My World is More Frightening than Yours.

In your world, Obama is the bad guy. He's the 'corporate stooge' who 'sold us out'. Forget that he's lived up to so many promises... they were meaningless against his backdrop of corporate/elite welfare, illegal prisons, homophobia, and war-mongering. Obviously those are all traits he displays because he has not put an end to them by now.

I agree.

Partly.

That is a frightening world, and I'd really not want to live there. Any world where the Leader of the Free World allowed illegal wars, illegal detention, and spying on American citizens would be a truly frightening one. Scary.

Indeed.

What could possibly be more frightening?


Perhaps a world where the 'Leader of the Free World' was actually interested in doing greater good. Perhaps he'd be interested in re-establishing the rule of law. Maybe he'd want to expand social programs, regulate greedy and ruthless corporations, reign in Wall-Street abuses, establish Universal Health Care, and ensure venues for the advancement of equality and social justice.

What would be so frightening about that?

If he wasn't allowed to do it with the wave of his hand.

My world, the one I live in with everyone else whether they like it or not, has entities in it that are well-established as powerful, voracious, and absolutely ruthless... entities which own and control the media, the politicians, and the very economic landscape.

I hate this world, but it exists. I would very much like to join everyone in the less scary world where the President is the daddy figure who can decide at any time to save us all or not. It would be lovely to believe that just getting the 'right guy' in place would secure salvation for all of us. Then, I could bash him and hold my gaze upon him rather than look at the terrifying things he might have to deal with.

Oh... to be a child and maintain or shed my faith in my father based on what he does for me. Too difficult and frightening for me, as a child, would it be to recognize that my father was beset by forces I could weigh, measure, and judge his strength against. No, as a child I would judge him, regardless of what he might be up against, because such things are too frightening and far beyond my conception.

I am not a child. Therefore my world is a much more frightening place.

It is one where no one man, no matter how high an office he attains, can do everything We the People require to maintain our Democracy.

Therefore, I must grow up... and take responsibility upon myself to make my world a better place. Not only for myself, but for everyone in my town, my state, my country, and my world.

And an awesome responsibility it will be.

I haven't even figured out how to correct the beer and travel money issue, and it has been many years :)

Figure someone will figure that part out though.

'Beer or Gas' = Too many sleepless nights. (Beer usually wins though)

Now, if you're talking both, then I can only offer advice on elder professions.

please, NO MAS

Does someone have one that I don't know about?

I I wonder how many unrecs hit this OP. Probably the same fucked up bunch that hate Michael Vick.

I heard Bo was actually 4>0. That would put Obama way ahead of Vick.

Get your facts straight buddy.

It's condescending, and bashes those DUers who have a reasonable expectation of holding politicians accountable

This isn't about 'reasonable expectations' though. It's about unreasonable ones.

I know... there's no distinction in the world where politicians can do anything we want them to.

You know what's funny though? Obama is likely to preside over the legalization of same-sex marriage. Why? Because corporations have very little to lose with that one.

I apologize for being terribly aware of the very real obstacles any well-meaning President is up against. I also apologize if that seems 'condescending'. I mean 'if' because it should only seem condescending to someone who might be willfully ignorant of the forces politicians of good will are up against. Perhaps you remember Jimmy Carter? Yeah... he sold us out too, right?

It's not like any of the good ones are killed in plane-crashes on the eve of their re-elections or anything.

Please read his ten point proposal of April 18, 1977 created to help us achieve oil independence.... You might change your mind..


"Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy."




http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html

Isn't that the point? He made promises he failed to keep, right?

Guess how he was treated then.

It's just as effective to announce your most ambitious plans now as it was then, and just as easy to see them destroyed. Maybe it doesn't register to the young folks these days, but 'close to the vest' isn't just a savvy phrase, and doing everything right isn't just about intention.

Carter's intention was to make the nation more secure.

What stopped that from happening?

we are called purists, and other demeaning things... It is our job in this real world to make known that scary or not we should be able to have privacy, jobs, dignity, etc.....

And we do.

Unfortunately, there is no power in the office anymore save what is allowed by scarier things. That much has become obvious to anyone paying enough attention.

To focus on the fault of the man is to be blind to the forces that work upon him.

Ours is not great enough to counter those, and taking it out entirely on the man, while ignoring and doing little about what opposes him, will do little or nothing for our ends.

held hostage by the powers that be, I'm thinking we are going to have to come together and go rescue him along with ourselves....

Not sure if you're being sincere here, but your words are basically true.

The great example of the most well-intentioned President Jimmy Carter came up here. Why didn't he succeed in making us energy independent 30 years ago when it could have saved us from so many travesties? His vision was clear, and he spoke it out loud. So what went wrong?

Well, here we are again. We have a guy who wants more for Americans, but seems a little less inclined to make strident and earnest declarations.

So far, the only things he's really had his way on are those things corporate America really doesn't give a fuck about. That should make any sentient person think.

Carter failed because he got hamstrung in the face of OPEC and the Iranian Revolution and Reagan/Bush political manipulations.... Obama is likewise failing, but without OPEC fighting him over the Palestinian/Israeli issue... without a (new) Iranian revolution (how many realize that Iran was the US's best buddy before the revolution in '79?) ...

As a matter of fact, given your comparison, what the fuck is holding Obama up?

Ohh right, US corporations... the ones he's "reaching out" to... how's that working out?

Obama isn't even coming up with the "vision" mentioned in the OP... let alone any successes building consensusii enough to make anything from the nonexistent "vision"...

Where's our crack? If the US is gonna be this fucked over, we the citizens at least deserve to have the chance to smoke some crack... to have a momentary glance at the happiness of the rich protected by the system...

Right?

That seems to be the conclusion.

Monied interests always win out because they can now direct their resources in any way, legal or otherwise, against anyone. It wasn't as easy to get away with it in Carter's time, but they still did. Iran Contra? The guy who took the fall and essentially admitted to treason is walking around free as a 'respected' statesman.

:wtf:

THAT's what's frightening. In the scary world Obama IS doing everything he can 'get away with on our behalf. A man does not do the no-paying and often frustrating work of community organizing because he intends to screw people. No, this man is where he is because he wanted to make life better for people on the ground, but found he could have little effect at the level he was at... each time he went up another level.

Including the one he's on now.

Like if you are someone's boss you would just point out their errors and insult them.

Ugh! Truly fucked up.

Truly is disheartening to read the Obama trashing on DU. I expect that stuff when I venture into the Yahoo blog cesspool. Of course, now we are going to be put on ignore or called wingnut plants for sticking up for a pretty good President and an honest family man.

People. Let's take those we disagree with off ignore and do battle on the field of ideas. As democrats, all of us will be better and stronger for the ideas driven fights that we have. I have not and WILL NOT put anyone on ignore, that is not what I want, I want to fight over what the vision for the democratic party should be. We ARE NOT republicans, nothing repulses me more than to be equated to republicans.

Because It's MY World - It's All About ME

Deja Vu.

PB

Naw, couldn't touch that without a whole day and a 36 oz mocha with whiskey.

But yeah... nice flashback.

to down-thread.

thank you for the effort, again!!

:hug:

you have no idea how much I appreciate you.

:pals:

it is mutual, then.

:pals:

I think Obama really does want to get the country going again. I think he really does oppose the super-rich tax cuts too. But I think he has 2 flaws that are holding him back: 1) he is too easily convinced that other people in power want the same thing, so he fell for the repub posturing rather than taking the hard stand he should have taken; and 2) he actually has bought into the repub Randroid myth that the wealthy are the ones that do the creating and support the poor. I think 2) in particular is the only explanation for the last 6 month's performance, because if he really did understand that the rich are the ones that are parasites on the working class production, he would at least have fought the super-rich tax cuts much more. They are completely antagonistic to any economic recovery, and they really are supposed to be - they are intended to enable privatization of the entire country.

I don't believe he's bought into the Rand bullshit. I think he, and the rest of the Dems, grossly underestimated the ability of the repugs exploit all those loopholes and obscure Congressional rules, and totally fuck them over with it. Also, they massively underestimated the ability of the repugs to overtake and dominate the messaging. He didn't buy into the posturing. He just didn't believe they really would put their own agenda of destroying his presidency ahead of the country's well-being, IMO. And, that is what painted them into the corner regarding tax cuts, health care, and everything else.

Maybe, maybe not - but in either case, he's underestimated the lengths repubs will go to retake power, which is a serious blunder. It has been obvious for well over a decade that they believe they are entitled to rule.

Either way, the PTB owns enough resources to create astro-turf opposition and maintain it through the media. That alone is powerful enough to influence already compromised legislators. It's very dangerous too. They could enact virtually anything they want by making it appear 'popular', then further vilify the POTUS should he veto it. They can create their own cycle of discontent, and the rabid masses will buy into it.

Witness the teabillies, who were a tiny fringe group promoted by Fox into The Next Great Power Brokers.

Only, instead of enacting things and making them appear to be popular, they're making things the President and Dems enacted appear to be unpopular. Healthcare reform is the perfect example. Most people like at least part of what's in it. They have been making it look like nobody likes any of it. The same with TARP. He didn't enact it, buy most people are blaming it on him, in large part because of the propaganda.

...a frightening world indeed, but worth the fight, to take the power from the "wrong people"

But he does have the power to pull back the curtain, and expose the shadow government. Even if it's at an enormous personal risk, one man in that position does have the power to either expose the truth or perpetuate the lie. So why won't he?

Which could lead to an even scarier conclusion: Who's being held hostage? I think it's all of us.

I'd like to think that I would brave dire fate to expose and expunge the forces of avarice and fear that hold us hostage, but you could be right that doing so may cause even greater harm than we realize.

it's one man and that is easy. If we don't have a national health care plan like single payer, they just blame him. But he's not a king. In our system the power is separated into three branches at the federal level and three more at state level. It's just childish ranting, because everyone knows this.

Especially annoying is the idea that previous, dead Presidents had all that power. No, they didn't. They didn't get a national health care plan either, which they would have, had they been so powerful.

My pet peeve is calling the President "Leader of the Free World" or the like. That is just ignorance. He is the leader of the federal executive branch of the U.S.A.

We the People. It's so much easier to forget that and lean on the president like he's a parent. President Obama may come in for more of this since he is rather parent or teacher-like in demeanor. Maybe people are going through the teen stage.

How interesting. You know, I've found children to be pretty decent judges of people's character, if the kids get to know them after a spell. I've seen how Obama's governed, and it's clear the man is not fighting forces that act against America's best interests - in fact, he's part of them. Nobody has forced the man to continue fighting two unjust wars. Nobody made him jump like a scared rabbit every time the right made a ridiculous accusation against someone in his government, which inevitably led to their dismissal. Nobody made the president grow timid and quiet on the national stage during the health care debate, giving up the momentum he earned during the election to pass a law friendly to the very industry sucking America dry. Nobody made the president part and parcel of continued detention of terrorism "suspects" or rendition of said suspects to foreign countries. Nobody made the president push forth a tax plan that continues massive tax breaks for the wealthy and sets the stage for the eventual pairing down of social security.

There have been other politicians in this country who fought the landed and powerful, many with much less sway and influence than Obama ever had. They raised their voices, were willing to point out injustice and avarice and took bold stances for the people who had nothing. If he had wished, Obama could have put tremendous political pressure on his opponents to pass legislation that may have made a real difference for Americans. Instead, he took the path so many other Democrats have at the national level: a path of compromise, where words like "bipartisanship" are uttered, meaningless given the venom and invective coming from the other side. In every manner, the man allows himself to be manipulated so he can seem to be the ultimate Washington darling, someone who can get rave reviews from the media and avoid the dreaded stigma of seeming to be too "lefty."

If I'm a child, and the president is my father, then I'm reporting him to child services for ritually abusing me, or at least my trust.

And, in turn, refuse to acknowledge the good he's done so far despite the odds.

Do you really think universal health care was even possible with the influence of the insurance industry?

For fuck's sake, they created an entire movement out of whole cloth just to put the brakes on it.

But if you want naïve, it's right here;

"Nobody made the president push forth a tax plan that continues massive tax breaks for the wealthy and sets the stage for the eventual pairing down of social security. "

What was his alternative?

The Devil made him do it. :eyes:

Polls showed the vast majority of Americans wanted some type of public option/single payer. The man could've banged home, time and again, how the insurance industry is ripping off customers, forcing the sick off its rolls and pricing people out of the system. He could've rammed this point home, time and again, while making speeches. Yet, for the critical period last year when health care reform was the topic of national discussion, he did none of this. Can you imagine GW Bush not advocating vociferously for something he wanted?

Whatever "good" this man has done has been insignificant compared to the damage he's done. He is continuing the failed policies of trickle-down economics and allowing the destruction of the middle class to continue.

His alternative to the tax bill was to dig in and absolutely insist the breaks for the wealthiest Americans expire, then use his bully pulpit to point out to Americans how Republicans made their taxes go up if the Republicans held things up. It's the type of political gamesmanship Republicans are willing to do, but Obama isn't, in his constant quest to appease the party that he says "has lots of good ideas." What, exactly, are those good ideas?

The only naive one here is you, for thinking for a moment this president has your interests at heart. Have you even taken a look at the kind of people he installed in his government? Is that how you fight against all these "terrible" forces out there, by letting them into your cabinet and other key positions of influence? If he's this great crusader for the public interests against intractable forces, then why do his proxies constantly revile a part of their base (progressives) who helped get him elected?

From my distant perspective it would seem that Amis are in denial about "ENTRENCHED INTERESTS." We're talking centuries here.

Everything old being new again is shown in this TRMS clip:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#40834526

I can only attribute the abject failure to connect-the-dots to the dumbing down of American society.

and an orange guy that cries at the drop of a hat to contend with. Wow, Obama must be superhuman or something... :eyes:

Seriously?

UnRec.

the post is considering much more than just Mitch McConnell and John Boehner... there is much more afoot out there that we don't see and that we are not told about

The Doctor...
After all he has saved Earth time and time again from the Master, Daleks, Cybermen, Davros, Ice Warriors, Sea Devils, Sontarans, Zygons and a host of other outer worldly villians.



:hide:

This was a great post of realistic and adult viewpoints so often lacking amongst the screaming and teeming masses.