Arianna visited "The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell" Wednesday evening to discuss Obama's recent bump in polling and where she hopes to see the president take his agenda following the upcoming State of the Union address.
Arianna explained that the president's speech responding to the Tucson shootings helped unite Americans in a time of crisis and remind us of our core values. "The poll really captures the mood of the country," she said. "This is a good country, an optimistic country, and we all came together."
Arianna continued by saying she doesn't think Obama will maintain his newfound rise in favorability. "There's no way this is sustainable when you look at the underlying facts about the economy," she said. "And the fundamentals of our economy are not good, period."
When asked how she hopes the president will lay out his agenda in the upcoming State of the Union address, Arianna responded that instead of fighting for his own interests or those of the Democratic party, she hopes the president "pushes the right agenda for the country" as a whole.
Invoking a concept first developed by author and historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Arianna suggested it might be time to stray from party rhetoric as usual. "We all talk about the middle," she said. "What about talking about what Arthur Schlesinger called the 'vital center'? Which is very different from the middle...it's really about a shared agenda which brings out the best in people and which recognizes our responsibility to those left behind."
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There is only one agenda both parties agree upon and that is the agenda of big corporations. It is not because of ideology that a party embraces that agenda, but it's how campaign contributions are earned.
The vital middle is not a political stance, but a position to get the money to get elected. It has nothing to do with the will of the people.
What we need are not politicians giving great speeches about change, rather what we need are statesmen/stateswomen exhibiting the will to change.
http://www.forprogressnotgrowth.com/2010/07/11/crisis-of-will/
Two billion and a half dollars a week, countless lives, and not worth a mention it seems.
I would love to see her on MSNBC in her own show .... possibly as a replacement to KO
Then back up to the other republican administrations like clinton and bush, abd reagan and redo almost everything they did.................
Obama's right and you're wrong.
It was an American reporter in Germany interviewing a German successful business man and the American journalist was asking about the large taxes he has to pay, the businessman ignored the question twice and third time responded: "I don't want to be a rich man in a power country". How many of our richbusiness men come out saying that and repeating it over and over again. Majority that get press time just whine about taxes and regulations and just want to pollute our air and water, contaminate our food with chemicals, and move jobs offshore where they can enrich themselves off of slave labor.
If President Obama doesn't shift this see-saw, we could all land into a mire we can't escape.
If the President doesn't take the reins of the Party he represents, the extreme right of the Republican Party wins.
The vital center can work after a serious shift is made and made quickly.
The way we have been looking at business is not sustainable and therefore not good for any of us.
The bush cabal knew the economy was crashing. Why do you think they spent so much time telling everyone they could get to listen that the fundamentals were strong?
But it appears that know one gives a damn. Not enough to even attempt to set things right!
It's over. Buy gold and flee.
I think it will be hard to buy gold and flee, when I think most Americans only own the land they live on and maybe a car. I doubt if many have the liquid assets to to even be able to flee.
Like the people in Iraq left to live in poverty or stay and die.
As Noam Chomsky pointed out in his essay, "The Responsibility of intellectuals," which is critical of Schlesinger," moral responsibility extends to telling the truth, to "exposing the lies of governments," (Wikileaks, anyone?) and exercising "the power that comes from political liberty." Nader tried to warn us during his campaign that in a fundamental sense there is little difference between most Democrats and Republicans. Such it has proved to be.
Our MSM, in fact, is in control of information in this country - as well as political slant. It's somewhat heartening that currently (excluding Fox) there seems to be a bit more analysis offered in weighing the validity of the contents in the topic box instead of the usual prattling about the wrapping paper.
Since ratings drive the MSM engine, and genuine information requires research, logic, and more air time than simple sound bites, we get what their sponsors will support. Meanwhile, viewership continues to decline overall so they're battling over what remains of us who do tune in.
The question I ask myself is how to change this among the majority of the US citizens? How to inspire folks to vote and care?
How long will it take until the Professional Left and the far-left misfits realize that President Obama is a centrist president, and ours is a center-right nation?
The next time you firebaggers want to start whining about public medicare or options for all, do us all a favor and remember that you're just a tiny minority in this country. Nobody will help you until you get onboard with the rest of us and support your only real friends, President Obama and the democrats.