In a New York Times interview published yesterday, Obama revealed how he’s going to spin his disappointing first two years and massive midterm defeat.

Democratic insiders are taking the temperature of some top party donors about the possibility of naming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs as chairman of the Democratic National Committee heading into President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, senior officials tell POLITICO.

There is a report that Gibbs may leave the White House. Good, right? But he appears to be going in order to helm the DNC. Not so good.

Obama Wants Republican Victory in November, Politico Reporter Tells Hardball — by NormanB (“Deviations from the Norm”)

People are confronting the president about his performance, not to make him feel bad, but because they want him to succeed.

This diary contains two letters – first one pointing to the difficulty in getting out the Progressive votes and a couple of steps that might be helpful.

Second letter is written in response to the President’s remarks at a fundraiser and which are directly relevant to the points raised in the first letter.

I cannot remember a more unsettling Labor Day weekend, given how many attacks are being made, as I write these words, against American workers’ rights.

It’s time for the White House strategist who convinced Obama that giving up is a great political plan months before a seminal election to come out and take a bow. It’s working . . . for the Republicans.

By

Marshall Auerback

Hint: it’s not Republicans.

Social Security remains one of the greatest achievements of the Democratic Party since its creation 75 years ago. Although Republicans have historically fulminated against the program (Ronald Reagan once likened it as something akin to “socialism”), they have actually made little headway in touching this sacred “third rail” in American politics. President Bush pushed for partial privatization of the program in 2005, but the proposal gained no policy traction (even within his own party) because Social Security continues to be hugely popular with American voters. It’s a universal program that benefits all Americans, not a government handout to a few privileged corporations.

According to the data on the icasualties.org website, as of today, the number of U.S. soldiers deaths due to the war in Afghanistan under President Obama – 575 – is the same number who died under President Bush. Robert Gibbs should be asked to comment on this.