Rant: What the hell is wrong with us?

[Writer]

So we work hard to elect Barack Obama. A momentous day. We use somewhat narcissistic phrases such as "We are the ones we've been waiting for" and chant "Yes, we can!" to express our desire to take control of our nation and return it to the people. We wax eloquently about how far we've come by electing an African-American president under the abstract concepts of "hope" and "change."

But how quickly we've forgotten the first person plural. How quickly "We" and "Us" became "You, Obama." We refuse to allow this man to exercise his own intellect as the POTUS, while criticizing his every move as "not good enough... not good enough... not good enough."

But what's not good enough? US. WE'RE not the ones we've been waiting for. WE'RE not the ones who are working our asses off, in the spirit of returning the government "to the people," which we have griped and moaned about for eight or more years. The only end we seem to give a shit about is the political end. The political victory. The points on the scoreboard. We don't care about policy victories. We don't care about the democratic process. We only care about a zero-sum game - of completely effacing the ideology of the opposition. And in the end, we trash a few steps forward by focusing on the one step back. Nothing is a net gain for us, no sir and ma'am. It's all rigid, totalistic thinking that NEVER applies to the real world.

We're the ones who have abandoned Obama, not the reverse.

If we care so goddamned deeply about a particular cause, why aren't we on the phone calling congresspersons? Why aren't we out there - taking time from our precious, self-absorbed days - holding picket signs? Why are we SCREAMING! YELLING! Where's our public leadership outside of Washington? Where's our movement? Was it really only abstract desires crystallized in the vote? Material action has never ignited in the darkness of abstract bullshit.

Instead we sit with our arms folded, waiting for our political handouts. Little children waiting for their momma to fix their problems. We cry when Obama doesn't feed us the milk of our desires, and we stomp our feet when he can only afford to give us day-old bread. Nothing's ever seems to be good enough for the American child. Spoiled. Selfish. And willing to abandon the fight.

What's wrong with Obama? No. What the hell is wrong with US?

[spoony]

1. Yeah I suck. I can't believe I escalated that war...oh wait.

No, that was him.

[Oregone]

12. lol.

Up is down. Black is white.

[mkultra]

53. no, it was you.

he said he would do it and you voted for him. Its you.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Peacetrain]

4. Obama is Hitler? are you for real?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Teaser]

13. Jesus Peacetrain

did you not see me agreeing with your sentiment
in your earlier post?

Christ, look at my username.

[Peacetrain]

18. Teaser, honestly I do not keep up with names.. and I just read the post..

Like I said in the body, I hoped you were being sarcastic.. but I did alert, I will admit, and if I misunderstood, which maybe I did.. I am sorry... no make that I AM SORRY. But honestly sweetie, somethings you have to put that :sarcasm: thingy up.. because there is no way to know.

[Teaser]

47. hmm...I appear to have earned summary deletion on this subthread

I posted you a reply, and it was gone too.

Did not realize the penalties for not adding a sarcasm tag were so steep. Oh well.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluerthanblue]

3. good rant-

and much of what you say is true, but I don't think that many people will set aside their anger and outrage long enough to admit it.

It's so much easier to blame others than to own our responsibilitiy or put ourselves physically on the line.

This isn't "Obama's" war- it isn't "Obama's Health Care Plan" or "Obama's bail-out/economic collapse" Dumping the responsibility and blame for everything on him might work for some people for a short time, but it isn't true and doesn't change anything.

:shrug:

I wish i had an answer for you.

[jefferson_dem]

5. Hear Hear!

Well stated.

[Whisp]

7. great rant.

the baby whining and stomping has become unbearable. i want Mine Mine MIne, what about Me Me Me. I 'm going to hold my breath just you watch!

pathetic. and saying Obama is like Bush - good lawd on a pogo stick what fricken idiotcy.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

9. Did you think up saying Obama's detractors are squalling children all by yourself?

Another vile cookie-cutter OP presented as some sort of straight talk or harsh truth of appeal to the serious.

Obama hasn't done much of anything to mollify the left so blaming the left of the spectrum (including mainstream liberals and progressives... y'know, the people you are scolding on DU) for his problems is incoherent.

[Orsino]

10. That is excatly why the war is being escalated.

Our president knows how few of us want this shit over with yesterday, and how many of us are afraid of an admission of defeat. He's therefore splitting the difference, offering bigger and grander war with a hint of maybe-someday withdrawal, when all the conditions on the ground got shoes.

We have failed each other by not lobbying enough for peace, leaving our president trapped by political necessity in a doomed war.

[treestar]

11. Absolutely

We made fun of the teabaggers. But they cared enough to go.

And why weren't we there during the Boosh administration too?

It's as if everyone has forgotten the Afghan war until now. Everybody seemed to let it go for the past 8 years.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

67. Some of us never forgot how misguided BOTH wars were

but thanks for reminding me, I guess.

[HamdenRice]

14. Keep in mind that on a Bell Curve, DU is way, way, way off center, not representative of Democrats,

progressives, liberals or even the "left." In the real world, Democrats still support the administration even if they feel queasy about the mess Bush created in Afghanistan.

[avaistheone1]

19. Wrong. The country is not united about the escalation in Afghanistan.

Obama made a stupid move ramping the war. Really stupid.

[Mimosa]

60. ITA, Avaistheone

Many conservative as well as liberal people I know wanted this war ended. And they wanted the President to concentrate on the American economy.

[EFerrari]

20. If anything, DU is a predictor of public opinion. You've been here 5 years.

That should have been clear by now.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

22. We did a great job predicting public opinion against Bush in 2004.

Oh wait...

[EFerrari]

28. You've already forgotten Ohio? Does the name Ken Blackwell ring a bell for you?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

29. If DU was in any way a predictor...

It wouldn't have come down to Ohio at all.

[EFerrari]

33. There were "problems" in all kinds of places.

I dono't think we had a shot at a decent election that year, to be honest.

[HamdenRice]

25. I hope you're being sarcastic. DU is off the Bell Curve page--->

Kooch rarely got over a few % of the vote and no delegates. How is that for a prediction?

Need I say more?

[EFerrari]

30. Oh, please. Those are the candidates people wanted.

The question wasn't, "who do you think will get the nomination"?

[HamdenRice]

35. In general, what most of DU "wants" is what almost no one in the real world "wants"

and that goes for many things, from Kooch to Obama failing.

[EFerrari]

39. You make these statements often and always without evidence. nt

[HamdenRice]

44. The evidence is right there: the 2007 straw poll and Kooch's inability to get even 1 delegate

or in most states, even 2% of the popular vote. 35% of DU wants him; 99% of American doesn't.

What more proof could you possibly need?

[Common Sense Party]

58. Evidence that DU is an accurate predictor of public opinion, please.

You can't possibly believe that's true.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

23. +1

DU doesn't represent anything. If it did, Dennis Kunicich would've at least broken double digits.

[AllentownJake]

16. Well I'll just have to learn better negotiating tactics on policy

Wait, no I won't because I'm not in the room with the Insurance, Pharma, and Military lobbyist.

Change my ass.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

24. Sounds like you do need to change your ass. (nt)

[Gregorian]

17. There's what's right, and there's reality.

Reality is that America is a military economy. Am I wrong about that? I would like to see proof that it isn't. And as such, we cannot afford to stop the machine. That is only one facet of this rotten thing we are doing.

I've been on outrage for as long as I remember. I want off this stupid treadmill of destruction. But I know it's not me. And I have very serious doubts that it's Obama. But collectively it is us. And even after we figure that out, and even after those who have been duped into thinking war is an answer, we have to construct a better reality. Until then, I don't expect much more than we got last night.

I did call Congress. I did hit the streets screaming. A bugle and drums even. I don't think we matter to most of them. It's going to take a lot of work to disassemble the machine. And we have teabaggers to contend with. What a sick mess. I'm not proud of this country. But then I am not proud of most human beings. But I want to be. I want to live in that world.

So I see good people, and even a good country. But there is something wrong. And it's something that I feel is a collective phenomenon. This is the modern world we have created, and yet don't fully understand. For example, one MacDonald's restaurant was ok. A world full of them is the cause of deforestation for pasture land. Now you probably think I'm nuts.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

26. Here's proof that you're wrong.

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=ms_mil_xpnd_gd_zs&idim=country:USA&q=gdp+military

4.28% of GDP does not an economy make.

[Gregorian]

52. This proves that I'm correct.

I don't know why you would want to compare military spending to GDP. What does that prove? You might compare that to health care spending versus GDP in order to get a sense of what it means. But I believe it is far more important to look at actual tax expenditure. That would divide out the GDP and give a sense of comparison. Everything looks small compared to GDP. Look at taxes and you'll see we are indeed a military nation- 44.4% of our taxes are allocated to MILITARY. Go argue with that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

62. Your statement is that we're a "military economy"

Your chart is entirely irrelevant. Military spending as a % of GDP is far more relevant, as it shows the proportion of all of our spending on the military. 4% does not come anywhere near a military economy. It's absolutely ludicrous. We manufacture far, far more than we spend on the military. Heck we still farm far more than we spend on the military. It's an utterly ignorant comment with absolutely no base. The only thing your chart really shows is how much wealthier we are than the rest of the world.

[Gregorian]

68. OK, I didn't mean "economy".

I meant that we're a military country that taxes it's people for military reasons.

There isn't much to not get about what I said. We make bombs instead of stuff that's good for us people.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

69. What you just said is entirely different from the original context.

The former suggests that we (and in this case, Obama) goes to war solely for profit. The latter suggests that we're just a hawkish nation and our priorities are out of whack. I can get behind the latter statement.

[cry baby]

21. knr

[HughMoran]

27. Hearty K&R

What is wrong with us? It's a very strange time indeed.

[DonkeyHoTay]

56. Yes indeed. To quote an old Walt Kelly bit of doggerel...

Walt Kelly - Slopposition lyrics

Oh, once the opposition was completely opposed,
To all the supposition that was generally supposed,
But now the superstitions that were thought to be imposed,
Are seen by composition to be slightly decomposed.

*********************************************************

What is wrong with us, you ask?

We started out being the opposition, opposed to the Bush wars.
Now we are just the "slopposition"... Sadly, we have lost our way and have "decomposed".

If Walt Kelly were alive today, he would start a "Pogo for President!" campaign.

[Hekate]

31. KnR

[VMI Dem]

32. War based on a possible threat is Bush league.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

34. I think that's what most of Europe said in the late 1930's too.

Look, just because Bush did something under false pretenses and fucked it up unimaginably, that doesn't mean it's always the wrong thing to do.

[VMI Dem]

45. So you support waging war based on the possibility of a future threat?

Interesting.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

46. Do we not use the term "probable cause" in our own law enforcement?

I think we had probable cause when the Germans started rounding up all of the Jews and Gypsies and made it fairly explicit that this wasn't the end.

In Afghanistan, we have the following:
1) People that have already struck the United States.
2) People that keep saying they intend to strike us again.
3) A supply of nuclear weapons just to their southeast that becomes more and more accessible by the day with a destabilizing Pakistan with which they would then have the means to strike us again, or at a minimum, make them a MUCH bigger problem than they currently are.

That sounds like probable cause to me.

[PVnRT]

66. Wow

1) It's OK to do something under false pretenses, then? Because that's how your post reads.

2) Good job bringing up the traditional WWII right-winger argument. Let me know when Afghanistan becomes an industrial powerhouse with a strong army, demanding territory from its neighbors. That ought to happen a couple of years after Kabul hosts the summer Olympics.

[DerekG]

36. In a sense, we are to blame

The son of a bitch declared his intentions to escalate before the election, and because we didn't call him on it, there's going to be more death.

[billh58]

37. IBTL

Criticizing the criticizers has become a crime on DU.

[apnu]

38. K&R for a hearty does of sanity on DU.

(This isn't directed at the OP, I'm using the general "you", I agree totally with the OP)

I knew he was going to send in more troops to Afghanistan and I voted for him. I don't feel betrayed at all by his decision. I knew it was coming, I knew what it was about, and I voted for the guy, and I still support him today.

My motivations on Afghanistan (and GitMo and Iraq) have been the same all along. I don't care how he gets us out, but that he does get us out. If it takes 3 years to get out of Afghanistan, I'm backing that. If he needs 6 more months to close GitMo, I'm behind that. If he's drawing us down in Iraq but its gonna take two more years, I'm behind that.

But then, I'm not one of those instant gratification people that seems to plague the Internet (and thusly, DU)

Its fine to criticize, critique and even bitch (occasionally) about Obama. All that seems to be happening here is people bitching and doing nothing. If you guys feel so strongly about Obama's paths to his objectives (which haven't changed from what he's told us) then bitch to him about it. Get off your asses and organize some protests, take out newspaper ads, stuff his mail box with rants, and anything else, that's legal, to get the man's attention. I can tell you all right now, whining about Obama here ain't gonna do the job, he doesn't read DU. By doing so, you're just spinning your wheels.

DU's a wonderful resource (and very annoying at times) so why not use that to your advantage? If you feel so strongly about this stuff, then use this forum to collect a movement to bring pressure on the guy we elected! He's our employee so let him know what kind of a job he's doing. On DU you can find tons of people who will agree with you so why not organize those folks and take your bitchs to Obama instead of pissing and moaning and doing nothing?

[ShortnFiery]

40. Unfortunately, I fear the INNOCENT Afghanis to be killed in the crossfire don't agree.

Anyone who buys President Obama's war rhetoric is going to be even more disappointed than the rest of us when they FINALLY realize that he has always served WALL STREET and the MIC. He doesn't care about you or me - but I guess you'll have to learn the hard way. :(

[apnu]

43. snore

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Prism]

41. Speak for yourself

Many of us are out there fighting for a more just government that actually works for the American people.

Many of us have no choice but to be out there, for our very lives and families depend upon it.

What's this "we" shit, lone ranger?

[Clio the Leo]

42. Keep it up Writer!!!! You're only making sense!!!!

Maybe you'll encourage the rest of us!

[polichick]

48. "We're the ones who have abandoned Obama, not the reverse."

Not so. He abandoned his gay supporters on day one by inviting Rick Warren to share the spotlight.

He left his supporters in many ways since, and supporters have made excuses as long as possible.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

49. Here's what I don't understand. This man ran on an "Afghanistan is the good war" platform

Everyone who supported and voted for Obama who are now complaining should be ashamed of themselves. We knew all along about his policies re: Afghanistan and Pakistan. This man discussed his intentions throughout the entire campaign. Shame on you if you refused to listen.

[Lex]

50. This is like the "America, love it or leave it" bullshit.

Shove it.

If I don't like the direction the President, ANY President, is taking our country, then it is not only my right but my OBLIGATION to speak up and speak out.

[AndrewP]

71. Exactly. I believe in liberal values, not in a person

[watercolors]

51. THANK YOU, GOOD RANT!!!

nt

[Top Cat]

54. Amen!!!!!

[OhioBlue]

55. Great Post!!!

I know I could be doing a lot more. I have written my Representative and Senators, a letter to the editor and organized a group to march in the Labor Day Parade for Health Care reform. I phone banked for health care reform. I am currently organizing a food drive and assisting with a sponsorship for a family for Christmas. I also want to organize a Christmas cards for the troops get together.

Am I going to change policy in Afghanistan? no. Am I going to change the unemployment rate? no. Do I agree with everything the President does? No. But the fact that he is in the office means the world is better than it was when Bush was in office. It is certainly better than a McCain/Palin nightmare. We can't always get our way - I'll take what I can get which is a President that I can agree with 90% of the time. and one that I have much more trust in than a Republican.

I'll do my small part to make my community better and put pressure on my reps for health care and energy reform.

[democrat2thecore]

57. He renominates Ben Bernanke and that's not TURNING on us?

There's been no "fundamental" change that was promised. There's been tinkering. And there's a BIG difference.

[IndianaGreen]

59. and hires Dana Perino

[Raine]

61. THANKS

K&R

[cornermouse]

63. definition for clarification

lead·er (ldr)
n.
1. One that leads or guides.
2. One who is in charge or in command of others.
3.
a. One who heads a political party or organization.
b. One who has influence or power, especially of a political nature.

Note that it does not say anything about a leader being pushed or forced by his followers to do something...

Something else for you to consider; doing the right thing because its the right thing to do, not because people had to turn out in mass to push you towards or force you into doing it.

[LastNaturalist]

64. Nothing is wrong with me.

Well I'm a little hungry I guess. Maybe that's one thing.

[PVnRT]

65. Why do you people assume that they AREN'T working their asses off?

Christ. I love this assumption. "You're posting on a message board, so you must be a lazy keyboard warrior, unlike me, who supports the President at all times."

People are protesting. And writing. And calling. In fact, they organize right here on DU.

When did it become wrong to ask for leadership from our leaders while doing work at the grassroots level?

Yours is nothing more than yet another screed against those who post critically of Obama on this board. Same memes, different package.

"The only end we seem to give a shit about is the political end. The political victory. The points on the scoreboard. We don't care about policy victories."

Actually, the "little children" you bemoan in your post aren't the ones more concerned about points on the scoreboard. You can save that criticism for the 100% support crew, who are more concerned with the political implications of something rather than whether or not it's the right thing to do.

[ItNerd4life]

70. It's easier to Rant than to do something.

Voting him into office was enough work for most people.

I agree with your rant. He can't please everybody, so he does what he thinks is best.
Isn't that why we are a representative republic?