Obama’s blunt message for Democrats: ‘Toughen up’
Obama’s blunt message for Democrats: ‘Toughen up’ | CNN Politics
“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser
says the asshole who started the drone war in Yemen
Mr. Obama, you caved on all of the major issues. You were a great candidate, an amazing speech giver, and a mediocre president. And that's OK -- we would be happy with mediocre today -- but you don't get to tell us what's good for the party when you are the perfect example of its biggest problem.
This motherfucker is half the reason we’re in the position we’re in. How many whistleblowers and journalists did he prosecute?
We see you
Dubba's third and fourth term.
It's kinda ironic, I don't know whether this reflects how the guy actually thought about his presidency, but when he was in office there was a lot of chatter about the kind of "legacy" his administration would have. I'm fairly certain now that he's gonna be one of those overlooked presidents, seen as a caretaker-administration to all the shit started by GW Bush and a preamble to a lot of what Trump has ran wild with.
Maybe the history books also mention he passed a healthcare bill inspired by the Heritage Foundation and insurance lobbyists.
Yup.
That is rich coming from him.
Obama, just like the Republican Party is no more under Trump, the Democratic party is no more under Pelosi and Schumer.
There is no true two party anymore. There’s simply the fascists and the enablers.
Bring back the Bull Moose party. We need FIGHTING progressives. I’ll do it if no one else will
Post the website when you're done.
Jesus. You know it's bad when even a spineless centrist like Obama is calling them on their shit.
"Stop whining and Vote Blue No Matter Who"
"Great, I'm voting for Mamdani for Mayor"
"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Not like that!"
Exactly like that. Quit your bitching and vote for Mamdani.
I don't really remember Obama as spineless lol what is he spineless about?
Look he's a politician they suck but acting like Obama wasn't one of the best presidents we had in like 40 years is silly.
Remember how he ran on hope and change? How he presented himself as a progressive? Then how he failed to close Guantanamo, never even tried to codify abortion rights, didn't bother prosecuting the Bush administration for their war crimes, did a bunch of war crimes himself, and expanded the surveillance state? Because I do.
And like the other commenter said, he completely capitulated to the Republicans when they invented some bullshit about how outgoing presidents aren't supposed to appoint justices or whatever.
You seriously don't remember when Obama went the pro-corporate road at the expense of the American people, or even the globe itself? Really?
The Affordable Care Act. The bailout. The housing bubble collapse. The drone strikes. Letting the courts get stacked. The continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... My god, that's like every major issue, isn't it?
Of course he wasn't alone. I'm not blaming him as the only person responsible. But he was responsible, he was a lackluster president at best, and he spent eight years pushing the country towards where it is right now. Millions of us were saying that at the time, and we still are today. If you weren't listening, that's your own fault. If you didn't believe us, that's your own fault.
Bailouts, not ending the wars, gave up his SCOTUS pick without even the slightest hint of a fight.
Supreme Court Justices among other things.
Goldman nutsSachs
Both hin and Biden were actually really good. The main difference is they weren't always hogging the limelight.
This is one of those platitudes that is too vague to be of any real value.
It's like telling someone to be confident. "Just figure out what you need to do and do that thing!"
Yeah - the centrists and neoliberals will take this to mean “do more centrist and neoliberal things”; progressives will take this to mean “do more progressive things”; the DNC will take this to mean “give more money to centrist and neoliberal consultants and ignore what people are actually saying”. Not helpful in any sense.
So, in an unironic, but still very sarcastic and disappointed sense: thanks Obama 😒
Seriously, maybe tell the Democratic leadership to pull their head out of their ass and listen to people - as you did back in 07-08, which carried you to victory. And then gasp follow through on what they say, up to and including taking a page out of the GOP playbook - just do things that are helpful to normal people and say “fuck you, make me” when centrists and republicans try to stop you. We now have an imperial presidency, after all, so why not try to use it to do some good when (or if 😓) non-fascists get into power again.
This is exactly it. Unless we get really specific, this shit is more of the same middling platitudes, and different audiences will only hear what they want to hear. Seriously disappointing, and not at all helpful.
Ex-politicians like Obama (but not just him) need to shut the hell up unless they have PRACTICAL ideas that we can use. Someone like Obama should understand that his words have gravitas (love your username btw, fellow Banks fan I presume?), but his rhetoric goes straight in the garbage unless it’s backed by actionable ideas.
It’s a bitch-ass move. He needs to be calling out fascist pigs by name.
I'm sure Chuck Schumer will have a strongly worded letter for this. Wait what am I thinking, Obama is on their side, they'll completely destroy him for this.
Be honest have you ever watched Chuck Schumer on CSPAN or do you only see him in the clips Jon Stewart shows?
Not enough people voted for Democrats so Chuck Schumer currently has less power than Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart has a much larger audience on his show (and therefore more influence) than Chuck Schumer has on CSPAN yet he devotes a significant amount of time complaining about Chuck Schumer.
It's weird.
I cut the cord years ago and never bothered to replace it with a OTA cable replacement since I cut the cord because I wasn't watching the content, so I don't have C-SPAN.
That being said I do keep up with politics outside of the daily show, and I remember when the Vichy Dems had the house, the senate, and the white house in 2020 and they still failed to make meaningful changes. Sure they passed a few spending bills to fund the economy.... sorry I mean support the American people, but they could have put in stop gaps after what they saw from the first trump regime.
So what they do? They followed Schumer's lead and bent over backwards to try and accommodate the republicans who once they got what they wanted would move the goal post and delay everything even longer.
And yes I'm calling them the Vichy Dems, they have capitulated to fascism. The fact that the January 6th commission was slow rolled, and Merrick Garland wasn't hauled in for questioning every week until something meaningful was done about the attempted insurrection, means the Dems are just as responsible for the meds we're in now as the republicans. Dems had the power and Chucky pushed to not use it, and now we're all paying the price.
Chuck Schumer currently has less power than Jon Stewart.
Seeing what Chuck Schumer does with power, I'd say this is a good thing.
"You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,”
So he called out Cuomo by name? No? Who's the coward really? He's out there telling Dems/lefties to get shot in the face by "riot gear" his and his VPs admins put in the hands of police, and he can't even grow enough of a spine to tell Dems to honor their own primaries. What a disgrace. Apparently the protesters and activists are the ones he thinks need to toughen up, because he clearly doesn't think any specific politicians need to.
I noticed that, and that it's a private fundraiser. Ok. When will the DNC actually stop shutting out the voices of the ones who miss needed working hours to vote for your candidate--or not.
He's pleading with people to fund the DNC, when DNC-backed candidates are often the most useless losers on the ticket.
Honestly, I don't care too much about this kind of private fundraising. Do I wish we had a system that was different, yes, but he's not actually running for anything. He's getting money for the party in general. If people wanna pay X to have dinner with Obama, I'm pretty indifferent about it. It's like a rent party for people who have no community, no solidarity, and no sense. I wish they would donate directly to candidates that need the support because I don't trust the DNC to make any decisions, but they probably would not be donating to the people I want anyway.
I think town halls are important though and if a candidate only has time for fundraising and not to listen to their constituents then that's a problem. Unfortunately these kind of fundraising events are the way a lot of Dems get funding since they don't actually inspire people with their platform.
As Democrats debate who should lead the party, Obama encouraged them to channel their energy into the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, saying the off-year elections could be “a big jumpstart for where we need to go.”
“Stop looking for the quick fix. Stop looking for the messiah. You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,” Obama said, calling out the New Jersey and Virginia elections, according to the excerpts of his remarks.
RTFA
I did read the article. I even quoted it. That absolutely does not address the fact that pouring money into races (which he said needs to be done in the article) is useless if the candidates don't actually help people. The NJ race features a 53 year old who's been an office holder since 2018. She's part of the "New Democrat" caucus who are pro business centrists.
He's calling for more of the same. He's not asking for "hope" or "change". I mentioned NY because that is an example of what the future of the party should actually look like.
Is the Hope and Change guy back again?
Haven’t seen him since Jan 21, 2009
Yeah, that'll get the neoliberals fired up. Jesus Christ.
coming from the guy who helped to pay the way into trumpism... yeah they should "toughen up" but it should've come already in his tenure.
Literally the guy who said "we need to look forward, not backward" when it came to prosecuting the Bush admin for fucking war crimes of all things and then expanded, codified, and legalized the mass surveillance and the drone wars... Which are now all being used against US citizens.
“There’s been, I gather, some argument between the left of the party and people who are promoting the quote-unquote abundance agenda. Listen, those things are not contradictory. You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it,” he said.
“I don’t care how much you love working people. They can’t afford a house because all the rules in your state make it prohibitive to build. And zoning prevents multifamily structures because of NIMBY,” he said, referring to “not in my backyard” views. “I don’t want to know your ideology, because you can’t build anything. It does not matter.”
Claims that leftists and abundance Dems need to work together, then immediately starts promoting the abundance agenda. What a transparent shill.
yeah! what Obama should have told people was that they should ban all muslims and start tariff wars, ya know, like any smart politician would say!
then commit felonies and start a insurrection. Why obama whyyyyyy cant you be perfect!? Why would you enact the ACA-a republican invented idea--then turn around and on us poors!? This is why after my 3rd ex wife left me for (reasons) I decided to burn down the garage move to spain! Damn you Brandy, you tranparent shill who just wanted me to not be a douche!
Right. So, my point was that, while calling for unity between leftists and centrists within the party, Obama is actively promoting the centrists' abundance platform, which makes that call for unity ring hollow. And your point is..."yeah, but orange man bad!"
Well, thank you for that contribution. It's given me a lot to think about.
I don't think we need to hear from the Signature Strike, Surveilance State, and gross expansion of executive power guy right now
Sorta off topic, but ive been playing the game We Happy Few recently, and I want so badly for them to make an America DLC where you grow up going through American public school and being taught you live in the greatest nation on earth, then you stop taking your Joy and the disillusionment sets in.
Thanks Captain Hindsight! Nothing can go wrong with openly opposing a newly minted and poorly organized fascist upstart with a well funded secret police.
“There’s been, I gather, some argument between the left of the party and people who are promoting the quote-unquote abundance agenda. Listen, those things are not contradictory. You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it,” he said.
“I don’t care how much you love working people. They can’t afford a house because all the rules in your state make it prohibitive to build. And zoning prevents multifamily structures because of NIMBY,” he said, referring to “not in my backyard” views. “I don’t want to know your ideology, because you can’t build anything. It does not matter.”
O noes bougie lib has a points! Quick, blame something on that centrist think tank that went bankrupt in 2011!
“I don’t want to know your ideology, because you can’t build anything. It does not matter.”
Dag, yo.
Cuz the man who gave up Universal Healthcare to give us fucking Romneycare while having total control of the govt really knows how to play hardball.