Better Dems and Media NOW, Please

[filkertom]

Digby's Hullabaloo is one of the truly essential blogs out there. But Digby isn't the only top-tier poster there. These two posts, by Dday and Tristero, should set your blood boiling nicely. Really, they sum things up much better than I could, so just go read 'em.

Comments

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

It's amazing *sigh*

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

Democrats See Own Shadow And Faint; Six More Weeks Of Capitulation

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

lol..no matter ho much one person wants to change everything..as long as enough people otherwise want to keep the status quo it will stay that way...stupid sheeple

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

I realized something yesterday - our news media don't know how to deal with a president like Obama. The scandal-and-horserace model doesn't quite work when you have a president who is willing to admit mistakes, who plays the political Q&A game for only so long before putting on the brakes and saying "Look, here's the real deal...", and who will hit the talk circuit at the drop of a hat if he thinks the news reports aren't accurately covering his positions.

Obama's real struggle isn't with Republicans or weak-willed Dems in Congress - it's with the news media coverage. Over the past week, I've watched in fascination as the media created the "massive opposition" to the stimulus package out of practically nothing.

[a-steep-hill.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's quite as simple as that. Certainly the stimulus bill has major, major problems. Not just pork (which is merely wasteful) though there's plenty of that. There's also $50B in there for "clean coal" (an oxymoron in my professional opinion as an energy engineer) and nuclear power (don't even get me started), for example.

Also, it appears that the Democratic House leadership locked the Republicans out of discussion against Obama's wishes. There seems to be a conflict brewing between Pelosi (an establishment Democrat) and Obama with his new grassroots energy. For example (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1876912,00.html).

And what about this (http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/Cooper_Obama_staff_encouraged_defiance_of_Pelosi.html)? I know there's a lot of skepticism about this right now, but I think it's credible. If Obama is as idealistic as he seems, he can't be happy with the state of the stimulus bill. But he's got to preserve a working relationship with the Cogressional Democrats, most especially Nancy Pelosi, so he's trying to walk soft.

I understand why he feels the need to do things this way, but I doubt it will work out well. The political establishment (on both sides of the aisle) are more threatened by what Obama represents than by anything their historical opposition can do. I don't think they're going to give Obama any ground, because that would be letting the camel's nose into the tent. Or, as the case may be, the llama (http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/2/2/128781070709367036.jpg).

If Obama wants a good stimulus bill (i.e. one that stimulates the economy, quickly, by making NEEDED investments rather than random, politically motivated ones) he will probably have to step away from his party to do it. I'm hoping that after he lets the Senate chew on it for a few days, he'll step forward with his own proposal and ask Congress to debate that. Which they will then have to do in the context of enormous public pressure to give Obama his way. Since Obama is clearly twice as moral and eight times as smart as the average congresscritter, whatever his team proposes is likely to be better than the sausage currently being made in Congress.

At least, I hope so. I figure we've got one chance to get this right, or we are well and truly screwed.