Barack Obama
In reply to the discussion: How Obama Derangement Syndrome is unlike that of Bush [View all]DonCoquixote
(13,712 posts)I truly loved this OP, as it explains a lot of the frustration I have with certain factions. I still remember being in Florida, having Nader voters yell at me after elections day, because they had heard the folks on right wing talk Radio brag about how they used the Naderites to make sure Gore Lost. Of course, their yelling at me was pre-emptive, even though I was holding back my "are you happy now" speech. As a note, I have heard all versions of the "Nader did not cost Gore the election" speech, and I will not ignore the simple math. Yes, a third party vote may be just fine in California, but as a resident of that one swing state, I KNOW I cannot treat voting as a game.
So when Obama turned out to be less leftish, I held my breath. After all, a lot of the Socialists still hate FDR with a passion, because he "saved capitalism" rather than let it die so that we could have that Fourth Communist International Comrade Trotsky promised us. Social Security was slammed as not being strong enough, yet it matured, so I was willing to see if ACA would bear the same fruit.
HOWEVER, the problem is, Obama turned into Bill Clinton, which is to say, someone who really, really thinks the Right is just misguided, the idea that "there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America." The bad part of that is, it prevents us from healing the really deep flaws, namely the money worship and sacrament of war. Until Money and War are seen as tools, and not our reason for being, we can and will drift rightward, because we are playing the right's game on their turf, where they have the table tilted rightward. Obama has proven that he is not interested in replacing the table, he may do about 60 percent of the right thing, but only after a LOT of PRESSURE is placed, and even then, he always tries to curry the favor of those mythical "centrists" that the right has successfully compromised.
So,I have no problem putting pressure, because that is what works, that includes criticism,and my wallet. However, just because I see that the DLC is full of shit does not mean I do not see where people will use the FRONT of criticism just to snipe at everything not them.
Let me be real Blunt:
Jane Hamsher, I look forward to you making excuses for Hillary Clinton when she governs to Obama's right, doing things you would have made cute Racial jokes about Obama for doing.
Glenn Greenwald: All your civil liberty crap will mean nothign when the companies you like to worship do everything the Feds do and far, far worse. Until you apologize for your defense of Citizens United, which downgraded the very value of a person to just another corporate asset, I will not take you seriously, even if you drunkenly stumble into truth.
Medea Benjamin: I admired you until you made that valentine to Ron Paul. Care to explain to women why you had to enable one of the strongest Anti-Choice advocates? You could have easily called RP that "broken clock right twice a day" without a Valentine.
Arriana Huffington: You sure love giving Grover Norquist and Mark Penn space to bash Obama. If you think that I will forget the days when you were the Belle of the Right Wing ball, you are wrong.
Ted Rall: The supposed hard left communist that whines that the internet ruined his payday, and who slammed OWS and the Egyptians because they did not kill people. Who made use of the right wing slurs like calling Obama an example of "affirmative action."
I could go on and on, especially with Ralph "I have no problem taking right wing money" Nader.
And it is not that I do not see we need a hard left, but sadly, we have a lot less Bernie Sanders, people who try to explain to people what is happening, and a LOT more Dennis Kucinich, someone who will gladly take a payday on Fox network because it gives them a point to slam Obama, even though they hear Karl Rove popping champagne in the back room, because we load our circular firing squad again!