Recent WH response to DADT:
"I feel strongly this is an action that needs to be taken by the Congress and that it is an action that requires careful preparation, and a lot of training, It has enormous consequences for our troops."
- Robert Gibbs, October 2010
Recent WH response to START:
"I reiterated my commitment to get the Start treaty done during the lame duck session, and I've communicated to Congress that it is a top priority."
- President Barack Obama, November 2010
Recent WH response to DREAM:
"I am still holding out to see if we can get the DREAM Act passed and AgJOBS passed as part of a broader package so we allow ten to twelve million out there who are living in the shadows to come out and not live in fear. Obviously, the DREAM Act would be better than nothing.",
- President Barack Obama, speaking on this morning’s "Piolín por la Mañana" radio show in Los Angeles, October 25, 2010
For many of us in this country these three issues, along with MIDDLE class tax cuts ONLY, are what we are demanding from this lame duck session. What we need to do is look at these issues seriously and separately and determine HOW we can get these things through without the President's call for the mystical beast that only he can see, bipartisanship.
This is what is killing us.
All of the talk of the "schellacking" we took from the WH is wrong. We weren't schellacked, we were sold out! Obama's message he took away from the mid terms was that he needs to change course and start to negotiate!
We cannot negotiate with those who only want our failure. For the last couple of weeks of this session we HAVE TO flex what little muscle we have left and pass these bills into law. Or at the very least force the vote and get their stand ON RECORD, giving us something to campaign against. (Like a vote to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class only BEFORE the election would have probably helped the left immensely in the recent mid terms)
The message that should have been heard loud and clearly:
STOP GIVING AWAY THE STORE!
If we took the approach the repubs take, we would now possibly have a single payor health care system. Let's not let these last couple of weeks slip away with the same result.
Instead of meeting, again, with republican leaders pretending to negotiate anything, use this time to meet with YOUR democratic LEADERS who are STILL LEADING, get your outgoing blue dog senators in line and win or lose,
FORCE THESE VOTES!
The only way we lose these battles is to take the approach the WH is taking. We will spend the next month listening to the rhetoric from the right and letting them do what they do best, delay.
FORCE THESE VOTES!
DADT:
We own this. It was a Tool negotiated by a democratic president who now supports it's repeal. Gibb's above quote is wrong in that we do not need more time for training and DADT has far more benefits to our military than consequences. The American military is set up in a system of rank and orders. If the order were given, it MUST be followed. Period. I beleive a vote on this would pass. Even if it didn't, Obama has the power to at least temporarily enact our wishes trough executive order, or he can issue the order in-house as commander in chief. Win or lose the vote, we can still win the message, by actions!
START:
If we force this vote now it will surely pass. The right has far too much to lose if they vote en masse against this treaty. It would mean giving up ALL claims to our national security platform for decades to come. They will not take this chance. THEY WANT THIS TOO! If they do vote it down, we are in trouble, big time! And they know it.
DREAM ACT:
This will be the hardest one to pass, but again, win or lose, we can benefit from this vote. We need the leadership we voted for to stand up and get something done. Push the benefits of an expanded tax base for the fiscal dems. Push the benefits of it being the right thing to do to the rest of them. We can pass this alone, if we can reign in our caucus. I know, hard to do with us lefties. But worth the battle and if we win it, adds a lot of new left voters.
FORCE THESE VOTES! THIS WEEK!