Barack Obama

President Obama gave a major talk on the economic crisis today. While the choice of Las Vegas for its location might be considered ironic, given the fact that Big Bank gambling created the crisis, there's good news: The President's speech could serve as a blueprint for an improved economic and political outlook - if the President and his party back it up with action. more »

More »»

The progressive coalition of blacks, Hispanics, youth and women worked to elect democrats a few years ago. They might be willing to work to keep them in office — especially if they see that it did them any good. Right now they’re sitting at home, out of work and low on hope.

More »»

President Obama was right to call out John Boehner today for describing our economic catastrophe as an "ant" that didn't deserve a strong response. more »

More »»

The sound that American wind turbines produce as their giant, breeze-propelled blades whip around is a distinctive: Neh-neh-neh-neh-neh-neh.

The anticipation is that those energy-generating, whirling arms would create a whooshing sound. And maybe they do in some countries. more »

More »»

I was getting ready to attend next week's America's Future Now conference, whose theme is that progressives must lead, and thinking about the relationship problems progressives are having with Barack Obama and the Congressional leadership. All the relationship books say that you need to be clear about what you need, so that you can communicate those needs to your partner in a healthy way. (At least that's what I imagine they say; I don't really know.)

The relationship between progressives and the Democratic leadership involves love, anger, and a lot of co-dependence. Some progressives seem to defend the President no matter what he does. Others have written him off as the hopelessly cynical tool (or manipulator) of a corrupt political system. Then there are those in the middle, the ones who get disillusioned and then fall in love all over again whenever he gives a great speech like he did yesterday. Political life must be a series of fifty first dates for them. more »

More »»

There's a lot to admire about the President's consensus-seeking style, however frustrating it can be to activists. But his press conference yesterday, and the management problems that led up to it, show the limits of that style in times of crisis. Hopefully the oil tragedy - let's not call it a "spill" when it's more like a sustained explosion - will help the Administration understand something that seems to elude them at times: You can't negotiate with disaster or compromise with danger. more »

More »»

The Campaign for America's Future (CAF), CREDO, and MoveOn have launched a petition campaign to ensure that the House/Senate deliberations on financial reform be "fully transparent." The good news? more »

More »»

Turning conflicts of interest into "win/win" situations can be a form of brilliance. Pretending those conflicts don't exist can be a form of indifference. That's why it was troubling to hear the President say today that financial reform "is not a zero sum game where Wall Street loses and Main Street wins. As we've learned in today's economy, we're all connected." True - but a connection can either be a lifeline or the rope that drags you down. more »

More »»

"Budgetball is an innovative sport that combines fiscal strategy and physical play."
- Budgetball Rulebook, "Pass the Ball - Not The Buck"

Billionaire Pete Peterson is funding an elaborate campaign to convince a nation with more than 15 million unemployed citizens that the most urgent crisis we face today is not unemployment ... or poverty, or inadequate healthcare, or the decimation of the middle class. He's already created a "news service" to propagate his ideas - the Washington Post outsourced its financial reporting to him - and hosted a "deficit summit" headlined by the same people that got us into the mess we're in today. (Greenspan? Rubin? That's not called a "summit." It's called "rounding up the usual suspects.")

More »»

Last week I livestreamed the first closed door meeting of the president's fiscal commission. I did this out of frustration that we received no response to a letter that we sent from 81 organizations representing over 61 million Americans, asking that all the work of the commission be done in the open. Letters were also sent by Chairman John Conyers and Minority Leader Boehner asking for transparency.

Today is the mandatory spending working group and we will be livestreaming it the whole time (we brought a power cord this time).

This post is part of our ongoing "Virtual Summit on Fiscal and Economic Responsibility for People Who Did Not Wreck The Economy."

More »»