By: Jim Hoover
Many progressives thought we were getting the antithesis of the incurious, swaggering, insensitive, mediocre, frat-boy Bush.
Most of us were fooled.
Indeed, Barack Obama is different in many respects, but the outcome of his performance is so Bush-like that I have to pinch myself into the light – or should I say the partial light — of Obama.
Yes, I know, even that light is eclipsed by Republican ideologues, but the results still give us Guantanamo, rendition, abuse of the law, curtailed rights, war, and plutocratic dominance.
Don’t forget, that Democrats, for two years, had a majority in the federal government, except for vestiges of neo-conservative right-wing appointees to the Supreme Court.
Now with two-thirds of the executive and legislative branches in the hands of Democrats, Republicans are still dictating terms to wimpish Democrats. The sad part is that the negotiations of Obama and Democrats are sinking the middle class and especially the poor, in the abyss of decline and poverty respectively.
The budget battle is a joke against the majority of Americans. Obama, Democrats and the bottom 90% of income groups are the punch-line.
The joke will continue, Republicans laughing at and intimidating their opponents, this as the bottom 90% try to push up the ceiling of debt to keep economic solvency, much of the debt caused by the profligate spending of past Republican administrations and Democrats without backbones.
Obama in a poker game would lose his shirt, but unfortunately he is bargaining for our shirts as well. We will be left in barrels and the rich corporations will have all the barrels and rent them back to us as long as we behave.
Last week, President Obama decided to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 conspirators before a military commission in the prison of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather than in a civilian court in the US.
Before his election, Obama was extremely critical of George W. Bush’s policies in the war on terror, but now Obama is embracing these same policies or acquiescing in their continuation.
Principles should never be a question of political difficulty or lack of backbone. Principles are meant to be kept.
Republicans cheered while a government shutdown loomed, and at all times when Obama fails.
My reaction is sadness, for want of good and responsible leadership.
We are a country that could do so much more for its citizens and for the world.
Shadow of Bush,
Ray Rife
15 Apr 2011While I still root for Obama I’m just as disappointed. I can’t stand the agenda of the right but I almost can’t stand the bitch-assness (I made it up), of the left. While I didn’t agree with what Bush-Cheney was doing, at least they had the balls to say, this is what we believe and we are going to lead the country in this direction…even if its off a cliff. Obama has spent too much time trying to be friends with people who don’t like him.
He needed to say to the GOP, this is what I’m doing and either get on the ride or get the f*ck outta the way but instead he’s saying, “here the route we are going to take, wait, what is that? You want to go a different direction, can we talk about it?”
The GOP knew this and stalled for two years and then scared him into not passing a single payer system. Which is what most American’s wanted.
It’s a shame really. Unless a fantastic third party candidate comes to the forefront I’ll be forced to vote for him again because I can’t vote for the party that obviously hates the average American.
Tuo11
15 Apr 2011The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are suppose to represent different views on how best to serve all of us. Their rhetoric has been so divisive though that people feel that they are two parties that only represent those who vote for them. A President whose rhetoric reinforces my original point would be the kind of leader this divided nation needs.
Smike
15 Apr 2011Let me see if I’m understanding this correctly.
1.) Democrats and Republicans are supposed to do what is best for all of us.
2.) They appear to only be interested in doing what is best for those who vote for them.
3.) America needs a moderate President who uses gentle rhetoric to bring us together.
Are you saying that Obama has been too aggressive? What has he done or said that is anything other than centrist? (Most presidents become centrists eventually)
Tuo11
16 Apr 2011He demonized an entire party. By extension of their votes he demonized a large portion of the United States. In my own, naive world the President of the United States is above politics.
Smike
17 Apr 2011Demonized by extension of their votes? What are you talking about? Such a vague accusation can be applied to every President who has ever had any kind of a legislative agenda. You’re angry that he hasn’t fallen in line with the Republican party’s agenda with more enthusiasm?
Are you using your conservative “common sense” to draw these conclusions? Make an argument and back it up with facts. “Obama was mean to us”, is not an intellectually defensible argument until you specify what he did, how it was out of line and what his alternatives were.
Tuo11
17 Apr 2011http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/07/obama_calls_the_gop_hostage_takers_over_tax_cut_compromise.html Him calling Republicans hostage takers. Let me make clear, I am not someone who blindly hates Obama. Anything he does legislatively is made legitimate because he was elected by a majority. This country is divided though and our leader can not be sinking to that level of politics. I’d like a little bit more of the unifying message his campaign was all about.
Smike
17 Apr 2011Conservatives have accused Obama of being,
1.) A Muslim
2.) An Atheist
3.) A Muslim/Atheist (this doesn’t even make sense)
4.) A Foreigner
5.) A Closet Terrorist
They have been consistently obstructionist from the healthcare debate onwards. This is not pure conjecture, read the letter yourself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/read-it-gop-senator-pens_n_377386.html
Yes, I know it’s the Huffington Post, but it’s the only news source that has the original document available for viewing. This is a document that shows there is at least a section of the Republican party that is not interested in contributing their ideas or political power to making the government run better, they simply want as many things as possible to fall apart on Obama’s watch as possible. Politically, this makes sense. If your ideological argument is that government can not do anything right, then it is in your favor to do your job as poorly as possible when you attain public office. Furthermore, can you name a single democratically elected President of any nation at any point in history who has ever proven him or her self to be “above politics”.
Furthermore, Obama was defending tax CUTS. Are you suggesting that he was wrong in doing so and that Americans are under taxed? Tell me, how has the Republican party not acted like political hostage takers during the past 3 years? What meaningful legislation have they helped make better? I suppose you could say the Healthcare Bill; after all, it is based on Mit Romney’s plan for his home state.
Tuo11
17 Apr 2011This political game is what is destroying us, is what I am saying. I would not have supported Mit Romney in his universal healthcare plan. I’m sure you would have though (no you wouldn’t have). Saying that Obama is justified in what he does and how he acts because George Bush did it is the definition of irony, because the very people who criticized Bush for everything he did are the ones making that argument. Our system needs people who are consistent, and recognize that the party is not what we are suppose to be defending, but the ideas they are suppose to represent.