@Thom_Hartmann #ThomHartmann blog: President Obama Wins a Second Term
by Thom Hartmann,posted Nov 7 2012 3:10PM
With a landslide election victory Tuesday night. Like every election, it was all going to be determined in the battleground states. Shortly after 11pm, the key battleground state of Ohio was called for President Obama - pushing him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. But he didn’t need Ohio. All eight battleground states went the President’s way Tuesday night – he also won the popular vote. Plain and simple – this is a mandate.
As the President said in his victory speech last, “Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual.” But as the President also alluded to in his speech, his action will depend on our action. As he said, “The role of citizens in our democracy does not end with your vote.” While the President may have accomplished a lot in his first term in the face of unprecedented, fierce political obstruction – there’s no question he needs to do more and be bolder in a second term. And it’s up to all of us to push him to do just that.
Just as a movement elected the President, movements will be needed to drive legislation on climate change, corporate personhood, union rights, ending the drug war, bringing home our military – you name it. Let’s get to work.
Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
It seems that everybody wants to know what's been going on at the NSA. Everybody, that is, except for 53 US Senators. Last week Senators were given a briefing by high-ranking intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. Only 47...
Tea Party senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says that "restoring faith in government" is "the wrong solution." Well then by all means, keep talking, Senator. Instead, Johnson says "we need to engender that healthy distrust, that healthy...
Senator Elizabeth Warren is fighting hard for government transparency, and it has nothing to do with the NSA. On Thursday, Senator Warren sent a letter to President Obama's U.S. trade negotiations nominee, calling on the Administration to...
While signing a Merry Christmas bill in June, legalizing usage of phrases like 'Merry Christmas' on school property, Texas Governor Rick Perry took the opportunity to appeal to his evangelical base. "I'm proud we are standing up for...
The Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented, because they are a product of nature. However, the offered a compromise which allowed synthetic, complementary DNA, known as cDNA, to be protected by patent law, because it is not...
Before last week, very few people knew the name Edward Snowden. Not the case now. It seems he's either a hero or traitor, depending on who you talk to and their political ideology. No matter what you think of him, however, we owe him a...
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will do anything to avoid getting any actual work done. As if 37 votes to repeal Obamacare didn't waste enough taxpayer time and money, the House GOP has decided to vote on a...
We need to have a debate over surveillance. Even more, we need to have a debate over exactly who is doing the surveilling. Government surveillance can be worrisome, but it's much more worrisome when the surveillance is being done by private...
Today, the United States Senate will begin debate on the so-called comprehensive immigration plan. Senators will consider the overall legislation, and dozens of amendments, before a final vote can be reached. The debate is likely to last...
Is Edward Snowden a whistleblower or a leaker? This story still has a lot of gray areas. For now, he's something like a whistle-leaker. To some people, Snowden is a hero, to others he is a traitor. To most Americans, he's the guy whose face in...
