FDR may have been right about pressure being needed outside of elections, and I have been writing letters to elected officials and the media for years, along with my family and friends.

But FDR appointed thinking people to his cabinet and agencies -- intellectuals who really tried to figure out how to best right our course. Obama has appointed status quo folks who have agendas; count how many of them are likely to take jobs after this stint in Washington within the very industries they are to fix. You don't apply for a $100,000,000 job by fucking your future boss out of his wrongly gotten booty.

I would fall into your "cynic" category, but I reject your nomenclature. I am a realist. The Left may need some help organizing (hats off to the writer in this thread that advocates mass strikes), but there's only so much you can do short of that when there is no obligation to listen (as one writer's friend asked: "what are you going to do, vote Republican?).

The Right only looked like it was good at organizing because there were so many corrupt organizing leaders pushing what our corrupt government already wanted. The actual numbers of people who actively support deregulation with any kind of passion are few in number. Show me such an activist and I'll show you 50 million "conservatives" who hate the banks and our healthcare system as much as liberals, yet can't figure out why abortion is still legal after all their organizing -- something that matters to the elite only in terms of turning out Republican votes and therefore must always be legal (I argue the "right" grassroots have no power either, except when they're coincidentally coasting downhill with the elite).

Barack Obama has many fine qualities: affability, equanimity, articulateness, charm, but regrettably for most of us he lacks courage. If he has any principle, it is kept well in-check by his lack of courage.

Ralph Nader saw this lack quickly when he had a meeting with him about two years ago. He warned us then than Obama lacks "fortitude".

There is no threat from the Left that can stiffen President Obama's spine. The Left itself is spineless. A handful, including Rep. Kucinich, who are unafraid to oppose the President, have no political leverage to do so. In Kucinich's case, his party membership limits what he can do. He is under the thumb of party leaders and cannot even get a vote on his amendments.

Without other parties, besides the two majors, there is no political instrument to pressure the President and the leadership of the Congress. We cannot "force" Obama to do "the right thing".

How about what can be done to "HELP" America? Say like defeating the social engineering, money grabs, tax hikes and letting the deficit spiral out of control. What happened to transparency? Don’t give me any BUSH crap, he was just as bad, but is letting Obama be worse going to help America?

Most people do not consider that who the President selects for his cabinet must be approved by the Senate so this has to be considered when he makes a choice . The same is true of laws and programs . The congress controls the money and makes the laws and the President can only try to convince . Regarding health care ; The "public option" was dreamed up by someone to benefit Wall Street and has saturated the media with this debate . The real truth is "health care providers" cause insurance rates to increase and the same thing will happen with the "public option" as it has with medicare . And Wall Street (GOP) can destroy the "public option" insurance program as they have been doing with medicare . Before RR we had many low cost government clinics and hospitals and he dismantled them so the AMA would not have the competition these low cost health systems offered . A governemnt insurance program will be a failure unless the AMA has competition and many know this but do not have the voice to oppose the media sponsored "public option" . You can bet your socks if the media is pushing it Wall Street wants it .

If all those little Obama donors, all those MoveOn members, all the IAVA members, everybody who sent a dollar to any of the Democratic campaigns or the DNC, writes their congressman, writes to Obama, writes to their Senator, writes to the DNC that they will never ever ever again send the Democratic Party another dime unless they pass a viable and serious public option, then it might happen.

Threaten their livelihood, threaten their re-election.

Fear of communism brought you the new deal and the 40-hour work week (the latter largely pissed away since).

Fear of election defeat might get you real health care reform.

Otherwise, forget it. Remember, Obama is a millionaire, too.

Is to organize a massive, country wide workers strike. This is the best suggestion anyone has made in a long time. Writing or calling your local politician is, as many have pointed out, a fool's errand. The only way to get Obama, and this lousy, criminal congress to pay attention is to grind our economy to a halt with a strike. It wouldn't be hard to organize over the Internet if people are willing to commit. Money talks, that's it. If people stopped showing up to work and occupied the avenues and squares of our towns and cities- DEMANDING - our government's attention, then maybe real change will happen. Maybe.

The question is: Will people be willing to make such a collective effort and sacrifice, or will we just sit on the sideline and allow ourselves to be defeated by laziness and fear?

I don't disagree with the "cynics" here, but I also know that I can't take another 8 years of GOP rule. How do we pressure our own party without shooting ourselves in the foot?

Because for all the flaws of the Democratic Party, things are still about 100X better than they were under GWB. (Or have we forgotten so quickly?)

I didn't need to wait for him to take office to know that Obama wouldn't be able to shift the mountain of embedded interests in DC, but I voted for him because the other side was just too obviously loony.

Our current situation is the result of electing a novice, however well-spoken, who hasn't got the network and experience to negotiate. Telling us and Congress that he "won't tolerate" various activities makes him sound like a prim little teacher, not a political leader.

My sense is that the old hands in Congress are almost publicly ignoring Obama because they know that he doesn't have the ability to force them into supporting his agenda. The Democrats won't say anything negative (they leave that to the Republicans) but I'm sure that in private conversations they are just as reluctant to accept their former 'junior' colleague as their leader.