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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
For those who are already disappointed in Obama:
First of all, it's hard for me to understand the disappointment being felt by some people who voted for Obama; people who apparently thought that he was a liberal Democrat. Those people must have projected their own hopes and desires on him, because he never said he was a liberal. His stands on many issues demonstrated that he was a more moderate Democrat. Being "moderate" and having the ability to effect change are not mutually exclusive.
Secondly, I don't understand why he's being ripped for choosing former Clinton staffers. Among the pool of Democrats with experience in a Democratic administration, isn't it reasonable to assume that many of those people would have been associated with former president Clinton? What is Obama supposed to do, seek out only Democrats who worked for the Carter administration? (Besides, people seem to have forgotten how many good things happened during the Clinton administration.)
Obama repeatedly told us that he disliked the extreme partisanship that we have experienced for a long while now. He told us that he was going to bring people together. He does that very well. Although I'd like to (figuratively) wring Joe Lieberman's neck, it's smart politics to refrain from alienating him.
Between now and the inauguration, read Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope," and you will learn about his politics and the way he thinks. If you'd already read it, you'd have been prepared for the kinds of choices he would likely make. Like most of us, he can't be placed in a tidy little category. He leans toward the left on some issues and is far more conservative on others.
I'm still celebrating his historic victory and feeling hopeful about this country for the first time in a very long time. I would ask you to please take a deep breath and give the man a chance.
Good grief! He is not even in office yet and everybody and his grandmother is disappointed in our new President. The poor guy (not to mention all of us) is faced with the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, two wars, massive debt, and practically everyone on the left is whining about change.
Duh, we already got changed (see the last eight years--better yet, see if you have a job, health insurance or a retirement plan!) We need experienced people in the cabinet, well, ok I would draw the line at Bob Gates, too, but that being said, I think we need to trust Obama for a while.
We don't need a knight in shining armor right now, we need someone who knows how to work the "Jaws of Life" and some competent paramedics.
See you at the Inauguration, fellow lefties. Let's celebrate something for a CHANGE!!
If you promise to reach across the aisle, it stands to reason that you would offer your hand to Lieberman, despite everything. This is politics: forgiveness comes with the territory, but nothing need be forgotten.
Obama's decision here does him great credit.
The 'new progressive left' has always been. Good for blogs and soundbites and whatnot, but when it comes to real governance in the real world, not relevant. Let's face reality, of the 100 things you expect Obama to magically fix, 85 of them will never be addressed and the other 15 will only get half addressed. This is the same as it's ever been. All elections do is shift the list of those 15 things around a bit.
If you thought Obama was running as a progressive and would govern as a liberal and/or progressive, well you simply weren't paying any attention and got fooled by his rhetoric.
As a centrist Democratc I knew the only difference between him and Hillary was experience, but as far as their centrism, Obama is far more conservative.
So far I like what Obama is doing because he isn't playing ideological politics. He is being smart and pragmatic and wants solutions. If you want ideology you should have voted for Nader.
and I don't yet see what the issue is.
What, exactly, does the progressive wing want?
For my entire life (I'm 37) far-out liberal ideas included
-stop aggressively destroying the planet's ability to support human life;
-regulate industry to keep it from doing the above and to keep it from running itself into the ground
-make sure there are opportunities to get an education that will lead to meaningful work and won't punish your ambition by turning you into a lifelong debt serf;
-make sure that where there are opportunities to get rich, that these opportunities are more or less tied to doing something that is useful or at least not actively destructive;
-stop being a willing hostage to Middle Eastern dictatorships in exchange for the privilege of driving overpowered four-wheel-drive cockmobiles;
-extend full citizenship rights to all citizens, yes, even the queer ones;
-make sure that health care is available, yes, even to people who aren't rich.
Anyone who has taken these ideas seriously in the past thirty years has been labelled a liberal, a socialist or worse. It's only because the "center" has moved to such a ridiculous right-wing extreme that this could happen. Once upon a time, things like the New Deal were considered the center.
If these are centrist policies, then who needs liberals? Honestly--what more do you want?
Okay folks so if this isn't exactly your dream team think about this; They are all intelligent, experienced, capable adults. We haven't had that in 8 years. Maybe we should let Obama get into office before we fret too much.
I didn't vote for Obama because he was progressive, I voted for him because he was centrist. He never pretended anything otherwise, and if you think he did, you are delusional. It wasn't my vote alone that propelled Obama's victory. I know more than a few erstwhile Republicans who voted for him as well, not only because the McCain/Palin ticket was too far right for their taste, but because Obama appealed to their centrism.
I sick of all the fringe lunatics out there trying to portray the center as bad place to be. On the left, we hear the cringing whiners desperately trying to associate Obama with the right wing zealots, bleating their sheepish battle cry: "center right! center right!". On the right, we hear their extremist counterparts doing the same thing: complaining about Marxism, Socialism, and any other ism they can somehow associate with the left.
Here's the deal. Extremists in both parties lost. The lunatic fringe, left and right is unhappy. Hurray! Maybe you guys can get together and form your own party; call it the Little Sour Pickle party.
After seeing the virtually identical headline for several days in a row, I'm convinced of several things. (1) The bulk of Salon's contributors don't have a single original idea in their head. (2) Joan Walsh is a bona-fide idiot (that has been obvious for quite some time). She is certainly incapable of attracting any worthwhile contributors (besides Garrison Keillor, the shining exception). (3) Visiting Salon is an abject waste of time. I cannot remember the last time I encountered even a dollop of insight in either the articles or the letters.
Goodbye. After all the fed-up can't-take-the-inanity-anymore folks such as myself finally leave, the floppy ducklings will have their own little self-reinforcing echo chamber all to themselves. Enjoy the illusion.
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"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
