Oh Rosy you are so funny when, " You are Freakingout ", There is nothing wrong with getting in touch with who you really are. You have to make some room for your President Obaama.
Instead of " The Great Society ", we are now in " The Great Leap Forward ", With a side order of Government Ponzi Environmentalism. I hope you enjoy the upcoming Famine.

How come the GOP got to be in charge for more than a decade and as soon as the Dems get control, they only get 4 years?

Let's spend more time reminding Americans of what happens when the GOP is in charge instead of all this hand-wringing.

It means normalizing relations with Iran,

Iran’s supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with the United States would be “naive and perverted” and that Iranian politicians should not be “deceived” into starting such talks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 70, said Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages. It was the second time that Khamenei, who wields ultimate political and religious authority in Iran, has referred to the president’s outreach.

Ahh, the Zombies do have a short shelf life. In my Statuary Museum, both FDR and LBJ rest comfortably. And in the years ahead, Jimmy Carter's bust will be on my shelf. as well.

Perhaps, we inadvertently forget that Professor Todd Gitlin who writes here on the front page at the TPM, is highly respected and well-versed when it comes to America's foremost exceptionalism for the Iconic behavior of a "participatory" Democracy. And if you don't this, you have lost much for any affliction and affection for history, and subsequently, I suggest that you start 'reading' him. He will set you free from any proclivity in your presumptive behavior for the appropriate lack of intellectual vigor.

Of course, the 'trick' is in knowing that LBJ demonstrated the first for pushing the political envelop, in putting taxpayer largesse behind his Philosophy for Thought and Action. Therefore, a first-rate leadership model was imposed on America and in contrast, Ronald Reagan sold America the notional that the government was your enemy.

And how did all this work out? Today, there are over 5,000 Native Americans who carry the title of Elected and Appointed Officials; There are over 10,000 Elected and Appointed Officials in the Spanish-speaking community; and there are over 10,000 Elected and Appointed Officials in the African American community.

And by any "standard" measured and utilized, LBJ's Legacy, is beyond question.

Just a Passing Thought From Here in the Sonoran Desert.

Jaango

I would have thought it obvious to anyone with just a modicum of intelligence to see that Netanyahu, so ably backed by AIPAC, has been successful in emasculating this president.

Netanyahu is now King! And kings always have it over presidents.

Only problem is accepting the concept of a Likud run Union. I guess we'll get used it. Like we got used to recession and AIDS - just something we gotta live with cos there's sure nobody visible out there who's goin to change it, not anytime soon, anyway.

That's just life, politics and the art of propaganda properly positioned in the mind of the public. Or as they say, living with crap and hasbara.

"We live at a time when Congress no longer believes -- and that includes much of the President's own party -- that a landslide election victory by a Presidential candidate means that the new President has a mandate to enact the program he ran on."

Unless a moron like Bush steals an election and the ethically challenged Republican Congress goes along with any crap he slings at us.

Also, before Obama and the Democrats can enact their programs they have to decide what those programs are. So I ask a series of questions:

Enacting programs is a great idea, but first one has to have programs to enact.

Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do when he ran - governing as a cautious, incremental, marginally-left-of-center consensus-builder. To many of us, it was obvious during the campaign that consensus-building with the same rabid hounds that pursued our last Democratic President was not in the cards. But to some (including MJ Rosenberg), Obama would herald a new era of activist, progressive dominance. Apparently, MJ either didn't listen or thought Obama was just lying. I tended to take Obama at his word. More than most politicians, Obama appears to be a man of integrity. Of course, integrity is of necessity counterbalanced by the need to be elected in a country that in large measure does not share the progressive values of many of us here.

MJ and his ilk have been wrong about Obama all along. And that's not necessasrily such a bad thing. So far, I'd say he's secured some pretty impressive accomplishments and is on the verge of passing healthcare legislation that, in whatever form, will be a vast improvement and sea change from the current system.

As Obama proved during the election, patience is a virtue.

"The politics of consensus is garbage and we cannot afford it."

MJ, we all know how much you disdain Neocons. We all do. But you do realize that when you make statements like the one above, you're starting to sound like a Neocon, right? Like you, the Neocons also did not believe in politics of consensus.

Though history will certainly make special note that this current spirit of political divisiveness was commenced under George W. Bush and the Neocons, it will also be remembered that the Democrats did nothing more than continue this dangerous and, quite frankly, Un-American precedent.

You are quite correct in stating that the Republicans will be back and "worse than ever." I dispute your assessment that this will entail the Rise of the Neocons. That sounds more like a video game (first person shooter?) than political reality. I'm not implying that in a future Republican administration there won't be a Neocon presence, but how much political capital do you believe that rogue group has left? How many real Conservatives ended up losing their seats in Congress because they decided to tag along on the Neocon power trip (even if they were not true Neocons themselves)? I bet Norm Coleman, among others, wishes he hadn't ridden the president's coattails so closely. Had he shown some objectivity, he'd never have lost to that ass-clown Al Franken.

But getting back on point, it's a damn sad day when bi-partisanship has become too passe to even consider. The GOP has been stubborn and even partially obstructionist lately, but it's completely unacceptable to cut them out of the health care debate altogether. Asking a Republican to get on board with a public option is like asking a Democrat to get on board with privatized social security. Not gonna happen.

But the most disturbing aspect of your post is the notion

First things first, M.J. - we've simply got to take up a collection.

Let all sensible Americans assemble a pot of gold and send Alan Keyes and John Voight off on such a glorious honeymoon that these two lunatics decide to throw in the towel and never come back.

No John, don't ever come home again. Proceed directly to the front lines in Afghanistan and sacrifice yourself on one or another altar of absurdity. Your husband could easily top that and go on to immolate himself in Saigon while Malcom Browne trips the light fantastic - another 35 mm. appointment with destiny.

General McChrystal can then see to it that you both get a posthumous Silver Star!