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News & ArtsSunday, September 6, 2009
Politics Barack Obama: A Disappointment and a Wuss
Posted by Dan Savage on Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Amazingly enough watching the president reach out again and again to Republican leaders who are doing everything in their power to destroy his presidency—and watching the president jettison Democratic priorities and back away from campaign promises to important Democratic constituencies—is hurting the president among Democrats, liberals, and progressives. No one could have predicted. While some have have already concluded that the president is a disappointing wuss, I'm going withhold judgment until Wednesday night. But I'm not optimistic.
1
A "trigger" for the Public Option will be the last straw for me.
We've had 20 years of fucking triggers, and a series of health insurance horror stories in our family, including an Uncle who was murdered by his HMO, which couldn't be bothered to treat a treatable cancer, because it might cost them a penny or two.
I'm also old enough to have seen the Democrats deal themselves out of power twice by alienating their base.
I'm a lifelong Democrat from four generations of Democrats, so if I'm at the "screw 'em all" point, I'm not the only one.
Yeah, they're better than the batshit crazy Republicans, but they're also adept at screwing themselves out of votes.
I'd like to be surprised on this issue, but I've watched Obama's head revolve 360 degrees on the Public Option, and I'm exhausted waiting for him to do the right thing, the thing he promised, for damn once.
We've had 20 years of fucking triggers, and a series of health insurance horror stories in our family, including an Uncle who was murdered by his HMO, which couldn't be bothered to treat a treatable cancer, because it might cost them a penny or two.
I'm also old enough to have seen the Democrats deal themselves out of power twice by alienating their base.
I'm a lifelong Democrat from four generations of Democrats, so if I'm at the "screw 'em all" point, I'm not the only one.
Yeah, they're better than the batshit crazy Republicans, but they're also adept at screwing themselves out of votes.
I'd like to be surprised on this issue, but I've watched Obama's head revolve 360 degrees on the Public Option, and I'm exhausted waiting for him to do the right thing, the thing he promised, for damn once.
2
It's not just him, either. The Democrats in general need to grow a spine. When you have one party that's willing to compromise, and one party that isn't, the one that isn't will always get their way. The result is we get full-on Republican policies when the Republicans are in charge, and slightly watered down Republican policies when the Democrats are in charge.
3
1. "No one could have predicted." Actually, what we predicted was that since he has a short and thin resume you didn't know what you were getting; it was clearly stated that he would have his flaws and limitations; and that he just wasn't all that. A great leader and a great politician but the hagiography calling him FDR and JFK and RFK rolled into one, meh, quite the exageration. One has to respect his accomplishments.
2. Instead of just sitting back being pissed, why not prescribe the cure? It's clearly that he, and we, have to change the on the ground politics in the blue dog states and this includes having a head on confrontation over whether gummint is good, or bad. And not being a wussy wuss like Adam smith who said gummint is fundamentally incompetent, or like Obama, who by backtracking from single payer says the same thing in so many words. Not having a clear message. We KNOW insurers are DEATH PANELS why aren't they showing us the stories of the people who DIED FOR THE SAKE OF INSURER PROFITS? the people losing their homes? Good god it's not rocket science.
3. You also have to blame his supporters who, when he said he would sit down with insurers, applauded. Oh, that Clintondawg was too adversarial, Obama's NEW! and FRESH! LOOK HE WON IN MONTANA ! He is magical and will usher in a new bipartisan type of reform blah blah blah.
4. NOW do you get it that in addition to an MLK, you really do need an LBJ?
Here's the list of arms Obama has twisted in Congress:
zero.
Here's the list of jobs he's promised to Baucus and other blue dogs to vote for good health care reform:
um, none it looks like.
Here's the list of massive rallies he's showed up at:
ZERO ZIP NADA.
Here's the amount he's used his massive 11 million strong e mail list:
about1% of what he should have done.
We had 3000 at Westlake for health reform. Why wasn't he leading the parade, we would have had 25,000 and been all over TV.
He's failing to use his powers of oratory and organizing and instead is settling for insider b aseball, good god, cutting deals with fucking Billy Tauzin! And as part of the deal he cut guess what -- he forgot to nail down any GOP votes anyway!
That's being a poor legislator, to put it charitab ly.
More...
2. Instead of just sitting back being pissed, why not prescribe the cure? It's clearly that he, and we, have to change the on the ground politics in the blue dog states and this includes having a head on confrontation over whether gummint is good, or bad. And not being a wussy wuss like Adam smith who said gummint is fundamentally incompetent, or like Obama, who by backtracking from single payer says the same thing in so many words. Not having a clear message. We KNOW insurers are DEATH PANELS why aren't they showing us the stories of the people who DIED FOR THE SAKE OF INSURER PROFITS? the people losing their homes? Good god it's not rocket science.
3. You also have to blame his supporters who, when he said he would sit down with insurers, applauded. Oh, that Clintondawg was too adversarial, Obama's NEW! and FRESH! LOOK HE WON IN MONTANA ! He is magical and will usher in a new bipartisan type of reform blah blah blah.
4. NOW do you get it that in addition to an MLK, you really do need an LBJ?
Here's the list of arms Obama has twisted in Congress:
zero.
Here's the list of jobs he's promised to Baucus and other blue dogs to vote for good health care reform:
um, none it looks like.
Here's the list of massive rallies he's showed up at:
ZERO ZIP NADA.
Here's the amount he's used his massive 11 million strong e mail list:
about1% of what he should have done.
We had 3000 at Westlake for health reform. Why wasn't he leading the parade, we would have had 25,000 and been all over TV.
He's failing to use his powers of oratory and organizing and instead is settling for insider b aseball, good god, cutting deals with fucking Billy Tauzin! And as part of the deal he cut guess what -- he forgot to nail down any GOP votes anyway!
That's being a poor legislator, to put it charitab ly.
4
Oh you're "witholding" judgement? That's rich. You must have forgotten the 20+ posts you've made about what a weak, failure, jerk Obama is over the last few months.
Granted, it was issue specific (gay rights), but your judgement and antagonism was not "witheld" while you were being a complete whiney bitch about it and at the top of your lungs only months in to his Presidency.
Please "withold" your claim.
I'm surpsided you didn't link your text "nobody could have predicted" back to your own posts, as you usually do.
Granted, it was issue specific (gay rights), but your judgement and antagonism was not "witheld" while you were being a complete whiney bitch about it and at the top of your lungs only months in to his Presidency.
Please "withold" your claim.
I'm surpsided you didn't link your text "nobody could have predicted" back to your own posts, as you usually do.
5
What side are you really on here? I think that judging the president, although I admit he's not perfect, on the basis of a few issues, some based on your personal special interest is bunk. The President has produced major changes since he took office only 9 months ago. The wuss rhetoric shows the tendency for short term memory in this country and the need for instant gratification.
It's fine to be critical of the president but somewhat cynical to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet based on the President's overall record so far or when the game is still in play.
It's fine to be critical of the president but somewhat cynical to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet based on the President's overall record so far or when the game is still in play.
6
"nobody could have predicted" ???? WTF? I could have predicted as did all of the true left thinkers. Obama was never anything more than a centrist dressed up to look like a liberal. Yes, he's better than a toaster oven. And yes, a toaster oven would be better than Bush/Cheney, but that's what we get with a two party system. Not a lot.
7
Well, while Obama gives us either Clinton's or Bush's third term the GOP is making headway in King County with Sue Cuntchinson. I think I may have warned Slog a couple of years ago that the huge influx of newbies to Seattle and King County could lead to a red tide of GOPer's to Seattle.
I wonder what day Emperess Susan will declare that gays and lesbians can no longer work for King County? I bet she'll do that by February 2010. Or perhaps public transit would best be served by private industry or that we need more roads in King County?
Time to move to Canada or Europe...
I wonder what day Emperess Susan will declare that gays and lesbians can no longer work for King County? I bet she'll do that by February 2010. Or perhaps public transit would best be served by private industry or that we need more roads in King County?
Time to move to Canada or Europe...
8
Obama never committed to single-payor. Because he didn't go that far, he has less space in which to retreat. He simply doesn't understand the dictum of asking for more than you think you'll get and then settling for less. Now he has to settle for much much less. Overall he's a great president who's had horrible problems to deal with, all produced by the last administration. Unfortunately, he won't get elected again because the Dems will grumble about his less-than-godhood and the Republicans will move in like a pack of wolves in the forest. They're already snapping at the Dems huddled around the fire.
9
Hasn't the looney left that you are very useful idiots.
I know you all thought Obama would be different because he's black but a look at his record would have showed how moderate he is.
I know you all thought Obama would be different because he's black but a look at his record would have showed how moderate he is.
10
"I wonder what day Emperess Susan will declare that gays and lesbians can no longer work for King County? I bet she'll do that by February 2010."
Paranoid much?
Paranoid much?
11
Paranoid is thinking the earth is only 6000 years old and that a cloud being is haning around in the sky getting ready to smite people.
12
We tried to tell you Obama didn't have ANY real world political experience.
WE didn't endorse Obama.
The Republicans are holding no cards and still bust Obama at every turn.
Thanks Dan.
You're whiny bitching is really starting to grate.
Perhaps you could withhold THAT?
WE didn't endorse Obama.
The Republicans are holding no cards and still bust Obama at every turn.
Thanks Dan.
You're whiny bitching is really starting to grate.
Perhaps you could withhold THAT?
13
"Paranoid is thinking the earth is only 6000 years old and that a cloud being is haning around in the sky getting ready to smite people."
How does that affect my property taxes?
How does that affect my property taxes?
14
He gets closer to being a one-term president with every passing day. Well, you can't say I didn't warn you. You were too busy drinking the Kool-Aid to listen, though.
15
While I'm disappointed in a lot of ways at Obama, I'm still with Dan on reserving any kind of final judgement until later.
The main problem with the Democrats is confidence, as evidenced by this thread. If his supporters have already decided he's a one-term president, he's got little chance, and neither do your favorite issues.
The Republicans NEVER talk about losing elections, they talk about winning. Their base never abandons ship after a couple of missteps or policy decisions they don't agree with, they stand firm, knowing that they're better off in power than out. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be holding Obama to his word and promises, but fucking stop with the one-term shit, and stop threatening to withdraw your support. What are you going to do, vote Republican? No, you're not. So stop whining and fight for what you believe in without threatening to destroy 9,000 other things you also believe in.
It's seriously pathetic, and it's going to get us seriously fucked in 2012.
The main problem with the Democrats is confidence, as evidenced by this thread. If his supporters have already decided he's a one-term president, he's got little chance, and neither do your favorite issues.
The Republicans NEVER talk about losing elections, they talk about winning. Their base never abandons ship after a couple of missteps or policy decisions they don't agree with, they stand firm, knowing that they're better off in power than out. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be holding Obama to his word and promises, but fucking stop with the one-term shit, and stop threatening to withdraw your support. What are you going to do, vote Republican? No, you're not. So stop whining and fight for what you believe in without threatening to destroy 9,000 other things you also believe in.
It's seriously pathetic, and it's going to get us seriously fucked in 2012.
16
15
We are the Spartans
and you are the Pussy Persians.
300 of us can kick the asses
of one million of you.
And even if it is hopeless
we never panic or bitch or whine.
We Man Up
and take our medicine
and die with dignity.
You have a Landslide President
and a SuperMajority Congress.
But Savage has had one continuous PissFit since the end of December.
You are hardly worth our effort to smash your pathetic Single Payer.
Oh for a worthy foe!
We are the Spartans
and you are the Pussy Persians.
300 of us can kick the asses
of one million of you.
And even if it is hopeless
we never panic or bitch or whine.
We Man Up
and take our medicine
and die with dignity.
You have a Landslide President
and a SuperMajority Congress.
But Savage has had one continuous PissFit since the end of December.
You are hardly worth our effort to smash your pathetic Single Payer.
Oh for a worthy foe!
19
Clinton was pretty moderate and a pretty good President for Republicans, too.
And no war.
There's really not a lot of difference.
Except for the Oval Office blowjobs.
And no war.
There's really not a lot of difference.
Except for the Oval Office blowjobs.
20
Seriously, it is pathetic how the Democrats self destruct.
It's not good for the nation.
The Republicans are really not doing anything, it is all mis-steps and goofs by the administration and Congress.
But rather than say-
"geez, we're fucking ourselves in the ass..." it is easier to blame the opposition but then you make them out to be some kind of supermen.
It is the exact same thing Savage did with the Mormons and Prop 8.
Rather than admit that teh gays blew it he gets all BrownShirt on the Mormons and makes it look like they pulled some heroic miracle. Makes the Evangelicals and conservative Catholics get all wet for Romney. icky.
Same thing in 2000 and 2004. Even Republicans would admit (privately- we don't do the Savage "publicly piss all over your guy" thing) that Bush was a bumbling inarticulate goof. But Gore and Kerry were such flakes that Bush manages to win. Twice.
The Dems are not really even in the game.
And that isn't good for the Republic.
It's not good for the nation.
The Republicans are really not doing anything, it is all mis-steps and goofs by the administration and Congress.
But rather than say-
"geez, we're fucking ourselves in the ass..." it is easier to blame the opposition but then you make them out to be some kind of supermen.
It is the exact same thing Savage did with the Mormons and Prop 8.
Rather than admit that teh gays blew it he gets all BrownShirt on the Mormons and makes it look like they pulled some heroic miracle. Makes the Evangelicals and conservative Catholics get all wet for Romney. icky.
Same thing in 2000 and 2004. Even Republicans would admit (privately- we don't do the Savage "publicly piss all over your guy" thing) that Bush was a bumbling inarticulate goof. But Gore and Kerry were such flakes that Bush manages to win. Twice.
The Dems are not really even in the game.
And that isn't good for the Republic.
21
I think part of the problem is that Obama, Rham and co. didn't and don't really get that health care is a serious critical issue now, even for those who have it. The fear of having no health care drives a huge percentage of employment and other life decisions for Americans. I think they think its an issue like Head Start, where its just a poor persons thing that can be jerked around for PR effect one way or another.
Because they don't get this, they don't see how politically weakening it will be to half ass this and screw it up, AND they don't see how politically strengthening it could be to nail it.
Of course, I figured Obama had made very specific assurances to various corporate powers in order to survive the primaries. I just didn't know his corporate promisees included not just Wall Street, but allso the health insurance industry. He may have just boxed himself into guaranteed political failure by the backers agreed to.
etc.
Because they don't get this, they don't see how politically weakening it will be to half ass this and screw it up, AND they don't see how politically strengthening it could be to nail it.
Of course, I figured Obama had made very specific assurances to various corporate powers in order to survive the primaries. I just didn't know his corporate promisees included not just Wall Street, but allso the health insurance industry. He may have just boxed himself into guaranteed political failure by the backers agreed to.
etc.
22
Don't people get tired of the U.S. always looking like the Taliban of the West? That's what the Republicans want. An oppressive, ineffective government for anyone but the bankers. Corporate vultures profiting from the misery of the sick and untouchable because of a corrupt congress. Religious fanatic's superstitions deciding what science can do or what medicine can do. If this country doesn't reject the policies of the past eight years for what they were, a complete and utter failure, than we will deserve our own slide into Republican led failure. We got just a taste of how destructive the right wing is. Imagine if they had privatized Social Security the way they have privatized American security over seas. Obama was given the chance to do what he promised, make this country competitive with the advanced countries and repair the damage done by inept and corrupt Republicanism. Now, is that what we're seeing? Time will tell.
23
Bill Clinton: NAFTA and more outsourcing of jobs overseas than anyone up to his time
George Bush: two wars
Barack Obama: "may" end one of the two wars definately wants to escalate the other one.
Oh and Bill Clinton and Peace? Give me a fucking break; what do you think we were doing in Bosnia? Dropping candy bars on civilians?
George Bush: two wars
Barack Obama: "may" end one of the two wars definately wants to escalate the other one.
Oh and Bill Clinton and Peace? Give me a fucking break; what do you think we were doing in Bosnia? Dropping candy bars on civilians?
24
Obama is a fool because he doesn't seem to understand:
A. This is a fight between the interests of big business and the interests of ordinary people.
B. Both sides cannot win.
C. Business will fight any threat to their profitability with the force of their vast resources of capital.
D. The ONLY way to beat capital interests is with populism: rally the people against business.
I would encourage anyone to go back and read FDR, Truman, and LBJ's speeches advocating the New Deal or Medicare. They understood the game and they weren't afraid to use an emotionally based populist narrative to kick the other side's teeth in. Then sometime in the 70's the corporate party (Republicans) started winning for various reasons and Democrats decided that people would never again buy the argument that it is the government's job to protect them against abuse at the hands of business. This can be easily caricatured as socialism you see, and Democrats wet themselves when Republicans call them socialists. (You guys, the heartland is gonna think we're gay soldier-spitting-on latte-sipping hippie Frenchmen!). And so the Democrats developed their current myopic strategy which is to seek "bipartisanship" (see "triangulation"), push watered down social programs without making a full throated case for why they are morally and practically necessary, refuse to even talk about raising taxes on the rich to pay for it, and meanwhile punch their own most ardent supporters on the left in the nuts to demonstrate to the heartland that they hate hippies too. The result is the people see a multi-trillion dollar price tag for an agenda which has not been explained or sold to them, Republicans call them socialists anyway, the Democratic base throws up its hands, and the voters decide that they might as well elect the guys who seem to believe in what they're selling. Fucking Democrats.
More...
A. This is a fight between the interests of big business and the interests of ordinary people.
B. Both sides cannot win.
C. Business will fight any threat to their profitability with the force of their vast resources of capital.
D. The ONLY way to beat capital interests is with populism: rally the people against business.
I would encourage anyone to go back and read FDR, Truman, and LBJ's speeches advocating the New Deal or Medicare. They understood the game and they weren't afraid to use an emotionally based populist narrative to kick the other side's teeth in. Then sometime in the 70's the corporate party (Republicans) started winning for various reasons and Democrats decided that people would never again buy the argument that it is the government's job to protect them against abuse at the hands of business. This can be easily caricatured as socialism you see, and Democrats wet themselves when Republicans call them socialists. (You guys, the heartland is gonna think we're gay soldier-spitting-on latte-sipping hippie Frenchmen!). And so the Democrats developed their current myopic strategy which is to seek "bipartisanship" (see "triangulation"), push watered down social programs without making a full throated case for why they are morally and practically necessary, refuse to even talk about raising taxes on the rich to pay for it, and meanwhile punch their own most ardent supporters on the left in the nuts to demonstrate to the heartland that they hate hippies too. The result is the people see a multi-trillion dollar price tag for an agenda which has not been explained or sold to them, Republicans call them socialists anyway, the Democratic base throws up its hands, and the voters decide that they might as well elect the guys who seem to believe in what they're selling. Fucking Democrats.
25
And another problem with triangu-bipartisanship: most people who call themselves "centrists" or "independents" in America in 2009 don't pay attention to and don't understand politics, and they don't recognize or care when Democrats do something like drop the public option or water down the stimulus package to appease them. They certainly don't remember these centrist gestures by the time the next election rolls around, and since they don't pay attention to or understand politics they perceive "left wing" and "right wing" to be "what the Democrats say" and "what the Republicans say", a perception reinforced by our talking-parrot media. Republicans understand this, that's why they call Democrats socialists regardless of what their actual policy is. Democrats run to the center but the political playing field just gets shifted to the right and the Democrats end up with no effective legislation and no political advantage.
26
Ah yes. All the people who Obama beat like a drum for the last three years now presume to tell the rest of us that they know how to do politics better.
27
Obama should hang out with more anti-white racists like Van Jones and his "Reverend Wright". He should also blame more stuff on whitey like he did with "Professor" Gates.
That should really help his ratings. Step it up a notch Obama! It beez raycisss!
That should really help his ratings. Step it up a notch Obama! It beez raycisss!
28
@16: You are not a Spartan. You're not even a soldier. You saw that stuff about the Spartans in a movie based on a comic book. Also, your party lost. Huge, historic, record-breaking loss. The opposite of winning. And you all didn't 'man up' and take it like brave warriors -- you've all been crying like hysterical babies every minute since the election.
29
There are a lot of shortsighted and stupid people on here. Kind of amazing. I love how you're all predicting the futture before his first years is even up. You morons do realize that once the economy rebounds, his reelection will be assured, right? But by all means, keep pretending that you know he's doomed and that his fate is sealed simply because he doesn't deliver on your SINGLE issues.
31
Well, at least at this point in his term Obama's more popular than Reagan was... who wallowed in approval ratings around 40% all the way through his first two years in office.
Yep.
Yep.
34
Bararck Hussein Obama is not a wimp at all. I've already posted on his cunning nefariousness (plans to give himself authority to shut down the internet in case of an "emergency;" Appointing a eugencist to be his science czar; Appointment a watermellon to be his enviro czar (and a radical communist at that. Thank God Van Jones is gone and Thank GOD for Glenn Beck for shining the glorious of truth on that man); plans to establish a civilian national security force "just as powerful as the US military..."
This man, Barack Hussein Obama (aka Barry Soetoro) is secretly using his Chicago tactics to wipe out his opposition and promote homosexuality in America to destroy our families, thus removing it's strongest ally in protecting freedom.
He is the antithesis of wimpiness. He is as steeled a man as Josef Stalin.
This man, Barack Hussein Obama (aka Barry Soetoro) is secretly using his Chicago tactics to wipe out his opposition and promote homosexuality in America to destroy our families, thus removing it's strongest ally in protecting freedom.
He is the antithesis of wimpiness. He is as steeled a man as Josef Stalin.
37
So re-playing videos and re-printing interview quotes of Van Jones' own words - verbatim - is a "vicious smear campaign" and "distortions and lies"???
DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
38
34: the emergency control of the internet idea was introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V as Senate bills No. 773 and 778, NOT Barack Obama.
You are lying and spreading rumors. But that's really all you people have to go off of these days, isn't it?
You are lying and spreading rumors. But that's really all you people have to go off of these days, isn't it?
39
Obama is reminding me more and more of John Quincy Adams - he took the reins in a contentious, tumultuous period, and tried to be the great compromiser, thus failing to really get anything done.
40
36. According to a few Sloggers, Beck is something something rape something something murder yadda yadda 1990.
41
@39-- That's a fascinating comparison. Andrew Jackson seems more than anyone else to have been the model for the Bush/Cheney presidency, and I was struck over and over by how brilliantly Sarah Palin understood Jackson's appeal during the campaign (that Tina Fey and Katie Couric proved she seemed to understand little else may have saved the world.) I think you are right to note a temperamental similarity to the man who tried and failed to keep Jackson from ruining what was left of the American soul after slavery and the man who is trying reclaim a little of it today. JCA failed spectacularly as president at a crucial time, something I dearly hope ourt hero does not do. Both JCA and BHO seem to be among the most intellectual men to have become president, and America does hate an egghead.
You're brilliant. I'm depressed.
You're brilliant. I'm depressed.
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