Obama F---ed Up

The Democrats aren't happy.

They're dropping F-bombs.

They're taking Obama's name in vain.

Video.

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Transcript

KEITH OLBERMANN: This has been an extraordinary week in this debate between these two parts of the Democratic Party. But you this quote, “F the president”? Kind of strong. What can you tell us about the Democratic revolt in the House this morning?

HOWARD FINEMAN: Well, like Barney Frank, I wasn‘t there either. But I did talk—I did talk to a lot of people who were.

And it was pretty startling. There was a sotto voce apparently, you know, not too loud and F the president. There was a no F-ing way. There was he F‘d it up.

You know, we have a fairly liberal use of the F word inside those closed doors. And there was a lot of anger.

And, frankly, the president‘s presence before this group yesterday when he tried to explain his side of things didn‘t help. As a matter of fact, it just made things worse is my understanding of it.

One member I talked to said if this is the way he‘s going to negotiate with the Republicans, what‘s he going to do with the Iranians, you know? And we had other people telling—I had another people telling me, look, there are 63 members in it there—I think it‘s 63 -- who lost, who are kind of like the walking ghosts at this point. They‘re stuck in little cubicles in the basement of the Capitol.

They lost the election in many case because they champion the previous position the president took. Now, they‘re being asked to abandon it. And whether they sort of agree substantively or not, they‘re angry. They‘re angry. They feel ignored, which they were.

Some members of the leadership were not clued in on this at all until after the fact. For example, Jim Clyburn, who‘s on the leadership, wasn‘t at that meeting at the vice president‘s house last Saturday night.

So, there‘s a lot of anger and frustration, and it was all expressed this morning behind closed doors.

OLBERMANN: Right. And just to clarify, you‘re referring to the vice president. We haven‘t seen the president actually addressing the Democrats in the House yet. That would be a meeting that we should just pay-per-view and solve all of our budget problems right there.

We crunched some numbers and here‘s how this looks to us. The House passed the president‘s original plan last week, 55 percent majority. The president‘s original plan got in the Senate 59 percent backing. Now, a Republican filibuster in the Senate is going to block this popular plan and a de facto Democratic filibuster in the House is blocking the unpopular plan.

Why is the White House going all out to hit the Democratic one in favor of the unpopular plan?

FINEMAN: Well, I suppose you can say no good deed goes unpunished within the Democratic world. I mean, the White House has been the—has been the place—the launching pad really, to switch metaphors, the sort of steadfast place for the White House and the for the president. So, they assumed that ultimately, the House would go along.

And, of course, also, the rules are somewhat different. It‘s not quite the same thing. The Republicans do to have a stronger hand under the rules in the Senate. But I just think it was—I think the White House has been focused for the last two years primarily on the Senate and the difficulties there, given the close margins there, the almost filibuster-proof majority, et cetera. And they took their eye off the ball in the case of the House.

And I also think the fact that Rahm Emanuel, who used to be chief of staff, who was a veteran in the House, has gone back to Chicago to run for mayor there, may have had something to do with it.

OLBERMANN: Last point, much of the reporting today was that House Democrats were equally mad about the substance of this plan, as about how it was negotiated. Can you corroborate? Can you explain that?

FINEMAN: Oh, yes. That‘s absolutely correct. And I think the estate tax everybody is focusing on is the big part of it.

First of all, the House members didn‘t hear anything about that in the negotiations that were going on, and when they even finally were informed about what was happening. And they view it as a big giveaway because the numbers, both in terms of the limits set on families that can pass along money and in terms of the rate, are more generous in both cases than anything George W. Bush proposed.

And what the Democrats inside the House caucus are saying, how you did that happen?

OLBERMANN: Yes.

FINEMAN: Why that? Because Republicans were even themselves surprised at the numbers they ended up with there.

OLBERMANN: Howard Fineman of “The Huffington Post” and MSNBC—thank you for some of your time tonight, Howard.

FINEMAN: Thanks, Keith.