So many things have so quickly slipped down the memory hole. Over the last few days we've been obsessed with reviewing the Palin/McCain spectacle of "Game Change". But there was another story featured in the original book. The story of the Battle for the Nomination between Hillary Clinton and then young Senator Barack Obama.
Those were rough times.
And even after those times and the nomination was won, and later the Presidency - times didn't get any easier. Not by a long shot.
Here Lawrence O'Donnell speaks exclusively with the Director whose credits include "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman".
Starting with the dept of the Financial Economic Crisis "The Road We've Traveled" does a good job of telling it how it was.
AxelRod : They were showing us slides (of the Economic Collapse at the Transition Office), and it might as well have been a horror movie, because what was described in that office was an economic crisis beyond anything any one of us had imagined.
Emmanuel: You had people telling you that the auto industry was literally days from collapse
Axelrod: All I was thinking at the moment was "Could we get a recount?"
What I like is this video take us through the former "bikini" graph, now "crooked smile graph" bit by bit - month by month.
![](http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n594/Frank_Vyan_Walton/jobschart.jpg)
As long as you aren't one of the Cult of those Pathologically Deluded by Corporatist/Theocrat/Warmongering/TrickleDown BullShit (aka Conservatives) - you don't have to go much further than this chart to what a difference Obama has made.
Then there was the Auto Industry Failure.
Elizabeth Warren: If Americas manufacturing base goes down, what happens to jobs in America? What happens to the whole midwest?
Bill Clinton: If you close down the auto dealerships, closed all these auto parts stores down, people have no earthly idea what would have happened not only to the economy, but our self-image.
And then of course you had the "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" crowd, led by Mitt Romney.
Obama: My grandparents taught me about that a job is about more than a paycheck. They grew up during the Depression, they tell me about seeing their fathers or their uncles losing jobs. Even if you have a strong spirit, being out of work for a long time can wear you down.
Then it goes into Healthcare, and of course - the opposition by the Tea Party and others.
Emmanuel: I regularly told him you don't have to spill this much political blood, you won't get the healthcare you're seeing but you'll have something.
The flim then tells the story of Obama's own mother's slow death from Ovarian Cancer while fighting with her Insurance Company. He knew the stakes, so he fought on against all the advise to "settle".
Some of us may argue he should have fought for more such as a full public option comparable to Medicare-For-All rather than the non-profit/contracted option that we will have under the current law in 2014, while others counter that trying for more might very well have soured the delicate and hard fought deal.
Let try not to re-litigate that fight yet again. The fact is things are far, far better than they otherwise would have been if he hadn't tried, or he had totally failed as Bill Clinton did a decade and a half before. Millions of young people under the age of 26, people with "Pre-Existing Conditions" and small business employees now have health insurance who wouldn't have if not for the Affordable Care Act. That's a good thing.
He wasn't willing to wait, he knew the human toll of waiting. He acted and signed the largest improvement in Healthcare and Insurance that we've had since the creation of Medicare.
Then there was the decision to Take out Osama Bin Laden. In the wake of failed rescue of the Iran Hostages in 1980 by President Carter. The tragedy of Black Hawk Down in Somalia under President Clinton. And the fact that Clinton himself had failed to get Bin Laden in 1998, suffering huge ridicule for it. Remember when Clinton was accused of "Waging the Dog?" It was that failed cruise missile strike that prompted derision by Bill Maher and led to his ABC Show being cancelled.
Obama was taking a Huge Risk, and in the end - as he did with his other choices - this decision was the right one.
Osama Bin Laden, World-Wide Public Enemy #1, was Dead.
9/11 was Avenged.
If George W. Bush had pulled this off with this much guts they would be surveying for extra space on Mt. Rushmore for him.
Since then he fostered the largest growth in Clean Energy Technology Tech this nation has ever seen. The rate of Illegal Immigration is at a 20 Year low. He's streamlined the College Loan process, removing the middle-man of Big Banks. He's begun regulation - and very likely prosecution - of Wall Street abuses. He's stood firm with women to protect their access to equal preventive care - even if it involves their reproductive health - against withering attacks by the Right-Wing accusing them of despicable character traits for their "affronts to religious liberty".
Presidentin' is Hard Work. It takes someone with the courage and vision to make the right choices, under the worst of possible circumstances.
Barack Obama is that person. May he be re-elected to a second strong term, not simply because he's "not quite as bad" as the still competing clown car of gaffe canons offered by the GOP.
Because Barack Obama is the right man for the job.
Vyan
2:30 PM PT: P.S. The Claim made here by RawStory that this film has a $25 Billion Error - is Wrong.
But it’s not all roses for team Obama: part of the film contains a gross inaccuracy. Specifically, it claims that General Motors (GM) has fully repaid its federal bailout loan. It has not — meaning the documentary contains a $25 billion error.
Of the nearly $50 billion given to GM, just under half has been repaid to the government. Officials still argue the auto bailouts were a good investment due to the hundreds of thousands of jobs saved by that decision, and it is accurate to say that GM has returned to record profits — as have all the other major American automakers.
I think RawStory means well is is trying actually to be
fair by pointing this out, but it's not accurate.
The Film claims that the GM Loans have been paid back. They have been, however the Government still owns a significant portion of GM Stock.
Earlier today, General Motors announced that the company paid $4.7 billion to the U.S. government and $1.1 billion to the Canadian government, fulfilling its obligation agreed to when it received its initial bailout funds. In total, GM received $52 billion from the U.S. government, but only $6.7 billion of this amount was considered a loan. The company already paid back $2 billion, so this $4.7 billion is the last payment.
This doesn’t mean that “Government Motors” is no more. Despite the payback, the government still owns a controlling portion of the restructured GM. The United States will eventually relinquish its ownership, but this will take some time. Even when the new GM completes its initial public offering, the U.S. government will still be an owner for some time.
Even the
Money.CNN.com link that
RawStory sites says this:
Treasury holds 500 million shares of GM stock, those represent about one third of the company and if sold at today's prices, they would be worth about $13 billion.
The stock would need to roughly double in price for taxpayers to break even. Analysts predict a much more modest rise in the stock price in 2012.
Both CNN and RawStory fail to make it clear that there was a direct cash loan and stock that the government owns - and these funds are
distinct. I know this because I argued with a TeaBagger over it on Twitter over a year ago.
In strict terms the film is correct, the Cash Loan is paid back what is left of the payback is the stock that the Government has the right to sell - when they feel the price is right - which it isn't yet.