“Yes We Can”

“Today, the Senate did its job. It’s now up to the House to do the same.” —President Obama on #immigration reform: http://t.co/CVUpWdBcz9

— The White House (@whitehouse) June 27, 2013

Steve Benen: Following months of bipartisan negotiations, the U.S. Senate easily approved landmark immigration legislation with a 68-to-32 vote. In recognition of the seriousness with which Senate leaders took the issue, members took the unusual step of voting from their desks.

In the end, 14 Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats in support of the proposal. Despite the so-called “border surge” and other provisions secured by GOP senators, 32 of the 46 Senate Republicans — about 70% of the caucus — still voted against the bill. (In 2006, 21 GOP senators voted for comprehensive immigration reform, suggesting, despite electoral pressures, the party is slowly becoming more hostile on the issue, not less.)

Immediately after the Gang of Eight’s bill was approved, Dream Act kids in the Senate gallery could be heard chanting, “Yes we can.”

More here

‘obama gets it. do his followers?’

Jonathan Cohn (TNR): …. The speech President Obama gave last Thursday was everything it needed to be. It was bold, with Obama using it to introduce a jobs program large enough, and sufficiently well designed, to reduce unemployment. And it was straightforward. Obama made it clear he wanted action, now…

….. the most important, and most unexpected, development was what Obama did after the speech. He went on the road, conveying the same message … speeches can’t alter the public debate. But sustained, focused campaigns can. That’s how one begins.

…. Next week Obama returns to Ohio for yet another speech – this time in front of a bridge. And it’s not just any old bridge. It’s the Brent Spence Bridge …  “functionally obsolete” ….  Oh, and did you notice the location? Steve Benen did:

…that the bridge starts in Ohio’s 8th congressional district (home to House Speaker John Boehner) and ends in Kentucky (home to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell) makes it a nearly perfect example. By making infrastructure investments – investments that used to enjoy bipartisan support before the GOP slipped into madness – the Obama administration can repair the Brent Spence Bridge, putting locals back to work, and improving local transportation and commercial needs.

…. but the only hope for getting something through Congress – or making an effective political statement, if the Republicans block action – is to apply pressure. And that pressure needs to come from at least two other places.

One is the grassroots …. Are they making phone calls and emails to Congress? Are they getting involved in campaigns?….

…. This much I know: Obama is doing his part to focus the debate on jobs, to pass legislation that can boost the economy, and to frame a clear political choice for the voters. In short, he’s leading. But even the best leaders need help from some followers.

Full article here

get to work ;-)

Have you contacted Congress yet?

Contact details

Pass. The. Bill.

😉

Gallup

‘let’s meet this moment’

Text of speech here

pass the bill

rebel with a cause

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and senior staff, react in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

NPR: Richard Wolffe (in his new book Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House) writes that Obama was holding back tears when he finally signed the health care bill. He says that it helps answer an important question: why Obama stubbornly insisted on moving forward with the health care overhaul when others advised against it.

“This was clearly a decision that his own chief of staff didn’t agree with, and there were other senior advisers who thought this was insane, lunatic, to risk the presidency on it,” Wolffe says. “And it comes down to the memory of his mother.

“So, his mother passed away because of cancer. Her experience in her final days and months was about struggling with insurance companies over … the question of pre-existing conditions. And if you listen to the president, what does he talk about most?” Wolffe says. “It’s about insurance companies quibbling with patients about pre-existing conditions.

“And he tears up — it’s strange that people didn’t kind of notice it — in all of the hullabaloo around the signing in the East Room, he can barely keep it together. And that’s very, very rare — to see a president, especially this president, who is struggling, fighting with himself, to hold back the tears.”

Although the health care overhaul may have hurt Democrats at the polls, it wouldn’t have been Obama’s style not to go for it, Wolffe says.