I Still Like Obama

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 20:30

President Barack Obama listens intently at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, 12/10/09. (photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

Reader Supported News | Perspective

nyone who enrages Republican wing-nuts as effectively as Barack Obama can't be all bad. In fairness, he does it without trying. In fact, just the opposite, he reaches out to them, which infuriates them all the more.

Afghanistan is the largest concern in terms of the decisions Obama has made. It's a textbook military blunder, not to mention a reinvestment in US Military domination of everyone, everywhere. Reinvestment is the right word for it. The fact that the US Economy is an epic disaster and we really still have two wars underway is no coincidence. There is room for cautious optimism that Iraq may be winding down as an active military operation. However, the chances that the US will relinquish control of Iraqi oil production, really, are not very good. An extended occupation and long-term manipulation of the Iraqi governmental process, and Iraqi natural resources, are all but certain.

All of which can be argued to be "business as usual" for the American President. I guess what I like about Obama is that I get the sense that he would like to, for lack of a better word, change things. The missing link here is what kind of pressure is Obama facing behind closed doors? Even in the public realm we're seeing unprecedented resistance to Obama's attempts at reform, from conservative Republicans and Democrats alike.

I like the things Obama has tried to do: Health care reform, foreclosure mitigation, his comments on the outrageous decision by the Supreme Court's five corporate lawyers to essentially duct-tape a for-sale sign to America's electoral system. All of these things are a departure for an American President. He is indeed trying.

What concerns me are the things Obama has agreed to: An extension of the US Campaign in Afghanistan, an acceptance of the Bernanke-Geithner "Wall Street must be saved," mantra, a don't-ask don't-tell policy on torture past and present.

I guess what redeems Obama for me is that he agrees to these things without losing his disdain for them. I wanted change, and in fairness change really hasn't come yet. The intriguing thing is that Obama may actually want these changes too, and seems to. My impression is that he is meeting resistance in a number of significant forms.

To understand what happens at the Oval Office, you first have to understand that the one called "president" is just a guest, literally. The president is there for either four or eight years, but he - or perhaps someday she - is surrounded by people that frequent the Oval Office over the course of decades, not four-year terms. These people may be lobbyists, Pentagon types, CIA, etc. They are very adept at bringing pressure to bear to achieve their aims. Things like, "You cannot do this or the consequences will be grave," get said by those who have said them before. Sure, the president has the final say, but the pressure-bringers have far greater experience, and far greater numbers.

The tea party crowd is merciless and relentless in their condemnation of Obama, but there is another group that stands just as ready to indict and convict Barack Obama: Progressives. Progressives are just as unyielding in their judgment of Obama, just as determined to derail, to thwart, to oppose, what they see as unacceptable governance. Progressive social objectives may be better reasoned and better argued, however, at the end of the day we may be seeing a Faustian synergy developing between two groups with diametrically opposed social agendas. Progressives and tea-baggers working on separate but parallel tracks to discredit the same president. Strange bedfellows indeed.

We now have a bona fide intellectual in the Oval Office - such things are rare. This is a man of understanding and insight, but his power to achieve change for good is not greater than the dedication of his supporters. Obama has to rally his supporters through a visible commitment to action, and his supporters must be willing to stand tall beside him.

Marc Ash was formerly the founder and Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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+13 # Guest 2010-02-17 21:54

"U.S. military dominance" needs to be unpacked. The ability to deploy force where it is believed legitimate threats to American security can arise is one thing (emphasis on "believed"). Obama will retain that, and that's smart, strategically, since both oil-rich Russia and cash-rich China are relative antagonists. Actual U.S. "domination" in all ldirections, however, is ironically preluded by the Bush economic craters of debt and loss of national income. Obama would prefer not to have had to deal with the huge craters (and realized that bailing out banks was a prerequisite for a quick climb out). But I am not sure he's unhappy about not having to exercise "domination." Because that is precisely what is driving neo-cons absolutely raving mad. Witness Cheney's now-regular denunciations on the Sunday talk shows. Which is a good sign: of a change that is happening...

-3 # Guest 2010-02-18 02:04

What change? Just because Cheney criticises? He would criticise anyway just to promote his party and to rehabilitate his image. It doesn't mean that the policy that Obama is following is worth supporting--especially as it looks more and more like Bush's policy every day especially as regards the two wars and various remains of the Patriot Act and Guantanamo.

+14 # Guest 2010-02-18 06:30

Babette, Obama is getting out of Iraq; Bush would not have. The operation in Afghanistan is to prevent a Taliban takeover -- which would, by the way, have caused the total subordination of women in that society, and the hanging of dissenters in public squares (would you have preferred that?) -- while getting out. Terrorists are being tried in federal courts, not military tribunals. And Guantanamo would have been shut by now if inmates' countries had accepted them back quickly; that's going slowly, but isn't Obama's fault. Spain took several two days ago. If you hate Obama, just say so, and not deceive yourself into believing he's Bush. He's not.

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:44

The Taliban? Geeze - they are mainly CIA operatives.
Terrorists? Manufactured, created and promoted by the US of A (and its partners in crime), as a means to justify the militarization and subjugation of the greater part of the planet.
Can you say Corporatocracy?

0 # SkeeterVT 2010-02-21 08:29

Joanna, you are clearly engaging in myth-making with regard to the Taliban. Where is the evidence that the Taliban are "CIA operatives?" Where is the evidence that the Taliban is on the CIA payroll?

It is the height of lunacy to suggest that the U.S. would send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an enemy who's been paid by the U.S. in the first place. No U.S. government in their right mind would do that.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-28 03:53

Perhaps Joanna exaggerates about the present, but there is ample evidence that the religiously based extremist networks were originally the creation of the US and its allies.

"No U.S. government in their right mind would do that."

Was your tongue in your cheek when you wrote thatÉ

-3 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:32

I'm sorry, but your wrong, you're so very wrong. As much as I don't like Marc Ash's continued support of Barack Obama given his mass betrayal to his voting base, Marc Ash is dead on when he says that the U.S., even under Obama, will not give up control of Iraq's oil and natural gas resources. Obama, under the phony guise of training Iraq's police forces and its military, will maintain a large number of American (occupation) forces, perhaps as much as 50,000 troops, in order to protect our (illegal) interests in Iraq's energy resources. If the truth be told, based on international law, any oil contracts negotiated between Iraq's oil minister, an American puppet, and the agents of those countries illegally occupying Iraq are completely illegal and nonbinding for that very reason. Any future government in Iraq which is truly freely elected by its people has every right to nullify these contracts and kick the oil companies out of Iraq.

+13 # Guest 2010-02-17 22:56

I think Obama is a great president. I feel so proud every day when I hear him speak and when I see him always be above the riff raft of the Congress - both parties. I just hate that he has to go through all this for us. We are not worthy.

+8 # Guest 2010-02-18 04:35

I'm in your group, Suzanne; I love Obama and I am pleased beyond compare that he is our president.

-3 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:45

We are conned!

+2 # Guest 2010-02-19 07:33

If you are from Canada, what business is it of yours?

+16 # Guest 2010-02-17 23:59

Yes, bringing change into this quagmire is very difficult, especially in face of this stupid idea that the USA can force its view of the world on other countries. The Russians could not control Afghanistan and the USA even less. We need less oil, not more and yet this blind greed is driving us to disaster. IT seems that the people must dictate the way, not big business and their lobbies.

+4 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:45

Right on Penny!

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 01:01

"[H]e agrees to these [corporate and militaristic] things without losing his disdain for them." Interesting that Mr Ash lauds such behavior. I thought a person who said one thing and did another was worthy of our disdain. The usual term for such an individual is "hypocrite."

Mr. Obama has (among other dubious acts) reaffirmed extraordinary rendition as being necessary for national security. We would do well to remember that England utilized this practice in the American colonies in the late 1700s. The founding fathers specifically cited that policy in their Declaration of Independence as a reason for severing ties with England. It's literally un-American. No president worthy of the office should embrace such a policy.

+12 # Guest 2010-02-18 01:07

I always have liked Obama.

I hesitate to give the game away, but what we are watching is the Long Con. We live in such an immediate, instant gratification world that we miss that he is setting these Neo-Con dinosaurs (apologies to dinosaurs) up for a gigantic take down.

Think of how fast he flicked the fly off his wrist, killing it. When he sees the moment to strike, he does not hesitate.

+4 # Guest 2010-02-18 10:55

Don't hold your breath while waiting for Obama to smite the cons. It ain't gonna happen, not in this universe.

+22 # Guest 2010-02-18 01:09

Change takes time.
At the end of the day to you believe in the relationship you developed with Obama and what you feel is the direction this country should take.
If you believe in change and standing up for what you believe in, then hold on and see it through.
Change can be messy, and sometimes we may differ in the details. Lets not get lost in the details.
I'm holding on and keeping the conversation going.
I believe in that my thoughts are true and can bring change.
I still believe in this president, our country and our ability to overcome our collective rough times.
There is a saying in spanish "poco a poco" = little by little, and I as an individual am willing to work everyday little by little to build this country.

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 01:14

The last intellectual president I can think of was Herbert Hoover. He did really well. Strong and wrong needs to be countered by strong and right. Not weak, compromised and morally bankrupt. Afghanistan is a concern? How about testing ground for new war crimes and a redux of our Vietnam policies? Cheney confesses to war crimes on national television and not a peep from the brave Obama justice department. Guantanamo still open. Wall Street back on track to ruin what's left of the economy. Health care dead. Continuation of most if not all of the Bush shredding of the constitution. All that while he had the bully pulpit. What do we get now that he has no juice whatsoever? Give me a bone here! Give me a reason to like him besides the fact he pisses off Republicans.

+9 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:56

Be patient. Maybe we won't get everything we want, but if we don't support Obama and the Democratic Party we'll be forced to accept more conservative Supreme Court justices like Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia and you can kiss any hope of progress goodbye for decades.

0 # BBFmail 2011-06-06 12:21

Quoting

Be patient. Maybe we won't get everything we want, but if we don't support Obama and the Democratic Party we'll be forced to accept more conservative Supreme Court justices like Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia and you can kiss any hope of progress goodbye for decades.

The lesser of 2 evils is still evil. I'll vote for my dog before I vote for Obama!!!!

+1 # SkeeterVT 2010-02-21 08:34

Herbert Hoover??? You're kidding, aren't you? Under Hoover, American -- and the world -- plunged into the Great Depression. FDR did his damndest to dig us out form it, but it took World War II to finally jump-start the American economy. Unfortunately, the military-industrial complex has dominated the U.S. economy ever since.

+19 # Guest 2010-02-18 01:50

I agree.....I think the disappointment that many feel --after only ONE YEAR, is unfair....Obama has to be given a chance !

Remember the extraordinary relief and happiness we all felt when he was voted in,,,,We've got to stick by him. He´s up against tremendous odds...The MESS he inherited can´t possibly be solved quickly....

BUT--- he´s got to stick to his promise, and send the troops
back....and GET OUT OF AFGANISTAN....NO MORE WARS !!!!!!!!

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 03:37

I like him too, would love to have a beer summit with him or walk his dog. It's his policies and inability to manage complex human structures that are the problem. Inexperience, alas, just as the Clintonites said. To me, besides what Marc Ash mentions and the Emmanuel / Summers / Geithners he has let into his entourage, the worst is the way he has let the generals take the initiative and seize public initiative, and then he has to follow them. He should have fired McChrystal as Truman fired MacArthur. Like Jimmy Carter, he is a really good guy who may go on, much later, to actually earn his Nobel laurels (and for something even more important than downhill racing).

0 # Guest 2010-02-18 04:11

At least Bill Clinton was given more than one year to work his miracles.

0 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:48

Miracles??? Such as what?

+16 # Guest 2010-02-18 05:05

The most useful idea I have heard on this subject is something Anna Quindlen wrote in ?Newsweek some months ago. Quoting from memory, "If we want Obama to be more like the man we elected, we have to be more like the people who elected him."

It's not enough to go to the polls once every four years, and spend the rest of the time wringing our hands and grumbling among ourselves. We have to be out there talking to friends and co-workers and also strangers, providing information to counteract the myths that the Teabaggers are spreading, calling our legislators to tell them how we want them to vote, etc.

+5 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:05

"If we want Obama to be more like the man we elected, we have to be more like the people who elected him."
Exactly!!
We have to be out there talking to friends and co-workers and also strangers, providing information to counteract the myths that the Teabaggers are spreading, calling our legislators to tell them how we want them to vote, etc.
Bravo,, great comments! I think one forward looking progressive idea would be to lessen the control of the federal government,, it, and the people who push it, are out of control,, as Obama is learning, and we are seeing. There is way too much power concentrated in Washington,, way too much.

+2 # Guest 2010-02-19 12:41

Agree!!! This is what Obama told us during the campaign. We have to remain active and keep the excitement of the election alive.

-5 # Guest 2010-02-18 05:13

I understand that La La land is really really hard to leave Mark but you are going to have get out - it is turning your brain to mush. This is campaign Obama that you are still in love with. The empty canvas that you can paint your wildest dreams on because he has no convictions himself. How many ways does Obama have to show you that he's just not that into you. It is what a person does not what he says that shows you what he truly believes and Obama has shown you clearly what he believes and it is republican lite. Obama will spend his life trying to get in with the Kool Kids and you will sit by and watch and say but he is so elegant when he screws mw hw can't mean it.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 05:27

Mark, this is bullshit. The key word in your piece is "tried." That doesn't get anything done in the real world.

He is obviously a hostage to the CIA and the Pentagon. But he had to know that going in. So if he isn't willing to follow JFK to martyerdom, call it quits and resign. He is just giving away the store in the name of "trying."

What would it take to restor habaeus corpus? A storke of his pen.

He could name a Special Prosecutor to investigate the crime of torture and let the chips fall. He could cut the Pentagon budget, not increase it.

I loved him--and he has betrayed us by giving in to the bad guys.

+4 # Guest 2010-02-18 05:30

The comments of other readedrs reflect my own feelings. One day I am cussing Obama under my breath and feeling like a chump. The next I feel some measure of hope; just as quickly it can taste like hype. When Obama smacked down the House Repugs a couple weeks ago at their coven I was thrilled by his poise and confidence. It is clear he has so much skill, which then brings up feelings of disquiet. How could a guy who is so smart, capable, creative and bold let the health care effort skitter out of control? How could he put the economy in the claws of Larry Summers? It's abundantly clear he can do better. So why not? What holds him back? Why did he let Organizing for America become irrelevant? Why hasn't he called upon us to help him? Is it a long con - of us? Some days I think it is and some days I am optimistic. One thing I do know is if he doesn't get his game on - and soon -his presidency will go down a one of the greatest missed opportunities in American political history.

+10 # Guest 2010-02-18 05:58

Perhaps in judging Obama after his first year on the job we should walk a mile in his shoes.
1. He's learning the ropes in D.C.
2. He is surrounded by people giving him their own brand of advice that he must sort through,
3. He has a pack of junk yard dogs snipping at his heels every step of the way.
4. Most of the press is spinning their own opinions...not spreading real news.
5. And to top it off...a good portion of his support base is sniping and complaining.
How would you do in a situation like that? My bet is you'd be headed for the nearest bar long before happy hour.
Give the man a break. Give him time to absorb the situation, think it through, and then take action. He deserves that much.
Spend your energy is taking down the tea-baggers, impatient supporters, and all the stubborn mules on their own side of the aisle in congress.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 06:09

This is an absurd defense based upon a failure to recognize that a President is not what he feels, but what policies he implements. Obama didn't merely "extend" the illegal war in Afghanistan - he expanded it. He gave the financial sector more money than Bush - by far. He is indistinguishab le from Bush, policy-wise, and thus, materially indistinguishab le.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 06:23

Mark, I think you're full of wishful thinking.

+5 # Guest 2010-02-18 06:31

President Obama cares about the People, and that is different from most presidents in my lifetime. I choose to stand behind him like I did when we elected him. He needs us now more than ever. Unfortunately, Americans are given to fear and love to hate the leaders (father issues?). People want to settle back into complacency. Also, beware of the critics because some of Obama's "liberal" critics are double agents for the right.
Our other choice was McCain/Palin, so that gives you a hint of the evil forces arrayed against us. They are sneaky and violent.
At least we have a chance for a better future with Obama. President Obama is working behind the scenes to uproot the cynical money monger aristocracy. Let's get out of the habit of blaming other people for our own unhappiness (especially our president), and listen to our hearts, not the propaganda agents.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:20

Ash writes: "I guess what redeems Obama for me is that he agrees to these things without losing his disdain for them."

I read that sentence and was astounded! Ash has described a hypocrite, a sanctimonious fraud.

Obama wrote, "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." That's exactly what people have done -- for those of us who studied his record, we knew he is not a progressive.

I want him to succeed.

Contrary to the belief that Obama's great oratorical skills have a magical effect, he hasn't once since taking the oath of office, summoned Americans to come together for the sake of all.

He's too busy pandering to the Republicans and the corporations, agreeing with them but sometimes showing his disdain for them.

-8 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:26

Give me a break. Obama doesn't have the intellect or experience of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I will say, though, that I don't think anyone is leading him around by the nose. He was handpicked a long time ago because he would go where the powers that be led him to go.

0 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:24

Hettiemae,
They ALL are.

0 # Guest 2010-02-18 07:56

"Progressives and tea-baggers (are) working on separate but parallel tracks to discredit the same president."

Our Republican and Democratic legislators are doing the same, for legislation they are being called to write, the legislation to protect us. Washington it would seem has become the bastion of unwholesome, indeed uncatholic interests. Now they're being called on it. Are we surprised when all they seem to know to do is pass the buck?

As for Obama, he's an intelligent man and he speaks beautifully about American values that have seemingly faded from most peoples minds. In this he won my confidence. Whatever good he's doing, working to win back the confidence of the world that was rightly shaken by Bush administration atrocities is not the least of it. Neither is Obama skirting the important subjects, making false accusations, pressing our noses toward senseless diversions. Yes, to again quote Ash: "There is room for cautious optimism."

-2 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:22

It's time to lose our "hopium" addiction and look at this Administration with sober eyes. While it's true that Rome wasn't dismantled in a day, this President is giving Empire a kinder face, while betraying not just progressives but all Americans who believe that the people and not the corporations should have final say. It is indeed true that dissatisfied progressives and tea party folks have much in common. Each group understands that the ruling class has used cultural differences to keep us divided so that we the people don't mass together and stand for rules of governance that benefit the commonwealth and not just the uncommonly wealthy.

+3 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:40

Obama tries to split the difference on every issue. This is no way to lead. It is no way to pull the rug out from under the right wing crazies.

Leadership is about doing the right thing and trusting that in the end it will work better that doing the wrong thing.

The decision to back two standard nuclear power plants is a perfect example. It was the wrong thing to do even for the Nuclear Power industry. It is now known you get rid of the waste by burning in a special reactor but there is no provision made to do this in this proposal.

Obama was appeasing his opposition. Splitting the differences.

Bush behaved as if the Democrats did not exist.

Lincoln was only concerned about doing the right thing and that was also the major concern of Roosevelt. People sense that about you and rally to your side.

If Obama does not understand this, he is lost.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:46

A reform-minded president would complete an independent audit of the Pentagon. David Walker, who used to be the GAO chief, said that there are over 6,000 mutually-incompatible bookkeeping systems in use there, and that it was impossible to audit. That situation made Walker pretty suspicious of undetectable ongoing waste, fraud, and abuse. The President has total authority over accounting at the Pentagon. So why doesn't he cause the Pentagon to become auditable, and to be audited? The least-horrifying answer I can think of is: the military-industrial complex owns Obama, and, as an "honest polician", he "stays bought".

+5 # Guest 2010-02-18 08:49

Obama is not only intelligent, but also cool, possessing statesmanship like qualities of a true and honest leader. He stays above the fray, handling each issue with dignity and integrity. His tenure will be one of greatness. We should know or remember that the right wing (conservatives} criticize Obama's agenda for stimulus. They also tried to destroy the beginnings of social security and the Roosevelt's new deal but now will falsely boast of their support when it was legislated into law. Isn't this what conservatives do best?. . .
Cycleman60@aol.com

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 10:04

I agree with you that President Obama by act and methodology raises the level of discourse in America. He does perceive us as part of a 'WORLD Community' not as a "New Rome". It is sad that he appears unable to be clear and articulate in conveying his message to the "Joe the plumber -Sarah Palins" who want charisma and punch lines over substance and whose endless cry is "what is in it for me and let the other guy pay". Perhaps the FDR's arise rarely and often in America they appear accompanied by Chauvinism, Xenophobia and Simplification.

-5 # Guest 2010-02-18 10:52

Baloney. ANYONE not endorsed by Fox News would enrage the wingnuts. That's just not good enough.

Obama has been a HUGE disappointment. He had an opportunity like I have never seen before in my lifetime, and that closet republican BLEW it.

I will not vote for him again. He's worthless.

+1 # Guest 2010-02-18 11:00

I admire Obama so much, he took on such a plate full, when he became President, I feel so sorry for him now......there are so many naysayers in his meetings...........what can we do....?? Also, thanks to Marc Ash for his message. He must have a good brain!!!

+1 # RICHARDKANEpa 2010-02-18 11:06

Some are a lot stronger in their praise of Obama. Jonathan Power’s “Obama’s peace and war” also “Blacks 4 Barrack” and “blogspot Back Obama, not the War” By posting this I look less extreme.

But Obama doesn't do this. He doesn’t builds protective walls to defend himself with. People and organizations want to make money and protect themselves. Progressive sites condemn Sarah Palin far more than Pat Robertson, even though Sarah Palin is far less dangerous. The blog can raise money and members, but condemning Pat Robertson with his sweet matter of fact manner is a waist of time from a fund-raising perspective.

Anyway Obama allowing an opportunity for people to get mad at him makes the rest of us get along with each other better, not only are blacks and whites getting along better, but even Hispanics and immigrant haters who want to close the southern border shot at Obama instead of as much at immigrants.

RichardKanePA.blogspot.com

0 # Guest 2010-02-18 11:10

Bullshit. He is a Trojan Horse, soft-selling (with eloquence) the masses, whilst The Big Boys, who run everything, become yet more entrenched.
He has the Bully Pulpit, and could take them all down (Congress and Corporates , lackeys both, and The Big Bank/Old Family Cartels , as well) but chooses not to. Instead, he furthers their agenda.
In the end, we may 'get health care', or some other 'Bone', while the 'Major Agenda', World Domination and anniliation of personal freedoms , moves forward without a whimper.

-3 # Guest 2010-02-18 11:22

Obama enraging right wingers is a sign he is good? It's all theater and they're all chums is more like the truth. Obama has had many opportunities to support his support base of progressives, such as not to hire architects of the financial disaster for his cabinet and then do everything is his power to protect them and such as, to stand for a public option in health care and not have the bill written by Max the insurance company lackey and to prosecute torturers. Who stands in the way of this? Obama, because he had popular support for these things but refused to spend the political capital.

+3 # Guest 2010-02-18 11:25

What I was afraid would happen, has. We elected a president who has identified all our concerns correctly. So we all sat back and waited for him to fix it. Problem here is that we all have a different view of what is wrong and how we want it fixed. If we would shut up long enough for him to think straight he just might come up with a solution we all can live with.

+8 # Guest 2010-02-18 12:16

My God, who ever thought Obama's presidency was going to be easy? Who thought the fringe elements, both left and right, were simply going to pack their bags and steal away in the night? Who thought the insurance companies, banks, auto companies and investment firms were simply going to say, "gee whiz, I guess this new president is right. We're wrong and we're sorry."?

How naive are you people? The elements that oppose Obama's plans for change are in a death battle with the new president and they will do whatever, spend whatever and say whatever to discredit and derail Obama's plans for change!

Is he getting the help he needs from Democrats and Republicans who remember they are servants of the people? NO and no again. Those who could fight for the change Obama wants are either running for the hills or are mute. COWBOY UP, AMERICA. IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG, WILD RIDE!

-2 # Guest 2010-02-18 12:18

He made a fateful, wrong-headed decision to expand the war in Afghanistan. Don't know if he or we will ever recover. Leading one's country into senseless, impossible war has to be equivalent to a sea captain running aground-- and his ship then breaks up. One can deny that this happened, push it into the back of one's mind, discuss anything else one can think of every day, the more trivial the better. To me the Afghan War dwarfs all. And it demands unremitting, absolute condemnation unless one day Barack Obama says, "I've had a change of heart" and pulls us out. I know, I know, IMMEDIATE DOOM. Not. Bush, Rice, Cheney, McCain, Obama-- people who live by fiction more than professional fiction-writers do.

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 15:16

I believe that President Obama is truly a transformationa l figure and tramped many miles to help him get votes. I agree with Marc Ash, essentially, that Obama partly trapped by the built-in dilemmas that find their way to the Oval Office. These are not merely "pressures". They also have to do with the structure of conflict, especially n-person conflict. Imagine that when he convened the long session to decide on what to do in Afghanistan, he opened the discussion by saying: "Tell me how we can get out of that country as quickly as possible?". Further imagine that as they went through all of the dilemmas and contingencies, they have, in their view, chosen that "fastest way". All I'm saying, sadly, is that what they are doing may well be the fastest way. That how difficult the "traffic jam" of world politics is, how problematic is any path through the mess even for the most visionary and idealistic motive.

-2 # Guest 2010-02-18 16:07

Obama was not elected to amuse us by enraging the Republicans ....he was elected to get the job done and do something for the people. I have lost faith with him almost entirely because he is so bought and paid for and will do nothing really to get everyone on Medicare or a Single Payer Healthcare system...nor will he get out of the wars ...nor will he support Unions... nor will he do anything else to help the people who are really suffering from the depression we are in. Education...forget it...instead of supporting public education he is willing to sell everything out to the private market which will rape and pillage and steal whatever money is to be had. Obamanation. We don't need an Uncle Tom in the White House we need a Mandingo!

-1 # Guest 2010-02-18 16:21

Here's what i'd do if i was a republican:
i'd loan the Southern Corp 8 bn for a nuclear power plant.
I'd back claen coal. I'd open up war in Afghanistan and build 7 bases in Colombia.
I'd mishandle health care so it stays the same and then i'd shut up about them raising their rates.
I'd look for more wars: in Yemen, Iran, Somalia, & venezuela.
I'd anger China.
I'd give more money to Wall St.
I'd hire all Wall St. boys to be my economic advisors.
I'd ignore Liz Warren and Stiglitz and Galbraith and Reich.
I'd make sure our military mishandled Haiti for three weeks so i could say, Good job, Brownie!
Anything else you can think of? Oh yeah, one more. I would not prosecute any crime commited by any rich man who could give me a donation, or anything having to do with torture, or laundring money thru UBS to off-shore accounts.
And I'd also pretend to worry about jobs.

-1 # Guest 2010-02-18 17:25

The White house is controlled by a 'Mafia' which is in the lap of the Zionist devils.
So what can one expect any president to do but toe the line.

+2 # Guest 2010-02-18 19:57

I like him too and so do most scientists. It must be hard for him to be both practical and intellectual in a town dominated by those who tell tall tales and live by manipulation. The GOP resistance is extreme and the progressives are a major disappointment.

-1 # Guest 2010-02-18 20:23

On my bad days, I feel that Obama is squandering the immense good will that was bestowed upon him with our votes and support. And that feels suspiciously familiar - a mirror image of what Bush did with the world's support after 9/11. That similiarity is haunting.

-2 # Guest 2010-02-18 22:53

We stood with him when he gave us hope. Hope for change. Health care. end the wars.

What have we gotten? more of the same, not less of the same. More war, more torture, more control of our government by the multinational corporations.

Hawaii has had a public health system for 40 years. Why can't we all have that?

Me ? I'm done wasting my time on hope.

-3 # Guest 2010-02-19 10:01

I have no problem with his impact on those right wing nuts. However, I am more than a bit disgruntled by his bait and switch, smoke and mirrors, stealth right wing approach to governance, such as it is.

Sorry you feel the warmth here. he does not deserve it. Look at the mess he made of health care reform.

Bait and switch-started out by taking our best alternative right off the table. Bait. then it was replaced in an attempt to keep as many single payer types on board, with the public option. Switch.

From there the White House went to saying the public option is just one part of health care reform. Bait

And then we hear that health care reform can be done without any public option. Switch.

And don't forget transparency and the secret deals with pharma and the insurance industry.

And now we are stucko with the type of rubbish coming from Anthem in California.

Obama deserves no love for what he has done.

0 # tomo 2010-02-22 19:49

Marc: Obama blew it at the very start. When he chose Larry Summers as his in-house economic guru, when he chose the non-tax-paying Timothy Geithner as his Secretary of the Treasury, when he chose to follow Hank Paulson's plan for granting the Wall Street guys an unending too-big-to-fail binge on the tab of ordinary Americans, and their kids, and their grand kids, he decided what the Supreme Court would later ratify: that America will be an oligarchy for the indefinite future--rather than the democracy which the better angels of our nature have long summoned us to become. This was not the doing of Sarah Palin, or Tea Parties, or our creepy ex-Vice President. Barack did this to himself. It was humpty-dumpty time; and when he fell from the wall, we ALL fell with him--and I do not know that we can ever be put back together.

+1 # Guest 2010-08-05 15:24

Love Love obama. Will vote for him again.

0 # Guest 2010-09-01 14:42

Yes! thank you. i swear if we stand by Obama he'll pull through, we can't just vote him in only to leave him out on a limb, with the republican party holding a gun to his head. i still support. just gotta give change a little time to happen. rome wasn't built in a day, and fixing this bush-ified country will take a bit longer than a few months as well

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