Has Obama lost his footing ?
That happens when you win the nomination. It happens to Democrats anyway.
Here is the deal:
1) His FISA position was a slap in the face to his base.
2) Wes Clark became the victim of the GOP’s faux-outrage machine because he said that being a pilot does not give you the executive experience to be President. Rather than fight back – Obama quickly tossed Clark uner the bus.
Here is kos on the whole deal.
It looks like Obama is gun-shy after sticking by Jeremiah Wright. Now, he can’t move quickly enough to denounce his own allies. So he’s cross at Wes Clark, and he’s mighty cross at MoveOn as well! Who else will he be cross with as he kicks off “Operation Piss Off the People Supporting and Bankrolling His Campaign In Order To Prove He Hates the Dirty Fucking Hippies”. Now that the primary is over, he can turn his back on the people that brought him.
I was going to max out to him today, given I haven’t given Obama a dime yet (focusing on congressional candidates). But I changed my mind. He wants to send the message that he doesn’t need us, all the power to him. Message received. I’ll spend that $2,300 somewhere else.
Update: I’m curious as to why people think that me saying I won’t give Obama my $2,300 somehow means I’m undermining him. When he gives me a reason to open up my wallet, I will. But I also refuse to reward bad behavior.
When Republicans lost Congress in 2006, Rush Limbaugh bleated that he was happy, that he no longer needed to “carry water” for the GOP. Me, I’ll never carry water for our team. I’ll reward good behavior, and trash bad behavior.
If you want sycophancy, this isn’t your place.
Obama and David Plouffe better get their shit together.
Speaking to the “center” is one thing – but buying into and endorsing right-wing bullshit and knuckling under to half-wits and losers like Rush Limbaugh, Andrea Mitchell and Laura Ingraham is another.
PS. Clinton lovers have my permission to rejoice. Just remember, Clinton would not have moved to the right if she won the nomination. Except for health insurance, she was already there.
You know what also always happens to Democrats ?
They always end up bitching and complaining and fighting with each other EVEN WHEN THEY ARE WINNING
Obama is five to fifteen points up in the polls but the blogosphere has been nothing but bitch, bitch, bitch for the past ten days.
Enough already. Grow up. You all can’t always agree with him and sometimes winning requires some moves you may disagree with.
Oh and btw check out the ABC piece tonight about the other comment from an Obama adviser saying the same thing about McCain.
Burton said “We will not allow McCain’s service to be denigrated”. The journalist replied “But do you think the remark was denigrating McCain’s service”
To which he did not get any response.
Get it ? They get the high ground by defending Mccain’s service (which was not attacked but since that’s the frame the media chose, give them that) but they are not at any point denying the actual substance of what Clark said. They are defusing the media frenzy while giving themselves – and Clark (who would not have been on the telly tonight defending his remarks without Obama’s approval) – the leeway to repeat that being a war hero does not make u qualified to be president
Obama is a liberal NOT! he is a center of the road demo. Only the wing nuts on the right think he`s a liberal, but he is still a much better choice than McCain.
I was actually getting ready to write a post called “All Hands On Deck”. Sometimes Dems are their own worst enemies. There are two choices in November: Obama and McCain.
Right now this is about winning in November. Will Progressives get everything they want from Obama? No, and we were never going to.
Governing an entire country is about compromise. For months we’ve been thrilled that Republicans, Independents, and even Evangelicals were supporting Obama. Did we really believe that these groups just woke up one day and said, “Wow! I’ve been such a fool! The Progressives were right about everything?”
Of course not. They liked what they saw and heard from Obama, just like us.
I cannot stress the importance of this election, and refuse to take my eye off the ball. If McCain wins who really loses?
“If you want sycophancy, this isn’t your place.”
…anymore. Please. Daily Kos has been 24/7 Obama sycophancy for months.
Maybe you guys should give him a break. He’s so cool and his speeches are so inspirational. What more do you guys really want in a president? I mean, at the end of the day, does it really matter if he follows through with what he says? Isn’t it more important that he makes you feel good?
I think I remember him saying that he needed your help; that TOGETHER you would change things. So, what’s next? Maybe this is the part where you guys are supposed to pick up the ball and run with it. Umm…what was it you were supposed to do? I don’t remember it ever really being explained, but then I wasn’t hanging on his every word. I’m sure he wouldn’t just leave you guys hanging, though. There’s probably a blueprint for change that outlines everything for you. They’ll probably send it out to you as soon as they get your next donation.
BTW, Jason, this doesn’t mean your point isn’t valid. All I’m saying is that there are only two choices come November and I’d rather have an imperfect President Obama than President McCain,
‘Governing an entire country is about compromise.’
Huh. That’s what I’ve been saying all along, but I don’t remember anyone being quite so gracious about compromise during the primaries. In fact, I’m pretty sure the mere mention of the word provoked an attack-fest.
Have your fun Dominique.
Pandora,
Here is the thing – by supporting Obama is making the same mistakes that Kerry made. Allowing the press to paint him as not authentic.
He has gone overboard in trying to please the like sof Andrea Mitchell and when you do that all the press will have form him is scorn.
And rightly so.
Obama is a liberal NOT! he is a center of the road demo
*cough*cough*bullshit*cough*cough*
Did you know snarfing hot coffee through the nose hurts like a mutha?!
Let me dispell to myths right now: Obama is centrist and McCain is centrist.
Obama is consistent left-of-center, period. He may be pandering to the right-of-center lately, and why not? It’s obviously become a weak point of McCains!
McCain-2000 (and prior) was a centrist. Since Cheneybush, he’s slowly moved right and completed that transition over the last couple of years, minus his stance on immigration.
How they pander for votes in the election is a different set of standards from their real political belief.
It’s nothing short of silly season.
Jason –
I know it hurts, but isn’t there just the slightest chance that maybe it’s not ‘the press painting him as not authentic’? I mean, this is the same press that was gave him a months-long hand job, why would they now do a 180? Could it be that he simply wasn’t authentic, that he simply said and did what he needed to in order to win? That he was, in the end, just a younger, less-informed version of Hillary?
While I don’t see eye to eye with you very frequently (ever?), I think you’re an intelligent guy. I have faith that you will one day be able to step back from the euphoria (glee, joy, whatever you want to call it) and see the light.
Let me fix my comment.
Here is the thing – by supporting right wing frames and story lines Obama is making the same mistakes that Kerry made. Allowing the press to paint him as not authentic.
Dom,
Gloat away devil woman.
In this morning’s Media Matters round up, at least five news sources were cited as croppng the Clark retort.
Clark was duped into making that statement merely echoing the phrasing and turning it around and falling right into the wingnut’s trap much like the almost-fatal last debate Obama suffered with Ms. Hill.
I am just pissed that I got a conference call during the Olbermann show last night and I missed his special comment on FISA and Obama.
I agree with Kos. This is where we can express concern and disgust – in the wallet. There are plenty of great DEMs in the queue for some donations…(Karen Hartley-Nagle for instance).
Off Topic – NRA set to slam Obama
I just posted the context of Clark’s remark over on David Anderson’s stupid wingnut take:
edited out of the video the exchange Clark had with Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer just prior to that latter comment, which indicated that Clark was repeating Schieffer’s words. Indeed, Clark’s assertion — “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president” — was in response to Schieffer’s statement that, unlike McCain, Obama has not “ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.”
From the June 29 edition of CBS’ Face the Nation; the portion of the interview CNN edited out is bolded:
CLARK: That large squadron in the Air — in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, “I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it” —
SCHIEFFER: Well —
CLARK: — “publicly?” He hasn’t made those calls, Bob.
SCHIEFFER: Well — well, General, maybe he —
CLARK: So —
SCHIEFFER: Could I just interrupt you? If —
CLARK: Sure.
SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean —
CLARK: Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
Shortly before that exchange, Clark had said of McCain: “I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world.”
I haven’t read Obama’s response to Clark yet. I guess Kos has a link to something.
Nancy –
Thanks for the context. I still can’t get over the fact that we are allowing the rightwing noise machine to get away with this crap.
And when I say “we” I mean Obama and other Democrats who don’t step up when the rightwing traditional media teams up with the GOP to pull this shit.
I guess the silver lining is that it is happening now and (hopefully) Obama and Plouffe can get thier shit together.
Umm, the American voter isn’t paying attention to this stuff yet. They are home enjoying their summer vacation. They are home because they can’t afford the traditional American road trip this year, SUV’s and $4.00 gas. They are listening to their kids whine and thinking that come November they will vote for something different. And that’s about as much thought as most of them will put into their votes.
As it pertains to FISA, the Telecoms and their enablers will still be open to criminal prosecution – which is preferable anyway.
Let’s see what happens…then make a blanket description of Obama and the Dems…
Anyway – Clark was right; Obama was right to stay above it – the Media was wrong to be the idiots that they mostly are by not even looking at the context of the statement – IT WAS AN ANSWER TO BOB’S QUESTION!!! you f’ing idiots! Schieffer brought it up!
Selling soap is hard work!
I was hoping Clark would be the VP. Well, forget that now. What a disappointment in Obama that he threw him under the bus. What Clark said was absolutely 100% true and no disrespect was shown.
I’ve been sending $25 to Obama every month. The last call I got for a contribution, I said no, I was going to wait and see what develops. I told the caller it seemed lik someone took over Obama’s body since he got the nomination. I still support him, of course, and know he’ll be better than Hillary; but on my income, I’m not sending anymore money. There are progressives locally who need it more.
I’m with June — no more money until they show a smarter strategy than “compromise” on extending Surveillance Nation. Not because I don’t want to see Obama win in November, but because I do.
As noted by someone, they’ll use the Soft on Terror meme no matter what, even if it’s a blatant lie. The response isn’t to say “No I’m not.” It’s to point out that this administration’s idea of “terrorists” includes Quakers. Do you want people who see Quakers as a threat combing through your email and phone calls without a warrant?
Same on Iraq. The answer isn’t to attack McCain’s Vietnam experience; that’s an impossible task, as Clark just learned. It’s the only thing many people even know about McCain, and even if he exposed nuclear secrets in the Hanoi Hilton, he has the public’s sympathy. Leave it alone. Besides, is that really how you want to win — by belittling the opponent? If that’s the case you should have listened to Dom and voted for HRC. You’d have gotten that in spades.
The way to undermine McCain’s supposed foreign-policy expertise is to note all his mistakes on who and what we’re fighting in Iraq, to note all the things he’s been wrong about. Frankly, it won’t matter anyway, because the election is no longer about the war. It’s about expensive gas, and we’ve got an electorate so stupid it’s ready to grant the oil industry its corporate wish list if it will do the trick.
There’s still a simple way to go negative: Make ads that consist of nothing beyond clips of McCain’s many faux pas and flip-flops. Not a word of explanation is needed.
“He has gone overboard in trying to please the likes of Andrea Mitchell…”
I wouldn’t mind pleasing Andrea Mitchell; she was pretty hot in NYPD Blue anyway, in a Jamie Lee Curtis kind of way.
It’s one thing to go to the center, but another altogether to get so cautious and, well, Hillaryized. I understand every bit of the politics around the FISA cave, but there really ought to be a few things that are simply not done and gathering up all of your telecommunications for some ill-defined use is one of those not done things. And, while I know that this issue means something to just a few of us, it is tough to see that Obama doesn’t see this issue as something to start drawing out his differences with BushCo and McCain on rational governing. The good news, though, is that the MyBO group pulled together to try to pressure Obama to vote against this thing is now the 5th biggest at that website, with almost 7000 members in 4 or 5 days.
General Clark, on the other hand, is modeling good behavior and not backing down. And good for him. This whole business is best summed up by a smart journalist in the CJR yesterday:
… And in a piece headlined “Clark Hits McCain’s Military Credentials”, Josh Kraushaar of The Politico says that Clark “invoked McCain’s military service against him….” Huh? By this bizarre standard, if Clark were to point out that my record of writing for Columbia Journalism Review is not a qualification to be president, he would have invoked my writing for CJR against me.
It’s crucially important that we have a political debate in this country that’s at least sophisticated enough to be able to handle the following rather basic idea: Arguing that a person’s record of military service is not a qualification for the presidency does not constitute “attacking” their military credentials; nor can it be described as invoking their military service against them, or as denying their record of war heroism.
That’s not a very high bar for sophistication. But right now it’s one the press isn’t capable of clearing
And again we see how the Press is largely organized to give immediate credence to right-wing frames.
Cassandra. Bravo! Bravo! 🙂
Hurrah for general Clark and Boo for the MSM why have they bought McCain’s spin on this story and not asked the real question/ Ask McCain to explain just what it is about his Nam experience that qualified him to be president
Has McCain ever actually said that his military experience qualifies him to be president, or has he simply listed it as one of his many life experiences? I think you may be putting words in his mouth.
Dom the only words put into McCain’s mouth is by none other than Bush who has him stating repeatedly “MY FRIENDS THE SURGE IS WORKING”
As we all sit back and watch Afgan go down the tubes