"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

"The more things change, the more the stay the same."

"Why reinvent the wheel?"

These are platitudes for a reason.

The problem is that this ideology is hardly applicable to the times; it is no longer 1935 and we are not dealing with the problems of 1935. It's not 1965 either, and we're not trying to put a man on the moon.

So what part of our current problems wouldn't be better address by direct government action rather than blindly handing out money to middlemen, or trying to offer incentives for private action rather than just taking action directly?

We are no longer in the age of monolithic problems with singular monolithic solutions. Our government & society is hardly equipped to handle all the complexities of modern education, global warming, or modern health care.

Then why are you arguing to maintain the status quo, with more complex solutions than what are available?

But he's an audacious, awe-inspiring progressive.

Awe-inspiring oratorical abilities don't directly translate to awe-inspiring results. So far, Obama is just Bill Clinton 2.0. Instead of "third way politics" and "triangulation", now it's an insatiable desire for "bipartisanship" and "reaching across the aisle." Sure, we had a good economy under Clinton, but a lot of structural problems started or accelerated under his term: more deregulation, 1996 Telecom Act, NAFTA, signing of Gramm-Leach-Baily, and rising income disparity.

He certainly believes in the public sector

Uh, no, he doesn't. That's the point.

But his key emphasis is on WHAT WORKS, not how it's done.

We KNOW the New Deal approach works! But no, we have to fiddle fart around, wasting even more time and money with this weak sauce private-public partnership crap.

The idea that we should try to solve the problems according to the presumption that "government management = good" without regard to what works to be irresponsible, baffling, and dangerous.

Crap straw man. FDR never did anything because "government management = good", he did what was practical and what worked.

Obama, and you, need to pick up a copy of "The Shock Doctrine". Bush and Cheney were able to take one horrible day and used it to shred our Constitution for 8 years and funnel trillions of dollars into the hands of the rich and powerful. We're facing a far larger crisis now, but Obama is pissing away a historic opportunity to address real structural problems with our economy and our view of government.

And yes, this would cause the heads of Republicans, the media, and conservative Democrats to explode. But just imagine if Reid and Hillary and Kerry had fought the Iraq war tooth and nail from the beginning, instead of giving it their full support. Democrats might have taken a pounding in 2002 and 2004, but the Democratic landslides of 2006 and 2008 would have been wipeouts of Republicans on a biblical scale.

@ vtseng

amen..

the good ol' cliche can't be applied anymore for the new one has all along taken us to the place we are at now,

as the road to hell has been paved with 'bad' intentions all along..

so, lead, follow or

get out of the way

much luck

With all respect, I've never seen a Western democracy more allergic to taxes, civil servants, or federal government power (a.k.a., regulations and rules), than the U.S.

Maybe there are some. But not as big as your country, and no country with bigger problems than you have now, due precisely, at least in part, to lack of government regulations. And lack of taxes. You guys are going to have to wake up, to the lies your Republicans have been telling you at least since Reaganomics - that taxes are a commie plot and government intervention is a socialist evi. Take it from a Canadian, taxes suck but taxes are essential. They help pay for things all Canadians need, from highways to healthcare. Somebody has to pay for these - they don't come free. And somebody has to oversee them, and care.

Taxes. Just keep saying the word over and over and it might lose some of its voo-doo bad vibe. Taxes. They might help the U.S. (and the rest of the planet) out of its spiral void. People might just start paying for what they've hitherto taken for granted. Imagine.

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that it's a mistake to make more government money available for higher education without at least some plan to reduce the ridiculous tuition bills. Overall though, I do think Obama is mostly dealing in the possible.

Let's make the solutions simple. Stop focusing on capitalism. Nothing says we must be a capitalist society, and we've steeply veered from that road anyway by pumping so many taxpayer dollars into bailouts for various industries. If we were truly capitalist, we'd let those who couldn't survive on their own fail, wouldn't we? So let's try a new approach. Let's do what's best for the nation as a whole, and truly earn the title of the Greatest Nation on Earth.

1) Give every citizen a home.

2) Provide single-payer universal healthcare.

3) Provide free higher education in return for community

service.

Expensive? Definitely. But worth it.

...to happen ever again. Since 1980 we have had Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2's propaganda machine drill it into our heads that "all government is evil" and that we need to "get the government off the people's backs" (so corporate America can take everything over and make obscene profits).

The only socialism allowed by these corporate scumbag D.C. lawyers is "lemon socialism", e.g. use taxpayer money to pay for Wall Street fatcat bonuses when they fuck up and face bankruptcy.

Sadly Obama and friends are in the pocket, owned and operated by corporate America. No FDR or Eisenhauer authentic public works programs are coming our way.

I think much of the decency, integrity, and honesty that folks had back in those days of FDR or Eisenhauer are long gone nowadays. We all seem so much more corrupt, selfish, and corporate then folks were back then. Yech!

Unfortunately, America's arrogance and endless rhetoric against the evils of public service programs will always make any social or public works programs never materialize. Look at how the right wing windbags are always screaming "socialist! Socialist!" the second the government tries to use taxpayer money to help people in need. What a fucked up country the USA is.