I cannot take the meta anymore. ViaShakesville, which:
Regular readers may recall that although I
supported Clinton’s candidacy, I frequently said that I’d be more than
happy to vote for either of them. I wasn’t just saying that to be nice,
nor was it a “any Democrat will do” kind of thing. It’s because I (no
political expert to be sure) could see quite clearly thatthey’re not that different.
I don’t mean that there weren’t policy differences between them
(although, really, there weren’t many). What I mean is that despite the
ridiculously childish acrimony between their campaigns, they themselves
are obviously of similar character and temperament. In fact, I suspect
(although I have no proof of this) they get alonggreat. I think she’s had his back since she endorsed him, and I believe she’ll be a loyal and effective member of his team.
How did all our clever liberal writers miss this?
Speaking only for me, and trust me, I’m sure I’m not included in “all our clever liberal writers,” but … my aspirations for an Obama presidency — for that matter, a Clinton one — were pretty basic. Try not to screw us too often or hard. End the war. Fix health care. I realize these are criminally low expectations to apply to our leadership but I personally don’t think the choices were ever put to me as “new man made of moonbeams” versus “THE NEVERENDING SUCK.” And while I’m sure there were clever liberal writers overwhelmed by the majesty of Obama or whatever, and I’m sure there were plenty of Obama supporters who were, there were plenty of others who said pretty much what I felt, which was that Obama’s campaign was a sight to behold and that once in office he’d need constant shoving in the right directions.
I live in the state Obama worked in and he didn’t transform it into a place where cotton candy grew on all the trees and unicorns nibbled from it at lunch. He did things that impressed me, and things that pissed me off, like any Democrat. Maybe this confusion at how I’m supposed to be enraged at how taken in I was is a consequence of my having spent the primary wars pissed off that all our clever liberal writers couldn’t have given a damn about my candidate, the only one, by the by, with the balls to stand up for the rule of law in this country, not that anyone gave a shit anymore once he shook Joe Lieberman’s dick off for him.
And by the by, being annoyed at Obama isn’t a sign that progressives are over, or that he doesn’t care, or that we were OMG DECEIVED and should go home and beat our breasts in apology for having gotten jacked up about the guy. It’s a sign that he isn’t doing everything we want. And we should ask for what we want.There’s a whole form right here. Go fill it out instead of lifing the rest of the blogosphere about how YOU ALL GOT SUCKERED HA HA HA.
A.