President Obama is delivering his State of the Union message tomorrow.
This is the speech that I would like to hear:
"My fellow Americans. Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President. It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received. But I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name. Especially the middle one. No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.
"We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes. You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them. Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.
"But a President is more than a legislative program. Although my title is 'President,' you did not elect me to preside. You elected me to lead.
"We are at a fork in the road. The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick. We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years. Or I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.
"I choose the latter. As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.
"These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:
"First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.
"Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a 'currency manipulator,' and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don't want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade. I will institute 'anti-dumping' actions to protect American jobs.
"Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank's expense, before foreclosure. Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.
"Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered 'too big to fail.' Too big to fail should mean too big to exist. There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.
"Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest. I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets. In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that. If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again. We can't take that chance.
"Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500. This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens. And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.
"Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do. If they can do it, then so can we.
"Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours. We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly. We have to keep sewer money out of politics.
"Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution's 'freedom of association,' be defended - including the promulgation of 'card check' by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.
"Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner. After a decade of war, it's time for peace.
"Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America. I still do. Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically. America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them. That's the change we need, and the change we deserve. I won't settle for less."
Follow Alan Grayson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alangrayson
So far he and his posse claim a long list of successes using this battle tactic, but I, like you, would love it if for once he would show some teeth and claws and force the Republicans to at least show him some respect.
Repubs - Obstructionists (you had an unchecked majority)
Big Business - always evil
Mortgage Problems - In every case the bankers' fault, not consumers buying too much house with too little income.
China - A currency manipulator? How about congress' (both present and past administrations) spending too much that we didn't have and having to have China underwrite that debt - Being we are the "borrower" and they are the "lender" we capitulated our ability to call the economic shots at will.
But good or bad, we elected the President to LEAD. I'll give Grayson that much credit.
Reality can hurt you when it hits you in the head all of a sudden. Say hi to Megan McArdle on your way to the restroom.
Let me reiterate my rebut to Grayson:
Repubs blocked progress - You dems had the override
The Mortgage Crisis - Some people bought homes they couldn't afford (lending policies were loosened under Clinton...the bills came due under Bush - which is neither here nor there). People made purchases they could not afford hoping to refi later because their homes would appreciate at non-sustainable rates forever...so they thought.
China - We have voted in spending, we can't afford (as mentioned Administrations past and present). China now calls the shots. Just like home borrowers the ultimate pain of debt owed to China may not be felt this year or next...but reckless spending (even on programs that would be nice) come with a price tag.
Nice article. It's nice to know that some of you actually read - but like a kid who learns a new word, it's better to use those new found joys in context...
The folks who actually run the country will never allow it.
We wanted: FDR.
We got: "Herbert Hoover meets Neville Chamberlain."
When FDR was elected, the Depression had been going on for 3 years. The Communist and Socialist parties won more than a million votes combined. Soldiers were camped out in the Capitol demanding to be helped. The country was near revolution. There is no comparison between Obama's mandate and FDR's.
Most Americans do not want to destroy "the system", or even change it very much. They would be happy to go back to before the crisis, to 2005. People hate rapid change, it's stressful. Unlike folks here, they think the US basically works, just needs some tweaking. Others think everything would have been OK if we just let the big banks fail, that the bailout was the problem, not the private sector.
That's probably denial, but you get elected based on the public's view, not by being right.
FDR’s economic recovery plan was a huge bust. Federal spending as a share of GDP more than doubled in the 1930’s, but the unemployment rate stayed high throughout the decade.
By 1940, eight years after the New Deal was launched the U.S. unemployment rate was still hovering around 15-percent. Wow, that is some success story! To put that into perspective, it would be like the United States having a 15-percent unemployment rate in 2016 and everyone celebrating the success of Obamanomics.
And what impact did Republican measures to force a balanced budget have on the improvements FDR made?
You ain't telling the whole story, republican.
the post war savings rates, rising wages, controlled inflation were all products of the New Deal. todays growth relies entirely on foreign capital/consumer debt as we have no savings and twin deficits.
Friedman has already been proven wrong on the causes of the depression. we sured up money supply, saved the banks. something that hoover didnt do and yet we still have subpar growth and high unemployment. the only thing history is proving is that FDR was right. and Keynes was for the most part, right.
campaign financing being number one -----and a free pass for the blue dogs being number two ---blaming china number three
I hope you sent this post to the White House and every Democrat in Congress. Please help keep the progressive ideals in the public consciousness (and conscience).
Term limits! We limit the President to two terms, I would have no problem limiting the others.