The 1948 Election was not unlike what America faces in 2012--a do-nothing Congress against a president with low approval ratings and an economy with problems (higher prices then, unemployment today) and trouble spots overseas.
Rather than play an accommodating "Associate Professor of America" as Barack Obama did in 2010 and most of 2011, the underdog candidate for the 1948 election, Harry Truman fought back and put the onus on the "80th Do-Nothing" Republican dominated Congress, which had pushed against increases in minimum wages, labor rights and a national health care program.
The result was a complete turnaround in voters perceptions of President Truman and his party. This is a good lesson for all Democrats running for office. A discouraged enlightened electorate does little but to encourage its adversaries.
Can history repeat itself? Let's just say this is how a Democratic President running for election SHOULD sound like.
That sir is a ton of crap, congress PASSED many bills in the house and 1 person stood in the way of the people
ReplyDeleteharry reid the senate majority leader prevented every single bill from the house to make it to the senate floor for
debate or even a vote on any of them. So this do nothing congress as you have labeled them is completely
100% inaccurate.
Sadly I can't see the video. Maybe I'll try later.
ReplyDeleteI hope the president listens and learns from Truman, he should stay on course and try and rid us of this Do-Nothing congress...because it is only for the rich in this country and I hope things turn around this year for everyone. Because if it doesnt change, the rich will keep getting richer and the poor will keep getting poorer. Go Obama and get rid of those idiots in Congress that are trying to kill this economy.
ReplyDeleteAnd you sir, unsupervisedmale is full of crap too!!!! Because this congress has done nothing to pass any good bills and only has one agenda, to get rid of this president.
Harry reid prevented all the bills from being passed in the senate that were passed in the house so please get your information correct
ReplyDeleteTake a look at all the house bills that were passed and sent to the senate, madam you could learn by reading insteading of drinking the kool aide.......
ReplyDeleteI think the congress should stop drinking the Koolaide....and what kind of bills are they may I ask...are they to help this country or this economy? No, I dont think so...
ReplyDeletethey passed bills that are called full budgets for the govt to live within its means, they have passed the bill to fully repeal obamacare because the govt does not have the right to force anyone to purchase anything. Take a look at all the house bills that have been passed in the house and have been blocked by the senate majority leader because they contain no major tax hikes or spending budget increases. when you have 87,000 govt employees making 250 grand a year before benefits from 2008 forward, and before 2008 only 8700 persons were making 250 grand a year .
ReplyDeleteemployers will not higher because after 2/2/2012 because of the costs are increasing because of obamacare, and the fact that from 2007 to 2010 congress used continuation bills to pay for govt costs and no govt budget.
and if you hear budget cuts its just the increase of the budget has been cut that is called base line budgeting
Not going to fight with you sir, you are a republican and twist everything and every chance you get you bash anything that our president does or says. I can see how great this country turned out when Bush was our president....so goodbye!
ReplyDeleteBut in 1948 America had a Constitution.... Truman had not passed into law The “National Defense Authorization Act " (H.R. 1540) habeas corpus and the rule of law had not yet been completely abolished...Truman stood on his convictions.
ReplyDeleteObama comes across as a spineless puppet of the Bilderberg Club and the Trilateral Commission, a wimp slavishly doing the bidding of the corporate mob.
Surely there is a world of difference between 1948 and 2012 isn't there Doug?.... Even though the Republicans remain just as reactionary and corrupt as ever, they are only competing with the Democrats own corruption and warmongering zeal....Hillary Clinton for example is an international disgrace who brings nothing but blanket condemnation of the aggressively militarised US foreign policy from all points of the compass!
There is nothing much to choose from in 2012 they all work for for the Wall Street Mob it seems to me Doug, the policy is already made, so who implements it is a matter of complete indifference to the architects of full spectrum dominance.
How ironic within the time of then and now Doug. Lets hope this time we get it straight. Truman certainly never pulled many punches.
ReplyDeleteSorry madam, again you FAIL, I am hated by both political parties I am what is called a Constitutionalist Conservative, and you flee when I was not arguing with you but simply stating the facts, and you can not handle the facts.
ReplyDelete1.) Harry Reid single handily prevented the all the bill that the house passed from getting to the senate floor and he admits it in private fund raising speeches that were posted on youtube that he was happy to block every bill passed by the house because he knew every bill would have been passed and the house federal budget bill would have passed and the obamacare bill would have been repealed as well.
2) its time to have people responsible for their own actions instead of standing in line like sheep to get their money that was stolen from the people who create jobs......
Sorry about that Jim.
ReplyDelete"J" I don't see a lot of common ground here I can talk with you about. You're more interested in calling people names then the facts so why not go to a site that will cause you less distress?
ReplyDeleteIf you think all taxation is theft, you are visiting the wrong site. Taxes are "the price we pay for civilization" as conservative Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said about a century ago, and right now taxes as a percentage of GNP are as low as they have been in over sixty years.
If you think that Harry Reid should roll over to GOP teaparty in the House and the minority party in the Senate, again, you're visiting the wrong site.
You've said your bit and challlenged regular friend viewers here with your invective. I wish you well and all that sail in you but perhaps you would be happier elsewhere. Have a nice New year.
so giving one a name of respect is hurtful, that is a new one........
ReplyDeleteand labeling standing in line like sheep is a description, I fail to see name calling?
ReplyDeleteI am simply stating the facts that are gathered from the Congress house web site and youtube video's of harry reid, what is wrong with stating truthful facts, and I was labeled a republican and I just clarified her misjudgements............besides I am open minded and listen to both sides of the argument when arguments are backed up by facts......
ReplyDeleteplus i gave you respect by calling you sir, When did giving one respect to somebody is name calling.........
ReplyDeleteNo, you are being angry and I've yet to see a fact. All I see is boilerplate. "That's a load of "crap" is not respectful.
ReplyDeleteOne of our best Presidents, Jack, IMHO, and one of the least appreciated--until people got a load of Presidents like Nixon and Reagan.
ReplyDeleteCalling people "sheep" is not name-calling?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, there is a difference, AA. One can never step into the same river twice. But its clear Obama will be the nominee in 2012 and I think the alternatives will be worse, especially on domestic policies. I favor more access to health care for more Americans and greater protections for the unemployed and the middle and working classes. The Re[publicans want to privatize everything. They are worse than Reagan...actually they would hate Reagan today if he had the same views he had in 1983 when he actually helped the Social Security system with a bipartisan commission and raised taxes in 1982 and 1986 when it was clear he had gone too far. I actually despised Reagan and I despise all he stands for now. But these new GOP goons are off the charts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the National Security Act went too far in 1947. Gore Vidal thought it the end of the Old Republic and I think he was right. But anti-Soviet paranoia was rife in the USA then and I think any American President would have done the same. Freedom-loving conservative America has had a paranoid streak for tis contribution tot the body politic for quite ome time. It even is contagious to Democrats, perhaps out of fear of not being thought "patriotic".
My point is not Truman didn't overreact on some aspects of foreign policy--no world leaders at the time were blameless there-- nor is it to defend the aggressive acts of bombings in places like Iraq and Tripoli where we had no business bombing during the last two administrations.
It is to say we have a better chance I believe of not going to war in Iran with some pre-emptive Pearl Harbor-like attack with Obama in the White House than any of the realistic Republican challengers.
As you said, Truman had convictions and he had a style of speaking that said it--- loud and proud.
Obama needs to learn from this, and stop trying to be a post-partisan President as Thom Hartmann from RT Television said. Who knows what can rub off on a leader if he stops channeling the wrong leaders (like Reagan) and picks someone form the past with a spine and a sense of real populism?
I am not angry, I am just stating facts and you can look them up on the congressional board for the bills passed by the house and held up by the senate majority leader. you call the GOP goons is that not name calling or is there one set of standards that you are allowed for yourself and hold others to higher standards...........
ReplyDeleteso you are perfectly okay by how congress stole the funds out of the social security trust fund to support the war on poverty and now obama getting his fica tax cut passed that further damages the social security program...........
congress repays the social security trust with IOU's with interest paid at 1% yearly.........
you take one word out of a state that describes the actions of people standing in line how imprecise you are with double standards. if you do not like this country why not leave it to people who love the Constitution as it stands and not trying to use it as toilet paper as the democratic party has tried to do so for the past 100 years, and I yes I can back my statements up because I was a liberal till I woke up and realized that I had self worth and self respect when I earned what I have and not begging for it...........
I call them goons because I consider guys like John Boenher and Eric Cantor goons and Newt Gingrich is a goon, yes.
ReplyDeleteAnd calling regular people "sheep" is worse in my book than calling politicians like those guys goons. If you think I'm a hypocrite , fine, I'm a hypocrite on my own site. You can go someplace else.
Congress stole trust funds out of Social Security to pay for wars and tax cuts for the rich. I suspect you were never a liberal or you haven't been since LBJ was around.
I'll let you have the last word "J". I'm not running a GOP venting board here. Say your piece and take a hint and leave.
Well said Marty.
ReplyDeleteI will leave the site that believes in killing babies and old people, taking away civil rights, and i guess you are one of the democrats who still yearn for the plantation system to keep the undesirables in place so that you are not bothered to see them in public. from your pages I gather you still have your white sheet and signs for white people only, I am ashamed that I gently tried to educate you on the truth. do not hurt me massa oakes I will go back to where I belong, I is sorry for getting uppity...........
ReplyDeleteGood night Sweet Prince.
ReplyDeleteWhat a jerk! Thanks again Doug for sticking to your guns on these issues. I think he was a bit mixed up on the facts...its not the dems who carry the signs and cover in white sheets...but I guess he watches too much Glen Beck and Fox to know the real truth.
ReplyDeleteLOL what a numptie, 'gentle educators' get right up my nose, but at least this one claims to be 'ashamed' of trying to be one, which I suppose counts for something, but really in my book posing as Puss-in-Boots is absolutely unforgivable.
ReplyDeleteI don't generally comment on political blogs....I think this is a perfect illustration as to why.
ReplyDeleteI will say this though, after reading the comments, I don't really see the difference in Marty using "Sir" and accusing Republicans of twisting and bashing, You using the term "goons", and USM using "Ma'am, Sir, and sheep."
Sounds a lot like Washington, and I'm sick of Washington right now. That would include the guy in the oval office. I'm not going to pray for change this time, just a new cast of characters. The last time someone promised me change it cost me half my savings, a job, my health insurance, and my child's inheritance.
I'll save you the trouble of commenting...
Good night sweet princess.
Congratulations to April for overlooking the power of under-regulated investment banks in creating the economic troubles we are in now.
ReplyDeleteYes, blame Obama for the Bush/Cheney recession. And blame him or trying to make health care more affordable. And for raising taxes on the small percentage of citizens who control 2/3rds of the money in our economy. Those cats are the ones who are going to drive you into bankruptcy if you or your kids need health care in the future.
Raise your "Don't Tread On Me" flag high! Raise a glass to trickle-down economics and reverse class-war. Bless you for your ability to see only half the problem. Your and your political friends' like "J"s collective myopia keeps an entire party from a needed reformation.
LOL! It's a crime against all of children's literature, AA.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what he watches Marty. I don't know where some of these people stand really, but some people who wander into a site for the first time with a rhetorical flame thrower need to get a grip, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteHey Doug, did you see the news? Obama went and appointed Cordray over the heads of Congress. And boy are they pissed. I think its about time he stood his ground and did what he promised us he would do when he got elected. Maybe he watched your video up top and got the message.
ReplyDeleteSome people no matter what their problems will not give a democrat president "thumbs up" on anything he does, even if its good for them. All they can do is call him names and pretend like he is the devil in no matter what he does.
And the "sir" was not a bash on that dude, I was trying to show I was respectful to him not really knowing who he was. But by the way he wrote, I assumed he was a R but I guess he was worse. And that lady below, she blames Obama for everything too, even thou Bush is the one who made her lose everything, even her inheritance to her kids...what a shame she trusted the wrong man and party.
I think a recess appointment by Obama was the only way the Federal Consumer Protection unit was ever going to have a leader, Marty.
ReplyDeleteI imagine "J", from Minnesota, was unusally upset. Could be he was a supporter of Michelle Bachman now realizes she didn't past the first jump in the race for the GOP nomination? The tea party isn't dead, but it's pretty clear their meanness will get worse once they realize that most Americans are more moderate than radical.
I guess I made a mistake in "friending" April. I don't mind disagreements.
but its clear April and J were here to vent--but at least they hate Harry Reid more than me. ;-)
Finally got to see it Doug, that was a combative speech! I hope that Obama does something similar but my natural pessimism is getting the better of me I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone on that hunch, Jim.
ReplyDeleteIts too bad Reid has no backbone. But at least he doesnt cry like Boehner does. thats a plus!
ReplyDeleteI think Obama will be more and more vocal and stand up for what he believes this coming year. He tried too hard to get the R's to cooperate but he has found out it cant be done so now he will do it HIS way to get the economy and our country back on track. Too bad it took 3 years for him to get the message that all they want is to get him out. But he is still the best man when you look at the field of clowns running.
Before I head off Marty I think within a short amount of words you have said it very well as I watch this all within a neutral manner now.
ReplyDeleteYes, Marty the second Era of Good Feelings Obama tried to engender was a lost cause. 80 percent of the GOP--at least the politicians-- are to the right of Reagan. The only comprommise they will understand is when there are fewer of them in office. Thats's why I like Truman's oratorical, old-school line of attack. Maybe Obama gets it now, but he's got to keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI sure hope that happens this next election Doug, the do nothing congress is the pits for our country's welfare.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree Marty.
ReplyDelete