compromise is like a bowel movement

It may be necessary, but it is distasteful to announce it ahead of time.

Obama is not reassuring Democrats or the general public when he announces compromise before negotiations have even started.

It is best to announce your ideals and the policy you will fight for, then after actually going to the mat to get those ideals enacted, including using the bully pulpit to get the public to pressure your political opponents to give ground, and then when you've gone as far as you can, compromise as close as possible to the end, but apologize and say exactly who was the problem and what they demanded for their vote or their excuse for not giving it no matter what.

To do it the way Obama does is the equivalent of walking into a car dealership and telling them you are willing to pay a price they are comfortable with before you even say what model you want.

The Republicans seem to understand this, the Democrats, and Obama in particular, seem to think it's a virtue to tell us they are ready to pinch a loaf of compromise before their lunch has even reached the launch pad.

voting guide for CA college students & educators

Some voting recommendations for Californians, especially college students.
:
****CRUCIAL**** vote for Democrats for California Assembly and California Senate even if you haven't heard of them before. Every year, the Republican minority in both houses holds the state budget hostage because California is one of three states that requires a 2/3 vote to pass a budget and taxes. Proposition 25 would change the budget vote to a simple majority.

If you're a college student, this is why the classes you need keep getting cut, fees go up, and your instructors worry about losing their jobs.

If you like getting an education, vote YES on 25, Jerry Brown for governor, and any Democrat for California Senate and Assembly. If you are a friend of mine and Libby's, it will keep the two of employed and less likely to ask to live on your couch.

YES 19
Legalize Marijuana (save money on law enforcement and get tax income from pot)

NO 20
Redistrict Congressional Districts (whenever legislators want to screw us but are afraid we will take notice, they create commissions to avoid responsibility and make it harder for us to block their action)

YES 21
VLF Surcharge for State Parks (adds $18 to vehicle license fees to keep state parks open because of budget logjam. Sounds good to me).

NO 22
Prohibit the State from Taking Local Funds

NO 23
Suspend Air Pollution Control Laws (AB 32)

YES 24
Repeal Corporate Tax Loopholes

YES 25
Majority Vote Budget (this is a big one. See CRUCIAL note above).

NO 26
Two-Thirds Vote Requirement for Fees (corporations want this to avoid paying for clean up of environmental damage they cause)

YES 27
Eliminate Commission on Redistricting (see Prop 20 above)

Senator
Barbara Boxer (D)
Boxer is running against another self-funded corporate CEO with no experience in elected office, who like Whitman, doesn't think she needs to learn the ropes with lower office but can skip straight to the big leagues.

Even more transparently than Whitman, Boxer's opponent Carly Fiorina is a cookie cutter conservative who thinks the way to create jobs is do away with environmental and workplace regulations, so your boss can treat you like shit, pay you nothing, and give you cancer.


Governor
Jerry Brown (D)
Think about it--do we really need another Republican who thinks economic development means cutting education spending and lowering working and environmental standards to Third World levels?

And when a corporate CEO with no political experience (and until very recently, no record of even voting) is running for office, it's not about ideology, it's about cutting the taxes of the rich and diverting our taxes into the pocket of the already wealthy. You can take that to the bank (she sure as hell will).

We don't need another Arnold twin who talks a moderate game then takes an axe to programs that help middle and working class people.

Jerry Brown is a blast from the past when California was the top in the nation in schools and standard of living. When his dad was governor he even enacted the radical idea that higher education ought to be free for everyone who can benefit from it (that commie bastard)! That's a trip down memory lane we need to take.

Lieutenant Governor
Gavin Newsom (D)

Secretary of State
Debra Bowen (D)

Secretary of State is actually important. A few years back, most Californians were using electronic voting machines that were easily rigged or hacked, and across the country, they gave results that didn't match the exit polls like paper ballots. Bowen fixed this.

Attorney General
Kamala Harris (D)

Controller
John Chiang (D)

Treasurer
Bill Lockyer (D)

Insurance Commissioner
Dave Jones (D)

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tom Torlakson

The other guy is an administrative tool who will play ball with the business people trying to privatize K-12 education and think the answer to everything is more standardized tests. (Recent research has shown that most jobs do not involve filling in bubbles on scantrons).

Should Democratic base VOTE bipartisan like Dem leaders?

Seriously, since Obama continued the Wall Street Bailout, based half the stimulus on GOP ideas, asked Republicans for advice on health care reform and passed a version strikingly similar to Republican Mitt Romney's in Massachusetts, and now are making noises about the need to cut the budget, especially social security with his catfood commission headed by right wing crank Alan Simpson, wouldn't he be pleased if we donated to, campaigned, and voted for SOME Democrats and SOME Republicans?

I can't think of a single Republican I'd want to vote for, but they must have an important contribution to make since the White House bends over backwards to get their advice and uses their ideas even when it doesn't result in Republican votes and even when he didn't NEED Republican votes.

Wouldn't it make him happy if we followed in his footsteps?

Would Obama, Rahm and gang be happy if Democratic base practiced bipartisan voting and campaigning?
	YES, we should follow the example of our leader
	YES, Obama, Rahm and gang would be more comfortable working with Republicans anyway.
	NO, only our leaders know when it's best to do the heavy lifting for their political opponents.
	other
pollcode.com free polls

To POLITICO: on "Anxious Democrats"

POLITICO posted a story discussing Democrats in Congress supposedly dithering over whether to tack to the left or center in the upcoming 2010 election. I posted this in the comments:

Unlike the Republicans who must choose between their base of racists, religious extremists, and economic royalists and independents who find them morally repulsive, the Democrats could easily appeal to both their progressive base and independents by implementing progressive policies that broad majorities of Americans would support:

• Reregulate Wall Street & prosecute and imprison those at the top who knowingly committed fraud.
  

• Break up any business big enough to buy or intimidate our democracy.
  

• Enact a Wall Street transaction tax steep enough to kill speculation, and force investors to place long term bets on companies they actually hope will succeed (instead of creating one pump & dump bubble after another).
  

• Base our trade policy on what is good for American families, not speculators on Wall Street.
  

• Pass health care reform that does more to help middle and working class families than it does to protect and enrich insurance companies.
  

• Enact a separation of corporation and state when it comes to foreign policy, so we don't overthrow governments or invade countries just because some oil company, banana plantation, or sweatshop owner got their panties in a knot because the leader of a country drove a hard bargain for their natural resources or raised the minimum wage. This change alone would make it harder for terrorist groups to recruit.
  

• End privatization of government functions that are invariably the result of corruption that in turn then uses our tax dollars to fund further corruption.
  

• Invest more in alternative energy than we do in invading and occupying oil producing and pipeline countries. Besides giving us an endless supply of nearly free energy, it would break the power of oil companies to dictate our foreign policy and impoverish countries like Saudi Arabia that use their oil wealth fund terrorist groups.
  

• Listen to teachers for advice about how to fix schools instead of scammers who hope to make money on privatizing them.
  

• Legalize marijuana and deal with other illegal drugs by reducing demand and through treatment--exactly the way the wealthy and politicians deal with their kids when get caught with the stuff.
  

And that is the bottom line to all progressive positions. Treat your fellow citizens the way you would members of your own family, not overly indulgent, but not as sheep to be fleeced or led to the slaughter either.

If Democrats did things like this, were guided by that principle, or even appeared to be, they would not have to worry about 2010 or any election after that.

Unfortunately, by trying to split the baby between the needs of the working and middle class and the rapacious, insatiable demands of the sociopathic trust fund babies on Wall Street, they look weak and unwilling to stand up for their core principles at best, and at worst, as corrupt as the Republicans only with the lipstick of soothing social justice platitudes instead of the shrill, sharp absolutes of the religious right.

Neither option will get the Democratic base out, nor will it inspire independents to vote for Democrats unless they decide based on a coin toss.