Flashback: Me, February 10, 2008

I didn't write anything special here, which wasn't expressed in one form or another by any of us who saw that the light at the end of the tunnel really was an oncoming train. I'm re-posting it as a reminder that we weren't crazy, we're weren't a bunch of whiners, we weren't a bunch of Hillary worshippers, and our valid concerns weren't a cover for racism. And we weren't stupid.

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Plainly put, I don't get the reassurance at all that Obama listens -- at least not to anyone other than his own advisers. Don't flame me for making this comparison, as I'm not saying Obama is a madman like Bush, but I get the same vibe of "stay the course" stubbornness from Obama as I do from Bush, as well as the same "I don't pay attention to focus groups" tunnel vision. Yep, a lot of that feeling comes from Obama's dead-set determination not to listen to us gay folks (and certainly not to our biggest and most powerful lobbying group in Washington, the Human Rights Campaign) about the damage of allowing Donnie McClurkin to run amok onstage in South Carolina.

And before anyone jumps me for being a "one-issue voter" or a "take my ball and go home" whiner, let me make something very clear: I did a lot of soul-searching during and after the McClurkin business. I forced myself to ask if I really was just reacting on a solely emotional level, letting my heart lead my head. While I'm certainly angry, I finally realized two things: 1) Had it not been for the McClurkin issue, I most likely would not have taken such a critical look at the rest of Obama's policies (what I can find of them; honestly, I do not see any solid, step-by-step, workable plans I can believe in) on their own merit, and 2) that Obama's hamfisted dealing (or not dealing) with the McClurkin mess was only symptomatic of what I perceive as Obama's general bullheadedness, and -- yes -- arrogance.

Symptomatic, how? Most glaringly: Obama wants to "reach out" -- but his lame handling of the McClurkin issue is a clear signal to me that he's quite selective about who he wants to reach out to. All his nice talk about overcoming homophobia means nothing to me when his actions, no matter how indirectly, no matter how passively, no matter how un-deliberately, serve in the end only to promote homophobia.

I'm being very generous in suggesting the McClurkin deal wasn't deliberate on Obama's part; I do believe it was a deliberate message to Southern religious homophobes that he's on their side, and he's not going to let those horrible, sinful, child-molesting homosexuals tell him what to do.

At the same time, I am not saying Obama is a homophobe -- I am saying that Obama knowingly and willingly used homophobia to his advantage.

As for the other main point of the op/ed:

"Hillary Clinton too, this person said, brings a group of retainers and pols who think they've done it all before -- and don't understand that tomorrow's challenges are more serious and more complex than any of us have perhaps seen in our lifetimes."

What is this guy smoking? It's Obama who doesn't "understand that tomorrow's challenges are more serious and more complex than any of us have perhaps seen in our lifetimes." His empty "hope and change" mantra is evidence of that.

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Obama may think he can "reach out" until the whole world is moving together in perfect harmony like one big Mobius strip -- but as nice as that idealism is, it is painfully (and dangerously) unrealistic and naive.

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You know, I still enjoy "The Brady Bunch" -- everyone's happy, and clean, and conflict can be solved by building a house of cards or singing a song. But I enjoy it because it's fantasy -- and I wouldn't rely on Mike's seemingly Zen-like but ultimately meaningless homespun wisdom to get me out of any real-life jams. The delusion that playing nicey-nice is what got us into this mess in the first place: It got us Bush.

I want somebody who can get down and dirty on the BushCo thugs and talk to them in a way they understand. I want somebody who's willing to bust heads. Figuratively speaking, of course.

In other words: We don't need the Bradys -- we need The Sopranos.

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More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4516480

I don't know about y'all, but I'm deeply conflicted right now:

I hate what's happening with HCR, yet I'm deeply relieved that something whacked enough people in the head with the reality stick -- yet sorry it took such a literal life-and-death matter to open their eyes.

I empathize (somewhat) with the Dems ripped up by their crisis of faith -- in Obama, in the Dem Party, in their own judgment -- yet angry it took such a literal life-and-death matter to open their eyes.

Now and again on my blog, when criticizing Obama (far more freely than I ever have here), I've been jumped by an Obama devotee who's chewed me out for complaining, and demanded, "What's your solution to (problem-of-the-moment)?"

Since Obama became POTUS, I've always given the same answer: I gave you my solution: Do not give this man the Democratic nomination. Now, I'm all out of solutions.

I guess the truth hurts.

McClurkin
Obama's Hawk speech at the Council on Foreign Relations
Using NAFTA against Clinton, then becoming Pro-NAFTA the day after the Primaries
Charter Schools
His RW Meme Debate Position: "Social Security is in Trouble"
His Lack of a Track Record
His Attack on "Baby Boomer" Protesting
His Admiration of Reagan


All these (and more!) spelled out that Obama's campaign was likely the most duplicitous in history. But I voted for him: because only if he obtained office would he ever show his true face to the American people.

And now I am proud--DAMN PROUD of the American people, who are waking up and moving forward! :patriot:

President Obama's comments about Reagan and claiming the Right has good ideas(What would those be, exactly?) had me scratching my head, but I firmly believe in voting to support what is supposed to fix the system, because either it will(...right, but a man can dream), or because it will show in glaring red letters that the system is not fixable and needs to be tossed.

Can we toss it now?

Another good policy: don't hero worship politicians. Politicians are empty suits.

K&R

As I pointed out in another thread, every single prediction of Obama I ever had in 2007-2008 has come true.

It's a shame that some people absolutely refuse to listen and see Obama for what he is -- an empty suit politician, just like all the rest. Cognitive dissonance can be a real mofo.

K&R

cause I was right there with you last year