Tweet
Any day now, he'll get Chuck Grassley on board.
From the President’s Labor Day speech yesterday in Wisconsin.
From a stage at the Summerfest grounds in Maier Festival Park, Obama spoke animatedly as he described the GOP as the party of “No We Can’t,” contrasting that with his campaign slogan from 2008, “Yes We Can.” He said Republicans disagree with everything he says. “If I said the sky is blue, they’d say no,” Obama said. “If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no.”
Duh.
And if that wasn’t readily apparent after he won the election in November, it should’ve been glaringly obvious to him after zero House Republicans voted for a watered-down, too small stimulus bill.
So my question is: why did the White House let Max Baucus screw around for most of 2009 trying to win Republican support for health care reform?
110 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
You could feel the nation’s morale go down a notch everytime Obama talked about bipartisanship.
To ensure that Medicare-for-all or a public option didn’t have a snowball’s chance.
With the deals made with pharma and the insurance companies being made early on there had to be a long period of kabuki to pretend the WH was doing something about health care.
Assholes.
They should go after this wing of the “No” party:
http://www.zazzle.com/baldguystudio
Obama’s political history is one of watching his opponents self-destruct. He must have thought that the same thing would happen to the Congressional Thugs. What he didn’t take into account was their Mighty Wurlitzer, and the total cognitive dissonance of the Republican base. He’s now playing catch-up. Let’s hope it’s not too late.
Trick question? or Real question?
A: Kabuki show!! ding, ding, ding!
I was “ok” with BHO doing the bipartisany talk until about Feb or March 2009. At that point: fahgedaboudit. The rest has been a big fat ole joke on the US voter. More’s the pity.
Sorry to say Knut, but what could possibly happen between now and election day 2010 to change the electoral situation? The die is cast and Obama has painted himself and the Democrats into a corner that they do not have the courage or inclination to get out of. I am now convinced that the only way for the general populous to finally understand how destructive the trickle-down philosophy is, is for it to completely collapse the system. I fear that day is waiting for us over the horizon because we no longer have a government of, by and for the People.
because the zero is in the health care’s pockets and never ever EVER wanted a public option, all they needed was the excuse in removing it
Hey ObamaRahm: Opportunity squandered? Ya think? And talk about hitting the wall after November. Jeebuz Xmas.
Right after the election, before Obama was sworn in many of the Rs stated quite plainly that they were going to make sure he didn’t get anything passed. I guess he didn’t believe them.
596 days counting today.
‘bipartisanship’ = figleaf for Obama’s corporatist agenda.
(excuse the imagery)
So what is he going to do about the repuglican affinity for “No?” I think that this is simply more theater to try to get the base reenergized. he knows that he has dissed the base, but he thinks that a little populist speechifying will bring them running back. he knows that the real value of his “bipartisanship” was to keep the MOTU in power, and that will continue after the ’10 elections. obamarahma has shown his true affinity, and it is not to the man in the street unless it is wall street. I think that they have outsmarted themselves.
Yes, it’s not so much a question of wasted time but squandered support.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (I’ve been called worse): Is the American Left brave enough to use a strategic, orchestrated voting boycott to win back what is supposed to be its party, not Democrats, Inc.? (Because all our other strategies for doing so have worked soooooo well!!)
So they could blame the Republican for the POS HCR bill they negotiated (with big insurance).
Maybe it’s because Obama runs *with* the Republicans, except when he’s running *against* them. In other words, he’s perfectly at home with the status quo until it’s time to try to win some elections.
The litmus test was HCR.
He failed.
Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
At least with a R in the WH we have someone to oppose – not this veal pen kabuki.
This++
Seriously, we’re either all playing coy, and it needs to stop, or we’re all willfully naive, and it needs to stop. We’re not for a lack of evidence as to why the Democrats are, at best, indifferent to a Republican revival. We’re not for a lack of evidence that “bipartisanship” is just a convenient piece of political expedience. We’re not for a lack of evidence that the only people the Democrats actually fight for are the major U.S. and foreign corporate interests.
The ongoing schtick, of feigning confusion over why Democrats do what they do, is at least as tired as my pointing out that’s what it is.
When the Republican Party self destructed I was overjoyed. One down and one to go. I had no idea the Democratic Party would die so soon. Good riddance.
Americans who are not stupid and are not rich will abandon the legacy parties. This opens the possibility that an opposition party will emerge. Democrats and Republicans ruined our county. The very least you can do is withdraw your support from them.
But that was before the Citizens United decision. Self-destruction is no longer inevitable when there is unlimited funding.
Right. And the only cost saving in HCR is for employers, foisting off Health Insurance cost on their employees.
I hope you are right, that he has figured it out and is now playing catch-up. Last week, I heard him talking about his “small business tax breaks” bill, and calling for bipartisan support.
Bipartisanship will be declared a success by Obama and the media this December when Republicans and Democrats come together to gut Social Security. You’ll hear how he doggedly stuck to his dream of bipartisanship, and despite the odds, finally “won”.
And the joke will be on us.
The vast American electorate has abandoned both parties and voting altogether.
Now all we need to have happen is a great movement rise up to claim their allegiance. I am very sure this will happen in spite of, and not at the bidding of, our corporate media.
We are much more likely, now, to elect an even more corporate-friendly oligarch tailored to the elite ruling class’s wishes than we are to see a populist rise from the dying factory, mill, and farm towns of America.
It can’t happen here, right?
$50 Billion of chump change stimulus after $Trillions for WS bankers, and completely non/counter-productive tax cuts up the wazoo? Um…I don’t think that whole “catch up” thing is going to work out very well.
Another question would be, why does he always begin negotiating from the far right end of the spectrum? A more relevant question would be How much GOOD WILL has Obama wasted chasing bipartisanship? We’ll have an answer to that one in a couple of short months.
Yup. Change we can believe in, alright…
It’s all been an Obama ruse that has backfired politically.
True, a whole lot of money went to Wall Street bankers and Obama voted for it and continued the policy but it’s important to note that TARP was Bush’s doing.
“How Much Time Has the White House Wasted Chasing Its Own Tail?”
Giving the far right of the GOP any credibility at all is a large part of what’s pissed off the base, in my opinion. I’m happy to bring people along and help them see the error of their ways, but their leadership and the talking heads that prop them up? Not worth cultivating.
Obama seems to want to be liked by all the wrong people.
He should learn to say “we” once in a while instead of “I”.
Citizens United simply validated what had already happened. Our government is already totally bought and corrupt. Citizens United simply took off the fig leaf, since we are talking fig leaves in this thread.
What??? It’s not eleventy seven dimensional chess? This whole meme about Obama’s campaigning and political skills is nothing more than a media manufactured pantload. Obama won because Hillary had too much baggage and people were sick of Bush policies that McLame went out of his way to embrace but never took the time to comprehend. Though it sucks, at least I feel somewhat vindicated.
what SusanD said.
Margaret! Are you still here? Have you ever heard about that job you were hoping for?
I sometimes wonder if that’s what’s at the bottom of his behavior. A lonely kid who didn’t quite fit in, learned how to get along with everybody, and can’t stop wanting to be liked.
Or maybe I’m just projecting. ; )
It must be some kind of Stockholm syndrome. Either that or he’s just too stubborn and is determined to win them over, no matter what. Then of course there is Rahm whispering to him that the Progressives will support him no matter what. Sorry Rahmie and Timmy and Barry but “We suck less than the other guys”, is an excuse, not a campaign platform.
No. I can only assume that I didn’t get it. It’s a shame. I thought I hit that interview out of the park. :(
I wonder if obama has staff reading this blog, going and telling him;
“you know, firedoglake has your number, you can’t put anything over on them”
we do know they have people reading blogs, and of course this would be among the most powerful so they would be reading this one
I wonder if they yet know we are praying for the democratic party to primary his butt
Maybe we should give him a Native American name: “Dances with Republicans”.
ditto your ditto
The people that read the White House email know that I’m hoping for that.
fear is powerful. and the problem is once people accept your conclusion, they begin to perceive just how bad the situation really is. coming to understand that almost no politicians are willing and/or able to do things like end the wars or fix this economy is very depressing, and very scary. the future we’re facing is an ugly one, and for some people it’s easier to continue to believe that “more and better dems” are right around the corner, if they just clap harder.
as a friend of mine put it the other day, people who are loyal to the democratic party right now are a lot like battered wives. “if only i change a little more, maybe he’ll stop hitting me.” no, he won’t. and no, these democrats are only going to continue to abuse the american electorate in favor of the super rich. the really bleak part for most of us is “and what can we do about it,” as logic, history and economic (the real kind) all suggest that we probably can’t do anything at all.
Honey, I have sooooo been there.
Not to give you false hope, but I have learned that supposed deadlines for making a hire often get kicked way down the road. It is quite possible the decision has not been made. Still, I know the battle between being a realist and and an optimist.
I agree with everything you just said but rewarding the Republicans is like going from a spouse who beats you to a neighbor that rapes you. I don’t know what the answer is but it isn’t more of the same and it isn’t rewarding the Republicans for their wingnuttery.
Well, I know the ad for the job is still up and dated after my interview, so they must have renewed it.
Long enough for the Rs to win, which, by now, you have to conclude was O’s objective.
unfortunately, Rahm is mostly right. outside blogs like these it’s still considered ‘bad form’ in most dem voting circles to suggest that dems vote for a 3rd party right now. people who have taken a beating in this economy are more willing to consider it, but that number isn’t large enough that most dem incumbants are worried. i’m pretty sure this race will go along historical lines, the dems will lose some seats and maybe the house will flip. but i almost believe Rahm would be happy with that if it happens, because that way he could please his corporate masters while pretending that there was “nothing we could do.”
Interesting. Boy, we can drive ourselves nuts trying to psych out the actions/non-actions of employers/recruiters, can’t we?
Well, good luck anyway. Hang in there!
Been there and done that myself unfortunately. I’ve had so many times over the years where I thought I had nailed something only to hear no later that I’ve given up even speculating on it nowadays (assuming I get that rare interview anymore)
Obama let Baucus and the rest of the right-wing of the Democratic Party crew around so they could lay the bulk of the blame for passing ineffectual legislation on the GOP. But the ruse isn’t working anymore. People are fed up with both major parties and they’re either forming or looking for new ones, and that’s if they’re not staying home and refusing to vote like the good little whipped dogs the corporate bosses want them to be.
marg, i’ve only voted republican once in my life, and never will again. (it’s a silly and embarrassing story if you care to hear it) i certainly don’t suggest that people vote for them, goodness no.
but i’m pretty much done with the dems. the good ones (and they are few) repeatedly either get shut out of the decision making process, or they step up and vote for the pro-corporate, pro-war, pro-rich people stuff, usually after taking ‘a strong stand’ and voting the right way when it doesn’t count. watching house progressives back down on their Sternly Worded Letters about the PO was the last straw for me. fuck em.
i wish i had better ideas about what else to do, but i don’t. i’m pretty sure that full blown neofacism and war (another one) are in our future no matter what.
Well I’m going to vote and my rep deserves re-election and of course I’d probably vote for ANYBODY but Rick Perry but Bill White is a great candidate and has a real shot, despite some really dirty tricks by the Harris County Republicans, (setting fire to the warehouse all the voting machines were in for example). But I really hope Orahma gets primaried for 2012 or I’ll cast a write in vote. I’m not going to crap on my Rep just because the White House Dems are loathsome and I never vote straight party anyway.
Unfortunately in our AFU system, punishing the Democrats always, ALWAYS means rewarding the Republicans. I hate it and it sucks but there it is. There is no denying it.
The capacity for delusion within the White House is essentially infinite. Also you have to understand they are interested in pursuing a right wing corporate agenda. As long as they perceive us as marginal, even if we are the leading edge of anger in the country, they absolutely won’t care.
On a happy note, I have nectarine cobbler fresh from the oven. Everyone who wants a piece hold out your plates.
How Much Time Has the White House Wasted Chasing “Bipartisanship”?
The real question should be how long will progressives let this White House treat us like fools?
Obama is not a MORON! he knows exactly what he is doing.
Yesterday was a perfect example of the Obama Hope A Dope, yesterday Obama has a revelation, Obama finally wants to spend some money fixing roads, buidling new roads, air ports, rail roads, etc. these ideas are two years too late, and billions of dollars short of what it would take to fix the only problem in the USA last two years. ” A Lack OF Jobs” Obama knew Jobs was the only issue in the USA the last 20 months, it does take a rocket science degree to read polls that say, AMERICAN WANTS JOBS!!!
Obama knows it sounds great on the campaign trail!
See old Obama is no dummy, come election time he will speak like a progressive, it only after he gets elected he become who he really is Bush evil Brother. (Yes people, the Con Man, I mean Obama from 2008 is back, it is time to trick progressives again!)
Obama the trojan horse accomplished his goals, he single handly wrecked the democratic party. Yes! Obama intentionally wrecked the democratic party.
Obama owners are all giddy with Joy! on every news outlet own by corporations you here how the democrats are going to lose big in 2010.
What no one says, is that a meodicre democrat could have kept the republicans out of power for years. A less than average democrat would have at least made finding people Jobs his number 1 priority during a Depression. Not Old Obama the trojan horse, he made passing the Bob Dole Health Care Bill his number 1 priority. (there is no such thing as a Great Recession)
It is funny how the corporate media ignores Obama poor poll numbers among democrats, because the corporate media knows Obama is to the right of Reagan!
Coming soon! The Con Man, I mean Obama is going tell us how he fought for the Public Option, Drug Importation, and how Rahm loves the UAW.
God! I hate to be so right! We knew the outcome. Now we have to live with it.
The other night I found myself almost wishing for W’s warmth. (sigh)
Bingo!
Barry has to keep bleating about “bipartisanship” because his listening audience is Democrats. To get the right wing policy he wants, he needs the Democrats to be “bipartisan”. That’s why he keeps talking about it. He can drop the bipartisan bit once he gets a GOP Congress who sends him the right wing policy he craves. Then he can just sign it without all the hand waving nonsense he had to go through with the Senate.
I dislike him far more intensely than Bush. Bush was just a drunken frat boy along for the ride. Obama is a psychopath.
Fwiw, I voted for Hillary in the PA primary.
I never heard her kowtowing to bipartisanship.
I’ll never pine for W but out of the field of Democrats that were running for president in 2008, Obama was next to dead last on my list. God I took a lot of flack for that on the progressive blogs, including this very one. I was called a racist, a Hillarybot, (even though she was dead last AFTER Obama), and many more names the moderators would be upset with me for repeating.
I detested McLame so much that I gave to Obama and volunteered after he got the nomination but I knew we were in trouble from the word go.
marg, i understand. my rep is…Mike Bishop, ug. and he’s not going anywhere, thanks to gerrymandering. but at a certain point i had to ask myself, “what am i getting in return for my support?” and the answer right now is “mostly republican policy despite a dem majority and a dem preznit and an historic mandate in at least the beginning of their terms.” so if it’s going to be republican policy all the time, what is the effective difference?
i’m really poor, i have health issues i can’t address and the field in which i do business is being slaughtered by state and federal cutbacks so banksters and corporations can get even richer. don’t get me wrong: i despise Nader- the man could’ve been spending time building a real alternative party and instead takes lunch with republicans and can’t seem to focus on anyone but himself. but i hate the fact that people have been so conditioned to treat anyone done with the dems like stupid fools (not saying that’s you, babe).
i’m working with a 3rd party candidate this year, and she’s the real deal (Julia Williams MI12). i just won’t be doing much for dems anymore. they abandoned me in favor of their rich friends. because their policies are actually hurting me, i think it’s logical to let go of them until they return to their senses. losing a couple of elections may do that. having republicans in charge will make my life suck harder, faster, and i acknowledge that. but a slow death, or a quick one, dead is still dead.
No but she was just a bit more obvious about her support of a government of big business, by big business and for big business.
Again chidyke, I agree with everything you just said and we share a whole lot in common, poverty and no medical coverage with health issues especially. I’ve been out of work since January 13, 2009 and the Democrats have done next to nothing, (except to surrender), on jobs. Again, I don;t know what the answer is. If I did, I’d act on it. Trust me.
A day doesn’t pass though that I’m ecstatic that I don’t live in Nevada. Imagine having to choose between Reid and Angle. I might have to be “unavoidably” out of town and then “forget” to vote absentee.
i guess i’ll go upstairs now. i forget what the code word for that is here. en haut is what we use at some other blogs i go to.
WH was supporting their corporate sponsors in guise of bipartisanship.
This WH has changed who/what people think of Dem party. It is no longer a party of the middle class. This president has made it ok for Dems to be corporate and that will not change any time soon.
I can’t take pride in my judgement. I was an Edwards supporter, then toward the end of the campaign fell for Obama, with just a little caution that a lot of what I thought he would be was more wish than anything he said or had done.
But pride or not I along with most on this board have known from the beginning of the health care fiasco that Obama was destroying the party with his pandering to all the groups we know are destructive to the country.
He can’t even rely on one of the last refuges of the incompetent,,,,,, “at least he stands up for what he believes.”
The funniest thing about it, really, is that Republicans have convinced half the country that Obama is a socialist. Could there be any insult sure to infuriate a corporate tool more?
OT a bit, I came across an interesting term this weekend, “country and western Marxism”– used to describe socially conservative, economically liberal policies of in the 70′s, Gov. George Wallace, in the 80′s Republican gadfly Kevin Phillips and more recently, 2008 GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee (“Wallace with his “Country and Western Marxism” was wary of big business as well as big government”).
http://www.google.com/search?q=“country+and+western+marxism”
It was Huckabee’s bad luck the financial markets crashed in 2008 and not 2007, “He calls himself the candidate who isn’t a “wholly owned subsidiary” of investment banks, decries large executive-pay packages and says the party needs to shift its focus from Wall Street to Main Street.”
Huckabee’s Rise Drives Wedge between Wall Street, Evangelicals
This cycle, the Republicans are doing fine just running against Obama and endorsing the ersatz populism of the teabaggers. But going into the 2012 cycle, I’ll be curious to see if Huckabee or any Republican congressional candidates (the only GOP incumbent who’s come close has been, of all people, Darrell Issa) take up the Country and Western Marxism angle of attack. The rub is unless a candidate is rich enough to self-fund (like Issa), its hard to see where a Republican populist candidate gets his campaign funding, especially since the AFL-CIO foolishly burned its GOP allies in the mid-90s. Its not like the Democrats have rewarded Labor for its loyalty, they’d rather chase investment bankers for campaign checks.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not finding fault with your vote. Not at all. :)
Agreed, what’s more, John McCain has no love lost for George W. Bush or, frankly, the Republican party. Its astonishing someone so hated by the Republican base won their presidential nomination (the anti-McCain majority was split between Romney and Huckabee, allowing McCain to scoop up the winner take all GOP primaries).
Congressional progressives would have gotten more legislation passed opposing a bizarro world President McCain than they have supporting real world President Obama.
why did the White House let Max Baucus screw around for most of 2009 trying to win Republican support for health care reform?
They would rather lose than actually be liberal.
Sorry to hear that, Margaret, bc I was “pulling” for you, too. Too much competition these days, I fear. You probably did hit it out of the park, but so did someone else. Best to you. Don’t let the bastards grind you down, my friend.
FWIW, I visited my fundie rightwing family this past weekend (I’ve ranted about them here before). It’s interesting in that they, at least, were not so much ranting about Obama (no love lost, for sure), and it seemed as if they were beginning to grasp the concept of what we here call “Kabuki show.”
While my family was quick to diss Obama (who mostly deserves their scorn), they were – albeit somewhat more slowly – also dissing the Republics. They said – to my amazement – that they really didn’t think McCain would have done “much better” (with the exception of my one Beckerhead, Palin worshipping sister, but that’s another story).
So I was impressed, and I’m back to agreeing with Jane Hamsher that maybe there’s a way to make “common cause” with some conservatives.
I can tell you that my family – again to my amazement – are not all that thrilled with their voting choices this fall. They disdain the Dems, but they’re not happy with either the Repugs or the Tea Party.
So… something to think about. HOW can we make common cause?? HOW?
Most of us have in common that vote. :-)
And sadly the betrayal. I was just heart sick as the health care thing evolved.
Obama has blown it. The hacket will be coming and they only have themselves to blame. He should have used an FDR style and pushed for public option, and more. We are dommed in social security and the rest. Alan Simpson? Obama is so naive. i wanted Hiallry for one reason..helath care: She had score to settle and knew Universal helath care was the only way to go. Obama has no DNA for the presidential office.
Ditto.
Because Obama made it very clear that he was not a candidate with any agenda, rather he was a compromiser.
Obama, Sep 2005: “According to the storyline that drives many advocacy groups and Democratic activists – a storyline often reflected in comments on this blog[dkos] – we are up against a sharply partisan, radically conservative, take-no-prisoners Republican party. They have beaten us twice by energizing their base with red meat rhetoric and single-minded devotion and discipline to their agenda. In order to beat them, it is necessary for Democrats to get some backbone, give as good as they get, brook no compromise, drive out Democrats who are interested in “appeasing” the right wing, and enforce a more clearly progressive agenda. The country, finally knowing what we stand for and seeing a sharp contrast, will rally to our side and thereby usher in a new progressive era.
“I think this perspective misreads the American people. From traveling throughout Illinois and more recently around the country, I can tell you that Americans are suspicious of labels and suspicious of jargon. They don’t think George Bush is mean-spirited or prejudiced, but have become aware that his administration is irresponsible and often incompetent.”
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/barack-obamas-letter-to-the-daily-kos
Somehow no matter what, we keep being ‘surprised’ that the Dems act like this, gee, it’s almost as if they are in league with the republicans…
2 parties, one team. How long before that’s understand to the point where we stop being ‘surprised’ that the dems aren’t acting in the people’s interests ??
I’ve linked to this before on this board, but Esquire nailed Obama before the election (while endorsing him, tepidly)..
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/esquire-endorsements-2008/esquire-endorses-barack-obama?src=rss#ixzz0ysSfjLpZ
Politically, they are incompetent. When they dumped the campaign team to bring in a bunch of Chicago neophytes, our cause was lost, as will be the November elections. Rahm claims credit for 2006 – BS! Dean’s 50 state strategy was the SOLE engine behind that. Rahm’s “targeted” red state-blue-state dealing won exactly Zero seats.
Incompetents, who think they are smart – and that’s dangerous. Think: Bush/Cheney
This is not a Democratic failing – this is White House/Obama failing. I predict Dean is back at DNC by January 1, even if it’s too late by then.
The White House doesn’t think they are failing. Do you see any effort being made to save Dem seats? Hell no. The White House agenda is spectacularly succeeding:
1) Enact neocon foreign policy, project U.S. influence across the globe.
2) Enrich your corporate buddies, ensuring a lifetime of riches through speeches, board of director seats, etc.
3) Screw over traditional the little people, specifically and most satisfyingly the Democratic base, i.e. Unions, gheys, teachers, and the like.
well said. I’ve said it, too, but not as well. :)
Anyone else remember…
…we’re closing Gitmo?
…we’re saying no to lobbyists, etc?
…transparency
…any other noises re change we can believe in?
What they wanted to do was pass a corporate-friendly insurance “reform” bill and use the excuse, “It’s the best we could do, given the need for Republican support.” Unfortunately for the Dems, the other party changed its name to the Party of NO.
“How Much Time Has the White House Wasted … ?”
Pretty much all of it.
“and people were sick [and dying]
offrom Bush policies”Fixed it for yeh ;-)
I say they should forget about bipartisanship and go for one party rule.
LOL! Of course there is really nothing to laugh at but still as I read through 84 comments and still counting, a mental picture of the ill-fated steamship the ‘Titanic’ came to mind, and I just started to laugh. Call me perverse but I had this vision of that great ship with the boilers out, settling in the water, beginning to sink, and soon to be a disassembled pile of junk on the ocean floor, and I realized that was exactly the state of the Democratic Party today with Obama at the helm. I then took the next step and replaced the doomed passengers then with the commenters to this post now. And the picture was complete and the parallels astounding.
So, you tell me if these parallels don’t resonate with you a just a bit: Gee, I would have never bought a ticket if I thought this would happen. How in the hell did we get into this mess; I though the ship was unsinkable. Someone must have lied to us, becasue the damn thing is sinking right under our feet. We should have never believed the advertising, and now in retrospect we should have known the hype was too good to be true. The Captain is telling all the passengers not to worry because all will be well since he is in control. This ship does have enough lifeboats for everyone, doesn’t it? Oh, and this one is a true charmer: Isn’t there another ship close by that will save us?
Ok, if you are laughing, smiling, crying, cursing ,or even wincing(which has been known to look like a smile from the outside), you are where I found myself after 84 comments. Of course, it would be too cruel of me to leave you destitute of any hope whatsoever. So, I will cheer you up with something paraphrsed from Einstein: ‘If you consider all of mankind ship wrecked and floating in the sea of life desperately hanging onto bits and pieces of flotsam and jetsam, somehow that should make you feel better. But then again, I did warn you of my perverse sense of humor.
Humor is in the eye of the beholder.
I personally have never found humor in the bilked victims of cons. And I have never found the lonely paranoids humorous.
To trust, to believe and, yes, to be betrayed is to live.
To attack first, to dominate, or to withdraw into darkened spaces; either is death.
What the hell was that bipartisanship crap anyway? Obama moves away from his positions on tons of stuff during the campaign, health care, finance reform, LGBT rights – but the one position he pursues in earnest is the sort of nebulous talk about “reaching across the aisle” that appears to be legally mandated to run for President nowadays.
And yeah, a cross-party coalition to pass needed legislation would be great, but who on God’s green earth believed that the Republicans would respond to a Democratic majority that way? Have they ever responded to a Democratic win that way since the parties last realigned?
Taibbi and others record the real story of Republican bipartisanship: if you agreed to participate in legislative efforts against the 2010 Strategy of No (stated by Republican Party leaders, let’s remember, before Obama even took the oath), you were cut loose. Did this need to happen two or three more times for the White House to get it?
What it looks like to me, from the outside, is that the White House is using doomed bipartisan appeals as a feint to cover an agenda that already existed, one that didn’t include a public option, or financial reforms with teeth that would punish the investment quacks, or distracting “social issues” like gay rights that would risk the Third Way strategy. Which isn’t what I voted for.
Believe me that my laughter is drenched in the most bitter of tears and I am sure that it is the same for all of the other commenters to this post. The absurdity of the political dilemma we progressives find ourselves in today is simply overwhelming: we can chose between one total evil and the other total evil: the evils are equally evil, and there is really no lesser one. Sometimes the cruel ironies of life can best be tolerated by realizing that we are all in the same boat, and the fate of one is the fate of all.
And I definitely agree with you that no one wants to be or likes to realize that they are victims of a con and have been betrayed by those they trusted. But isn’t that exactly what has become reality?
Dude, are you really this [Edited by Moderator. Disagree without insulting]? You think it’s an either-or choice between compromising with the Republicans and being China after Democrats gain eight Senate seats and Republicans lose eight, giving the Democrats a solid majority? If you vote, I’m sad about it.
Reading many of these comments I’m in solid agreement with the frustration, but I am strongly opposed to cynicism.
Just as I challenge my group to advance our science against cancer, I invite 2 criticisms but expect at least 1 positive action to take in response. It makes one hone one’s analytical skills as well as one’s problem solving skills.
It’s become academic for me, just how stupid can things get? We obviously cannot trust any of these ego nuts.
This was probably our last chance, we would have been better off if McSame won.
Yes and I think being able to acknowledge being bilked is the beginning of innervation and action to change situations.. I think it is the fear of shame th at keeps the right wingers voting against their own interests.
I also believe in the power of seeing and joining with the others in the boat.
I just have trouble laughing when it hurts so much. But I would rather hurt than become paranoid and in denial.
So his goal was to give us a more responsible, competently administered version of the Bush agenda?
In that case I guess what he means by bipartisan cooperation is to get liberals and progressives to sign on to the right-wing, corporatist, militarist agenda.
With few exceptions, I suppose he has succeeded in that – to all of our detriment.
How ’bout a tax cut?
Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.
David T. Wolf
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw
No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
Lily Tomlin
Yes he should have realized after only a few days that bipartisanship wasn’t going to happen. Any time he could get them to agree to let him appear like they did on TV re the health fine. But beyond that I like Chris Christie. He laid out an agenda today that makes sense (as far as priorities not policies) and said “if you don’t like my programs vote me out in two years” no we all need to agree stuff for Republicans who get things done. Just I won the election now here’s what we are going to do. If Obama had done that in the first few weeks–he would have rolled them over.
Instead we got a Whimp in Chief.
“I just have trouble laughing when it hurts so much. But I would rather hurt than become paranoid and in denial.”
That was my whole point. It has reached the point when, at least for quite a while, we are seriously limited in our options and must, like it or not, accept the reality of the situation. That was the purpose for the metaphor of the sinking ship.
By the way, could you take a minute or two to expand on the context in which you would want us to understand your use of the words paranoid and denial? I am not quite sure how you intended them to be interpreted.
For whom?
Pardon me if I sound a bit pedantic. Paranoia and denial are psychological defenses the mind creates in order to not know reality. I know I over simplify and welcome expansion by others, but I see many of the common right wing traits related to their fears and incapacities to recognize how betrayed exploited they are and have been by the institutions they admire, the capitalist free market and in many cases their religion.
We all really have to ward of shame when we make mistakes, especially in trusting others. I find many of the right wing mantra by leaders and spinners such as Rove and Luntz despicable. (And of course the masterm, the late Lee Atwater.) Despicable because they prey on those fears. “Independence” in their lexicon means it is shameful to be fooled, have needs etc .even care for.others.
Update: That’s why I entered into the conversation with you. I was not certain what direction you were taking. I agree firmly that yes first is to know the truth. Second to begin to cope.
“I was not certain what direction you were taking.”
I had that impression and that is why I threw my #92 into the mix.
“A cynic is a man who when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.” H.L. Mencken
Fred,
I enjoy ironic humor more than most people, so I’ll interpret your post with a good laugh. Any insight from Lily Tomlin is welcome.
There’s a difference between realism and cynicism, we need to know the difference and act accordingly.
Oh spare me the drama. Only a nihilist would think we would be better off with Palin anywhere close to the presidency.
Thank you for this discussion. It is an example of why I enjoy this blog so much. Most of the time we keep nibbling away until there is good understanding and more often than not learning.
As an aside I found myself involved in conversation on OpEd news earlier today that really was awful in the incivility and ad homina. And of course nothing achieved. So I am particularly appreciative today.
Always a pleasure to rub cerebrums with a person such as yourself. Actually FDL keeps me sane. And furthermore, where can I discuss so many critical issues with so many well informed, intelligent individuals. Cheers.
:-)