I’m not too informed about the other hostage situation involving the Federal Aviation Administration. But I do know that we cannot continue to reward the Republicans for acting crazy. It’s one thing to bend in order to save the global economy. But it’s quite another to bend in order to keep the FAA from furloughing employees and postponing planned projects. If the Senate folds on this, Obama should veto it. In fact, Obama should throw a raging tantrum and ask the House to come back from their recess to deal with the problem. Now is a perfect time to take a stand. The public is already fed up with Republican intransigence. They’re primed to take the side of aviation workers over these thugs who are compromising the safety of air travel.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I was about to say: could someone explain this situation?
Two bills.
Long term funding bill ran into this:
So they tried for a short term stop gap. The house GOP stripped out the rural air service subsidies which pissed off fly-over Democrats in the Senate.
How much in subsidies are we talking about?
$16.5 million – which is to say nothing. They mean to ratfuck the unions one way or another.
Of course, this is costing millions in lost taxes. 4,000 FAA workers are still doing airport safety without pay.
I don’t know if the House can be called back for this. If it was, would the Repubs block funding the FAA?
Is that a stupid question? It’s why the FAA wasn’t funded last week.
I don’t know — Obama already is calling this “another Washington-inflicted wound on America.” If Obama can’t ever bring himself to tell it like it is, instead of covering for the real perps by blaming everything on a city, I don’t see where he leaves himself space to take a stand. If the villain is “Washington”, how does the public have a side to take? Obama is setting up government instead of rightwing ideology as the problem, thus once again undercutting the progressive message and advancing the GOP’s foundational meme.
Obama is speaking to the country. The mess has been happening in Washington. People don’t want to hear Obama blaming the Republicans.
The Republicans aren’t perps. They are members of a US political party. They are US citizens. They aren’t an enemy, they have a radical point of view that is as old as the US.
Obama is president of the entire country.
I don’t like the Republicans and think they were trying to damage the country. I can say nasty things about them. I’m not in a position of responsibility like Obama and so it doesn’t matter if I blame the Repubs.
People in the country can make up their own minds who is to blame for this debt crisis.
Remember Bush and Axis of Evil? That was a horrid thing to say.
HAHAHA.
You’re right, it’s NEVER a good idea to blame the actual culprits. Too partisan. Party politics should NEVER be partisan.
FDR never shied away from blaming republicans. ever. neither did truman. neither did clinton.
ahem:
ahem:
and by the way, the Republicans ALWAYS call out the democrats by name. ALWAYS. Yet somehow, that’s off limits to Obama? BULL. Fucking. SHIT.
Timing is everything.
Both of these speeches occurred in conventions in which candidates were throwing red meat to the base. They were when Roosevelt and Truman were acting in their role as head of the party.
Find some clips where they spoke to a general audience as President and spoke in a partisan manner.
And just wait for when Barack Obama hits the campaign trail again and the people will allow him to speak in a partisan manner.
The Republicans being able to do what they do depends on the enablement of the Village. Were Barack Obama to do this in the role of President, the Village would have the vapor — in both meanings of the term. They would be fainting and having chronic spells of the smelly farts.
There is a difference between campaign speech and Presidential speech. Which is why the Vice President is given the role of handling the campaign speech outside campaign events during the governance phase of an administration. It is Biden who should become controversial for gaffes telling the truth about the Republicans.
I like how you completely ignored the part about how “republicans ALWAYS attack democrats by name.” I’ll add “often in the most partisan language possible.”
This led to a Gore defeat, a Kerry defeat, and the 2010 debacle.
I didn’t ignore it. I said there was a double standard in how the media responds to them. IOKIYAR is a guiding principle in the Republican-controlled corporate media.
Maybe you haven’t noticed that this is even true of MSNBC. Morning Joke has more “gravitas” with the network than the prime time lineup of liberal voices. We’re just a market.
And you saw how it was OK to racially attack Barack Obama during the health care debate, even show up outside his Town Hall meetings packing heat. This was unprecedented in post-World War II politics. The media yawned.
Just guess what they’d do if the angry black man started going after the Republican from the office of the President in the same manner.
Biden can do it. Any of the Senators and House members can do it. Alan Grayson did it regularly for two years. But the President of the United States has to reserve his partisan attacks for partisan events.
Election fraud is what led to a Gore defeat and a Kerry defeat. Being outspent and out carpet-bombed in the media is what contributed to the 2010 defeat.
It’s up to the surrogates to go for the red meat speech, not the President.
Tell that to our only 3-plus term president, FDR; he was notorious for eviscerating the Republicans.
And that’s been Obama’s mistake from day 1. As Booman likes to say, ‘Now the stupid has been weaponized.’ But that’s as much Obama’s and the Democrat’s fault as McCain’s. They allowed it to metastasize without calling it out for what it truly was: batshit insanity.
So you’re saying Obama can’t do what Reagan and Bushes routinely did because he’s black? If that’s true, you’re saying the country made a mistake electing a black president — any black president. Would that apply to hispanics, asians, gays, and all other not-white heteros?
You really think Obama can’t tell the absolute truth that the Reps unilaterally created the “Debt Limit crisis” because he’s black? Wow.
So when he takes to the campaign trail it’s not going to be “Washington” (of which he himself is the most prominent resident) is not the problem after all, but the Repubicans? I don’t like it when my side puts all its bets on the American memory hole.
Interesting. Obama’s “base” scorns him for not calling out the culprits meanwhile his “base” blame him for Republican behavior and pretty much everything that’s wrong with the country. “Yeah Republicans do this, but its all Obama’s fault for not……” How does that work?
The base doesn’t blame him for what Republicans do. Some of us blame him for not blaming the Republicans for what they do. I don’t see the contradiction at all.
So how is it that Republican people love to hear the Dems blamed for pretty much everything, and are motivated to vote by all the angry rhetoric? But the Dems are supposed to just cover for the bad guys and pretend this is all some city’s fault? If Obama and the Dems are going to adopt no-fault politics they might as well just hang up the towel. This is not “one nation”, never was. Acting on the assumption that the silly myth is true is just self-defeating foolery.
We are in the midst of a genuine class war in this country and the Republicans are as much the enemy as the Confederacy was, and way more subversive than the Communist ever were. FDR had no problem talking about “malefactors of great wealth”, and even grampa Eisenhower finally came clean about the evils of the military-industrial complex. But you want Obama to just keep on “not looking back” and pretending that this is all just a philosophical debate in the faculty lounge.
People in the country cannot make up their minds who to blame for this when all they hear from the president is that it’s all a city’s fault. If Obama loses next year it will not be just the bad economy or the quslity of GOP lies that does him in. It will be his own reluctance to lead the battle at hand. In which case we’ll lose our once-best hope for a great president after the half-century drought.
.
This is my earlier comment …
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Now is a perfect time to take a stand.
We’ve had a lot of times over the past year when that was true. I’ll believe it when I see one.
It seems like it has been determined that the best time to take a stand is always “tomorrow”.
Democrats gotta keep their powder dry, Steven!!
president orphan annie and the Tomorrow party.
wasn’t that clinton’s theme too? don’t stop thinkin’ about tomorrow?
Yep, they is been fairly warned. Come tomorrow we gonna double-dog dare them Republicans. You just wait and see. Just wait till tomorrow. We’ll show ’em then!!
yeah, you just wait, we’ll show them.
really, THIS time, WE MEAN IT. Stop laughing at me, or I’m gonna… I’M GONNA STAMP MY FOOT AND POUT.
Obama should throw a raging tantrum
bwahahahhaha
Oh please Mr. Boo. Think Obama gives a frack about thousands of FAA workers laid off????
rriiiigggghhht. Where’s he been up til now on this thing? In his caving in, bipartianship little bubble.
So the title of the article is that Dems cave – which would mean that these workers get back to work and your comment is that Obama doesn’t care about FAA workers being laid off?
Where’s he been? WTF? THE ENTIRE GOT DANG MEDIA HAS BEEN CONSUMED BY THE DEBT DEAL. DO YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T SEE IT BEING REPORTED THAT OBAMA ISN’T DOING ANYTHING?
What the hell is wrong with people. Hello, LOGIC and SANITY?
Bet you never noticed that he signed a vitally important deal with the Auto manufacturers on Fuel efficiency last week.
Just because the media hasn’t bothered reporting it does not mean He is not doing stuff, ya know. And he is not the only person in the government with the power to deal with stuff.
I do believe in August it is time to unleash the Biden.
Lesson learned by the Democrats: We have to capitulate for the good of the country.
Lesson learned by the Republicans: Hostage taking is a great strategy. They’ll have their entire agenda passed with Democratic votes by November 2012, after which they’ll quite probably win the presidency and the Senate.
Lesson learned by the voters: Democrats are incapable of governing. It really doesn’t matter who you vote for in November.
This is the reason so many of us were against the Grand Bargain strategy on the debt ceiling. Democrats should have used every trick they could think of to fight back against the Republican hostage takers. Booman kept telling us that, as bad as it was, Obama was winning points for being reasonable. But you don’t get any points for losing graciously.If Democrats hope to keep any power at all, they have to start using it, now.
There ought to be a rule. When Fox says something and they are the only ones saying it ti should be checked for truthiness. Based on this statement to NPR I would say Harry is not about to cave.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/02/138936549/reid-says-faa-shutdown-will-continue-blames
-house-delta-airlines
in the same paragraph?
“Senate ready to cave”?
Dude, what you mean is “senate engaged in Obama-style negotiation”.
“obama should throw a raging tantrum”?
Let me remind you about “no drama obama”.
“take a stand”?
HAHAHA. That would mean fighting and partisanship, and THAT we know, is a no-no.
keep keeping your powder dry, booman. keep your powder dry. It’s not the end of the world.
I mean, SOMEONE at this site has to be able to articulate why this is a win for the president too, right?
Losing is the new winning, get with the program
loserswinners!“Obama-style negotiation” – give the other guy everything he wants and then ask if he’s SURE he doesn’t want anything else.
Did you even read the piece posted by Oui?
You have to give Republicans credit for when they want their way, they do whatever it takes to get it. They want to screw unions so its go after rural airport funding for Rockafeller, Baucus, and Reid unless they cave on Union rights. This is how the game is played but we get “compromise is so awesome” kumbaya crapola instead.
Obama veto and take a stand? Seriously? hahahaha
His Administration can not even call out Fox News, the enemy pretending to be news, for more than a few days before they cave after all the other journalists started crying and Anita Dunn is out of the media shop a month later.
Jon Stewart does more educating the population about Fox News than this White House. Nixon would have them jailed and licenses yanked. Hell, you could make a case for it now with News Corp.
I was totally down with Biden’s terrorist comments and if he wants to use this FAA issue to deflect criticism and point to their obstruction, go right ahead. It could help in Wisconsin and Ohio too.
when we got into the car to leave my father-in-law’s funeral, and it wouldn’t start. Tow truck man says it’s your timing belt, cost of repairs on whether we need a new engine. Turns out, we need a new engine… $5,600.
More than the car’s worth.
Not our best day ever.
I’m sorry to hear about your loss.
It might not be a bad idea get a second opinion on the car.
Well, we have broken timing belts in common. I hope that’s where the commonality ends, because our car is not worth that much either.
very sorry to hear, my condolences
Some interesting comments over at tpm:
think there’s more to this than everyone here seems to be assuming (though not without cause).
From the link kw87776 provided below (http://bit.ly/o4DesK – Aviation Week), it appears that part of the rural svc subsidy issue is for Nevada (“personal issues”), that the House put that in to get leverage on Reid, that Reid is willing to let go of that subsidy IF the House gives up the union issue (“…I’m willing to give that up, and I hope the other side will do the same.”).
So, I may be wrong, but Reid may actually be taking the gun out of the House’s hands in order to fight for the unions.
__
Mitch Martinson
http://www.ArizonasPolitics.com
Flag
Mr Cleek 1 hour ago
” but Reid may actually be taking the gun out of the House’s hands in order to fight for the unions.”
this.
Reid was on NPR today and was absolutely gunning for Delta and their attempts to destroy unions. he repeatedly blamed this whole FAA pseudo-crisis on Delta union-busting efforts. never heard him so fired up about anything before. (not really a high bar to cross, i know)
if he can stop that, good for him.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/reid-could-accept-gop-terms-on-faa-shutdown.php?ref=fpblg
Reid is a union man.
But that story you linked to doesn’t say anything like that. It implies that he’s caving to the GOP.
it’s in the comments that I quoted, not in the story. the commenters say Reid’s offered to “cave” in exchange for deleting the union-busting provision (that a non-votes be considered a “no”). sort of like the Minnesota situation.
now I can’t even get the comments to show up so I understand why my point wasn’t clear at all. but looks like they couldn’t reach an agreement. I assume the dems will hold out against the union busting provisions; it’s clear all the “fiscal responsibility” talk is just a union-busting ploy as usual
Democrats Caving! I’m shocked! Shocked, I say.
This… Is… The Problem. Obama will not veto the legislation because he won’t risk alienating the Independent voters for whom he thinks he needs to win re-election, thereby alienating his base for whom he definitely needs in order to win re-election.
It’s madness… and suicide.
Warren 2012
Every time he concedes, and that’s been every time he’s had the opportunity, he sets up the next hostage crisis. This is exactly what we who are unhappy with Obama keep saying.
It’s crisis after crisis, and it will just keep happening. The Repukeliscum know that they have a guy who is going to fold, and they set up the situation.
Until Obama calls a spade a spade, mobilizes public opinion, and refuses to go along with blackmail, it will keep happening.
This situation was caused by the tax deal, and by Obama’s frequent, unnecessary, and totally ineffective folds in between.
He’s Mr. Flexible. In other words, policy-wise, he’s Bush + health care + no copays for birth control. SUCH a deal, eh?
.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."small regional airports who VOTE REPUKELISCUM.
Where is the effort to get the business community in those areas to call out the turds on the Repukeliscum side? In Sioux Falls, we are fixing our airport, and the snow begins in mid-October. We have 4 months of stuff to fix in 3 months, and this idiotic shit is killing us.
Why haven’t the Democrats, and Obama, gotten a conference call together about this?