From thefreedictionary.com:
whine:
To utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound
I don't write much here on dKos, partially because quality writing takes a long time, and partially because I've dived nose-first into my particular passion, which, thank goodness in these hard and crazy times, is as upbeat as it gets (music, dancing, and making people fall in love with both).
However, I read dKos twice a day, sometimes three. Daily Kos is, without fail, the first and last thing I check out on my iPhone, next to Google News and my Gmail, every single day as I drift from or towards sleep, a routine I've kept for two years.
Like many of you on this self-reportedly Democrat-electing progressive site, I had high hopes for Obama, and, to be honest with you, the man hasn't really disappointed.
Some of us on the Left, however, have.
Here's a summary of the attitude of Rec'd diaries I've noticed at Dkos:
- January 2009: Happiness, joy, cautious but plentiful optimism, vitality of spirit, diaries about policy initiatives, a "what next?" attitude...
and then, amazingly, within two years, a steady trickle of
- More hand-wringing than grassroots action over TARP/AARP/HCR/DADT/TAXES
- Keith Olbermann & Rachel Maddow & Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert are soooooooo awesome!
- Obama, not so much
- Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin and Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, grrr!
- GBCW
- Pooties and woozles, oh my!
-
BWD :(
- I'm soooooo disappointed in President Obama that I'm going to call him names and unsubscribe from his stuff as I cry about it
Now take a step back. Tell me what you see. I'm sure I left out important bits (like dKos fundraising, disaster relief, and nice pictures from Netroots Nation), but, truly, tell me what you see.
Do you see a website dedicated to electing Democrats? (I don't)
Do you see a website for "political analysis on US current events from a liberal perspective" (I do, yes)
Do you see a lot of whining? (well...)
This brings us to the current fracas over Obama calling "us" whiners purists actually, what he said was in answer to a specific question framed around "some on the Left" and answered in reference to a non-specific "they":
What the President actually said:
"...but because there was a provision in there [the Public Option in the HCR Bill] that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple million people [6 million by 2019, according to the CBO, according to this], even though we got health insurance for 30 million people and the potential for lower premiums for 100 million, that somehow that was a sign of weakness or compromise. Now, if that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face, we will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about how pure our intentions are and how tough we are, and in the meantime, the American people are still seeing themselves not able to get health insurance because of [a] pre-existing condition, or not being able to pay their bills 'cause their unemployment insurance ran out. That can't be the measure of how we think about our public serice; that can't be the measure of what it means to be a Democrat. This is a big, diverse country. Not everybody agrees with us. I know that shocks people. You know, the New York Times Editorial page does not permeate across all of America--neither does the Wall Street Journal Editorial page. Most Americans, they're just trying to figure out how to go about their lives, and how can we make sure that our elected officials are looking out for us. And that means because it's a big, diverse country and people have a lot of complicated positions, it means that in order to get stuff done, we're gonna compromise.
Emphasis and stuff in brackets obviously mine. View it all here: http://www.youtube.com/...
Pretty reasonable, right? Intelligent? Nuanced? "Get things done for Americans rather than posturing when the political realities don't really even make that possible" sort of thing? Something a leader with his shoulders set on straight would say? Accurate, especially with regards to most Americans, which aren't reading dKos from their swanky iPhones twice a day?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes (one for each question).
But instead the media reports that Obama called "us" purist and sanctimonious, and now buttloads of Kossacks are tearfully defecting from OFA and writing rec'd OFAGBCW's with tags like "sadness" and "shattered hope", and whining oh, wait, it fits here, so yes: whining.
Which is more disappointing--Obama's response to the question, or this, this, and this? [Note: It's not personal. I don't know those people and I hope they feel better now, but I don't think their responses are productive for Democracy. Nonetheless, I'm not belittling them personally or meaning any harm]
Geez, guys. Let's not take everything Obama says so personally, no matter how hard we fought to get him elected. He has an entire country to run--and most of them won't ever even read this.
This can't be the metric by which we measure hope.