Recently, many people on Daily Kos have been criticizing President Obama, especially because of his plans to expand the war in Afghanistan. Yesterday I argued in a diary that no matter your views, everyone should be thankful for criticsm of President Obama, because such criticsm could help the White House to adjust course and make sure they hold on to the progressive base and the American people to win reelection for our Democratic president.
Many other Kossacks have argued that progressive critics of the president should stifle their views to preserve party unity. There has been a growing rift on this blog between the Obama critics and the Obama praisers or anti-critics.
Now it appears that Markos Moulitsas himself, the founder and owner of this blog, has become one of the vocal critics of President Obama on the Afghanistan War. Sould the anti-critics take note of Markos's position and cease accusing critics of undermining the president and ruining this blog?
This will be a short diary. It's really quite straightforward. This blog has an owner, and that owner is a critic of President Obama. Not a harsh or ferocious critic, but a respectful and vocal critic who isn't hesitating to express his disapproval of Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
Markos said on The Ed Show:
MOULITSAS: But the fact is that, you know, we have priorities here at home. And there is no real strategy that we’ve seen yet that would indicate that this expense in blood and treasure would lead us to hopefully any kind of what you’d call victory in Afghanistan. ...
I mean, Afghanistan is sort of a pit for great powers. And the last thing we need to do is see the United States fall into that trap when, really, we should be focused about domestic security and the security of the American people. And issues like health care are number one on that front. ...
SCHULTZ: Markos, what does the president have to say to convince the left on Tuesday night?
MOULITSAS: He would have to say that he needs to pull out the troops from Afghanistan and focus on domestic concerns. God knows we don’t have the money...
So there you have it. Markos Moulitsas is criticizing President Obama for not pulling out of Afghanistan and instead ramping up the war, a war Markos says we can't win.
If the owner of this blog is himself a vocal critic of some of the president's policies -- and even goes on a TV show to express his displeasure with what it appears President Obama is going to do in Afghanistan -- then why should any member of Daily Kos stop expressing criticism of Obama? Why should critics listen to the anti-critics here who say that such criticism is inappropriate, or would hurt the progressive movement, the Democratic Party, or President Obama -- when the blog owner doesn't have any problem with expressing criticism of the president?
I think it's time for a reality check among those on Daily Kos who have been forcefully arguing that Obama's critics here need to shut up and only praise the president. If that's really how you feel, and the blog owner apparently doesn't see any harm in going on TV and criticizing Obama's policies, then is this the right blog for you?
Just asking. Flame away (or don't, please).