Thom, your daily argument that we must re-elect Barack Obama is desperately illogical and unjustifiable. The man is unworthy of our support and I can't wait till he is gone. He has sold out on every major issue and his policies are little different than those of the Bush/Cheney régime. The despicable backdoor tax deal with the Republicans is just the latest example.

He has morphed from the transformational leader that promised change into a feckless coward who has betrayed the very spirit of his election campaign.

At the Democratic Convention in his acceptance speech Obama roared "Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough!"

Instead of ENOUGH of we go MORE of :

Endless Illegal and immoral war

Mass murder

genocide

special rendition and torture

"Patriot" Act and political repression at home

Bailouts for Banksters and tax breaks for the rich

Neo-Con/Militarist/Zionist policies

and $Billions$ more for the Pentagon while the people starve and the cities crumble.

And that's just the short list.

Give it up Thom. Obama is a fraud. The country needs to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Free Thinker, shortly after Bush was in office and callers would talk to a conservative crazy about real problems the crazy would say to the person to take a prozac pill.

Week of December 13, 2010 (December 14)

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/13/boehner_60minutes&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily%20Newsletter%20%28Not%20Premium%29_7_30_110

John Boner!

Thom, Is it possible for you to interview Chris Hedges who recently released a book entitled The Death of the Liberal Class. He says the same thing as you - that change only comes through movements not political parties. He will be protesting in front of the White House on December 16th along with others to end the war. If possible, maybe you could contact him while he is in Washington this week. He has changed my whole view on politics and what this country is head to if we do not start organizing and creating movements.

I have been unemployed and subsequently uninsured for a year now. Don't get me started on COBRA. During this time, my family has been paying out of pocket for doctor visits and prescriptions. Having a son with aspergers and a wife with lupus/hypothyroid disorder/fibromyalgia, monthly prescription costs wipes out an entire unemployment check. We have cut way back on visits and tests and relied on self-diagnosis to keep the cost sort of manageable, if you consider exhausting our savings and cashing out my 401k manageable. At least we had a savings to fall back on.

To think that people working for little more than minimum wage will (can) put aside money to pay a doctor directly is callous. It's more likely the afflicted will go to the emergency room, then claim destitution.

Thom's attitude that we can only achieve anything by working through the Democratic Party has one thing wrong with it - history. That Party exists to soak up discontent and make sure that it doesn't become viral. They absorb us, marginalize us, and then scold us when we don't like what they do.

The idea that we have to work through them presumes that electoral politics is our only avenue to change. Again, one problem: History. Outside movements is what creates change. Thom himself acknowledges that movement politics is what made FDR a man of change.

Working outside the Democrats is our only viable alternative. YES, Thom, it is fraught with difficulty, and the odds are heavily stacked against us. But given two choices, working through the Democratic Party, or movement politics, the latter offers greater possibilities. Inside the Democratic Party we are Bernie Sanders, speaking to an empty chamber.

Thom,

Your news report has the correct governor but the wrong state. John Kasich is the governor-elect for Ohio. He has rejected the $400 million rail funds at the projected cost of 16,000 jobs in a state with 11% unemployment.

I wanted to reply to your previous statement, so stay tuned.

I totally agree. I'm going to turn it off again. I try to tune in everyday to see if there is anything interesting going on, but all I ever hear is why it's ok and Obama is smart and we can still hope. Someone once said that hope is ok until its all we have. Than it becomes a deterrent.

I am soon-to-be-former subscriber ... had enough, Maybe try Young Turks.

One, the chatterboxing drives me buggy - hardly anyone gets in a word with this guy. I can't imagine holding for an hour, gettting on the line, and getting half a sentence out before Hartmann chimes in, goes off, hangs up and says thanks for calling.

Two, the Obama loyalty ... we are scolded for thinking we might know the inner mind of the man, suspecting, as Ralph Nader does, that Obama is a con man. Yet Hartmann seems to know the inner mind of the man,suspecting he's a goodfella. Why does his insight trump ours?

FInally, actual content in an hour's show time is now down to 36 minutes. It's an ad feast.

Thom, when the Great Depression started we had Hoover in office... however, more to the point you made... Germany had a leader in office at that time, and we had a representative... not only that, but America voted to change its representatives, and we were still lucky that FDR turned out to be the progressive he became, even at the time of the election there is no evidence that FDR had in mind to enact the policies he did. Germany on the other hand, had the misfortune of having a lunatic taking advantage of the situation presented to him and his party.

N

I will have to check it out, have not heard of that book, which do you recommend the 1958 version or venus inc, 1984? I hate to sound to pessimistic, but our choices in the last election, A black man or a white women, (the Dem's) or the oldest guy ever (that likely would not live his full presidency) and a quitter women, (the repub's). I am not mocking any of the above 4 food groups, just simply making an observation or comparative analogy. The equivalent in sports being a pro hockey team like the Chicago blackhawks against a high school team, but the the high school team did not think they would be good enough so they through the jr. high team in to play instead and so on. Simply put both parties through their worst team on the field and those that control installed their pick! (which of course was pre-ordained) it was the Dem's turn to play their roll in the good cop bad cop game that has been played on we the idiots since they killed you know who! "maybe were getting there now" No were there!