From the, what the hell were we thinking department...

[The Backlash Cometh]

Remember when we all started carrying rabbits feet for good luck? It especially became a favorite for us kids when they began to dye the fur in different colors? What the hell were we thinking?

Remember when we purchased rocks for pets? What the hell were we thinking?

Remember when we use to prick our fingers and intentionally exchange blood with our friends to become blood brothers or sisters? What the hell were we thinking?

Remember when we use to share our deepest and darkest secrets with priest? What the hell were we thinking?

Remember when the Democrats nominated Obama and we all thought he was going to be the Great Black Hope, correcting the bad decisions from the Bush Administration, returning ethics and integrity back to this country and returning us to a fairer and equitable system?

What the hell were we thinking?

The American experience in our times has been a long list of buyer's remorse.

[Motown_Johnny]

1. just because your expectations were unrealistic doesn't mean mine were

and I resent the implication.


Maybe voting for a person of color was the most liberal thing you have ever done, that does not mean that he will be the most liberal person in history.

You are the one with the problem here, what the hell are you thinking?

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Someone once said that we needed an angry black man, and we didn't get one.

I was playing off that statement. Sorry if I offended you, but many progressives voted for him knowing and accepting the fact that we would spend the next four to eight years defending him against the racial current that drives the other side. What we never expected to see is that he would capitulated completely to those forces. It puts us in a strange position.

[NoTimeToulouse]

16. Are you suggesting that you knowingly voted for a bait and switch?

I believe that you need to define what you exepcted out of candidate Obama.

[Lyric]

30. Just because *you* think those expectations were unrealistic doesn't mean that they actually WERE.

Your opinion is not the end-all-be-all Truth.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. I would be happy to address your reasoning should you care to include them.

My reaction is due to the reports that Obama's Administration held back the DNC from supporting the Wisconsin movement because it was too much drama.

What is your reasoning for your opinion?

[Auggie]

3. 535 others have a say in what happens too

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Would you care to elaborate?

[Auggie]

12. 435 in the House, 100 in the Senate

[phantom power]

7. I've been thinking about a retro/ironic pet rock revival.

My biz plan is to line my pockets from an entire new generation who hasn't yet learned from buyer's remorse.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Well, I hate to admit it, but the USA is turning out to be a great place to launch stupid ideas.

[leftynyc]

8. Sounds like you had

unrealistic expectations. That would be your problem.

[truebrit71]

9. Nah....I heard them same bullshit speeches too...

...and lika a sucker i bought them hook, line and sinker....won't do that again...

[leftynyc]

17. I've been around too long

My cynicism knows no bounds. At this point it's really just picking the candidate that will do the least amount of damage. I like President Obama - I like him a lot - but been watching politics (and repubicans) for too long to think massive change can happen.

[whatchamacallit]

11. I agree. He shouldn't have projected a liberal democrat onto a corporate shill (nt)

[leftynyc]

18. He didn't run as a liberal

He never came off as a liberal (in the Kucinich mode) to me at all. He ran as a centrist and that's exactly how he's governing. I thought it was a joke when the primary wars were going on and people thought he was so much more liberal than Hillary. They were really male and female versions of eachother.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. I'm glad you came along.

Truthfully, as a member of a minority group, I don't know what to think. I hate to compartmentalize things over-simplistically, but I find myself doing this more and more with Obama. How minorities succeed in this tough environment has always been a point of interest to me. You have Clarence Thomas on one end of the spectrum, and Martin Luther King on the other. Did Obama just learn to play to both sides? In that regard, he wouldn't be any different than anyone else who makes it up the ladder. It's just that in politics we have to learn to recognize our blindspots so that we don't fall for these games. I mean, once we become convinced that Obama is in the Thomas camp, what do we do? Do we step aside and allow the right-wing's racist tendencies take over? Do we defend him from our own sense of morality? Or do we walk away the way that most people walked away from Clinton when he began to triangulate?

It's very confusing.

[leftynyc]

20. You know what I think has hurt the President?

From the very begining he did everything he could to avoid the "angry black man" tag. And I don't blame him - it would have hurt him with the squishy center. Unfortunately, there are times when anger is the only remedy.

I know it's hard not to get discouraged. I come from a place of long lost idealism. Sometimes the only thing to do is vote for who will hurt you the least. But I'm firm believer in always voting so that's not an option for me. I defend what I can and bitch about what I can't. We'll never have a perfect candidate.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. At the very least, he shouldn't be making it so easy to dismantle this country.

It's like they all looked at the same post apocalyptic movies and liked what they saw.

[leftynyc]

25. Well, I know more Scalia's on the

court are not the answer and for me, that's enough reason to vote for a Democrat. I've been discouraged before - I lived through Reagan and his firing the air traffic folks. This isn't a new problem - it's the teabaggers who have convinced the Walkers/Scott they have all the support they need. We need to prove them wrong.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Something that I think is curious, during Reagan's term there were tent cities.

I'm wondering, why are there no tent cities this go around when things must be as bad as they were back then?

[leftynyc]

35. Very good question

We know many people are hurting - where are they? I'm in Grand Central Terminal twice a day and I honestly can't say I've seen more homeless or panhandlers in the terminal or on the subway. Maybe cities have gotten more shelters? More services?

[yodermon]

14. I Remember when I saw your thread title and then clicked it. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Opening up the delta of thought is never an easy task for anyone.

[Solomon]

19. Jeez! He's two years in. He's not done yet.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Frightening thought.

[toddwv]

21. Remembories...ah the remembories...

Remember when President Obama was elected just over two years ago?
Remember when the economy was shedding nearly 800,000 jobs a month?
Remember when the Stimulus Act was passed and at least the economy stopped dropping jobs?
Remember when President Obama started withdrawing troops from Iraq?
Remember when a bill to repeal DADT was passed?
Remember when Health Care Reform was passed?
Remember when the DOJ said that it would stop defending DOMA in court?

The man in the White House is NOT a Messiah. He can't just click his fingers and automagically make everything that liberals hate disappear and enact everything that they support. Concessions HAVE to be made in most cases especially when faced with a political faction like the teabaggers who seek to destroy the US from the top up.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. The people who are fighting to protect government need his support.

And they're not getting it.

[cliffordu]

27. Only if you believe that shit you wrote.

[Arkana]

28. Obama's mortal. Sorry to disappoint.

He's not a king or a dictator either--and he has to deal with a petulant, whiny Congress and a bitchy media.

Did you honestly expect him to fix 30 years of fuckery in 2? Hell, I'd wager most of it won't be unfucked until long after he's left office.

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. Leader. I was hoping for a good leader.

[FLPanhandle]

29. Gee, someone just learned you can't always trust a politician trying to get elected.

I say "welcome to the real world". Now stop being so naive.

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. One thing I will never do, is accept it.

That would just play into the hands of those that believe they can fuck you over, and you'll eventually get over it.

[FLPanhandle]

34. Maybe not accept it, but expect it.

It's been that way since the beginning.

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." ~Aesop

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. Maybe you were thinking he really wasn't just another ambitious political hack looking for a job.

“Now, the man on the stand he wants my vote,
He's a-runnin' for office on the ballot note.
He's out there preachin' in front of the steeple,
Tellin' me he loves all kinds-a people.
(He's eatin' bagels
He's eatin' pizza
He's eatin' chitlins
He's eatin' bullshit!)”

Bob Dylan