We're starting to get as silly as the people who think that Obama is the result of a plot

[hedgehog]

on America. The Tea Party narrative is that a baby boy was born in Kenya, secretly raised as a militant Moslem, then groomed to become President of the United States.


The counter -narrative emerging on the Left is that a smart kid with no money got himself an Ivy League education, worked as a community organizer, entered politics to get at the root of the problem and managed to get elected as the first African-American President in order to turn over everything to Big Money and/or the appeasers in the DLC.

Now, is Obama the Manchurian candidate of Wall Street?

Is Obama so dishonest that he managed to trick so many of us so many years?

Did the Obama brilliant and canny enough to get himself elected suddenly turn stupid once he entered the White House?

Call me a fool (and I know some of you will), but I have to believe that Obama is as frustrated, even more so, as we are by what he hasn't been able to do. I have to believe that he looks at a Democratic Party that has some members more conservative than liberal Republicans and that he can count votes. We scoff at Republicans who complain that Obama hasn't fixed the economy yet. We can see all the damage done and know it takes time to fix. The Republicans did everything they could to disable the Federal government, to pack the courts with their judges, to gerrymander the Democratic Party permanently out of power. That damage will also take time to fix.

Obama has a huge swamp to drain. He can work on that to ensure that no new alligators are born, or he can spend his time going after the old alligators.

I say the man was smart enough to get this far, and that he has an unshakeable integrity that we all saw during the election cycle. I say give the man time to get the job done.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

1. Both sides have their irrational radicals...

who will never (ever) listen to reason.

Thanks for your effort, though.

[Amonester]

2. A humble question: how will the 'thrown under the bus' be 'rescued'

from their 'thrown under the bus' position?

[DevonRex]

3. Hear hear! Thank you for saying it.

Most days about half of the posts on GD and GDP should be in 9/11.

[damntexdem]

4. But Obama's election was the result of a plot:

by hundreds of thousands of us who campaigned for him, trying successfully to convince millions of American voters that we needed to replace the horrible catastrophe of the Bush Administration with a Democrat who could win.

[jwirr]

5. The second narrative always leaves me shaking my head and asking

"Why would he do this?" It does not make any sense and yet it does appear to be the case occasionally. What does he understand that we do not?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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

[LostinVA]

9. There are no Teabaggers on the Left

They are a RW group.

[Amonester]

12. You two keep on insulting the left all you want.

That will bring them back in for sure.

Have fun.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Far more people, who are rational and reality based, see him as center (at best) or right of center

. . . . . . than see some plot or conspiracy theory afoot.

*THAT* is what has most people upset. There are krazynutters on both sides. They're completely irrelevant.

[phleshdef]

11. No ideological metric on this planet would put Obama's record anywhere close to the right.

Thats the problem with the more left than thou crowd. You have no real perception of what constitutes the dividing line between the left and the right in this country.

[R. P. McMurphy]

17. Very true. n/t

[readmoreoften]

33. Except the one at politicalcompass.com

You have no concept of what constitutes the left and the right OUTSIDE this country.

Obama is a right-wing, free-market candidate who isn't adverse to attempting mild Keynesian reform. That's center-right in a nutshell.

[robinlynne]

35. yep.

[avaistheone1]

8. Actually after last night's performance I am just beginning to think Obama

cam to be president as a result of a plot.

[LostinVA]

10. I have NEVER heard that "narrative" from "The Left"

[Enrique]

13. +1

me neither

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Me neither.

See it all the time on DU, but not from anybody that I think reflects the left.

[Enrique]

15. what's silly to imagine whether Obama is frustrated or not

he's the most powerful person in the world. His mood is not important, his actions are.

When I contemplate Obama's impact on Social Security, I don't especially care about whether he is frustrated or disappointed or happy or satisfied. What I care about is whether the progam continues to send checks to elderly people, long after he is out of office.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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

[DevonRex]

18. You need to tinfoil your entire house and then use duct tape over

all the vents and cracks.

[firedupdem]

20. Seek help....today n/t

[DevonRex]

21. Serious help. nt

[SemiCharmedQuark]

23. Also: ChemTrails!!

[DevonRex]

24. Well, it proves the OP's point in a rather hilarious way, doesn't it?

:rofl:

[Raine1967]

19. Funny thing... The far fringe on both sides act and think that

they are actually the rational ones. They don't even see in themselves what the op is talking about.

[NatBurner]

22. this post makes way too much sense

am i at DU?

seriously tho, this place gets kookier by the minute, and this op is like a little island of sanity

kudos

[Hekate]

25. My old Public Works boss used to say it's hard to remember you came to drain the swamp when you're

... up to your ass in alligators. It's a good thing Obama is as quick on his feet as he is on the uptake.

Your OP is a breath of fresh air blowing across this particular swamp, Hedgehog -- and it's a good thing hedgehogs have quills.

Hekate

[slay]

26. I expect no less a post from GD:P, I just wonder

how long it will take yall to wake up and realize that Obama has betrayed us on health care, bailed out big banks while people continue to lose their homes, escalated a POINTLESS WAR in Afghanistan, covered up all the Bush/Cheney era crimes, etc. Look - it's not that we think there's a plot by Obama, it's that he is not being a good leader.

Oh and that "unshakable integrity" line - give me a break seriously. The guy sends people off to DIE in Afghanistan for no good reason - hell just pick anything I mentioned in the above paragraph as proof that he will compromise his "integrity" any time he thinks it will win him political points.

[OwnedByFerrets]

27. So, he has NO power over his destiny(or his words)? No, he didnt turn stupid.

But he is letting himself be lead, willing or unwilling, buy a money-hungry bunch of corporatists who only want to line their own pockets and increase their power. He said one line last nite that blows your entire theory. Who put and gun to his head and MADE him read this line of the speech? "Yet no one can doubt President Bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security." Anyone with a brain OR anyone without an agenda could and can.

[hedgehog]

29. Obama had a choice - turn the upcoming election on a referendum on whether

we should have gone to war or turn it into a referendum on whether to turn the economy back to the Republicans. Separating support of the war from support of the troops is just about impossible in a sound-bite culture. By saying what he did with the words he did, he damned Bush with faint praise. He never said Bush was right to go to war. He made it clear that the Democrats are 100% behind the troops. He cleared the air for laying out his plans for the economy.

If you want pretty, you'll have to go look at some flowers. Politics is the art of the possible.

[OwnedByFerrets]

30. So, answer my question. Who was standing there offscreen with a

gun telling him to praise monkeyboy? "faint praise"??? Give me a fucking break. The man and his policies are responsible for the deaths of over a million people and the looting of our treasury. And you are OK with the president giving him ANY praise. Sheesh. How far we have fallen.

[hedgehog]

31. Obama didn't put out any neat soundbites for Fox to slaver over,

but the condemnation is there if you've been following current events:

"...President Bush announced the beginning of military operations in Iraq. Much has changed since that

night. A war to disarm a state became a fight against an insurgency.

Terrorism and sectarian warfare threatened to tear Iraq apart. Thousands

of Americans gave their lives; tens of thousands have been wounded. Our

relations abroad were strained. Our unity at home was tested.

These are the rough waters encountered during the course of one of

America’s longest wars. "

i.e Bush took us into a disaster, one we managed to fix long enough to walk away from .

In addition:

" But we have also understood that our nation’s strength and

influence abroad must be firmly anchored in our prosperity at home. And

the bedrock of that prosperity must be a growing middle class.

Unfortunately, over the last decade, we’ve not done what’s necessary

to shore up the foundations of our own prosperity. We spent a trillion

dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn,

has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record

deficits. For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from

our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a

result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for

less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk."

.e. Monkey Boy and his pals were so eager to steal Iraq's oil for themselves and their buddies that they ended up looting the American economy to do it , running up the deficit, borrowing overseas and failing to make the investments our competitors were making.



There is a saying that diplomacy means telling someone to go to Hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. Last night, Obama very diplomatically told Bush to go to Hell.

[Phx_Dem]

28. Amen!

[Number23]

32. love it. rec'd

[robinlynne]

34. Obama always said he was a centrist. That is what he is. He said he would

bring the right to the table, and compromise in the middle. The problem is that by 2008, the right was so very very extreme, that the middle is now way to the right of any "middle".
the candidate who said he would take down the huge corporations was not Obama. nor Hillary. It was Edwards.