“Last night I interviewed Jill Stein the presidential candidate for the Green Party on this show. And I confess right now, I should have asked her to just get out of the race.” – Jennifer Granholm, “The War Room” [Current TV]
THE ARGUMENT Jennifer Granholm makes above is a tactic that no longer fits the times. It’s used in the comments around here often. But Ms. Granholm goes further. She states that in her interview with Jill Stein this week she should have asked her to get out of the race, citing Ralph Nader as the example of what can happen. I feel for any Democrat making this plea, I do. But the only “accomplice” in electing Mitt Romney is Barack Obama.
Last night Ms. Granholm’s opening segment was on Caterpillar squeezing its union employees while record profits soar.
“A company that earned a record $4.9 billion in 2011 and $1.586 billion in the first quarter of this year should be willing to help the workers who made those profits for them,” said Timothy O’Brien, president of Machinists Local Lodge 851, which represents the strikers. “Caterpillar believes in helping the very rich, but what they’re doing would help eliminate the middle class.” – At Caterpillar, Pressing Labor While Business Booms
What Ms. Granholm misses is the underlying reason the middle class is at a crossroads in this country and they’re is no protection in sight is that politicians don’t seem to be moved to help them in any concerted or organized way, while unions continue collapsing. One reason is because the one political party that used to be there for them didn’t even nominate the union candidate in Wisconsin up against a governor who made no secret that his goal was busting the rights of workers to collective bargaining. Not even Pres. Obama could be bothered to show up in solidarity.
Jennifer Granholm’s unflinchingly strong stand on these subjects and her coverage of what’s going on at Caterpillar rings out in the deafening silence from the leader of the Democratic Party.
From labor reporter Steve Greenhouse this week in the New York Times:
Despite earning a record $4.9 billion profit last year and projecting even better results for 2012, the company is insisting on a six-year wage freeze and a pension freeze for most of the 780 production workers at its factory here. Caterpillar says it needs to keep its labor costs down to ensure its future competitiveness.
The company’s stance has angered the workers, who went on strike 12 weeks ago. “Considering the offer they gave us, it’s a strike we had to have,” said Albert Williams, a 19-year Caterpillar employee, as he picketed in 99-degree heat outside the plant, which makes hydraulic parts and systems essential for much of the company’s earth-moving machinery.
[...] The showdown, which has no end in sight, is being closely watched by corporations and unions across the country because it involves two often uncompromising antagonists — Caterpillar and the International Association of Machinists — that have figured in many high-stakes labor battles.
“Caterpillar has been a leader in the past 20 years in taking a hard line,” said Richard Hurd, a professor of industrial relations at Cornell. Last winter, Caterpillar locked out about 450 workers at its locomotive plant in London, Ontario, and then closed the factory after the union rejected its demand to cut wages by 55 percent. In the mid-1990s, the company vanquished the United Automobile Workers after a 17-month strike by 9,000 workers at eight factories; the union surrendered and accepted the company’s concession-filled offer.
No one will argue that unions have to modify their tactics and their demands in the global economic environment. But organizing workers remains the only way the middle class will be reinvigorated. Unfortunately, there is no sign that there will be a cooperative effort between unions and business, so the outlook remains very bleak.
Where was Pres. Obama’s Justice Dept. in prosecuting Wall Street crooks? He doesn’t even understand that this would have had the added political benefit of sending a message to voters that he’s their champion.
The youth vote is Pres. Obama’s canary in the voting booth. But young people are too smart to believe in more promises, so are older Democrats, with the charge of “accomplice” dragged out of the dustbin of another time hardly convincing.
Like so many others, Jennifer Granholm is not listening to what disaffected, disappointed and disinterested Democrats and progressives, but also independents, are telling the Democratic Party. (I do not include myself in this group for reasons already stated.) Republicans did the same thing and ended up with a Tea Party wing. Progressives have proven to be too tame for that so far, which is unfortunate, because they’ve aided and abetted Pres. Obama’s squishy centrism.
Ms. Granholm didn’t ask Jill Stein to get out of the election, because Ms. Stein is not the problem.
It is very tempting to print this and set it out as my only campaign sign:
Well said, Taylor.
It’s stunning to me a smart woman like Ms. Granholm thinks this message will be effective.
In the era of Occupy, which may not be strong but still represents the undercurrent across this country, it’s remarkable that she’s trotting out Ralph Nader. People are way passed this point. It’s not 2000 anymore.
Also:
“My upcoming birthday next week could be the last one I celebrate as President of the United States, but that’s not up to me — it’s up to you,” Obama said in an e-mail to supporters.
Pres. Obama, his team and his loyalists believe he’s done the job. That’s really their fundamental belief.
Jennifer Granholm and others like her believe you owe Pres. Obama your vote. It’s very interesting, but it’s not a very good pitch.
Their sense of entitlement is absolutely stunning….
“Jennifer Granholm and others like her believe you owe Pres. Obama your vote.” Gov. Granholm believes no such thing! Unlike this crowd she is a pragmatic Dem who recognizes the threat Mitt Romney represents. He believes in person-hood, he supports the Ryan budget which turns Medicare into a voucher system. He believes that an amendment should be added to the constitution barring marriage equality. He has surrounded himself with ex-Bush officials who want to take us to war with the Iranians. And on and on! Taylor what you call “owing” others call having an all hands on deck attitude!
Also:
‘If one had to name a company that was one of President Obama’s favorites, Caterpillar would have to be high on the list…..’
I’m voting for Romney. I don’t believe we can survive 4 more years of Obama.
Ditto.
Good for you. You have every right to vote for the repugnantklan/teabaggers misguided and misinformed though your reasons be.
It’s sexist to assume either of these women are “misinformed.”
How in gawd what ain’t even THERE’s name is it SEXIST to point out someone…I don’t care WHAT sexual identity they have or claim is either misguided or misinformed if they plan on voting for mitt the twit?!!!!!!
I mean I REALLY would like that one explained Ms. Marsh!!! I may be allot of things…but SEXIST?!!!!!!!!
secularyh – You and others never consider or even ask why people make their decision.
You never consider that part of the problem is on Democrats.
So, it’s your own fault if in a void of vacuous charges and little debate to find out these answers you get incoming on how you sound.
“secularyh – You and others never consider or even ask why people make their decision.”
” I don’t believe we can survive 4 more years of Obama.”
“Ditto.”
EXCUSE me….THESE are their stated “reasons”
THESE are what I and I think any reasonable, sane person would call misinformed or misguided.
There is NOTHING in my response that has ANYTHING to do with their gender.
So I would repeat my question, WHAT in my response justifies calling me SEXIST?!!!!
I thought accusing someone of bias with not evidence was forbidden around these parts?
We’ll survive four more years of Obama and we’ll survive four years of Romney. America’s end is not nigh. And it irritates me immensely when people say thing such as “we won’t survive”. How do you define “survive”? Will all Americans physically die in the next four years? Will our entire economic system collapse (not a bad thing in my book)? Is that the “not survive” we’re talking about? Will the great meteor ‘o death plummet from the Wild Black Yonder and cause an extinction level event (well that’s the whole planet so we’ll be in it together)? Or will America’s Big 2 not survive the next 4 years? HMMMM…… That’s an idea that may have some meat on it. Because Obama nor Romney really have the motivation to be revolutionary and visionary when it comes to our economic and tax model. And seeing the Big 2 teetering on the brink in 2016 with other parties having them on the ropes, well, that’s a survivor contest I would pay good money to see.
I always find these dire statements from conservatives amusing. Good grief. We survived George W. Bush probably the worst president in the history of the country. Romney is not going to improve things. He can’t even keep our allies from laughing at him. It seems conservatives like to be laughed at.
Ga6thDem–I completely agree with you. These statements are indeed quite amusing.
If Obama gets elected, things will get worse for the middle class and poor…
If Romney gets elected, things will get worser. He knows how to make money but not how to create jobs where one can earn a living wage and actually afford to buy stuff, which is what we really need if the economy is ever going to improve.
But it will not be the end of the world, country, or whatever entity folks are a-scared it will be the end of if —-insert name of Vewy, Scarwy Candidate here — gets elected.
Well we have two votes for the lord of the manor here, so I assume you both are part of the 1%. Can’t see why any women would vote for the lord unless she is rich and I can’t understand why any working stiff would vote for him either. The only reason that makes any sense to me as to why anybody who is not part of the 1% would vote for the lord of the manor would be a true hatred for Obama as a person, and then I have to wonder how much that has to do with a black man in the white house.
I can’t understand why anyone in the middle class would vote for Mitt Romney either. But frustration is one reason. Some people get to the point that things aren’t working for them with Obama, so what have they got to lose?
As for women, the majority of reports I’ve read reveal we’ll vote on the economy. The two women above are a tiny jpg of anecdotal evidence.
Pres. Obama hasn’t made the economic case his entire first term, allowing a narrative to take hold that’s going to be very hard to dislodge from perception, which as we all know, becomes a politician’s reality.
This is very bad news (though not unexpected).
Well with the repug/baggers working overtime trying to crash the economy is this really any surprise?
Odd isn’t? How Taylor never seems to factor in the scorched earth policy the GOP has engaged in since the day of President Obama’s inauguration. The hundreds of filibusters and other parliamentary tricks they have used to impede the President’s efforts! Nope not a word!
Poor Pres. Obama.
He has no power.
He has no bully pulpit.
He couldn’t go to the people to rally them.
I mean, really, the presidency has no weapons on which the occupant can make his/her case.
You’ve got to feel sorry for a man so haplessly sitting on top of a position with no tools to wield.
Wow! Just wow!
You are reacting exactly they way the Republicans in Congress hope most people will. They block/filibuster everything in site and hope that more people blame the President than blame them. That piece of insidious manipulation has obviously worked on you, which is not a surprise since your predisposed to not liking the current President! There is a constitutional framework in which President’s have to operate, they can’t legislate on their own. I would like to see how successful you would be if you were working a job that legally required you to work with people who have sworn to appose you at every turn.
for the lord of the manor
Wait. Which one? There are two.
Don’t waste your vote! Romney is worse! Supreme Court! Ralph Nader! The most important election of your life! You have no choice! Etc. Etc. Etc.
Is ‘accomplice’ a code word for racist?
Laclede Gas Company the local gas company for all of the St. Louis metro area just informed all their workers that when this year’s contract is up all employee must reapply for thier jobs with no guarentee of salary , benefits or that they will be rehired. Our city collectors husband has worked there for over 20 years.
I just picked up Geoff Faux’s book, “The Servant Economy” in which he maintains that our future is that of an educated lower class serving the 10%, I guess the non educated will starve in the streets just like other countries we are starting to resemble.. Any thought of voting for Romney is thinking like a peasant. We americans are not used to that term because we have never had a peasant class before.The only difference between voting for an R or a D is maybe with the D’d we will get there a tad bit later.
I’m willing to take my chances with Romney, LL. Better to take a chance on something that might work, than stick with something that is failing miserably.
What do you base your chances on something might work considering how republicans have acted these last four years? Do you think the Ryan budget will be good for this country? Romney is in full support for the Ryan budget, he also would take healthcare back to were it was before Obama. Did you like the ruling from the Supreme Court that gave corporations the same rights as a individual? If so Romney’s your man. Romney has already pissed off the British and he’s not even president yet, so I guess will just take a chance on his foreign policy expertise and hope he doesn’t piss off the rest of our allies. let alone get us into a shooting war with Iran.
Romney is in full support for the Ryan budget…
This is an excellent argument against Mitt Romney, which more Dems should be making.
And the best argument against Romney is his foreign policy which is full bore neocon. His foreign policy is downright scary.
This is very bad news (though not unexpected).
Since you have a habit of dropping off links to things without much elaboration, I can only surmise your remark is in context of Obama’s prospects…..if so, your true colors are showing….tsk, tsk.
However, I see the White House blog is pretty much singing the Hallelujah Chorus. They’re saying let’s take a few quarters of weak growth strung together and declare victory……so, I guess we can say their true colors are showing as well.
But, with a bend of the brim to Paul Harvey, let’s push our minds a bit deeper than the headline. Actually, the growth in the private sector is even stronger than 1.5, but negative public sector is averaging it down. So, while the kneejerk liberal reaction is undoubtedly let’s go full frontal Krugman and have even higher average growth, the flipside of the argument is that the private sector is actually making its own way without cash for clunkers, Solyndra investments and assorted other things that were premised on the failed logic that government is necessary for a recovery.
So, let’s join together and split the task of recovering. We businessmen will continue to invest and expand at a rate we deem prudent and sustainable. You guys cough up the dough to hire more state and local government workers. Sounds like a win win for both of us, n’est pas?
“You guys”, what is that supposed to mean? Grrr, most of the time I ignore your condescension but you really have a way of rubbing ”lefty’ feathers the wrong way. Is there a special school where they teach you guys to be so obnoxious? Businessmen are useful, so are policemen, teachers, firemen, ER services you know these pesky local government workers that “us guys” have to cough up the dough for.
Will you decline their services if you ever need them or is there an emergency businessmen to the rescue emergency number that I dont know about?
But, there are plenty of municipal employees who are not useful. I have no problem paying taxes for teachers, police and firemen. I do have a problem paying for the clerks in the Office of Diversity and Cultural Affairs, the Dept. of Housing and Communit Renewal, the Dept. of Buildings, I could go on. I also have a problem with their retirement packages and work rules. So, given the choice, I don’t mind paying for the teachers and first responders, but the umpteen layers of beurocracy bother me.
You may be onto something though, perhaps some of these services could be privatized adn would be more effective and less costly? Maybe we should give that a try?
casualobserver 27 July 2012 at 1:14 pm #
Once again you prove why the word assume begins with “ass.”
You also reveal yourself to be a knee jerk partisan.
“Tepid economic growth” is bad for EVERYONE and only a hyper partisan would think otherwise.
Isis – His condescension is as predictable as what I described above. I do hope he answers your question.
Well, to not provide a response would be tantamount to trolling, so here’s back at you.
I have paid property tax bills to show you I have paid for community services for multiple decades. The bulk of which are school district fundings, none of which were utilized by either myself or my offspring. Easily a $300K pure unadulterated donation to various public school systems. Match that and then lecture me. Those bills also include a share of the town budget. While I have actually never called fire, police or ambulance, did I say I was opposed to continuing to pay to have them available? No, I am simply content to leave these services and payments where they are presently set in the communities I reside. If I believe those services have been cut back too much, I will be happy to go to budget meetings and voice my desire to increase these and pay more. I have no need for Obama nor you nor Taylor Marsh to handle that decision for me. Pretty simple…….you handle yours locally, I’ll handle mine……what’s arrogant about that notion?
.
1.”I have paid property tax bills to show you I have paid for community services for multiple decades. The bulk of which are school district fundings, none of which were utilized by either myself or my offspring. Easily a $300K pure unadulterated donation to various public school systems.”
Pretty clear you have no idea of the concept of what taxes are for or do. But then….that is to be expected.
3.” Match that and then lecture me.”
I’ve been paying property taxes for EVA….happily I might add. I KNOW public schools and an educated citizenry benifits the nation as a whole.
4.” Those bills also include a share of the town budget. While I have actually never called fire, police or ambulance, did I say I was opposed to continuing to pay to have them available? No, I am simply content to leave these services and payments where they are presently set in the communities I reside. If I believe those services have been cut back too much, I will be happy to go to budget meetings and voice my desire to increase these and pay more. I have no need for Obama nor you nor Taylor Marsh to handle that decision for me. Pretty simple…….you handle yours locally, I’ll handle mine……what’s arrogant about that notion?”
SO, you are saying so long as you MIGHT use a service someday you are willing to pay something for it….but SCHOOLS? NAAAAAAH! You want kids to grow up even dumber the the torturer in chief!
“You guys” THAT’S SEXIST!!!
Well she has a point. The candidates themselves cannot elect themselves (they would if they could) so after all is said and done and all the billions spent it is up to us voters.
Straight dem ticket for me. This country can survive anything,including 4 years of his corporate lordship Romney, but I really don’t think that an unapologetic and full-on right swing in favor of the 1% will do the rest of us any good. At least Dems under pressure “remember” that women, minorities, LBGTs and poorer people have votes too and adopt relevant policies, whereas Romneyplicans under pressure clearly don’t.
And Taylor I just saw the book offer on the post below, thanks
However I want you to know that I have already bought your book which I highly recommend to your ‘fan base’, very interesting read even though I did not agree with everything you wrote.
Hey Isis. Thanks for buying it!
I don’t think Ms. Granholm makes her point at all. It would be much more effective to rattle off what she feels Obama has done and what Romney would have done instead.
Calling people the “accomplice” is lame, not to mention it sounds desperate, which is never a good sell.
Thanks for sharing with readers how you’ll vote & the reason. These are important things to talk about from here until November, especially if it’s done in debate forum, which I hope commenters can get into as the election season progresses.
I appreciate your reasoning for voting straight Dem ticket. I’ve finally settled on Jill Stein to get my Big 2 protest vote in 2012. Even though I have many Libertarian views (not the anti-unions ones), Jill Stein and the Green Party feeds my “inner anarchist” more with views MUCH different than the Big 2. Just call me a Green Libertarian Anarchist with a Civil Side.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t still luv by Democratic and Republican bruthas and sistahs…. LOL
Interesting and thanks for sharing that, T-Steel.
Speaking about “a sense of entitlement” I do not care what anyone says, every President wants a second term. It is the ONLY validation that he did a good job. This is why I continue to be flabbergasted that Obama behaved the way he did for most of his first term, turning his back on ALL of the “folks” he would desperately need to win a second term. Or does he feel that entitled?
Now, four months before voting he is scrambling to get better health-care for African-Americans; rushing to stop the deportation of Latinos, which he ramped up to please the Republicans, and at last scrambling to stop the pernicious Republican voter suppression laws. After years of trying to get the Republicans to like him, he may be coming to terms with the fact that they now despise him more than ever.
IMO, if he looses it would not be because of the economy, it would be because of his utter and boldface abuse and neglect of his base — Unions, Blacks, Latinos, Youths, The Elderly, Women. He has not prosecuted a single high level banker. He caves in every negotiation with Republicans and he disses Progressives. I think he’s an amateur.
I think I’ve made that point once or twice, at least in that I think that neglecting the base is a sure way to political failure. When your base has to spend all its energy taking care of itself, it can’t take care of you. Plus, as you point out, they haven’t done a damn thing for us, so why bother?
I think the economy is going to be important, though. It’s one of the leading determinants of political success in America, if not the leading one. Barack Obama’s problem is that he not only has a bad economy that he hasn’t done much of anything about, but that he has also neglected pretty much every constituency, including the ones that wouldn’t be all that politically costly to satisfy.
Even on the basis of pure politics, meaning the ability to continue winning elections, the Democrats have been extraordinarily stupid. Which, of course, means we progressives are to blame.
Mr. Obama doesn’t understand how actions can move the political meter and needs to be done BEFORE election season as a way of making it clear where you stand, which is called communication, or as Obama labels it, telling a story. The best ones come through action that yields results people can see, feel and share with one another.
As he admitted himself with Charlie Rose, in the first 2 years he didn’t tell the story. That was when he had a majority and sent the horrific message on health care, which he didn’t explain or sell. By the time he figured it our it was too late.
If he was running against a more talented politician than Mitt Romney he’d be losing right now.
Probably, probably….which makes this election even sadder.
Absolutely true.
People like me having been warning about this since 2009. Some saw it pretty much from election day, 2008. And here, we are, as I predicted, being blamed for voter apathy in the face of the Democrats’ miserable failure to do what they were sent to DC in record numbers to do.
The Tea Party claims Obama is a socialist, a communist who wants the people dependant on food stamps and unemployment insurance and is a tool for the Progressives. The OWS crowd claim, no, Obama is a free market tool of Wall Street out to deny the civil rights of all Americans who doesn’t cave in to their demands.
He must be doing something right to offend the fringe on opposite sides of the spectrum..
If Democrats would have had their own Tea Party there’s a possibility Obama would be in better shape. Instead, loyalists built up his ego and all he’s got around him are sycophants.
OWS is not “fringe,” they’re frustrated and many are young people, without whom Obama will LOSE. Right now there is a mad panic to figure out how to get young people out, because right now they’re not engaged & not interested.
I don’t think there are words in the English language that adequately describe how lame this argument is:
It seems to be based on some bizarre notion that any and all possible disagreements with government policy are equal. Doesn’t matter whether they are grounded in reality, or complete nonsense. If our guy is in between them, or we can define some of the people who are criticizing it as “opposites”, then hey, we’re doing great, aren’t we?
The Tea Party claims that Obama is a socialist because they’re deluded idiots, not because they have a working knowledge of his policies, or those of his predecessor, for that matter. That they disagree with his policies because they’re not “conservative” enough is a reflection on their lack of understanding of the world they live in, not anything to do with the Obama Administration’s policies.
Cujo-
You are spot on. This is one of those quotes that somebody came up with to fend off critics when everybody thinks you are wrong or ineffective. There are times when it is true and there are times when it is pure hogwash. I fall into the hogwash camp myself on this one.
He must be doing something right to offend the fringe on opposite sides of the spectrum..
One of those things people say all the time that can never be proven. Maybe he just sucks entirely.
I agree. Could be he is doing very little to nothing right.
Again, for me its a matter of strength and character. He was (is) not strong enough to confront the Republicans and he was (is) not strong enough enough to support his friends. He did not have our back when we needed him most. The Public Option was the last straw for me.
Those poor people in Wisconsin marched until they were wore their comfortable shoes out and he didn’t say peep.
Yep. He as been completely MIA on some very important issues, except for a lame tweet or two.
And sadly Obama’s lack of Democratic ideals and his inability to fight for those who needed him the most has caused me to leave the Democratic Party after 54 years. The Public Option and his lack of support for the people in Wisconsin were the last straw for me. Add to that, the Democrats in Congress who are absolutely spineless and refuse to stand up for the 99%. This is not the Democratic Party I joined 54 years ago. They all ought to be ashamed of themselves for giving in to the special interests in order to ensure their own interests.
You know what’s interesting. If President Obama really acted and did actions that only helped out “his people/we black folks” (which some have said he has – which is just so wrong that it makes me pass out laughing), he would have been a Progressive Hero and would have been the de-facto leader of the “Left Tea Party”. Because that so-called “color-focused” leadership would essentially been a large part of the progressive plan.
So if he would have been what SOME conservatives say he is, Obama’s base would have been so loud and strong it would have been an power to itself due to the current political atmosphere. Of course there would have been opposition but he would have add ten times the ammunition than he does now.
Ah…. The joys of being a third party protest voter!
“So if he would have been what SOME conservatives say he is, Obama’s base would have been so loud and strong it would have been an power to itself due to the current political atmosphere. Of course there would have been opposition but he would have add ten times the ammunition than he does now.”
ABSO-FRACKIN-LUTELY!!!
I always think this! If Obama was half the socialist he is branded to be by the right his base would be on fire to support him and give him another term. Cow towing to Republicans has lost base support and not gained him a thing.
Like Taylor says he has always been blessed by inferior opposition candidates and under regular circumstances he should be able to squeak it out but with all the voter supression going on the election could be stolen again,in pure electoral terms or by the (formerly) Supreme Court.
I will be voting for Jill Stein in 2012. I am not voting for the two major party candidates. It shocked the crap out of me when Taylor put up the list of Democrats voting in favor of food stamp cuts. Both parties are corporate owned and I don’t want nothing to do with it. This is a free country and anyone can vote for who they choose. From a poll, not sure who conducted it but it showed Gary Johnson with a good chunk of voters in Arizona and a few other states. There will be some protest votes this year. Sometimes its not just about winning, it about principal.
Right on, fairmindedindependent!
What is so funny is I hear the exact opposite point than the one the former lousy Governor of Michigan tries to make. I hear a vote for an independent party is a vote for Obama.
Good piece, Taylor thanks! T-Steel great comments from you….Oh and everyone’s comments, amazingly informing to me….
Fauxgressives are always telling someone to “get out of the race.” I voted for him, but Gore lost because of Gore. Anyone remember “the kiss” not to mention his distancing himself from Clinton?
If Obama fails to get my vote, it’s not my failure; it’s his.
I remember those things only too well. Seems like there are lots of folks who don’t, though. I still think that Gore lost more votes than Nader ever had. He was leading by several points in late spring and early summer, but the lead dwindled to less than half a percent by November. Meanwhile Nader’s portion was around 3.5 percent.
This is why I say pour energies locally. Here in Tx we have some real opporunties ot gain some state house and sen seats- which is crucial for the poor and women here. Sen Wendy Davis is one- a real dem fighting every day for educators, unions etc.. Obama will win or loose by the whims of 1 mil voters in 10 batteground states. Go to Howie lein’s act blue and help the progressive really fighting like Darcy Burner, E Warren and the others. Tammy Baldwin needs our help in WI. Folks like Warren, Baldwin Hirono, Burner, Wennona inAZ need help of progressives. They are the real deal to me.
It would be better for Granholm to argue the diff if Romney were prez in 09 rather than Obama bc there would be diffs for sure. Obama didnt enact much for the base in 4 yrs and thats his issue now. Had he at least revoked Bush tax code then maybe you’d have that much from the base to save him. But again its 1 mil voters who will decide this in 10 states.