Rachel Maddow's show on January 12, 2010, told me something that I did not know; that many Americans don't know it because only the English write about it. The truth about President Barrack Obama. Although this one, thankfully came from us...
Slate Magazine who calls this
HOME / THE BIG IDEA: THE THINKING BEHIND THE NEWS.
Obama's Brilliant First Year
By January, he will have accomplished more than any first-year president since Franklin Roosevelt
By Jacob Weisberg
Posted Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, at 8:13 AM ET
When you hear all that Rachel told us you will be stunned, and you will see our choices clearly. This diary the factual information, with proof, of what the President has done and a contrast with the past and the grim future we face if we do not act now to save ourselves a repeat of the Bush years.
This is charting a new course for Americans in two critical ways. First, we must examine what we became under Republican rule and second, what will happen if they get it back.
On January 12, 2010 the wonderful Rachel Maddow signaled what could be the end of this era by giving President Obama what he has earned, his proper due. Rachel quietly and emphatically told us the facts about our President and what he has done to reverse the trend toward our destruction.
Obama's Brilliant First Year
By January, he will have accomplished more than any first-year president since Franklin Roosevelt.
Republicans brag that Ronald Reagan permanently reversed a 50-year tide of American liberalism. And it's true. There was a time, when it was important to all Americans that their neighbors were cared for, across the land. The advent of Reagan style "trickle down" economics marks the beginning complete destruction of a kinder, more fair, and "more perfect union." There was a time when all work had dignity, and the kind of wealth bandied about today would have been considered the epitome of vulgarity... associated with unsavory activity. The movie "Wall Street" and it's notable quote "greed is good" signaled the view of the President--Reagan. It was necessary to say "greed is good" as until that time, greed was considered despicable.
Again to quote from Rachel's show:
The treasury of the United States made a 52 billion dollar profit for the people of the Untied States. Well that's a great start on jobs or the deficit. Rachel makes the point that President Obama's, plan did work. We didn't have a great depression, and we do still have a banking system, something we had no idea we would have less than a year ago. There is "news" throughout. That banking system is about to change.
And in case you think he does not deserve our praise for this, I have a documentary from David Faber, along with a few other pieces. We have let the right wing nuts convince us that both Democrats and Republicans were responsible for this financial mess. Tomorrow my diary will be about that. And we'll see how much Clinton was responsible. But again, I'll leave that for tomorrow.
Next, Rachel notes that the BBC gave him great credit for all he has done. In fact the international community thinks of him as one of our greatest accomplishments. They are baffled at why we can't see this.
If you want to talk jobs, Rachel shows the Bush years, no that's not years, it's ONE year... his last year Bush lost 800,000 jobs. Then President Obama gets in office and the job losses start to get fewer each month. So, Bush, one year-- 800,000 and we blame this President because he couldn't create all those jobs in one year... maybe we expected a little too much, and maybe we gave too little support. There is great strength in numbers. He gets his strength, his clout with the Senate, from us. And the numbers began to turn almost immediately after he got into office. Rachel calls it her "bikini chart". It's shaped like a bikini bottom with Bush's last year disaster at the bottom (no pun intended.)
Next, Rachel lists just a few of his many accomplishments, including getting an $878 billion stimulus bill passed, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed, the repeal of the ban on embryonic stem cell research, historic climate legislation in the house, and of course, the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court, Justice Sonya Sotomayor. Then Rachel states that the most comprehensive set of financial reforms, since the Great Depression, are waiting on deck. And then the "granddaddy of all-- health reform."
Then Slate goes on to point out the absurd notion that the President has accomplished nothing in his first year when in fact:
This isn't an ideological point or one that depends on agreement with his policies. It's a neutral assessment of his emerging record—how many big, transformational things Obama is likely to have made happen in his first 12 months in office.
And now healthcare. We may or may not win Teddy Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts. And what it means is much more than about healthcare...
We are so submerged in the details of this debate—whether the bill will include a "public option," limit coverage for abortion, or tax Botox—that it's easy to lose sight of the magnitude of the impending change. For the federal government to take responsibility for health coverage will be a transformation of the American social contract and the single biggest change in government's role since the New Deal. If Obama governs for four or eight years and accomplishes nothing else, he may be judged the most consequential domestic president since LBJ. He will also undermine the view that Ronald Reagan permanently reversed a 50-year tide of American liberalism.
As to perhaps his most astonishing accomplishment (also from Slate:)
When it comes to foreign policy, Obama's accomplishment has been less tangible but hardly less significant: He has put America on a new footing with the rest of the world.
and later:
Obama has already significantly reoriented policy toward Iran, China, Russia, Iraq, Israel, and the Islamic world.
In my humble opinion he did much more. The world needs a leader, a touchstone to look to for guidance. For eight long years that was replaced by terror of what America's leader would do.. what fresh scare each day? In the space of a few months the world breathed a sigh of relief. They went back about their business, ever watchful, but with new leadership firmly in place. The Nobel had nothing to do with us, it was a thank you to him.
And with the election of Obama you kept science safe for kids... right up until Texas Governor Perry turned down federal funds so he could control what kids in Texas were taught. So it's a Texas problem, right? No. The naton's largest school book publisher generally uses the schoolbooks ordered by Texas or California for all other states. They do this as it is not economically feasible to print different books for each state. Since his original election, Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly picked creationists to jobs in the State School Board. A quick visit to Americans United for Separation of Church and State and you will see his determination to have a Bible based public school system.
How much destruction can just one Republican cause? See above.
We have been made so angry we failed to learn that our President has reversed the tide of history. He has actually already changed America's economic path away from the Reagan trickle down, what's good for the rich is good for all, policy. And the bonuses have been used to arouse so much anger, and only half the truth is known about them. Please, I am begging you, give this President the benefit of the doubt. He has done much for us that is not yet known. There are great announcements to make, and Rachel hinted at so much to come. But first we cannot let him lose that 60th seat (tentative as it is already with the likes of Bayh, Baucus and Lieberman.)
The problem is, there is something that all Americans have not learned. We have not learned that one man, no matter how brilliant, how full of purpose, can work with any but the people we have elected to Congress. That seat will put us at 59 if we lose it. . And it may be too late. The fraudulent hucksters who call themselves "mega star preachers" may win after all. We can change all of the Senate in three elections. But until we claim our miracle, until we stop letting them steal our glorious moment, we have no hope.
And while we can discuss the revamping our banking system needs, let's not forget that it fell under the Bush watch. If President Obama had inherited the surplus that Bush did, eight years of his policies, his policing of the system, would have never brought us to this. We have been lied to about how the crisis happened. Tomorrow my diary will be about that http://www.msnbc.msn.com/... of his first year in office.
The election of President Obama was a miracle, a gift and a moment of great grace for our country. Our miracle said that skin color does not matter, that even the poorest of us deserve an equal chance. It said that we know that unless children are fed, clothed, housed and loved we will have more crime. We will be saying that the millions of children abused by priests and preachers do not have the authority of the crimes against them.
And the dream of a man who loved us, of two men who loved us, Americans, may die with a few elections. But, if so, I will not forget America. I am grateful for my America and I will remember it. I claim my miracle. If we all claim our miracle Ted Kennedy is not dead and President Barack Hussein Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia, Sacha and Bo can love and care for us. It is our last, best, hope for America.
But as Rachel notes at the end... they will ruin this for us. The lying, controlling t Fox, and lazy CNN will ruin what should be our proudest moment. If any other President, at any other time had done this we would have been inundated with every kind of media thankful that he saved us. But we live in an age when every computer can be out shouted by a TV network. And as Rachel said last night, just watch, just see how horrible they will paint his record.
And what makes it most amazing is that the did it with perhaps the most difficult Congress any President has ever faced. And make no mistake, we gave him that Congress with our vote.
He did it with millions of people screaming, and spreading filthy lies about him, even from Congress, and certainly from Fox and CNN, from every news outlet and multiple blogs, he was still able to focus. He was used, by his detractors to make a name for themselves and to make a buck. And he did for us what we were so unwilling to do for him, he gave us the benefit of the doubt. If he had met with his worst detractor, he would have treated him as a person of dignity, worthy of respect.
Our choices are clear and the will be made with the next two elections. Do you want the America of Sarah Palin. Or do you want the America of John and Ted Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Hussein Obama. You will not know how much he has done for us until you give him a bit more time. Just a little more faith... is America not worth that? In the simplicity of that choice is the complexity of America.
And then (according to the litmus test all Republicans must agree to in order to get money from the RNC, they pledge victory in Iran and Afghanistan, lower taxes for the rich, and lower deficits. How is that possible? A draft, and virtual slave labor?) To them "big government means smaller oversight, less law, more legal theft. Who are these people. Is this what America really wants... a return to Bush.
Or do we want science, genetics, progress, feeding and caring for all Americans, new healthcare, jobs for everyone, banking and lending that is strictly governed by law.
And what we did not know, what the liars screamed until we could not hear:
Obama's Brilliant First Year
By January, he will have accomplished more than any first-year president since Franklin Roosevelt.
I would like to know how in the world we missed the biggest news, the most amazing news for anyone who helped get this President elected? He has accomplished more than any other President since FDR, under horrific pressure, under constant criticism. And what is more amazing... he cares about us. He CARES about us, still, we are the most important thing to him after family. And there is more good news to come, much more.
Rachel says they will make him look horrible at one year... she said "you watch."
Rachel Maddow, you are fine and good. In the name of my beloved gay nephew Noah's memory, thank you, and I will work every day to help you have the right to marry. Thank you for what you did on January 12, 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...