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June 19, 2013
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NY Times Tries to Find Hope for Obama at Depressed 'Netroots Nation' Conference

By Tim Graham | June 11, 2012 | 23:15

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Barack Obama’s name barely came up as The New York Times summarized the hard-left Netroots Nation conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Sarah Wheaton reported “Last year’s conference was marked by the left’s frustration with the president. But this year, his name simply did not come up much — and when it did, it was invariably paired with a favorable comparison to Mr. Romney.”

But Obama did not appear, nor did any Obama surrogate. The president did send a video message vowing to “double down on green energy” (as if that’s been a winning gamble) and fight “gutting” education, blah blah blah. Strangely, he touted killing Osama bin Laden, which the Netroots surely saw as a massive human rights violation.

Wheaton tried to define the current state of the American Left as "Success, Interrupted," or so said the sub-headline:

By some measures, the left has had a successful year. There was Occupy Wall Street and the defeat of anti-union legislation in Ohio.

Social media campaigns restored financing to Planned Parenthood from the Susan G. Komen Foundation and eliminated much corporate money going to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative organization behind policies like the Stand Your Ground law at the center of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida.

An apparently improving economy combined with a hard-fought Republican primary race to ease worries about President Obama’s re-election.

But things have changed in the last few weeks.

The Scott Walker win and the advent of super PACS clearly depressed the Netroots. MRC intern Matthew Vespa transcribed Obama’s speaking parts:

OBAMA: Hi everybody. It’s hard to believe this is the fourth Netroots Nation of my presidency.  That’s like 200,000 new cycles on Twitter. First and foremost, I just want to thank you.

Four years ago, we came together because we shared a simple belief that people who love their country can change it. And you have. I know it hasn’t always been easy . I know the petty political fights in Washington can be frustrating. Believe me I know that. But I hope you look back and think about the fact that everything that you did, step by step and day by day, has helped bring about the changes we fought for.

– Changes the health care reform we passed after a century of trying, reform that will finally ensure that in the United States of America no one will go broke just because they get sick. And that means millions of stories like this one:

[Then the Netroots got a two-minute film touting how a family in Englewood, Colorado can escape lifetime coverage caps for their son. The father said: “Our Constitution and the founding documents or our country talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and without health, you can’t have any of that.”]

And that’s just health care.

– Change is also doubling down on clean energy and enacting historic fuel efficiency standards, changing our entire trajectory after decades of inaction.

– Change is the fact that for the first time in history you don’t have to hide who you love to serve the country you love because Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is finally over.

– Change is keeping another promise I made in 2008. For the first time in nine years there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. And thanks to our brave men and women in uniform Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again.

That’s just a short list. I know some of you keep the full list on your blogs. Feel free to spread it around. 

But we’ve got a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to getting our fellow Americans back to work. We’ve created 4.3 million new jobs over the past 27 months but we’ve got to keep at it until everyone who is out there, pounding the pavement, gets a job that pays the bills. What we can’t do is go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place. 

What we won’t do is just cut taxes for millionaire and billionaires by gutting things like education and clean energy it’s time to move forward and build an economy where everyone has a fair shot at success.  In this make or break moment for the middle class, we face our most important fight yet, and now is the time to dig deep. Change is hard, but we’ve seen that it’s possible, and as long as you’re willing to keep up that fight, I’ll be right there with you. Thanks.

About the Author

Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Tim Graham on Twitter.
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Comments

They should have taken up a collection.

Submitted by NeoKong on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 11:31pm.

Maybe then Obama would have came.

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Like I said...I don't have enough script pads in stock.

Submitted by drsamherman on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 11:48pm.

Nutroots = tons of antidepressants, antipsychotics and antianxiiety medications.

Hope they have good insurance. I would have to write for non-formulary antidepressants for that crowd.

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Maybe...

Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 7:34am.

all the depressed leftists could fall on one giant sword. They could set a record for the world's largest lib-kabob.

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Well, ya gotta give him points for tenacity.

Submitted by stratosaurus on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 10:27am.

Not many points for common sense, though. Doubling down on a losing strategy is an act of a desperate man. Billions of dollars have been wasted by companies like Solyndra, whose executives gave themselves multi-million-dollar bomuses while the working people who paid the taxes used to seed that company got "gornischt". At least they got 99 weeks of unemployment which Califruitsandnuts cannot afford.

Minor mis-statement in the video -- "People who love THEIR ENTITLEMENTS can get more if they make enough noise". Occupy Wall Street reminded me if the "revolutionaries'" protests of the late 60s and early 70s, but without the manners. A lot of noise, no reality-based "demands", and even worse personal hygiene.

Many of us are keeping a "full list of accomplishments", mr. resident, and we'll spread those around, all right. Billions wasted in crony bailouts, tripling of casualties in Afghanistan, first resident of the white outhouse whose policies resulted in a downgrade in US bond ratings.... The list seems almost endless. Where are the "two million new jobs" obozo has created? How does that fit into a BBC News report that over FIVE million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in 2008 (a point in time at which the demoncraps were in complete control of both troughs of the congress-sty)? How many of those two million jobs were civil-service jobs which produce nothing tangible, other than regulations?

No, it's time for Clueless Leader to move back to Chitcago. Or Hawaii. Or Indonesia. Or Kenya. ANYWHERE but Looneytunes, DC. Please make sure the Secret Service and FBI are present during the packing process in order to prevent a "Clowntoooon-esque" pillaging of White House appointments, fixtures, and furniture. I'd have to say that family obozo has cost the United States enough already, but I'm sure everyone would be glad to pay the bills for moving that gang of liars and thieves out.....

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What?

Submitted by misterbee241 on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 12:25pm.

OBAMA: Hi everybody. It’s hard to believe this is the fourth Netroots  Nutroots Nation of my presidency. That’s like 200,000 new cycles on Twitter [dude]. First and foremost, I just want to thank you.

Why is that so hard to believe, Osama, this is the FOURTH year of your regime.

If you're not getting flak, you're not over the target.
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