Stunned Silence

[galileoreloaded]

Posted by Kes at 12:38 pm, December 28th 2009.
http://www.americanmugabe.com/am%20blog.html

Recently in Saudi Arabia, the United States has endeavoured to assist our allies in bombing the crap out of people from Yemen. The predictable result has been a raucous outcry from progressives on the far left, and non-interventionist libertarians of the far right.

Oh wait, no one seems to care.........

The only real audible sound coming from either normally vocal camp (and even left of center and right of center moderates), seem to be a wholesale rejection of the news that we are potentially to be embroiled in another conflict. It is like no-one wants to believe it. Perhaps it's because we don't want to face it head on, or perhaps we never expected a stereotypical conservative, even hawkish, stance from the current resident of the White House. Regardless, there have been confirmed reports that the Saudi Air Force was supplemented by the United States military.

Many on the right take little comfort in the actions of a president who is very comfortable co-opting their strategies and traditionally viewed strengths in regards to military action, there is no "win in it. This leads to even more consternation than if they had disagreed with him along ideological lines. Not to be left out, those on the left feel an utter sense of betrayal, whether perceived or not, from an administration with competent marketing abilities, apparently EXCELLENT marketing abilities. A phrase used in numerous caricatures of George H.W. Bush has begun to appear in attribution to Mr. Obama, "all hat, no cattle". Well, with actions like this...

So the natural consequence of actions that cannot be supported by the Democratic base, nor the Republican opposition, is stunned silence. This is the most dangerous form of societal pressure, that of tacit complicity.

The silence is not one of disbelief, this is one of inaction. Anyone on the left who chooses to speak out against this use of force, becomes almost immediately silenced by the deafening, shrill cry of the true believers.

The traditional conservatives, on the other hand, have a larger problem -- while they probably agree with the actions taken by this administration, they have no vested interest in touting those successes.

The result is a quiet consortium of impotent first, second and third tier political leaders, and the ability for president to do just about whatever he wants.

[ixion]

1. I have been vocally against escalation

and I've been told to STFU by the GOP-DLC, as usual.

[StarfarerBill]

2. Ever-escalating war is the norm now; as long as it's kept at arm's-length by the corporate media,

it's acceptable.

All we can do is carry out the old tried-and-true tactics of protest.

[winyanstaz]

3. Hey!! I have been holloring about no more wars and bring the troops home...

There is nothing worse than a nation embroiled in endless wars.
We have become the terrorists of the world...and it sucks.
Our children march off to war because there are no jobs at home.
We sit on our asses while the Constitution is shredded and our healthcare sold to the special interests and our jobs are outsourced and Americans are being tossed into the streets.
yes..I am complaining...and so are a lot of other Americans but we just dont seem to be able to be heard.

[damntexdem]

4. Awed inactivity.

Stupefied numbness.

Dazzled blindness.

[dorkulon]

5. There ought to be some "about" page explaining what "American Mugabe" is supposed to mean.

Because it pretty much comes off as a Freeper-type slur against Obama. If that's not the way you mean it, you need to explain that, I'd say.

[galileoreloaded]

6. Thanks. Can due. It is actually a slur against the our corporate plutocracy.

Free exchange type stuff.

There has to be a better way, and this hasn't been it for a while.