I have been pretty depressed and feeling kind of hopeless about the election results. It's been difficult to look on the bright-side of things the past week.
When I heard that President Obama would be on 60 minutes last night I thought perhaps I would find some relief in a message from our leader. Maybe a new vision of where we need to go? A second shot of hope, mixed with a bit of optimism? So, I tuned in. However, what I heard in that interview was exactly the opposite of what I was HOPING for.
Pres. Obama was just as depressed and disheartened as I was. He was glum and his energies were low. He showed little or no enthusiasm for the progressive ideas that got elected him into office. Instead, he was acting intimidated and crushed. Willing to go to where the teabaggers wanted him to go....droning on and on about how he would work with the Repugs....
Arrrrgggghhhh.....I was screaming "SNAP OUT OF IT OBAMA !!!
That is NOT what I wanted to hear at this point!!
Stop capitulating. Stop being so damn wimpy!! SNAP OUT OF IT!!"
I needed something else from our President to feel better or hopeful about the future.
I don't know who told him to do that interview immediately following the election. Or, to go to India-Asia this past week...but he sure is getting bad advice.
Or, his instincts are way off.
I always felt like President Obama's heart and head were in the right place, and he is a good man who wants to do good things. I thought he was capable of leading us to a better America....someone who was willing to do the hard work of making us a progressive country.
But, right from the beginning of health care reform he began bending too soon and too easily on the public option. He could have delivered something really big, and something so many wanted and NEEDED. The public option. He tried to play footsie with the Repugs to appease their wishes. Over. AND Over. AND Over. AND Over.......etc.
At the start of 2009 he should have brought criminal charges against Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld for war crimes, and begin investigated Haliburton for war profiteering. But, it was too unseemly to him. He didn't want to upset the apple cart, or make people on the other side mad at him.
When he hired Rahm E., Geitner and Summers to be his right-hand guys...I began to wonder what was going on with him.
Matt Rothchild wrote on November 4th about "Obama's pathetic Post-Mortem Response"
The President’s post-mortem press conference underscores why he lost, and why progressives should no longer invest hope in him.
While he accepted responsibility for the defeat, and while he acknowledged that people were "frustrated" and wanted "their jobs to come back faster," he failed to even mention the massive housing crisis that he has so ineptly handled.
On top of that, he adopted the messaging of the Republicans. He talked about the need to reduce our deficit so we don’t "leave our children a legacy of debt" and so we’re not "racking up the credit card for the next generation."
...Rather than represent an ideological alternative, he tried to blur the ideological lines. "None of the challenges we face lend themselves to simple solutions or bumper-sticker slogans," he said. "Nor are the answers found in any one particular philosophy or ideology."
And just as he did during his long waffle on health care, he said, "I’m eager to hear good ideas wherever they come from."
He repeatedly mentioned the need for "civility" and "consensus" at a time when it’s more important than ever to slug out the ideological differences.
He also embraced some of the substance of the Republican Party agenda.
And he even waved at restarting "our nuclear industry as a means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing greenhouse gases."
That’s his vision?
This is pathetic.
Yep. Pathetic is the right word to describe Obama's demeanor last night on 60 Minutes.
IMHO: His major flaw is that he wants ALL people to like him, and he will contort himself out of whack to appease people. No matter what the cost, he is determined to make people like him. He spends so much time trying to please others, that he has lost himself and his important ideals in the process.
He hasn't figured it out yet that those on the other side HATE him. He said last night that he is going to keep on trying to please them no matter the cost. The barbarians on the other side have one intent, and that is to wipe him out.
If I could speak with him, I would say this: "Mr. Obama, you can't make everyone happy, and you didn't make anyone happy with this approach. Your progressive base is so disillusioned that they are not going to go out and vote for your ideas anymore. SNAP out of it!! Start being the fighter you need to be instead of an appeaser who is failing at what your base put you there to do"
I would like to see him come out swinging..have some gusto in his approach to dealing with the jerks on the other side...punching their lights out...jabbing at them....knocking them out. But, he continues to open his arms wide, and he gets sucker-punched by the Party of NO over and over.
Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be paying attentions to the messages from his base...just the ones from the brutes who oppose him.
It is So disheartening to see him fold so easily.
It is a real problem to see him acting so meekly...he Needs to SNAP out of it! And, fast...because I fear nobody is going to like him in the near future if he continues with this approach. And, that could destroy his soul.