Category Archives: Barack Obama

Never Negotiate With an Extortionist

School-House-Rock-Bill

Never negotiate with an extortionist. You know how this is going to go. The matter how badly you want whatever it is they are holding over your head, don’t give in.

In the United States, we know how bills are supposed to be introduced in the Congress, how their discussed in committee how then they are passed by one Chamber of Congress. Then the other chamber of Congress has an opportunity to vote on the bill and modify it. If the bill is passed by both chambers of the versions of the bill are different then there’s a committee from both houses of Congress which discusses the bill and then it is voted on again by both houses of Congress. The bill then goes the president to be signed or vetoed. That’s exactly what happened to the Affordable Care Act. Then, the law was immediately challenged and it was upheld by the Supreme Court. We’ve all seen Schoolhouse Rock. That’s how this thing works.

If you don’t like a law that is currently, the law of the land, then there’s a process for repealing laws. As far as I know, the process does not include shutting down the government because you’re having a hissy fit. Republicans don’t have a prayer of repealing ObamaCare through the normal process. So, they thought they would circumvent the normal process and pretend nobody was looking.

More from Robert Reich:

What’s happening in Washington these days may seem far removed from my boyhood memories, but Washington is really just another children’s playground. Its current bullies are right-wing Republicans, now threatening that if they don’t get their way they’ll close down the government and cause the nation to default on its debts. Continue reading

Obama on Syria

Transcript from The White House:

My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria — why it matters, and where we go from here.

Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war. Over 100,000 people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, America has worked with allies to provide humanitarian support, to help the moderate opposition, and to shape a political settlement. But I have resisted calls for military action, because we cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad’s government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children. The images from this massacre are sickening: Men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas. Others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath. A father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons, and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off-limits — a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of war. Continue reading