Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Maybe Mr Obama is really moving to the center. Maybe.
But it is also very possible that he is simply putting on his moderate wardrobe in order to more effectively govern as a liberal.
Marketers know that if you call a concoction of vast amounts of sugar and a bit of grain "healthy, whole grain cereal," you are far more likely to sell it than if you call it "Super sugar bombs."
Obama is, if nothing else, a very good marketer. He knows, even if many of his friends on the left do not, that this election was not a mandate for him to pursue a socially and fiscally liberal agenda. But it is an agenda he wants badly to pursue if his voting record is any indication. So how best to accomplish it? Put on your sheep's clothing and start baa-ing.
Madden gets carried away in a long column trying to rewrite history before it becomes history.
Mr. Obama is brilliant but inexperienced on the world level and he has appointed the cream of the crop - all who have been there and know the perils we face. Mr. Toad is right. Give the guy a break.
Forgiving Lieberman made his star rise even higher. He promised cooperation and the end of partisian rancor. Reid and others were ready to hang Lieberman and the cool head who will lead this country stepped in and said no.
Obama is surroundig himself with those who have a record of accomplishment, regardless of the administration in which they served. I was not an Obama fan but I am becoming one. He is off to a good start.
When ya gotta Hillary Clinton
As the vanilla gorilla?
It smacks of the choice of Palin by McCain. Obama is repeatedly shooting himself in the foot by staffing his administration with liers (Clintons), backstabbers (Emanuel) and hawks (Gates?). This gaggle of insiders can't bring change because they would not know change if it hit them over the head.
No more donations from this former supporter...I'm tired of being deceived.
If there are five more disgruntled "progressives" out there than the ones quoted in this article I'd be surprised, and if they're out there, they're idiots. This sounds totally like the punditry giving themselves something to do. Who did you think he would pick for his cabinet, Arianna Huffington? He'd like to govern the country competently. Wouldn't that be nice, disgruntled progressives?
Gosh, after three weeks of peace and calm and paying attention to other things, I can feel that old irritation edging back, but this time it's about what I'm reading in Salon, the place I always felt was expressing MY side. I refuse to feel irritated. I'm just going to skip over these "you call this CHANGE??" articles, and remind myself that it's a good world if that's all the politicos have to carp about.
Gee whiz, boys and girls, he's a politician!
How dare he not fulfill your agenda for him!
I been blogging about this for months. It's boring to see this clinging to an illusion. He owes the Clinton's more than anybody, and the Clinton's had a meritocracy in the first place and now they are more seasoned and able to compensate for Obama's lack of experience.
Yeah, I don't like Lieberman. I think he's a two faced, war mongering opportunistic smart ass. He's got the biggest shit eating grin in politics. And Richardson is the most transparently self-serving prick I've seen in awhile. I hear him speak and the only thing I hear is "me, me, me."
Politics is harder without ideology than with it because it's less controllable and certainly less predictable. Now, what about the Supreme Court? It will be hard to see him compromise on an appointment there when it arises, but when it really counts what direction will he turn?
I'm so tired of hearing/reading the (jealous) right discuss how upset we progressives are about what Obama has done so far.
they don't seem to realize we chose a person we believe in and trust. we now allow him time to do organize, prepare in order to accomplish his/our goals.
we are not as selfish and narrow as assumed. we know he cannot do everything for everyone. we only expect him to do what is best for our people and our country.
Bill Clinton warned Democrats early in the primary season that they were buying a "pig in a poke" with Obama.
Guess Bill was right.
There is a lot of real idiocy among so-called centrists here. There hasn't been an extreme left in America in more than 30 years. Run of the mill liberals in the 60s, 70s and 80s are now called extreme leftists? WTF? There is definitely an ultra extreme right but no extreme left at all. This is just pathetic nonsense. Among registered Democrats, fully half are liberal and left yet we are sold out every single time there is a Democrat in the White House.
I am sick to death of holding my nose every election and voting for some DINO who has sold out to corporate America just as thoroughly as any Repub. Will Obama be better than Bush? Yes, almost certainly. Will he actually advance us to where we really need to go? Absolutely not. He won't even try. Pathetic and sad.
Better than Bush is simply not a high enough bar. What is it about DLC scumbags and other centrist know nothings that make them worthy of any respect at all? Better than Bush? That's an incredibly low standard. Why should I remain a Democrat at all? I no longer have an answer fot that.
The fact that this is lost on "progressives" (who are these guys anyway?)is beyond me.
The lesson the right learned on Nov 4 is that you cannot ram your agenda down the throats of the electorate (you have to hope they are not paying attention)
the same is true for "progressives" who can be just as blind as the religious right.
rather than whine about Obama's appointments, try educating the electorate so they understand they will benefit as well not just get taxed out the yazoo.
Obama will not get everything done, but rather than fighting about intellectual purity he needs to produce in such a way that the middle class can identify with or we will be looking at a Palin presidency.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
