He Will Only Break Your Heart b/w Why did we elect this man?
luck
4,077 Posts
There was a long list of reasons why I voted for Barack Obama (and, indeed, was on hand to witness his 2008 election in Grant Park on an abnormally warm Chicago night):
??? Strengthening the economy
??? Ending both wars
??? Financial reform / holding executives responsible
??? Health care reform
??? Closing Guant??namo Bay
??? Ending the open US practice of torture
??? Ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich
??? Ending DOMA, if not allowing for gay marriage
??? Ending DADT
??? Upholding abortion rights
??? Focusing the DEA / allowing for decriminalization, if not legalization
??? Strengthening the EPA
??? Upholding internet neutrality
??? Providing a moral beacon to the world / improving international relationships
??? Standing up to News Corp.
??? Standing firm on principle
??? Consistently communicating truth to power
??? Leading, instead of merely providing a diplomatic hand to hold/shake or another Government Department to give the impression of Work Getting Done
In 2011, this list is populated by abject failures, weak-tea compromises on the path to failure, or impermanent patchwork that will be easily reversed when someone like Captain Mormon or Marco Rubio assumes the Office in either 2012 or 2016. And then, there's the historic BP disaster, which can hardly be blamed solely on the President, but is still a monumentally bad look that actually ended up invoking less Government control of the oil industry and environment. Most of the items on this list were Obama's actual campaign promises, as opposed to some vague and diaphanous Hope. Every stance Obama ran on in 2008 that has not totally collapsed since the 2010 elections now seems like it's got a price tag affixed as if it had been placed in some moral yard sale. In the midst of this, the National Dialogue has not changed - it's gotten worse. A good executive communicator actively changes conversation out of action just as much as impressive speeches.
I will give the man two demonstrable left-of-center Supreme Court justices, his adult handling of the Arizona shooting (although it was nearly a sure thing for any pulse-bearing President), and, you know, being a symbol of the hope of nascent American minorities/human beings - something that's scarcely up to him. But that's it. Every other Presidential "victory" in 2011 is hollow, enervated to inconsequentiality, or achieved with half-measures. Lilly Ledbetter and START would have been signed by GWB, the latter in shorter order. Random House Reps shouting out directly ironic comments about "lies" in the middle of a Presidential speech appear to have more power and sway then and now. Hell, Jan Brewer - a dessicated, leathery corpse in charge of an embarrassing, wingnut-laden state, still manages to make Obama look bad, and individual States are finding ways to dissolve what's left of the health-care bill, if not the collective bargaining of entire Unions.
There is actually a web site dedicated to reminding people what Barack Obama has "done," and each of these "achievements" is embarassingly weak, mundane, or "not on him." Nothing historically permanent exists on that site. With GWB, no one had to be told what he did. Why not? Because he actually accomplished things. He invaded Iraq, established and maintained the terrible status-quo in Afghanistan, gleefully tortured potential innocents, played a part in strengthening deregulation to the point where it led to the bankruptcy of America, widened the wealth inequality gap, and stepped up unwarranted Executive Branch control. But we these are the known knowns; they are the devil we could see. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has achieved the impossible - after the masterfully-run 2008 campaign (easily the most impressive political campaign in our nation's history), he has become the worst Presidential Communicator in my lifetime. The mere fact that whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com exists is proof of this.
I fully understand and maintain that Barack Obama was given the toughest bag of verity of an American President since FDR, if not Lincoln. But there was real opportunity for positive national Change to occur precisely because of that/this milieu. I have applauded some of his pragmatism and reasoned middle-ground opinions. I appreciate that Obama was loathe to invoke Executive Signing Orders -even justified ones - because he viewed them as a usurpation of power that wasn't his. Obama was also the first President to have the erosive and inhumane 24-hour news cycle hit him throughout his entire political lifetime - from his 2004 DNC speech through the present day. He was and is subject to abominable lies, an uneducated and obese populace coddled by jingoism, a mud-headed Tea Party, multiple and moneyed echo chambers dedicated to his destruction, and even 60s-style race baiting. His inherited Nation was already in decline because of the active hubris that eventually snuffs out all global superpowers, and he clearly did not set these hands in motion. Too Big To Fail still stolidly exists and lobbies against even symbolic Change with more money than the GDP of over 100 countries combined. We and Obama can only witness these forces in motion.
I also have sympathy for a man that probably receives more death threats in one day than most of us have accrued in the lineage of our entire family tree.
But this is reality, and these are the loaded dice that we as a Nation have to shoot with. These are the dice that Barack Obama, a decent albeit politically vain man with too heavy a saddle to bear, volitionally ran to toss. We cannot ultimately feel sorry for the bull-rider that gets thrown.
The worst factor of Obama's manifold failures is that the man has made GWB and Dick Cheney look justified, if not inevitable. The country's moral and executive center is now so far to the Right that compromise and even rank intransigence are What We Can Hope For. There is a coating on this country like the dusty, fetid grease on the back of a kitchen range, and we as its citizens are getting served an underscored lesson: not only is it impossible for one man to clean it up, but also: no concentrated assemblage of our citizens can, either. As a result, the resultant effluvium is stifling.
In the back of my mind, I knew that I was electing a heartbreaker. But I had no idea that, in 2011, my country would scarcely have anything else left to break.
??? Strengthening the economy
??? Ending both wars
??? Financial reform / holding executives responsible
??? Health care reform
??? Closing Guant??namo Bay
??? Ending the open US practice of torture
??? Ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich
??? Ending DOMA, if not allowing for gay marriage
??? Ending DADT
??? Upholding abortion rights
??? Focusing the DEA / allowing for decriminalization, if not legalization
??? Strengthening the EPA
??? Upholding internet neutrality
??? Providing a moral beacon to the world / improving international relationships
??? Standing up to News Corp.
??? Standing firm on principle
??? Consistently communicating truth to power
??? Leading, instead of merely providing a diplomatic hand to hold/shake or another Government Department to give the impression of Work Getting Done
In 2011, this list is populated by abject failures, weak-tea compromises on the path to failure, or impermanent patchwork that will be easily reversed when someone like Captain Mormon or Marco Rubio assumes the Office in either 2012 or 2016. And then, there's the historic BP disaster, which can hardly be blamed solely on the President, but is still a monumentally bad look that actually ended up invoking less Government control of the oil industry and environment. Most of the items on this list were Obama's actual campaign promises, as opposed to some vague and diaphanous Hope. Every stance Obama ran on in 2008 that has not totally collapsed since the 2010 elections now seems like it's got a price tag affixed as if it had been placed in some moral yard sale. In the midst of this, the National Dialogue has not changed - it's gotten worse. A good executive communicator actively changes conversation out of action just as much as impressive speeches.
I will give the man two demonstrable left-of-center Supreme Court justices, his adult handling of the Arizona shooting (although it was nearly a sure thing for any pulse-bearing President), and, you know, being a symbol of the hope of nascent American minorities/human beings - something that's scarcely up to him. But that's it. Every other Presidential "victory" in 2011 is hollow, enervated to inconsequentiality, or achieved with half-measures. Lilly Ledbetter and START would have been signed by GWB, the latter in shorter order. Random House Reps shouting out directly ironic comments about "lies" in the middle of a Presidential speech appear to have more power and sway then and now. Hell, Jan Brewer - a dessicated, leathery corpse in charge of an embarrassing, wingnut-laden state, still manages to make Obama look bad, and individual States are finding ways to dissolve what's left of the health-care bill, if not the collective bargaining of entire Unions.
There is actually a web site dedicated to reminding people what Barack Obama has "done," and each of these "achievements" is embarassingly weak, mundane, or "not on him." Nothing historically permanent exists on that site. With GWB, no one had to be told what he did. Why not? Because he actually accomplished things. He invaded Iraq, established and maintained the terrible status-quo in Afghanistan, gleefully tortured potential innocents, played a part in strengthening deregulation to the point where it led to the bankruptcy of America, widened the wealth inequality gap, and stepped up unwarranted Executive Branch control. But we these are the known knowns; they are the devil we could see. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has achieved the impossible - after the masterfully-run 2008 campaign (easily the most impressive political campaign in our nation's history), he has become the worst Presidential Communicator in my lifetime. The mere fact that whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com exists is proof of this.
I fully understand and maintain that Barack Obama was given the toughest bag of verity of an American President since FDR, if not Lincoln. But there was real opportunity for positive national Change to occur precisely because of that/this milieu. I have applauded some of his pragmatism and reasoned middle-ground opinions. I appreciate that Obama was loathe to invoke Executive Signing Orders -even justified ones - because he viewed them as a usurpation of power that wasn't his. Obama was also the first President to have the erosive and inhumane 24-hour news cycle hit him throughout his entire political lifetime - from his 2004 DNC speech through the present day. He was and is subject to abominable lies, an uneducated and obese populace coddled by jingoism, a mud-headed Tea Party, multiple and moneyed echo chambers dedicated to his destruction, and even 60s-style race baiting. His inherited Nation was already in decline because of the active hubris that eventually snuffs out all global superpowers, and he clearly did not set these hands in motion. Too Big To Fail still stolidly exists and lobbies against even symbolic Change with more money than the GDP of over 100 countries combined. We and Obama can only witness these forces in motion.
I also have sympathy for a man that probably receives more death threats in one day than most of us have accrued in the lineage of our entire family tree.
But this is reality, and these are the loaded dice that we as a Nation have to shoot with. These are the dice that Barack Obama, a decent albeit politically vain man with too heavy a saddle to bear, volitionally ran to toss. We cannot ultimately feel sorry for the bull-rider that gets thrown.
The worst factor of Obama's manifold failures is that the man has made GWB and Dick Cheney look justified, if not inevitable. The country's moral and executive center is now so far to the Right that compromise and even rank intransigence are What We Can Hope For. There is a coating on this country like the dusty, fetid grease on the back of a kitchen range, and we as its citizens are getting served an underscored lesson: not only is it impossible for one man to clean it up, but also: no concentrated assemblage of our citizens can, either. As a result, the resultant effluvium is stifling.
In the back of my mind, I knew that I was electing a heartbreaker. But I had no idea that, in 2011, my country would scarcely have anything else left to break.
Comments
not sure who you were expecting Obama to be - I voted for the dude as a middle-of-the-road centrist Dem - the best of lesser alternatives & that's pretty much what he turned out to be - that's what his previous record indicated anyway
Goldman Sachs just ain't gonna be torn to pieces, Lloyd Blankfein will not be jailed, where do you think the campaign money comes from?
shame about Afghanistan though, what an ongoing waste of blood & treasure, all for naught really
As for expectations - I should not have to be consigned to accept such deep and pervasive failure. I was still with the guy even a few months ago, before the caves on tax cuts and Guant??namo Bay. These were major campaign issues. These were to be fundamentally symbolic and substantive pillars of his Presidency. If Barack Obama is actually fulfilling anyone's expectations as part and parcel of these actually very large and important flops, then I'd say that they weren't merely expecting too little - they were not expecting anything at all. I was not banking on everything on my list to be accomplished, but for literally nothing to come to fruition, I might as well have voted for Lyndon LaRouche. At least he would have been entertaining.
take GWB for example - invading Afghanistan & Iraq has eventually led to democratic movements across the Middle East! ( eyeroll )
seriously though, the health plan? what a mess. he should have fought for the single payer system, there's no way the accusations of 'socialism' could have been worse anyway
you could turn it around and say - at least he hasn't started any wars. And in terms of the way America is viewed overseas, I can tell you the world loves Obama, even if you feel dissatisfied by him. So that is some sort of achievement. Maybe that's only a triumph for PR though.
I don't want to say much more to avoid taking away from the well focusedness of your original post.
I had low expectations but Barack has clearly massively let down many people important to me.
Fuck that dude.
And fuck you "that's just the way it is" dudes. The point is to improve things.
Him not speaking up for the WI teachers union, not punching someone over the BP Oil spill, and not closing Guantanamo are just infuriating. Its hard to not rage.
[fucknickcleggwhatawasteman] not just american left-r right? [/fucknickcleggwhatawasteman]
I see a lot of hand-wringing over what is being deemed watered-down legislation, or excessive compromise on platform issues, but I ask you this: if Obama had unilateral power, do you think he would have followed through on the initiatives he proposed during his campaign? If not, you must think he is a cynical poseur who would say whatever it took to get elected. If so, then you have to recognize that it is not his will, but the opposition of other governmental forces that is hamstringing him.
I understand the frustration that many, including myself, feel about the perceived lack of progress. But representative democracy is an unwieldy and extremely messy form of government, that often resembles a gang of halfwits shouting nonsense at each other in a large room. It's almost a miracle that it functions at all. And in such an ideologically splintered nation, incremental progress is the best we can achieve. If you'd like a leader that has the power to single-handedly effect sweeping and dramatic change, you're in the wrong country.
b/w
I still have my Obama bobblehead. True story.
capitulating on the tax cuts for the rich was some bitch ass shit too
and thanks for speaking your mind Luck.
i appreciate someone trying to create dialog, compromise and find the middle ground, but most republicans are not on that wavelength. they throw every trick in the book at you, demonize you and call you a socialist and a fascist. when they are in power, they march lockstep with the agenda and ram that shit down throats. if bill clinton gets in the way, they have a whole shit show of shutting down government. if obama had stuck to his guns, i dont know if he could have rallied his senate and house to whether the insurrection that the republicans surely would have stirred up. but at least they wouldnt have gone out like such fuckin milquetoast half assed empty rhetoric push overs.
i voted for him and i'll most likely vote for him again., but obama is a tool
this country is headed toward third world status. severely polluted environment and a nice oligarchy calling the shots in its favor
Obama instead should be leading the nation in a chorus of 'SET THE CAPTIVES FREE' & 'LEGALIZE IT'
anyone here have the Chia Obama?
DB...i mostly agree, but if it had been a Republican in the whitehouse with two years of senate majority and house...one shudders to think. i have to think the chance was there. right off the bat, sweetheart deal to financiers who really should have been escorted in front of a firing squad
Other than way over spending he's done pretty much exactly as I expected.
The Feb 2011 deficit > than the entire 2007 deficit......somebody's "gettin paid".
And I'm betting on him in a head to head Golf match against GWB.
Who are you arguing with here? The point is he has done a shit job within his "limited scope."
If one steps away from the news media amplifier zone, I don't think there's convincing evidence this is, in fact, the case. I mean, we're just two years from news reports about the death of the GOP. Now, inside 24 months, they're fully in charge again? I'm not buying it.
I'm joining the Mr. T Party
In the end, I think we have fond memories of him because of who followed. And so it always seems to go.
I'm arguing against an unrealistic vision of how our government operates, not any one person. I personally think his work within his limited scope has been a mixed bag of qualified successes, neutered compromises, and failures in the face of staunch opposition. I understand the feeling that he has not fought as mercilessly against the opposition as he could, but I don't blame him for the actions of his opponents.
Frankly, I don't care about what Obama has to say about WI. I care a lot more that labor in that state are holding the line and gathering public support. The latter is far more meaningful than some presidential boilerplate.
From what I can tell the Gov. of Wisconsin ran on this issue and won.....he's now trying to give the people what they voted for and the opposition are just not doing their job...which is to show up and vote.
Take a look at what Indiana did in a similar situation 5-6 years ago and see how it has affected their state for a recent historical perspective.
I'm somewhat amused when I hear the Wisconsin pro-Union contingency state that they are going to "Take the bastards down" in reference to "The Boss"(See the popular "Drop Kick Murphy" anthem) when in reality the "Boss" of those particular Wisconsin union workers in question are the taxpayers.
agree completely with you O
thats why i hope gas prices go through the roof. i dont think politicians will allow that to happen as long as they have some control over it. but $7 a gallon will shake people up and get them to push a bit harder for alternative energy systems ( or more likely, alternative parts of the world to exploit and go to war with)
So you cannot name an individual you ascribe this unrealistic vision too? And their relevancy to the conversation at hand? Unrealistic to me is not accepting he is the most powerful man in the world, more capable of changing things than any other person.
I have not seen anything I would consider a qualified success.
by all accounts, this isn't true
More likely to see more drilliing within our borders and off our shores as well as a big push towards nuclear plants.