It's an estimable first year for our new guy. (my unrecced new post in GD) rofl!

[NYC_SKP]

I thought it would be interesting, haven't read any of the four replies, I'll let it mature... :P

It's an estimable first year for our new guy.


But a lot of people are going to disagree, they're going to call Obama a corporatist warmonger.

They think they're "his base", which is so wrong that I have to laugh to keep from crying.

They think, like Rush Limbaugh, et al, that the Brown win was proof of failure of the administration.

Some even think that it's their fault that Brown won (for not pushing Obama harder for progressive ideals).

The truth is that the base is made up of people like the family that runs the independent grocery store down the street.

And the guys who mounted my tires today and aligned my front end.

And the school teachers I had to email today.

Obama has done a great deal in this one year, Maddow had a great piece on it a week or two back.

The president, in this first of four years, did just what I'd expected, but not the things some others had hoped for.

He did not start off from the left, pushing from the gate for the most progressive objectives, making enemies of the center and the right, and setting up his next three years for failure.

He did not do that.

He started by giving bipartisanship a chance (even if he didn't expect results) so that he can't be painted into a corner.

He gave the 60 Democrats in the senate a chance to behave like Democrats, (even if he didn't expect them to), and they failed.

We are all richer for this first year strategy, the president's point of departure.

We are the wiser, he is the stronger, and getting these many (though not everyone's favorite) things done is better by far...

...than having tried and failed in year one to pass ambitious progressive policies that would have made him a laughing stock.

:rantoff:

:donut:

:patriot:

[azmouse]

1. I read it and just didn't know what to say about it on GD.

...except that I'm not surprised to see it unrec'd and shit on by the anti-Obama crowd.

It's par for the course over there to hate anything and everything about Obama.

[goclark]

3. It is unreal , it can't be much worse

om the website for the other Party.

At least we know they were never on our team in the first place~ well maybe we have more than a few visitors from there.

Bet anyone that suggested a naughty word about a Rethug would be gone immediately.

[NYC_SKP]

4. I live and work in NYC and in the SF Bay Area, know a LOT of progressives in real life

And the kind of bile that I read in GD practically does not exist among the people I meet.

Many are disappointed about the war, and about the failure to more strictly regulate the banking industry, or to do it sooner.

But everyone, I mean every single one, stands behind this president.

I do not think the loud angry voices here are representative of very many people in the real world of progressive and liberals.

:shrug:

[goclark]

5. Yes, I have a few friends that may be to the Left of me on some issues

but they still work to build up the Democratic Party.

[nevergiveup]

6. Yep, I also know many progressives and none have turned on Obama.

Sure, there are disappointments but they still support the president. I am still trying to get a grip on the hate for Obama at DU. I don't get it.

[Cha]

2. Righteous rant, SKP~

You're looking at the reality of the entire landscape while others are grasping at straws..and oh, don't they think they have a big straw by the name of steve teabag brown.:silly:

[cliffordu]

7. Kicked. I'd R if I could...

Excellent points.

[quiet.american]

8. Well done. nt

[Arkana]

9. Obama has tapped into that "Silent Majority" that Nixon was so adept

at manipulating.

This Silent Majority is not like us--they don't post about their political beliefs on an internet message board. They don't stomp around their houses calling Obama a horrible DLC corpo-sellout that eats children and raped their cat because he hasn't fired Tim Geithner or Rahm Emanuel and hired Howard Dean or Dennis Kucinich in their place.

They get up, go to work in the morning, collect a paycheck, come home, pay their bills, and just live their lives. They're not overly politically motivated, they're not activists, they don't think the President's a secret Kenyan terrorist, but they don't make themselves crazy because Obama's not implementing single-payer health care via executive order, either.

They just...live. Those are the people that elect Presidents, and Obama understands that--much like Bill Clinton did.