I have some observations & opinions that have been rattling around & thought I'd throw them out there. Some meta as well as just some observations about people's priorities around here, especially regarding the separation of powers and "holding elected officials' feet to the fire."
First, whether I look on DKos or in the MSM, I see a focus on the President that seems to me to miss the much greater problem area - Congress (specifically, the Senate). There are almost endless debates here about whether the President pushed hard enough for this cause, that legislation, etc. Most of these quickly devolve into "you're a hater" vs. "you're an Obot." in the media, there is corresponding endless discussion of whether the President "projects emotion" or sequences his accomplishments and speeches correctly. Hell, Rachel Maddow spent the better part of two shows critiquing the oval office speech. Meanwhile, this was going on:
In an effort to win support for a bill to reauthorize several expired domestic aid programs -- including extended unemployment benefits -- Senate Democrats are considering eliminating a stimulus bill provision that put an extra $25 per week into every unemployment insurance check
Accompanied by this
Hedge and private equity fund managers are still likely to face a major tax hike, but not just yet.
The tax and unemployment benefits bill that includes the closing of the so-called "carried-interest" loophole suffered a setback yesterday when the U.S. Senate voted against suspending its spending rules to pass the legislation. Senate rules require that any new costs be offset by savings elsewhere, but the bill, which would extended jobless benefits and some popular tax breaks as well as offer additional aid to states, fell $85 billion short of that goal.
...a dozen Democrats joined with the Republican minority to sink the plan...
So our elected Democrats in the Senate made the conscious decision to a) place the deficit as a higher priority than addressing unemployment, and b) when given the explicit choice between placing the finacial burden on the unemployed or the wealthy - chose to screw the unemployed. Where the fuck is the outrage over that??
Here's where I get to the part about the fucked up priorities here. At the time of writing this diary, the front page storyabout the unemployment benefit cuts has 148 comments. The diary from Keith Olbermann about his hurt fee-fees is sitting at 1500+.
Let's review a few events:
POTUS: "Senate, how about some $$ for closing Guantanamo?"
Senate: "Hell no!"
DKos community: "That lying bastard Obama didn't close gitmo!"
POTUS: "Senate, how about a climate bill to sign?"
Senate: "Hell no!"
DKos community "That lying corporate bastard Obama!!"
POTUS: "Hey Senate, how about taxing the rich a slight bit more to help the unemployed?
Senate: "Double hell no!!!"
DKos community: crickets... "Hey look! A celebrity wrote a diary!!"
(and here's the disclaimer: yes I know Obama can & has done badly on extremely important issues. But hey, by now you've loaded the 'Obot' cannon, might as well fire.)