Obama is my guy to the end.
(Do you remember the rallies of 2008? They were awesome.)
Sure you can point out that Middleman Obama has failed to address the country’s priorities - jobs and economic recovery - while firmly embracing the creeping Orwellism of the Bush national security state.
So maybe he has pre-emptively surrendered on all the most important elements of his professed agenda.
What was he supposed to do?
So what if he has been consistently out-maneuvered by half-wits, showing no capacity, whatsoever, to learn on the job?
Even if you accept all this: you can't deny his pragmatism.
So he appointed useless advisors who remain in the pockets of Wall Street banksters. Those people must be smart – they’ve made boatloads of money and Lloyd Blankfein respects them.
And did I mention that Obama has consistently taken a highly pragmatic course?
When Republicans dominate the framing of debates, it would take an awful lot of work to reframe issues productively (i.e., in ways that would point toward intelligent policy), and the Republicans and corporate lobbyists would be totally pissed if Obama succeeded.
How are you going to compromise effectively with a bunch of Republicans who are totally pissed because you dared challenge their framing, huh?
For every completely valid criticism of our hapless empty-suit in chief fearless leader – abject surrender on Guantanamo and global warming, a healthcare bill that is an utter travesty and is likely to unravel before most of the key provisions are implemented, completely toothless financial reform, etc. - I can generate 5-10 strawman critiques that would be totally unfair.
Sure Middleman Obama may dismantle the legacy of the New Deal, allow Republicans to kill the economy, and relegate tens of thousands of old ladies to cat food for their protein.
But I believe in a thing called loyalty.
I will happily go down with this ship. I’m sure my grandchildren will respect my consistent embrace of this feckless, deluded poser the best president this century, even if he wasn’t really up to the challenge of the job or the times.
And even if he got outmaneuvered in every situation that mattered, you cannot deny that the guy was intelligent and almost always meant well.
Even if he goes down in history as one of our 5 worst President, I remain confident that he’ll still rank above George W. Bush. (He may even end up ahead of Andrew Johnson – the jury is still out).
And Obama is like, totally better than Rick Perry.
So I will soldier on, continuing to ignore the enormity of the string of unforced errors, self-inflicted wounds, abject sell-outs, and astonishing miscalculations, withholding any criticism.
And I will vigorously bask in self-perceived moral superiority after Obama loses by double digits in 2012, thanks to the lowest turnout in decades (the impact on turnout of Obama's collapse was the canary-in-the-coal-mine indicator in Scott Brown’s election), the complete defection of “independent” voters, and the disgusted dissolution of most of Obama’s base.
