Reply #209: "petulant" now, someone's been hitting the thesaurus. Not that "whining" ever worked.

[glitch]

Ineffectual and always old, itself sounding somewhat... petulant.

Seriously, why make comments to divide the base before a close election?

And why on earth give fodder to the nasties at WAPO:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan /
"President Obama criticizes the petulant left

President Obama isn't backing off his criticism of his progressive detractors. First, there was White House spokesman Robert Gibbs mocking the "professional left" for holding the White House to unmeetable standards. Then there was Vice President Joe Biden this week on Rachel Maddow informing progressives that they "better get energized." Maybe these surrogates weren't accurately reflecting the president's feelings about this vocal sliver of his base? Think again. Here's the president at a Thursday-night fundraiser:

Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty (Laughter.) If we get an historic health-care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particularly derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.

Funny. And true. And, because she apparently can't help being a caricature, about to make Jane Hamsher's head explode on MSNBC as I write this. Don't worry -- she'll be fine. She's gotten really good at reinflating it.

I'm a little proud of the president for continuing to stand up for himself. Here's a Democratic president shaking the left by its shoulders, begging it to recognize how good they have it. But, of course, since when did it work to tell your supporters that they're irrational? Look at what he's dealing with: In response to his latest remarks, we've already heard more fuming about the public option and how Obama is like Spiro Agnew. Incredible."