Would Washington have asked for "Fast Track?"
By Thom Hartmann A...
This week, it appears that President Obama got the Senate to give him “fast-track” authority for the Transpacific Partnership and the House isn't far behind.
For months, the Obama administration and supporters of “Obamatrade” have been saying that the TPP is about supporting free trade with Pacific Rim countries. But the president last week hinted at the real reason why the administration is putting so much effort into passing this trade deal.
The TPP does not include China, and Obama is apparently hoping that the trade deal will help block China from becoming the world’s economic leader. But as Elizabeth Warren has pointed out, “free-trade” deals historically have never helped American workers or supported American manufacturing.
And the TPP won’t change the fact that China is, today, central to the political economy of the Pacific region.
In fact, China is already the largest trade partner with Japan, Singapore and Australia - three key countries involved in the TPP. China's also the number one trade partner with South Korea and India , two economic powerhouses in the region that are not taking part in the TPP.
And while supporters of the TPP point to China as our biggest economic competitor, what little we know about the TPP suggests that it would promote the exact policies that have destroyed the American middle class and have allowed China to become the world’s largest manufacturer.
When Barack Obama took office, America was in the midst of the largest economic recession since the Great Depression, and the president’s stimulus package and his tax cuts for the middle class , the largest middle-class tax cut in the history of America, helped slow the recession .
Working class Americans had more disposable income to buy goods, but the only TVs, computers and other goods that we could buy were made abroad.
Thus, the Obama stimulus created manufacturing jobs, but most of them were in China and America’s other “free-trade” partners , countries where they still manufacture things. That’s why more American spending only created a few American jobs after the stimulus , as soon as US consumers bought foreign-made products, those stimulus dollars went offshore.
George Washington faced the same problem looking for an American-made suit to wear for his inauguration. Following the American Revolution, America had no manufacturing base as a result of Britain's colonialist economic policy.
Britain relied on its colonies for raw materials, which would then be shipped to England and manufactured to be sold across the world. So when America gained independence we were mainly a farming economy , but the Founders knew that it was vital to build American manufacturing at home if we were to become a strong nation.
George Washington managed to find an American-made suit to wear for his inauguration , and when he took office he asked his Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, to develop a plan to promote manufacturing in the new United States.
Hamilton came up with an eleven point plan for American manufacturers, including high protective tariffs on certain foreign goods and subsidies for American manufacturers.
Hamilton knew that when a country manufactures things, to paraphrase Adam Smith, in grows the "wealth of the nation". And with more wealth, people can buy more, and the economy grows. But it starts with making things. It starts with manufacturing at home.
So to end the decline of the American middle class today, just like in 1793, we must once again grow -instead of offshoring and shrinking - American manufacturing. And that starts with ending our obsession with so-called “free-trade” deals - deals that allow multinational corporations to ship manufacturing abroad and throw American workers out of a job.
It starts with ending Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, and ending US participation in the WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA - and the whole bunch of other trade agreements we've signed since Reagan began this binge.
Which is why this week, Congress should have rejected the president’s request for “fast-track” trade promotion authority, what they're calling "TPA" or "Trade Promotion Authority", Fast Track by another name , and they should reject SHAFTA once and for all.
Despite what President Obama says, the system Alexander Hamilton and George Washington put into place in 1793 and stood until the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, over 190 years that turned us into the industrial powerhouse of the world, was not about closing ourselves off to the world, it was about encouraging American businesses to manufacture goods that American workers made and sold in America.
And it doesn’t end with rejecting TPA and SHAFTA. It’s time to put tariffs on foreign goods and to turn those tariffs into investments for American businesses: to fund research and development and to help reduce start-up costs for American innovators who will employ American workers.
We have to invest in American infrastructure - creating American construction jobs and providing a fertile soil for business to take root - so that American businesses can be certain that workers and goods can move from American factories to American stores and consumers.
Washington and Hamilton were right, and Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama are wrong.
Thirty-five years of Reaganomics and so-called “free-trade” deals have devastated American manufacturing and the American middle-class that it had created. Which is why we need to re-embrace Hamilton’s system that grew American manufacturing and restore our middle class.
It's simple, really. Americans should be able to buy products made in America, and American workers should again have access to good manufacturing jobs.
We've done it before, and did it well. China, right now, is following Hamilton's plan. It's time for us to walk away from Reaganism and rebuild our once-great nation.
Comments
#2
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
LONG time passing
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
LONG time ago
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
JOBS are export number one
WHEN will they ever learn?
WHEN will we ever learn?
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
LONG time passing.
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
LONG time ago.
WHERE have all the good jobs gone?
CORPORATIONS ship them every one
WHEN will they ever learn?
WHEN will we ever learn?
#3
75 people have WON the Bank of Sweden Prize for Economic Sciences.
Maybe you could ask one of them, if you know any?
Or maybe Bernie does, and his campaign would need an economic advisor,
as well as "his administration", what say you, Thom?
Oh wait, you don't read or respond to what is written here, do you?
#4
Certain lib media (MSNBC, etc.) have gone all-out to sell Hillary Clinton in place of VP Joe Biden as the 2016 Dem Party candidate. Before launching her pre-campaign speaking tour, Clinton was hard at work promoting the TPP. When even the liberal bourgeoisie evidently support the TPP, how bad could it be, right? Right. Regardless, the TPP is something that those in power want, so I don't see what the masses can do about it (beyond huff and puff and sign a few petitions). I'd love to be proven wrong, but with this generation so deeply divided and subdivided by class and race, it does seem to leave us quite powerless.
#5
Despair is the mating call of the loser bird. I prefer to always have the highest expectations and never give up. That is what I admire about Bernie Sanders. He has exactly the same quality. He was the underdog in Burlington Vermont when he won the Mayoral race. He was the underdog for the seat in the House when he won that as an Independent. He was the underdog for his present Senate seat that he also won. He's the underdog for the Democratic nomination; yet, this underdog has raised more money in his first week than all the other candidates put together. If this underdog loses this bid for the White House, it will be his first loss so far in his career since the 1970's. I would not underestimate this underdog. Also, if he does win, the success of the TPP--if any--might just be short lived.
#6
What this all boils down to is the fact that the big money boys and their bought off politicians never did like the situation where the people could keep an eye on them and keep them in line. Reagan hated unions because they kept him and his buddies in line and put restrictions on their greed. Since Reagan, his plutocratic army of Reaganites that came after him started removing our labor union and econimic protections all over the country, and they never will stop till we stop them by replacing the regulations and make them pay the taxes they are supposed to be paying. As Ted Kennedy said, "when will the greed stop?" Well, it will stop when the people finally rise up and take their country back from them. The Rethug morons always say, "we're going to take our country back," but they of course are really wanting to keep the country where they have had it and where they want it, right there in their pocket.
#7
Bernie is our only hope. No other candidate is worth squat.
#8
The vast majority by far stands against "fast- track," the TPP, and for that matter all of the past free/slave trade deals. However for some anti-democratic reason, actually that reason is called Fascism, our President and more than half of our elected officials choose not to represent the will of the people. The desire to have a decent paying job, own a home, raise a family, and after working a lifetime enriching the so called job creators, retire with a degree of dignity, are all modest desires. When these desires, the pursuit of happiness, is thwarted by our elected officials, that constitutes abuse. When a "long train of abuse, "free trade deals," pursuing invariably the same object," concentration of wealth and the arbitrary political power this wealth creates....."It is our right and in fact our duty to throw off such government."
How could a critical thinking man like Obama do this to us?
#9
2950- I feel your pain. That last emboldened question really resonates with me, as it’s crossed my mind more times than I can count. And the only answer I can come up with is that Obama was disingenuous right from the start, which is why I’ve always had reservations about him.
In one of his recent radio shows, Thom drew parallels between the dynamics of our personal relationships (romances & friendships) and the process we go through in our feeiings towards politicians. He talked about the difference between infatuation, where much of the attraction is based on our similarities with the other person; and love, where you’ve come to accept those things in the other than don’t suit you so much, while still embracing the whole person. In Thom’s analysis, many of us were infatuated with Obama in those early days of his campaigning and winning the election. But I was never infatuated with Obama. I always was skeptical. The only reason I ever voted for him was because the choices made available to us were abysmal.
John McCain and Sarah Palin?! Pl-eeeeez.
It was early in his first presidential campaign that Barak Obama announced his intention to escalate that pointless war effort in Afghanistan. I first learned about it from an article I read in the Unitarian Universalist magazine, sometime in '07 or '08. Obama's support of nuclear power also indicated a disregard for people’s autonomy, along with their safety and wellbeing. (Nothing indicates a corporatist more strongly than a gung-ho attitude towards nuclear power!) And thanks to the Hightower Lowdown, before Obama was first elected I caught wind of all the campaign cash donated to his run for office... by THE HEALTH “INSURANCE” INDUSTRY! (Hello.) I remember how deflating it felt to read about that.
Then after getting elected, one of the first things Obama did was appoint, as his financial advisors, guys like Geithner and Summers, two of those goddam hacks who had just come within a hair’s breadth of bringing down the world economy!!!! Hey, much as I hate the Grand Obstructionist Party, I can’t blame them for any of that!
Far as I’m concerned, Obama is a con artist, a smooth-talking fascist. Remember how he changed his tune during the healthcare debates in ’09? Remember how “Yes we can” morphed into “No we can’t”? Remember that lame-ass speech of his where he hemmed & hawed like establishing single payer would be tantamount to reinventing the wheel?! Fucking bullshit, all of it. I'd find it flat-out laughable if the consequences weren't so dire.
Critical thinking man-- Obama? I don’t think so. How can he do this to us? The same way the others are doing it to us, 10K. By lying and bullshitting us, saying one thing then doing the opposite, wheelin’ an’ dealin’ behind closed doors, taking bribes ad nauseam. Look at Obama's aggressive push for Fast Track and the TPP! And mark my words, Thom: if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic ticket, we can expect more of the same.
That's why I donated $100 to Bernie's campaign that we could ill afford to part with, the day he finally decided to run. It's why I plan to do for Bernie Sanders' campaign what I've never been willing to do for any presidential candidate before him: go door-to-door. I hate going door-to-door because it feels unsafe and creeps me out, but hey, I'll do it for Bernie. I trust that man more than I've trusted any other candidate for president in my lifetime, and I'm in my sixties. I've seen many of 'em come and go...
Bernie's the man. He walks the talk. He's consistent, he's passionate and he's honest. An honest politician! Wow. And if Elizabeth Warron doesn't join Bernie as the VP candidate, how about Alan Grayson or Dennis Kucinich? These are all critical thinkers, 10k, and they're willing to fight for us. Any of those people as VP would suit me fine.
Thanks so much Bernie, for bringing us the gift of hope!
#10
I'm a Vietnam Vet and I'm almost despondent about our Country screwing us Vets over this "Traitor" Deal. I flew with about thirty young men who didn't come back from that country and killed trying to win "LIBERTY and DEMOCRACY" for the Vietnamese PEOPLE, not CORPORATE ENSLAVEMENT serving a Criminal Enterprise, masquerading as a Government.
The Vietnamese Regime reportedly uses prisoner and slave labor or when forced, pays a minimum wage of .60 cents an hour with no overtime, worker rights or safety, or environmental hazard protections.
I am OUTRAGED that our country sent us to that country to die and now expect us to "COMPETE" with HUMAN RIGHTS CRIMINALS to keep our jobs and somehow that's "Fair Trade"? Nope.
It's TRAITOR TRADE that pisses on the Grave of every one of the 58,000 VETS that died in that country, and the shame of it is that it's betrayal just so some RICH SCUMBAGS can steal more money from the WORLD (mostly us! and our lost jobs) and as crazy and absurd as can anything in this world could be, They can't even spend what they have already stolen from us, and they DEMAND MORE ?
#11
"Far as I’m concerned, Obama is a con artist, a smooth-talking fascist." BINGO ALice.
And what are the People supposed to do now? The TPP locks in the status quo. The internet's ability to allow the masses to monitor and respond to information on corporate and government abuses is gone. After the TPP, if information doesn't reflect favorably on wealth concentration - either maintaining it or on effortst to enhance it - it won't be allowed on the internet it is as simple as that. And without the dissemination of this information there will be no political pressure to stop abuses (even if activist groups are still allowed a presence on the web.) So I guess we are supposed to just blindly accept their management of the masses, even if it is reduced to an after thought to their quest for ever growing profit at what ever expense to society they feel necessary.
And to take advantage of Memorial Day to do it?! WOW, that is offensive!
This is fascism. The TPP is the ultimate betrayal, Obama is the worst President ever, even worse than Bush.
#12
' Global Free trade ' sucks US trade deficit is ALARMING Communist China owns USA We owe them many trillions Bad Bad Bad for USA
#13
Not Fascism
#14
Aliceinwonderland: If ever a man deserved to be the leader of the free world, it would be Senator Sanders. I can't disagree with your sentiment regarding "Barack the Betrayer", I think that's how Loren refers to him! My thoughts about him may be quite unfair because it's all just a gut feeling, but here is what I think. Obama knows that in two years his world/life, will be tied to, and associated with an elite class of wealthy citizens, many of of whom are rendered dilusive by the sheer magnitude of their wealth. It seems a common thread based on interviews I've heard, that this elite group believes they know what's best for all of the rest of us, and somehow we don't. Almost always what they profess to be best for us is in reality what's best for them....for example the Kochs wanting to dismantle the New Deal...that's simply a justification for more tax breaks for themselves and the desperate workforce that goes along with a weak central government. Without getting too wordy, I'll end with this...Obama wants to be a member of that club. He may not harbor the ugly greed associated with this class, but he wants to be accepted by them.....a validation of climbing the economic ladder. Those behind the TPP are the same folks he will be dining and golfing with in a few years....just my opinion!
#15
Why is no one in this blog discussing the reasons Obama is pushing for the TPP given by the Financial Times? Per the article, Obama is wrong, but at least he is not an evil fascist. My take on Obama is that his heart is right but is naive about the power of the billionaires (and their puppets AKA repugs) and is ignorant about economics. For economics he has to rely on the Commerce Club of Chicago.
#16
Reply to #15: Chuck, the presidency is not a place for naive people, and the reality is, nobody really knows why Obama's wet dream is the TPP. Only Obama himself knows that. But his claims that the TPP is great for workers and the environment are not only bald-faced lies; they are an insult to the collective intelligence of the 99% of us who have already suffered enormously from these trade deals. If our president hasn't figured out what the oligarchs are all about by now, I'm sorry for him, but his naivete will be costing us way more dearly than it will be costing him.
I think Obama is a fascist for other reasons besides the TPP, such as: (1) abuse of whistleblowers and journalists; (2) murder-by-drone; (3) indefinite detention without charge or trial, to name just three examples. This is not the stuff democracy is made of. I think that in all likelihood, 10K (#14) is right in his assessment of Obama. If being accepted into the good-ole-boy club of Billionaire Welfare Queens is that important to Obama, it does not reflect well on his character as a politician who's job it is to represent us.
This is not, nor has it ever been, the kind of leadership we need. It is not what we voted for. "Change we can believe in"?! Gimmie a break. Seems to me that from the very first day of Obama's first term in office, he has taken his base totally for granted while chasing pie-in-the-sky, kumbaya fantasies of bipartisanship with the very fascist clowns who are destroying this country. I don't know why you are so hellbent on defending him, Chuck. This nightmare isn't over by a long shot. More Americans' lives will be ruined, or cut short, because of the policies of these fascist clowns Obama has been kissing up to over the past six years. I for one have had enough of this. Obama's term in office can't be over soon enough for me!
#17
Oneworldatpeace, I won't pretend to know your pain. But thanks for one helluva post. The perspective you've shared is one that needs to be heard, far and wide. After what you went through in Vietnam, what a betrayal.
#18
My dear fellow bloggers, please forgive me for barging in here again with another long post. But I can't resist sharing this. Earlier today I received an e-mail from the Sierra Club regarding Fast Track, urging us to contact our representatives from The House and request a "no" vote. It contained one of those generic protest letters, designed for us to personalize and add our input to before sending. What follows is my version of this letter:
Dear Rep. DeFazio,
The TPP stands to have enormously negative impacts on our environment, our health, our rights in the workforce, our ability to self-govern and even our national soverignty. That the orchestrators of this "trade deal” would keep it secret, and exclude us from the decision making process, is outrageous in its implications as well as its obvious consequences. Reducing Congress's input on this decision to a yes-or-no without debate, negotiation or revision, as Fast Track would have it, is tantamount to having our legislative process bound up in a straight jacket.
Fast track, or "TPA-2015", would rush approval of massive trade deals through Congress without any meaningful oversight. As I see it, this is an outrageous violation of the most basic democratic principles our country was founded on. It is also extremely dangerous, putting us at the mercy of corporate entities with no allegiance to us or to our country. For this reason I demand that you oppose fast track legislation for trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
At a time when the stakes are this high, when our need for Congressional leadership is as urgent as it’s ever been, we can't afford to tie the hands of Congress on the most important issues of the day. I have deep concerns about the TPP; not only the impact it will have on the environment, climate and jobs, but the ever-increasing corporate power it manifests. This is way more about corporate power than it is about "trade". Need I remind you of Benito Mussolini's definition of fascism? An international agreement as massive as the TPP demands the full attention of Congress to ensure that we, the American people, are represented. Given the impact this could potentially have on our lives, let alone the health of the planet and the future for humanity, we deserve no less from you.
Leaked TPP drafts and news reports show that the trade agreement would have a huge negative impact on our climate, furthering the damage already done by the fossil fuel industry and corporate farming. The TPP would open the floodgates to more fracking, and empower corporations to attack climate and other policies in secret trade tribunals. And it puts our oceans, fish, trees, and wildlife in harm’s way, thus putting us in harm’s way.
What threatens the health of this planet threatens us. Were there ever an occasion for legislators like yourself to do some serious soul searching, this would have to be it. Are you willing to create a world where corporate profits literally trump life itself, in all its forms, and the life of this planet? Is this what you stand for? Or will you stand with us, and help us put a stop to this insanity?
On a whole range of issues, the TPP is a recipe for disaster. We need a Congress that is fully engaged to ensure trade agreements like this reflect our values as well as our interests. Not only will Fast track send the wrong message, that Congress is asleep at the wheel; it will pave the way for humanity's ultimate demise. We Americans are looking for leadership. Please say no to Fast Track.
Sincerely...
#19
Reading these comments, makes me realize how lucky I am. I enjoy life and don't care who is president. Life is to be lived and enjoyed.
#20
Then perhaps you could check out Readers' Digest online, or Ladies' Home Journal, to see if either of them have the sort of blog that might be more your speed.
Tah-tah.
#21
Obama looks out for Obama, he doesn't try to be a hero. There'll be no jackals after him, he picked the pocket with the cash not the bullet with his name on it. He and his family are set, same with those of the Senators whose "minds were right".
Democracy is now just a quaint notion from the past. Business and other elites never abided by it, they never thought the people should have any say in any decisions affecting them. That's none of their business, their betters know best. The elites are in charge and must not be interfered with. It is their due, we are lucky they don't just massacre us all like they did the Native Americans and other inconvenient, cluttersome surplus populations.
Now they now have formally and officially codified their elitist oligarchy and don't have to pretend anymore.
#22
"Fool me twice ... " why is Obama believed? Hasn't all this been gone through with NAFTA and Clinton? Wasn't NAFTA supposed to be the solution to all our problems then and wasn't Perot and weren't all the skeptics just malcontents and conspiracy buffs?
#23
AIW -- I said Obama was naive and ignorant about economics. Then you said I was his defender.
Before I tell you why I am happy I voted for Obama, I want to say I really liked your letter to DeFazio. It would be interesting if you could get a thoughtful reply.
As I have posted before (with minor differences) these are the reasons I am happy I voted for Obama.
In the 13 weeks of the 6 years of the Obama presidency in which the dems had control of the congress they accomplished a lot.
Also, to paraphrase the Jerry McGuire line from Renee Z, Obama had me at nuclear
1 Chrysler saved
2 GM Saved
3 AHCA passed (AKA Obamacare); (because of blue dogs like Max Baucus it was not a single player plan; to get Sen Baucus to sign it, Max's county got single payer.)
4 Middle class tax cut
5 Went from losing 750,000 per month to 30 straight months of job gains (in spite of Republican governors cutting 4.5 million jobs)
6 Education spending increased
7 Laws against hate crimes strengthened
8 CHIPS expanded (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
9 Forced through Child Labor Laws
10 consumer protection agency formed
11 Credit card reform
12 Predatory lending to soldiers restricted
13 Troops paid for stop loss time
14 Torture stopped
15 VA spending increased
16 Women allowed to serve on subs
17 A major step towards equal pay for women
18 Nuclear arms reduction proposal
19 BP cleanup fund
20 EPA strengthened
21 FDA powers broadened
22 Healthcare for 9-11 responders funded (during Bush Term it was ignored)
23 DADT was repealed
24 Within 24 hours of his inauguration in 2009, he ordered that the financial statistics of the top 400 families should be treated like everyone else's; that is, they should not be a classified government document.
Even when the dems did not have control they demonstrated their support of the 99%.
25 When the congress was adding Part D to Medicare (the prescription drug assist; I think it was in 2004) the democrats tried to pass an amendment to help fund it by a 1% income tax on incomes over 1 million.
26 In 2009-10 when Obama lost his filibuster proof senate, the senate had a record number of filibusters (380 or so); during LBJ's 6 year reign as senate majority leader there was one.
27 The bills that were filibustered would have helped our economy for both the long and short term. My favorites were the card check bill, the Disclose Act, stopping waivers for the Buy American Act of 1936 and the credits for bringing jobs back (no credits for tearing down factories to send jobs overseas.
28 Republicans supported the Reinhart-Rogoff Study used to push austerity throughout the world; The study was a total scam supported by Pete Peterson who wants all the social security money invested on wall street. It was easy to suck in democrats and the general public because too much debt being a bad thing makes intuitive sense.
29. Obama said that Faux News should not be allowed at press conferences.
30. Obama refused to recognize the Honduran government created by military coup. Then Sen. Jim Demint, now the head of the Heritage foundation, went to Honduras and said they could ignore Obama. This all happened in early 2009. Now we have Honduran children coming here. Thanks to Jim D.
31 On Feb 7, 2014, Obama recharacterized hemp so farmers in US could grow it.
#24
Chuck, I said you defended Obama because you denied he is a fascist, while insisting his heart is in the "right place". You are entitled to your opinion, but I respectfully disagree with it.
If Obama had put half as much effort into single payer as he's putting into the TPP, we might not still be dealing with healthscare extortion now. The ACA hasn't done doodily-do for poor folks in the so-called red states. What you've listed here is fine as far as it goes, and I will concede that it's a helluva lot better than McCain or Romney would have delivered. But that's not saying much, my friend.
I am not, nor have I ever been, an Obama fan. And it saddens me to say this, because I think it's so cool to finally have had a black family in the White House. But Obama is a CORPORATIST. His support of the TPP is a huge betrayal, of the sort we can expect from corporatists and centrists. It will nullify and/or reverse much of what he has accomplsihed in our behalf. More people will die because of it, or be bankrupted, and I really have a problem with that.
What we need is someone who refuses to kiss up to Big Money. Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate who fits that description. He's the only one I've seen in my lifetime who fits that description.
#25
AIW -- First of all I appreciate that you respond to my blogs with valid comments. My main critique of you, Loren and others on this blog is that you let the perfect attack the good.
Obama's declassifying the economic stats of the top 400 earners tells me he is not a complete fascist. I do not see how Obama could have ever got the public option in the ACA no matter how much he tried. Lieberman was dead set against. Also, Obama did not see the need to put as much effort as you would have liked into the public option. At that point, he was still delusional about getting co-operation from the repugs.
I did not vote for Obama in 2008 primary in CA; I voted for John Edwards.
The greatest saviour of USA so far, IMO, is FDR. He not only kissed up to Big Money, he was Big Money. In that vein, I think Eliot Spitzer was our best hope. The repugs violating the "guy code" seems to be their most effective weapon.
#26
Chuck, the TPP is the embodiment of corporate fascism, and that is Obama's wet dream. I rest my case.
#27
AIW -- My point was that Obama doesn't realize the TPP is the embodiment of corporate fascism. He thinks he is protecting our economy from the evil Chinese. I think the Commerce Club of Chicago is making sure he does not understand the TPP is an evil fascist plot.
#28
Like I said, Chuck, the presidency is no place for naivety. If we "commoners" are able to connect the dots between the TPP and fascism, there is no excuse for our president to not get it as well. He's a lot closer to the action than we are. If the Commerce Club of Chicago can manipulate Obama that easily, all I can say is, god help us.
We need Bernie Sanders in the worst way.
#29
AIW -- I think we need both natures god and Bernie.
#30
Chuck, fellow Unitarian, I wholeheartedly concur.
#31
AIW -- Is it that obvious? My wife is the president, program chairman and newsletter editor of our Unitarian fellowship.
#33
Vegasman56 -- Dr. Sachs sounds like he is describing Bernie. I hope Dr. Sachs is right.
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http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_114_1.htm
I'm not seeing a vote on H.R. 1314 as a whole yet, but there are votes listed for 4 amendments so far.