Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 8:12pm
Being a liberal, one who actually proudly refers to himself as such and not euphemistically as a "progressive," you can imagine I was not too thrilled about Obama's compromise with the GOP on tax cuts. In fact, I am not thrilled about a lot of Obama's positions, actions, inaction, messaging or his (or his administration's) frequent lashing out at people like me who supported his candidacy.
However, being a liberal does not mean that I have abandoned reason nor does it imply that I must in order to maintain that label.
Right now, most people of my political persuasion are hammering Obama for not fighting, for caving and for slamming them for doing so. They have a point and it is not lost on me. He deserves it it in many respects, even though reality does suggest very strongly that he could never have gotten the tax cuts he wanted passed. The votes simply are not there. And no amount of posturing, bullying, stumping or pleading is going to cause Republicans to suddenly become moral, responsible people no matter what anyone says, however much we may enjoy hearing them say it.
Still, we have this anger to deal with. It is a righteous anger. It is an anger caused by injustice, inequality and immorality. But I believe it is misdirected.What if we, Obama's so-called base, were to direct this anger not at our own admittedly human leader, but at those who have not only opposed every single piece of legislation, every appointment and every idea he has presented from day one, but who have virtually declared their number one objective to be his complete and utter destruction? What if we were to unite in white-hot rage at the GOP? You know, the people who think it is fine to lie about this and every other piece of legislation while suggesting that Obama is foreign-born, a Communist, a Marxist, a racist and even maybe the Antichrist and so therefore assassination-worthy.
What if all the pundits on the left, instead of piling on Obama and the Democrats, focused their vitriol on, say, Mitch McConnell or John Boehner for vowing to starve Americans to death unless their billionaire buddies get tax breaks? Or for threatening to let unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans expire? Or for threatening to not vote for the START Treaty? You realize that is playing games with nuclear weapons to get their tax cuts, right?
The Republican Party, and their Tea Party wing, are probably the most amoral, thuggish, ignorant and dangerous party to have been a force in this country in the past hundred years. The first thing they want to do when they regain power? Make sure that no one has affordable, functioning health insurance. End Social Security and Medicare. Remove all regulation from Wall St. Abolish all environmental protection. Criminalize all abortion. Meld Church and State. I could go on.
So who do we and all the journalists, commentators and pundits on the left go after? Obama. Because he hasn't done enough soon enough. Because he can't magically overcome an opposition party that has used the filibuster more in two years than it's entire sum in the past hundred years. Because he isn't Wesley Snipes. Because he's not as liberal as some of us thought he was. Because we are disappointed. Whatever.
News flash: Obama is NOT the enemy. The GOP is. Our anger should be directed at them every single day, all day long. They are the ones preventing legislation we all want from being enacted. Not Obama. Not the Democrats. We cannot count on one, not ONE, Republican vote for anything that will benefit the people of this country.
Making Obama the enemy will accomplish one thing. You got a peek at it in the last election. It's called a Republican takeover. I do not have a terrific memory, but I am not so far into dotage that I have forgotten what eight years of George Bush brought us. That's right. Everything Obama has been trying to undo for the past two. You want eight more years of that? Look at this current Republican party. Imagine it. Think about it. Fear it.
We should hold Obama accountable. We should push for the change we voted for. We should work to get real liberals elected. But we should not sabotage our own side. We should not do the enemy's work for them. And that's exactly what we are doing.
©2010 Kona Lowell
Being a liberal, one who actually proudly refers to himself as such and not euphemistically as a "progressive," you can imagine I was not too thrilled about Obama's compromise with the GOP on tax cuts. In fact, I am not thrilled about a lot of Obama's positions, actions, inaction, messaging or his (or his administration's) frequent lashing out at people like me who supported his candidacy.
However, being a liberal does not mean that I have abandoned reason nor does it imply that I must in order to maintain that label.
Right now, most people of my political persuasion are hammering Obama for not fighting, for caving and for slamming them for doing so. They have a point and it is not lost on me. He deserves it it in many respects, even though reality does suggest very strongly that he could never have gotten the tax cuts he wanted passed. The votes simply are not there. And no amount of posturing, bullying, stumping or pleading is going to cause Republicans to suddenly become moral, responsible people no matter what anyone says, however much we may enjoy hearing them say it.
Still, we have this anger to deal with. It is a righteous anger. It is an anger caused by injustice, inequality and immorality. But I believe it is misdirected.What if we, Obama's so-called base, were to direct this anger not at our own admittedly human leader, but at those who have not only opposed every single piece of legislation, every appointment and every idea he has presented from day one, but who have virtually declared their number one objective to be his complete and utter destruction? What if we were to unite in white-hot rage at the GOP? You know, the people who think it is fine to lie about this and every other piece of legislation while suggesting that Obama is foreign-born, a Communist, a Marxist, a racist and even maybe the Antichrist and so therefore assassination-worthy.
What if all the pundits on the left, instead of piling on Obama and the Democrats, focused their vitriol on, say, Mitch McConnell or John Boehner for vowing to starve Americans to death unless their billionaire buddies get tax breaks? Or for threatening to let unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans expire? Or for threatening to not vote for the START Treaty? You realize that is playing games with nuclear weapons to get their tax cuts, right?
The Republican Party, and their Tea Party wing, are probably the most amoral, thuggish, ignorant and dangerous party to have been a force in this country in the past hundred years. The first thing they want to do when they regain power? Make sure that no one has affordable, functioning health insurance. End Social Security and Medicare. Remove all regulation from Wall St. Abolish all environmental protection. Criminalize all abortion. Meld Church and State. I could go on.
So who do we and all the journalists, commentators and pundits on the left go after? Obama. Because he hasn't done enough soon enough. Because he can't magically overcome an opposition party that has used the filibuster more in two years than it's entire sum in the past hundred years. Because he isn't Wesley Snipes. Because he's not as liberal as some of us thought he was. Because we are disappointed. Whatever.
News flash: Obama is NOT the enemy. The GOP is. Our anger should be directed at them every single day, all day long. They are the ones preventing legislation we all want from being enacted. Not Obama. Not the Democrats. We cannot count on one, not ONE, Republican vote for anything that will benefit the people of this country.
Making Obama the enemy will accomplish one thing. You got a peek at it in the last election. It's called a Republican takeover. I do not have a terrific memory, but I am not so far into dotage that I have forgotten what eight years of George Bush brought us. That's right. Everything Obama has been trying to undo for the past two. You want eight more years of that? Look at this current Republican party. Imagine it. Think about it. Fear it.
We should hold Obama accountable. We should push for the change we voted for. We should work to get real liberals elected. But we should not sabotage our own side. We should not do the enemy's work for them. And that's exactly what we are doing.
©2010 Kona Lowell
This is such an excellent article by Kona! Please feel free to share with others. If you share on FB you can delete the Obama comment under the link by right clicking twice and then delete. You can copy and paste from this article of leave it blank:)
ReplyDeleteWhen I say you can copy and paste, I mean a few lines....:)
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I would also place the blame with the Democrats in Congress who had control and yet still voted with republicans and did NOT have the Presidents back on anything. The President and the Democrats should not have had to compromise on anything if the Dems in Congress would have grown some balls, been loyal to the party and did what was right for the people from the very beginning!
ReplyDeleteDems need to hold out for NO tax cuts for the rich ... at any cost. If not, the GOP will have a green lite to totally destroy USA as we have known it.
ReplyDeleteI don't wan't to live in the land of corporations and their slaves. That's about where we are already
Dems need to hold out for NO tax cuts for the rich ... at any cost. If not, the GOP will have a green lite to totally destroy USA as we have known it.
ReplyDeleteI don't wan't to live in the land of corporations and their slaves. That's about where we are already
I have to say that I would also place the blame with the Democrats in Congress who had control and yet still voted with republicans and did NOT have the Presidents back on anything. The President and the Democrats should not have had to compromise on anything if the Dems in Congress would have grown some balls, been loyal to the party and did what was right for the people from the very beginning!
ReplyDeleteWhen I say you can copy and paste, I mean a few lines....:)
ReplyDeleteWhen I say you can copy and paste, I mean a few lines....:)
ReplyDeleteThis is such an excellent article by Kona! Please feel free to share with others. If you share on FB you can delete the Obama comment under the link by right clicking twice and then delete. You can copy and paste from this article of leave it blank:)
ReplyDelete