Obama’s blunt message for Democrats: ‘Toughen up’
Obama’s blunt message for Democrats: ‘Toughen up’
Former President Barack Obama issued a call to action for Democrats at a private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday evening, urging those frustrated by the state of the country under President Donald Trump to “stand up for the things that you think are right.”
“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
You're viewing a single thread.
"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.
I guess I'm remembering leaked tapes from HRC's private banker fundraiser.
Yea, it helps if they're not two faced or scummy to begin with so that their private events aren't them admitting to lying about their beliefs etc too. See Romney for a great example of exactly the issue, but honestly it's just a quiet part out loud thing. We all know these are the conversations they're having regardless of how much they pay for the plate.
Yes and I hope people are waking up to the fact that liberal isn't left, nor neoliberal, and socially left neo/lib also isn't left.
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.
Hope and change was always a lie to just get into office and then hand it all to businesses. I mean fuck the ACA insurance mandate was basically holding citizens hostage and forcing them to pay healthcare insurance providers whether the insurance actually left them with enough money leftover to use their "access" to healthcare or not.
Fuck all the navel gazing about how it would bring insurance costs down. A public option would have done more.
I was definitely using them mockingly here, but I think he actually did want universal healthcare. Congress fucked us over bad. The ACA is unfortunately a huge step up from what a lot of people had. Plenty still fall through the cracks, but the ACA was largely an improvement for people, especially after the federal penalty was removed so people were no longer fined.
He absolutely did want universal healthcare. Bill Clinton did too. They both tried. They were both shut down.
A public option would have done more.
Yes, it would have. Damn it, Obama, why did you vote against...oh wait.
He's literally at a fundraiser with a bunch of pro-business fucks giving this mealy-mouthed speech. He literally expanded all the worst parts of the Bush admin which are now being pointed at US citizens like mass surveillance.
No he didn't explicitly vote for it himself, but he admitted himself that if he had run in the 80's he would have been considered a Republican. For fucks sake, "Obamacare" was actually "Romneycare," can we stop acting like the entire party apparatus as a whole doesn't deep throat big business? Because it fucking does and it doesn't matter if he didn't directly vote for that himself, he's still part and parcel to the people who make it this fucking bad. That's literally the people he is giving a speech to here.
I don't even disagree with your points on where the party was or is, or how left Obama really is/was, but the neutering of the ACA to what we got wasn't Obama's fault. It barely got through even as a Republican-based idea, and from then for two terms on any other efforts were subjected to "just vote no" mentality.
You deliberately took his words out of context so you could lambast him with an imaginary dis of Mamdani.
The NJ race is a former Navy pilot who already beat five other candidates for this race. You want to say no one else had a chance?She won four terms in the US Congress. It’s her or the republiQan now; you had four years to get someone “who would help people” and once again there’s nothing.
This is bullshit “leftist” whingeing that mean old Obama and the mean old DNC are keeping the socialists down with their cheatin’ ways and it’s bullshit.
Socialists, communists, and whatever ist you wanna ist still have to run, still have to raise and spend large amounts of money, and still have to put up with mindless attacks from the right and, now, “left” to get into a position to help people and that’s before they do a single thing in office. It’s really difficult and mostly boring so if you can’t be bothered to find someone to support, try not to cast us down the well of fascist incompetence again.
I didn't take them out of context. He admitted he thinks there are some great candidates that we should support but doesn't have the courage to back the one needing it most, or alternatively he doesn't support him. I didn't imply he dissed mamdani, just that he's a coward for not talking about one of the most watched races in the country at the moment. The DNC is actively not supporting the winner of a dem primary. Pointing that out is not "whingeing". I'm also not saying he's mean. He's either a coward or doesn't care. Possibly both.
I also didn't say she didn't have a chance, I'm saying to a certain extent it doesn't matter (though I always tell people to vote at the bare minimum). What are the dems in congress doing to stop Trump right now? Oh, that's right, at best nothing, and at worst voting for his policies. The same old Dems with the same old policies are not going to stop Trump.
You are clearly having a different conversation than anyone else here because no one was attacking you unless your name is Obama. If you want to be indignant, be so at your faves who apparently can't get anyone to like their policies enough to start a grassroots movement, or better yet at the people pushing this country to the right. Leftist are running candidates and raising money and supporting them getting things done, and if you actually cared about that you'd have something to say about the fact that Dems aren't supporting mamdani instead of acting like pointing this out is somehow a dis.
I didn't take them out of context.
You did.
He admitted he thinks there are some great candidates that we should support but doesn't have the courage to back the one needing it most, or alternatively he doesn't support him.
He voiced support for the candidates he was there to voice support for. He was not talking about Mamdani by design, as stated. Saying he ignored him is the definition of taking him out of context.
I didn't imply he dissed mamdani, just that he's a coward for not talking about one of the most watched races in the country at the moment.
Do you even hear yourself.
The DNC is actively not supporting the winner of a dem primary.
I'm also not saying he's mean. He's either a coward or doesn't care. Possibly both.
Okay we're done.