home

Obama: Un Presidente Para Todas

President Obama laid out his second-term agenda in an off the record conversation with the Des Moines Register, which his campaign provided to the paper today with permission to publish. He says he will get immigration reform done in 2013. The full transcript is here.

"The second thing I'm confident we'll get done next year is immigration reform," Mr. Obama told the newspaper. "And since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community. And this is a relatively new phenomenon.

[More...]

And this is a relatively new phenomenon. George Bush and Karl Rove were smart enough to understand the changing nature of America. And so I am fairly confident that they're going to have a deep interest in getting that done. And I want to get it done because it's the right thing to do and I've cared about this ever since I ran back in 2008."

On Mitt Romney:

So I just want to contrast with what happens if Mitt Romney is elected. I know that he likes to talk about his Massachusetts record. The truth is there really were two Mitt Romneys. There was the Mitt Romney who initially got elected, passed Obamacare, and was interested in being the governor of Massachusetts. After his second year, it was the Mitt Romney who was running for president and abandoned all his previous positions.

His answer to people who don't think it matters who gets elected:

Well, what I’d say is that it will matter to millions of Americans who may or may not have health care. It will matter to millions of seniors who maybe -- or soon-to-be seniors who may be faced with the prospect of a voucher system for Medicare.

It will matter to young people all across the country who were born here, pledged allegiance to our flag, went to school here, and are Americans in every way except they don’t have documentation and would continue to be at risk of deportation.

It will matter to middle-class families who are going to find themselves locked out of the discussion in terms of how we balance our budget, or at least reduce our deficit, facing the prospect that things like the tax credit we put in place for kids going to college, the earned income tax credit, a whole bunch of things that make sure working people stay out of poverty -- that could all go away.

The consequences on just about every indicator out there would be enormous.

I'll just add for the 100th time it makes a huge difference with respect to who will be appointed for lifetime positions on the Supreme Court and federal courts. Republicans are just disastrous on crime issues and Romney is a one topic guy -- the economy, business and taxes are the only topic he cares about or pretends to know anything about. All decisions about crime and punishment will be made by his advisers, most of whom are Bush/Cheney holdovers.

And for the 90th time, Obama should have taken a position in support of states' rights on marijuana, declaring and implementing a hands-off policy on all but large-scale trafficking of amounts that otherwise federal prosecution standards. He's now battling for 4 electoral votes in New Hampshire, a state which passed a bill this year legalizing medical marijuana, only to have be vetoed by the Governor and failed to get enough votes to override the veto. Had he reversed course two months ago, at his huge rally in Colorado, I think he would have clinched for Colorado's 9 votes. And he would have energized young voters in the other swing states and medical marijuana users in all 16 states where it is legal, but they live in fear of federal intervention with their right to acquire it.

Nevada's 6 votes are still up for grabs and 15% of voters are Latino. Maybe today's announcement will increase their turnout and move the state to Obama.

On the positive side, 40% of voters will vote early and the latest Ipsos poll of those who have already voted show Obama with a clear lead -- 54 percent to 39 percent.

Update: The Des Moines Register has endorsed Mitt Romney -- its first endorsement of a Republican for President since 1972 when it endorsed Richard Nixon.

< Saturday College Football Open Thread | New York Times Endorses Barack Obama >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    First of all, it makes no sense to me (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Anne on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 12:11:15 AM EST
    why Obama would have an off-the-record chat with any media outlet - does he think the people served by that media don't deserve to hear or read what he has to say in advance of an election?

    Second, the only reason that interview was eventually released is because the Des Moines Register shamed the Obama campaign into it; they spilled the beans to their readers and let them know not just that the conversation took place but it was off-the-record at Obama's request - and so, before any hay could be made out of that by the GOP, the Obama campaign agreed to release it.

    Third, I think it's kind of ironically amusing that the candidate who, up until he was elected president, had a history of running for his next office pretty soon after being elected to the last one, decided to castigate Mitt Romney for not being committed enough to being governor of Massachusetts.

    Fourth, and maybe finally, I think we can all agree that the GOP, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, would be terrible for this country, but please: can we stop kidding ourselves that Romney's awfulness somehow means anything more than that, as we all suspected, the quality of choices we get are just getting worse and worse.  I mean, just consider for even a minute that there is a laundry list of things that Democrats/liberals/progressives - whatever it is we non-Republican/non-conservative/non-tea party/generally sane are - were livid, apoplectic, angry, and incensed about that Republicans were doing that electing Democrats was going to make so much better, but have, under this president, only been normalized.  I won't list them; we all know what they are.

    And Democratic voters/Obama supporters are pretending that it's okay.  It's not.  And while things may not go to hell quite as quickly as they would if Romney wins, they are surely headed there even if Obama is victorious.  

    Yip-f'ing-eee!

    All I am hoping for at this point is a Romney defeat.  Good God, that's depressing.

    Let's not forget (1.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Makarov on Sat Oct 27, 2012 at 11:05:02 PM EST
    Robert Gibbs' response to a question about the targeted assassination of 16 year old, American born, US citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki:

    "should have [had] a far more responsible father"

    Para todas, excepto 'los terroristas'.

    That was Robert Gibbs' PERSONAL opinion. (none / 0) (#6)
    by Angel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 03:04:57 PM EST
    Obama didn't say that.  

    You're a troll.

    Parent

    Obama is pretty committed to Bowles- (none / 0) (#1)
    by caseyOR on Sat Oct 27, 2012 at 10:22:59 PM EST
    Simpson plan for deficit reduction which means cuts to Social Security and Medicare. This deficit obsession is bad for the country. He won't turn Medicare into voucher plan, but he will raise the eligibility age, raise the monthly premium and deductibles and co-pays. People will be paying considerably more for their Medicare.

    And Obama supports changing SS to a chained CPI, which is essentially a cut in benefits. And it is a cut that will, because women live longer than men and are more dependent on SS for their retirement income, have a greater adverse effect on women.

    At this point, the biggest reason to vote for Obama is that Romney is so horrible.

    When the Obama campaign first released the WTF (win the future) campaign slogan I said that his slogan should simply be "Vote Obama. Not F@cking Insane."  I think that nicely sums up this race.

    Oh, I think that WTF?! is (none / 0) (#2)
    by Towanda on Sat Oct 27, 2012 at 10:48:32 PM EST
    the perfect acronym for the agenda for us.

    Parent