I really think that the reason why the political atmosphere has gotten so toxic in this country is because we do not have leaders who are setting the right tone.
Jump...
President Obama came in as a strong leader but all of that power has slipped away from him.
Why?
I believe he did not set the tone for leading those whom he led.
When Rush Limbaugh first came out and said that the President needed to fail Obama's response was basically "whatever".
I understood that because he did not want to engage the boor.
However, as time went on he kept drumming up the failure meme and others joined. Soon the President was being heckled on the floor of congress and being called a liar. Then tea partiers started going out in droves and lying about his healthcare bill. Soon Sarah Palin was getting stronger and nastier in her Rhetoric. Next Senators from the left and right felt it was ok to say whatever they wanted about the President. When Obama stood up for Skip Gates the white folk started to pull away in droves. Of course passing the stimulus earlier on did not help and neither did the sycophants that we call the MSM. They kept reading talking points from their teleprompters and even black journalist seemed afraid to call out what was happening right in front our faces. The President was systematically being deligitmized.
Now here we are. No one in this country is afraid of this President.
No one thinks his bark has any bite.
He is getting things done and I am still surprised that he is but he has paid quite a bit.
He has lost his majority and he has lost higher ground.
Most of the time, through everything, his attitude has been "whatever".
He even said a few times that he trusts the American people to make their own decisions. He seems to believe that he should speak to Americans like adults. I wonder if he still thinks that way today.
This morning I watched ABC news and Georgie giving a report about the NAACP calling out the element of the tea party that was racist. The reporter, I think it was Jake Tapper, said in his report that "some critics say the signs are racist". WHAT? Some people say? He showed the signs in his report and they were obviously racist but he was reporting that the signs he showed on his screen, signs that showed the President as a witch doctor etc, he was saying that SOME said they were racist.
What kind of effed up reporting is that? The signs are racist period. However, this reporter could not be definitive about a situation that was obvious.
This is the problem we have in this country and Obama (as much as I like him as Prez) has allowed this to go on. He has allowed these idiots to set the tone of his Presidency without pushback; he has allowed the republican boors to set the toxic tone; he has allowed members in congress in his own party to disrespect him and to speak ill of him.
Say what you like about George Bush. No one messed with him. I did not like his leadership and I thought he was a fool but he set a tone in this country. It was a tone that led to all this distruction we face now but could you imagine if Obama had set a tone counter to that to lead us up and out of this mess where we would be now?
Leaders set the tone for those they want to lead. In this area Obama has not done well. He is trying to turn it around now but he seems always late to the party. Now he has the wimpiest majority leader the democratic Party has ever had basically saying he is weak. A man who has zero cred in the department of strong leadership.
His response this close to November, and after he just flew out to Nevada to give Reid a hand up? Whatever.
Sigh. I guess a leopard really can't change it's spots.
Good luck in November. We dems will need it.
Obama is a good man and I know he cares but at this point I think the counternarrative is winning out. In this climate good counts for nothing. You have to kick ass and take names. This is the climate we are in and this is how people want to be led. People are not in the mood for analytical, couch talking. We in the progressive movement want to take these meffers out but where is the leadership? Where is the urgency being shown from the top? Where is the cause? I know there are many but with democratic leaders and a President who wants to play nice, who wants to even bother?