"By the way we have to fix that"
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"By the way we have to fix that"
I guess President Obama's victory was the headline coming out of yesterday (barely beating out this story) but the most interesting comment was this off-hand remark by the current and future leader of the free world:
As he spoke in Chicago, he thanked everyone who cast a ballot "whether you voted for the first time, or waited in line for a very long time" -- then he quickly added, in an evident ad lib, "by the way we have to fix that."
By "that," the president was referring to long lines, confusion over early voting and other issues, thousands of voters who should have been on the books but weren't (full disclosure: including my 18-year-old son casting his first ballot, although he was able to vote eventually), and a slew of recent laws aimed at making it harder for people to vote instead of easier. The resulting chaos made a mockery of American exceptionalism, unless "exceptionalism" is now synonymous with "what you might find in a faraway banana republic."
Now, three things about the president's comment:
1) "By the way", you've been president for the last almost four years -- this is just occurring to you now? Amazing. It's almost like that Ragu commercial..."I wonder what other bad decisions I've made.."
2) If he's serious, Step 1 is to roll back all the voter suppression laws -- like Pennsylvania's outrageous voter ID measure -- that have passed in the last couple of years.
3) More importantly, I hope America can think outside the box for real solutions to encourage as close to universal voting as we can get. That means things like day-of-voting registration, early voting in every state (including, gasp, Pennsylvania), and moving the final Election Day from Tuesday to Saturday. I heard on the radio yesterday that Tuesday elections were to coordinate with farmers' trips to market. I don't think we'd be crushing too many succotash growers by moving the vote to the weekend.
On voting I do think not enough has been said about the voter ID laws that were passed by Republicans the past two years. It clearly energized the black community, some of whom remember a time when they couldn't vote. Also, many things I heard on the radio made in clear that some conservatives don't value their right to vote. Because some are poor, their vote shouldn't count.
My friend Michael spent the last 6 months working with the NAACP in registering people to vote, many for the first time. He logged almost 500 miles yesterday taking people to the polls yesterday. Very proud of him.— chasing history- Day of turning 18 registration for all citizen (not day of voting).— Archimedes
- Well, well, rysagr is here...
Tell me rysagr - do you remember the exchange a couple of days ago. You know, where I explained why you were likely completely wrong about the polls, and why the opinions you expressed were obvious examples of letting bias completely overwhelm rational thought processes?
Do you remember that?
Care to say anything about that?— Talking point sleuth - sure tps. i was wrong. unlike u i can admit it. you can go enjoy your obama phone. i'll go back to work now to provide for the takers in life— rysagr
- so tps where is your remark about staying classy? oh that's right you are a hypocrite — rysagr
- "i was wrong"
How about you were woefully misinformed? How about you're a bigmouth who really doesn't know very much?— wokmaster - I would like President Obama to create since its been over 3 1/2 years this country has operated without one. President Obama has not worked within his own parTy (forget the GOPers - THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS GROSS MALFEASANCE) - OBAMA HASN'T EVER worked within his own party to create a budget that represents their values and priorities. WHY NOT?????????????????????? Its rather important.— zen
- I would like President Obama to create a FEDERAL BUDGET since its been over 3 1/2 years this country has operated without one. President Obama has not worked within his own parTy (forget the GOPers - THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS GROSS MALFEASANCE) - OBAMA HASN'T EVER worked within his own party to create a budget that represents their values and priorities. WHY NOT?????????????????????? Its rather important.— zen
- Looks like Boehner might be ready to work with the President.
When the Republicans fold (by their own terms, not by practical, middle of the road terms) they will do it with chagrin on their faces and grumble that they only agreed to the deal out of "love of country," But it will really be out of fear of extinction and from intense pressure from Wall Street who loves money more than them.
However, given the strident internal recriminations the Republicans are busy inflicting on themselves, they probably won't deliver enough House votes until the country has been pushed over the fiscal cliff.
The Right-Wing will clamor that Obama won't move to the middle. But the country knows the Right-Wing first has to admit, primarily to itself, that the middle is far left of where they claim it is.
The Republicans have a mix of political ideologues and survivalists. When the ideologues realize they better become survivalists, maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to garner enough votes to strike a deal.— wokmaster - Looks like Boehner might be ready to work with the President.When the Republicans fold (by their own terms, not by practical, middle of the road terms) they will do it with chagrin on their faces and grumble that they only agreed to the deal out of "love of country," But it will really be out of fear of extinction and from intense pressure from Wall Street who loves money more than them. However, given the strident internal recriminations the Republicans are busy inflicting on themselves, they probably won't deliver enough House votes until the country has been pushed over the fiscal cliff. The Right-Wing will clamor that Obama won't move to the middle. But the country knows the Right-Wing first has to admit, primarily to itself, that the middle is far left of where they claim it is. The Republicans have a mix of political ideologues and survivalists. When the ideologues realize they better become survivalists, maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to garner enough votes to strike a deal. (HTML deleted)— wokmaster
- Wookie - I liked your comment better when it was broken up into paragraphs. Didn't make any sense of course, but at least it was easier on the eyes.— teardownthisfishwrap
- Does anyone recall the Philly election riot of 1742?— montani semper liberi
- Where is Princess Pubis? Haven't seen hide nor hair of that mealy mouthed weasel in days.— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- I'd be all for moving voting to the weekends. There should also be a way to institute internet voting. We have IT systems that move millions of dollars in a nanosecond, we should be able to figure out how to enable a secure voting feature.— General Turgidson
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