The Game of Expections vs. Telling of the Truth - Understanding the Difference

[FrenchieCat]

and Examples of the disconnect between the two:

The President campaigned on working in a bipartisan manner and restoring civility and
honest debate to this country, and yet many of us "expect" this President to act
unilaterally partisan, to ram legislation past Republicans, all the while trash
talking them and kicking their asses.

The President ran as a non-ideologue moderate Democrat with progressive tendencies,
yet many "expected" a Tall Tan Kucinich, who would end all wars, nationalizes the Banks,
padlock insurance companies, cut our defense budget while establishing a Department of Peace.
Of course, Kucinich lost the primaries, let alone the general election.

The President was elected after he voted for the Wall Street bail-outs,
that was done due to the de-regulation brought to Wall Street in the last 30 years,
and although he cleaned up the entire Bail-out process once he got into office,
provided less funding to banks than what was originally legislated,
has gotten most of the money back that was given to the banks,
has proposed fees for the money that hasn't been returned as of yet,
and has proposed Wall Street re-regulation reforms,
he is still called out as a corporatist fighting on the side of the Banksters,
and yet with some the focus becomes "bonuses",
an issue that the Teabaggers felt was more important than the fact that
the last Republican administration is who gifted us with the economic meltdown.

The President campaigned on ending the War in Iraq, and yet no progress achieved in Iraq
is lauded as an accomplishment...instead, all energies are focused on the fact that
we are still in Afghanistan.

The President ran on a platform that included refocusing our efforts and escalating the war in Afghanistan,
and yet many of us "expected" this President to de-escalate the war in Afghanistan and
start bringing our troops home.

The President did NOT run on bringing forth a proposal of Single Payer healthCare,
and yet many of us "expected" this President to bring forth a proposal of Single Payer
healthcare from the get go, and started trashing the process as soon as Single Payer
health care was not set on the table.

The President was elected to some degree because of his eloquence and his potential power
at the bully pulpit, yet every time he speaks, we discount his words,
and say we don't want words, we demand "action".

The President asked that we give him help and support in order that he could get things done,
and instead, we "expect" him to do what needs to be done on his own...
and the only time he hears from us is when we loudly yell that we don't want whatever he is proposing,
and we don't like how he is doing just about everything.

The Corporate media is known for reporting twisted news,
writing negative headlines against Democrats,
being ran by corporate interests simply interested in deregulation
and lower corporate taxes, yet we buy everything that they say and print,
in particular if it is against this President and this administration,
plus we are willing to believe unnamed sources before
we believe this administration.

We say we hate the Republicans, and firmly believe that they fucked us hard,
and yet we do nothing to oppose them, as we in essence lend our voice to their choir,
and even seriously propose joining hands with the "teabaggers" in order to gain strength in
demanding and achieving What, I don't know.

The President offers us some of the most progressive budgets in decades,
and yet some of us work hard to find things in the proposed budgets
that we are against, and discuss that more than what is good in the budget.

The President reforms defense procurement, and increases pay for the military,
all which we ignore, and meanwhile complain that the defense budget is growing,
without looking at the details of it, ever.
Sure there were no overall cuts, and indeed that budget has grown,
but then again, this President never ran on cutting the defense budget in the mids of two wars.

The President proposed a nearly trillion dollar stimulus at the beginning of his administration,
yet most of us complained the entire time that it was too small,
while the opposition complained loudly that it was too big,
while no one gave the President credit that it was possibly as much as we could get,
and is the largest single all emcompassing piece of legislation that signified more
change than most Presidents have accomplished in their entire term(s) in office.

The President clearly states that he will not govern by polls, and yet, many of us
follow polls breathlessly, and don't seem to want to understand that there is a reason
that so much focus was placed on his initial sky high poll numbers
simply so that from that point on, any comparison of polls numbers would always make him
look like he was falling. If you didn't catch that, then I'm sorry.

As a Nation we lauded ourselves for electing the first African-American President; noting
with great pride the fact that many of the people of this great country did not allow
skin color to play a negative role in their vote choice, and yet, we have not, at any point,
allowed the first African-American President to govern, because we have been dictating
his every words, and his every moves starting at inauguration and hence since.

I give these examples, and there are actually many more of a disconnect going on between
some of the expectations that we had/have and what politics as the art of the possible means.

I believe and respect the need to hold the President's feet to the fire,
but as I have said many a times, we cannot burn his feet until he cannot walk.
That was true right after the inauguration, and that is still true today.

If we really want to understand what has happened, we should not simply look and point fingers
at this President, or even to some degree at this Congress (all who were duly elected by us),
but we should also look at ourselves and realize that we too are imperfect,
and that we have our own failings; failings that aren't helpful to this nation.....
and that in the end, although we may think we are helping this country move forward,
we may not be as effective as we should have "expected" ourselves to be in getting there.

Whether some of us are talking loudly about a one-term Presidency,
primarying the Prez 3 years from now after fighting him every step of the way in his first year,
claiming that we will be staying home in 2010 and possibly 2012 to teach everyone a lesson,
Publicly calling this Prez a wimp, a tool and a puppet; charging that he does not lead,
and saying that he equals Bush; these actions and words will far from advance this country,
and will not come close to bringing about the change that we "expected".
Instead, it will bring the exact opposite,
and if we don't understand that, than we must share, at the very least,
any blame we eagerly choose to dole out.

You may call this a rant, but for those of us who support not all, but much of what
this President has accomplished to date despite oppositions from every fucking single
side there is, we call it the truth.

And so with this I give some of us my hopes and wishes for this day....

[FrenchieCat]

1. Makes some mad, I know......

and I understand and I even apologize, but

"Give them the truth and they'll think it's hell" holds true.

Sorry. :shrug:

[WonderGrunion]

2. K&R FrenchieCat

It angers me when so many call President Obama a liar. I understand that they may be disappointed that he isn't more liberal, but he fights for exactly what he campaigned for.

Besides, if Kucinich had won, he would either end up doing exactly what Obama is doing now or accomplishing nothing while appearing morally pure.

I prefer accomplishments, even small ones. It's the main reason I'm a Democrat.

[FrenchieCat]

4. I will say that the President has had his own failings,

learning curve sorta speak...that's something I won't deny....
Because I too have been frustrated many times,
believing that I knew better what the President must do to get things done,
but at the end of the day, I'm just talking a bunch of crap,
because in being honest, I know that I really don't have a way of testing my theories,
that I believe would be sure fire, only...if.

The truth of the matter is that this President has not made all of the right moves
that I would have wished, and although some would inpugne my credibility,
by believing that because I support this President most of the time publicly,
this must mean that I am uncritical in what he has done and how he has done it.
That is not the case. I'm just not into hanging my dirty underwears on the line,
just to scream that I must be right. How is the credibility of those who have complained
from day one and ignored any successes from this administration any better?
The fact is that they aren't, they just believe themselves to be, and that is not the same.

In addition, if those who claim to have all of the answers were so perfect,
than this country wouldn't be in the mess that it is in now.
Of course, they will say they have reasons why things are as they are,
and they had nothing to do with them......but then why do they get to make excuses,
while not giving this President any slack? He's only been there a short while,
but yet they expect him to have gotten it all done, and since he hasn't
they see no need in doing much but withholding support. How does that make them
part of any solution, when withholding support is exactly what the opposition is doing?

I'd prefer that we realize that this wasn't ever gonna be a perfect hill to climb,
as the President often says,
and that it would take all of us,
not fighting one against the other,
but working together instead.

[rug]

3. This post met my expectations.

[FrenchieCat]

5. I'm sure that it did!

Your response was one also expected.

See how that works? :shrug:

[rug]

7. A regular Groundhog Day.

[FrenchieCat]

9. Sometimes the truth is simply that,

and bears repeating.

I know for a fact that the President's opposition repeat the same shit adneauseum as well,
but in their case, not because it is the truth, but because they hope it becomes it.

[HopeOverFear]

6. I recced, but to no avail, Frenchie...

sorry :(

[FrenchieCat]

8. I understand this.......

and I wasn't expecting to get anything but unrecommended into oblivion.

It is how things work.

Reminds me of politics......no matter if one tells the truth,
those who don't want it to be known will say and do what they can,
in order for it not to be heard.

Same tactic, slightly different venue.

[FrenchieCat]

10. Kicking cause I'm back from dinner, had some wine, feeling heart fat,

and so I can! :)

[Clio the Leo]

11. Kick. NT

[CTLawGuy]

12. Great Post

K&R.

I for one applaud Obama for trying to do the right thing. It might have been better for him to run for Congress and be an unltraliberal backbencher who is never accountable for any results (they never ask why Mr. Backbencher's bills never get passed) and spends his spare time making extremely longshot runs for president.

But instead he made a serious run for president, actually WON, saving us from more tax cuts for the rich and a possible war with Iran. And now people are saying he's a horrible person for not having fixed everything immediately and ignoring the Republican's uniform and unprecedented obstruction scheme.

[damonm]

13. A kick, but too late for an R, unfortunately...

but, if it helps...