Tuesday Open Mishmash

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Hi guys,

Have a good day.

9:30 AM
PBO and VPB receive the Presidential Daily Briefing.

12:10 PM
PBO meets with senior advisers.

1:00 PM
VPB holds bipartisan debt meeting.

1:30 PM
Carney, Sebelius and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg give the daily press briefing.

4:00 PM
PBO meets with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner

4:30 PM
PBO meets with Secretary of Defense Gates.

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28 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Mishmash”

  1. Our delicious First Lady is in Africa where I’m sure she will be amazing as always! Let’s see how much press she gets here in the states – I’m so sick of the TV press I could puke!!

  5. I was wondering if anyone here attended Netroots Nation. As I was talking to some strong supporters of the President on another blog who said they were there and they did not feel out of place. They said they were reluctant to go but except for that one seminar, it was not that bad. But then again, some of them were involved in manning tables or doing other related things throughout the conference too like packing up care packages for our veterans and their families and the like. I was just wondering if anyone here went and if they felt at home or did they feel shunned or other such experiences? As I have a friend who is considering going next year but she is afraid it will be mostly Obama bashing. I showed her the poll from there where 80 pct attending approved of the job the President is doing.

    And I was told to remember NN is not just about one blog but there are people from several blogs present ..not just one. What do you all think?

  6. I think its a waste of time. What strategies did they come up with other than how bad President Obama is. Wherre was the panel asking why we had not been out to protest or march during health care or any other debate. What exactly is they using the money for.

  7. forgive me i hit the post commetn before i was finished. What exactly is they using the money for, and what progress have we made should have been pointed out with honor.

  8. I am a firm believer in working in unison. We have it harder, a bigger tent, all kinds of people, different views. If we work to respect, empower and include we will not allow ourselves to be divided. I took inspiration from the protesters in Tahrir Square. I read the typical strategy used against reformers in the past was to divide and conquer, pit them against each other. It didn’t work this time. It won’t be easy for them to establish a more representative government either. It comes with the territory. I would tell your friend to go and enjoy the diversity and be him or herself while they are there. IMHO.

  10. US President Barack Obama is close to a decision on the size of his planned withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and is expected to speak on the issue on Wednesday.

    “He’s finalising his decision. He’s reviewing his options,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.<

    The US has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and Mr Obama has said troop withdrawals will start in July.

    But there are deep divisions in the US over the size and speed of the pullout.

    News of Mr Obama's deliberations comes a day after departing US Defence Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that the US was holding "outreach" talks with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

    It was the first time the US had acknowledged such contact.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-us-canada-13851930

  11. I know Eclectablog was there. He hasn’t been around here very much lately but I would love to see his take on things.

    There was the Hamsher hatefest and the Dan Pffeiffer interview that have gotten all of the attention.

    dKos did a series of ‘Big Ideas’ posts on a range of issues. From what I could tell from reading this framing of their action for the next year, the far left has won: there was a lot of ‘starting over from scratch’ with agencies and approaches. Working through the system, incremental change has lost favor.

    Netroots Nation should be a place to build an effective progressive infrastructure. Instead, from my cursory reading (I do not profess to have followed it very closely) they would be fine with chaos because chaos would bring on progressive utopia. Yeah, right.

    I have one word for these people: [the] courts. We are already seeing the effects of Bush’s stacking of the courts and we could lose ALL battles for at least the next generation. The Republicans are wilfully stopping Obama from filling vacancies at all levels of the federal court system. This is deliberate — so that when they pass their draconian laws there will be no court that will reverse them.

    So, dKos and others from the looney left: Huntsman is NOT okay. Anyone with an “R” after their name is far worse than a Democrat. ANYONE. We will lose reproductive rights, we will lose discrimination rights, we will lose voters’ rights. We will become a shell of what America stands for.

    Franklly, if Obama wants to pick what to be a firebrand about, the wilful obstruction by Republicans on his court nominees can have some resonance. It does not have to be a complicated issue. We are going to lose the generation if we’re not mindful of what they have set out to do.

    So, Netroots Nation — instead of ‘Big Ideas’ about perfect labor legislation, how about building the country back to progressive ideals, just like the conservatives put us in the other direction, starting almost 40 years ago? They didn’t do it by feelgood ‘revolution’, they took over the system including the media, one small step at a time.

    Jackasses.

  12. Something to look for tomorrow, then. I’m sure the President has thought it through.

  13. Yes, me too. I think Biden wing will carry more weight that Gates, Petraeus wing. In any case, expect plenty of hand wringing and name calling from both left and right.

  15. Personally, I think Obama supporters should not be attending NN. The prominent netroots sites have spent the past 2+ years smearing Obama and his administration with lies and misinformation. In many cases, they have worked to kill Obama’s legislation in Congress. By attending NN, they are inflating the number of people the netroots can claim to speak for and they give the netroots a moderate cover. I think Obama supporters should have nothing to do with a conference that gave a panel to Choi, John A and Hamsher who are actively engaged in tearing down a Democratic administration and their grassroots organization, OFA. Also, Angry Mouse’s interview of WH Communications Director Pfeiffer was shameful and I’d be embarrassed to have anything to do with a conference that have speakers that behaved that unprofessionally.

  16. I read over at TP that they think the # will be about 10,000…that’s UP from the 3,000 or 4,000 some wanted. I just want to get the hell out. Baby steps are better than NO steps.

  17. Good morning BWD and TOAITR family. It is a beautiful day here in Montana, finally. So glad BWD gave us a new thread. She is always in my prayers and everyone here. Am so excited about Michelle’s trip to Africa.

    As always thanks for everyone here for bringing so much news.

  18. I was hoping for a much bigger number, but at least with this president I know that he is not some war lover, and I keep trust his judgment.

  21. Electablog does a lot of very good work helping veterans and their families and with care packages.
    I applaud him. He had a good time at NN. He was busy with manniing a table and advocating for our troops and the care packages. So I think his experience was good but he was also involved in a very important project that helps veterans. So it may depend on what vantage point one has and what they are involved with while at these conferences like NN. As I applaud any actions that help our troops, vets, and their families.

    Personally for me, I cannot afford the travel costs and hotels anyway plus food. It would prove a financial burden. Plus I loathe flying and avoid it unless I have to fly. And with my health issues, I would rather spend my energy and time helping the Obama campaign and OFA here in my backyard and volunteering my time locally. I also do some work with the homeless shelter and with homeless veterans and military families in my state and region.

  23. And the NN folks don’t give a fig about the long term consequences of their actions. And they never hold themselves accountable – it’s always someone else’s fault. They’re like lawless adolescents.

  24. Sounds like they’re more like Republicans all the time. Never take responsibility…blame everything on Obama and the Democrats.

  25. Agreed; complete waste of time. Anyone looking to hook up with local area activists should look for neighborhood associations, local Democratic party meetings, local groups focusing on various progressive issues, etc. NN is nothing but a media splash, and just as with dkos/fdl, etc., the biggest megaphone will be GIVEN to President Obama’s bashers regardless of the thoughts and opinions of the overwhelming majority of the convention participants. People looking to give credibility to Choi, Hamsher, etc., as well as waste a lot of time discussing grand ideas which have no chance of being implemented in the real world, then I guess NN is a good venue. It’s just a waste of time and money for everyone else. Tired of hearing about it actually.

  26. And there it is:

    By attending NN, they are inflating the number of people the netroots can claim to speak for and they give the netroots a moderate cover…

    Exactly right. This is true of dkos and it’s true of NN. Obamabots are used to give the fringe a credibility which they do not at all deserve.

  27. They are given megaphones by the event planners. The moderates who attend that convention are just used to give cover to the destructive people who want to spread memes about President Obama losing his base, etc., and I’m sorry, but from the outside looking in, that’s exactly what was accomplished and is exactly what Hamsher was bragging about (the nasty tone of the media reports about NN as pertaining to POTUS). I don’t see why people continue to enable this disaster, and continue to give credibility to people who do not speak for liberals and want Dems out of power.

  28. You’re assuming that we all share the same goals. People who think that the way to utopia is via the political and personal degradation of President Obama are not my allies, we don’t want the same things.

    That the media message of NN is that liberals hate POTUS so much that we applaud spectacles like someone tearing up OFA literature—that’s enabled by the moderates who insist on giving huge media platforms to people who simply aren’t after the same things. We’re not in Tahrir Square; we’re in a country so utterly spoiled and bigoted, that the best President in a generation is slandered constantly by new media “professionals.” I know that you and I disagree on this. 🙂

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