CDZ A Rare Opportunity to Reform Corrupt Government

[DonaldFG]

So your thesis is that Bernie is the man? That's nice.

Basically you say there is an opportunity for positive change? That's true, a great responsibility and opportunity. Unfortunately there's also nothing behind any of it. A corrupt campaign finance system? Yeah, so? Whatta ya gonna do, Bernie, Mr. Smartie Pants? What can be done to repair a system, when you need the consent of the corrupt to affect any systemic reforms? The foxes are guarding the hen house. How is Bernie gonna get them out?

Bernie or an orange ape? Bernie wins. Bernie v Hillary? Who cares. Just like Trump or Cruz is "who cares". My only concern is whether HRC is more electable than the Bern. I have no idea. I could make a case for either being equally bad. We need a champion to go into the arena for us to slay a big monkey. Who can we trust with this sacred job? The one with the low approval ratings and the trust issues? The one who admits she's no a naturally gifted politician (Ya think, Hillary )? Or is it da Bern, whose base seems to believe that real change can be effected by setting a personal example? Like in a Capra movie? Neither will accomplish anything. Which one can kill the monkey?

Franklin Roosevelt did it. Why can't Bernie? Someone has to, but Hillary - not likely. Certainly not Trump.

Senator Warren has already made some progress, and continues to. As President, Bernie would probably enjoy considerable coat tails with his election sweeping supporters into Congress. Even without that, there is much a President can do from his high office.

Obama sweaped into office with both houses of Congress, but he didn't sufficiently follow up. Bernie will.

Crisis = opportunity. FDR has crises galore. He still couldn't pack the SC, and met with considerable resistance to everything he wanted to do. What he had, and Obama lacks, was a second class intellect and a first class temperament. Obama has a first class intellect and a second class temperament. The Garland appointment was smart, putting the Republican leadership in an uncomfortable position. They have a dozen Senate seats up for grabs, and that makes their usual obstructionism a bit more embarrassing and costly than usual.

Will it be enough to close the deal? There are cracks, and months in which to keep the pressure on, but I expect that the polls will decide this. If the Pubs continue to have this level of internal dissent and do a Shakespearean build-up to the convention, when knives will be in the air, they could make their doom obvious. Then what? In the face of a looming Hillary, Garland will seem a safe choice. If Trump and Cruz merge, blob-like, and start to rampage throughout the country, maybe the Pubs sit on their hands and pray.

So, Bernie. Is he Obama or FDR? Caution or ball of steel? Not unimportant, but not principally important either. He needs a Congress more than he needs good old American moxy. He needs a crisis to get behind and push. He can't have one. The crisis he needs cannot exist. If, for example, Miami were to find itself under water, Bernie could use that crisis to push for real climate change initiatives. If he had enough congressional peckers in his pocket and the ability to masterfully exploit the bully pulpit, he might just get it done. A crisis with a military solution? A 9/11? What would that do for Bernie? Nothing. There's no opportunity there.

Bernie can't have a crisis because there's no such thing as a campaign finance reform crisis. There's no such thing as an income inequality crisis. Reinstate Glass-Steagall? Hell yes, but how? The problem with a Bernie presidency is that he can claim his mandate, but unless he has a super-majority he'll accomplish nothing. I'm uncertain that he can master the Dems, let alone make a dent in Republican obstructionism.

Bernie/Warren? Hillary/Warren? Now that's a couple of really interesting possibilities. Could be game changers. Could generate coattails, but it's just speculation piled on speculation. I can't predict anything about 2016.

On the contrary, we are in crisis mode and have been for a long time. This is why Bernie is being successful at all. Citizens who have been following his work and government corruption all along are the ones who pushed for him to run.

 

[DonaldFG]

So your thesis is that Bernie is the man? That's nice.

Basically you say there is an opportunity for positive change? That's true, a great responsibility and opportunity. Unfortunately there's also nothing behind any of it. A corrupt campaign finance system? Yeah, so? Whatta ya gonna do, Bernie, Mr. Smartie Pants? What can be done to repair a system, when you need the consent of the corrupt to affect any systemic reforms? The foxes are guarding the hen house. How is Bernie gonna get them out?

Bernie or an orange ape? Bernie wins. Bernie v Hillary? Who cares. Just like Trump or Cruz is "who cares". My only concern is whether HRC is more electable than the Bern. I have no idea. I could make a case for either being equally bad. We need a champion to go into the arena for us to slay a big monkey. Who can we trust with this sacred job? The one with the low approval ratings and the trust issues? The one who admits she's no a naturally gifted politician (Ya think, Hillary )? Or is it da Bern, whose base seems to believe that real change can be effected by setting a personal example? Like in a Capra movie? Neither will accomplish anything. Which one can kill the monkey?

Franklin Roosevelt did it. Why can't Bernie? Someone has to, but Hillary - not likely. Certainly not Trump.

Senator Warren has already made some progress, and continues to. As President, Bernie would probably enjoy considerable coat tails with his election sweeping supporters into Congress. Even without that, there is much a President can do from his high office.

Obama sweaped into office with both houses of Congress, but he didn't sufficiently follow up. Bernie will.

Very few of Roosevelt's (I am assuming you mean FDR) policies had any effect until WWII. So, would it not be fair to say that Hitler had as much to do with ending the Great Depression as FDR? Before you go all psycho on me and call me a Nazi or something, really think about it. What was the defining moment that changed the course to end the Depression? Was it WWII or can you make a plausible case for some other event?

The war helped, but it was New Deal legislation that truly reversed our economic course and kept it prosperous for decades - one of the longest periods of prosperity in American history. Unfortunately though, LBJ bit when the Pentagon lied to him about VietNam. This killed many New Deal programs.

 

[Elvis Obama]

So your thesis is that Bernie is the man? That's nice.

Basically you say there is an opportunity for positive change? That's true, a great responsibility and opportunity. Unfortunately there's also nothing behind any of it. A corrupt campaign finance system? Yeah, so? Whatta ya gonna do, Bernie, Mr. Smartie Pants? What can be done to repair a system, when you need the consent of the corrupt to affect any systemic reforms? The foxes are guarding the hen house. How is Bernie gonna get them out?

Bernie or an orange ape? Bernie wins. Bernie v Hillary? Who cares. Just like Trump or Cruz is "who cares". My only concern is whether HRC is more electable than the Bern. I have no idea. I could make a case for either being equally bad. We need a champion to go into the arena for us to slay a big monkey. Who can we trust with this sacred job? The one with the low approval ratings and the trust issues? The one who admits she's no a naturally gifted politician (Ya think, Hillary )? Or is it da Bern, whose base seems to believe that real change can be effected by setting a personal example? Like in a Capra movie? Neither will accomplish anything. Which one can kill the monkey?

Franklin Roosevelt did it. Why can't Bernie? Someone has to, but Hillary - not likely. Certainly not Trump.

Senator Warren has already made some progress, and continues to. As President, Bernie would probably enjoy considerable coat tails with his election sweeping supporters into Congress. Even without that, there is much a President can do from his high office.

Obama sweaped into office with both houses of Congress, but he didn't sufficiently follow up. Bernie will.

Crisis = opportunity. FDR has crises galore. He still couldn't pack the SC, and met with considerable resistance to everything he wanted to do. What he had, and Obama lacks, was a second class intellect and a first class temperament. Obama has a first class intellect and a second class temperament. The Garland appointment was smart, putting the Republican leadership in an uncomfortable position. They have a dozen Senate seats up for grabs, and that makes their usual obstructionism a bit more embarrassing and costly than usual.

Will it be enough to close the deal? There are cracks, and months in which to keep the pressure on, but I expect that the polls will decide this. If the Pubs continue to have this level of internal dissent and do a Shakespearean build-up to the convention, when knives will be in the air, they could make their doom obvious. Then what? In the face of a looming Hillary, Garland will seem a safe choice. If Trump and Cruz merge, blob-like, and start to rampage throughout the country, maybe the Pubs sit on their hands and pray.

So, Bernie. Is he Obama or FDR? Caution or ball of steel? Not unimportant, but not principally important either. He needs a Congress more than he needs good old American moxy. He needs a crisis to get behind and push. He can't have one. The crisis he needs cannot exist. If, for example, Miami were to find itself under water, Bernie could use that crisis to push for real climate change initiatives. If he had enough congressional peckers in his pocket and the ability to masterfully exploit the bully pulpit, he might just get it done. A crisis with a military solution? A 9/11? What would that do for Bernie? Nothing. There's no opportunity there.

Bernie can't have a crisis because there's no such thing as a campaign finance reform crisis. There's no such thing as an income inequality crisis. Reinstate Glass-Steagall? Hell yes, but how? The problem with a Bernie presidency is that he can claim his mandate, but unless he has a super-majority he'll accomplish nothing. I'm uncertain that he can master the Dems, let alone make a dent in Republican obstructionism.

Bernie/Warren? Hillary/Warren? Now that's a couple of really interesting possibilities. Could be game changers. Could generate coattails, but it's just speculation piled on speculation. I can't predict anything about 2016.

On the contrary, we are in crisis mode and have been for a long time. This is why Bernie is being successful at all. Citizens who have been following his work and government corruption all along are the ones who pushed for him to run.

No, we're not in crisis mode. Panic mode, maybe, but not crisis. Low unemployment numbers? A record number of consecutive months of economic growth? Wow, what a crisis. Income inequality is a worry, not a crisis, Bernie's got nothing he can put on a T-shirt and get people riled up about. I wish he did.

 

[DonaldFG]

On the contrary, we are in crisis mode and have been for a long time. This is why Bernie is being successful at all. Citizens who have been following his work and government corruption all along are the ones who pushed for him to run.

No, we're not in crisis mode. Panic mode, maybe, but not crisis. Low unemployment numbers? A record number of consecutive months of economic growth? Wow, what a crisis. Income inequality is a worry, not a crisis, Bernie's got nothing he can put on a T-shirt and get people riled up about. I wish he did.

For the average citizen, not much has changed since the crash of 2008. The fudged unemployment figures completely ignore the millions of workers who have not been able to find jobs and have fallen of the "unemployment roles" government refers to. For them this is a depression. The economic growth the media tells us about is all Wall Street numbers, sort of a virtual reality world they know nothing about. In other words, another bubble. And we know what bubbles do eventually.

The media also tells us about the lack of inflation. Social Security recipients get no cost of living increase this year. And the cost of going to the super markets continues to rise in this virtual reality.

Good luck in your virtual reality. When the actual facts are covered up, finding the truth is difficult indeed.