Keeping score

[madamesilverspurs]

For the record, I'm a disabled senior citizen who relies on the monthly SS check. I'm not panicked. ~ Madame

[babylonsister]

1. This is great!

Patience, Grasshopper, indeed!

[sheshe2]

2. Please proceed madamesilverspurs!

That is great, just great!

[Lady Freedom Returns]

8. I love that line!

When he came out with that... I lost it! It was so... cool!

[sheshe2]

9. Me too!

[jimlup]

3. Er eh no actually...

You are not keeping accurate score. I think you are wearing rose colored glasses.

We'll see but it is a dangerous gambit at its best.

[babylonsister]

4. What has he caved on that he's had control over?

Name something that involved only President Obama and what he wanted, the hell with anyone else.

I'll wait.

[jimlup]

7. No need - you've put irrelevant conditions on the situation

As other posters have pointed out he doesn't have "total control" in this case either.

Look I don't want to go full in over this but I think it is naive to say "he's never caved". From my perspective you're absolutely right. He hasn't caved because his interests are those of the elites he serves and not the people. Tell me you've forgotten the whole "Bush tax cuts" charade or the failure to pursue a real CO2 policy? Now that the election is over we can discuss it openly. I know who I voted for and I'm getting exactly what I expected. This is why I supported and voted for Obama but refused to contribute to his campaign. He can get my vote because he is better than the nightmare alternative. That has always been all that he is going to get from me.

He represents certain elite interests not mine. I know that very well and your baiting me for a debate on "facts" that you'll bend for your self serving reasons isn't going to change that.

[sheshe2]

10. "He hasn't caved because his interests are those of the elites he serves and not the people."

Elites he serves?

Link please.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

11. IIf you don't support him or thinks he does not represnts you...

Then why are you in this group?

A safe haven for members of Democratic Underground who support the president and his policies.

[jimlup]

13. Hum? I'm not in this group

The post appeared on the "Greatest" page of DU and I'm a member of the DU community. Obama isn't the worst thing we have in politics that would be the Republicans in congress. It isn't an all or nothing thing but many seem to analyze politics that way and that seems odd to me.

[tularetom]

5. What would constitute "caving" in the case of the chained CPI?

I mean, he's already offered it and there it sits, right there on the table.

If he offered an even bigger cut to future SS benefits would that be caving?

Or has he in fact already caved by offering it in the first place? Like the tree that falls in the forest, if he offers it and nobody takes him up on the offer, did a cave take place?

I'm also a senior on SS. Fortunately we do have some other income because our SS payments are extremely meager. In my wife's case, after Medicare deductions, there is only a few hundred dollars left.

I'm not panicked either. But for your sake, mine, and the millions of other older Americans, and for those who someday aspire to be older Americans, I hope the President is not asking us to pay for the irresponsibility of our government in their borrowing from our Social Security fund.

[Summer Hathaway]

12. "He's already offered it

"... and there it sits, right on the table."

Yep, there it SITS. A budget 'proposal' that also includes new spending priorities such as infrastructure improvement, expanded pre-school programs, a 10% tax credit for small businesses that raise wages or hire new workers, and much more - all funded by eliminating tax breaks for the wealthy.

Putting out a proposal is not 'caving' in any sense of the word. Obama KNOWS the GOP will never take the bait he's 'offering' when it is clearly wrapped in policies any Republican would immediately recognize as poison pills that run completely contrary to what they want.

What Obama is proposing to the GOP is a shit sandwich oozing with everything they find disgusting (like programs that benefit the middle-class and the poor), with a slice of sweet pickle as a garnish. And all I'm seeing here on DU is "OMG! He's offering them a sweet pickle!!!!! He's caving!!! He only put a sweet pickle on that sandwich because he's in cahoots with the Repubs!"

It might behoove people to actually READ what his proposal says beyond the words "chained CPI". They might just realize that a sweet pickle served on a pile of shit is never going to be so much as tasted by the other side, no less accepted as part of their regular menu.

[Jamaal510]

14. +1

If a person just goes by what they read on here, then of course they're going to think nothing but doom and gloom, and "that damn Obama caved again". But yesterday, Krystal Ball pointed out some of the specifics in the budget that our side favors, and that would actually help Americans in the long-haul, such as higher tobacco taxes for preschool funding and more investment in green energy. It's funny because I didn't even know that type of stuff was also in the budget at first. All I heard about was "chained CPI, chained CPI, blah blah blah..."

[Cha]

6. Bless your voice in the

roar of the lynch mob, Madame.

I'm a senior who's living on my SS. I'm also fortunate to have HUD to help with my rent.

A snip..

HUD's FY2013 budget also reflects the need to ensure that America’s future isn’t built on a mountain of debt. As a down payment toward reducing the deficit, the 2011 Budget Control Act capped discretionary spending for the next ten years, cutting the deficit by $907 billion over 10 years and bringing non-security discretionary spending to the lowest share of the economy since President Eisenhower. HUD's proposed budget achieves substantial results for vulnerable people and distressed communities in the new fiscal environment. The budget:

•Maintains housing assistance for all families currently receiving rental subsidies;
•Serves almost 2.5 million families living in public housing and project-based Section 8 developments (over 60% elderly and disabled);
•Supports tenant-based vouchers for more than 2.2 million families (over 45% elderly and disabled);•Provides 10,000 new vouchers to homeless and funds 5,300 more supportive housing units for the elderly and disabled;
•Enables FHA and Ginnie Mae to continue crucial, temporary countercyclical role, with 1.2 million single family mortgages expected in 2013 and $239 billion in new GNMA guarantees;
•Brings private capital back to the market through FHA premium increases and other measures;
•Assists nearly 5.5 million households, over 82,000 more than at the end of fiscal year 2011; and
•Creates or retains 423,000 jobs directly and 360,000 more jobs indirectly.

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2012/HUDNo.12-029

[IrishAyes]

15. So your own words carry extra weight, my friend.

I don't have a lot either, and I did make the SERIOUS mistake of asking for advice openly in this forum; but I was so well advised, and not by the naysayers either, that I'm well cured of the bit of nerves I was working up.

BTW, everyone: from now on, when I'm seeking advice on something I don't already see posted, I'll poll a few of you privately so as not to offer the trolls such an easy target next time. I'll never get through apologizing for the stupid notion that they would respect the group rules and that this would be a safe place to ask things openly. Because I've seen they have ZERO respect for decency, and you know what that really means - they have no respect for themselves either.

Not to mention that you know some of them are paid Koch trolls anyway. Well, who could keep their self respect doing that?