@BarackObama @KeithOlbermann On the other hand, I can't completely disagree with Olbermann, either.
(EDIT) Youtube embed removed due to typical Youtube fuckery. (/EDIT)
I can still totally see where all of the anger is coming from, and even agree with it to a large degree, despite my previous post on the subject (though I said as much even in that one). Obama may indeed have screwed up with this deal with the Republicans. Was it the best he could do, given the situation? Maybe, but I think his real screw up was in allowing himself to be put into such a situation in the first place. Should he have dug in his heels and took the fight to the Republicans over this issue? I honestly don't know. My gut says that he did the right thing by compromising, but on the other hand, maybe it would have been better for him to have simply called out the Republicans for their heinous tactics (which he kind of sort of did anyway, even while grudgingly acquiescing to said heinous tactics). Maybe it would have been better for Obama to have told them to stick their failed policies, which have been failing for the past decade now, where the sun doesn't shine and to do their worst. The short-term downfall of that would have been a tax hike that would have led to further hardships for a very large number of people, which would have made a lot of people very, very angry, but the long-term benefit could have been that finally, finally, FINALLY, FINALLY the majority of the American public would have directed that anger at the most appropriate target: the obstructionist Republicans. Maybe they would have finally opened their eyes and saw for themselves just how despicable the Republicans truly are.[1] As it stands right now, however, the Republicans are coming out of this... well, I won't say "smelling like roses"... I'll just say that their shit don't stink any worse than it did before, which was already pretty nasty. It's Obama who is getting covered in shit because of this deal.
Yeah, what sucks is that it is Obama who seems to be getting most, if not all, of the flak from this mess. It is apparently Obama who is the monster here, because he made a deal with the Republicans. Conservatives still hate him, have always hated him, and will forever continue to hate him, but now, as a result of this, a very large number of liberals hate him as well, and are making their outrage against him loudly known. Where is all the outrage against the Republicans who essentially forced him into this situation? Sure, it's forever simmering there in the background, but at the moment it is being drowned out by the outrage against Obama himself. The Republicans were going to say "No" (as they are wont to do) to the middle class tax cuts just because they wouldn't have gotten their precious cuts for the rich as well![2] In all of their outrage against Obama, people seem to forget that little detail. It is not something that can just be brushed aside as though it were inconsequential. It is the very core of the issue at hand. Obama was simply a man who was put into a tight, difficult situation and who may (or may not) have made the wrong choice in said situation. Would anyone else in his position have done any better, I wonder. While I do agree with everyone who is saying that Obama could have certainly handled this betterdifferently, I still don't think it's time to just throw up our hands and declare the man a total failure as President either. My only potential explanation for this is that the liberals who are so busily decrying Obama are simply of the notion that it doesn't matter how much they decry the Republicans since it won't make any difference, therefore they're simply not bothering to do so and are instead focusing on a target that might actually be receptive to their complaints (eventually).
For the historically ignorant here, with his Churchill quote Olbermann is comparing Obama's deal with the Republicans to the Munich Agreement. While I find that to be a ridiculous comparison, I maybe don't find it to be quite as ridiculous as I should. >_>; Honestly, I think the political situation in America is going to get much worse before it gets better, if it ever will get better. I fear that something truly terrible is imminent if something isn't done about this aura of stark divisiveness, perpetuated by all sides, that pervades politics to its very core these days, and which is the greatest problem underlying the entire thing. What the something to be done is, however, I couldn't say. I'm certainly not helping matters with posts like this one, that's for sure, but I'm still going to say what I feel I need to say. This whole looming issue, I think, is what Obama was, perhaps misguidedly, attempting to tackle with his deal with the Republicans, except that it has obviously backfired and blown up in his face. Yet, while I do think something needs to be done about it and that real compromises need to be made, and this may well be what Obama is ultimately trying to address and good on him if so, I also don't think said something should entail just rolling over and completely presenting your belly to the obstructionists either. I don't think that is what Obama has done here, but it is certainly what a lot of others think he has done. I'm very ambivalent about the entire thing, as is probably quite clear. It's all a confusing mess.
On the other hand, perhaps it would be better for us all if the dam would just go ahead and burst already, and wash away all of the rotting detritus that is currently clogging the political process. It would most definitely be ugly and brutal, but it also may simply be necessary.
Or maybe I'm just being overly dramatic, I don't know. I hope that's all it is.
[1] - Want an example of just how despicable? Some dumb bitch on Twitter said the following: "Hey liberals, so many of you are criticizing Obama these days. When did you all become racist?", which was retweeted by another stupid bitch, Sarah Palin.[3] (I only found out about it due to a Roger Ebert tweet. Ebert, by the way, has also been extremely critical of Obama's decision to deal with the Republicans, and again I don't entirely blame him either.) But anyway, yeah, I'd like to know... when did liberals become just as racist as the mongs? The answer: They haven't. They, unlike a lot of those conservatives, are simply voicing legitimate grievances in this case. There is a marked difference between the two concepts. Learn it. And, yes, I am well aware that there are plenty of conservatives out there who are voicing (what they feel are) legitimate grievances without resorting to petty racism as well, just as there probably are some genuinely racist liberals out there somewhere. The point is, Tammy Bruce's comment was asinine, as was Sarah Palin for repeating it.
[2] - With that said, here's something that is completely out of Bizarro World: there are now some Democrats who are threatening to try to block the Obama deal, because it does contain the tax cuts for the rich. How bloody stupid is that? I mean first the Republicans threatened to block it all because they weren't getting what they wanted out of it, so Obama cuts them a deal, and now the Democrats are threatening to block it all because it gives the Republicans some of what they wanted. Double-you Tee Eff? This whole mess is going beyond ridiculous. Sometimes it feels like Obama might be the only sane man in the whole bunch, Democrats and Republicans and all the rest combined. People seem to forget that another of the things he campaigned on was to heal the divide (both politically and racially) between people. Then again, some might view this simply as yet another thing at which he, rather obviously, has utterly failed to accomplish. Then again, maybe he has actually succeeded in this, now that it seems he has managed to get almost everyone united in their hatred of him. Of course, the conservatives and liberals are hating him for conflicting, diametrically opposing reasons, so once again maybe not. I just don't know anymore. *shrug*
[3] - By the way, Palin, how can Obama be "so very, very wrong on the economy", when it is your Tea Party stupid ass "cut all taxes everywhere" ideas to which he's capitulating, which is what is getting him into hot water with liberals in the first place? Yeah, he is "very, very wrong" to agree with your dumb shit, that is certainly true enough. See, I said they would still hate Obama, no matter what he did, and would you look at that. They do. How shocking. Also, that article to which Palin linked in the following tweet is ludicrous. Not that I expect anything better from her or Thomas Sowell.
I can still totally see where all of the anger is coming from, and even agree with it to a large degree, despite my previous post on the subject (though I said as much even in that one). Obama may indeed have screwed up with this deal with the Republicans. Was it the best he could do, given the situation? Maybe, but I think his real screw up was in allowing himself to be put into such a situation in the first place. Should he have dug in his heels and took the fight to the Republicans over this issue? I honestly don't know. My gut says that he did the right thing by compromising, but on the other hand, maybe it would have been better for him to have simply called out the Republicans for their heinous tactics (which he kind of sort of did anyway, even while grudgingly acquiescing to said heinous tactics). Maybe it would have been better for Obama to have told them to stick their failed policies, which have been failing for the past decade now, where the sun doesn't shine and to do their worst. The short-term downfall of that would have been a tax hike that would have led to further hardships for a very large number of people, which would have made a lot of people very, very angry, but the long-term benefit could have been that finally, finally, FINALLY, FINALLY the majority of the American public would have directed that anger at the most appropriate target: the obstructionist Republicans. Maybe they would have finally opened their eyes and saw for themselves just how despicable the Republicans truly are.[1] As it stands right now, however, the Republicans are coming out of this... well, I won't say "smelling like roses"... I'll just say that their shit don't stink any worse than it did before, which was already pretty nasty. It's Obama who is getting covered in shit because of this deal.
Yeah, what sucks is that it is Obama who seems to be getting most, if not all, of the flak from this mess. It is apparently Obama who is the monster here, because he made a deal with the Republicans. Conservatives still hate him, have always hated him, and will forever continue to hate him, but now, as a result of this, a very large number of liberals hate him as well, and are making their outrage against him loudly known. Where is all the outrage against the Republicans who essentially forced him into this situation? Sure, it's forever simmering there in the background, but at the moment it is being drowned out by the outrage against Obama himself. The Republicans were going to say "No" (as they are wont to do) to the middle class tax cuts just because they wouldn't have gotten their precious cuts for the rich as well![2] In all of their outrage against Obama, people seem to forget that little detail. It is not something that can just be brushed aside as though it were inconsequential. It is the very core of the issue at hand. Obama was simply a man who was put into a tight, difficult situation and who may (or may not) have made the wrong choice in said situation. Would anyone else in his position have done any better, I wonder. While I do agree with everyone who is saying that Obama could have certainly handled this betterdifferently, I still don't think it's time to just throw up our hands and declare the man a total failure as President either. My only potential explanation for this is that the liberals who are so busily decrying Obama are simply of the notion that it doesn't matter how much they decry the Republicans since it won't make any difference, therefore they're simply not bothering to do so and are instead focusing on a target that might actually be receptive to their complaints (eventually).
For the historically ignorant here, with his Churchill quote Olbermann is comparing Obama's deal with the Republicans to the Munich Agreement. While I find that to be a ridiculous comparison, I maybe don't find it to be quite as ridiculous as I should. >_>; Honestly, I think the political situation in America is going to get much worse before it gets better, if it ever will get better. I fear that something truly terrible is imminent if something isn't done about this aura of stark divisiveness, perpetuated by all sides, that pervades politics to its very core these days, and which is the greatest problem underlying the entire thing. What the something to be done is, however, I couldn't say. I'm certainly not helping matters with posts like this one, that's for sure, but I'm still going to say what I feel I need to say. This whole looming issue, I think, is what Obama was, perhaps misguidedly, attempting to tackle with his deal with the Republicans, except that it has obviously backfired and blown up in his face. Yet, while I do think something needs to be done about it and that real compromises need to be made, and this may well be what Obama is ultimately trying to address and good on him if so, I also don't think said something should entail just rolling over and completely presenting your belly to the obstructionists either. I don't think that is what Obama has done here, but it is certainly what a lot of others think he has done. I'm very ambivalent about the entire thing, as is probably quite clear. It's all a confusing mess.
On the other hand, perhaps it would be better for us all if the dam would just go ahead and burst already, and wash away all of the rotting detritus that is currently clogging the political process. It would most definitely be ugly and brutal, but it also may simply be necessary.
Or maybe I'm just being overly dramatic, I don't know. I hope that's all it is.
[1] - Want an example of just how despicable? Some dumb bitch on Twitter said the following: "Hey liberals, so many of you are criticizing Obama these days. When did you all become racist?", which was retweeted by another stupid bitch, Sarah Palin.[3] (I only found out about it due to a Roger Ebert tweet. Ebert, by the way, has also been extremely critical of Obama's decision to deal with the Republicans, and again I don't entirely blame him either.) But anyway, yeah, I'd like to know... when did liberals become just as racist as the mongs? The answer: They haven't. They, unlike a lot of those conservatives, are simply voicing legitimate grievances in this case. There is a marked difference between the two concepts. Learn it. And, yes, I am well aware that there are plenty of conservatives out there who are voicing (what they feel are) legitimate grievances without resorting to petty racism as well, just as there probably are some genuinely racist liberals out there somewhere. The point is, Tammy Bruce's comment was asinine, as was Sarah Palin for repeating it.
[2] - With that said, here's something that is completely out of Bizarro World: there are now some Democrats who are threatening to try to block the Obama deal, because it does contain the tax cuts for the rich. How bloody stupid is that? I mean first the Republicans threatened to block it all because they weren't getting what they wanted out of it, so Obama cuts them a deal, and now the Democrats are threatening to block it all because it gives the Republicans some of what they wanted. Double-you Tee Eff? This whole mess is going beyond ridiculous. Sometimes it feels like Obama might be the only sane man in the whole bunch, Democrats and Republicans and all the rest combined. People seem to forget that another of the things he campaigned on was to heal the divide (both politically and racially) between people. Then again, some might view this simply as yet another thing at which he, rather obviously, has utterly failed to accomplish. Then again, maybe he has actually succeeded in this, now that it seems he has managed to get almost everyone united in their hatred of him. Of course, the conservatives and liberals are hating him for conflicting, diametrically opposing reasons, so once again maybe not. I just don't know anymore. *shrug*
[3] - By the way, Palin, how can Obama be "so very, very wrong on the economy", when it is your Tea Party stupid ass "cut all taxes everywhere" ideas to which he's capitulating, which is what is getting him into hot water with liberals in the first place? Yeah, he is "very, very wrong" to agree with your dumb shit, that is certainly true enough. See, I said they would still hate Obama, no matter what he did, and would you look at that. They do. How shocking. Also, that article to which Palin linked in the following tweet is ludicrous. Not that I expect anything better from her or Thomas Sowell.