Bitching wasn't overly accepted in my family growing up. We had our fair share of things to bitch about of course. My younger sister has Cystic Fibrosis. Multiple family members suffer from depression. The sole wage earner from the time I was 8 until the time I was 15 is self-employed which meant that we'd have plenty of money on month and nothing the next. And we had to buy our own health insurance. And given that my sister had to get her own policy through a state insurer of last resort program a lot of money when to health care costs.
But bitching was viewed as unproductive. It basically just reinforced the idea of how put-upon you were and how bad things were. And while there were times things were pretty hard, we were still very lucky. We never went without food, shelter, clothes, or health care. Somehow my parents even managed to find money for my sister to play traveling sports and both of us to take private music lessons in high school. Somehow we made things work and dwelling how the bad things didn't help.
So we got to bitch about something once and then we were expected to do something, whether move on or work to fix the situation. And as annoying as I sometimes found it I have to admit that it was a good thing. I still need an occasional bitch fest when things get stressful but I typically just get it out of my system and go from there.
And I wish people here would do the same thing. I am tired of reading about how President Obama is disappointing. I agree with a lot of the criticisms. But complaining about it in a diary isn't going to fix anything. It may be cathartic but it isn't doing anybody any real good.
And in many ways it may be doing harm. If you are President Obama and honestly think you are doing the right thing, only to see that people who are supposed to be your allies are calling you a sell-out, spineless, etc are you really going to want to listen to what they say? Speaking for myself I know that when I worked in customer service positions that the ruder or more demanding you were the less likely I wanted to deal with you. You have to admit that he has done a lot of good. The economy has stopped its nosedive, health care reform has passed, financial reform has passed, the federal government can fund embryonic stem cell research, and our image overseas is better than what it was (not that it could get worse), Elizabeth Warren is working on protecting us from Wall Street and had enough access to help stop the interstate notarization authorization act. There is still a lot left to be done, and a lot that could have been done better but I can see how frustrating it would be to get all this done and still have people complaining that I haven't done enough. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Plus, it also reinforces the memo that the GOP have been spreading since the 2008 election - President Obama is weak. He can't even hold his base so how can we expect him to deal with Iran and North Korea? Or fix the economy?
I am not saying that we should not speak up and stand up for what we believe in. What I am saying is that we need to actually start doing something productive. How many diaries are there asking us to contact our Senators about passing the bill the House passed? Or telling us which Senators we should be talking to about the DADT repeal? Or even doing something as simple as writing a letter to the editor trying to frame issues in a progressive (and more accurate) light than how Republicans frame it.
We can do a lot but we need to stop wallowing about what a disappointment President Obama is. Especially since that seems to ignore the fact that the President doesn't get to vote on bills. Nor can he magically wave a wand and give us 60 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster. Yes he could be doing more arm twisting, using the bully pulpit better, etc but at the end of the day he doesn't get to vote. And yet he still gets judged by the results of what Congress passes. So for right now can we all focus on what WE can do rather than what the President hasn't done?