President Obama's progressive mandate - Chris Matthews smacks down right-wing hack

MSNBC's Chris Matthews suggested on Monday that if Barack Obama listens to the calls coming even from within his own party for him to play to the center, he will not be bold enough.

"It seems to me that he's got one chance to get everything done," Matthews stated passionately on Hardball. "Ronald Reagan taught everybody that. Get it done the first year or don't talk about it. ... He's got to do it. He can't say, 'I'll put it off till after the year after next.' ... Do you think this guy can survive as president if all he does is do a little tax cuts and push SCHIP?"

Matthews put the question of boldness to two political strategists, Democrat Steve McMahon and Republican Todd Harris, but neither one seemed to respond to Matthews' implication that Obama needs to do something visionary to fulfill his promises.

"Doing something dramatic and bold on the economy I think is something they're very interested in doing," McMahon began. But he also insisted that "the middle decided this election and the middle of the country -- the swing voters -- are waiting for him to address their economic concerns."

"Big doesn't need to be conflated with liberal," Harris commented. "I think it's important that people not lose sight over what this election was and what it wasn't. What it was was a historic victory for Barack Obama. What it was not was a wholesale realignment of American politics to the left."

"You guys are so -- you speak with a forked tongue, Todd!" exploded Matthews. "Geroge Bush won with less votes than Al Gore -- you talk about mandates. [Bush] came in there and did exactly what he wanted to do. He cut taxes for the rich across the board. ... He took us to war in Iraq."

"The idea that you should pussyfoot if you're a Democrat," continued Matthews, "but if you're a Republican go in there whole hog -- you have a totally two standards here! Republicans should take advantage of every victory and call it a mandate. Democrats should go in there and be very cautious. 'Gee whiz, I'm sorry for being here, I hope we don't offend the conservatives.'" He then concluded, "Some people do well by doing modest things that are highly symbolic, like President Clinton did. ... I wonder whether Barack Obama better be bold or he will be forgotten and he will not be what he promised to be."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/GOP_hypocrisy_Obama_must_govern_from_1111.html
What we're hearing instead from Republican politicians, pollsters and pundits is reassurance that the United States is a "center-right nation" with an innate distrust of progressive policies. The problem, these soothing voices say, is that under George W. Bush the GOP strayed from its basic philosophy of limited government and adopted the big-spending habits of the Democrats. Republicans need to rediscover their bedrock principles, this theory goes, and after a few years of rule by Barack Obama and his Democratic enablers on Capitol Hill, voters will come running home to papa.

So much is wrong with this analysis that it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start with the basic premise, that of a center-right American polity. To the extent that such a vague label has any real meaning, that may once have been the case. But if ours were a center-right electorate now, one imagines it might have been kinder to a center-right politician such as John McCain.

After all, that's what McCain basically is, or used to be. To win the Republican nomination, he had to swerve so far to the right that there was no way he could make his way back within shouting distance of the center. Not that he tried very hard: By the end of the campaign, he was suggesting that progressive taxation -- a concept that most Americans accept, having been convinced of its wisdom by Republican icon Teddy Roosevelt -- represents some sort of creeping socialism.

My guess, in any event, is that this country oscillates pretty freely in the range between center-right and center-left, and that it's clearly taking a leftward swing. My guess is that in stimulating the economy, re-regulating the financial system, making "green" technology a reality and ending the war in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Obama will feel more public pressure to speed up than slow down.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR20081110024...

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[che761]

Trickle down economics works with giving the rich more money with the hope that they hire more people with the extra cash on hand. the problem is that the rich got rich by keeping their money trickle up economics is better cuz those with less money end up spending their money in the stores owned by the rich so regardless the rich will get their money and the poor have more money to give to the rich

[sweetladysue]

I don't mind paying 50%, how big a house do I need, I can only live in one at a time the others are more income for me. How many cars can I drive, and why would I wanna drive my new cars on bad roads. No one needs to make more then 500k a year, so why not pay 50% tax so that the ones that have less then I do don't have to pay so much. 0 to 20k 0% / 20k to 50k 15% / 50k to 100k 20% /100k to 250k 30% / and anything over that should be 50%, what is wrong with that? For anyone making over a 3ml 75%

[romanmel1]

Why waste your time listening to this looser. Chris Matthews has a very small number of viewers on MSNBC. No one counts this network as anything. Matthews is a pig-eyed looser who actually thinks what he says is important to someone. It's not! He and his fellow puppets of the New World Order crowd at this network have to spew increasingly rediculous rants to get any attention at all.

[Searching4Truth1]

hmmm, looks like the ONE has weighed in on whether or not Archimedes set fire to a Roman fleet using only mirrors

Guess that'll help the economy & create jobs, NOT

[SOLISDEUS]

If the Bush tax cuts continue they will add $3.2 trillion to the deficit. How is possible the same teabaggers angered over a $800 billion healthcare bill that will actually lower the deficit in the long haul are supporting the tax cut adding $3.2 trillion to the deficit. Oh, right, I forgot, there idiots.

[TeslaDRay]

@sweetladysue

i know a lot of rich people (not personally) that wouldn't mind paying more, as long as the money is spent properly, not wasted on certain entitlements for people to abuse (welfare for people who aren't entitled, or peopole who have 9 kids when they can't afford it).

[candiceevans1]

@TonyCook2012 ive been saying this for years,,,their very ideology is racist...they see black folks as weak and incapable victims that they will throw crumbs to ,,it makes me sick I dont know why the black folks continue to vote 4 these hacks. They are racist against white people and they hate the white male especially. bc their whole political agenda is based on victimhood. If you are gay you are a victim, or female, or handicapped or an illegal alien they exploit everyone 4 political gain

[utoobia]

@CE750, no he is not, no matter what any right wing-nut might say, but he's IS a statist and possibly a socialist, and that is NOT good for anyone, not even the poor and disadvantaged. "That governs best which governs least" - Th. Jefferson

[utoobia]

FDR? LOL. Almost all economists now believe he EXTENDED the great depression by 5-10 years. People, stop believing what you are spoon fed, stop accepting indoctrination of ANY political stripe, and do your own homework! Socialism does not work! You don't add another story to a building by pulling bricks out of the foundation. Let the free market work, with some REASONABLE regulation, yes.

[roscoe85cj]

haha ... well it appears Comrade Obama's "mandate" just went south ... voters in Massachusetts of all places just handed him and his socialist agenda his ass !

[TonyCook2012]

Dems are by their very policy choices--------R A C I S T S

[mvbeckril]

"conflated" Is that a word? I'm gonna look it up!