I talk a lot of shit. I talk shit about football and politics, having been professionally involved in neither. I guess this makes me, well...an asshole where these fields are concerned. Or at least a blowhard.
But people listen sometimes, and they ask me about the future of the country. Jesus, what poor sons O' bitches. But I tell 'em. I am short-term very pessimistic.
I also have a grasp of history, a bit of a geek for it, and some concern professionally with the substance of it. I call to mind a saying, and I can't even place the source (Voltaire?): history is full of the sound of silk slippers going down stairs, and wooden shoes going up.
If you haven't figured it out yet, we Americans are wearing the silk slippers, and we're heading down. We are heading down economically, and politically. Culturally? That's harder to gauge, as it is very subjective. But politically and economically, the stairs have turned into an escalator, and it is on a high-speed plunge.
I am reminded of Republican Rome, and the strife of that ancient time. A very corrupt Senate, tied closely to the interests of the most powerful land owners, screwed the small farmers, merchant class and finally the troops. Roman troops, swindled out of their land in their absence, off fighting imperial wars for more land and slaves for the same landowners who swindled them. Sound familiar? This led to political unrest, including the Tea Party-type political insurgencies of the time. People started showing up to rallies with weapons (like the town halls of the summer of health care), and this soon led to violence in the streets as skilled demagogues fueled the political fire of economic unfairness. We have seen a little of that already, stay tuned for the real action to come as the Beck and Limbaugh acolytes seek the Second Amendment solution to their frustrations.
If 2010 has taught us anything, it is that like later Republican Rome, wealthy elites control our government, for the most part. We're allowed an Elizabeth Warren here and there, but our senators and presidents are bought lock, stock and barrel. We have also realized, to increasing dismay, that there is no accountability for the powerful, just for us. Fraud, treason, murder, eavesdropping, torture, kidnapping, more torture...total pass. Smoke some weed? Read your wife's email? Jail for you mother fucker! Sure, Tom Delay was convicted, and may go to jail barring appeal. But how about all the Senators who are retiring to cash in with the corporations they have been shilling for these past decades? They gave the banks our money, and we lose our houses. They paid defense contractors on a lie, and our nephews, sons and daughters go off to die. And when they get back, they are in debt, have PTSD, and no job prospects.
We realize in 2010 that we have an ultra-right pro-corporate party, and a moderate-right pro-corporate party. There is no people's party on either side. We are feeling the frustration of limited prospects, opportunity and fairness. We feel the sting of our votes being meaningless, as both parties work against us. We fear for our kids' futures, that they will be less than ours. And to a degree they will be. My children will not have the same opportunities as I did. That is in part the swing of history, and part laziness on behalf of the American public - allowing our representatives to sell us out without a response from us. It's hard to kick a lot of ass in silk slippers, I guess.
Who's wearing the wooden shoes? China and India, to a large degree. These economic juggernauts will necessarily affect our standard of living as they flex their economic muscles in the global cage match for resources. When they happily are paying $10 per gallon for gas for 80 MPG cars that they build, and we can't for our 30 MPG cars that will soon be worthless, we will know how far down stairs we have fallen. Then, we'll probably put on some wooden shoes of our own.
In 2010, our life expectancy lowered for the first time in a long time. It was already behind other industrial nations', but that is still depressing. And our disparity between rich and poor is the highest it has been since right before the Great Depression. Our banks are insolvent, and propped up by made-up asset values, and over a trillion bucks from the Fed's printing press. We're heading for a disaster when the house of cards, which is our national banking system, collapses.
Yes, pessimistic in the short term. Long term? I think we've got it in us for at least a few more generations. Not, perhaps, as the world's sole super-power, but as a great and powerful country none the less. We, the people, still have a chance to take our government back. And, we have the chance to change our economy, although that will be a slower process, and require a government that is not under the boot-heel of the currently vested economic interests. It may be time for some constitutional conventions - started in the states - to address money in politics. We can do this if we don't despair, but put steel toes on those wooden shoes and begin the ass kicking.
And we must always step back and consider the scope of history, and where we are. Today, we live like emperors. We, the average schlep in the United States, live like only the most pampered kings and princes in history have. Even better. Think of how technological advances enhanced our lives. Clean water, that we can actually drink, that doesn't give us diarrhea, comes out of our taps. When we do shit, it's in a toilet, and we flush it away. These are mere dreams for most people, for most of human history. A grocery store? People coming to America from Russia in the 1980s would break down in tears when they would enter a Safeway.* Imagine what a Medieval peasant would do, or a Roman farmer for that matter.
*[By the way, Reagan ended the cold war? Fuck no, it was the realization that in America there were many kinds of sausage available at ANY grocery store, as opposed to waiting in line for hours in hope of getting A sausage. Communism couldn't deliver a sausage, that's why the Berlin wall fell.]
Most people in history were lucky to own two shirts. Most people in America, if asked how many they owned, couldn't answer. Most people in history had to work all day, every day, just to get enough calories to keep alive. Most people in America get way more calories than needed every day. Throughout history only the elite could read. Notwithstanding our standardized testing results, we are a broadly literate society. Add transportation and communication technologies, and we live lives that would make sultans green with envy.
We've got problems, and I'll continue to bitch about them ad nauseum. We have yet to see if the people will rise up and effect necessary change to keep our republic from going completely off the rails, and hold the powerful accountable; or if the powerful will move to crush the people, which is what largely happened in Republican Rome. But some year-end reflection on just how well the average American lives, compared to 99.9 percent of human history helps me swallow the disaster that was 2010.
Now, let's get out there and start the change. Primary the shit out of Obama. Primary NOW!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Now, I'm Gonna' Be a Dick About This...
Credit where credit is due, right? Don't Ask Don't Tell was ended by a vote in the Senate Saturday. For all the criticism I have lately dished out to Obama and the Democratic leadership, here they come and dunk from the foul line on a progressive issue.
Well, they make a foul shot, anyway.
Before you click away because of my irrational hate, I understand what a groundbreaking move this was. Decades, if not centuries of officially sanctioned bigotry and oppression by our armed forces will be done away with when the President signs this into law. Allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military is an historic step forward in American civil rights. Kudos to all involved! This includes the much maligned (by me) President Obama - way to go, big guy!
It was inevitable, though, as is gay marriage. The path of history is clear in America. We make you wait, then eventually you get your rights. African Americans, women, gays - discrimination is not over, but legal recognition of your rights is now codified in at least our military. And when the right gay marriage case gets to the Supreme Court, it will also be allowed. It is a 14th Amendment no-brainer. And still you give credit to Democrats, and eight Republican senators.
But to continue the basketball analogy, this was an uncontested lay-up. There was no real fight against this, apart from the omnibus hostage-taking by Republicans over tax cuts for the rich. No CEOs bonus was threatened by giving gay people a little more rights. This was low-hanging legislative fruit. After the monumental cave-in by Democratic leadership on the tax bill, they could reach this one from their prone position, on their backs.
Here's what they couldn't even get to their knees to reach: the Child Marriage Act. This would redirect foreign aid resources to fight the practice of child marriage, which in some cases is a form of child sexual slavery. But Republicans blocked it.
Now, to the Obamapolagists, I get it - the REPUBLICANS blocked it. And yes, they are mean, bad, nasty and evil men and women. They obstruct, and they call the President bad names, and they give poor Senator Reid wedgies.
That is why you FIGHT them.
You mean the President couldn't be bothered to make several speeches about how Republicans want to continue forms of child sexual slavery when it doesn't cost any new money to fight it? Nope, just cave in to it. Fuck those kids, I guess. Literally for some, I guess.
911 responders? The heroes of 911? They need medical help. Republicans have been blocking that, too. John Stewart of the Daily Show embarrassed them mightily, and THEY may finally cave, but it will be the doings of Comedy Central, not the Democratic leadership.
And, if you are the Democratic leadership, how do you not win on this issue? Can you imagine ANY Republican sponsored bill having to do with 911 being blocked by Democrats? Can you not imagine the political carnage that would be the result? This is where Obama needs to walk onto the floor of the Senate with a pool cue, break in over his knee, wield the thicker end and dare those benefit-blocking Republicans to say "911" just one more time. Harry Reid should change the number on the bill being blocked, bring it up for vote again, and do this every day until is passes. And when it is blocked again use that opportunity to say how much all Republicans hate America, how they are with the terrorists, and how they work to harm the heroes of 911. Three days, tops, and they're begging to vote for the 911 responders.
God damn it is sad to watch.
And the final of many final straws? The end of net neutrality. Yup, in spite of all of Obama's pretty speeches in favor of net neutrality, he will allow his appointed chair of the FCC to give the store away to AT&T. This is the first foot in the door of tollbooth internet. Not just your access to the open web, but your ability to access or produce particular content. You don't believe me, ask Netflix, who is already being affected by bandwidth cuts because they compete with the ISPs.
Now this would have taken guts. Obama would have had to stand up to not just Republicans, but to large corporations. He would have had to stand up for free speech against moneyed interests, and powerful members of his own party who take big sacks of cash from those same interests. Which in my opinion, is his fucking job!
But apparently, our President sees his job differently. He sees himself as a facilitator. He's going to ease us into corporate serfdom. Or, he's just weak. Either way, he can't fight this one from his back, or his knees. He needs to stand up, and he just can't do it.
Yay for ending DADT, but it is a fig leaf. Just like unemployment extension - a good thing - masked a huge sellout to the rich and the undermining of social security, this bill takes attention away from selling our free speech and internet access rights, 911 responders, and little girls around the world down the river. Jesus, we have got to primary this guy hard! We need to find someone who knows how to fight as hard as the Republicans for their policy goals, and hope that those end up being our policy goals too.
Okay okay...you want me to admit more "progressive" victories by the Democratic leadership? START is likely to pass now, with over 60 votes in the Senate (don't get me fucking started on 60 again), and a food safety bill passed and will be signed into law. And these are good things. But I can't stand how we jump up and down when a few "good things" get done.
Would a John McCain administration have passed DADT, START or food safety? Probably START only, so I get it, there's a difference. But not enough of one. It's like saying "well, we got punched in the gut, but if it was McCain, we'd have been kicked in the nuts!" I don't want to be punched OR kicked. I don't want to have to choose between donkey shit or elephant shit. I want to elect a president who runs on a marginally progressive platform, and have him achieve marginally progressive policy goals. Not one who gives corporate interests everything, and then negotiates with Republicans for what's left over. I want a president who gets on a ladder to harvest the fruit, not one who lays on his back and picks what he can grab. Same for Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. So yeah, thanks a lot for DADT, now hows about getting to work for a "change."
It's not too much to ask. Don't listen to the Obamabots or Democratic fanboys who demand fealty or accuse you of helping Republicans. Fuck that. Primary the shit out of these corporate lackeys who are sticking it dry to you and your family. Primary hard.
Primary NOW!
Well, they make a foul shot, anyway.
Before you click away because of my irrational hate, I understand what a groundbreaking move this was. Decades, if not centuries of officially sanctioned bigotry and oppression by our armed forces will be done away with when the President signs this into law. Allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military is an historic step forward in American civil rights. Kudos to all involved! This includes the much maligned (by me) President Obama - way to go, big guy!
It was inevitable, though, as is gay marriage. The path of history is clear in America. We make you wait, then eventually you get your rights. African Americans, women, gays - discrimination is not over, but legal recognition of your rights is now codified in at least our military. And when the right gay marriage case gets to the Supreme Court, it will also be allowed. It is a 14th Amendment no-brainer. And still you give credit to Democrats, and eight Republican senators.
But to continue the basketball analogy, this was an uncontested lay-up. There was no real fight against this, apart from the omnibus hostage-taking by Republicans over tax cuts for the rich. No CEOs bonus was threatened by giving gay people a little more rights. This was low-hanging legislative fruit. After the monumental cave-in by Democratic leadership on the tax bill, they could reach this one from their prone position, on their backs.
Here's what they couldn't even get to their knees to reach: the Child Marriage Act. This would redirect foreign aid resources to fight the practice of child marriage, which in some cases is a form of child sexual slavery. But Republicans blocked it.
Now, to the Obamapolagists, I get it - the REPUBLICANS blocked it. And yes, they are mean, bad, nasty and evil men and women. They obstruct, and they call the President bad names, and they give poor Senator Reid wedgies.
That is why you FIGHT them.
You mean the President couldn't be bothered to make several speeches about how Republicans want to continue forms of child sexual slavery when it doesn't cost any new money to fight it? Nope, just cave in to it. Fuck those kids, I guess. Literally for some, I guess.
911 responders? The heroes of 911? They need medical help. Republicans have been blocking that, too. John Stewart of the Daily Show embarrassed them mightily, and THEY may finally cave, but it will be the doings of Comedy Central, not the Democratic leadership.
And, if you are the Democratic leadership, how do you not win on this issue? Can you imagine ANY Republican sponsored bill having to do with 911 being blocked by Democrats? Can you not imagine the political carnage that would be the result? This is where Obama needs to walk onto the floor of the Senate with a pool cue, break in over his knee, wield the thicker end and dare those benefit-blocking Republicans to say "911" just one more time. Harry Reid should change the number on the bill being blocked, bring it up for vote again, and do this every day until is passes. And when it is blocked again use that opportunity to say how much all Republicans hate America, how they are with the terrorists, and how they work to harm the heroes of 911. Three days, tops, and they're begging to vote for the 911 responders.
God damn it is sad to watch.
And the final of many final straws? The end of net neutrality. Yup, in spite of all of Obama's pretty speeches in favor of net neutrality, he will allow his appointed chair of the FCC to give the store away to AT&T. This is the first foot in the door of tollbooth internet. Not just your access to the open web, but your ability to access or produce particular content. You don't believe me, ask Netflix, who is already being affected by bandwidth cuts because they compete with the ISPs.
Now this would have taken guts. Obama would have had to stand up to not just Republicans, but to large corporations. He would have had to stand up for free speech against moneyed interests, and powerful members of his own party who take big sacks of cash from those same interests. Which in my opinion, is his fucking job!
But apparently, our President sees his job differently. He sees himself as a facilitator. He's going to ease us into corporate serfdom. Or, he's just weak. Either way, he can't fight this one from his back, or his knees. He needs to stand up, and he just can't do it.
Yay for ending DADT, but it is a fig leaf. Just like unemployment extension - a good thing - masked a huge sellout to the rich and the undermining of social security, this bill takes attention away from selling our free speech and internet access rights, 911 responders, and little girls around the world down the river. Jesus, we have got to primary this guy hard! We need to find someone who knows how to fight as hard as the Republicans for their policy goals, and hope that those end up being our policy goals too.
Okay okay...you want me to admit more "progressive" victories by the Democratic leadership? START is likely to pass now, with over 60 votes in the Senate (don't get me fucking started on 60 again), and a food safety bill passed and will be signed into law. And these are good things. But I can't stand how we jump up and down when a few "good things" get done.
Would a John McCain administration have passed DADT, START or food safety? Probably START only, so I get it, there's a difference. But not enough of one. It's like saying "well, we got punched in the gut, but if it was McCain, we'd have been kicked in the nuts!" I don't want to be punched OR kicked. I don't want to have to choose between donkey shit or elephant shit. I want to elect a president who runs on a marginally progressive platform, and have him achieve marginally progressive policy goals. Not one who gives corporate interests everything, and then negotiates with Republicans for what's left over. I want a president who gets on a ladder to harvest the fruit, not one who lays on his back and picks what he can grab. Same for Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. So yeah, thanks a lot for DADT, now hows about getting to work for a "change."
It's not too much to ask. Don't listen to the Obamabots or Democratic fanboys who demand fealty or accuse you of helping Republicans. Fuck that. Primary the shit out of these corporate lackeys who are sticking it dry to you and your family. Primary hard.
Primary NOW!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Stephanie Miller - Wrong Again
I commute, and I flip channels. I love politics, and football news. But listening to Stephanie Miller has been painful these last few days. I disagree so, so much.
She, along with Randi Rhodes are backing Obama with full throats. I don't get why they don't get it. He will never be reelected. He's done. He has moved his economic position way, way to the right of Ronald Reagan. Jesus, Bush would have been embarrassed to have ASKED for a deal like this. He is now campaigning for the Republican position, and this does tremendous harm to our nation.
Obama has just taken the political center, already way, way to the right of where Bill Clinton left it, and now has pushed it even further right. We have had to fight our own president these last two years, and he has dragged us right every time. Now, he has leaped to the right with this deal. Combine it with the cat food commission, and he has facilitated the destruction of the American middle class.
We have been holding at about our own 20 yard line, and Obama has just moved it back to the 10. Now we have 90 yards to go, instead of 80. That payroll deduction he is giving everyone - for one year - will be all but impossible for this president to remove. It assures the demise of Social Security - again, the evil will of the Republicans made manifest by Obama. This deal is 900 Billion dollars that my kids, and grandkids will have to pay, and will leave my retirement in tatters, and the Democratic party - once the only hope against the conservative destruction of America - holding the line well to the right of Reagan, to the right of Bush in some regards.
Obama is not a genius chess master. He is a Republican at heart and we were fooled. Either that or he is the weakest, most inept President in the last 80 or more years. He is dooming this country to economic disaster, and my children to a sub-European standard of living. We are all hostages of the multinational CEOs because Obama negotiated our future away. The corporations are draining us dry, then they will abandon us and move on to China and India.
Obama has taken on so much of the Republican position that it will be too hard for him to run against it in 2012. He is terrified of Citizens United money pouring in from multinational corporations, so he lurches towards their cornucopia of cash (which he will never get). But he leaves the American people behind. His messaging is so fouled, he has no hope. Even if independents rediscover him (which I don't think will happen), a big chunk of the Democratic Party is lost to him.
Look, Democrats spent almost 10 years fighting the Bush tax reductions for the rich. The base of that argument is that supply-side economics DOES NOT trickle down, therefore all but the rich get fucked. There is plenty of data to back that up. Obama has flipped on that principle in an instant, for this one deal that didn't need to be made. With the economy likely to still be the number one issue in 2012, how does he differentiate himself? As the guy who ruined America for a year of unemployment benefits?
Besides, here is a president who has majorities in both houses, and can't get anything done without the permission of the Republicans. He oozes weakness. 60 was NEVER the standard in the Senate until Obama became president. It was the exception, not the rule. And I am so, so sick of apologists saying "what can he do? It's those damn Republicans obstructing everything!" Bullshit! Would George W. Bush have stood for that? Hell no! He, dumb as he was, would have taken out a baseball bat and swung away. Remember 2006? When he lost the House and the Senate, on the Iraq War issue? He said "so you don't like my war, huh? Well you're gonna love my surge." He doubled down, and the entire Democratic Party folded.
Bush was an idiot who led this country in a terrible direction. But he was a leader.
This leads me to the other argument of the Obama apologists: that the Democratic Party is too diverse, and the blue dogs screw him every time. Well, Bush had dissenters in his party too. He kept them in line. Many of these are the Tea Party now, to whom Obama and the Democrats ceded the populist mantle. No, Obama gets pushed around by the blue dogs because he's easy to push. He throws up a wish list of legislation, and says "now you boys fight this out" to Congress. Then when he sees where the fight is, he rushes in to make a deal. Worse, he rushes in before his own party has a chance to make deals among the various caucuses. He doesn't lead. He should be leading us in the opposite direction of Bush. Instead he's following that same path economically, militarily and in the Justice Department.
You know, one more thing I hear in liberal talk media that drives me crazy is the argument that Monday morning quarterbacking does no good, and we have to get in line behind Obama because he is better than the Republican alternative. Look, I don't expect to agree with anyone all the time. But when you get screwed over and over again, at some point you have to say "no mas!" We are Americans - we are supposed to criticize our leaders when they do wrong!
He's not the guy we voted for. At least, not the President I thought I voted for. And in 2012 he will face an electorate suffering from four years of near 10% unemployment, high health insurance premiums (or, no health insurance at all), continued and even more unpopular wars, further economic inequity between rich and poor and, even bigger deficits because his friends the bankers have sucked all of the money out of the system. He will have been investigated about 750,000 times by House Republicans, because they will NOT look forward only, they will look back with a microscope (by the way, how did that strategy work out for us). The first thing they plan to do is dig out the details of all the back-room deals that the Obama Administration made with Big Pharma and the hospital groups. This will taint the one thing that Obama could claim as a big accomplishment - as "change," his health care legislation. This, plus all the corporate cash in the universe stacked against him. He has no chance.
Obama loses the swing states in 2012. His base will be demoralized, and independents will see him as weak and corrupt, and blame him for the economic pain they still feel. And they should blame him, because he has signed on for the policies that have brought that pain.
A primary candidate, with a strong populist message from the left, is the only Democratic hope. It is the hope in two ways. One, that the message is clear and consistent enough to pierce the veil of corporate cash that will rain on the 2012 election, thus allowing a slim hope of victory. Two, that the pressure of a groundswell from the left becomes too much for Obama to bear, and he switches course and begins to lurch towards that position. It will have to be a ton of pressure, because Obama is so used to running right.
Ah, god...just look at Boehner and McConnell, two ghouls with little or no personality or appeal. And these guys are mopping the floor with our side. How thin is the thread holding the sword of Damocles over us in 2012?
Primary NOW!
She, along with Randi Rhodes are backing Obama with full throats. I don't get why they don't get it. He will never be reelected. He's done. He has moved his economic position way, way to the right of Ronald Reagan. Jesus, Bush would have been embarrassed to have ASKED for a deal like this. He is now campaigning for the Republican position, and this does tremendous harm to our nation.
Obama has just taken the political center, already way, way to the right of where Bill Clinton left it, and now has pushed it even further right. We have had to fight our own president these last two years, and he has dragged us right every time. Now, he has leaped to the right with this deal. Combine it with the cat food commission, and he has facilitated the destruction of the American middle class.
We have been holding at about our own 20 yard line, and Obama has just moved it back to the 10. Now we have 90 yards to go, instead of 80. That payroll deduction he is giving everyone - for one year - will be all but impossible for this president to remove. It assures the demise of Social Security - again, the evil will of the Republicans made manifest by Obama. This deal is 900 Billion dollars that my kids, and grandkids will have to pay, and will leave my retirement in tatters, and the Democratic party - once the only hope against the conservative destruction of America - holding the line well to the right of Reagan, to the right of Bush in some regards.
Obama is not a genius chess master. He is a Republican at heart and we were fooled. Either that or he is the weakest, most inept President in the last 80 or more years. He is dooming this country to economic disaster, and my children to a sub-European standard of living. We are all hostages of the multinational CEOs because Obama negotiated our future away. The corporations are draining us dry, then they will abandon us and move on to China and India.
Obama has taken on so much of the Republican position that it will be too hard for him to run against it in 2012. He is terrified of Citizens United money pouring in from multinational corporations, so he lurches towards their cornucopia of cash (which he will never get). But he leaves the American people behind. His messaging is so fouled, he has no hope. Even if independents rediscover him (which I don't think will happen), a big chunk of the Democratic Party is lost to him.
Look, Democrats spent almost 10 years fighting the Bush tax reductions for the rich. The base of that argument is that supply-side economics DOES NOT trickle down, therefore all but the rich get fucked. There is plenty of data to back that up. Obama has flipped on that principle in an instant, for this one deal that didn't need to be made. With the economy likely to still be the number one issue in 2012, how does he differentiate himself? As the guy who ruined America for a year of unemployment benefits?
Besides, here is a president who has majorities in both houses, and can't get anything done without the permission of the Republicans. He oozes weakness. 60 was NEVER the standard in the Senate until Obama became president. It was the exception, not the rule. And I am so, so sick of apologists saying "what can he do? It's those damn Republicans obstructing everything!" Bullshit! Would George W. Bush have stood for that? Hell no! He, dumb as he was, would have taken out a baseball bat and swung away. Remember 2006? When he lost the House and the Senate, on the Iraq War issue? He said "so you don't like my war, huh? Well you're gonna love my surge." He doubled down, and the entire Democratic Party folded.
Bush was an idiot who led this country in a terrible direction. But he was a leader.
This leads me to the other argument of the Obama apologists: that the Democratic Party is too diverse, and the blue dogs screw him every time. Well, Bush had dissenters in his party too. He kept them in line. Many of these are the Tea Party now, to whom Obama and the Democrats ceded the populist mantle. No, Obama gets pushed around by the blue dogs because he's easy to push. He throws up a wish list of legislation, and says "now you boys fight this out" to Congress. Then when he sees where the fight is, he rushes in to make a deal. Worse, he rushes in before his own party has a chance to make deals among the various caucuses. He doesn't lead. He should be leading us in the opposite direction of Bush. Instead he's following that same path economically, militarily and in the Justice Department.
You know, one more thing I hear in liberal talk media that drives me crazy is the argument that Monday morning quarterbacking does no good, and we have to get in line behind Obama because he is better than the Republican alternative. Look, I don't expect to agree with anyone all the time. But when you get screwed over and over again, at some point you have to say "no mas!" We are Americans - we are supposed to criticize our leaders when they do wrong!
He's not the guy we voted for. At least, not the President I thought I voted for. And in 2012 he will face an electorate suffering from four years of near 10% unemployment, high health insurance premiums (or, no health insurance at all), continued and even more unpopular wars, further economic inequity between rich and poor and, even bigger deficits because his friends the bankers have sucked all of the money out of the system. He will have been investigated about 750,000 times by House Republicans, because they will NOT look forward only, they will look back with a microscope (by the way, how did that strategy work out for us). The first thing they plan to do is dig out the details of all the back-room deals that the Obama Administration made with Big Pharma and the hospital groups. This will taint the one thing that Obama could claim as a big accomplishment - as "change," his health care legislation. This, plus all the corporate cash in the universe stacked against him. He has no chance.
Obama loses the swing states in 2012. His base will be demoralized, and independents will see him as weak and corrupt, and blame him for the economic pain they still feel. And they should blame him, because he has signed on for the policies that have brought that pain.
A primary candidate, with a strong populist message from the left, is the only Democratic hope. It is the hope in two ways. One, that the message is clear and consistent enough to pierce the veil of corporate cash that will rain on the 2012 election, thus allowing a slim hope of victory. Two, that the pressure of a groundswell from the left becomes too much for Obama to bear, and he switches course and begins to lurch towards that position. It will have to be a ton of pressure, because Obama is so used to running right.
Ah, god...just look at Boehner and McConnell, two ghouls with little or no personality or appeal. And these guys are mopping the floor with our side. How thin is the thread holding the sword of Damocles over us in 2012?
Primary NOW!
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
It's Time for Change 2.0...2.0
Introducing your new Republican president: Barack Obama.
No, it's way worse than my last post. Obama caved on the tax cuts for the rich. Not only that, he also gave a huge tax cut on the inheritance tax, tax cuts for payroll, and...failed to get anything but SOME unemployment relief. No DADT, no START treaty, no dignity for himself, or any of us.
$70,000 EACH to the top 1%. A few crumbs for you. This is what your seemingly Republican President is now fighting to defend.
Obama said that because the Republicans were holding the unemployed hostage, he HAD to give in. No SWAT team, no posturing, just cave. He says wait for another two years, then he's ready to fight the economic terrorists who take Americans hostage. Now, he negotiates with terrorists. Great, the plan that killed Jimmy Carter.
What is the worst, though, the absolute WORST...is his sudden and total validation and support of supply-side economics. Obama now says that tax cuts for the rich are CRUCIAL for the economy.
No, no...this is the Republican position! The fucking position of your, well - supposed opposition. Dude, you are campaigning against your own party, and your own base. In a big way.
NO! You are fucking done. Who do I need to support? Feingold? How about Howard Dean? Dean knows how to play the game. Jesus, he's a big reason Obama was elected in the first place.
Primary NOW! Change 2.0 NOW! Obama is done, he will not win in 2012. And even if he did, whoopie! A Democrat who defends just about every Republican position against his own base. Obama, who assumes that he will lose before the cards are dealt, who only fights his own supporters. He sucks in the worst way.
And for the apologists, you are wrong. Yes, Obama DID say that he wanted to push the tax cut issue before the primary. Yes, Senate Democrats DID wimp out. This is all documented. But at the same time, Obama's WH leaked that he was ready to deal. He has always done this, and the Senate has learned. Obama is ready to throw Democratic House and Senate members under the Republican bus with the knowledge that he will compromise NO MATTER WHAT THE OUTCOME OF THE FIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. I'm amazed the House still fights at all. Obama's the worst, and at the worst time for our great country.
Aaahh, who do we run? I don't agree with all of Howard Dean's positions, but he knows how to win.
Run somebody who will fight for a moderately liberal position.
Run somebody who will fight for working families.
Run somebody who will FIGHT.
Obama won't. Change 2.0. PRIMARY NOW!
No, it's way worse than my last post. Obama caved on the tax cuts for the rich. Not only that, he also gave a huge tax cut on the inheritance tax, tax cuts for payroll, and...failed to get anything but SOME unemployment relief. No DADT, no START treaty, no dignity for himself, or any of us.
$70,000 EACH to the top 1%. A few crumbs for you. This is what your seemingly Republican President is now fighting to defend.
Obama said that because the Republicans were holding the unemployed hostage, he HAD to give in. No SWAT team, no posturing, just cave. He says wait for another two years, then he's ready to fight the economic terrorists who take Americans hostage. Now, he negotiates with terrorists. Great, the plan that killed Jimmy Carter.
What is the worst, though, the absolute WORST...is his sudden and total validation and support of supply-side economics. Obama now says that tax cuts for the rich are CRUCIAL for the economy.
No, no...this is the Republican position! The fucking position of your, well - supposed opposition. Dude, you are campaigning against your own party, and your own base. In a big way.
NO! You are fucking done. Who do I need to support? Feingold? How about Howard Dean? Dean knows how to play the game. Jesus, he's a big reason Obama was elected in the first place.
Primary NOW! Change 2.0 NOW! Obama is done, he will not win in 2012. And even if he did, whoopie! A Democrat who defends just about every Republican position against his own base. Obama, who assumes that he will lose before the cards are dealt, who only fights his own supporters. He sucks in the worst way.
And for the apologists, you are wrong. Yes, Obama DID say that he wanted to push the tax cut issue before the primary. Yes, Senate Democrats DID wimp out. This is all documented. But at the same time, Obama's WH leaked that he was ready to deal. He has always done this, and the Senate has learned. Obama is ready to throw Democratic House and Senate members under the Republican bus with the knowledge that he will compromise NO MATTER WHAT THE OUTCOME OF THE FIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. I'm amazed the House still fights at all. Obama's the worst, and at the worst time for our great country.
Aaahh, who do we run? I don't agree with all of Howard Dean's positions, but he knows how to win.
Run somebody who will fight for a moderately liberal position.
Run somebody who will fight for working families.
Run somebody who will FIGHT.
Obama won't. Change 2.0. PRIMARY NOW!
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