Just how out of touch is the administration? I mean, what possible reason could they have for continually putting up strawmen to mischaracterize their critics on the left? Do they really think that they have done nothing wrong, and that we’re just a bunch of overly pessimistic whiners who need drug testing?
The rest over the fold
To pick just a few recent quotes:
According to President Obama:
http://blogs.courant.com/...
Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particular derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.
And according to our buddy Robert Gibbs:
http://www.salon.com/...
"I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said. "I mean, it's crazy."
The press secretary dismissed the "professional left" in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, "They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality."
And last night, on the new MSNBC program, The Last Word, vice-president Joe Biden:
http://thepage.time.com/...
O'DONNELL: And today you -- you said that the base -- your base in the Democratic Party...
BIDEN: Yes.
O'DONNELL: -- should, quote, "Stop whining."
I'm going to give you an opportunity that you used to have in the Senate, Mr. Vice President.
Would you like to revise and extend your remarks on that one?
BIDEN: Yes. What I think -- what I mean by they're -- there are some on the Democratic based, not the core of it, that are angry because we didn't get every single thing they want. We got a -- a health care bill that is becoming -- every day it will become more apparent how much it does for people and businesses in terms of cost and availability.
But because there was no public option, some of them are so angry, they say, oh, we're not going to participate.
They should stop that. These guys, if they win, the other team, they're going to repeal health care and I -- I want them to tell me why what we did wasn't an incredibly significant move that's progressive and helping people? (emphasis added)
Those lines should all sound familiar to anyone who’s been paying attention since at least the HCR debate. Back then, anyone critical of the "sausage making" process of putting the bill together (after scrapping single payer, the public option, drug reimportation, and after adding a mandate, etc, etc) was told, more or less, to shut up because it was still a good bill and that we were all whining because we just wanted our fucking ponies. In end, despite the mountains of criticism from the left, all trying desperately to make the bill stronger, everyone did come together to pass it. We accepted that it was still a good bill, even without the parts that could have made it stronger.
The failure to address immigration reforms, closing Guantanamo, the failure to pass the DADT repeal... okay, we get those too. The Republicans and Blue Dogs are blocking them from going forward. We don’t like it, but overall, we get it. Really. We do. If the Senate can’t get the 60 votes for cloture, it just can’t be done. How many hundreds of House bills have been sent just to die in the Senate? How many nominees to positions throughout the government are still in limbo because someone has put a hold on them? Okay, we understand that the Republicans simply won’t let anything happen. There is anger over that, but we get it. We get that the Senate is just broken as it is right now.
There are people out there who think that too much has been done to support Wall Street, and not enough done to support Main Street. Personally, I think that those arguments do have some merit, but there was simply no way that we were going to get out from the recession any time soon. Throwing my own non-economist $0.02 into it, I think we should just start a massive infrastructure repair fund, to start working our way through the $2.2 trillion that the American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated is needed in the next 5 years to fix up our crumbling infrastructure. How much of a boost that would create, I’m not sure, but putting that kind of money in the pockets of the laborers who do the work, the engineers who plan out the work, the businesses who supply the literally tons of construction material, manufacturing plants that create all the necessary parts... well, I’d like to think that it’d be enough of a boost to the economy to start getting us out of this hole...I’m getting off topic here, so I’ll stop with this.
Anyway, all that serves as a rather long way of getting around to the main points of this diary. First, as was said in (probably too many words) above, I think that people in the perpetually pessimistic, whining, "fucking retarded" professional left get it, and really do understand the amount of crap that Obama has had to deal with. However, there’s also a ton of stuff that we can be (and are) legitimately completely angry over that they don’t dare talk to us about. Here’s a short list.
- Torture investigations and/or prosecutions. Well, I guess "don’t talk about" is a bit of a misnomer, since he has talked about this one... even if only to say that he’s "turning the page" and "looking forward."
- The "kill or capture" order placed on Anwar Awlaki, an American citizen, not actually on a battlefield. Unless there’s a trial, or he’s killed in direct combat on a battlefield (and no, the "global war on terror" does not make the whole world a battlefield), killing him is inexcusable.
- State secrets. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping? A state secret that the court can’t investigate. The rationale for the assassination of Awlaki? Also a state secret. Mohamed v Jeppesen Dataplan, also a state secret. What is the point of having a court to investigate the Executive Branch’s wrongdoings when everything can be declared a state secret and hidden away?
- Transparency. In addition to the continued abuse of the State Secrets privilege, "hundreds" of FOIA requests have been detoured to political advisors for screening.
- Habeas corpus. Thought we had that settled already? Not a chance. It’s just happening in Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Force Base instead of Gitmo.
- Privacy. Remember that case not too long ago when Saudi Arabia wanted Blackberry to let it monitor emails? Federal law enforcement is now asking Congress to pass laws doing the same thing. I hope BB tells the Feds the same thing it told the Saudis.
- LGBT rights. They caught hell for this one here, but remember those briefs comparing gay marriage to pedophilia and incest? Or how about how the "fierce advocate" is now against gay marriage? And DADT, well, apparently they needed to agree not to stop-loss it in exchange for a few votes on the repeal bill. Guess what, the bill failed. So where’s the stop-loss order?
- "Deficit Reduction Commission". Packed with people who want to cut Social Security, despite it not adding a penny to the deficit. This isn’t going to end well.
- Well, this probably doesn’t need to be said, but all the quotes up above, blaming the left for... well, just about all of their political misfortune? It’s not our fault you messed up on things. We get that the politics are tough, but damn it all, did there really need to be so many own goals?
Now, I could probably do a little more searching and extend the list, but I think my point is clear by now. People aren’t just upset because they don’t have their ponies. They’re not just pessimistic. They’re not just whining. Were there some unreasonable expectations? Sure, there probably were, but in not even trying to address some of the real issues that people are criticizing them for, continually putting out these strawmen, and engaging in gratuitous "hippie punching", they’re not doing themselves any favors.
de Nies: What do you say to progressives who, on reading your comments yesterday, say, "Well, if that's their attitude, I'm staying home in November"?
GIBBS: I don't think they will, because I think what's at stake in November is too important to do that.
For all our sakes, I hope so. But if people stay home, I think I can understand why.
Pre-posting addendum:
Well, I actually wrote this last night, and planned on posting it after I woke up (i.e.: now), but I find that there’s a new twist this morning. I’m not really going to work it into the rest of the diary, but in a Rolling Stone interview, the president says:
It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.
The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.
Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money's coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.
I agree, people still need to get out and vote, but you know what’s "inexcusable" and "irresponsible"? Take a look at that list up there. And "a country that respects civil rights and civil liberties"? Where is it, mister president? Torture. Wireless wiretapping. Assassinations. Plans to demand even more surveillance power. Continued rejection of gay marriage. You need to give people a reason to get out and vote. Telling them that they’re being lazy, or irresponsible, or that their behavior is "inexcusable" just doesn’t cut it. Telling them that legitimate criticisms are just them whining does not motivate people. If you address the criticisms head on, get out there, push your record, explain over and over why the policies that you passed or are pushing are/will help them, get out there and combat the right wing noise machine... THAT will help to motivate people.