What Obama Should Learn From Wisconsin

The Creeping Fascism of American Politics

FOCUS: States Unite Against Citizens United

Cut It Out: An Open Letter to Black Bloc Anarchists

Dimon's Deja Vu Debacle

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like

Conason writes: "But what do the Wisconsin results mean to President Obama, whose gauzy dream of a 'post-partisan' era in Washington have been so bitterly dashed by the rise of the Tea Party? In a battleground state that could go either way next year - and that went sharply rightward last year - the progressive Democratic mobilization over the past six months has been nothing short of remarkable."

President Obama waves to people along the road in Decorah, Iowa, during a three-day bus tour, 08/15/11. (photo: Pete Souza/White House)

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+4 # mothra 2011-08-19 16:51

Puhlease, he knew before, he knew during and he knows now. Obama is well educated, I feel we're assuming he doesn't know and has something to learn? Obama chooses his priorities. Apparently that's a safe, status quo holding pattern for big money required in 2012? It's certainly not the myriad of other lukewarm stand downs happening all around us from Wisconsin, BP to mortgage fraud enforcement. At this point, I feel it's naive to assume otherwise or blame another party. He makes Reagan/Bush look like "commie pinkos" sometimes.

+4 # mothra 2011-08-19 20:54

And, putting Social Security and Medicare on the table, few to no rollbacks on Bush policies, disastrous Free Trade deals, same status quo cabinet, endless war, now with 30% Libya and posturing on Syria and Iran? Worst pro-corporate Republican I ever voted for.

+4 # fletch1165 2011-08-20 06:29

Boehner passed unlimited CORPORATE CAMPAIGN FINANCING using the niave and corrupt Tea Party to get the impetes he needed. This practice was 100% illegal under Nixon, but has been gradually liberalized to this point where it is fully legal for coporations to decide the election results. If Obama does not play ball, they will shift funding from his court to the Romney court. The Power Elite, who formerly sponsored GW BUSH, have liked Obama's work in protecting their interest and balancing a fully tilted economy that he inherited.

+2 # fletch1165 2011-08-20 06:31

He has no choice if he wants re-election. Boehner used teh Tea Party to pass UNLIMITED CORPORATE CAMPAIGN FINANCING last year, meaning we no longer decide but corporate boards of directors do instead. This donation practice 100% was illegal in the Nixon era. This is not a democracy. The elections are ALL now bought and paid for.

+2 # propsguy 2011-08-20 08:53

but why does he or should he want re=election? didn't he himself say at one point (well, he said a lot of things at one point and has betrayed them all) that he'd rather stick to his guns and be a one term president than be a lousy 2 term president?

the point is or should be to DO the job, not merely to GET the job. sure, now he's campaigning again and traveling around to visit "the american people" whoever they are. why didn't he show his face in wisconsin when they needed him?

+8 # Dave45 2011-08-19 19:25

A key point in Conason's essay is his comment regarding "the principles Democrats have always promised to uphold." Indeed, by fighting for such principles, Wisconsin workers have shown the power of another great Democratic tradition, hitting the streets for the common people. The trouble is, this kind of resistance has not been a part of the Democratic arsenal since the 60s and 70s. Why is it not igniting similar activity in other states? The reason is that since Terry McAuliffe's reign, the Democratic Party has, like their Republican opposition, become concerned with fund-raising more than the basic needs of working people. Outmaneuvering plutocrats in the game of money acquisition is a losing proposition. When will the Democrats learn?

+7 # jwb110 2011-08-19 22:14

It's not the President who should pay attention to Wisconsin. It is America that should pay attention.

-7 # bobby t. 2011-08-19 22:46

and mothra, the lazy voters in wisconsin didn't come out in force. they did not get back their majority. they lost. so will obama unless he uses hillary as his running mate, and he will. bet the house.

+6 # mothra 2011-08-20 06:18

Respectfully, don't call me personally out factual circus misrepresentati ons.
1.) Turnout in Republican districts was high - Presidential numbers - not including the sirloin steak Dem areas and despite being outspent almost 4 to 1.
2.) Opposition won 5 of 9 races, maintained all their positions and with one potential swing vote shifted the balance in an unprecedented effort.
3.) The aftershock went all the way to Ohio and to Scott Walker's upcoming recall (pending). In fact, Walker is furiously redrawing district lines, making it harder to vote and trying to change recall laws... Uh, because he won and Dems lost? No.
4.) Hillary is sooo DLC 1990. Get in this century. She's not running.

+1 # fletch1165 2011-08-20 06:22

Who are you the corporate elite? Boehner used the Tea Party to pass UNLIMITED CORPORATE CAMPAIGN FINANCING. They will decide who wins and so far they pick Obama over Romney because they want the economy to heal now. The war on Iran the GOP has guaranteed us cannot be paid for at this time. They plan to spending all of what is left of our money when it is. It will be the next GOP President that pulls the trigger. Everyone knows it is fact.

+8 # sark 2011-08-20 05:09

Those working for election integrity in WI know that if every vote had been counted as cast, more Dems would have been elected in the past recall elections. The election results in WI are very questionable for 2010, 2008 and so on. And, this is true for most states, not just WI.

Voters, you need to wake up to the fact that you can never know your vote is counted as cast if you continue to allow your vote to be counted in secret by easily hacked and/or fitted with malware electronic vote counting machines. Having a paper ballot or a paper trail is not enough. The discoveries in WI certainly proved that. Remember, these machines are manufactured, programmed and serviced by hard-right Republican supporting companies with an agenda.

Remember, Citizens United is a result of our votes not being counted as cast. Sure, some citizens do not vote in their own best interest but close evaluations of elections show that the majority do, it is just that their votes are not being counted as cast. Please, please look at the following sites and start taking action to get all our votes counted as cast.

http://www.handcountedpaperballots.org/

http://bradblog.com/

Peace

+6 # sark 2011-08-20 05:22

Here is my complete list of Election Integrity sites/organizations and they have links to other sites/groups. All are important in putting together the vast amount of problems with elections and educating voters on how to take action. If you want your vote to be counted as cast, get to work on getting rid of it being counted in secret. Yes to a secret ballot but no to a secret count. It is time to have our government elected by the voters and not selected by those that control the vote count.

http://www.handcountedpaperballots.org/

http://bradblog.com/

http://electiondefensealliance.org/

http://electionintegrity.org/about/

http://richardcharnin.com/

http://markcrispinmiller.com/

http://www.countedascast.com/home.php

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19

http://votescam.org/Votescam/Front_Page.html

Peace

+2 # fletch1165 2011-08-20 06:25

How do we overturn Boehner's Unlimited Corporate Campaign Financing to acheive that goal? This sort of financing was 100% illegal under NIXON, and now fully decriminalized by BOEHNER. Who is the traitor to AMERICA now? The guy who worships BP and foreign nationals, that is who.

+3 # mothra 2011-08-20 07:05

I understandably lay corporate financing of elections at 10 of 8 SCOTUS feet. Oompa Loompa Boehner isn't that powerful. He's a cast member of a much larger production that includes everyone except the commons of the US. With few exceptions, I feel it's a mistake to assume this Federal theater production is a two party system in real life. If you don't believe me, check with your life and your neighbor's life. Privatize profit, socialize risk. Overvalue private assets, undervalue public assets. US firesale - effectively no regulation enforcement. It's the repeatedly failed Chilean "Friedman" scenario gone global on the back of US domestic policy and citizens. It was fascism then, it's fascism now. There's no effective Federal "party" with an opposition to it currently - Dem or GOP.

+4 # sark 2011-08-20 07:12

fletch1165, if votes had been counted as cast, at least two current members of the Supreme Court would not be there now to have rule for Citizens United. There is much work to be done to address the many problems of how and by whom we are governed but at this time it still comes down to our elections and how our votes are counted. The unlimited corporate campaign financing is part of the propaganda machine to have the public believe that voters are voting against their own self interests. It serves the corporations well in their effort to make sure the voter does not take a closer look at the easily hacked and manipulated with malware machines. It isn't just WI. There is something rotten in every state. MoveToAmend is addressing this in three ways.
https://www.eff.org/pages/hack-the-vote-2011
And, there is this wonderful event happening this coming week in WI.
http://wisconsinwave.org/convention

There is much work to be done!
Peace

+2 # sark 2011-08-20 07:23

fletch1165, I should also have said that there is much to question about the results of the 2010 elections and those now serving in the USA congress and the state legislatures. Election Integrity is an issue that goes back, way back. Electronic vote counting is just making the ability to "select" the winners easier after it has been determined what choices the voters will have to choose from.
The links I post have a wealth of information for those willing to discover what is going on with our elections.

+4 # mothra 2011-08-20 06:33

Aye! Thank you for that.
For me the dawning of one goal in both parties merely having two speeds: light speed and Obama speed, was the fact that media consolidation, vote suppression tactics and election chicanery wasn't addressed when Dems had the DC trifecta. It was in their long term interests, and the nation's to do so. They didn't. I woke up. By the time Summers and Geithner were announced... Well, it was obvious status quo with window dressing. Theater. It'll take a 3rd party over a longer effort than one election cycle to break this chain.

+3 # grannym 2011-08-20 06:08

Unless and until Barack Obama realizes what a foolish thing it was to refuse support for Russ Feingold (who nonetheless recently promised supporters he;d work to re-elect Obama) and to refuse any support for the fight to regain democracy in Wisconsin, he'll not have my support. And unless and until he gets some spine back and stands up like the man he pretended to be on the campaign trail for the last election, he'll do the country and himself no good. It's time for him to be a MAN!!!

+2 # mothra 2011-08-20 07:25

I'd be honored if Russ Feingold would Dem primary challenge Obama in 2012 and parlay his brand exposure into an Independent candidacy capable of garnering 5% Federal campain matching funds toward our shared future. I don't see another option currently. I care deeply about this WWF circus trajectory and faux gator death roll - what it's doing to us as a country. We need a champion and realistic goals - some time. It's taken decades to achieve this fascist inequity and will take a while to unravel it. I see few with Feingold's potential. If I were he, I wouldn't relish the job, but I hope he does.

+3 # mothra 2011-08-20 07:47

But, hey, I've got to hand it to global corporatists... Kissingerly "dividing" the nation on wedges makes it easier to pillage us and go forth globally - even though 80%+ of us agree with one another on so much. What an evil master stroke by roughly 1%. Yikes.

0 # Saberoff 2011-08-20 16:41

Russ is not running for anything in 2012; not for the presidency; not for the senate; not for the governor of Wisconsin. I'm very disappointed.

+3 # fletch1165 2011-08-20 06:19

NO compromise should ever be made with the Republicans unless its about how to disband the corrupt party. We need to bring the Whig party back and make being Republican 100% illegal. Racism is against the law and as a society it is high time we accept that fact. BAN the GOP is the only step that sheds core tacitly and openly accepted institutionaliz ed RACISM.

+4 # foxtrottango 2011-08-20 08:15

He better learn something. He just can't keep on relying on that "partisan" support from the Party of No, No where to go, None, Nada, which by the way, has cost him much respect from grassroots progressive Democrats.

Frankly speaking, and much to my disappointment, we need another presidential candidate who doesn't blink when a republican speaks.

With the Republican Party already in dissarray morally, I say let's go with it!

+1 # tggart 2011-08-22 14:06

May be someone might think about the fact that Lybia is under siege right now and think that isn't possible in the United States of America. Our country was founded upon the difference between church and state. And that there are hundreds of thousands of Vets that are begining to get riled up over the corruption going on within the SEC as well as the crooks that our allowing no contract bids for their buddies.

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