14 Comments

Wait, when did Substack implement footnotes?!? THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

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You could have been more definitive of what you felt "you" did wrong. If Joe is wrong as often as Barack, I can live with that. At one time I was all about immigration, but now I feel vote suppression is the sign of the apocalypse. The big lie in the air that 2020 was stolen needs to be beaten into the toxic heads of the Republicans till they cry uncle, and say YES- Trump lost fair and square. Then we need to make sure everyone can vote and then we can talk about our platforms and beliefs.

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Thanks for article, Dan. Being just a little irked is a testament to your character! I would be livid if people re-wrote the history I lived. I believe that Obama as the first black president had pressures that no white man had to endure. Things are complicated and often can't be delivered in a tweet, sound-byte or headline.

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Thank you for this piece Dan. The biggest complaint I had about Obama is that I wanted him to shout about it from the rooftops, but I do understand that that is not his style.

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"It is incredibly trite, but Harry Truman wasn’t wrong about where the buck stops. There will always be extenuating circumstances, obstinate Senators, and competing priorities, but no one will remember that in a decade. All they will remember is who was sitting behind the desk in the oval-shaped office."

Well, yes, but they will also remember *what party* that president belonged to. In today's binary-obsessed political climate that means a lot, too.

As does the increased unwillingness of the electorate to allow for any missteps regardless of the intention or available knowledge when decisions were made (as opposed to what's known much later, as you point out, Dan). This castigating of pols has always existed, but imo it's worse now than ever.

And thanks, again, for these posts.

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The re-examination of 2009 is useful, but this take on it is mistaken. The issue is not the the total size, but the why it was designed. It should have been designed to replace income of unemployed people and states and local governments for as long as they needed replacing. The total amount would have dropped out of the depth and length of the recession and would in fact have been much larger. This would have avoided the repeated fights over extending unemployment and food stamps eligibility.

Even the green tax credits were misplaced as they were linked to amounts invested rather than amounts of net CO2 emissions avoided.

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Damn. This is just so well written.

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Yes. Thank you, Dan. As is so often the case, the blaming from the right and the 'left' forgets what actually happened. Congress. Congress that was, as then, full of plenty GOP members who would do--and vowed to do so--ANYthing to allow Obama's administration from succeeding.

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I really love reading these Dan, the insight into the party’s recent political past always enlightening.

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Thanks for another insightful read Dan! I too used to wonder why the Democratic Party didn’t do more ambitious things during the 09-10 window. But this entry, your book and some research has helped me understand that the makeup of that Democratic Congress was very different...

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