The Liberal Blogosphere Goes Fox News
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One of the problems I’ve always feared is that should we elect a Democratic president in this country, he or she might face a domestic handicap among that most unlikely of sources: liberals. Sadly, I’m turning out to be right, and today’s collective pants-wetting on both liberal blogs and on Twitter has been a sight to behold.
Let’s go back to the beginning. Every viable candidate for the Democratic nomination came down on the center-left of the American political spectrum. Especially when it came down to Clinton and Obama. On the Republican side (at least perception wise) the candidates that were viable were seen by most to be on the center-right. Why? Because when it comes down to it the American people are not overwhelmingly of any consistent ideology. The same people who would riot in the streets if you touched Social Security or Medicare are the same people who think they should get a tax cut and that the government “spends too much” (just don’t cut the government money that *their* member of congress brings home, the problem is with the *other* 434 districts and 49 *other* states, naturally).
What happens in the Democratic party is that the center left candidate makes his positions on the issues pretty clear, and the progressive base of the party assumes that like the Republican candidate, he or she is secretly one of them and upon election day will bust out with some Howard Zinn on everyone’s ass. On the Republican side, they don’t win unless they cover up their zealotry with “compassionate conservative” pixie dust, they largely stay the hell away from clerics like Pat Robertson and Grover Norquist come election time.
As we saw with Bill Clinton’s presidency, the reaction to this not happening can get pretty loud pretty quickly.
Personally I’m not as liberal as a lot of the Democratic base, but I’m not nearly as conservative as others inevitably accuse me of being. I’m pretty liberal on social issues but a caveman on national defense and criminal justice. I think that’s pragmatic, but one man’s pragmatism is another’s Mao or another’s DLC. Whatever. Either way, I tend to think Democratic presidents don’t do enough of what the base wants – for example Clinton’s NAFTA mistake or Obama’s inexplicable foot dragging on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal and fruitless concessions to the GOP and conservadems on the size and impact of the stimulus.
That said, the liberal attacks on Obama, just short of calling him The Black Hitler, don’t accomplish anything other than sending a signal to Democratic presidents that their base really does want to find the quickest most expeditious path to knife them in the back.
I’m not saying liberals should keep themselves quiet and rubber stamp the president – people who make this argument are simply making a down payment on the straw to run their farms. But what I am saying is that liberals to often treat Democratic presidents like Maury Povich just told them that he has in fact failed the lie detector test.
We saw that on Monday with the leaked story that the Obama administration planned some spending freezes. What we know about the proposal:
* It exists
* Defense spending is exempt
* If/when there’s a second stimulus or jobs bill it is exempt
* Health care reform would be exempt
* It is targeting redundancies, waste, excess, etc.
* The details of what will be targeted have not been released yet
That halfway story seemed to be all liberals needed in order to issue their own Fox News Alerts about the betrayal and then began the parade of frankly embarrassing hysteria.
I don’t personally like the framing of these issues in one that favors conservatives, that is a fight versus government spending. Not at all, and in an ideal situation a Democratic president should laugh at the idea, knowing that everyone with common sense understands the long term value of government investment in the American economy and social safety net.
We do not live in this ideal world. We live in a world where, as I noted above, the people across the spectrum hold contradictory ideas within their own minds about what constitutes rational public policy. If some are concerned with spending, it seems the least harmful way to do this is to have a bone thrown their way that will actually lower *some* spending without harming the President’s domestic agenda.
Is it less perfect than a pony? Sure. Would President Jed Bartlett do it? Probably not, but real life isn’t a pitch-perfect Aaron Sorkin script and a fade out after 60 minutes of plot.
How does one correct someone who is on your side but has bouts of straying like President Obama? Offer constructive criticism, rather than throwing his clothes on the lawn, for one. You’ve got a perfectly good right to bitch as well as moan about things, but the equivalent of crying “fire” in a crowded theater just makes for a crappy moviegoing experience.
Barack Obama is the center-left, charismatic politician he has been for most of his life in the public. There are numerous issues on which he should be much more progressive, not just for the overall fortunes of the progressive movement, but for the future strength of the country. But we won’t get there if every perceived misstep (especially one based on a less than clear story that is slowly being filled in) is greeted as if he kicked a puppy in the teeth. We shouldn’t help a media environment that already favors Democratic politicians wagging their finger at the base, nor should we allow Democratic pols to get away with conservative nonsense.
Measure pols like Obama on their words and hold them to high standards, but don’t profess anger at them for not holding up to a caricature you dreamily doodled in your Trapper Keeper.
79 Responses to “The Liberal Blogosphere Goes Fox News”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
you say I have a right to bitch and moan, then call doing that the equivalent to shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. so far, for the past 12 months (I’m just starting with the post-election period for brevity), Obama has shown zero inclination to listen to criticism-constructive or otherwise-from anyone not devoted to his idealistic quest for bi-partisan hand-holding. even the latest sorta-kinda-maybe freeze is a sop to Repugs and ConservaDems (not to mention just plain bad policy and politics). perhaps if the President actually took the suggestions and criticism of the other members of his political party of choice to heart more often, people like me might feel less inclined to be so critical.
Oliver,
What you are witnessing is the implosion of an empty suit. Obama has no real experience, he’s been caught lying so many times he lacks credibility, there isn’t anything there.
I’m sick of the Pete Peterson framing. We have bases In Germany, South Korea and Japan but only domestic programs are “waste”
Very good post, Mr. Willis. ‘Sides, Obama SAID he would make spending cuts as President to reduce waste. He said this DURING THE CAMPAIGN. The details have not been announced yet, but they’re a small part of the budget, so nobody will lose their food stamps.
Measure pols like Obama on their words
I prefer to measure them by their ACTIONS, thankyouverymuch.
Oliver, I’ve been sympathetic to your point of view for a long time—as a reader of The Field, for example—but at some point you have to ask yourself, where’s the change? At a critical point in time for his administration, when health care reform hangs in the balance, with no end in sight in Iraq and a build up in Afghanistan that may very well be backwards (and is deadly and expensive and unlikely to make us at all more secure), having been deserted by independents (who are wobbly in the best of times rather than sturdy), and clearly making no inroads whatsoever in building bi-partisanship with the Repugnicans in congress, what do we get in the SOTU? Cosmetic spending freeze? Health care reform will save voters money. Lower health care costs for businesses will drive job creation. Jobs will give voters more money. More money in voters’ hands will fuel more jobs and increase tax receipts to pay down the Repugnican deficit. This is not bedwetting, just common sense. It’s not the way DC works, for sure, but I thought we voted for Barak to change that. Where’s the change?
I’m really getting f-ing tired of lefty bloggers taking a piss out of their own readers, aka the multitude of voters and small donors that got the President elected, for holding their leader to a high standard.
And don’t give me this ‘I wanna pony’ crap, all we really want is a leader who will stand up for himself and his decisions. TSA nominee ring a bell?
Sorry, OW; while it isn’t a betrayal it’s definitely a mistake. The politics are bad enough, but the fundamental mistake is conceptual: with 10% unemployment, but minimal inflation and interest rates, jobs are a far more important issue at the moment than the deficit is.
The deficit is a long-term political problem, as the things that would make a significant fiscal impact are few: renegotiate our foreign military commitments, massive restructuring of Medicare, raise taxes. That’s it. Anyone who isn’t to do one or more of those 3 is not serious about the deficit. Addressing it will take years of ground preparation, not some State of the Union gimmick.
Yer a braver man than I, O-Dub. Don’t you realize that if Markos declares that Obama is wrong on any point – as he did last night without knowing any of the details of the spending plan – you simply cannot defend Obama or risk the eternal finger-wagging of the “Democratic wing of the Democratic party”?
Always remember to shoot first and ask questions later. That’s the only way to prove you’re a real liberal.
And by the way, every time my fellow Democrats start kvetching about “strategy” and “messaging,” it reminds me of the Kerry campaign. And then I throw up a little in my mouth.
Do you try and infantilize all your opponents, or just those on your side?
Face it Oliver, when a guy campaigns on ‘hope’ and ‘change’, and then hopes we don’t notice that nothing seems to be changing, people are going to be upset.
The dude seems like a nice guy, but he’s not delivering. He’s not even working on the optics. What we’re all seeing is a guy caving to the party that lost in 2008. It’s depressing.
Oliver,
great post. The liberal bed-wetting is far worse than what the right does, because they’re expected to do it.
As Oliver says, sure, there have been disappointments, but this is year one. The Obama administration has been hampered by the weakness of it’s own party, and by a media with such a short attention span that it has been asking “Where’s the change?” every 15 minutes for a year.
I agree, the country was ready for a DADT repeal, and even those opposed would have secretly respected the strength of the move.
I agree, public support for the public option was more than enough cover for the administration to plant its flag on, and Obama should have told those 5 or 6 Senate Dems to step in line or enjoy a primary. Maybe he did, and they told him to pound sand. Those guys have a thick-ass layer of butter on their bread.
I think if the media had handled the Death Panel thing like sensible grownups, instead of being like “She’s crazy, but she kinda has a point,” the public option would have stood a chance.
I agree that the transparency isn’t what we were promised, but when I reported on the PhRMA deal in July, liberals didn’t want to hear it yet. That was when it would have mattered, not now.
If you want anything to get done in the next 3 years, I suggest you all dry your tears and get to work.
“Change we can believe in.”
“The audacity of hope.”
“The fierce urgency of now.”
Hell yeah, people are disappointed…and there is ample reason for their disappointment.
When I discuss this president with my friends, all of whom have mad crazy love for anything Obama, I ask them “When considering the major decisions he has made during the first year, what has he done that Bush wouldn’t have done? Conversely, what has he not done that Bush would have done?
Bush was already talking about closing Guantonimo an pulling out of Iraq…and we’re still talking about it.
I can easily see Bush escalating in Afghanistan by increasing troop levels.
Bush had already given bankers and insurance company’s access to huge sums of taxpayer’s money WITH NO REAL STRINGS ATTACHED and this was continued in the hopes that this aide would “trickle down” to home owners and small businesses.
Bush would not do away with “don’t ask don’t tell”, just as Obama won’t, even though the majority of the people and the majority of the military recognize the absurdity of it.
The easy answer is “He is willing to tackle healthcare reform”.
Or something that will eventually be called “healthcare reform”. But seeing as he tossed aside what HE admitted was the best solution – a single payer plan – before negotiations even began(“negotiation from a position of weakness’)…and then failed to vigorously fight for a government option(again sending a message of weakness) … leaving “reform” that will guarantee insurance companies approx 30 million in new customers, i.e., billions in new revenue for the promise not to cancel coverage based on “pre-existing conditions” and not to let insured suffer and die because a procedure is “too costly”(there better no be a loophole…).
Aside from “healthcare reform”…I got nothin’.
Alot of people had high hopes based on the campaign retoric. Now it looks like that’s all it was.
I largely agree with you, Oliver. For all the talk of “Overton windows” in the left blogosphere, all too many progressives seem ready to buy into the “Obama has betrayed us” meme. That is not to say the administration is free from blame in this perception – especially when it comes to HCR – where it was seen as willing to accomadate any sort of bill, ignore the base and let grandstanding Senators drag out the process without complaint. Its successes are either low profile orlargely partial and incomplete – (stimulus spending, Iraq wind down, credit card reform, transparency in government, enforcing equal pay, mending international relations, medicare drug price negotiating, veterans benefits, etc) – and not happening fast enough for the left and much of the middle as well. Though we should remember that the President does not rule by fiat, no matter what the right thinks.
Economic policy is particularly sticky as it will take years to recover from the fiascos of the previous decade, and it will always be argued by the right that things would have happened faster had their policies (such as they are) been in place. That they regularly accuse FDR as being responsible for the depth of the Great Depression should give an idea of their relentless revisionism.
The ideologically pure of either party are never satisfied (go to Freerepublic if you don’t think the right is equally as cranky), and constructive criticism, as well as occaisonal outright anger is useful when it comes to sending a message to politicians on “your” side, but just giving up and retreating to fantasies of third parties and 2012 primary challenges to Obama is pathetic.
I’m old enough to remember when the Conservatives would get upset with Reagan for reversals on economic policy, taxes, and negotiating with the Soviets. What was interesting is they usually just blamed the people around him, and continued to deify the man himself. I’m not saying that’s what the left should do with Obama, but if the “progressive base” acts so easily betrayed, then the lesson might not be that they need to be heard, but that they are a fickle ally.
Yeah, Krugman can’t possibly know what he is talking about, and is part of the bed wetting blogosphere. If it is a spending freeze like you describe, fine, but I think I’ll go with the Nobel Prize winning economist who has been right about the economy for the last couple of decades…
A single payer system isn’t far left, and Obama campaigned on it. Ending DADT isn’t far left, and Obama campaigned on it. These aren’t imagined concepts regarding our dear leader, but needed changes to simply catch up with the rest of the first world.
Oliver, you just have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. If you really think Obama pushing stupid, dishonest McCain policy proposals is a good thing for either the country or the Democratic party, you’re so clueless as to be beyond help. And given that you’ve often been a voice of reason in the past, that’s just sad.
but I think I’ll go with the Nobel Prize winning economist who has been right about the economy for the last couple of decades…
–Nobel Prize winning economist 8/2/2002
Not only was Paul advocating for the cause of the current recession, he was an advocate for a company that helped cause the other one too. (Remember his gig at Enron?)
TBP: what has he done that Bush wouldn’t have done?
Well, a lot of these, probably.
Well, Oliver, what would you have the base do? Shout “Huzzah!” whenever Obama preemptively gives away the store? Why shouldn’t we try to pull him towards rational, responsible policies? Oh, but we must be *polite* to him. Because that’s how the GOP gets him to concede things, I guess. Because being polite is the way to get Rahm’s attention. Somebody needs to light a fire under him, because on health care he is failing to push the ball over the goal line, on the housing crisis he has failed, and on government accountability he’s been keeping the secrets secret and reining in his own AG who wants to do the right thing on past crimes. And now he’s decided inflation-fighting and deficit-fighting is the way out of a recession. Well, of course he hasn’t decided that, because no rational adult thinks that. But the real decision is: please the Beltway media, please his corporate friends, and turn down the heat from the Right. That worked so very well for Clinton. Maybe if he moves enough to the right they’ll thank him by impeaching him.
From the list…
No accomplishments, mind you. But at least he SAYS he’s gonna do stuff! Never mind whether it gets done or not…
You know there are numbers lower than 87, don’t you? Like, for instance 1, 2, 3…. Really, we can assume nothing with you.
“When considering the Major Decisions he has made during the first year…”
I never said he had done nothing. A few items on that list are worth some accolades, but to list some of those as “accomplishments” is laughable. It reads like an inflated resume’.
Reread my post. I didn’t say “considering ALL decisions”. I’m talking about the decisions that fuel the news cycle, which shape public perceptions that can, for better or worse, define an administration.
On these Obama is looking like “just another politician”.
Why shouldn’t we try to pull him towards rational, responsible policies?
From what I wrote:
This has been another edition of RTFM.
Here’s my constructive criticism: having Summers or Rahm convince you that America cares about deficits during a crushing recession because they saw it in 24-point font on the Drudge Report is about the stupidest thing, economically or politically, you could do.
#1-2 are almost just as good (“I ordered a review! May not read it and certainly haven’t acted on it, but I at least … told someone else to look at it”)
This guy just accomplishes things left and right, doesn’t he?
Br. Willis,
You are defending the indefensible. It’s your site and you can do whatever you want but that’s what you are doing.
When you’re right, you’re right. I should have read this list more. It’s a veritable treasure trove:
8. The White House and federal government are respecting the Freedom of Information Act
9. Instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as much as possible
10. Limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House
If the entire liberal blogosphere didn’t exist and 100% of Democratic activists said the same exact things in harmony and / or stereo, it doesn’t change what the actual typical potential voters feel or think.
This is just starting to get stupid. Somebody makes a point that Obama’s about to shoot himself in the foot or the party’s about to shoot themselves in the feet, both policy-wise and politics wise, and increasingly the reaction is “SHUT UP! MORE CLAPPING!”, which, even if implemented, don’t change the foot-shooting from any side.
Jeebus cripes.
Keep up the good work Oliver, I’m with you on this.
Experience isn’t the measure (See: Executive Branch 2000-2008). The Dems are afraid to lead b/c they’re afraid of the GOP noise machine.
Nobody will lose their food stamps? Of course they will – in some form or another. The EB is unwilling to harm the rich in any meaningful way so the only cuts will be cuts for things the middle class and poor rely on.
So food stamps may remain but financial assistance/subsidy in some other form (housing assistance? Job programs?will disappear harming the least powerful in the same way as if food stamps were cut.
But what I am saying is that liberals to often treat Democratic presidents like Maury Povich just told them that he has in fact failed the lie detector test.
Yeah, I know it makes me one of “those” folks on the internet and it was probably just a typo, but it’s “too”.
Well, if you have to defend something really stupid, I guess every form of criticism is like calling him “The Black Hitler” or “throwing his clothes on the lawn.” Right now is a time of crisis for the Democrats, and Obama is leading the retreat. Oh, but let’s buck him up with “I wuv you, but could you be an eensy weensy bit more like a Democwat? Pwitty pwitty pwease?”
The “left” has called for a big stimulus– Obama didn’t want it.
The “left” has called for cramdown– Obama did nothing for it.
The “left” is saying “pass the damn health care bill NOW”– Obama is running away from it.
OK, we’re sick and tired of being right and gaining no credibility, of not being heard over the Wall Street/Washington insiders that fill his Administration, and having them pursue weak policy that is political poison. He is in a bubble and he is failing because of it. How do you suggest we get policy pulled in the direction it needs to go? Oh, I know, “constructive criticism.” Well, good luck with that.
And BTW, “RTFM”?? You didn’t write the fucking manual Oliver. Get over yourself and your role as Obama’s knight-errant.
So many of your posts here show you are lying when you say that.
This is great. While we can’t take the impending Obama implosion for granted it’s clear the rubes are starting to suspect they’ve been had. The predictions from the right regarding the suitability, charactor, capability, and experience of this Chicago machine pol are coming true.
His campaign rhetoric put him where he is today and now it is haunting him. He lied repeatedly and has no real credibility left. Disgust with Obama on both the right and the left put the Senate seat so long soiled by Ted Kennedy into friendly hands. Ted Kennedy’s seat! Sweet.
The pendulum always swings. The epic failure of Carter gave us Reagan, we can only hope Obama’s failure might turn out as half as well.
Any spending freeze that exempts all defense spending is bullshit.
$650billion/year (not counting all the “supplemental” spending for Iraq and Afghanistsn) isn’t enough to make these idiots feel safe? Too bad.
Cut the defense budget by 10%, for starters, and then I’ll feel better about this latest Obama effort to appease Republicans.
If the Right starts yammering their usual “he’s weak on defense!” nonsense, then the “fiscally conservative” budgetary handwringing is exposed as the fraud we all know it is.
So basically, we should all just smile and STFU while the goddamned repukes talk this president into giving away our proverbial lunch money yet again. yeah…great…lots of luck with that.
Since all you’ve got waiting in the wings is a clown’s parade of loonies, stuffed shirts and knuckledraggers, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.
I find it hard to believe you’ll keep going lower and lower with the bar. This isn’t holding Obama up to some higher standard, this is asking him to have SOME principles, and not play standards limbo with Conservadems.
Even sometime cheerleader Brad de Long thinks this is ridiculous. It’s the same thing FDR did in the late 30′s. Bound to be bad economically, therefore politically.
Falling CRE, more ARM defaults pending, Banks re-leveraged with our money in CDR’s, and we cut government spending and issue tax cuts to appease some mythic “middle” based on polling data. 12% unemployment, anyone?
Lead by example and you’ll win votes. Ask Dean about the 50 state strategy. Don’t apologize and backtrack. God god. How did this prez ever get anywhere in politics with dumbshit tactics and no principles?
LOL Wilbur,
It’s not like the Republicans aren’t capable of fucking it up, they are. Bush’s greatest failing was having the fiscal responsibility of a Democrat. How were we to know that Obama would make Bush look like a piker in comparison. Quadrupling the defict in only a few short months. Obamaflation here we come.
At the moment I’d put a little money on Romney. He’s not my first choice by any means but he’s smart, savvy, understands business, has political dna in his blood and is paying his dues. I’d love to see Palin stick it in the eye of the NE establishment but one doesn’t always get what one wants, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Right now watching the wheels come off the Obama socialist train is cause for joy.
he’s been caught lying so many times
“Not one documented lie. Not one.”–Dugger
Bush’s greatest failing was having the fiscal responsibility of a Democrat.
Like I said Quaker, like I said.
“I’d love to see Palin stick it in the eye of the NE establishment but one doesn’t always get what one wants, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Now who are you calling “rubes”?
This is too rich… The democrats have controlled the house and senate since 2006 and have had a filibuster proof majority for over a year and they STILL blame “rethuglicans” for their own ineptitude.
The Democrats have never had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate in this century. Never. Joe Lieberman cannot be counted as the 60th vote, no matter how much you try to paint him as a Democrat. He is not, and never was.
But that doesn’t matter. The CW is that he was one of the 60. So the destruction of the nation will continue apace. Goodbye, American dream. It’s back to feudalism for us now.
You didn’t give us any examples of the liberal blogs you take issue with. You just lumped together the vast liberal blogosphere into one mass media group — and in that way it is like Fox News, but only by your creation.
Several specific issues have angered progressives who supported Obama. It’s not that “he isn’t a progressive, and I had thought of him as one.” For me, it’s that when I canvassed for months in 2008, we were talking about health care reform, and I have expected it to happen, and Obama is largely to blame for it not happening.
You tell your readers to judge pols by what they say and to be non-alarmists like you, and not to succumb to Trapper Keeper caricatures — but Trapper Keeper caricatures is how politics works — it’s all any of us have to go on, not just in relation to pols but to anyone. You seem certain that the “leaked” story about the spending freeze was a conspiracy to rile up the left, and you are above it somehow, because you can see through the bullshit.
But you do not have a direct line of access to the Truth About The Obama White House. You’re not even Ryan Lizza, for that matter. From my perspective, there’s reason now more than ever to get rude about politics. I think it might just constitute constructive criticism.
Yeah, RTFM.
Guantanamo closed within one year: Nope.
Iraq involvement ended after one year: Nope.
Justice for the Guantanamo inmates: Nope.
Investigations into Bush Admin war crimes: Nope.
Real health care reform: Nope.
Re-regulation of the financial sector: Nope.
On and on and on. At what point am I supposed to feel good about the President fighting for the causes I believe in? When will I see the President upholding the values *I* uphold as a Progressive? Not just giving pretty speeches (John Edwards made pretty speeches), but actually doing stuff?
I couldn’t agree with you more. So when our Democratic President rolls over for Republican nonsense, you agree that we should call him on it. Right? And when he upholds and extends Constitutionally-lawless Bush Admin policies, we should call him on that too, right?
Well, that’s not who I voted for for President. That’s not what he billed himself as. He billed himself as a transformational candidate who was going to change how Washington worked. Instead it seems Washington has changed how HE works.
To be fair, he only has that 112-or-so day stint in the Senate as a track record. For 44 of his 48 years, he was a complete unknown to the public at large. And he’s done everything he can to make sure it stays that way.
“Joe Lieberman cannot be counted as the 60th vote, no matter how much you try to paint him as a Democrat. He is not, and never was.”
LOL,
Could I interest you in a wager on your position Rob?
LOL,
Sure, why not. I bet you $100 you can’t prove to me that Joe Lieberman has been a reliable Democratic vote since 2006.
“He’s with us on everything but the war” has been shown over and over again to be a laughable misunderstanding of just what Lieberman supports.
Would you guys make up your minds? Is he doing nothing or is he busily running up the debt to destroy the country? Even your fantasy world is inconsistent.
Arlen Specter and Al Franken have been Democratic senators for over a year?
The things you learn from reading Willie!
You can be critical of Obama but still want him to succeed. Reminding him that failure to get HCR passed will be a crushing blow falls into this category.
But in Oliver-fnboi land, this makesyou a) crazy or b) a GOP operative.
Honestly, you’re a hack Oliver. Fight for principles, not politicians.
A couple of points:
There is no such thing as ‘some spending freezes’ it is a singular — spending freeze. If you’re going to target waste and inefficiency, then call it that — the ‘spending freeze’ is how the Republicans frame the issue, and they do it like that because they use it to prevent spending on social programs.
Secondly, all this crap about center-left, etc. etc. is beside the point. People elect politicians to enact policies, and they get upset when those policies aren’t enacted.
1) Democrats have large majorities in the House and Senate and control the Oval Office. They remember Bush enacting his policies with much smaller minorities and a lower vote count. This upsets them.
2) The dealings of the administration with the financial industry, the insurance industry, and the drug industry give a strong impression of the corporatization of government. This upsets many people, particularly Democrats.
3) People are upset because Obama is accepting the Republican framing of the deficit issue, and is not fighting for the Democratic view. Obama’s voters are Democrats, they didn’t elect him to piss on them.
4) People are upset because Obama is continuing Bush-era indefinite detention of prisoners.
5) People are upset because Obama has failed to re-establish the rule of law when dealing with Guantanamo Bay.
6) People are upset because Obama has failed to investigate torture and possibly murder at Guantanamo Bay, and his Justice Department is actively frustrating any attempt to do so.
7) People are upset that health care hasn’t passed.
9) People are upset that Obama is escalating the war in Afghanistan.
10) People are upset that the administration has failed to lower the unemployment rate.
So in other words, Obama has chosen to piss off the people who voted for him because they wanted law, peace, health care, and spending on Democratic priorities. That’s his choice — I’m sure he’s going to make up his base support from Independents and Republicans without any trouble at all — but I don’t really understand why anyone would think that the left has a duty to support him. We’ll back politicians who back the policies we want.
Fight for principles, not politicians.
Right on!
We’ll back politicians who back the policies we want.
Damn straight.
Glenn Greenwald was exactly right about this as well. The Olivers of the world are desperate for a scapegoat for Obama’s incompetence so far so they’re trying to manufacture this Jane Hamsher/Keith Olbermann cabal of Obama haters who have nefariously de-railed the HOPE AND CHANGE EXPRESS.
Thing is, name one thing the progressive wing (i.e., the Democratic wing) of the Democratic Party has gotten under Obama — Afghanistan? Iraq? Gitmo closed? DADT? Gay marriage? Health care?
Hell, even FDL boggers were saying straight up to hold your nose and support the Lieberman/Obama healthcare bill with the hope that something better could emerge down the road. (I’m a Tbogg man myself.)
But facts aren’t in operation any longer, now it’s all pure spin to try and save the quickly collapsing reputation of a potential one-term president.
And what us “crazy” progressives have actually been saying? If you govern as a progressive you will be showing strength and commitment, and at the end of the day the American electorate values this more than your actual policy positions. You will be seen as a fighter, not a mere wonk, and you will have success.
Again, this isn’t a zero-sum game. I’m critical of Obama because he’s making some huge mistakes, particularly when it comes to playing nice with the GOP. And he better start to listen to his Democratic critics not to make our feelings better, because we’ve been right all along. Moreso than Rahm fucking Emmanuel, to say the very least.
Reminding him that failure to get HCR passed will be a crushing blow falls into this category.
Please continue inventing things I didn’t say.
I read John Kenneth Galbraith’s classic The Great Crash 1929 a year ago. The similarities between many of the events before the Great Depression and the 2008/09 financial debacle are very real. The Obama team did exactly what the Hooverites were too chickenshit to do out of fears of increasing the deficit: pump money into the economy to avert another depression. If anything, many non-partisan economists argue that the stimulus should have been larger. They also warn that it could take years to get the economy out of the ditch. This isn’t your average run-of-the-mill recession.
Although I continue to support Obama, I must confess that I cringed at the “Change we can believe in” slogan. As a senator, he knew that the US political system is not set up to make change happen quickly and that key new policies must go through Congress. I guess “The compromise we need” didn’t quite cut it as a catchy slogan, though. And the thought of McCain and Palin steering the ship is just too frightening.
Sweet, SaveFarris, two lies for the price of one. That’s the Republican bargain. As they say, always click the link. Krugman was neither an advocate for the bubble nor an advocate for Enron. He was a constant critic of the administration and bully boys like you called him ‘shrill’ for his efforts. As for Enron, he was paid to brief them in ’99 along with other prominent economists and quit when offered the NY Times editorial slot. Krugman is forthright about his brief contract with Enron. In contrast, President Bush and many, many other prominent Republicans lied and continue to lie about their cozy relationships with Enron and Kenny Boy Lay. Wendy Gramm was on the Enron board and husband Phil crafted legislation that Enron exploited. Phil is now a Vice Chairman of Swiss financial giant UBS AG, and is on record as calling American a ‘nation of whiners’ and allegedly lobbied his buddy Hank Paulson to have the US help bail out UBS.
The Obama Curse continues.
Today Barack Obama called up John Calipari, head coach of the University of Kentucky basketball team, the only team in the NCAA without a loss this season.
Guess what happened to the Kentucky Wildcats tonight.
Jeez, I read that whole list just to see what you gave the smiley to.
Now i’m guessing that was a mistake.
MY GAMECOCKS WHUPPED DAT ASS!!…THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!
Regarding this thread…it’s gratifying to see so many people NOT blinded by the hype!
“Fight for principles, not politicians”…nice.
I think Devan Downey’s crossover dribble had a lot more to do with the win than Obama’s jinx phone call to Calipari, but ya never know.
A little off topic, but Devin Downey has never seen 5’9″! I won’t give him over 5’7″, but he believes in himself and what he does, and he HAS NO FEAR!
I wish we had more POLITICIANS with that mindset.
More “DEMOCRATIC”, or even “INDEPENDENT” politicians…
Oliver, leaving aside the question of whether it is better in some, all or no cases to offer “constructive criticism” instead of heated broadsides – or just how heated those broadsides should be, I wonder if you still think that the liberal criticism of the idea of a spending freeze is still merely a function of an overheated (and, you imply, knee-jerking) left wing blogosphere.
In the last thirty-six hours or so, we’ve seen quite a who’s who of notable people with various liberal and progressive credentials criticizing this move. Everyone from Cenk Uygur to Joseph Stiglitz to Rachel Maddow to Paul Krugman to various elected Democrats to….well, the list is rather long indeed, in fact – believes that this is a terrible idea, for various reasons. If I stipulate that there very well may have been ill-considered, hasty early responses which excoriated the decision without fully understanding or even reading it first, would you be willing to revisit your assessment that this is the “least bad” way to go about addressing those who are “concerned about spending?”
I’m not a fan of the spending freeze, but I don’t think a surgical strike is the kind of horror people seem to think it is. But I concede to being more conservative on fiscal matters – sort of – than a lot of liberals are.
[...] a slightly-related note, I liked Oliver Willis’s piece on Obama and the liberal blogoshere, even though I don’t completely agree with [...]
Good job Oliver! I’m so frickin sick of all of the fire being aimed at the President from folks who are supposed to be on his side.
Can’t we trade in the “base” we have for something that is not incontinent?
Strawman much, Ollie?
The liberal side of the country is waiting for BO to do something progressive. So far, he’s done much that isn’t. That doesn’t make him Hitler. It makes him a huge fucking disappointment.
And if you’re going to accuse someone/anyone on the left of calling BO Hitler, please supply a link. Otherwise you’re using doing no more or less than throwing hyperbolic shitbombs like the right does.
And pants wetting? Check you’re own drawers after that urine-squirting screed you just typed.
Grow up.
Shorter Oliver: The problem with liberals is that they don’t eat more of the shit sandwiches served up by Obama.
C’mon guys! It’s just a shit sandwich! Eat it! Yum! Hopey Changey!
This “shit sandwich” bit is one I always forget when I’m listing the meaningless gibberish phrases that pass for prose among the bed-wetterari.
It’s easy to tell which bloggers have safe employment and health insurance. They title their posts with something like: The Liberal Blogosphere Goes Fox News
Funny you mention DeLong. The commentors at his site — well, the ones he hasn’t purged for left deviationist wrecking, anyway — are beaming about Obama’s deep wisdom. It turns out that, by conceding to Republican standards, Obama’s going to win over those ever-so-informed “independent” voters, who of course are absolutely **glued** to their TV’s watching a political speech. And as a bonus, by giving in on the phony deficit issue, no Republican is ever again going to accuse him Wasting Your Hard-Earned Tax Dollars.
I mean, what can you say to this idiocy?!?! These “serious” “centrist” Dems must have been in a coma for 30 fucking years! They’ve learned absolutely **nothing** from the recent history of their own country! But they sure do love bashing their left wing — and then bashing lefties who talk a walk.
Obama blew it a year ago. Massively intervening in the financial sector was fine, necessary. But he did it with **zero** strings attached. He should have intentionally and explicitly made the finance “industry” the enemy. But instead of a “malefactors of great wealth” moment, we got idiotic plays for “bipartisanship”. Everything since has been PR to shore up the original marketing campaign.
It’s time to face facts. The Dems are never going to be worth a damn until lefties show them that they’re willing to walk. Next time, vote Green or don’t vote at all. The Dems aren’t worth your effort.
I find myself saying this a lot – but you Americans wouldn’t keep having this argument if you could learn the difference between a liberal and a leftist.