An upcoming Houston fundraiser featuring first lady Michelle Obama at the home of a former Enron executive who is part of a movement to convert public pensions to 401(k)-style plans is angering some local Democrats. – Politico
This is what a movement progressive is supposed to do.
Art made quite a stir on his breaking news story out of Houston earlier today, which was picked up by Politico:
Art Pronin, a Houston Democratic activist, said, “This just got my dander up.”
“Does Obama support converting teacher pensions to 401(k)s? I doubt it,” said Pronin, president of his neighborhood Democratic club. “This is creating a lot of consternation in Democratic circles, and it’s going to make it that much harder to get the vote out next year politically.”
The White House obviously thought First Lady Michelle Obama could slip in and out of Houston without creating much noise. That no one would care what they were doing and with whom they were doing it. Art proved them wrong in a very big way.
This paints a picture of Obama reelect that is antithetical to Democratic Party objectives. This is just one reason both Republicans and Democrats are losing support from people who used to back them unconditionally.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.
Yes glad politico picked this up. Im so glad one of our local union laeders Fallon got to have her say in the piece. Im grateful that my work is getting read by more folks and can make the leap into major media outlets like politico.
People have called Obama many things: conservative democrat, conservative republican, closet conservative. center right democrat. They have called him other things too but I won’t go into that. I’m not sure he’s any of these things, I’m not sure he knows what he is. Did he want to be president? Now that he is he seems to want to finish what he started. The problem is he hasn’t started anything. He has continued, he has adjusted and he has reviewed, but he hasn’t really started anything. I sometimes wonder why he always dumps his programs on congress as an outline and let’s them fight over the details for month’s. Is he lazy, disinterested, not a detail person. You would think that a new young president would want his own people. Instead he keeps people from an administration that everyone reviled. The people he does hire are warmed over Clintonite’s. About the only thing he seems to do with some confidence is raise money and I don’t believe he cares where it comes from. If some billionaire wants to have a fund raiser for him, what does he care; he’ll just use him like he uses everybody else.
That is what he specializes in, using people and then throwing them away. I don’t believe he has any social or emotional connection to this country and it’s history. He is a rootless person, having grown up in many places ( I understand this ). Hawaii is a beautiful and magnificant place, whenever I go I don’t want to leave; however, it is not a place to experience or feel the pulse of the mainland. Obama is a person apart, he is the leader of 300 million people who are stranger’s to him. I still remember this quote from a newspaper article about Obama’s last day in Hawaii before coming back to be sworn in as president. He was standing with a bunch of Marine’s at the base where he went to work out everyday. He shook their hands and said, ” I’d really like to stay and hang out with you guy’s but I have to go home “. Doesn’t sound like someone eager to take over the presidency of the United States, does it?
Having worked with a lot of ex-military people, I can tell you that not living in one spot much of your life doesn’t invariably make you disconnected from your society. Many of those people not only lived the military life themselves, but grew up with it. Their attachment both to their friends and family, and to their country, seems just as strong as anyone’s.
I don’t know what it is, but not feeling a sense of belonging isn’t necessarily caused merely by moving around a lot.
Congratulations, Art. As you wrote, this certainly is a thing that demonstrates how broken our political system is these days. It’s probably true that no one in the DC press would have noticed this had you not noticed this, and Taylor not picked up on it.
yes cujo- broken! Im not sure where we are headed here but the nation is off the rails. can occupy bring it back?
Not by itself. As a focus of attention, or as the start of a bigger movement, maybe. The sad truth is that until the rich feel that they must change or lose more than they can gain from the way things are, they will not allow things to change. If they won’t allow change, no amount of waving signs at them will change things.
The other part of the problem is that I don’t see progressives (liberals, if you prefer) changing the way they think about things, either. They’re not changing enough, at least. Until they do, the Democratic Party will see no reason to do things differently, nor will another party arise to replace it.
Until at least one of those conditions changes, I don’t see how things will change for the better, assuming things don’t get so gawdawful generally that sufficient numbers of people don’t care how the change happens, or how ugly the process of getting there becomes. I really don’t want to see that happen, but it’s starting to look like the most likely course.
‘Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob’ FDR – 1936. When the Progressive wing nuts attach themselves to the occupy wall street movement like a fungus to a tree, the occupy wall street movement favorability will tank just like when the corporate interests attached themselves to the Tea Party who had some legitimate, if wrongheaded grievances , and the Tea Party favorable ratings tanked.
It has already started when Michael Moore showed up at occupy wall street in NYC elbowing his way through the crowd and mugging in front of the teevee cameras.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCZLhEOJ8XA
The parallels between the 1936 and 2012 re-election campaigns are strikingly similar. In 1936 FDR was hated by the Wall Street Republicans and the progressive wing nuts just as vehemently as Obama is hated by the Republicans in Wall street and in the Congress and the professional progressive left today.
In 1936 the Progressive professional left hated FDR because the Social Security Act of 1935. In order to get passage FDR had to placate the southern Democratic segregationists who refused to let African-American participate in the Social Security program and who had joined the Republicans in filibustering the social security act. The final legislation of 1935 Social Security act denied access to African-Americans by exemptimg domestic servants, agricultural workers and even Pullman porters from becoming eligible. Without those modifications the 1935 Social Security act would have failed and been laid to rest for decades to come. In 2010, the Affordable Care Health Act was opposed by a handful of conservative Democrats with ties to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries who would have joined the Senate Republican in a filibuster if the Affordable Health Care Act included a public option. Obama was not comprising with the Senate Republicans he was compromisng with own conservative Democratic Senators. The 1935 Social Security Act and the 2010 Affordable Health Care act were both extremely flawed but neither would have passed without the exemptions and it was understood by FDR and Obama that in time these agreggious provisions would modified over time and the alternative, no legislation, was unaccepable.
In 1936 FDR addressed the complaints of the Republicans and the progressive left both of whom claimed they had all the answers in a remarkable display of FDR’s gift of acid sarcasm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3RHnKYNvx8
Call Sean Hannity’s booker immediately. He’d love this tripe.
want a laugh-check this comment out from the politico article. now this is damn funny:
“MadiMarauder
Conservative
Oct. 27, 2011 – 5:34 PM EST
The article states ” Art Pronin, a Houston Democratic activist, said, “This just got my dander up.” “Does Obama support converting teacher pensions to 401(k)’s? I doubt it,” said Pronin, president of his neighborhood Democratic club.
This is the most worrisome part of this article, that neighborhoods have “Democratic Clubs”??? huh?? i’ve never heard of that before. Doesn’t sound good…sounds like a pre-cursor to the brown shirts, the S.A.. With Democrats being the # 1 reason we had the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and now having had years of Dem rule resulting in complete collapse of our economy, are people dumb enough to still be part of a “Democratic Club” in a neighborhood? “-
oh that was a laugh I needed. Im a brownshirt nazi!
There must be an alternate universe somewhere where all of that is actually true. I’m betting it’s the one where Spock has the goatee. None of the alternative universes SG-1 visited were quite that weird.
I read the comments yesterday, Art. That one made me laugh out loud!
Thanks Art! I love your writing and really appreciate that you have drawn attention to this.
no trouble- got to keep pluggin away for change
What Whitepaw said.
I’ve already told you this, but one more time: way to go, Art!
This just goes to show the arrogance of the elite. Mr. Arnold has some nerve, as a billionaire who never has to worry about his financial security in retirement but expects that workers should have no pension, especially in a volatile stockmarket. Instead of downing pensions of public employees, he should be working to restore private sector pensions and not pit people against eachother. Private sector pensions would help to restore economic stability – he should be fighting for that! Many people don’t make enough money to contribute to a 401K – they’re hanging on to their jobs by the skin of their teeth. He seems to think employees should take all the risk. The man is out of touch with Main Street. Perhaps he thinks we should go back to the Gilded Age?
” Perhaps he thinks we should go back to the Gilded Age? ” Yes! He does, they all do. If only American’s would wake up and finally realize this.
hey the daily mail has a story on all this- ntoe how much arnold has given- and some names of who he has givenit to-
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/45213
Great work art, thanks. You are a true asset to the struggle.