The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Wattree's picture

    Will The Real President Obama Please, Please Stand up?

    By Wattree on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 12:42am |
    I’ve been a steadfast Obama supporter every since the very first day he arrived on the political scene, but I must admit, it hasn’t always been easy. First, even as a candidate, he reversed his position on FISA after it was revealed that the Bush administration had been illegally spying on the American people. Then once elected, instead of allowing his attorney general the free hand to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for the war crimes committed in Iraq as prescribed both by law, and his oath of office, he sent the message to his attorney general, and the American people, that we shouldn’t "look back" on the murder of close to a million people.

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    Then, instead of giving us the change that we could believe in that he promised during the campaign, he’s allowed the Republican Party to frame a completely false political debate which has given them free rein to hold the American people hostage and keep us in absolute misery. And while all this is going on, the only word coming out of his mouth is "compromise."

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    Many of my fellow Obama supporters contend that the president can only do so much, which is absolutely true. But what he can do is use the bully pulpit of the presidency to educate the people, which he’s failing miserably at. The entire GOP agenda is based on flat-out lies, the blatant corruption of facts, and a deviation from reality that’s so severe that even a child could see it if someone would just take the time to explain it. So why isn’t Obama doing that?

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    President Obama should have a staff right next door to the oval office that’s dedicated to nothing but poking holes in Republican lies. If the White House had such a staff, John Boehner, Eric Canter, and the rest of the GOP demagogues would be afraid to tell the blatant lies that they’re telling, because they’d know that every time they told a lie, the very next day the entire news cycle would be dedicated to pointing it out.
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    How much time would it take to demonstrate to the American people that it’s not the rich who create jobs? It’s the poor and middle class who create jobs by buying goods and services. It doesn’t matter how big a tax break you give the rich, they are not going to hire anyone to produce goods unless they have someone to sell them to. Is Gucci going to hire people to produce his handbags if he’s forced to sell them in a homeless shelter? Of course not, because no one in the homeless shelter can afford to buy them. Well, that’s exactly what the GOP is turning America into - a vast homeless shelter.
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    The American people need to be educated to the fact that the GOP, in collusion with corporations, and I now suspect, the United States government, are purposely keeping unemployment high in order to bring down the standard of living of the American middle class. In the new global economy American corporations are forced to compete with countries who pay their workers less per week than many Americans spend on lunch per day. Thus, the standard of living of the American middle class has become a liability. So the continued high unemployment rate, in spite of record corporate profits, is nothing but a ploy to get the American people accustomed to expecting less for their labor. That’s also why the GOP is engaged in a concerted effort to destroy labor unions.
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    But it’s not just labor that’s under attack. Every facet of American life is being assaulted. It started with the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine. That allowed corporations to turn the public airways into a propaganda conduit. Corporations are now allowed to lie to us with impunity and deprived us of all reliable sources of information in the news. And at the same time, the entertainment division of that very same corporate media is telling us what and how we should think, act, and what is and is not acceptable. So it’s turning us into unthinking Stepford children. Thank God for the internet, but I assure you, they’ll be zeroing in on it much more aggressively real soon.
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    In addition, our schools are being corporatized. If we don’t do something about that soon, in the very near future corporations will be programming our children instead of educating them. We’re currently knee-deep in a class war, and our educational system is being used to solidify and reinforce a new class system. In the very near future, poor and middle-class children will have one of two options - either accept whatever crumbs the corporations decide to throw at them, or become cannon fodder for the military-industrial complex.
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    Have you noticed that the children of the rich are no longer even expected to fight for this country? So why should they care about the endless wars that we’re engaging in? No one they love is dying, so it’s just a matter of dollars and cents to them.

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    So the rich don’t pay taxes, and they don’t fight and die for the country. So exactly what is their function in society? I’ll tell you what it is – to sit back like royalty, prosper on our misery, and complain that the grandparents of the people who are dying for the country are too much of a burden on them. That’s it. Then, to promote their interests, the GOP is holding us hostage every chance they get, and saying, ”Let them eat cake” - and the president is talking about balance and compromise? Please!
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    So yes, there is something that one man can do. The President of the United States can educate America, and thereby, save the American people from utter disaster. Because the one thing that holds this entire conspiracy together is ignorance. Without it, the conspiracy will come tumbling down like a house of cards.
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    So Mr. President, at this point in our history compromise is the very last thing we need. What we need now is firm, aggressive, and uncompromising leadership.
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    Eric L. Wattree
    http://wattree.blogspot.com/
    [email protected]
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    I agree with your conclusion.  And I don't think he can do it.  I think he is being himself and this is what happens.  And after so many people telling me we just have to live with it or we will lose to the republicans if we primary him, I think we should start a campaign asking him to step aside and let someone else have a chance at these outrageous republicans. 

    I believe he wants what is best for this country... and he is just not the right person to deal with the republicans we are now facing.   If we can find someeone with a more suitable personality for dealing with the current class of republicans, we might have a fighting chance and some enthusiasm to stand strong and overcome the huge obstacles we will be facing in the next election.


    by synchronicity on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 2:03am

    I agree with your conclusion as well, but I'm not sure that he can't do it.

    I don't think it has sunk in for him yet that these are not our father's republicans. I think he still wants to believe they can be reasoned with. But, these are people who will stoop to any level to get what they want. They have used Mafia-like tactics. I liked the name teahadists, but I think someone on TPM made an even better analogy, that of the "Godfather" and the horse head left in the bed. These are vicious, self serving people who have no consciences whatsoever. They will say and do whatever needs to be said or done to get what they want. They will, lie cheat and steal if need be. They will deprive tens of thousands of people their livelihoods (think FAA) for weeks on end to get what they want. They will impoverish the sick and the elderly, they will jeopardize the financial stability of the world, they will throw hundreds of thousands if not millions off unemployment benefits.

    THEY CLOAK THEMSELVES IN THE FLAG, BUT THESE ARE NOT PATRIOTS. These people HATE our government. The problem is, they are too ignorant to realize what will left when they have their way. A few rich people (excuse me, "job creators") and a whole bunch of really poor people and nothing in-between, an environment that will be ravaged and raped, pillared and plundered. There will be unsafe drinking water, no trees, food that makes us sick, drugs that have not been properly tested, an unregulated financial system that will run us off a cliff given the opportunity. I could go on for pages.

    I THINK he may be getting the picture. I hope so, anyway. I still haven't figured out in my own mind how to deal with them. Maybe he is still working that out, as well. At any rate, I haven't heard anyone else with a solution. Maybe we will, and I will change my position. But for now, he's all we've got. If we stay home, we lose more than the WH. We lose the senate, and we lose a whole bunch more of the states. We only think we have it bad now.


    by stillidealistic on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 2:50am

    I get it, the dogs will be unleashed and messaging improved. LaHood, a Republican is now out front lashing Congress for going on vacation while the FAA shut down in unresolved. He's a good spokesman. I pray we are going to see the administration take a much more aggressive stance toward Republicans. Could this be the pivot in messaging?


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 3:39pm

    Corporatize--kind of a neat word do you not think?

    Sell out would be more appropriate.

    Sell out our prisons, sell out our schools, sell out our armies...

    I am surprised that this new Super Committee is not made up of corporate ceo's!

    It might be more fun if Bernie Sanders were president!

    There are tides in public reaction. We shall see how the to and fro aspects of our politics works next week in Wisconsin. If the dems win, there will be a recall election for Walker next year.

    The only reason to hand over governmental obligations to corporations is to screw the worker.

    Lower pay, lower pensions, lower health benefits...you name it.

    Meanwhile top management makes out like giant apes in a banana grove.

    ha!

     


    by Richard Day on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 4:08pm

    Rich,

    I'm very disappointed with Obama, but I'm going to vote for his re-election because it's too late for anyone else to step up to the plate at this point. So as I see it, we have a choice - we can either re-elect him, or turn the country over to the fascists. 

    But what I would like to see is other Democrats step up to the plate and pressure him to be more aggressive with the GOP. If he fails to do so, they should do it in his place, and make it clear that if he continue to compromise that they're going to leave him hanging out there by himself.

    I would also like to see another ambitious Democrat step up to the plate and respond to the GOP in Obama's place. He could say all of the things that Obama should be saying. If I've judged Obama correctly, that would be a blow to his ego, and it just might wake him up if he had to share the spotlight.


    by Wattree on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 8:12pm

    We did not vote for "Chamberlain the appeaser"  for president

    We voted for someone who was going to deliver the decisive blow to the previous republican administrations.

     Reaganomics would be vanquished once and for all. CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

    Thats all I got left in my pocket, some Change  you know full well this is what will be brought up in the election.

    As an aside;who sold us Cash for clunkers?  

    Instead we got General McClellan/ Chamberlain. Boy were we ever stupid. 

    But those of us embarrassed by this poseur wont be stupid again.

    The battles dint make him wiser, the republicans have handed him and us our behinds.

    Obama better be like LBJ;  announce he will not run for re-election.

    Time is running out and maybe that is the plan? The democrats will have another crisis moment, "WE CAN'T CHANGE GENERALS NOW" 

    IMHO Obama will barely carry the Democrats, but I cant see independents voting in great numbers for him. 

    Obama served the wrong base, get his votes from those he tried to kiss up to.

    Lets see how he likes getting it from them, the way he did Us?

    But don't shed a tear for Obama, he can go back to being the leader of the Harvard Law Review.

    Maybe his friends in Chicago can get him a job with Rahm or maybe the Daley machine can pull some strings.  maybe he can get a lobbyist job promoting imports, of cheap foreign goods into America.  

    What a pity, many thought he had a spine, were we ever fooled. Talks good though.

    Talks the talk but can't walk the walk?.  

    Sorry, I cant back this Presidential nominee, I've had it with capitalist shills.

    I want whole grain bread not white enriched cake, ones better for my health. 

    This Presidents diet plan sucks. Another flash in the pan         


    by Resistance on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 8:54pm

    Well put Watree, the FAA defunding is a case in point. The GOP is letting the FAA lose $1` billion in funding to make a $16 million partisan political kick in the groin against Reid, and Obama CANNOT think of some way to fiscally and in their districts screw the Republicans involved with this??? He is the President for chrissakes!

    Obama must learn to play hardball or hit below the belt on these gangsters  of the GOP, or he must get someone on his staff or in the Democratic Party to do it for him.


    by NCD on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 9:12pm

    The picture in your post reminds me of why I was so enthusiastic about this man.  He had me on his side because of what he said and how he said it.  I would have done anything to get him elected; I want him re-elected only because the other option (whatever it will be) is so odorous.  But I will not work like I did last time.  

    The picture you put up shows a passionate man who had a dream.  The President we have now is lacking passion, and needs a big cup of coffee just to see that he is up against a pernicious bacterium whose only goal is to ruin its host.  Why?  Because they can.  If we/he lets them by granting them the bogus and undeserved status of sanity.

     


    by CVille Dem on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 7:31pm

    CVille,

    That's exactly why his soaring might work against him during the campaign. Instead of serving to inspire people it's going to anger them because it's going to remind them of how they were bamboozled in the last election.


    by Wattree on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 8:18pm

    Eric,  you are a good man and you give others, especially Obama the benefit of the doubt but at long last you need to face the reality that the candidate Obama was only a marketing device and that the reason Obama has let the Republicans run the country since he was elected, why he has protected their war criminals, allowed the tax cuts for the rich to be extended and all that is because he is in fundamental agreement with them.  He goes along with budget cuts and cutting social security and medicare because he believes as they do that funds for the elderly and sick need to be used to fuel the imperial wars against the Islamic world that he has so dishonorably embraced.  You've been  more than fair to the guy,  but it's time to face the fact that he's been lying all along because he's not a great leader or even an exceptional man.  He's just another lying politician.  The unique quality about him is that his fraudulent claims of being a Democrat have been skillfully used to dismantle the very foundation of progress and stability in this country: the New Deal policies that kept America prosperous for 70 plus years.

    He lied to us Eric and he's still lying to us.  I found his "we'll do better next time" video excuse offensive.  Didn't you?  That's what he says every time.  And as long as we keep swallowing the snake oil he's selling, he's gonna keep on servin it up to us.  It's time to stop buying the snake oil. I wish it were otherwise and I know you do, but as bitter a pill as it is, it's time to do to Obama what he has done to all of us and that is to turn our backs on him and look elsewhere for leadership because it is crystal clear he will never come through for us and has no intention of doing so.


    by oleeb on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 9:16pm

    Barack Obama had a huge mandate behind him to capture the mission he was elected to do.  I hate to say this, but George Bush (if he had the same backing and philosophy) would have pushed a progressive, and economically stimulative program through, and would have challenged anyone who disagreed as a non-patriot (and he would have gotten away with it0.

    I'm not saying Dubys was good, but I am saying that sometimes it takes determination and a "knock this chip off my shoulder" attitude to get things done.   Obama's political capital was squandered in his misguided efforts to convince republicans that the goal was to "govern."  I don't know where we can go from here.

     


    by CVille Dem on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 9:54pm

    What you all wanted was a democrat decider. Instead, you got a ditherer who only stands for getting re-elected. Hate me all you want but I danced with the ones who brung me.


    by The Decider on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 6:58pm

    I know several Christian conservatives who would disagree…


    by Verified Atheist on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 7:09pm

    One can't be educated if one does not believe the source to be true. Many tea-baggers are victims of the kool-aid they've been serve and will only trust specific sources. They have to hear it from their reliable sources before they'll breakdown the mental barriers they've erected to keep out the liberal bias they so despise. It's going to take the economy to go bust and toss a huge majority of people out of work, including those on the right, before they start feeling the pain and humility of being unemployed without any prospects for work and start to listen to reason. Once they've been reduced to the level of poverty brought on by their refusal to compromise for the common good of all, only then can we work together to rebuild the economy.


    by Beetlejuice on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 8:04pm

    It's going to take the economy to go bust and toss a huge majority of people out of work, including those on the right, before they start feeling the pain and humility of being unemployed without any prospects for work and start to listen to reason. Once they've been reduced to the level of poverty brought on by their refusal to compromise for the common good of all, only then can we work together to rebuild the economy.

    You have more faith in them than I. I'm pretty sure that should that come to pass, they'll just blame Obama and move further to the right. When that fails, they'll be certain that the problem was that they hadn't moved far enough to the right. Rinse and repeat. No, there are certain people that we will not reach. I realize we agree on that already, so I suppose the difference in opinion might be on how the people we can reach will be reached.


    by Verified Atheist on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 8:40pm