Where is Obama's Leadership?
As the markets plummet and the value of my house and investments disappear where is my
candidate? Like everyone else, my anger is mounting with plenty of blame to go around. But where is Obama's leadership?
Fine, he should keep his calm and collected demeanor, but nonethless work furiously to bring the Democratic rebels in Congress in line and pass the compromise rescue plan without the need
for those fringe Republican ideologues. Why doesn't Obama go round up Bill and Hillary -- the other most influential leaders of the Democratic Party -- mobilize his enormous e-network and for good measure bring on board the gurus of high and low finance -- Warren Buffet and Suze Orman -- for a full court press?
Thanks to the hard negotiating of the Democratic Congressional leadership, the Paulson plan has a large investment element where the public gets equity warrants-- the government would be buying assets at rock bottom prices likely to make a profit later. For this reason Suze Orman calls it an "investment plan" not a bailout. Its what Sweden did in their banking and credit crisis just over a decade ago, and the taxpayer has made out fine.
There are many reasons we are where we are -- low interest rates, macroeconomic stability, plenty of global capital sloshing around, the deregulation regime since the Reagan days and, it must be said, the American consumer out of control.
But you can't fix 20 years worth of Wall St. manipulation and consumer indiscipline overnight. And yes the plan is not a panacea and has problems, etc.
Politics is the art of the possible. This deal just voted down is what's possible. The only
possibility now is to revive it with the requisite votes from the Democratic side.
Obama needn't drop his campaign to focus on the crisis. Rescuing the rescue plan ought
to be his campaign. Its leadership the country is looking for. Let's see some.
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Nathan, you just don't get it.
If the dems passed this bill with no GOP support, then the GOP would just blame it on the dems and use it against them in the campaign. And in many cases they'd probably win.
Passing an unpopular bill without bipartisan support is political suicide. I can't blame those dems for not voting for it, and I suspect in many cases NOTHING would convince them to vote for it unless there was strong GOP support as well.
Obama needs to show more leadership, but blindly handing a blank cheque over to Bush (again!) is absolutely the last thing he should do. How about coming up with a real solution instead of throwing away money?
I agree. He is too urbane and too much of a "make-nice" person-- the kinda guy i would love as a neighbor, but feel will be weak as a President. One must be tough, resolute, firm, assertive and yes, aggressive when needs be. He has a problem with emoting...
As to the vote: renegade Republicans who want their own plan and sunk Paulson's plan. It's nothing more than that PLUS a few swipes at the Dems. So what, except the only thing is $1.2 trillion flowed out of the markets and we are worse off than the day before. A few more days, yes days not weeks, and the ability to avert or reverse course will be impossible. Read other online stats about home foreclosures, read about frozen home equity lines, read about frozen payroll credit, failing banks..... all will cause enormous economic hardship across the board.
last I checked, George W. Bush IS the President of these United States, not Obama (or McCain). You've seen what happens when a candidate places himself in the middle of a crisis like this - yes, I am talking about McCain.
There can be only one POTUS at a time, let Bush lead or not lead. Sen Obama is handling this situation properly.
Appearently he doesnt command much respect in the Senate.
CROCK-A-ROO to you, too.
Republicans cannot govern. THEY ARE THE RAW DEAL.
Why blame Obama now for Republican misdeeds? Hah.
Their profiteering policies, including DEREGULATION, do enormous damage.
Chicken came home to roost now, likely for a long, long time.
Republicans of today campaign permanently. Decisions they make are NOT about governing.
They're about CAMPAIGNING. So our government IS A CHRONIC MESS.
Therefore, Republicans CANNOT GOVERN at all.
Republicans showed they're about SOCIAL ENGINEERING FOR THE RICH.
When Republicans say "victory" and mean FAILURE.
Republicans BLAME, BLAME, BLAME.
Who should Republicans blame. THEMSELVES.
Today's IRRESPONSIBLE Republicans want 4, 8 MORE YEARS? ? ?
The Republicans WHO PROVED CANNOT GOVERN?
The Re[ib;ocams who ONLY DIVIDE US?
Irresponsible Republicans who crashed everything imaginable and corrupted for 8 years?
No thanks. NO MORE YEARS.
Republicans DESERVE TO LOSE the presidential election this time.
No more votes for FAILURES.
Profile I'm a Fan of uc1000 I'm not a fan of this user permalink
No republican president has EVER created more jobs than his Democratic predessor. So why do people keep voting for Republicans?
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No, Sir or Madame,you are wrong,people do not vote Republican
playing afraid politician *tactic*,you are contradicting yourself?
Are you Palin?
Caig is that you?
I find it pretty sad that, in the face of great leadership, we don't even recognize it as such any more. We've become so accustomed to the in your face. aggressive, below the belt dogfight (thanks so much Karl) that we don't even notice someone who is approaching a situation with a steady hand, who will get the facts first then act with common sense. We're only told by the other guy that he's "standing on the sidelines.
Mr. Gerdels, the leadership is there, you just can't see it for the trees.
Obama appears to be playing this event exactly right. Contrasted with McCain's bizarre statements and actions the electorate is getting a very clear picture of how each reacts to crises.
Where's Sen. Obama's leadership???? OMG, you should be asking, " Where's the Bush Administration's leadership?" The Dems didn't sink the bailout, the Repubs did. The country is facing a major crisis as 8 years of the rich getting richer has come back to bite the markets in the a@@! The bailout is supposed to help get the economy back on track ....... but what if it doesn't? What if it is a complete failure and eventually leads to greater hardship? Do the dems want to shoulder the responsibility for a failed rescue plan when it was the Repubs who created the environement for the mess in the first place?
Barack did and is doing just fine in response to this crisis. Why aren't you harping about John McCain's failure to deliver on his promise to suspend his campaign and get a bailout bill through congress - he hasn't done either!!
The very valid point was made right at the top. Democrats agreed to it. Republicans balked.
Since he's NOT YET THE PRESIDENT, Obama stayed out of the trenches. He pledged his support, expressed his opinion, and maintained a respectful distance. His party agreed to the bill.
McCain 'suspended his campaign' (although he didn't, really), rushed back to Washington to 'fix the problem' (although he mostly just sat on the sidelines until the end when he threw a grenade into the negotiations). He accused Obama of 'phoning it in' when that is LITERALLY what *he* did, 'monitoring' further negotiations BY PHONE. The next day, McCain claimed credit for the passage of the bill BEFORE IT PASSED. After the bill failed to pass he said "now is not the time to assign blame." Shortly after THAT he blamed Obama for it's failure to pass.
Who do YOU want as president?
So, if the Dems don't rescue the mess created by a Republican President and his Republican candidate and his friends in Congress, then it's the fautl of the Democrats and Obama's leadership? Are you the typical Republican who thinks voters are stupid sheep?
DON'T GAMBLE YOUR COUNTRY WITH McCAIN-PALIN'S RECKLESS JUDGMENT, LIES, BIGOTRY, SECRECY. OBAMA-BIDEN: INTEGRITY, KNOWLEDGE, GOOD JUDGMENT, BY PEOPLE & FOR PEOPLE.
The Democrats did their part. They're smart enough to wait for the party of the bailout request to come through with their votes. And P.S. leave Bill out of everything but his foundation; no low-grade toxicity needed at this point...
Two-thirds voted.... but the Repubs blocked the vote in the House..... a taste of what's to come IF Obama becomes POTUS; hardtimes coming and it is very important that we elect more Dems;
I could not disagree more. The democrats would be foolish to pass this bill on their own. Thats exactly what the republicans wanted. The expected the Dems to act responsibly so therefore they could vote against it and use the bill agaginst the dems in the future. Only Rep leadership got caught with their pants down. ( Thanks Newt. see Andrea Mitchell report.). Now they got egg on their faces and the only lame excuse why is because Pelosi made a partisan speech. ( which she shouldn't have made, but thats another story.) They, like John McCain, thought they could earn some political capital off of this. Boy were they wrong. The backlash will be swift and strong. Most peopel don't give a damn about Wall Street, however, most people do understand and care about their 401k's. Yesterday was the biggest finacial lost for 401k's in history. Lets see how long these jackasses sit on their hands now. This is by far not a good bill. I just scared of the alternative at this point.
Yep, we gotta show some strength and just do it and let them wah-wah afterwards; another trillion dollar day loss is unacceptable;
What exactly do you mean by "Democratic rebels"? Republicans were the ones who rejected the bill!
Thank God Obama realizes that to take a firm stand either FOR or AGAINST will be used against him. The Repug machine is trying everything to paint him into a corner.
Oh yes, ever wonder about the exact timing of this mess?????????
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