Reply #6: Glenn Greenwald,

[ProSense]

whining since March 2009

Feingold was right, and it's not just teabaggers.

Q. What explains the difficult political climate for Democrats, considering that President Obama has implemented many policies he campaigned on?

A.“There are two primary reasons. One is the economy. Human nature is such that people are going to say, ‘I’m frustrated.’ That creates an environment that whoever is in office, whoever is doing anything, is potentially vulnerable to people being unhappy. There’s a second factor that’s more cynical. A conscious decision was made by certain groups to destroy this presidency the minute it started. People say it was the health care bill – no, it wasn’t. I go to every county every year and hold a town meeting. Within days of the president being sworn in, I had people showing up at my town meeting with hats on, with tea bags coming out, saying this is going to be socialism.”

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Q.Has the president squandered any opportunities?

A.“I don’t look at it that way. What I look at is there are so many challenges at once, there are so many things you can do. The most important things –- we’re getting at the job situation and the recovery. There’s a lot of blood given on that. This health care thing was a courageous and important thing to do, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever seen a president do. The one thing I think he did squander an opportunity was the mistake of what he did with Afghanistan. It was a very bad decision. He should not have doubled down on Afghanistan. That is going to hurt him more than these other things.”

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