Day: March 30, 2010

Talking Points Tuesdays – Barry got his Swagger..

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

After a year-long battle of pushing Health Care Reform (HCR) and taking all the bumps and bruises being dished out by the Republican Party. On January 19th it seemed as if all the Hope and Change promised by President Barack Obama was all but lost, on this day Scott Brown (a Republican) won the special election in Massachusetts. How could this happen? How could Democrats lose the seat once owned by Teddy Kennedy? With that loss the Democrats lost their Super Majority and seemingly lost the political weight they had. Republicans celebrated, Democrats pointed fingers at each other and pundits talked about HCR being dead and Democrats having to find their course once again. That night the country supposedly spoke and the country was telling the Democrats Fall Back!

I remember sitting there thinking this is the President’s moment and he needs to step-in and take control of the Democratic Party and right the course. The next day President Obama stepped up and set a new course for his administration, he made it known immediately he was not giving up on HCR. Obama went against many of his advisors and decided to take the Republicans head on concerning HCR. He attended the House Republicans retreat and successfully challenged their mis-information campaign. As Republicans continued to ride the coat-tails of Scott Brown’s victory, the President pushed forward hitting the streets talking straight to the people. Not from the White House but in the people’s backyards, holding rallies reminiscent of the campaign trail. Slowly but surely Obama started to regain that energy wave he rode into the White House; but that wasn’t enough. The President needed another stage to show he would not back down in the face of the Republicans; that stage would be the HCR Summit at Blair House. In a room full of Democrats and Republicans Obama was able to dictate the flow and impose his will.

At the HCR Summit Obama displayed the power of the presidency; in a very subtly way the President referred to each Senator and Representative (Democrat and Republican) by their first names; John (McCain), Mitch (McConnell), John (Boehner) etc…. Meanwhile each Senator and Representative referred to Obama as Mr. President. Again, this was very subtle but very critical in making sure everyone knew who was in charge. Obama walked away from the HCR Summit with another win while acknowledging there were very good ideas by Republicans and they would be incorporated in his HCR bill.

At this point the rest is history as HCR passed and is now law and the President is back on his grind!!!!

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Since the HCR Summit the party of “NO” aka Republicans have seen some in their party vote in favor of bills supported by the President. It wasn’t that long ago when that would have never happened, for example some Republicans supported a Jobs Bill (including Scott Brown). When the HCR bill passed the House Republicans vowed to derail the Reconciliation process in the Senate, no matter how long it took. Well, Republicans only lasted a couple of days and folded as the HCR fixes were signed into law. Where is Boehner’s aka “Tan Man” tough talk???

Once the President won the battle of HCR he regained his SWAGGER; we have all seen the you-tube clip of then candidate Obama talking about brushing his shoulder off:

Well now it looks like President Obama’s iPod is bumping “Swagga Like Us”. Barack aka Barry got his Swagger back!!

You know I remember Tavis Smiley saying something very interesting during a book signing. He said, “You can’t govern like you campaign….”. Meaning, when on the campaign trail you’re trying to please everyone and win a popularity contest. When you govern there are times when you will not be popular and you have to be ok with that. It seems as if the President has learned that in the start of his 2nd year. We should see lessons learned from the HCR debate as the President looks to push Regulatory Reform through. The President will look for Republican support but if it is not there he will not wait, he has momentum on his side and he cannot give it up.

The President has put the Republican party on notice; either support the Regulatory Reform or be seen siding with Big Banks. Oh yeah, if Republicans want to run their November 2010 election campaigns on “Repealing HCR”, as the President stated, “GO FOR IT!!”

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“No One On The Corner Have Swagga Like Us…………”

As always….
If there is something to be said, “Its On Broadway” to step up and say it!!!

Militant Mondays – Donovan McNabb

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

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As a New York Giants fan I will try my best to be as unbiased as I can when it comes to talking about the Philadelphia Eagles; I will try! In the past couple of days I have read/watched several reports of the Eagles looking to trade away their most valuable asset in McNabb. When you look at what McNabb has done for the Eagles you have to wonder why?

– NFC East division championships (2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004)
– Five NFC Championship Games (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2008)
– Super Bowl (Super Bowl XXXIX, in which the Eagles were defeated by the New England Patriots)
– 6 time Pro Bowl selection (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009)
– 2004 NFC Offensive Player of the Year

** Eagles’ all-time leader in career wins, pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns.

McNabb has put up most of these numbers with at best average offensive weapons. Again I ask the question why are the Eagles looking to trade him. Maybe because since the day he was drafted by the Eagles their fans have not always been on board with McNabb. He was infamously booed on draft day back in 1999 by rabid Eagles fans who wanted Ricky Williams, I ask you Eagles fans how did that work out? Hmmm, Ricky Williams is a role player in the Dolphins Wildcat and has been suspended twice for drug abuse.

The knock against McNabb during his Eagles career has been injuries and his inability to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl win, but it’s not all his fault. Throughout most of his career his best offensive weapon was a talented receiving running back in Brian Westbrook, no knock against Westbrook but he has been just as if not more injury prone as McNabb in his career. Each time McNabb has suffered an injury, he has come back strong and led the Eagles. Before Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin the Eagles best receiver was Terrell Owens and it just so happens that it was the McNabb and T.O. show that pushed the Eagles to the Super Bowl; McNabb can’t do it all by himself! It takes leadership and talent; 2 attributes McNabb has used to push the Eagles to the success they have seen during his career.

So what’s up with the disrespect we are seeing towards McNabb this offseason as he is being openly shopped around. This is the same guy who played on a broken ankle and pushed the Eagles to a victory during a regular season game. The same guy who has taken the abuse of the ignorant fans and still loves playing in Philly and wants to stay with a team that doesn’t seem to want him. This is not Allen Iverson, McNabb has been a standout citizen in Philly; SO WHY THE DISRESPECT IN PHILLY??

I hate to say it but you can’t help but think it could be about race; but you know what I will not go there! Instead let’s look at other QBs like Elway and Marino; in Elway you had a QB who lost 3 Super Bowls early in his career but yet he still remained with the Broncos and even though he had issues with Dan Reeves he was never shopped around like McNabb (at least not publicly). The Broncos patience paid off as Elway eventually led them to Super Bowl victories. Then you look at Marino and you have a QB who went to one Super Bowl and lost; he put up record-breaking numbers but never a Super Bowl as he always remained a beloved figure in Miami. It seems like just about every year McNabb has to deal with a Mike McMahon, Jeff Garcia, AJ Feely or Kevin Kolb. And every year McNabb shows up and puts in his work dragging the Eagles to the playoffs.

Then you look at Philip Rivers, his numbers are impressive but he has yet to make it to a Super Bowl but in San Diego and throughout the league he is looked at as a “Gamer”/”Gutsy” player…. He is celebrated for being the leader of the Chargers and pushing that team to the playoffs. So what’s the difference between McNabb, Elway, Marino and Rivers?

RACE!?!? As I said earlier I refuse to go there, the real difference between McNabb and those other QBs is management and fans! That’s right, fat ass Andy Reid and management have found their goat in McNabb. Reid and the Eagles organization will continue to sell the idea of trading McNabb and use the anger of their dumbass fans. Let me quickly say that not all Philly fans are dumb but 99% of them are asses, HAHA!!!

Knowing that the fans have never been truly in love with McNabb, Reid will take the focus off of his flawed offensive play-calling during the playoffs to save his Philly cheese steak over-eating ass!

Eagles fans WAKE UP, and recognize what you have in McNabb. QBs are hard to come by, for once don’t be what you have always been….

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As always….
If there is something to be said, “Its On Broadway” to step up and say it!!!