Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mismatch


On one level, it's funny. On another, pitiful. But I can neither laugh at nor feel sorry for the callous cadre of Congressional and collectively crazy conservatives who are resorting to stupidity to attack President Obama. Because, as we know, stupidity is seductive. Stupidity works. Stupidity, as substitute for problem-solving, is what they do best. Ronald Reagan mastered it as political art form; George Bush subsumed it at a molecular level. And since, during those times, people ate it up like chocolate mousse (food of the gods, far as I'm concerned), there's no reason to believe that, bit by bit, repeated over and over, it won't eventually work again. Murder by spoon. Sure as hell, they're giving it a go.

And so it is that the response to Obama's appearance on 60 Minutes is that he was laughing. Which means, most assuredly, that he doesn't care. Or, as the wise among us predicted, they foment anger about the AIG bonuses into an attack on his veracity. While blaming him for fomenting anger! Beautiful: a twofer!! More's the horror: he's speaking at a Catholic university. (Check the link if you want to see hypocrisy at its most fulsome.) Worst of all: he uses a teleprompter!!! Not making that up: they're on him for using a teleprompter. (Oh yeah, and he's overexposed. A president who exposes himself.)

It's one thing (or it would be, if we saw it) to criticize constructively, to disagree with policy, to say why, to propose alternatives. At some point (are we there yet?), when all they have is silly sniping and reflexive rejection, you'd think people would say, y'know, these guys are just being churlish children. Wah, wah, wah. They have nothing to say. Except crap like this.

I'd like to think that this sort of transparent desperation would marginalize that portion of the Republican party out of existence, and that saner and more helpful heads would prevail. I'd like to think that the public would see it for what it is: unable to accept that their core ideas led us to ruin, they strike back in the only way they know. Distraction, denial, demagoguery. I'd like to think that, like a yippy dog that nips at ankles, they'd be ignored into going away. But I doubt it. There seems to be total commitment to the idea that if they say outrageous things enough, over and over, drip by drip, in the dark cave in which they now live it'll grow into something. That, heard enough, their nasty nostrums will win people over. And, given our short attention spans and discomfort with difficulty, it could work.

It's so hard to gauge. Is the noise greater than the sound? Am I overly pessimistic? It's most certainly true that if/when it becomes clear that the Obama program is working, all these petty people will be seen for what they are. You almost have to admire their willingness to go all in, given the high chance of failure, leaving them high, dry, and bye. But I don't.

Still, I worry. In the desperation born of knowing they have no ideas or credibility, Congressional Republicans and their supportive screamers are fighting to the death. If Obama succeeds, they're reduced to nothingness. His failure is their only option (not the country's, of course. But that's of no concern to them). So they'll attempt to bring it about by claiming it's already happened, making up stuff, pouncing on unimportant things as if they matter, braying round the clock, hoping that their cynical view of the public is true, that people are stupid enough to fall for it, to give up before the finish line. To guarantee the failure that is their last-gasp hope.

And that is the true disgrace. Among those Congressional Republicans and their screaming supporters there's not a single one larger than himself. None willing to rise to the demands of the times, to what we might call greatness. Their only concerns are party and power. Country first, my ass.

[Update: here's the story on a Limbaugh story. Surprise!! Limbaugh got it entirely wrong. How long shall we wait for the correction?]

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14 comments:

  1. "the idea that if they say outrageous things enough, over and over, drip by drip, in the dark cave in which they now live it'll grow into something." I see this happening already and it is very scary!

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  2. C'mon Sid-ney..I don't hate your lover boy...I LIKE that he spanked Hilary like an insolent child and she's banished to outer Mongolia for weeks at a time...but you gotta admit, he DID appear to be under the influence of some Green Leafy Substance during that interview...

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  3. Drackman: I thought I told you to get your albino ass over to Stormfront. You really would be more intellectually at home there.

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  4. Spiny: Its America, learn the rules.

    Frank

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  5. One of the supervisors where I work recently returned from a training seminar with a book "Dealing with Negaholics". That's what the GOP reminds me of- pp drunk on criticism, inebriated with complaints, sh*t-faced from anger & frustration. In the best workplaces, negaholics are encouraged to change. If they can't, they're either fired or excluded from decision making activities and left alone to grumble & mumble while the rest of the company moves forward. Maybe that's what needs to happen now in the U.S.

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  6. Hey Spynster, I bet you were really something before Electricity... Thats what the Party out of Power does...make faces and say mean things about the President...call me when someone calls O-bama a War Criminal...

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  7. He wasn't laughing because he doesn't care. He was laughing because he knows that fixing the economy is a really big job and he knows that he has no idea of how to do it. He's laughing because he can say that it's all Bush's fault for making the deficit big, then he can triple the deficit and the press and the Dems don't call him on it. He laughs because he ran on the promise of a middle class tax cut that he knows will never happen.

    He laughs because he has made fools of his believers. And yet they keep on believing. If it was some other country I'd probably be laughing too. But I know that my grandkids, and probably their grandkids will be paying off Obama's folly. And that's not funny.

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  8. He's a buffoon without the maturity to at least look like he takes this seriously. He "inherited" a deficit? BO was in the Senate (although he spent most of the time running for pres) the last four years. Please quote the bill he introduced to lower the deficit which he now complains about.

    Where's my tax cut?????

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  9. Good examples of Negaholism - no suggestions or solutions, just more criticism. But I'm a very pragmatic person. I think it may take a bit longer than 60 days to see progress. If we're in a worse situation 8 years from now, then I guess all the negaholics will be proven right. I wonder if they'll be happy then?

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  10. Yeah, hilltop=anonymous in their unfocused reactionary emptiness. But if it makes them feel good to drop by and drop trou, well, I'm glad to provide a venue. Other than leaving an oily spot, they have nothing useful to say, no actual proposals nor refutations of the facts. Hard to know why they waste their time. Maybe their sheets are in the laundry.

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  11. Well, it looks like there's some advice in there, just stated in a different way.

    Obama should grow up and take his job seriously. For instance, he should hire a Treasury department, if the money thing is important to him. He should discuss things with his people--like Geithner and the global currency thing.

    He should stop blaming Bush for "big deficits" when he's planning on tripling it.

    Biggest suggestion I see--don't spend so much money. Pick something you can handle, and do that.

    If he wants to stimulate the economy, don't take people's money away in taxes--let them have morre money, and know that they will have it, and watch them spend it. I think that's called the "velocity" of money. A good thing.

    More advice--keep your freaking promise for a middle class tax cut. Although very view actually believed he would do it, we thought maybe he'd have the decency to pretend to do it. Liar.

    Maybe he could check with some people who have actually run something besides a campaign on how to run a large operation.

    And maybe check and see if visiting heads of state should get something better than a package of videos picked up at Wal-Mart.

    I'm sure there's more, but Obama can start on those ideas and we'll see how he does. Have him check back for more projects when he's ready.

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  12. Dear Sid,

    The more anonymous and unlinked curmudgeons you allow on your blog, the more they attract others. That's the way it works on forums, and on unmoderated blogs.

    If the only voice you hear is your own, sometimes that's not bad. Oily spots can be scrubbed out easily via Blogger.com.

    The new President has been in office for just over two months. The learning curve on most jobs is three months. Does anyone think things would change in a minute? It's politics, folks. I've been involved in it -- local, state and national stages -- since age eight. It's a rough ride.

    I think we have a good solid thoughtful and competent man in the White House who wants to fix things. Some of this territory is uncharted. Let's see where we are in a couple of years.

    By the way, according to reports I heard yesterday, the President has a 63% approval rating. I'd say that is excellent and it could increase if people stop their nit-picking.

    I'm going to give President Obama a good long time before I kick him to the curb. I'm sick to death of the naysayers who watch his hair (Turning gray? From stress?) and the small growth to the left of his nose (Cancer? Maybe...) to his smile (What can we read into that with a twisted gaze?).

    Frankly, just having a REAL LIVE PERSON who can THINK and TALK in actual ENGLISH is a refreshing change. But, of course, you can say that's because he uses a teleprompter.

    I believe the people who have actual blogs on this thread are longtime friends and supporters of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfield and the rest of the crew. Fine. That's the team that LOST, right? The new team is just getting organized and has to recover some of the turf torn up by the old team.

    Right now, IMHO, a special prosecutor should be appointed IMMEDIATELY to investigate whether anyone in the last administration is guilty of war crimes. The evidence is there -- and people who are a lot smarter than I am say it must be done for the good of the country.

    EK

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  13. Ellen,
    Last time Bush/Cheney lost an election was.... 1978 when "W" lost in a Texas Congressional Primary, don't think Cheney ever lost...
    I'd be careful about that Special Prosecutor, Guantanamo's still open for business last time I checked...
    63%?? "W" was over %80 after 9-11.... Might want to stay away from Tall Buildings and update that Smallpox immunization..

    FD

    My Word Verification was "Stifie"

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  14. "The new President has been in office for just over two months. The learning curve on most jobs is three months."

    Ahh--but we were promised the pres would be ready on day one:

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/11/10/obama-spokesman-says-obama-ready-rule-day-1

    ReplyDelete

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