[WS:} Perhaps you are right. I am not in disagreement with your argument - I just have little faith in the US electorate. I hope I am wrong on that, but then I was surprised by Bush election.
In any case, I am going off to Russia so this is my last post for a while.
Wojtek
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 3:58 PM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wojtek S
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> [WS:} That is what I've been arguing for some time. Obama presided
> over the largest and very unpopular bailout of the banking industry,
> (engineered by Bush to be sure,) a bailout of the auto industry, the
> highest unemployment after WW2, the escalation of the Vietnam war in
> Afghanistan (a Democrat Party project,) and the health care reform
> debacle. If this thing passes, it will be so bad that it will piss off
> a lot of people, but if it does not, it will be seen as another
> failure of his presidency. Either way, it is likely to have a negative
> effect on his re-election, and we should thank the Democratic Party
> for that.
> I dread that, but given the stupidity of the electoral system in
> general and the US elections in particular, President Palin in 2012
> starts looking more and more real.
>
> Wojtek
>
> ^^^^^
>
> > Commentary: Will 'SNL' skit sink hopes for Obama?
>
> >
> > By Ed Rollins
> > CNN Senior Political Contributor
> > Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is
> > senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the
> > American Presidency at Hofstra University. He was White House
> > political director for President Reagan and chairman of the National
> > Republican Congressional Committee.
> >
> > NEW YORK (CNN) -- Since its debut on October 11, 1975, "Saturday Night
> > Live" has spoofed, ridiculed and hammered presidents and other
> > political figures without regard to political affiliation or any other
> > sensitivities.
> >
> > The perfect parroting of Sarah Palin after her vice president
> > nomination, by the immensely talented Tina Fey, started the downward
> > spiraling of the governor. People started looking at her in a
> > different light, and she was judged as a less serious candidate.
> >
> > Saturday's skit portraying President Obama as a man who made a lot of
> > promises and hasn't been able to fulfill many -- if any -- has been
> > analyzed over and over with a constant rerun of the "SNL" clip.
> >
> > In the comedy skit, the president is asked about unrealized campaign
> > promises, including closing Gitmo, combating global warming, allowing
> > openly gay people to serve in the military, withdrawing from Iraq,
> > improving the status of the fight in Afghanistan, reforming health
> > care and several others. On screen the response on a check list was:
> > that each item was "not done."
>
> ^^^^^^^^
> CB: My sense is that the reports of O's political demise are greatly
> exaggerated and laughably pre-mature.
>
> These statements by Rollins and others, after 9 months of O's
> administration, are suspiciously hasty: as if O promised that the
> whole "list" would be accomplished in his first 9 months in office !
> It seems ,shall we say, discriminatory that Obama is held by so many
> to a ridiculously strict and impatient standard that I can't remember
> any previous President being held to. What are the motives and
> consciousnesses of these people, just about all white, demanding that
> he do this impossible task, which nobody with any sense would expect
> him to do ? Do these people think that most Black people don't notice
> this disparate treatment of the first Black President ?
>
> Which segues to : particularly on civil rights and anti-racism , the
> pronouncements that Obama's campaign was not of high quality, nor that
> he has not done any thing significantly in his short time in office
> are obvious half-truths and lies. I want to say who do y'all think
> y'all's explaining racism to ? His speech on race in Philadelphia
> during the campaign was , fyi, historic and quite correct. In just
> nine months he has signed a Pay Equity Act (! ) Hello, do these people
> know how long this has been at the top of left and working class
> feminists' agenda ? wake the hell up; his Attorney General has
> announced a major shift in policy to traditional civil rights
> litigation; he appointed the first Hispanic woman to the US Supreme
> Court; he has added an office of Urban Policy to the adminstration (
> "urban" is now a political synonym for Black; you know like "urban
> radio") Has any President except Lincoln or Johnson done anything
> comparable on civil rights after just nine months in office ? Not that
> I recall. And what specifically are all these "radical anti-racist"
> white people demanding a President is supposed to do on civil rights
> in 2009 ? Veteran anti-racist _activists_ like me are asking you (
> and who the hell do you think you are foolin' ? smile). I've been
> criticizing discussions on racism on this list for years , and
> suddenly all this posturing as if to the left of Obama on racism !!!.
> Guess what . You are not to the left of Obama on racism. And hangin'
> out with BAR , Reed et al. is not getting you there. Give me a
> motherfucking break.
>
> I can tell you one thing, Wojtek, in 2012 Obama is very likely to
> garner a majority vote from the number one expert judges of anybody's
> civil rights/ anti-racist record - women and People of Color.
>
> Other issues: a whole lot of members of the working class around
> here support the bailout of the auto industry; and things are pretty
> quiet from the anti-O chattering class about the winding down Iraq war
> front. It's real cute trying to act like his plan for ending the war
> in Iraq is a nothing. We'll see how many people are pissed and how
> many like the health care law. He still supports employee free choice.
> Excuse me that he hasn't been able to do it in 9 months; I realize he
> was supposed to bring socialism in these 9 months, but you know.... He
> spoke at the AFL-CIO convention. When was the last Pres to do that ?
> Stopping the Bush Star Wars plan is , as James H. said, an unalloyed
> good. He also declared for nuclear disarmament, something I think no
> President has done since Kennedy at least I can't remember the last
> time. Stem cell research is "freed" to save and cure lives an
> extraordinary advance; Bush should be put in jail for that delay
> alone. O increased unemployment benefits. I benefitted from that
> myself, and may again. There are thousands of Detroiters getting
> stimulus money for home repairs many of whom I have talked to directly
> on the telephone or know personally. That its not enough is the
> Republican and right Dems' fault , not Obama's. The State of Michigan
> got about $ 500 million for its bankrupt situation , too. That saves a
> lot of jobs and services.
>
> And that ain't all.
>
> Sorry, Obama has approximaely zero responsibility for the unemployment
> rate being huge. Even if ignorance blames him, there is lots of time
> for that to fall by the objective processes.
>
> This doesn't even cover all the evil shit McCain would have done that
> has not happened. Of course, that's speculative. But it is certain
> that there about five to ten things there that are a blessing by their
> absence. Bush or McCain would have been avidly supporting the coup in
> Honduras. Obama has said the elections will not be recognized if
> under the current regime.
>
> I don't like paying off Wall Street and the healthcare monsters, but
> get real. They are _the_ ruling class, and it's quite a big lie to
> claim that Obama promised he would overthrow them. And Obama makes
> monotonic, emotionaless declarations in support of "the market" not
> heartfelt ones like the Reaganites.
>
> Pretty funny declaring O to the right of liberals. I guess people
> have forgotten what a liberal is. He looks a lot like a 20th Century
> liberal, which is to the left of all Presidents for the last 30 years.
> He has all the signs of breaking with neo-liberalism. That's why the
> right is redbaiting him as a socialist.
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