Senate The US Politics discussion

*faze. But don't feel bad-- I've seen that error made in the New York Times and the New Yorker.

Back on things that actually matter, I disagree that these are big ideas. I tend to agree more with Kevin Drum, in that these are smaller ideas and that this is more about framing the future of political debate surrounding a number of things. Having said that, he is definitely taking a much different approach than his predecessors going back a long time.

 

"I have no more campaigns to run"

Republicans: applause

"I know, because I won both of them"

Perhaps he should have just flipped Congress off for an hour instead. Would have been just as entertaining.

 

Some post-speech notes:

1) Showing no humility. No interest in concessions
2) No mention of Mitch McConnell. Compared to how he talked about Boehner after he became Speaker.
3) Took some serious shots at Republicans including the oil pipeline, government shutdown, etc.

So basically, he's not going down without a fight. Basically if this was a game of chicken, he's not blinking. Should be a very interesting year. Essentially, nothing is off the table for him. As he reminds them, his career is done. He's got nothing left to lose really and plenty to gain. I think that actually makes him more dangerous than ever.

 

Like many presidents, he has someone to pass a torch to (assuming Hillary Clinton runs), but he wants to frame some of the terms of the upcoming campaign more than Reagan or Bill Clinton did for their potential successors.

 

I really like the look of that large tanned leather chair behind Obama. Oh wait, that was Boehner.

 

Where was this guy the last six years?

Underneath the "feel-good" aspects of his speech though, I have to wonder just how aggressive he's going to be, vs. allowing the Republicans to self-destruct trying to figure out the best way to stop him.

I've noticed no-one's mentioned Joni Ernst's response yet. Couple of highlights:

1) She framed the GOP as hoping for compromise from Obama, which is what Obama said about them.
2) She tried to make it sound like Obama's use of a veto threat on Keystone, or Obamacare, or anything else would be construed as a hostile act. Reading between the lines, that means they're already digging in for a fight with the blame game. That does NOT bode well for things that could really hurt ordinary Americans, such as the Debt Ceiling fight or the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula for physicians (the failure of which to fix could put a serious damper in patient access to doctors).
3) She called Obama out on not being willing to restrict abortion.

That last one, IMHO, tells me that the GOP is going to be spending the next two years campaigning, whilst Obama is going to try and spend the next two years governing (or at least try to). IMHO, this is a recipe for disaster. We have two cars careening down the highway towards one another at high speed, waiting to see who's gonna blink.

2015 might just be the year of the collision. I hope I'm wrong.

Peace,

V-03

 

Ouch.

 

Jindal whiffed badly when he had his chance to be the GOP's golden boy. Ever since then he just makes himself look worse and worse.

My one main takeaway from last night was that Republicans would have the White House right now if they'd had a candidate who was half the political athlete Obama is.
Not that he's been on a huge winning streak recently of course but I think that's more event driven.

He's rejecting the Republicans back to half court on their sarcastic applause... How far back would we have to go to find a GOP nominee who could do that (Romney, McCain, GWB, keep going).

 

Jindal whiffed badly when he had his chance to be the GOP's golden boy. Ever since then he just makes himself look worse and worse.

My one main takeaway from last night was that Republicans would have the White House right now if they'd had a candidate who was half the political athlete Obama is.
Not that he's been on a huge winning streak recently of course but I think that's more event driven.

His rejecting the Republicans back to half court on their sarcastic applause... How far back would we have to go to find a GOP nominee who could do that (Romney, McCain, GWB, keep going).

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-palin-2016-shes-interested/story?id=28433415

 

Please no.

The fun we would have as she's goes for it but the world would be screwed if she managed to get in.

 

There goes Obama, trying to destroy America again.

That fiend.

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/gop-may-abolish-supreme-court-filibusters-114540.html?ml=m_po]Now[/url] this is interesting.

I don't see it passing, but what a gamble, especially after how McConnell swore up-and-down he would restore regular order.

To quote the indominitable Q: "Oh, the arrogance."

Peace,

V-03

 

So Mitt Romney is saying he'll make fighting climate change and poverty some of his top priorities?

 

Tax breaks!

 

Yeah let's riddle the tax code with more credits, loopholes, exemptions. Just what we need.

 

What does it say about the country that a man who insulted tens of millions of people at once still has reason to believe he can get a major party nomination?