...And I have a right to be angry when my government is not performing to my expectations.
I thought a lot about this diary. I know that there have been many arguments back and forth about whether it is reasonable to expect an American president to conform to the values of the left (the fact that the person I donated money for and supported all throughout the primaries claimed to hold these values, thus spurring me to caucus for him instead of one of the other candidates makes it a little worse!) in a country that seems determined to allow itself to be shifted right. I know that this diary won't actually bring any solutions to the table. But damn it, I am PISSED.
I spent the entire healthcare debate/debacle supporting Obama's "moderate" viewpoint despite my absolute desperation for single payer healthcare, and I've made more excuses for his behavior than I can remember making for any politician. Then the Social Security payroll tax cut really broke me, really changed how I view and accept (or lack thereof) this administration. And now we have this. And I agree. It is ENOUGH. I am mad as hell.
Imagine this: "Sure, my doctor missed the tumor in my brain, but at least he found the one in my breast!"
Most people wouldn't make excuses for ANYONE else in their life the way they make excuses for Obama and his team. "Sure, the firefighters didn't come this time I called them, and my house burnt down, but at least they came LAST time!"
Failures are acceptable. They are a fact of life.
Concessions, at times, are acceptable.
Not even trying is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Not showing up to the game and letting these massive degradations of human rights (see also: the "war on drugs", etc) continue under your watch is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Being a mediocre Democrat at this crucial juncture in our country's path is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Yeah, it beats being a Republican. I will vote Democrat in the national election until the day I die, every single election, no matter how bitterly disappointed I am. But being better than the opposition is surely no stirring recommendation of your worthiness to lead my country. Am I happy about the end of DOMA? Am I happy we got some form of healthcare passed? Yes. But I am not going to relent. I am not going to say that this is good enough when it plainly isn't.
I wouldn't choose to see a doctor if they were right half the time and wrong the other half. I wouldn't see a dentist with a history of cracking jaws and damaging nerves every few patients. But some people make these sorts of excuses and concessions to the leader of over 300 million people.
I expect someone who is leading 300 million people to do the absolute most he or she can do, every single day, for his or her entire term. I expect them to TRY to be audacious BEFORE concessions are made. And yes, my standard is perfection. Do I expect them to actually be perfect? No. I'm not naive enough to think that that is possible. But you know what? I expect them to TRY.
Let's get one thing straight: being the president is a big fucking deal. And with that great power comes great responsibility. Part of that responsibility is on us. We are tasked with keeping the president on task, no matter what. We are not here to protect his feelings or the feelings of anyone else in the White House. We're not here to tell him he's a GREAT guy, and don't listen to those mean people who tell you otherwise. Our job is to ensure that this country actually has a future. Somehow we find this task easier when our president is a Republican. But as we have seen with Clinton, and now Obama, is that we can't drop the ball even when one of ours is sitting in the White House.
I'm sick of being told "well, nothing can be done. It's the Senate! It's the House!" as if these fights start and end with one Congress. The fight for our values will continue for decades. Whether we can or can't accomplish it with the current government doesn't mean we stop fighting. And this, of course, ignores the fact that there are many things that SHOULD be done and COULD be done but AREN'T being done. The rescue of Bradley Manning being one of them. The end of the brutal, senseless war in Afghanistan being a second.
In the end, it comes down to my frustration at being told I am expecting too much.
I am not expecting too much. You are expecting too little. This man is the president. His administration are some of the most powerful people in the world. Millions of lives and livelihoods DEPEND on their doing their job to the absolute best of their abilities. And when it comes down to those stakes, I am not going to relent for the slightest second. We aren't here to soothe the feelings of politicians. We aren't here to bolster their self-esteem. We are here to make sure that the doctors who are supposedly up our country aren't negligent and aren't engaged in malpractice.