I’ve said a lot of the same things but that doesn’t mean that I agree with the overall point. I don’t think the president should morph into “an angry black man” but I do think he needs to start calling the Republicans on their bullshit and showing some scorn, some impatience, and some insistence. He can’t afford to look like he’s getting rolled by a bunch of yahoos. And that’s an impression he has been giving in recent weeks. Impressions do matter in politics. Sometimes, impressions matter more than reality. If you think about it, the Republicans basically rely on impressions being more important than reality. So, let’s stop worrying about Obama’s deportment. His deportment has sucked recently and needs improvement. He needs to start taking the people’s side against powerful interests in some high visibility fights. He might even win for losing once or twice. I know Obama doesn’t like to lose, but it doesn’t look like you’re fighting when all your victories are quietly assured behind closed doors.
The Republicans should provide plenty of opportunities over the next two years for the president to side with people against powerful interests. We need more fight and fewer deals. I don’t say this because I am opposed to making deals. I say it because the president needs to repair his tarnished image with his base and win back some hearts. He’ll need that good will for his reelection campaign.
“I don’t think the president should morph into “an angry black man” but I do think he needs to start calling the Republicans on their bullshit and showing some scorn, some impatience, and some insistence.”
So cute how we white folks like to pretend those are 2 different things.
And extra lols at “not an excuse anymore”. White “true progressives” NEVER accepted it as a partial explanation (it’s against the rules for white folks to ever accept such an explanation). So the “anymore” is really extra-funny.
Sheriff, no offense, but WTF are you talking about?
…as a white progressive Southerner.
I wrote this on another blog, in the context of the foreclosure crisis:
So white progressives asking for toughness from President Obama run the risk of showing their ignorance or dismissing the serious political bind that Obama is in. sheriffruitfly thinks that BooMan or this site is edging toward this. sheriffruitfly is the best person to more fully explain the point of the comments, but this is what I see.
And if we don’t figure a way to deal with this together, there is the risk of splitting the progressive coalition.
As a White, Libertarian, Southerner…
For most evil business people, Race doesn’t mean Sh-t
It’s all about Character, and Competence…
MLK knew it, but you guys don’t.
You STILL don’t get it.
He IS showing scorn– toward WE progressives who are apparently “too demanding”.
Look, this is all academic at this point, so let’s stop the pretense, stop dancing around the obvious: Obama is a moderate repuglican.
face facts and move on to what needs to be done.
Toward we? Not toward I! Perhaps toward they.
They are holding Obama hostage to race. He cannot get angry or he is a black panther. A marxist. A scary socialist. Fuck the republicans and their game. I want a Socialist to scream at them from the mountain top. Tell them that this is now at an end. Spell it out and do not be scared.
Come on Mr. President we are on your side and the racist thugs of the Tea Party are not. Explain why social security and social justice are socialism and are good things. They will label you no matter what thats how they play the game look what they did to Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. He is fat hypocrite and she is a man hating lesbian.
Don’t be afraid the only thing they will not say is that racism still exists because thats just not politically correct is it? Oh no irrational hatred of a black man has never had anything to do with racism has it? So they dictate the terms of the debate and steal from everyone. Screw the Repugs they make me sick.
Oh by the way I do not condone Obama’s latest roll over. He is giving away everything now through fear…..I assume. My patience is at an end. Stand up MF’er we need you right now. Cutting Social Security taxes is ridiculous. They have stolen it all and making us a party to the theft.
What?
Progressives should be cheering the cut in Social Security taxes for employees, as it is ostensibly a “regressive” tax that disproportionately affects non-“millionaires and billionaires” (FYI–once you earn 109,000 during a given year, you do not incur any additional FICA taxes).
I just wish he would have matched the FICA tax cuts for employees with one for employers.
You guys are harsh…the far left will still vote for him, but I guarantee that Obama won some independent votes with this deal.
Mark my words…this deal significantly increases Obama’s chances for re-election in 2012.
But he does need to tell Clinton to —- off…that press conference was an absolute joke.
You are using the wrong frame of analysis – because for the frustrati it’s all about “showing resolve”, “fighting”, “drawing a line in the sand” and the rest of that crap. Delivering results for constituents? What the fuck do they care?
Yeah I mean, Obama will totally restore that payroll tax to keep SS funded. Or…you know, he won’t. Those are certainly results, but I’m not so sure cutting SS is the sort of result constituents are looking for.
“racist thugs of the Tea Party”
Wow.
Yes, you.
Fuck, yes. The tea party traitors are all racists.
Yep. Amen.
The Radical Progressive equivalent of Stepford Wives…A Merry Little World where anyone who opposes your beliefs is evil, with delicious equivalents…”racist”…”stupid”…”malicious”…
Good Luck to Y’All!
For the 50 millionth time, that is BS. Obama doesn’t have to get angry. He just has to do the right thing.
Did you see Bernie Sanders blow his top at any point while he spent 8 hours telling the truth about this country? I didn’t. Oh, I forgot, he’s not black.
Exactly right Booman.
It really isn’t the compromises as his attitude towards his base. “He just doesn’t have what it takes” has become a common refrain on my job, and that is from people who voted for him and have complete distain for the republicans. He cannot let that feeling towards him get intrenched, and it is close to becoming so.
Public scorn can be a powerful tool. In this situation it is the perfect reaction. The republican base is a bunch of racists, and they would go even crazier if a black man scorns them.
He needs to step up.
nalbar
I don’t think he was ever at heart a community organizer. He flirted with it briefly then went to Harvard Law School, the ultimate non grass roots based establishment entity. A community organizer knows that he has no organization if he demeans or criticizes his donors and volunteers in public. It’s non-profit 101. Last week he committed the ultimate sin of an organizer of volunteers. He bashed them as sanctimonious purists. You know, the people who actually elected him, even if the establishment folks bankrolled him.
I think what sent me over the edge for a week or so was the freezing of federal pay. It just fed into the whole ‘federal workers are stealing from you’ meme that republicans believe. It was so cynical. Unless Obama believes the meme there was just no reason for the freeze. He can attack me all he wants if he gains something, but that freeze was not just words, he actually hurt that part of his base financially. For politics.
And THAT is certainly not something I would expect of a ‘community organizer’.
nalbar
Some of them ARE sanctimonious purists. But that argument is getting very old. Bernie Sanders, Marcy Kaptur, Chuck Schumer, Mary f-king Landrieu, lots and lots of others in both houses, whatever else they are, are not santimonious purists. The Congressional Black Caucus are not snactimonious purists.
http://www.afro.com/sections/news/national/story.htm?storyid=3457
Too bad none of those people are in congress or something where they would be able to pass bills.
They are objecting to the “deal,” and I don’t think it’s just posturing. That’s the point.
This is exactly right. On NPR just before the election, they went and interviewed his community organizer buddies in Chicago and you know what they said?
They said that he didn’t stay long enough to make much of a difference. They said that community organization is long and hard and he thought he could make more of a difference in politics. So as to being a community organizer?
You’re right. He flirted with it, then left.
because those guys did so much?
Actually, Obama went to law school after being an organizer.
Because those guys are still fighting the good fight, they were still working in their communities. Really, you are actually choosing to go after people who have been community organizers for decades?
Really?
except maybe their own.
It is the Democrats in Congress now who must push back. The narrative has been that there is gridlock in Congress or that Democrats have been shoving stuff down Republican’s throats. (an interesting metaphor in its own right) When the issue has been the unity of Republican obstruction.
Obama does very well when he is in campaign mode and shows passion and good humor about what he is seeking. But that is not what gets media coverage, except locally and on the internet.
The lectures to “the left” have turned off a lot of white progressives, just as Bill Clinton’s attack on Sister Souljah turned off a lot of African-Americans — and for the same reason. No one likes being turned into a foil for political purposes of positioning. It is a form of not taking people seriously.
In this last set of speeches and press conferences, the President was indeed an “angry black man”; he was more dour than serious; he picked fights within the Democratic party that he did not need to pick. And he appeared to be out for “a deal, any deal” to get the “he raised your taxes” sign off his back. Had he brought some 99ers in to tell their stories (and show that a whole bunch of them are white) and pushed hard for the extension of unemployment benefits for a time to be determined by the unemployment rate, he could have put the Republicans on the defensive enough to allow a vote on extension. But he didn’t.
Since November, on domestic issues he has acted like a whipped puppy. That lets Republicans know they have gotten to him. There is no reason for him to be falling all over himself to meet with the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, or any other business group unless he is going to do to them what he did in his meeting with the House Republicans last year. What he did then is how he needs to fight back. And he needs to refer to that in framing the fact that Republicans have painted themselves into a corner in terms of negotiations.
White progressives need to think of when they cheered at what Obama said and did in the past two years. That is what he needs to do to fight back, exactly those things. And he needs his staff to back him up in making real what he promises. And white progressives need to start taking seriously what black progressives are saying about the difficulty of what Obama has to do.
This is about policy, not first downs and yardlines and fights and landing blows. It is about persuasion and positioning the public to exert pressure on the Republicans who are blocking progress in dealing with the economy and foreign policy because of a cynical calculation that they can take it all in 2012.
“White progressives need to think of when they cheered at what Obama said and did in the past two years. “
Actually, reach back further, because they were bitching the day after the election and have not let up for a single moment. They have NEVER once been of any use to anyone – except to the Republicans who can thank them for a 2+year campaign of virulent attack, demeaning language, and political childishness not seen since the days of the KnowNothings.
The weird thing is that after two years of attack they remain puzzled why he won’t kiss their ass.
You have my total agreement.
When I get really depressed I try to think about stuff like this.
Medical first: Intestinal tissue grown from stem cells at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Not a snowball’s chance of hell in ever seeing a headline like this if McCain was sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now and America’s favorite reality star was sleeping down the street.
It ain’t much….unless it’s the life of your child or grandchild that is saved in a generation when results from this development make their way into mainstream medical practice.
Makes me remember why this shit really, really matters.
Ah don’t forget, government support of stem cell research is about to revert back to Bush policy.
He did just that in the press conference. Spent 20 minutes castigating the GOP as hostage takers.
Thank you. Liberals don’t relay the talking points and then turn around and complain that he Pres. has not done what they want him to. Sheesh.
they make it obvious that their pov has more to do with masochism than politics.
Really> Et tu Booman…?
Y’all want some John Wayne, more so than you want to prevent the taxes of the Middle Class from going up? The extension of the earned Income credit? Unemployment insurance? Reduction of the regressive payroll taxes for employees; a perk that incomes above 109k have enjoyed forever?
You want Pyrrhic victories? You want symbols?
So why didn’t liberals and progressives bust up the phone lines of the Democratic congresscritters when they all REFUSED to vote on the tax cut measure BEFORE the elections?
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-23/politics/senate.tax.cuts_1_tax-cuts-tax-rate-senate-democrats?_s=
PM:POLITICS
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68M3AL20100924
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/120687-dems-put-off-tax-cut-votes-until-after-e
lection
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/tax-cuts-riding-happily-into-sunsets.html
Why didn’t liberals/progressives get in Saint Russ Feingold’s face when he begged the White House not to allow the vote to come up BEFORE the elections, or Barbara Boxer, or Patti Murray, or Carl Levin?
Your Democratic congresscritters punted on their responsibilities and NOW that the President has to clean up their SHIT, you wanna call him a wimp. Now like Maher you calling on him to gangsta on Repugs? Sorry gangsta moves are for rappers and Pres. Obama is no rapper!!!
Were liberals ever in the streets to champion their causes these past two years. folks voted in Nov 2008 then went home expecting one person who has ONLY 1/3 of the power of government to carry everyone’s water right?
These are the same folks who claimed to have preferred his “calm and rational” demeanor, and now that he using said “calm and rational” demeanor to get legislative victories that no other President has won, or obstruction that no President in the last fifty years has had to contend with; now he is not good enough?
How many of the Democratic candidates this past election RAN on their party’s accomplishments?
When this President speaks, does the corporate media cover it? But for the Repugs involvement in this deal would the media have covered it?
What has the liberal media and blogworld focused on these past two years of Pres. Obama governing in the face of vitriolic obstructionism? Go check the stats. Progressive bloggers focused like a laser beam on Alaska Grizzly’s every tweet and fart. Think Progress devoted nearly all it’s bandwidth to the crazy antics of Repug wingnuts and teabaggers.
No one tried to PERSUADE the rank and file voter about the wonders of liberal ideology, and then you wonder why they voted for Repugs?
And now you guys are angry that the Pres. whose activities and public statements or policies many of you stopped covering/trumpeting the day after the inauguration is not heaping “scorn” on Repugs?
Did anyone cover his campaign speeches this past Fall where he did a fair amount of that which you ask? No.
So will anyone listen now?
This is a false dichotomy. You act like the president is our only target. He’s the main target because he is their leader, but it doesn’t mean the Congresspeople don’t deserve or see our scorn and disdain.
it’s a wonder that capitalism itself does not collapse under the weight of that power.
I have been reading your posts here and every single one of them in the last several months has been scornful of this President. I have not seen you attack congresscritters.
You’d be hard pressed to find me actually even being scornful of the president before the federal freeze in pay and other rhetoric the Republicans believe.
In fact, you would have saw me cheering him on with his leadership, demanding the Republicans stop holding the tax cuts hostage and to have a vote. I guess you missed my post responding to one of BooMan’s post on my own:
“To his credit, though, the reason we’re in this predicament in the first place is because of his cowardly party refusing to vote on the tax cuts back in September when Boehner showed weakness. It was Obama, after all, who came up with the “hostage” line.”
~seabe
All good points, zizi!
Great comment Zizi!! I agree 100%!
My sentiments exactly, zizi. This should be reposted all over the liberal blogosphere.
the collective desire of the frustrati for a big sweaty man to whip it out and cram it down someones throat is so peculiar.
You mean that it’s time for the President to use the line of politics that Alan Grayson used so effectively in Florida that he lost an election to an insane wingnut?
Because the American public, all polls show, is just dying to hear some sarcasm, maybe some YELLING!
Why can’t Obama see that when so many white bloggers see it so clearly? It’s a mystery and a half. Or something.
Thank you. These folks want glorious loserdom like Grayson’s. After Jan 5, 2011 who will remember Grayson on the political landscape?
How many former Democratic lawmakers have these whining liberals seen the corporate media entertain? Nada. Even convicted criminals and unsavory characters like tom Delay and Dick Armey are permanent fixtures on our teevee and radio. Why? They are wingnuts and they control the damn fucking corporate media.
This is the landscape we have and this is the landscape we and Pres. Obama have to deal with.
Liberals did not buy the media real estate necessary to wage the war they want with the wingnuts.it’s that simple. And the freaking President has been blacked out by this same corporate media most of this year. And the liberal blogworld has similalry blacked out his achievements and efforts, except for their constant whine.
So if no one heard him, did he speak?
The “lesson” we’re supposed to learn from the fate of Alan Grayson is nothing but a GOP talking point. People forget that Grayson represented a traditionally Republican district. A heavily Epublican district in these midterms? Forget about it.
I don’t think Obama should try to imitate Grayson. I don’t want him to be the “angry black man.” I just want to see him explain, rationally, clearly, with a bit of humor, why he jjust doesn’t see eye to eye with the Republicans about everything.
Look at Obama standing up to the critics from his own party. Of whom I am one. He comes across as absolutely unshakable. Why can’t he come across like that to Boehner and McConnell?
It’s quite telling that you did not have a single thing of substance to say about the points I raised.
Yes, it’s quite telling, because I agree with your main points. I’m just responding to the Grayson meme, which I hear all over the place not just from you.
Here’s a tip – Obama does do those things.
I kno, that’s why I mentioned them. My point is, he doesn’t do them anywhere near enough.
No. It’s not peer pressure. He’s beginning to look genuinely weak, and that can be fatal. He needs to stop thinking he’ll get respect by winning. His wins are not perceived as wins. They are perceived as losses or burdens. His has to change his style or he’s going to get chopped down into little Jimmy Carter-sized bits. I don’t want him cramming shit down people’s throats. I want him visibly and vocally taking the coal miner’s side against the industry. I want him fired up about cuts Republicans want to make that will hurt little people. This kumbayah stuff has to end because we have a Republican House now, and this is a fight to the political death.
Unbelievable!
What media infrastructure have liberals built to amplify his message when he DOES take the side of the coalminers as he forcefully did in West Virginia when he went to the coal miner’s funerals? Nada. liberal bloggers were following Alaska Grizzly’s tweets.
You wanna play like Repugs? You’ve got to have the support mechanisms that Repugs have built. The “weakness” of which you speak is a classic case of projection and transference from liberals who are understandably whiplashed from the rewards that voters gave Repugs in spite of their recalcitrance.
but we knew this was the Repug strategy from the get go. Pete Sessions openly announced in Feb. 2009 that they were going to employ an Al Quaeda insurgent and guerrilla warfare strategy to get back power – scorched earth.
So they distracted us with Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin both of whom the left media covered breathlessly to the point of completely drowning out Democratic achievements. And we fell for it.
For you to say that Pres. Obama’s historic wins do not feel like wins is truly a sad reflection of the ‘success’ of the repug messaging that it even gets to you. mission accomplished
looks weak via the msm or the defeat-o-sphere, sure. Constant pounding on that point. But really, despairing notes to the Prez are for suckers and you are better than that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3hZjwWe6Rc&feature=related
John Pilger had Obama figured out a hell of a lot sooner than I did.
No, I don’t buy that either.
I just don’t see Obama as Condoleezza Rice, or even as Clarence Thomas. Give me a break.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/25/fidel-castro-applauds-passage-obamas-health-care-overhaul
/
I have concluded that it isn’t in him.
Obama isn’t a fighter. Which is not to say he’s a triangulator exactly. I think he is in the horse-trader tradition of Ted Kennedy but Kennedy did it when push came to shove. Obama does it as a default position. God how I wish Kennedy was around to teach him how it’s done.
But left on his own he is what he says – as you have pointed out.
He will move the ball forward an inch at a time and if he gets sacked 3 yards back well that’s what happens.
Many times I have seen the lament “What/Where is plan B”? There is none.
It’s getting to look that way. isn’t it.
I guess “moving the ball forward” is now a dirty thing since much of the progress of this country has been achieved by moving the “ball forward” over a long time; decades, even centuries.
You ought to try saying what you just did to teh Algerians who fought over a 150year period to secure their freedom, or anti-colonial fighters who had no idea whentheir battles would end having gained one step only to lose two steps; or Harriet Tubman and her band of fugitive slaves to those who fought Jim Crow, the long legislative bouts BEFORE the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT and Voting Rights acts were passed.
I guess some of us do come from a history of NOT expecting things to happen overnight. Progress is HARD!!
you know what hte current liberal impatience is a symptom of tunnel vision of the saddest kind. I noted the President’s historic achievements above, but I see that increasingly like the Rightwing, it is not concrete solutions some of you want. You revel in the fight for fight’s sake.
It is no wonder the right has not dismantled Roe v. wade or other nodes in the cultural warfare because once they are solved there’d be nothing to fight about. The left now wants the same kind of symbolic warfare? How nice!
You do realize humanity is dead in 100 years unless we actually move the ball to the goal line right?
Great idea – maybe we could get NCLB again!
Folks, the wingnuts are playing us like a fiddle and with all our smarts we can’t even recognize the purpose of this orchestrated turning of the fulcrum within our governing coalition, such that we seem to no longer care for our achievements. We are now brazenly saying concrete wins be damned! Sad really.