Joel Award Winner: Joy-Ann Reid

Joy-Ann Reid lashes out at progressives for the failure of the American Jobs Act to pass the Senate.

Every time something like this happens, I’m reminded of all the angry liberals who complain that President Obama hasn’t pursued more progressive policies on healthcare, or civilian trials for terrorists, or closing Gitmo, etc. Recall, always, that people like John Tester and Ben Nelson (and Joe Lieberman and Jim Webb and Joe Manchin) are in the Senate, and they are Democrats, too. Which means that it isn’t just Republicans who stand in the way of the kind of progress progressives (and at this point, a strong majority of all Americans) crave.

I asked Reid on Twitter if she thought a more bipartisan bill would have passed. Reid never replied to me. What I do know is in the same post Reid wrote this.

The White House is now looking at ways to break up the bill and try and pass the parts that have “bipartisan support” — which in and of itself is elusive, since most Republicans won’t vote for anything this president is for, and many Democrats are practically Republicans.

Let me get this straight. Progressives shouldn't participate in democracy by advocating for the things that want because Republicans will vote against it. However, according to Reid, Republicans would filibuster anything (and have) if President Obama supports the legislation. This is Reid's political strategy? That isn't a strategy. That is defeatism.

Obama did the Reid strategy of appeasing Republicans and and corporate Democrats by attempting to outcut the Republicans during the debt ceiling fiasco. The result was Obama's poll numbers dropped like a rock.

As for corporate Democrat Ben Nelson, his poll numbers have sucked since 2009. Nelson is currently polling behind Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. Democrats should have ran a candidate in the primary against Nelson. Voters are turning against Nelson because they are finally realizing that he stands for nothing. The midterm elections saw House Blue Dogs and Blanche Lincoln in the Senate. Democrat Bill Halter polled better for the general election. The Obama administration and the DNC decided to back Lincoln. The result was Republican John Boozman winning the seat. Again I asked how does Reid's strategy of appeasing corporate Democrats help maintain majorities?

Reid lashes out at progressives for somehow forcing President Obama to back a populist jobs bill. Reid goes on to say it doesn't matter what kind of bill the President supported because Republicans were going to filibuster it. This incoherent rant wins her the Joel Award for contradiction.

The truth is Obama got something for going on the offensive. The do nothing Republican House has been sitting on the trade deals for South Korea, Colombia and Panama. Obama and the Occupy movement have been demanding jobs. The House suddenly got off their collective asses and passed all three trade agreements. Obama tried being bipartisan and Republicans sat on writing legislation for the trade agreements. Ask yourself if Republicans would have moved if Obama continued being bipartisan.

Team Obama Opposed Elizabeth Warren Nomination

I like to see how Obamabots frame this. Huffington Post reporter
Shahien Nasiripour cites sources that the Obama administration never had any intention of nominating Elizabeth Warren for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. In 2010, Sen. Bernie Sanders asked President Barack Obama if would nominate Warren.

Last summer, during a White House meeting with first-term Senate Democrats, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, asked Obama whether he'd nominate Warren for the role.

Obama held up a half-full glass of water and told him: "That's the problem with you progressives. You see this as half-empty."

Obama's tone towards Sanders makes it obvious that the president does not view himself as a progressive. Wall Street got a bailout. Americans are being foreclosed upon through illegal means. The President campaigned on change and gets pissed when people call him out for protecting the dysfunctional financial system.

Rahm Emanuel made it clear that he did not want Warren confirmed.

Last July, the night before a Senate vote on the administration-backed bill to reform financial regulation, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told reporters that he was still unsure how he’d vote and was concerned about who might be named to run the soon-to-be-created consumer unit.

Hearing the news, Emanuel took the temperature of the administration on Warren's nomination and reported back to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that it was cool, according to Senate sources with knowledge of the call.

“We don’t like her either,” the then-White House chief of staff told the Nevada Democrat.

Ben Nelson's lack of support was unsurprising. Chris Dodd. Part of Dodd's problem was Warren publicly pushed back against Dodd to not soften the financial reform bill. Dodd was obsessed with getting bipartisan support for a financial reform bill that no Republican had any intention of voting for. What is it about Beltway Democrats that are obsessed with bipartisanship?

Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner is pro-corporatist. It wasn't surprising that he didn't support Warren's nomination. Warren also took Geithner to task for not knowing where money for credit default swaps went. AIG sold swaps and then couldn't cover the bets when the market crashed.

Compassionate Conservatism: Orrin Hatch Edition

Orrin Hatch said the poor need to do more to help pay off the deficit.

"I hear how they're so caring for the poor and so forth," Hatch said in remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, in reference to Democrats. "The poor need jobs! And they also need to share some of the responsibility."

Hatch doesn't feel that "responsibility" should be shared by millionaires and billionaires. Hatch voted against a non-binding resolution that said the rich should do reduce the federal debt. The only Democrat to vote against the resolution was Ben Nelson. Hatch and Nelson are so owned by the rich that they will vote to filibuster a non-binding resolution. The resolution passed 74 to 22. The Senate will waste time debating a toothless resolution.

Obama Talks to Senate Democrats

President Barack Obama urged Senate Democrats to finish work on the health care bill. The President met with Democrats near the Senate floor. Obama did not address controversial issues, such as the House Stupak-Pitts anti-abortion amendment or using cloture. Obama's talk was a pep rally speech that didn't affect Democrats on the liberal or conservative ends. Sen. Roland Burris reiterated he will only support a bill with the public option.

"My position has not changed at all," said Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL). "I've compromised from a single payer, to a strong public option with Medicare plus five, to now a negotiated bill with an opt out. So I've made my moves."

Sen. Ben Nelson will continue, in his attempts, to kill the health care bill.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told reporters Obama's presentation was only persuasive to those who have already decided to vote for the bill. "I think he was...for those who have made a decision to be supportive, I think he was persuasive," Nelson said.

Nelson's stance his to support his base: lobbyists. OpenSecrets.org reveals Nelson has benefitted from the generosity of insurance companies and the health care industries.

Insurance - $1,258,299

Health Professionals - $452,045

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products - $288,583

Nelson is using the House's Stupak-Pitts amendment as a devisive wedge to kill the health care bill. The Hyde amendment already makes federal funds for abortion illegal. What Nelson is pushing for is force health insurers to drop abortion coverage. Insurance companies paticipating in the health care exchanges do not want to worry about being in violation of federal laws. It is easier for health insurance companies to drop abortion coverage. Nelson has always been anti-abortion. Nelson didn't voice his concerns about abortion coverage until after the Stupak-Pitts amendment was placed in the House bill.

Ezra Klein argues the public option is not necessary for the health care bill.

Do we allow a health care bill that will not allow Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry for lower drug prices? The government is forbidden from making the same kind of deals Wal-Mart makes with the pharmaceutical companies.

Do we want a bill that would discourage health insurance companies from providing private coverage for abortions? Let alone the restrictions put on publicly financed abortions.

Do we want a bill that would mandate every American buying health insurance but no public option or exchanges to control costs?

My answer to these questions is a resounding no.

Reid's Nelson and Landrieu Problem

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MSNBC reports Sen. Ben Nelson and Sen. Mary Landrieu will vote with Republicans to filibuster any health care bill with the public option. An Andrew Sullivan reader suggests Joe Lieberman should lose committee chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. If Lieberman decides to join Republicans the filibuster. MSNBC reports Lieberman will vote against a filibuster and the public option on the Senate floor. Reid needs to threaten to take Nelson off of the Armed Services Committee and Landrieu Homeland Security Committee. Let's see if they are still willing to support a filibuster.

The Detached President

Progressives have been disappointed about the lack of pressure President Barack Obama has placed on Senate Democrats. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Washington Post' Ezra Klein that Senate members do not fear opposing the public option.

You make people afraid of opposing you or you get them rewarded for helping you. There's no fear for opposing Obama's public option, and the reward is for opposing it. Right now, Republicans feel no political exposure from opposing the president's health-care initiative.

Talking Points Memo's reporter Brian Beutler asked Sen. Ben Nelson if the Democratic leadership has asked him if he will oppose a Republican-backed filibuster. Nelson said he has had no discussions with leadership about the filibuster.

I asked, "Has leadership been in discussions with you and other moderates about voting with the party on procedural votes?"

In a statement that will bedevil liberals, he responded, "I don't know about others, but not with me."

Where is Harry Reid or Dick Durbin on this? The White House has invested a great deal of political capital in passing health care. Has Obama or Rahn Emanuel spoken with Reid? I am beginning to think Obama is detached.

Obama campaigned on increasing troop presence in Afghanistan. Obama met Gen. Stanley McChrystal when he was appointed. Gen. McChrystal reccommended another 40,000 troops in Afghanistan. The White House stalled on making a decision. Gen. McChrystal gave a speech at the Institute of International and Strategic Studies. Gen. McChrystal used the opportunity to public make his case for more troops. The White House was outraged.

"Ideally, it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command," National Security Advisor James Jones.

The speech forced Obama to meet with Gen. McChrystal. They talked for 25 minutes on Air Force One. Thomas Ricks was shocked by the short meeting.

If Obama were serious about Afghanistan -- or even if he wants to look serious -- he would have asked McChrystal to fly home with him on Air Force One, and sit and talk for a few hours.

Health care and Afghanisthan both show of pattern of Obama handling pressure by becoming detached. Obama treats problems like they don't exist. To say this is troubling is an understatement.

Ben Nelson Against Arbitrary Health Care Deadline

Sen. Ben Nelson issued a statement against President Barack Obama's arbitrary deadline for health care reform. Nelson has gone on the record against the public health care option.

Nelson's problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. "At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game," Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a "deal breaker."

Two of Nelson's biggest campaign contributors are the insurance and health care industies.

Eli Lilly & Co.- $27,250

UnitedHealth Group Inc. - $25,000

American Optometric Association - $25,000

Schering-Plough Corp. - $25,000 American Medical Association -$24,500

Amgen Inc. - $24,250

Pfizer Inc. - $22,600

American Dental Association - $22,000

American Physical Therapy Association - $21,500

GlaxoSmithKline - $21,285

American Health Care Association - $21,250

American Hospital Association - $20,000

Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been a major contributor to Nelson. The Senator is doing the bidding of lobbyists. He backed off threatening to filibuster. The netroots campaign against Nelson was successful.

Nelson is giving a lot of sound and fury. He isn't going to lift a finger for or against the Senate bill. One must have principle, in order to have a spine. Nelson has neither.

Collins-Nelson Cloture Vote

The Senate voted 61-36 for cloture on the Susan Collins-Ben Nelson compromise. Collins and Arlen Specter were the only Republicans to break ranks. The revamped stimulus bill will go for a floor vote.

Policy wise: Obama is going to have to ask for another stimulus package. The House version was too small. It is simply too small to make a significant impact. The added tax cuts and stimulus spending will add to the deficit.

Politically: Obama has never shown an inclination to get in the mud. The Republicans got their tax cuts. Obama got a stimulus plan that will failed. Republicans are positioning themselves for the midterms. Republicans were never serious about returning Obama's efforts at bipartisanship.

Obama should had the bill sent back to the House. Strip the tax cuts and put in the infrastucture spending. Let House and Senate Republicans vote against it. Newt Gingrich tried to force Bill Clinton's hand by shutting down the government. Clinton refused further Medicare, Medicaid and education cuts. Gingrich lost. Badly. The next year, Clinton was elected for his second term.

Maybe Obama wants the Republicans to attack him. The latest CNN poll show with a 76 percent approval rating. A key number is 39 percent say Republicans are cooperating with Obama.

Update: Andrew Sullivan calls the political battle in Obama's favor.

Should Obama become a partisan attack-dog in response? Check out the Gallup poll here. If Krugman, Yglesias and Brown are right, these polls are very wrong. Obama is winning the stimulus fight - because he seems more connected to the actual crisis people are confronting than his rivals in both parties, and more reasonable in finding a way forward.