FDR is such a fucking jerk and has lost much, if not all of his credibility. He refused to give equal rights to black people. For example, he didn’t push through an anti-lyinching bill and upheld segregation in order to hold Southern democrats, making the passage of the New Deal possible. In 1936, he authorized Hoover to secretly investigate Americans and in 1940 authorized the Smith Act, aimed at getting resident aliens out of the U.S. by making them register and loosening the ability to deport anyone deemed "undesirable". He also turned away the S.S. St. Louis, which was full of jews leading directly to the death of 254 of its passengers in the holocaust. Perhaps most nortoriously, FDR interred Japanese Americans. What a fucking jerk. Clearly, he was a failed President and wasn’t worth a hill of beans.
Or John Adams, using the Sedition act. Total failure. No credibility. Or Lincoln that no credibility hack suspended habeus corpus and then refused to obey the Supreme Court ruling saying he couldn’t do that. He also arrested and put in jail people who spoke out against him. I’m glad history has given him the big smackdown.
Dailykos, led by TocqueDeville, has become a joke. Clearly, nothing that Obama has done has even approached the horrors of what the above Presidents did. All these endless diaries and comments essentially saying that Obama has betrayed us and is no better that Bush are ridiculous. I’m seeing a lot of false equivalency between Bush actually torturing people and Obama not wanting to prosecute a past President for that. They are not the same thing. Frankly, I was hoping and praying that Obama would not seek any punishment for Bush. It’s in the past. Obama is right that it is time to turn the page. What would prosecutions do at this point? If you think deterrence in the future, you’re woefully naïve. It would only reinvigorate the toxic environment sparked by Gingrich and the Republicans to look backward to punishment. As history has shown, each individual President will strike his own path. The rule of law is lost or reestablished according to the whims of each President. So far, Obama has done much to show me where his actions put him. And it ain’t in the Bush camp.
Should we focus our political capital backward or forward? Everyone already knows that Bush is a failure and an asshole, so why do we need costly redundancy? This goes to a broader problem progressives seem to have with being constructive. Criticism alone is not constructive. Endless whining is not constructive. Progressives are great at deconstruction, but maybe we should be focusing more on getting things, the big things, done. Some criticism here and there is healthy. Some reasoned debate is healthy. But this place has devolved into a "how much did Obama betray us?" or "is Obama teh big sux or what?" wankfest. I’ve also noticed that the people leading the charge in this way supported other candidates during the primary. It’s just primary wars redux and it’s fucking tiresome and petty and betrays a cloying pathetic need to be right.
I’m seeing, repeatedly, comments receiving multiple recs that are little more than, literally, "fuck you". Have an intellectual debate about whether Obama’s moves at the DOJ are correct or whether the bailout is correct (although on the latter count maybe not, b/c it has devolved into little more than "my economist is definitely right" with little more substance and very little understanding). But please give it a rest with the whole meme that Obama is a huge asshole. Or that he’s just a corporate tool. Or that one decision is a big turning point that means he has no credibility. Or that everything is just a big conspiracy. Or that he’s no better than Bush. Or that he betrayed us and we’re doomed. Or that Democrats and Republicans are the same. Or that Obama not going back to prosecute torture is the same as doing it himself. Or, or or. There’s a million more, but this shit is getting tiresome. If you think that Obama is evil or that being wrong sometimes has made him lose all credibility, then I feel sorry for you. I think some of these people need to step away from the computer and seek psychiatric help. I'm being serious. That level of prolonged outrage about everyone and everything is not healthy. For the rest of us here, proving your intellectual bona fides, or showing how consistent and brave un-like those Republican sheeple you are by doing nothing but beating your chest self righteously and flinging shit around is not helpful. It’s boring. Just find the nearest Nader headquarters and move along already.