you perceive nothing, you follow blindly to some soundtrack of words saying you not following blindly.  How easy it is to discount what some one has to say.  Or how about: you bang away on your keyboard "talk is cheap" and "I want to see his works" and I say typing that is even cheaper. Unless of course you want internet access to convey those words, then maybe it costs a little more. 

So you know I perceive nothing?  You perceive this?  And you are grounded in your belief that there IS a Righeous TRUTH and you can have direct access to it with absolute certainity?  You know, where I come from they call folks like that fanatics.  And they are considered dangerous to a liberal democracy.

And just for the record, I don't follow Obama blindly. I merely see him as best one could possibly hope for in a country that contain folks such as yourself.  I consider ourselves as nation lucky that, as flawed as he is in his views in my opinion, we got someone like Obama.  And maybe if the country is able to eek forward a little bit, the public might, just might be open to electing someone even more liberal than him next time.  But I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks, Emerson!  Good to be back.  Happy New Year to you as well. 

Heh. Sounds oh so familiar. I can't tell you how much time I have wasted arguing with people who think they know what I believe and think and they try to put words in my mouth. I work with this guy who argues with me based not on what I say but on what Rush says that people like me (people who don't validate his point of view) are saying. I finally realized that I had wasted probably a week of my life basically saying, "What? I never said that. Where did you get that?" This really doesn't completely tie in to what the original discussion was about but I am sleepy so I am rambling. Need to go to bed. Good night!

Feel free to come back and discuss particulars regarding legitimate criticisms of Obama and the overall futility of DLC Dem policies and strategies when you're done cavorting with your straw man.

That's ok. We'll wait.

Yes, Eric, one and the same.  I think we would agree that we're usually in the same corner.  If you've read me at all, you know that I'm an Obama supporter who questions his decisions more often than praising them.  He has taken steps in the right direction, but he takes them in bunny booties when what we need is a grown-up leader in army boots. 

I think we can all agree that he doesn't understand the scope of this crisis, and there isn't time to wait until he does.  We all do the best we can to get that message out, but when I begin to hear the sounds of Right Wing rhetoric coming from the left, I'm outta there.  No patience for that.  (No time for that, either.)

Let's break away for a moment from Bad Obama and emphasize instead the real, pressing issues our country faces.  Yes, keep a watchful eye on Obama, the Fat Cats and the entire government--they deserve nothing less--but we bloggers are building a force, and we could better use it to channel information and highlight the work being done to move us out of this crisis we're in.

Let's join up with the unions, for example, and give labor our support.  Let's keep in the forefront those medical experts who have good ideas about where to cut costs without harming patients.  Let's talk to educators to find out what we all can do to lift up public education.  Let's feed and nurture scared, hungry kids.  Let's do some good.

I think where you strayed from course here was in thinking there are any of us who give Obama unconditional support.  I haven't seen it here; nor have I seen it anywhere in the liberal/progressive blogoworld.  What I am seeing is a growing trend toward hysteria and paranoia--the black helicopter bunch who see secret cabals intent on destroying us around every corner. 

I think there is a middle ground. At least I hope there is.  As Americans we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves, we should be unified in fighting to save our country. 

 I do tend to trust people until they give me reasons not to.  I can't say I've lost all trust in Obama, but I can say I'll keep on watching him and reporting what I see, good or bad.  And I'll do it in my own way, because--that's what bloggers do.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease?

I can't entirely blame people for losing confidence in government, but that they trust the free market and corporations instead is ridiculous.

Well said.

We seem to differ on the following. I believe that improving the jobs picture (unemployment rate, wage level, job security, job quality) will increase the capacity for empathy in people across the board, and thus enable faster progress on the civil rights front. I.e. insecurity breeds hatred of the Other, and so by diminishing the former, the latter subsides.

You believe that better understanding of Milan Kundera will somehow do the same.

;0)

(p.s. snarky, yes, but I honestly don't know where you're going with the post-structuralist stuff...)

We've seen wide swings in support from Dems to Repubs and back again over these last series of election cycles. I think the only conclusion we can draw from this is that there is a disquieting angst let loose among the electorate that neither party is addressing. They remain dissatisfied that the party in power is not addressing their needs, and so they turn to the other as an "alternative." Finding no joy in that, they then once again vote against the party in power and for the other party as their "alternative choice." The cycle seems to continue unabated.

Altogether too true, and nuts, besides.  We can't build a stable society by swinging from tree to tree looking for the more satisfying coconut.  We have to build it from within, and that means taking a limb and shaking it silly until it gives us what we want.

We're assuming nothing will ever change within the Democratic Party--that we're somehow so totally entrenched in the status quo, the only alternative is to dump them and look elsewhere.  Fine and dandy if the "elsewhere" didn't happen to be the Republicans.  The kind of change required of us now will take decades to happen, and if we keep throwing out one bunch and replacing them with an even worst bunch, I don't see anything much happening except the defeat of one party and the triumph of the other.  Each side then thinks they've done something right, else they wouldn't be in the catbird seat. Hence, more of the same.  It works.  The losing party goes off to lick their wounds and then decides they have to be more like the winning side or they'll never sit in that catbird seat again.

Oh, wait.  That only works for Dems.  The Republicans never stop to lick their wounds.  They retreat to the War Room and figure out a new strategy to take back control.  The new strategy is pretty much the same as the old strategy, but effective because the Dems never get it that there has to be some radical changes in everything when they get the power.  Otherwise, too many voters won't be able to tell the difference.  (Seems obvious, doesn't it?  So why is it so hard to get it through their thick heads?  Wouldn't it be to their advantage not to be considered Republicans?)

It's our job to convince the Dems that Most of their ideas so far are beyond stupid, but we can best do that if they're in control.  Otherwise, all our efforts are for nothing.  We've taken 10 steps backward for every one forward, and it'll go on like that until we unify and force our side to get it right. 

Here is where you are wrong, the Health Care Plan is not the Romney Plan. Not doing your research and spouting what the press says, doesn't make you right. The fact of the matter is, that is a part of the original referendum passed by the citizens of Massachusetts in 1986, signed into law by Michael Dukakis, without this, Massachusetts would not have their own form of Universal Care. In fact I uploaded two peer reviewed journal articles in my last blog, really essay, because it isn't opinion Oleeb it is actual research, with sources. But you won't even read out of your comfort zone, you look for opinions only, that already support your outrage, so you can be more outraged. Just like every Palin supporter does, they don't care about actua facts either do they. It isn't disappointing that you don't know the facts, what is disappointing is you don't care about the actual facts which is what I only expect out of conservatives and tea bags not people who claim to be smart progressives. Why would you only listen to people on TV and read blogs, spout their nonsense without ever really knowing or trying to find out the real facts about health care reform and how we got here, and then you, not unlike the wingers folk continue to spread lies about the legislation without knowing any facts. Sometime is behooves people to quit with the outrage and learn the facts. So here are a couple of actual papers, read them, if you want more, I have every bit of research on the subject, research dating back to 1912.  I don't really expect you to read them though, then you might have to reasses your outrage.

http://dagblog.com/sites/default/files/Massachussetts_UniversalHeathCare...

http://dagblog.com/sites/default/files/Massachussetts_ReferendumUniversa...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/19/us/politics/20090717_HEALT...