Huffington Post has a poll to pick 5 of the years' biggest political disappointments of the year. Most of the picks center around Obama. Take your pick, Healthcare, Climate Change, Afghanistan, etc. Heck, they even threw in the Chicago Olympics. That got me to thinking about what some of my biggest political disappointments of the year were. I'm not going to do a list of 5, but I am going to list the ones that got me "Fired Up". So join me below the fold for a different interpretation.
The ferocity of the opposition to Healthcare Reform just floored me. Especially once the Town Hall meetings started over the summer. The lies and distortions that came out of those meetings truly took me by surprise. Death Panels, Kill Grandma, Euthanasia, and best of all, the medicare recipients who shouted Keep the Government out of my Medicare! And more pointedly, I was disappointed in the Mainstream Media's willingness to let these obvious myths, lies and distortions be put on the airwaves with no attempt whatsoever to debunk them. Until much later of course, after they had a chance to simmer all summer long. Frankly, I'm still a bit shell shocked at the some in America to believe such crap.
I was once a regular reader of Huffington Post. Sure, they dabbled in the tabloid and gossip, but they also broke some important stories and had some top notch writers working for them. Remember Nico Pitney's live blogging of the Iran election Uprising? That was some powerful journalism. And it deserved all the kudos it got. That was until Arianna called for Joe Biden to resign over Afghanistan. To make a point. Really. Now, I had been disappointed with the site before this, but this post just jumped the shark to me. And it's gotten worse since then. Arianna seems to be competing more and more with Drudge and Politico for clicks instead of solid reporting. Lee Stranahan is the worst with a seeming personal vendetta against Obama and his administration. And the last straw for me was a post that has since been removed comparing Obama and Tiger Woods as 2 "role models of color" done in by hubris. F U Arianna Huffinton. I'm done.
But my biggest disappointment this year has been in some of our own.
I'm talking about those that believed that Obama could wave a magic wand and all would be right with the world.
Those that promote an all or nothing agenda that is GUARANTEED to get a progressive agenda nowhere.
Those whose loyalties seem to change as often as a pair of socks.
Choosing purity over compromise.
Those that seem to think if Obama had just cheered a little louder and clapped a littler harder, 60 votes would appear out of thin air for Health Care.
Those that agree with Jane Hamsher and Firedoglake. From the The Kill the Bill sentiment, to the Primary Bernie Sanders threat because of his Health Care vote. Jane's joining with Grover Norquist to call for Rahm Emanuels' resignation and her appearance on Fox News. I never thought I'd see the day when these kind of actions garnered approval from those on this site.
Those that will vote for a Third Party Candidate or sit out the 2010 election because everything hasn't happened exactly the way you wanted it to and in the shortest amount of time possible.
Folks, change is hard. Exceptionally hard. You have got to be willing to compromise at some point or end up with nothing. I want a progressive agenda as much as the next person. I want Single Payer. I want Gay Marriage. I want us to be done in the middle east and our troops back home. But I also realize the reality of our political climate is not conducive to a quick turn around on these issues. The kind of change we are looking for takes decades to come about if not longer.
It's your decision as to what the next 3 years will be like. Will it be constant attacks and negativity against the people that are trying to enact this change, or will we move forward so that we can get about the business of electing a better senate that will get our progressive agenda on the right track? Me? I'M MOVING FORWARD
Thanks for listening.
**UPDATE**
I just read this over at The Plumline and it brings up yet another HUGE disappointment for me.
The GOP would never stand for it.
Why aren’t Democrats backing up Obama at a time when he’s under fire from the right?
Yesterday, I posted on how conservatives like Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Rep. Pete King, and Newt Gingrich were using last Friday’s attempted bombing in Detroit as a hook to attack Obama’s approach to terrorist attacks and the campaign against Islamic extremism.
And, yet, Democrats have been silent in the face of these broadsides. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the Chairman of the House Intelliegence Committee, has been effectively AWOL from the news. Rep. Bennie Thompson and Senator Jay Rockefeller have called for investigations, but have not made any real attempt to articulate a defense of Obama’s unwillingness to escalate. No one else seems willing to step up.
And it's not just this, but a whole host of other Republican attacks over the last year. WTF DEMS? WHERE ARE YOU??