My real problem with all theOH MY GOD YOU GUYS GOT SUCKERED NOW I BET YOU WISH YOU’D VOTED FOR HILLARY/MCCAIN/NADER/MCKINNEY/RONPAUL HUH that goes around every time somebody opines that Obama fucked something up is the presumption that everybody thought Obama would solve all our problems.
I remember people supporting him passionately but I do not, outside of psycho Kos diaries, remember a whole lot of “well, this is all it’s gonna take and then we can go home.” All these pieces seem to begin, “unlike all you other fuckers, I alone was smart and pure enough to realize that Obama would require shoving in leftward directions,” and I don’t know who the argument addresses. The psycho Kos diarists? People making Obama YouTubes? Diddy? Who are we lecturing here?
And no, giving the guy ten minutes after the inuaguration speech to get his briefcase and move into the house doesn’t count as giving him a free pass. I had a lot of arguments with a lot of people during the primaries but during none of them was my position ever that Obama was perfect. My position was that Chris Dodd was perfect, so I guess I should be all BRB DODD FANFIC right now, but I learned a while back that screaming I TOLD YOU SO at people you’re in a lifeboat with doesn’t get you out of the lifeboat any faster.
As toJane’s point:
The Bush administration and their wars gave fuel to the progressive
movement in this country, no doubt. I was personally at a loss during
the primary battles — from a movement perspective, I understood our
job to be to hold fast to our principles and reward candidates for
hewing to them and make them compete for our support.
The stuff you care about doesn’t become any less the stuff you care about because a guy who doesn’t make you ashamed to be amammalis in the White House.
A.
I agree totally. The attitude you write about is the flip side of the “Messiah” coin. It’s weird, but I never hear anyone except critics call Obama the New Messiah, and it is always to ridicule voters who supported him. I support Obama and worked some to help elect him, so, obviously, I must think he’s the New Jeezus. Not. I was disappointed with his FISA support, before he was elected, and I am disappointed with some of what he’s done/is doing regarding some issues. Huh, I think this is my first post here. Love your work,
A-fucking-men, sister.
It does seem to me at times that some are unable to have a nuanced view of Obama. My self, I’m fairly happy with him, especially after the ME speech the other day. I also haven’t heard about any med-pot dispensaries being raided since AG Holder laid down the law.
However, I don’t like the rhetoric I’m hearing on AfPak(as “the kids” call it now). I hope he defines that a bit clearer soon.
Overall, I like hima hell of a lot better than the last few guys(including Clinton).
One last thing, primary season has been over for quite some time now, but there still seems to be some out there who still can’t let it go. That’s just sad.
If we ever had a perfect president we would be ruled by God. Perfection has to be reserved for God. But, if you enjoy Wagner’s Ring Operas, you realize that even God’s can be imperfect.
I vacillate between pride in having Obama as our president, pride so intense I find my self simultaneously smiling and crying, and disappointment in finding that Obama doesn’t share all of my infinite wisdom. My biggest hope is that he will learn in office. My wisdom, of course, is absolute.
Athenae,
your last sentence was pure gold.
aimai
Well said — as always — Athenae. Thank you.
I was an Edwards supporter (rabidly) and still think his message — the need to change our nation fundamentally so that we no longer have a small insulated upper class and a big vulnerable impoverished working class, which has grown even bigger and more vulnerable since the Wall Street implosion of Spring 2008 — is a good one.
Then I was a HRC supporter / primary delegate / voter. But you know what? I am, first and foremost, a Democrat, and I’m very proud of our President, First Lady, and First Family. Does that mean I’m satisfied with everything President Obama says or does?
Well, no, ’cause honestly I think he gives in too much to big money and big business and isn’t as concerned as I am about single-payer, protecting Social Security, and other domestic issues, plus he has not ended the wars Bush started.
I’m hellishly disappointed that Guantanamo remains open; I’m furious that military commissions will recommence, regardless of the “improvements” planned in their operations. The simple fact is holding POWs without acknowledging that they’re POWs violates the Geneva conventions as well as the US Constitution, and the ‘change’ I hoped for was a return to the rule of law in this country as well as in our dealings with other nations, posthaste. In fact, if he’d just say, the “Global War on Terror” is over and get on with dealing realistically with our national needs — and o, by the way, can we finally get some damn help for NOLa and the Gulf Coast and the Missouri Valley, California and the Midwest? Floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and drought — these things aren’t so much natural disasters as they are natural occurrences which have disastrous consequences for the people who live there, but that’s no reason to turn our national backs on those people (especially if they’re elderly or brown or poor, which the past 8 years has pretty much equaled an official response of ‘go die already, you’re unprofitable’).
Bailouts for banks and investment firms while union jobs are flushed away are another sore point. (Yes, I realize that’s a Bush policy he’s inherited. But honestly? It’s a bad one, and just because Timothy Geithner can’t fathom that shoveling money at rich guys doesn’t help poor people afford housing, transportation or medical care any better than any other Republican ever has doesn’t improve the policy or its outcome.)
Our new President has, however, impressed the hell out of me with the things that he has NOT done (much as did Clinton). If he’ll continue NOT doing some things I think he’s stood against throughout his term, I’ll be very happy.
NOT turning the nation’s back on Israel.
NOT giving up Social Security as unaffordable.
NOT abandoning veterans to the tender mercies of a “contract on America” budget.
NOT buying the “Drill Baby Drill” horseshit.
NOT continuing to ignore our National Parks.
NOT giving ever bigger concessions to oil companies.
NOT denying either that people are contributing to climate change or that it’s a bad thing.
it is too soon to judge. O still has the fucking bushie press that already has reverted to it’s clinton era suckatude. our majorities are not set in stone. but then, i can see his roadblocks, while the purist don’t seem to see anything but what they desire. i am just happy a thinking sentient being is driving and not a drunk retard.
AND FUCK YES I AM GONNA CALL HIM A RETARD. because he didn’t even care about his anti-intellectualism.
I have on balance not been too unhappy with Obama, but a) he has an excellent dramatic foil, and b) after Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush, my standards are low.
His new rabidly antiabortion pick for head of HHS couldn’t have come at a worse possible time; I’d like the “He’s playing 17-dimensional chess!” types to explainthat one, being as it looks as though he just checkmated himself from 16 levels away.
Also, as to his not making one ashamed to be a mammal, speak for yourself, warmblood. I asked around, and he makes all the eukaryotes cringe. The prokaryotes are laughing their prokaryotic asses off at us, by the way. Just thought you might like to know.
My overall reaction to Obama’s presidency thus far is relief at some restoration of the status quo ante Bush. We can now go back to arguing about good legislation and effective policy as normal democracies do, instead of praying that today won’t bring more intentionally-inflicted Republican disasters in which the Democratic Party and the media are deeply complicit. The President now needs to complete the process of making certain that the Constitutional staus quo ante Bush is firmly back in place.
But there is one more thing I think we as a nation rushed past at inaugural time. I came of political age in the early 1960’s and have monitored the progress of African-Americans into an accepted place at the center of all of American life ever since. It was clear that some amount of quantitative progress was being made for years: more African-Americans in leadership positions from football to politics to the military; less acceptance of racism, overt and implied.
But I feel strongly that Obama’s election, most especially with the electoral votes of Virginia and North Carolina, means that some qualitative node has been reached. I heard a lot of people argue that his election was “an exception” that said nothing conclusive about race relations in this country. I can’t agree. All presidential elections are exceptional; every moment in history is unique; etc. If a nation in its electoral collectivity still considers persons with African ancestry to be inherently less intelligent, less trustworthy and generally less worthy, they are not going to be able to vote for one for president. You might experiment with a black hairdresser, a black quarterback, or even a black mayor in a mostly white city. But the cold fact is that the lawyer you choose to represent your son in a felony case, the surgeon you choose to operate on your heart, or the president you choose to have his hand on the nuclear trigger is not a choice where people will experiment. It doesn’t mean that racism is dead in this country – and I think this election demonstrated that sexism is still virulent – but a crucial corner in the dreary 400 year long history of Africans in English-speaking North America has been turned.