Due to the overwhelming response to last week’s THE JOE COOL DOUBLE-REVERSE HAIL MARY – Issue: 9/14/11, we had to eschew comments on earlier columns for the following:
Your analogy is way off. A Hail Mary pass would have been asking for a purely progressive bill that had virtually no chance of passing. This is a smartly crafted play designed to get the best chance for maximum yardage.
—Jim R.
Pass incomplete… turn over on downs.
—Bill Roberts
Yeah, Joe Cool rolled back and let it fly… like a girl. Forget about what’s been going on in the country for the passed 3 years and just focus on this: Obama told us he’d have an important jobs plan AFTER his Martha’s Vineyard vacation and what did we get for the wait? The same government-centric, already tried-and-failed-spectacular moves which were expensive and wasteful AND an IOU for the specifics in another 2 weeks. WTF?! If that’s not the liberals’ failed ideology in a nutshell, I don’t know what is. Seriously, we’re seeing the last dying gasps of the progressive party and it only took 80 years and two depressions to do it. Oh, wait… we have a flag on the field. Looks like that last play is coming back…
—Ken Eustace
So when the President asked for Wednesday and Boehner said no to that, it was part of the plan to have it Thursday before kick-off? I’m glad Boehner said no, and I got to watch the Republican debate in its entirety. It makes my decision easier when I see those guys speak.
President Obama isn’t doing this for political reasons; he actually cares about the country. The notion that this is some Hail Mary pass completely misses what we need to do to save the country. I hope this is first down and we have a long, 17 down drive to the end zone.
—withhonor
I ain’t holding my breath. He gives great speeches. His problem is in the follow through.
—Carol Caroli
Many millions of U.S. citizens have been forsaken. They have been excluded and forgotten by the very people they elected to serve their interests. Coupled with the stark, unforgiving economic conditions we have been dealt by years of self-interested deregulation and cynical deal making (on both sides of the aisle) HOPE is now an illusion for a huge percentage of our population.
Obama has been tepid in his pursuit of the changes needed to correct the dire situation we have been in all of his current term. He has been all too quick to give concessions and settle for all too many ‘Solomonic’ solutions, like Health Care reform, save the banks let the people be unemployed, anemic reform of the financial system, etc, etc.
When Obama has had so called successes like health care reform the result is a sorry severing of the infant legislation in two (or more parts) leaving such pathetic results that one has to wonder if the President actually understands what he is trying to have pass in the Congress. Or worse, Obama is not just willing to settle for the mediocre but in fact does stand for some other set of ideals then he appeared to represent when stumping for the office. Perhaps that explains his willingness to let TBTF banks hold sway, ignore his own economic and financial experts, give away (not even trade away) single payer for health care reform, and so on.
Folks, we are coming closer and closer to a dreadful decision... re-elect a man who, though is President, seems incapable of filling the role, or, elect one of the dreadful offerings from the current platoon of conservatives, theocrats and reactionaries. Either way there seems to be so little to hope for the future of leadership in this fine nation. God Bless America.
—moAB
I think Obama has done a great job as President considering the mess he inherited and the obstruction of the GOP.
We have not only avoided another disaster on U.S. soil, we have killed the man responsible for 9/11 and many of his followers, true democracy is spreading through the Middle East, although our recovery is weak, we are no longer in a recession, and his current jobs plan is better than anything the GOP has put forward since Eisenhower
All in all, not a bad job under the circumstances.
—axt113
The biggest problem with the football analogy is that no one in Washington is playing football.
The President is playing Jenga.
Congress is playing Liars Poker.
After 32 months in office.
Weeks and weeks of build up for announcing the President’s “Jobs Bill,” President Obama called for a Joint Session of Congress for revealing his “Jobs Bill.” Began the speech by calling his plan the American Jobs Act. During his speech he said “Everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything.” Stressed again and again “Pass this bill NOW!”
Liberals in the audience cried tears of joy, hugged each other and danced with joy!
But there is NO BILL. Congress couldn’t pass it NOW if they wanted to.
An outline of the “plan” will come out next Monday, details will follow sometime later in the week.
Been there, spent that, still waiting for the promised results.
It would be nice to read the American Jobs Act before committing for or against it.
NOW what need to be done is to get the bill in the hands of Congress so they can read it.
(Re: Nancy Pelosi: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it”)
—BonaFideVern
Until the President makes it clear to the GOP that he will hold some of their sacred cows hostage and go to the limit with that, as the GOP has done on tax increases, then he is still just a cheerleader and not a real leader. It is one thing to say that, as the adult in the room, he has to sometimes capitulate to keep the process moving temporarily. But like any adult in a room of unruly kids there is also the need to instill order and discipline so there can be growth and progress. That is where the big stick comes in. And yes, Obama Democrats, the analogy between Congress and a family IS valid.
—Noaxe397
James Campion is the Managing Editor of The Reality Check News & Information Desk and the author of Deep Tank Jersey, Fear No Art, Trailing Jesus and Midnight For Cinderella.
