Ask Dr. Liberal: What’s Up With Obama?
Reprinted, unedited (except for spelling errors [Seriously, it’s spelled B-a-r-a-c-k. Where did you get your freakin’ doctorate anyway?])
Dear Dr. Liberal,
Am I right to be mad at Barack Obama for selling out to all the Democratic douchnozzles and Republicans fucktards in Congress? He does seem to have squandered the victory that we delivered to him in November and some of my liberal friends have already jumped off the bus.
Signed,
Wondering in Wilmington
Dear Wondering,
Duh. Of course you should be angry. Obama’s obsessive congressional ass kissing is making him suck as a Democratic President in direct proportion to how great he was as a Democratic candidate. The country hired him to be Franklin Roosevelt and he is looking like Franklin Pierce. If ever America needed a big dream it was in 1980 and the US Hockey team stepped the fuck up. If there was ever another time inour history when America needed a big dream it was/is in the wake of the sideways assfuckery of the Bush administration. But instead of a “miracle on ice” rebuilding of the robust and optimistic American brand here and abroad we have a policy tinkerer.
But I think you know that. I think your question is really trying to figure out how mad you should be and when should you get off the bus.
To answer by way of extending your metaphor, how many friends outside of the bus throwing rocks at the bus and giving you the finger are too many? How many announcements over the bus loudspeaker by Joe Lieberman explaining in his Elmer Fudd voice how Obama is wise to follow his counsel are too many Elmer Fudd announcements? How many crazed looks from John Boehner as he grabs the wheel and tries to steer the bus over a cliff are too many crazed looks?
Granted, last year’s stimulus package saved the economy from a complete meltdown – but you are on a bus with a bunch of crazy people headed to who knows where. Unless Obama gets his partisan game on (really on…no seriously. I mean so fucking on), you are going to be off the bus sooner or later anyway, so it all comes down to how far you feel like walking.
Tags: Dr. Liberal
Oh please Dr. Liberal, stop self-medicating. The first and primary order of business was to save the United States from economic destruction. He’s doing that. So please, keep on washing down your oxycontin with cheap bourbon while you dream of King Obama.
I happen to agree with the doctor on this one. Being “on the bus” does not seem to be helping the President at this point. For example, have we been a bit passive when it comes to holding the President accountable for the party’s prospects as the mid-terms approach? I think so.
Dr. Liberal always makes me laugh.
However, I don’t see us on a bus, driving along. I think a better description would be a sinking ship – that started sinking years ago, and last year there was a mutiny. Now before the side that took over can implement their promises of nicer berths and jazz bands on the Lido deck they have to focus on stopping the ship from sinking.
When it comes to HCR I think Obama should have stepped in sooner. He took the Clinton lesson too far. As far as the wars… As soon as Bush got us there I was throwing up my hands, because I knew once we were there it would be a mess getting out.
I also don’t see what jumping off the bus accomplishes besides giving up complete control of the bus.
One thing that seriously confuses me is when people get mad at Obama because he’s not like Bush. One thing that I really liked about Obama was his consensus-building, cool-headed, intellectual style. Now people are complaining because he’s not a hothead that beats his chest on every issue.
I see your point, but you can’t disaggregate the wars, the economy, HCR and the politics. Obama is playing it like Fox News, George Bush and Karl Rove never happened. The Republicans will never be reasonable partners in governing. Never. All they want to do is fuck shit up. They are all about the political battle and could give a shit about wars, HCR or even the economy. The sooner people like Nemski and Barack Obama get that, the better for the country.
If we lose Ted Kennedy’s seat I think more people will get it. Perhaps not Nemski or Obama though.
Jason330 reads the comment from the otherwise smart UI and slaps head.
Major criticisms of Bush: he was the president of only his base, he had a “with us or against us” style, his idea of compromise was do everything his way, he tried to usurp the powers of Congress.
In Obama’s 2004 DNC convention speech he said “we are not red states or blue states, we are the United States.” I see him trying to build consensus and try to rebalance the power of Congress.
I do think that Democrats and Obama have made big mistakes. I think Obama didn’t anticipate that the Republicans would become nihilists (I would argue he should have learned that from the stimulus fight). They let the hcr negotiations (“Gang of Six”) go on too long and now Democrats have probably screwed themselves with Teabagger Brown taking Kennedy’s seat in the Senate. Democrats have been oddly passive about the supermajority rule in the Senate. They should have been fighting about this since the summer and now they’re going to have to try to sell it to the public.
The system is now that the Blue Dogs and ConservaDems hold the balance of power in the Senate and that’s why Democrats are screwed.
Oh please Jason330. You want partisanship? Name 60 senators that would vote for the public option.
I feel a little beam of light is breaking through the clouds and shining on UI’s face. Like you, I hate the new rules. I would repeal the new rules if it were in my power to do so. So, I imagine, would Obama. It is not however – so we have a simple choice to make. Play by the new rules or accept perpetual defeat.
Nemski – You’d be hard pressed now to find 60 to vote for this mish-mash with REFORM printed on top of the page…but if Obama decided to…oh, I don’t know…LEAD…he could round up 60.
This is not rocket surgery. You are a smart guy Nemski. Give into the voice inside your head that is saying, “You know he is right.”
Here’s my concern… if we jump off the bus, the bus doesn’t stop, it keeps moving. So what’s accomplished by jumping off?
In regards to Obama knowing something about politics, I’ll stay with the man who is an African-American with a Muslim name getting himself elected President rather than Jason330’s rants.
Dr. Liberal should read this from one of the historians at Edge of the American West about how Social Security was almost lost. Dr. Liberal probably doesn’t know, either, that the Roosevelt’s Social Security is not as expansive as today’s system is — but he would be really proud of how it has been expanded. Even though it took 20 years after passage to add a disability program and it took 30 years to add medical coverage.
But even better, let’s thinking about Ronald Reagan, who is a president in Dr. Liberal’s memory. Reagan reset the business of government to its current corporate orientation and did that with the help of the Dems who held Congress. The results were not immediate, but you certainly saw the logical outcome of that orientation in the breaking of the economy in 2008 and in the almost broken Congress now. It took almost 30 years to get to the pinnacle of Republican “governance” and even today wingnuts do not want to hear about the Reagan who raised taxes and granted amnesty to illegal immigrants. The important thing to wingnuts was that the ship was finally being steered in a direction they approved of.
Obama conducted a highly aspirational campaign, but one that had a great deal of detail about specific governing agenda. Which we all knew going in. And we knew it because people like HRC and McCain kept saying that there was nothing but speeches. And we all pointed to this agenda detail saying they were wrong. So for all of the defense we played convincing people that the guy just wasn’t an aspirational rock star — that he had an agenda and the skills to pull it off — that no longer matters. All they remember is the aspirational guy and have completely turned loose any idea that the running of the United States of America is a completely transactional business. And these people don’t have the 75 year forgiving filter of history that might excuse just remembering the aspirational stuff.
There is no doubt that Obama and the Democrats have made real mistakes — strategic and tactical ones — but I’ll never understand expecting the man to be some kind of king who would stand up and ask people to deliver exactly what he wanted. We hated that bullshit from GWB and his lackey Congress (helped by some Democrats) and I can’t believe that people are asking for this now.
We used to talk about more and better Democrats — a thing that implied a much longer game that those with the Veruca Salt mentalities have completely forgotten. Because if we had better Democrats sitting in Nelson’s, Lieberman’s, Landrieu’s, Lincoln’s seats and Democrats sitting in Snowe’s and Collin’s seats we wouldn’t even be arguing here.
Nemski, Facile.
Pandora, It is about getting into the fight. (cue Battle hymn of the Republic) My Grandfather didn’t win a five day workweek from the Pennsylvania railroad by thinking that the railroad executives would work everything out. My father didn’t sit back and say, “Well nobody in this family or even this neighborhood goes to college, so who do I think I am?”
No. It dishonors our families, our party and our American progressive traditions to take Tom Carper and Nemski’s “It’ll all work out in the end ’cause Obama is smart.” hands off approach.
Ha! Veruca Salt! Classic and well done.
Easy? Easy? Good god man, you have the memory of a cricket.
Okay, I thought I was clear on this in all of my past comments, but I’ll say it again. I’m all for the fight – a long fight. So… how exactly does jumping off a bus equate into fighting? This is where you’re losing me.
By leaving the fight doesn’t that just give the victory to the other side? Unless, you see greater advantages from fighting from a political minority position? Help me out here.
Haven’t we had this discussion before here?
me thinks Jason330 will need to watch the State of the Union. I have heard it will be a barnburner a la the Contender.
I still have hope that Obama will be the President that I think he can be.
If that is the case, Jason, then please do not do anything that leads to his defeat. Have a little fucking patience.
Obama is a liar and sell-out to the corporatists.
His HCR plan is nothing but a government extortion scheme to take money from citizens and businesses for private insurance company profits and big pharma. It does virtually nothing to lower the cost of healthcare and drugs. It is the LIEberman plan, not the plan that Obama promised in his campaign.
Defense spending is going up, not down. He continues to escalate the war in Afghanistan and the pull-out of Iraq is a sham.
Gitmo is still open with no plan to close it.
His economic advisors are all about helping Wall Street obtain record profits while unemployment is at record levels with no sign of coming down significantly any time soon. “Too big to fail” corporations are propped up on the taxpayer’s dime while small business are failing across the country.
Large numbers of judicial appointments go unfilled even with a 60-vote majority caucus. His Justice department has done nothing to prosecute the crimes of murder and torture and spying from the last administration while Cheney and Rove publicly laugh and ridicule Obama, knowing he doesn’t have the spine to do anything.
He has failed utterly to use any political capital to campaign for a progressive agenda across the country the way Bush campaigned for his agenda, and now stands on the brink of having a republican senator elected in Massachusetts.
He hasn’t had a press conference in months.
He has broken promise after promise and told lie after lie. You don’t change a liar by rewarding them for their lies or making excuses for them. You expose them and you fight them.
There is going to be hell-to-pay for democrats when Americans discover what is in this HCR bill and they watch insurance and pharma profits go sky-high, quality of care go down, and their paychecks hit with a 1-2% tax directly for insurance company profits.
After 1 year in office, Obama has shown that he does not deserve the support of the progressives; he deserves to be exposed for his lies. Either Obama changes or we find a true progressive like Dean or Feingold to primary him in 2012. Otherwise, we’re could see a Reagan-Carter election repeat itself.
I can’t believe I’m responding to this again. Here’s the problem, unless I 100% agree with you that Obama is a liar and a sell-out, then I’m a liar and a sell-out, or stupid and naive.
All I’m looking for is an end game. What are you hoping to accomplish besides getting more Republicans (a lot them tea partiers) elected? Will that really show them? And if that’s your plan/hope then spit it out, because I’m not seeing another option on the table.
And here’s my point again:
After 1 year in office, Obama has shown that he does not deserve the support of the progressives; he deserves to be exposed for his lies.
Why in the world anyone who read anything on Obama would have ever labeled him as a progressive is beyond me. Stop blaming me for the fact you didn’t do your homework.
Unstable Isotope @ 9:45 “One thing that I really liked about Obama was his consensus-building, cool-headed, intellectual style. ”
and
10:48 “Major criticisms of Bush: he was the president of only his base, he had a ‘with us or against us’ style, ”
The operative word in both observations is “style”.
That’s really the essential difference between Bush and Obama.
The Bush “appeal” was that his talk was consistent with the walk. Mealy mouthed justifications for killing people don’t assure those in favor of genocide that it will continue. They will fool enough of those opposed to drink the same kool-aid from a new bottle to get the obomba in for 4 years.
I am not inferring that pandora or anyone else is “stupid or naive.” However, you may be in denial if you don’t see the facts. They aren’t shades of gray, either, they are black-and-white.
Either we fight a democratic President to get our agenda enacted or we fight a republican President to get our agenda enacted. Continuing to support Obama, despite his lies and sell-out, is likely lead to repubs coming back anyway.
And anyone who did their “homework” can see that Obama campaigned on many progressive ideas and themes that he has now backtracked on, regardless of what label you choose to give him, pandora. If you’re going to deny that, then there is no point in discussing it further. You need to do your “homework.” 🙂
Del Dem: Being “fucking” patient is a losing “fucking” strategy.
Denial? Really, is that supposed to be a compliment?
To which I counter… did you miss the FISA vote, which pissed me off, but clued me in even more.
You still haven’t told me your end game strategy. You okay with electing Republicans to make your point, because, from where I’m sitting, that’s the end result.
A1 is clearly writing again from his perch in unicorn-land, expecting that no one will see him for the liar he is.
A1 wrote Gitmo is still open with no plan to close it.
Lie.
Good point Delacrat. Only 34% of eligible voters vote. The 66% who pass do so because they see the system as bullshit. They think voting is for suckers because nothing ever changes anyway. Obama seems to be working overtime to convince them to stay on the sidelines.
My impatience is (in part) with this President, but more so with Democrats who accept this parties nincompoopery stretching back 20 years.
One last thing before I turn back into a pumpkin. Can’t one Obama defender please admit that the Republicans are bad actors and have no intention of ever entering into any constructive compromise for the sake of the country. Can’t we all agree to that much?
Of course we can agree on that, J. Why would you even think that’s debatable? That said, we did elect a guy who ran on reaching across the aisle – which may suck now, but was one of the reasons he won. Unless… you see a way he could have won with only progressives. (I’m cracking myself up!) And , no, I haven’t drank (drunk? I always mess that up) the kool-aid, and I never did. I remember when I first started commenting here (not contributing) how I would point out that Obama was a politician – a really good politician. So… I’d say I’ve been pretty consistent.
Also, I disagree with the lofty goals you apply to people who don’t vote. While some may fit your definition, a lot of people don’t vote because they think they don’t know how – which was a huge issue when I worked to get out the vote in school board elections. For some reason they think it’s too complicated.
I don’t think that anybody is even claiming that the Republicans aren’t doing anything other than acting in bad faith.
There are — still — majorities of Americans who want President Obama to work with everybody and majorities of Americans who disapprove of the repubs in Congress.
People are still tired of the hyperpartisanship. Except for the perfectionists who apparently don’t mind cheerleading for Obama to break *this* promise. 🙄
There is also a lesson here in the calculation that the Obama people have made vis the perfection caucus.
Perfection caucus. Such hurtfulness. Obama has kept his promise to reach across the aisle. He can now say, in all honesty and keeping his integrity intact, that Republicans are the problem. In fact, any other course at this point is foolishness.
Ooh yummy – strategy! Yes, he can now make that case, J.
Nemski: Obama said he would close Gitmo in a year. The year is up. Gitmo is till open for business. He may still intend to close it, but as of today there is no specific plan to close it. If you know of the plan, please share it with us.
You shouldn’t accuse people of lying unless you can back it up.
cassandra_m, what am I lying about? And be specific, if you’re capable of such a thing.
Question A1. Did Obama try to close Gitmo? And does that count?
pandora, if you know that Obama is a liar (FISA) and not a progressive, then why do you continue to support him?
No, it doesn’t. One year out and not even a plan.
cassandra_m, what am I lying about? And be specific, if you’re capable of such a thing.
Are you for real? You, demanding specifics? Seriously, I’m ready to fight your fight, only you have no solutions. Provide them, and then count me in.
pandora, if you know that Obama is a liar (FISA) and not a progressive, then why do you continue to support him?
Because I knew I wasn’t voting for a progressive. Sheesh, how many times do I have to explain that fact.
pandora, then what were you voting for? Did you support Obama in the primaries?
pandora, yes, I am for real. When somebody accuses me of lying, I’d like to know specifically about what. Wouldn’t you?
While I ended up supporting Obama, I vowed to support whichever Dem won the primaries. Ask Jason. Seriously, I was all about winning, which is why I started with Edwards. *shudder now*
My reasoning was: How could the Ds possibly lose the Presidential election? Well, I said, they could run a woman or a black man. Color me cynical.
You shouldn’t accuse people of lying unless you can back it up.
You should take your own advise here.
And nemski has already pointed out that you are lying about Gitmo.
You are lying about HCR and I’ve already spent alot of time pointing this out to you. The fact that you don’t read what other people write while you rush to your superiorthanthou lies isn’t my problem.
You are lying about judicial appointments. And most of the people reading this blog understand that 60 votes doesn’t have much to do with a senatorial hold.
People have been exposing your lying and stupidity for sometime now, A1. It is telling that you can’t even engage with that.
cassandra_m:
I am not lying about Gitmo. There is no plan to close Gitmo. If you can link to a real plan that says how the prisoners are going to be processed and where they are going to go and when, then I will stand corrected. But you can’t, because there is no plan.
I am not lying about HCR. The facts are facts. The government will be forcing money from people directly to put into the pockets and profits of private corporations with no public alternative. That has never been done in the history of this country. That is not a lie. You may think that is a good thing. I don’t. And when Americans start to see the consequences of this, they won’t either.
I am not lying about judicial appointments. The failure is not just with the Senate. The failure is that Obama hasn’t even nominated enough people to fill the vacant slots. He has been far slower than Bush, Clinton, and Reagan in sending nominees to the senate. You can look it up.
So now we see who is telling the truth and who isn’t, point-by-point. You should, as pandora would say, do your homework before you accuse people of lying and stupidity. Or maybe that is just what you do when people disagree with you.
Yes, I was an Edwards supporter, too. *shudder again* 🙂
Given the choice, there was a reason to support him in the General election, but now that we see how he is actually leading and governing, why support him now?
There is a very linear reality that A1 is presenting that I don’t think can be ignored. Particularly in his post at 5:07pm.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m finding myself agreeing with the obnoxious fuckwad for the first time in a loooonnnngggg time!!!
How you doing, bitch? 😉
Dear Doctor Liberal, because of our system of checks and balances the president is limited to what he can do with-out congressional approval, since the right to lobby that our founders installed so that the “people” could address their problems and grivences to our leaders, but over time it has been changed into a coduit for cash support for our lawmakers in exchange for favorible treatment to the corporation who now control our lives compleatly, so no matter who you elect president, little change will happen , with-out consent of Wall Street and the corporations. Obama,s not a disappointment, the american people who allow this corrupt and corporate lobbiest form of government to continue.
Actually A1, that’s not the way it works around here. You said there was no plan. You are lying and you can’t back it up. You provide the linkS.
You’re kidding, right, nemski? There is no plan for closing down Gitmo. I can’t link to something that doesn’t exist.
MM, your bitch is well, although my criticisms of Obama are making me as disliked around here as I was on DWA. Back atcha! 🙂
Here’s the Gitmo story:
WASHINGTON – In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States.
Democrats lined up with Republicans in the 90-6 vote that came on the heels of a similar move a week ago in the House, underscoring widespread apprehension among Obama’s congressional allies over voters’ strong feelings about bringing detainees to the U.S. from the prison in Cuba.
Be fair.
Obama has been extremely insistent about closing Gitmo. Republicans and weak-kneed Democrats have thwarted him at every turn. We’ve written about it many times here at DL.
Let’s be honest. Barack Obama has accomplished the only thing he was elected to do in 2008. He is not George W. Bush. That was the only reason most Americans voted for him. Policy had nothing to do about it.
Look Obama took over a country with worst conditions that met FDR. The problem is that he failed to take bold action like FDR did.
Anonone and Truth Teller you are absolutely correct in your analysis. The problem is the liberal agenda and a progressive agenda. Obama was never a progressive nor a liberal. He is centurist. There is no plan to close Gitmo, none only talk. After the “underwear bomber episode”, there is even less support for closing Gitmo and the republicans/blue dogs will stand on it fiercely.
Its true Obama took office with a multitude of problems, 2 wars and the failures of disaster capitalism. Instead of placing in his cabinent people would would have stood up to Wall Street, Obama puts in the same characters who caused the failures in the first place.
Not only do we have a horrific crisis in Haiti, the US military is trying provoke Venezuela by flying fighter jets over its soverign territory. CIA heavily involved in Honduras, Boliva and Paragray.
Will there be war with Yemen? What about Pakistan? As India robs Pakistan of its water and other resources, these serious problems will create more destabilzation of Pakistan. How many fronts are the demorats willing to fight? Blackwater is now in Haiti! Who gave them that contract? All we need is a military goon squad dealing in Haiti. Blackwater escorted Hilary Clinton to Haiti. When is enough enough? Obama claimed to have read FDR, but took none of the remedies, recommendations or suggestions of FDR. Instead he has continued crony disaster corporatism without one remedy for reigning Wall Street in. We are in deep doo doo in this country.
Name 60 senators that would vote for the public option.
When you are the President, you pick any 60 and convince them to vote for it. If they don’t want to at first, offer them something. What, it’s OK to cut a deal with the entire fucking pharmaceutical industry, but not with a half-dozen Republican senator?