NOTE Via Albany Tim. Thanks to AndGarden for reminding me of this riff.
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Good reading! Favorite quote: What could go wrong?
Beyond war, inflation, the end of the technology/productivity wave, and financial collapse, we think the most potent and short-term threat would be societies demanding a more ‘equitable’ share of wealth.
1. Medicare for All
2. End the Wars
3. Tax the Rich
4. A Jobs Guarantee
Health care reform: DCBlogger.
1. To assuume that competing sides, especially political parties, are equally extreme, equally guilty, etc. 2. To treat a dubious position as arguably equivalent to a legitimate one.(Vast Left) Usage example: Joe Klein equivalates by comparing Rush to Markos.
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Well, maybe the chance to vote for him again,
in 2012? Whaddya think? Can you see yourself doing that?
I'm this typical white-bread slightly-past middle-aged, white, almost 29 years-married mother of two, who simply does not understand why people who love each other, want to commit to each other, want to have a life together, are not permitted to have what I have. Just does not compute.
The Obama whose DOJ wrote that abomination of a brief is the "real" Obama - as much as it is possible for someone with no core principles to be real. He's the same one who is invoking state secrets and executive privilege, arguing for preventive detention, seeking common ground on abortion by appointing a pro-life Catholic to the faith-based initiatives office, thinking the legislative option for gutting FOIA is a workable solution to keeping the torture photos secret just in case the Supreme Court agrees that he has to release them. Who is going to disappoint the "little" single-payer advocates in a huge way on health care.
As hard as it was, and as unnatural as it felt, not to touch the ballot for any candidate for president (I'm a freakin' assistant chief election judge, for cryin' out loud), I knew in my heart of hearts that I could not vote for Obama. I knew he was phony from the get-go, that he wasn't a progressive, that he would not fight for liberal ideas and issues.
And I won't vote for him in 2012, either. Not on the basis of where things are now, and what he has done and not done, said and not said, and how he has so easily betrayed so many people.
Can't do it. Won't do it. And won't be voting Republican either.
My take
I honestly don't believe that, insomuch as some believe he has sinisters hateful motives. I believe it is the 'real' him in that he's a complete coward devoid of holding principles, and scared of doing anything that may hamper his re-election chances, but I honestly don't believe he's doing this out of spite or hate anyone.
And, let me be clear that I'm not saying my belief about him is meant to make him appear a better person. In fact, I think my belief of his motives make him far worse than if he was a spiteful, hateful person. He loves to talk about 'empathy', but his empathy is situational and calculated. And, the term calculated when used about Hillary in comparison Obama always got me as it was always Obama who was the calculating one. Damn-near his whole adult life was little more than a bunch of calculations.
For Obama to turn into a great or even acceptable president would require nothing less than a miracle, and I don't even believe in those. The only way he'll ever answer to his conscience is when he's forced to, and the only way he'll ever be forced to are with Orange Revolution-type protests at the gates of the White House. Really, how sad of an image is that?
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...
The most optimistic view I can take
Is that the needs of the moment (though "whose needs?" is a key question) call out for a lot of doing the right thing. Thus one can imagine Obama doing some good because it's the path of least resistance.
I wish
I wish I could even be that optimistic, but some very common-sense things that would take little political capital at the moment (or, at least political capital he has to spend), aren't being done. I mean, things like at the very least not supporting DOMA (and repealing don't ask/don't tell) or some pretty instant tweaks in our trade policy among many, many other things wouldn't cost him much anything given where the country is.
I can't even trust him to do the right thing, even when the right thing doesn't cost him much. He's near-criminally timid and perpetually in a state of some type of bizarre political paralysis, bizarre because of the fact that he's perfectly positioned to inact very easy changes. I'm not even asking him to be bold, at the moment, I'm simply asking the guy to do something, following something, anything through to a positive conclusion for once. When he does decide to act on something, it's either not enough or in the completely wrong direction.
I mean, I like what he's projecting (mostly) on the foreign policy front (if even I notice that what he's actually doing hasn't changed much at all from the former administration), but that kind of brings me back to the point of movement paralysis.
Rarely have I seen someone squander so much, so quickly, for so many. He's as stubborn as a...pony.
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...
Timid or doing what he wants to do?
Obama IMO is doing what he really wants to do policy wise. Democratic voters gave him full permission to follow a Republican agenda by being willing to vote for him without asking anything in return. IMO Obama gave plenty of signals during the primary and the general that he would follow the path that he has CHOSEN to pursue. The majority of people chose to ignore those signals.
You can have my excess gay rage, if you like.
I'm not flaunting it in public since it only serves to shore up his "sensible" credentials in Versailles
. At this point, I believe that the more we spit and scream, the more likely he'll dip into this pool again the next time he needs some wingnut love. As Jon Stewart once said to Tucker Carlson, "I'm not your monkey."
I have no way of knowing "the real Obama", so discussing whether he's a psychopath or "just a politician" is a waste of time. I can only go by what he actually says and does (as I did during the primaries), observing the environment he acts in, and the fallout.