOP is already measuring the curtains in the WH and it will be up to Nancy to keep them in line and strike back against the idiot currently in place who has put them all in jeopardy.
Nancy may feel she has a “safe seat” in SF but the others will be out for blood if he goes further down the road as a DINO. Nancy is the one to watch and it will be those congresscritters who stand before the microphone who will be telegraphing her orders to the rest of us.
Love the title of this essay!
I’m sure some one would primary her from the left if she didn’t stand up for some basic things like DADT removal. I really hope that some of her friends tell her to act like a Democratic congresswoman for a change.
There’s no point to primary Pelosi. Nobody can beat Pelosi. She doesn’t campaign or meet with the people she represents. She received over 80 percent of the vote in 2010. http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/us-congress/district/8/
Whoa! Look at these Zogby numbers!!!
President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has dropped to the lowest point of his Presidency at 39%, and in potential match-ups with Republicans in 2012, he trails Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich and is just one point ahead of Sarah Palin.
The percentage of likely voters saying the U.S. is on the wrong track is now the highest since Obama took office at 69%.
One point ahead of Palin?
That would make the last three contenders for president Dunce, Duncer, Duncest.
I keep asking that why in a nation of 300 million people, these are the best we have to offer?
Astonishing!
Pat, that is one powerful statement: why in a nation of 300 million people, these are the best we have to offer? And so damn true!
I’ve seen military juntas pony up classier people!!!
And the sad part mink, is that we are about to do it again.
In 2008 the GOP offered up the likes of Guiliani, Thompson, Huckabee, Tancredo, Romney and McCain. The Dems put up Dodd, Biden, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama and Hillary. Out of both packs of wannabes only one stood out. The one wearing the earrings!
Even the GOP stayed home in droves rather than vote for McCain/Palin and Obama was “chosen” by an American Idol style of campaigning. None of the above 3 had the slightest clue on how to correct a failing economy but the one candidate who was writing white papers and offering solutions was shoved to the rear in a cacophony of crappy hype that got us Obama, the most mediocre of all on that Dem stage, to go up against another mediocre ticket that the GOP loathed.
Next year the same screw ups, with possibly one or two newly added names, will be joining the list of GOP hopefuls while we on the Left will be stuck with President Indifferent.
There is not one name out of this sorry group of contenders who elicits a spark of interest, intellectual curiosity, commonsense, or a desire to serve the people or work for the common good.
It will be the same lies mixed in with a lot of bible thumping, messages from God, fat cat donations, and much smoke and mirrors to shut off the sounds of a nation crumbling under the weight of leadership that has failed on all fronts.
Lucky us!
Yup. I’m really hoping that the infighting within the Democratic Party explodes and Obama is pushed aside to give us a good candidate. Just hoping.
There are far too many people invested in him, I think, for that to happen.
Gallup has similar numbers
Obama may not be the pristine candidate that those who rushed to support him in 2008 expected, but the GOP hate machine has been going full tilt since than.
A group of elected politicians who have promised to not only “defeat” the current occupant, and who are willing to hold this nation hostage to get its way, is in no way a group, Tea Partiers and all, who should receive any form of applause.
The Tea Party is dancing to the tune of its Master, the GOP and its well funded mercenaries, with the soul purpose of bringing this nation to a disastrous halt simply by employing the word “no” to any form of legislation that would help to ease the plight of so many who are suffering or near the bottom.
The problem is that we have a man in the WH who has yet to fight back at a very nasty group of people whose sole intention is to gain back the power they feel was taken from them. A real fighter in the WH would have served this hateful group their walking papers long ago not seek a compromise with those willing to gut him at every turn.
Exactly!!! What happened to conviction and principles? He read what he needed to read, but I don’t think he even believed a word of it.
Obama had a 60 percent approval and was given a super majority in congress. How could a party piss all that away in 2 years? The most incompetent president, G.W. lost in 2006, despite the lies and a moribund economy that had nothing going but a housing bubble. The Democrats did it all. It wasn’t the Republicans. The GOP simply pushed the Democrats when the party stepped on the edge of the precipice with their incompetence.
I don’t understand the compromise stuff. I just don’t. Obama came into power ready to give up everything he said he stood for. He dealt blows to liberal ideals immediately, without even lifting a finger to fight for them.
My feeling is either he is very stupid, yes, I said it, stupid. Or he never had any liberal ideals and meant to compromise from the beginning. I reckon he hadn’t any ideals. I think the job of Pres was way too big for him, and he doesn’t even have the ability to cover up the holes in his soul where a heart and courage should be.
As for Pelosi, I think she fell in love with him, with the idea of him. Oh, it was a pragmatic love, she could hitch her star to him for a while and get a lift up. But like so many others, she loved the concept of Obama, and couldn’t see the reality. When the reality intruded, she ignored it, like so many millions of others. Until she couldn’t any more. Now the party’s future lies in tatters and she lost her gilded throne.
My brother the Obot wrote to me the other day, “Could I really have been that blind about the man?” And then he added, “What do I know about politics, really?” To which I want to reply, well, you can imagine what I want to reply.
How about if it seems too good to be true it usually is?
He seemed obsessed with just getting things passed and wasn’t worried about the results.
The Democrats and Obama misjudged the 2008 election.
First of all, the election was a repudiation of G.W. Second, despite all that money that Obama had spent, the economic problem we were enduring, and a weak GOP candidate, Obama was not high in the polls. The Democrats did not understand what was underneath the vote. There were cracks in the party and the 2010 election showed how deep the cracks were. Many who voted for Obama did so reluctantly, and those people stayed home in 2010 or voted GOP.
All the voters who chose Hillary may have voted for Obama in the general election, but those voters were skeptical and needed to see results. The Ds had 2 years to prove their hopey/changey shtick, but the Democrats never understood that.
Zogby usually isn’t that reliable, but he is a Democrat so I tend to think these numbers might be accurate.
Sorry I have been ghost all day. Had to deal with Frontier airliines all morning getting my people back to KS. Nice post Dak (as usual). I was catching up with my reading now that I am at work and I came across these nuggets…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_exhausted_woman
And this tibbit…
And finally, this little gem….
Hillary 2012
wow, longest links I’ve ever seen!! I’m embedded them for you!!! and glad you finally got off work, you’re going to give your young self some gray hairs doing that!!
Thank you for the embedding. I’m really not good at that and I hope you don’t hold that against my level of intelligence! 😀 And sadly, the grey is sneaking in there (both my parents greyed prematurely so I knew it was coming).
What do you make of the stock market? Trading seems to be up and it hasn’t dipped below 11,000 for quite awhile. Is that an indication of some positive mobility in the economy?
not at all, I have a really easy dashboard that helps to do it all!! It’s sort’ve like having a rib sheet… I think the Market just recovered to where it was more than anything …
I’ve seen a bunch of financial reports warning of a double-dipped recession. Is it wise to use the market now as a vehicle for investment or should the watchword be patience?
I’d wait right now.
Are we having a double dip? What’s the odds?
Right now, the odds look pretty good. Especially if they get all caught up in austerity measures. It’s why Bernanke is trying the QE2. He’s hoping to stop the imports from draining off any growth we have plus the credit markets still aren’t very functional. Fiscal policy is hopeless at the moment. At best, we’re going to be be stagnant with this 2 % GDP growth for awhile. Unemployment is too high and people are really rebalancing their budgets. I’m actually thinking Black Friday might be more significant than even it usually it is this year. I’m not seeing good things out of the leading indicators at all; especially consumer confidence.
oh, and a 2% growth rate isn’t going to bring down unemployment.
Then wait it is. I trust your judgement WAY more than the cable news economic talking heads….
I’m pretty conservative when it comes to looking at things like investments and the economy. I really look at the fundamentals. It must be an Omaha thing.
I have a lot of stuff in safe things right now just trying to protect my principal in terms of the U.S. My speculative stuff is all ‘hot money’. I’ve been heavy in emerging markets for about 2 – 3 years now.
I forgot you came from my old stomping grounds! I really need to go back for a visit here soon…..
What are the ’emerging’ markets, if I may be so bold to ask?
BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India China and then some of the smaller ones like The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia
I’m all cash (not much money to begin with). I got out of the market in April. It’s hard to see the market go up and sit tight, even if I know the market is in a bubble with the Fed throwing all that money into the system.
i bought some stuff to hold for the long haul about in march 2009 … I bought FORD nearly at the bottom and it’s been doing very well and I intend to hold it
Again, thanks!! There is hope that I will leave this job when the year turns and I’ll FINALLY have some disposable income that I can put to work. Being in he category of underemployed is one of the worst things that I’ve had to deal with in this life, and with the tiny light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter for the first time in two years, I’m not ready to make a bunch of mistakes right out of the blocks…..
TheRock,
I hope no one got groped, and that you enjoy the holiday with your loved ones.
‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.” — Obama
yeah, we’ve got him alright
I’m not so sure Pelosi has that much heart to be star struck. I think she’s cold and calculating. I think it’s a tricky thing what happened to Pelosi. It’s like when we want to believe that our lies will hold. When everything is working we forget that the foundation is false. It’s the Bernie Maddox story. Pelosi knew, but at the same time she believed it would work. It all came crashing in the 2010 election. She knows Obama would not be president without her support, and now she’s angry that he didn’t deliver in 2010.
oops. I got it wrong. Bernie Madoff.
also. Bernie Maalox.
Pelosi bought the fairy tale in part because she doesn’t like Hillary. I don’t know what it is with the likes of her and McCaskill, but they approached the ’08 election as though it was a search for anybody but a Clinton. What hhas to be the funniest thing for me is their lemming like attitude. Instead of standing up and saying either to Obumbles or the nation ‘..hey we got this one wrong…’ they continue to support and stand behind the empty suit. It will create their ultimate demise for sure, and quite possibly the demise of the DNC. And it will serve them right.
Asshats.
Hillary 2012
Exactly. The impetus for this thing was more anti-Hillary than pro-Obama from the beginning. Our party is like the political equivalent of Dementors, we will not rest until we’ve left behind a blighted post-apocalyptic landscape where success goes to be strangled by really annoying bumper sticker slogans.
They kicked me out after the RBC meeting. Until Hillary is president, I’m not going back.
Asshats.
Hillary 2012
I have a hard time believing any of these experienced politicians could be that dumb. It’s like if you run this scenario 5 billion times, it will end in disaster at least 4,999,999,999 times. Possibly more. I think maybe they were blinded by CDS. They hated the Clintons and wanted to get rid of them so much, they never stopped to think about the consequences, or underestimated them and thought they could somehow ride them out. Well, Nancy can. Everybody else….
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!
Hillary 2012
It’s all about power. Pelosi, Kennedy, Reid, could never have too much power with Hillary in the WH. Hillary would have been in charge and they would have had to follow her lead. With Obama they saw a “partnership”.
I also think that the Democratic leadership bought the Republican meme that the Clintons were responsible for the 1994 loss and all the drama during the Clinton years. Those in congress felt victimized and they never looked at how they were responsible for their own loses. It was easier to blame the Clintons. That’s what the CDS is all about. Now they see that it doesn’t matter who is in the WH. If it’s a D, the Republicans paint their faces and it’s war.
That’s my take also although I’ve never crystallized it quite so well. Ah, look at the time. I need to go to bed. I’ve got to referee a paper tomorrow. Take care!
If that is true, then the Democratic leadership is about as dumb as a box of rocks. Revisionist history is a b&%ch!!
Hillary 2012
But they saw what happened with Bush, everyone thought they could be the power behind the throne because he’s stupid and lazy. A President who’s a dolt is still President, and they knew Obama, knew his temperament, knew he’s easily offended, holds grudges, is a narcissist and everyone who’s ever opposed him in any way gets thrown under the bus. They weren’t playing the odds on that one either.
I meant everyone who supports him goes under the bus, but that too.
People see the weaknesses of others, but not their own. The Democrats thought they were smarter. If those in congress could stay in power because there’s a charismatic president (Dario throws up), then it’s a win, win. The voters are dazed drinking kookaid, chanting Obama! It all seemed so easy. It was to be Camelot feel good all over again.
I know it was b.s., but those who were in the bubble couldn’t see it.
Then they should pay for his ineptness moreso than those of us that saw this trainwreck coming…
Hillary 2012
They are like the gangsters. Pelosi threw us all under the bus. She was helping Obama. She never thought she’d bee under the bus too. A gangster never thinks he’ll be crossed, but those people will stab anyone who’s not useful. In 2010 Obama was running for 2012. Pelosi will never forgive him for that.
double crossed.
Yup. They deserve to lose and they will. 2012 is looking like another loser. We could see it. The Republicans could see it too. Obama, Pelosi and all those in the Democratic Party that fixed the election, couldn’t see it. They were actors in their own fairy tale. They forgot it was all make believe.
But they’re politicians. They know numbers. They can calculate money spent per vote received and see whose support’s wider and deeper. They know they had to carry him over the finish line. AND they were privately admitting that he was a dilettante. They’d have to be on something stronger than kool-ade to see the makings of a success story here. A lot of variables would have to align perfectly for this to work.
I agree. They are all politicians, but that doesn’t mean that they can see their own shit. They are like Bernie Madoff. Anyone outside knows the end. But those inside believe they can fool all of the people all of the time.
I’m actually hopeful for the 2012 elections. At the current rate, the country will be in such a state that the Ammerican people will wake up out of this Obot delirium witha vengance towards bad leadership. It will be then that the soup will be prime for Hillary to ascend. And I’ll volunteer again. And I’ll deliver door signs again. And I’ll argue with anyone happily in defense of my girl again. This time, though, I’ll see her at 1600 Penn on Jan 20, 2013.
Hillary 2012
Bernie is a very smart man. He started Nasdaq. He got caught in his own lie, destroying himself, his wife and so many trusted friends who believed in his investment. Why? He thought he was smarter than others.
Good night.
There’s trouble between N.Korea and S.Korea:
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2010/11/2010112363934477392.html