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Sunday Roundup

Posted: 09/23/2012 12:00 am

This week's biggest stories involved public figures being secretly captured by an unseen camera, exposing to the world what they are really like underneath. We saw that Kate Middleton, like many of us, enjoys getting a little sun on holiday. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, showed that he doesn't like many of us, believing we are victims and entitled moochers. Of course, anything can change -- but after Romney's Campaign Week From Hell, it's looking more and more likely that Obama will be reelected. So as well as focusing on the Obama vs. Romney race, it becomes increasingly important to focus on the Obama vs. Obama race -- Campaigning Obama vs. Governing Obama. And if the president really believes, as he told Univision, that he can't change Washington from the inside, and intends to outsource his leadership role to us, we are all (pardon the expression, Kate) royally screwed.


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09:43 AM on 09/27/2012
Obama was not suggesting that he outsource his leadership, he was calling on the citizenry to be actively involved. This is a bottom up approach rather than top down and it reflects his experience as a grassroots organizer (ie, the change is you and me).
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Paul Confer
11:19 AM on 09/24/2012
MARY BRUCE, ABC NEWS: The president has also had his fair share of private moments that have later been made public. During the 2008 campaign, he said that rural voters “get bitter” and “they cling to their guns or religion.” Like for Romney, this was also said privately to donors and then later made public after the fact.
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Barron
01:07 AM on 09/24/2012
Could he not be talking about voting out Republicans and voting in democrats. That is the change from outside Washington I think he was referring to. Quit projecting failure on this President, he has had more to contend with more than any President in the last 70 years for heaven's sake. A Congress that thwarts him at every turn and Democrats who fail to stand beside him. He is not a miracle worker he is just one man, lay off.
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pastol
06:26 PM on 09/29/2012
Agreed, but one correction" "A Congress that thwarts THE COUNTRY at every turn."
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Barron
03:13 PM on 10/01/2012
indeed!
11:28 PM on 09/23/2012
I believe that Obama is talking about our need to vote!
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09:46 PM on 09/23/2012
Howard Dean might could have, or Hillary,,, (sigh).
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rkemani
10:20 PM on 09/23/2012
Hillary for sure. Dean too....he only had to scream
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10:47 PM on 09/23/2012
A lot of good ol' boys in Florida liked Dean.  The Democrats would have and would be doing better  in the South had Dean gotten the nod.
09:26 PM on 09/23/2012
Presidents accomplish more when they are pushed by the people, because Congress is always being pushed by the lobbyist.

Remember FDR famously said, make me do it in reference to legislation that he wanted passed.
09:20 PM on 09/23/2012
President Obama’s statement means to me that he is shifting gear from trying to do it by himself with the power of the Presidency, to enlisting people’s power, in the spirit of Lincoln’s Government of the people, by the people for the people. Voters exert power at the polls, but they can also mobilize by segments behind issues, one at a time. Jewish and Cubans voters have been most effective at doing so. The mobilization behind Elian Gonzalez was amazing! It did not succeed because it went against solid legal foundations, but it was an impressive show of political muscle.

The Tea Party has defeated Obama resolve for change at the systemic level by choosing total polarization, take no prisoners. They usurp power by fear within their own party first and then by taking on the weaker democrats. Americans understand that. But also, is a well proven guerilla tactic used by insurgents in Asia and Latin America and now by the Taliban.

These "wholesome American patriots" effectively deprived Obama of the influence that Lyndon Johnson was able to exert on reasonable elements of both parties to carry out the most sensitive and daring social change agenda since the Civil War but without firing a shot.

Eventually, the reaction against the Tea Party will choke their power as it happened in China as the Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution which after ten years of polarization with the West gave way to the current hybrid ideology in power.
HotATL
liberal black man
09:09 PM on 09/23/2012
I like President Obama but, come on. We elect officials to fight for us. If we have to do the fighting also then “what are paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for”. I’ve been looking for a job every day for two years now. I can’t even get hired, now I’m supposed to run the country? If I had that kind of power I would have had a job two years ago, I have no power. The Dream Act, gay’s serving openly in the military, protecting reproductive rights, ending the Iraq war all of these are good things, but none of these thing affect me and none of these things will do me any good when my unemployment runs out next month and I’m put out on the street. Do your job or let somebody else do it.
09:36 PM on 09/23/2012
Obama hears you but if you are out of work you'll need healthcare so he's made it mandatory that you purchase insurance, and along with you more people will then overload the healthcare system with no provision to increase capacity or quality of care or to reduce the cost of point of treatment care so it should get interesting. Forget about a job, just gather as much cash that you can and invest in Insurance Companies, they are going to make a killing and profits will soar.
Oh and in three years Obama has increased his net worth x 15 fold, expect him to leave office with a net worth of 30Million ++ if he goes another 4 years (he started office at just under 800K).
Business is good for Obama and its looking even better for the insurance companies. Good luck on the job hunt.
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09:51 PM on 09/23/2012
There is one more candidate who would be really truly good at the job. You should have a look at Gary Johnson.

GaryJohnson2012.com
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hipocampelofantocame
retired pediatrician
09:08 PM on 09/23/2012
jerryengelbach should be running for POTUS, and I'd vote for
him. I really don't like "Double Cross" Obama, but will vote for
him and all of the Democrats on my ballot, purely because I
dislike them a whole lot more. It's a hard, frustrating life.
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SpookyAnnya
RN for higher teachers' salaries
08:43 PM on 09/23/2012
If only people could be the person their dog thinks they are, The world would be a better place.
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rigslip
I've been to hell and back
08:40 PM on 09/23/2012
We're screwed no matter who wins this election.
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skpknowsthis
Getting more liberal by the minute
08:35 PM on 09/23/2012
I'm one voter who will be happy if President Obama does nothing more in his second term than cement into American life all the important changes he did accomplish in the first term: The Affordable Care Act, gay's serving openly in the military, protecting reproductive rights, ending one war and winding down another, and allowing Dream Act children as much security as he could All things the GOP has vowed to dismantle. Plus Obama is the only one I want to appoint justices to the Supreme Court and throughout the court system.
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ClimateHawk
Think before posting.
09:00 PM on 09/23/2012
The Climate issue will rear its ugly head.

He will need to deal with that, too.
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skpknowsthis
Getting more liberal by the minute
08:21 AM on 09/24/2012
Yes, I'm sure he will expand his first efforts if given a 2nd term.  R&R just expect Mother Nature to be self-reliant.
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hipocampelofantocame
retired pediatrician
09:12 PM on 09/23/2012
skpknowsthis: Fanned and faved
08:26 PM on 09/23/2012
I AGREE WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA!

American Citizens need to change Washington from outside of the Beltway by voting out Every Obstructive Republican Legislator, especially all who signed Lobbiest Grover Nordquist's Pledge!

Re-electing President Obama and Good Democrats to take back the House and have over 60 Senators!

Pass Laws in Obama's Second term that:

-Ensure every eligable U.S. Citizen has the Right To Vote, and outlawing any Law by States to impose restricive, difficult to obtain, voter I.D.
-Protect Social Security, Medicare and all Worthwhile Social Programs
-Redefine People as People and Corporations as Businesses
-End "Citizens United" allowing unlimited funding of Elections by Secret Funding of any kind, ForeignCitizens, Businesses/Corporations and Foreign Countries.
- Rewrite our broken Tax Laws, Eliminating Unneeded Subsidies for Corporations, and Businesses
- Reduce the Defense Budget to Eliminate Waste and Unneeded Programs while Developing Defenses to the New Ways of Warfare.
- Restructure our National Education System to Provide a Good Education for All Emphasizing Math and the Sciences to Prepare American Students to Compete and Excell in the New needs Of Businesses, Manufacturing, Research, Medicine and Education.
- Ensuring Every U.S. Citizen has Affordable Health Care, Preferably with a Government Sposored Program Similar to what Our Nations House & Senate Members Have!

THE REPUBLICANS WILL NEVER DO THESE THINGS!

REELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA AND ENOUGH DEMOCRATS TO THE HOUSE & SENATE TO ACCOMPLISH MEANINGFUL PROGRESS!
HARRY77
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SpookyAnnya
RN for higher teachers' salaries
08:41 PM on 09/23/2012
F&F Amen!
09:04 PM on 09/23/2012
I'm on board, count me in.
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08:26 PM on 09/23/2012
   The rise and fall of nations is decided in large part by the leadership of those nations.  In our own Republic, gradually every citizen became a leader and chose formal leaders through participating in political parties ant through voting.  Through wise choices, luck and chance,  until the latter decades of the 20th Century representative democracy seemed to fare fairly well; In some four-year spans,  exceptional well.
   No more.  Our nation has run into a string of leaders who have placed privileged groups and special interests before the national interests. These leaders have opened up the gate to unrestrained commerce and monopoly that has created a monstrous oligarchy that has corrupted every public leader and private citizen it touches.  Its power is so strong and persuasive that it controls the agenda of both political parties and predicts policies and procedures. 
  In theory the reformer candidate in this vacuous campaign should be President Obama. because his followers daily suffer the wrath of an increasingly unjust economic system that makes most  Americans poorer by the year. But he denies the authority to make reforms blaming Congress or unfair laws. 
  In truth, this President from the first day in office has offered promises to his own core supporters and while opening the national treasury for our banking and capitalistic monopolists (oligarchs).  He also expanded the Afghan War to benefit war profiteering and military personnel advancement. The question remains whether he suddenly recognizes his sworn duties to our Constitution and membership.  It is a possibility that he may  somehow alter his view of Presidential leadership.  I am not optimistic. This president is a timid reactor rather than a protector and courageous advocate for what is right under the Constitution and for all the people. 
   Based upon all the information that I can trust, I have concluded that both candidates are a menace and danger to our declining nation. Each in his own conviction has  at heart other than the best interests of the citizens and nation.  Each appears to have hidden agendas that are too outrageous to reveal.  I wish I could be more reassuring.  Anyhow, I am going to vote.  That is our only right, perhaps, to have some influence.
soeasy
"Be the change you wish to see in the world"
08:15 PM on 09/23/2012
I do not agree with you Arianna. Washington need to change, because it is rotten and the Congress that we have now, is the worse that we have had for a long time. However, they are there because we elected them. The President can do many things as far as the Constitution allows him to do . . The rest is up to us.