There has been quite a bit of hype and hullaballu in response to Netroots Nation Keynote Interview with White House Communications Director Dan Pfieffer, particularly over the issue of Obama's 1996 questionaire answer that he (then) supported Same-Sex Marriage.
But even though I think it's fair to point out the Obama Signed the DADT Repeal and he has declined to defend DOMA - I'm not going to flog that issue. I'm going to talk about everything else he said in response to Kaili Joy Gray.
The relevant section begins after Senator Klobachar's intro at 11:33 into the video
More over the flip.
I'll admit I have my issue with Obama's tendency to cut deals behind closed doors rather than articulate things to the American people. But he does and has gotten more progressive initiatives implemented than any President since LBJ.
My bigger argument is with the one rouge prosecutor (same Bush Holdover who blew the Ted Stevens case) in the DOJ who seemed to be going after Whistle-blowers - but I have to also admit that Holder rebuilt the wall of seperation between professional prosecutor and politics that Bush had torn down.
Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for.
But that's just my pet peeve.
Fox News.com reported on the Pfieffer Grilling.
Off the top, Pfeiffer recognized that he was walking into what the HuffingtonPost called the "lion's den."
Gray expressed displeasure from the left on Obama compromising on extending the Bush-era tax cuts.
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/...
I think the most significant issue displayed is the perception gap between Gray's articulation of the Liberal Democratic position and Pfieffer's statment of the Pragmatic Possibilities for Democrats.
Sometimes our biggest problem, is ourselves.
"You've mentioned a couple of times that it's very difficult for the president to get things done when he doesn't even have people in his own party who are willing to support him," Gray said of one of Pfeiffer's answers. "When Bush was president, he had a minority in Congress for a lot of that time. He used the power of the executive order quite a bit, he was able to get a lot done. Why is it so much harder for Obama to get things done?"
Pfeiffer's answer about how the president works with Congress drew a sarcastic retort.
"Are you saying president Bush was better at bipartisanship than Obama is?" Gray asked.
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/...
What Pfieffer actually said in response to this, rather than suggesting that the Bush was better at being bipartisan, was really that the Republicans are often united while the Democrats are divided. Nearly all Republican are Conservative with the two exceptions of the "Sensible Sisters" from Maine, Senators Snowe and Collins - but also that there are more than a few Conservative Democrats that often stand in opposition to a more progressive agenda. People like Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and, while he was still in office, Bart Stupak.
And as Salon kicked in...
That was the most egregious example of communications directorese from Pfeiffer, but it did have competition. Angry Mouse (or, OK, Kaili Joy Gray) repeatedly questioned him on what the White House is doing about unemployment, and Pfeiffer was rather unwilling to admit that the answer is "nothing."
That's because the answer isn't nothing. For example there's Start-Up America.
President Obama has called on both the federal government and the private sector to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of entrepreneurs across the country.
First, the Obama Administration is rolling out a set of entrepreneur-focused policy initiatives in five areas:
Unlocking Access to Capital
Connecting Mentors
Reducing Barriers
Accelerating Innovation
Unleashing Market Opportunities
Second, leaders in the private sector have launched the Startup America Partnership, an independent alliance of entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders, joining together to fuel innovative, high-growth U.S. startups.
This isn't "Nothing". In addition to this Pfieffer specifically mentioned bills and proposals such as the The National Wireless Program. and Infrastructure Bank.
The proposal — sponsored by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas — would establish an independent bank to provide loans and loan guarantees for projects of regional or national significance. The idea is to attract more infrastructure investment from the private sector: by creating an infrastructure bank with $10 billion now, they say, they could spur up to $640 billion worth of infrastructure spending over the next decade.
This bill is currently hung up in Congress. Just as the bill to shift tax breaks away from companies that move jobs overseas - and instead create more U.S. jobs was blocked by Senate Republicans last year.
S.3816 - Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act
This bill would give companies a two-year payroll tax holiday, reducing the amount of Social Security taxes they would have to pay, for new employees who replace workers doing similar jobs overseas. It also revokes provisions of the tax code that Democrats say encourage companies to outsource their work force.
When Pfieffer said there "were a number of jobs proposals that were being blocked by Republicans" - he wasn't wrong. He was exactly correct. What's worse is that they sometimes have Democratic help.
In addition to every Republican voting "Nay", Four Democrats Voted against Cloture on this Jobs Bill:
Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT] Nay
Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE] Nay
Sen. Jon Tester [D, MT] Nay
Sen. Mark Warner [D, VA] Nay
Does Obama deserve criticism for not getting this bill passed. Sure. But how can we as Democrats allow so many of our fellow Democrats to continue to Help Republicans Punk the American people on jobs?
We should be raising as much HOLY HELL about this bill being blocked as we have about the slow implementation of DADT. It's just as important.
Also I think it's completely legitimate to point out that one thing we get by continuing to support Barack Obama - is we Avoid the Disaster That a Republican President would saddle us with.
Yes, I know - "Not as bad as the other guy" - isn't necessarily a great rallying cry. But when the other guy intends to either Slash and Burn Medicare like Paul Ryan or Slash and Burn Social Security like Tim Pawlenty while gifting Rich Corporations, who are already making record profits, with the greatest tax breaks in history so large they are 4 Times more damaging to the deficit than the George Bush Cuts.
Pfieffer's answer on fighting back for Women - which Gray completely blew off - was the Paycheck Fairness Act - which the Right has already begun to attack.
It’s a proclamation to launch a thousand feminist manifestoes: sexism is dead. So you can imagine the ire that was unleashed when Christina Hoff Sommers’s name appeared this morning, in bold black and white, on the top of the New York Times op-ed page. Fair pay? Sommers asks, referring to a long-stalled bill that would help eradicate wage disparities. Who needs it?
She’s talking, of course, about the Paycheck Fairness Act—a “common-sense bill,” as President Obama has called it, that would make it easier for women to file class-action suits against employers they accuse of sex-based pay discrimination, and require companies to be more cognizant of their pay practices. Sommers argues that not only is this unnecessary, but it’s actually unjust. The “bill would set women against men, empower trial lawyers and activists, perpetuate falsehoods about the status of women in the workplace and create havoc in a precarious job market,” she writes.
On the question "What are the absolutely lines you will not cross on Medicare and Social Security?"
Pfieffer: We will do nothing that will slash benefits, privatize the program or change the nature of the program. And the same thing on Medicare. These programs need to be strengthened, they are not in crisis
...
There some things we can do on Medicare - like what we did in the Affordable Care Act - on the provider side, not on the benefit side. He is absolutely opposed to anything like what is proposed in the Ryan Plan.
What the ACA did was lower the payments Hospitals in Medicare Part-A and B, and remove the overpayments to the private sector in Medicare Part-C without shifting those costs only the beneficiaries the way that the Ryan plan does.
All we need to do to fix most of these problems End the Top End of the Bush Tax Cuts, get people back to work so that revenues increase, raise the cap for Social Security taxes, and let Medicare negotiate for 40% Off on prescription drugs the way the VA does.
In general, fighting for what you want against concentrated and focused partisan opposition can make this a hard difficult slog. It's even more difficult now than it was last year. But this is the fight we signed up for.
It's worth it - even if we may be incredibly frustrated with the losses and compromises such as the modification of the Public Option that came out of the Senate (Thanks Lieberman) - to keep with the slog, and stand to protect and prevent the GOP from repealing the ACA. To continue the fight for Equal Pay. For an Infrastructure Bank to help rebuild our physical backbone while we supplement our digital skeleton. We do need to protect Medicare, to protect and preserve Social Security, to get America back to work and eliminate tax loopholes that send our jobs overseas. We need to prosecute Wall Street, and at least prosecute what torturers we can - even though the War Crimes Act has been gutted by the Military Commissions Act.
There still a Lot of Work To Do.
Do you seriously trust any of the Republicans to even try and complete the withdrawals from Iraq or Afghanistan? HA! They'd NEVER LEAVE. Ever.
We still need to do all these things, and Barack Obama is committed to fighting for them all, or at least continuing the fight forward to push us much closer to them than anyone else will.
It may not be a simple, easy to sell message - but it's realistic. Inching forward bit by bit is not Perfect, but it's far better than where we've been - or where we might wind-up slouching back into if we let these Radical Corporate Tea Party Republicans have their way.
Sometimes voting against something is as important as what you're voting for.
Vyan