This should be read more of an act of shepherding Pelosi and others in Congress so that they remember who the boss is. The majorities in Congress increased because of Obama. It would behoove Congressional leaders to remember this.

It was precisely this inanity that I was speaking to in the last thread.

The left is going to be deeply satisfied if Obama just works to correct the damage that the Bush administration has caused. We're not looking for a radical progressive agenda at this point: we want correction and restitution. We'll be thrilled if he closes Guantanamo, gets the DOJ in order, signs Kyoto, undoes all the bogus EPA regulations, and on and on and on. In this sense, Obama has it easy. We (I'll speak from the hard left) are at this point quite easy to please.

But we want S Hersh to make those calls on January 20 (main page post).

I know it was a blowout and all, but I'm really surprised there hasn't been more hoopla from the right about the laundry list of "voter irregulalarities" they claimed to find nationwide yesterday - in fact, McCain's campaign website has a page devoted to all of them.

But from what I've been seeing and hearing, they're quiet and just accepting reality.

Well, for what its worth, the "ACORN + Brunner = Obama" signs are still posted in this part of SE Ohio,,,,, which had almost 90% turnout and went almost as high for Obama and all Democrats. Luv it.

The next thing the wingers will come up with is that Barack and the Dems are in league with the Wobblies. I have an original IWW poster from WWI, "A bayonet is a killing tool with a worker at either end.", teriffic graphics, that really needs to show up on Antiques Roadshow some day.

Seems to me over the past 21 months there has been a mountain, or mountain range, of advice for Obama from just about everyone. Thank God he didn't take it.

CNN just used the GOP lie that Obama was ranked the most liberal senator in Washington.

Alas. Not everything changes.

I hope that comments about "conflict with some Democratic constituencies" is only about timing strategy. One of the big errors of early Clinton was the gays in the military issue. A worthy cause, but not just out the gate.

He needs to dig us out of this Bush hole we're in, but key for political strategy is what ChicagoJoe mentioned. Obama needs to change the way elections are run, starting with paper ballots and sufficiently funded polling stations!

And it will be a huge mistake to not prosecute the Bush Gang - otherwise they'll be back again 10 years from now running the government. Don't believe me? Look into the history of Iran-Contra.

I say oh so politely -
Dear Media: Bite Me!

The deal has already been done. Obama's FISA vote was where he laid down the line. He'll lead the country using his own best judgment, and no interest group--right or left--will bully him around. This is the press trying to walk back from the bullshit they've been pushing for so long. They're just trying to get ahead of the story so they'll look like they know what they're talking about. Too late for that, I'm afraid.

Actually, I think he should move further left on a couple of things - mainly healthcare and the financial crisis. We could stimulate the economy by bringing healthcare to all (can you say 'single payer?'). And, we need to force the banks to start lending the bailout money they are getting, even if it means threatening to nationalize them the way Europe does during crisis.

Obama wasn't elected by the liberal establishment. He wasn't propped up by any of the major left-wing groups early on. He is beholden to no one but the millions of supporters that carried him to victory last night.

This is something that the MSM has obviously forgotten. He has no "quid pro quo" to deliver. He has a mandate from the people to do what is right and what is best without having to appease the sense of entitlement of any liberal organizations.

That's why I voted for him and why I think millions of other people did as well.

The North Carolina election director said this morning that the provisional votes left will likely increase Obama's lead. It looks pretty safe to put NC in Obama's column.

Yet another reason to hate Nader: he called Obama an "Uncle Tom" yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibsP6XN2dIo

Obama did not get elected by listening to the media and what they want. I am getting tired already listening to the pundits trying to tell Obama how to lead. Give our President-elect a few days to take care of his grandmother and his campaign aide that will have funerals soon. My new pet peeve is the center-right crap. American did not elect a center-right administration. Pundits...listen to us!

Am I surprised that the MSM has begun to chirp about the dangers of unfettered liberalism? Not at all. It is to be expected. This is a period of adjustment. The Reagan era is over. All the baggage that went with those times will take years to toss overboard. Part of that baggage is the notion that Americans are collectively right of center people, who only now and again have some sort of brain fart and vote for a left of center president. That's rubbish. Americans are centrists by and large who want to protect the parts of the New Deal that affect them, but at the same time want to enjoy the individualism of the old American Dream.

The MSM needs to remember Obama's election agenda included some unabashedly left of center stuff. Health care reform is high on that list. People knowingly voted for him anyway.

America went into the Obama era with eyes wide open. That much of his agenda does not conform to the Reagan era MSM conception of sound politics is neither here nor there.

Voters wanted health care reform; they wanted more equable tax rates; they wanted corporate excesses reined in; and they wanted to undo the Bush wars. If that sounds leftish, then so be it.

That's what democracy is all about: people voting for what they want!! I suppose the MSM and its outmoded views will have to adjust. Meanwhile we should expect more of these odd warnings about the dangers of pandering to various left wing groups.

As far as I can tell it would be better called serving the will of the people as expressed in yesterday's election.

Hmmm...wondered how long it would be before the MSM started talking about Obama's failed presidency. Looks like about 12 hours.

The MSM memes have been wrong every step of the way. This is just par for the course.

Fortunately, Obama has refused to listen to or follow the MSM every step of the way, too. Which gives me confidence that he will do what he thinks is right regardless.

But again, as Obama himself would be the first to say, albeit more eloquently, it's still up to us. To hold him accountable. And more importantly, in my view, to hold Congress accountable. And if we do our thing at the grassroots level on issues over the next four years the way we made the Obama ground game work in the election, WE will prove the MSM dead wrong again.

My two cents worth...

Seeing how we went to all this trouble to elect the first black man as President, the least we could do is call him President. He's actually earned the title.

The so-called "mainstream media", which is comprised of a handful of giant corporations that own virtually all of the mass media in the USA, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc.

The job of the corporate media's vapid "on-air personalities" and vacuous "pundits" is to propagandize the American people in furtherance of the right-wing corporatist agenda of its owners.

Of course the "mainstream media" is busily "warning" Obama that he dare not govern based on the overwhelming mandate of the American people for progressive change. Of course the "mainstream media" is proclaiming that Obama must govern "from the center" -- by which they mean he must continue the Cheney-Bush policies of putting the interests of the corporate ruling class, who think of themselves as "the center" of the universe, above those of everyone else.

The "mainstream" media is the propaganda arm of America's corporatocracy. This election doesn't change that.

Sounds like Obama and his aides are being smart.

Clinton pushes universal healthcare early, GOP wins a landslide in 1994.

I'm just saying....

However, if done carefully, there is much greater support now for real fixes to healthcare and entitlements. But if its handled rashly, we'll spend the next 8 years posturing some more with nothing to show.

Any word from tellmemore today?

Bill-O's already hopped on the "OMG OBAMA HAS A BIG PROBLEM" train. He basically said that Obama has a dilemma between alienating the country and not satisfying the "far left that got him here" or something. Um, not everyone that voted for him or supported him is far left.

I don't understand how you can alienate the country when 52% of the nation voted for you. You have to be pretty bad, like, as bad as the one that's leaving in 2 months.

"There's no doubt about it, this was a vote against, by the red-state folks who gave the victory to George Bush, it was a rejection of blue-state America. It was a rejection of their values, their attacks on the president. ... And the idea, it seems to me, that somehow the folks who won should now surrender part of whatever mandate they have to the folks who lost -- I can tell you, what we're hearing on this panel, people out there in red-state America are finding it very offensive."

Pat Buchanan Discussing the Bush Mandate
11/3/04 http://mediamatters.org/items/200811040020

Anyone thinking that we'll see anything close to Universal Health Care coverage any time soon needs to check the latest budget deficit figures

AIG is a black hole...and we've only just begun to bail the rest out

Well then we better find us a left-wing group somewhere. Wonder if those two guys from the Worker are up to the job.

"Move to the Center" OR

Move the Center!