You beat me to it, rimrocker, but I'll post an addition anyway. It's about time he started talking like this, damn it. This is also from The New York Times, but it cuts to the chase: Obama Strikes Populist Chord With Speech on G.O.P. Turf OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — Laying out a populist argument for his re-election next year, President Obama ventured into the conservative heartland on Tuesday to deliver his most pointed appeal yet for a strong governmental role through tax and regulation to level the economic playing field. “This country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share and when everyone plays by the same rules,” Mr. Obama said in an address that sought to tie his economic differences with Republicans into an overarching message. Infusing his speech with the moralistic language that has emerged in the Occupy protests around the nation, Mr. Obama warned that growing income inequality meant that the United States was undermining its middle class and, “gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is the place where you can make it if you try.” “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class,” Mr. Obama told the crowd packed into the gym at Osawatomie High School. “At stake,” he said, “is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/u...-populist-chord-with-speech-in-heartland.html
it's not the rich that impede the american dream, rather, it's government. obama is the problem, not the solution.
don't rule out both! The wonderful thing about ignore is that you can see the twitching and dancing without reading the posts, so don't quote him.
“Fewer and fewer of the folks who contributed to the success of our economy actually benefited from that success,” he said. “Those at the very top grew wealthier from their incomes and investments than ever before. But everyone else struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren’t — and too many families found themselves racking up more and more debt.” Mr. Obama sought to pre-empt a Republican response that he was engaging in class warfare. “This isn’t about class warfare,” he said. “This is about the nation’s welfare.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/u...-populist-chord-with-speech-in-heartland.html
Obama doesn't give speeches, he reads speeches that other people wrote. He's a reader. He also doesn't govern, that is left to a woefully ineffective Congress that for political reasons, Obama refuses to lead (would rather keep his distance for selfish reasons -- some leader, huh?). Obama is a vehicle for election purposes only. His role within the White House is minimal -- Axelrod, Jarret and Plouffe run the show while Obama sits in his 2nd story study and smokes. Obama does very little because 1) He has been gifted everything in his life without earning it and as a result has never developed a work ethic and 2) He does not possess leadership skills or the motivation to lead. I sincerely hope our country isn't dumb enough to fall for the whole "brilliant speech" media blitz again. This guy ran in 2008 and was appealing to many uneducated and emotional voters because of what he promised he would do while in office. Well guess what, what he promised didn't work -- quite the opposite in fact, it has made things worse across the board. He has obviously divided the country along racial and socioeconomic lines, and has made that a strategy going forward. Internationally he is laughed at for being weak. He has had his chance, and he failed. It's time for change.
No offense, but there is a lot of stupidity as well as numerous incorrect statements in your post. Do you always post fabrications? I mean, even Republicans would snicker at this.
Why does this... have to be paired with this? If those are the policies you favor what difference does it make if "both sides" end up agreeing? If the policies are brought to fruition, that should be much more important than "both sides" getting along... besides, history and human nature suggest that "both sides" will never get along.
It is amazing to me how Republicans project the truth of their party onto Dems but always fail to recognize it amongst themselves. Just because Repub Presidents tend to operate this way (Reagan, W) doesn't mean that Dem presidents do. These criticisms of Obama are slightly tragic, occasionally funny, and always full of irony.
Did he give the speech on his way to Hawaii for his approximately one thousandth vacation? What a disappointment he has been, to waste such a mandate. To be clear, I will be voting for him, but that's only because the GOP is slightly more corrupt, though Democrats continue to work hard to close the gap. In the mean time, we are promised that we will see the real Obama once he's re elected. That the true progressive and reformer we hoped we would get three years ago will finally start kicking some ass. Uh huh, yeah, sure we will.
With friends like these.... Once again for the slow of mind... 31 months into their presidencies Obama 70 vacation days Bush 225 vacation days
The whole speech. <object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc40d8e1" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=45569538&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc40d8e1" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=45569538&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 420px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>
The Presidency is an easy win. The Republican candidates are jokes to the point that I now believe they just don't care. There is no legislative power in the Executive, all the real power is in the Legislative and primarily in the taxing power of the House. This speech is about, and what he needs to be out there every day working on, winning Congressional seats.
