Joe Biden, National Treasure

Worth Every Penny!

For all those of you who doubt the title assertion, I must ask you to consider this: Where would we be without Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden? He seems to be the only politician these days who tells the truth about anything, and yet, no one appreciates him for it. Why the lack of warm fuzzies for this cuddly, bright-toothed gaffester, America? He’s just being honest, and I, personally, love him for it!

Take the Veep’s pre-election statements about how if Obama was elected, we’d face an international crisis within the first six months. Not only that, but we wouldn’t like what Obama would do about it, but should stand by him anyway. He was mocked and derided for that speech (even by yours truly!), but jeez! Wasn’t he right? In fact, it seems he underestimated the amount of crises by, oh, I dunno, a Googleplex.

Our very own DYB in comments just brought to our attention that North Korea, on top of its numerous missile launches and escalating “nukular” program, now appears to have staged a July 4th Weekend cyber-attack against vital U.S. and South Korean government websites.

A widespread computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the Web sites of the Treasury Department, the Secret Service and other U.S. agencies, and South Korean government sites also came under assault.

South Korean intelligence officials believe the attacks were carried out by North Korean or pro-Pyongyang forces. U.S. officials so far have refused to publicly discuss details of the attack or where it might have originated.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that its own Web site was among several commercial sites also hit.

The U.S. government sites, which included those of the Federal Trade Commission and the Transportation Department, were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week. South Korean Internet sites began experiencing problems Tuesday.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the nation’s main spy agency, told a group of South Korean lawmakers Wednesday it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South were behind the attacks, according to an aide to one of the lawmakers briefed on the information.

This is actually a really, really big deal. The Treasury Department? The Transportation Department? Do you have any idea what could be done with that information? As an IT professional, this new “cyber-terrorism” thing scares the living crap out of me. So thanks, Joe Biden, for giving us that warning. At least our “loins were girded,” and if Cinie’s comment is right, something even bigger might be on the horizon. Hmmm. Will a chastity belt help, Joe? I’m willing to try anything!

But there’s so much more that Smilin’ Biden gives us. For example, he recently leaked the location of the Vice President’s secret bunker. This was obviously to take the focus off our beloved Dear Leader as a target of terrorism. So selfless of him to sacrifice himself for Barack! My only problem with this is, who’s going to take the trouble to bomb Joe’s bunker? No one seems to get the guy’s value to our country the way I do!

Why, even when the entire nation seems to still believe the media-friendly narrative that “Uh Um Annnnnnd” Barack Obama is a master orator, the Veep doesn’t seem to shrink from puncturing that over-inflated balloon with his Needle of Truth. Go, Joe, Go!

Then, not content to leave without a jaunty ad lib, Biden noted that heavy winds were gusting through the ceremonies. One of his two teleprompters had toppled over. Alluding to the jokes of Obama’s reliance on the speech-facilitators, Biden added, “What I am going to tell the president when I tell him his teleprompter is broken. What will he do then.”

Ha! Ha! Priceless.

And what about the economy? You know, that whole double-digit unemployment thing that hardly anyone seems to mention anymore, since it’s, like, such a downer and stuff? Well, trust the Joester to bring that situation to our attention, and to correctly blame his own President for misreading it. Thanks for the mojo di veritas, buddy!

Biden: Administration “Misread” Economy

In an interview on ABC News’ This Week, Vice President Joe Biden said that although the Administration relied on consensus economic forecasts in crafting its economic stimulus package, the White House erred in its assumption about the unemployment rate. Biden said, “The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures in most of the blue chip indexes out there. … No one was talking about that we would be moving towards — we’re worried about 10.5 percent, it will be 9.5 percent at this point. … We’re much too high.” The remarks were tepidly reported by news wires and print sources, which also noted congressional criticism. The AP reports Republican congressional leaders “expressed disappointment about the impact of stimulus spending,” while Biden “cited the economic conditions inherited from the Bush administration.”

The Washington Times notes that Biden “said it’s unfair to consider” the stimulus “program a bust because ‘no one anticipated, no one expected that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having distributed the bulk of the money.’” The Hill reports Biden “refused to rule out a second stimulus bill, which some economists have called for in order to stem job losses and spur the economy once again.”

Yes, Biden is one of the last of a dying breed – the honest politician – and I hope everyone will eventually recognize what a national treasure he is! On the other hand, let’s all pray that North Korea doesn’t figure out how to tap into his BlackBerry.

UPDATE: Via Liberal Rapture. How could I have forgotten this one?

Biden on Sunday said the US would not stand in the way of Israel in its decisions on Iran.

“Israel can determine for itself… what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” Biden said. “We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination — if they make a determination — that they’re existentially threatened.”

The remarks were widely interpreted as a long-awaited US consent for Israel to wage a new war in the Middle East by launching airstrikes on the distant and fortified nuclear installations in Iran.

Um, OF COURSE Israel can do whatever it wants to Iran’s nukes. That’s one of the reasons we’ve given them nuclear weapons and supported them through thick and thin…at least, until Bush and Obama started screwing that happy arrangement up. But even Bush had given the same tacit approval to Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if necessary. The problem is, that no one is supposed to talk about it! I applaud Vice President Biden for, once again, going against the conventional wisdom and proving that Barack Obama was serious about transparency in government. Except, Obama “corrected” his statement. Whoopsie! I guess Dear Leader doesn’t think as highly of Joe as I do, either.

Why can’t he see what I see? Vice President Biden, you’re worth every penny!

Dear Pro-Life Community: We Don’t Trust You. That’s Why.

Sorry, Sarah

At Violet Socks’ place, there is an incredible discussion going on regarding why mainstream feminists trashed Sarah Palin so viciously, and even made up lies about her to justify their hatred. There are about 300 comments in response. I highly recommend that you read it if you have the time.

Make no mistake, soon-to-be-ex-Governor Palin can easily be legitimately criticized on the issues. As a liberal, I don’t agree with her on much. But the amount of manufactured outrages that were passed around, from Trig’s parentage (still going on, at least in Andrew Sullivan’s diseased mind) to the rape kit smear to the banning books smear, all passed on by feminists…it is utterly baffling to Dr. Socks. Why all the hatred and vitriol for this woman? Why couldn’t they just tell the truth about her and have done with it?

Although there was no doubt some elitism involved (her accent! her lack of Ivy leage education! that hair!), to me, the answer is clear, and comes down to one word: Pro-Life.

It is an unfortunate reality that people in the pro-life movement have been the source of a great deal of pain for American women in the past few decades. They are the ones who develop smear campaigns to label us pro-abortion (we are not; no one is!) instead of pro-choice; and of course, there is a whole “abortion is murder” meme that has been extremely successful, even to the point that people in the pro-choice community believe it.

But the name-calling is not the worst of it; not by a long shot.

Pro-Choice Democrats – Declare Your Independence!

No, We Won't Go Back

A lot of us are thinking about independence on this historic day. What does it mean for us as Americans, that despite our efforts to change the direction of the country by our traditional method of electing a President and Congress from a different Party, the country is still heading in the wrong direction at breakneck speed?

Many Democrats and people who lean to the left are realizing that Barack Obama is not whom he pretended to be. Leading the pack is the LGBT community, which is planning a massive protest on October 11th. But where, I must ask, are the pro-choice women, and the men who support them?

After Obama’s mind-blowing refusal to overturn the Bush “conscience clause,” and his breaking of his promises to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, it seemed clear that our Dear Leader was determined to embolden and empower the so-called pro-life movement even more than George W. Bush did.

Et voila, the fruits of His Labor (h/t taggles).

Nineteen pro-life House Democrats signed a letter last week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressing their opposition to any health care reform that includes abortion funding.
 
“We cannot support any health-care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan,” the letter read.
 
The congressmen did not take a position for or against the so-called “public option” feature of the health care reform bill, which involves the creation of a government-sponsored health insurance poll, but the congressmen were blunt about what they do not want.
 
“Plans to mandate coverage for abortions, either directly or indirectly (are) unacceptable,” they wrote.

FDR vs. Reagan – The Battle for America’s Soul

California is in crisis. Like almost every state in the Union after eight years of Bush, it is bankrupt. However, California is especially stuck, because back in the late 70’s, it put the question of property taxes to the voters. Well, as we all know, people love to vote for higher taxes, don’t they? The aptly-named Proposition 13 passed, and the property taxes were frozen at a very low level. 

The most significant portion of the act is the first paragraph, which capped real estate taxes:

“

Section 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed One percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties.

”

The proposition’s passage resulted in a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57%. In addition to lowering property taxes, the initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for future increases in all state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates. It also requires two-thirds vote majority in local elections for local governments wishing to raise special taxes. Proposition 13 received an enormous amount of publicity, not only in California, but throughout the United States.^[1]

Passage of the initiative presaged a “taxpayer revolt” throughout the country that is sometimes thought to have contributed to the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980. However, of 30 anti-tax ballot measures that year, only 13 of them passed.^[2]

A large contributor to Proposition 13 was the sentiment that older Californians should not be priced out of their homes through high taxes.^[3] The proposition has been called the “third rail” (meaning “untouchable subject”) of California politics and it is not politically popular for Sacramento lawmakers to attempt to change it.^[3]

So, not only is the Golden State suffering because of the housing crisis (California is where a lot of the overbuilding was done) and the credit crunch; it is also unable to make up the difference in tax revenues. Of course, the matter has not been helped by the tenure of Ah-Nuld, the Governator himself, who is using this crisis to suggest the type of spending cuts Grover Norquist and all his Social Darwinist throwbacks could only dream of, and who may have conspired with Enron to defraud the state of $9 billion, thus contributing mightily to the problem he is now bemoaning.   

Barack Hoover Obama: The Liberal Media Finally (Kinda) Gets it Right

Graphic by Mr. Fish

I subscribe to Harper’s Magazine. Although the editors and contributors drank the Kool-Aid many moons ago, it is still a genuinely left-leaning publication, with a left-leaning perspective and many fascinating articles for us librul types to peruse. Imagine my shock when the July issue arrived in my mailbox, with the words “Barack Hoover Obama: The Best and the Brightest Blow it Again – By Kevin Baker” displayed prominently on the cover.

Intrigued, I started reading. (Apologies to non-subscribers, but the link is pay-only.) The usual nauseating, opinion-masquerading-as-fact, obligatory fawning and drooling ensued.

Three months into his presidency, Barack Obama has proven to be every bit as charismatic and intelligent as his most ardent supporters could have hoped. At home or abroad, he invariably appears to be the only adult in the room, the first American president in at least forty years to convey any gravitas. Even the most liberal of voters are finding it hard to believe they managed to elect this man to be their president.

Obama, The Savvy World Leader

Oh, really, Kevin? You call THIS gravitas? Although I agree with your last point: being among the most liberal of voters, I am having a REALLY hard time believing that this man has been elected President.

In any case, after lifting my head weakly from the vomit bucket, I read on, and I was glad I did so.

Obama’s failure would be unthinkable. And yet the best indications now are that he will fail, because he will be unable—indeed he will refuse—to seize the radical moment at hand.

Every instinct the president has honed, every voice he hears in Washington, every inclination of our political culture urges incrementalism, urges deliberation, if any significant change is to be brought about. The trouble is that we are at one of those rare moments in history when the radical becomes pragmatic, when deliberation and compromise foster disaster. The question is not what can be done but what must be done (emphasis mine).

We have confronted such emergencies only a few times before in the history of the Republic: during the secession crisis of 1860–61, at the start of World War II, at the outset of the Cold War and the nuclear age. Probably the moment most comparable to the present was the start of the Great Depression, and for the scope and the quantity of the problems he is facing, Obama has frequently been compared with Franklin Roosevelt. So far, though, he most resembles the other president who had to confront that crisis, Herbert Hoover.

Well, hallelujah. The insult to rationality and reason that results from comparing this puppet of the oligarchy/ patriarchy to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man who had the courage to tell the bankers to go to hell and set up a social safety net that still holds, although rather shakily, even today, well, let’s just say it makes me really, really peevish.

Back From Aruba!

Yes, I Really Took This Picture

No, I didn’t drop off the face of the earth…I just went to Aruba, which is closer to the middle of the earth, off the coast of Venezuela, near the equator and such.

I will return to more substantive postings shortly, but if you’d care to see what we were up to for the past ten days, here are my photos on Flickr.

Aruba 2009

See you soon!

Can the LGBT Community Save Feminism?

Help Us, LGBT Community...

A sudden wave of tolerance is sweeping the country, it would seem. State after state is legalizing gay marriage, and even the monstrous Darth Cheney (whose daughter is gay and in a long-term committed relationship) has recently reiterated his tepid support for it.

As people who read my posts regularly are aware, I could not be MORE in favor of gay marriage. But at the same time, I am wondering:

Is yet another minority group, the LGBT Community, going to get equal rights before the biggest majority group in America – those of us who possess those famously scary ladyparts? And if so, what does that say about women and the feminist movement in general?

Is THIS really the face of feminism?

Or this?

For those in favor of women’s rights, the first 100 days of the Obama administration has been like a honeymoon. We’ve continually been reminded why we fell in love in the first place. Coming off an eight-year abusive relationship (to put it mildly), none of Obama’s kindnesses are lost on us. He seems to be the kind of guy who does what he says he’s going to do, another relief. And his gifts have not just been for the pro-choice movement either. Nearly all of Obama’s actions on reproductive rights to date have focused on preventing the need for abortion, one of his “common ground” issues. And while he’s won no fans in traditional pro-life groups, it’s an approach the majority of pro-life Americans want.

Gag me with a Ginsu, ladies!

I Won’t Dance; Don’t Ask Me

Pippin: Is there any hope, Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?

Gandalf: There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope.

from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The above quotation has been banging around in my head for days now. It seems to capture so perfectly the despair I have been feeling since Obama was elected, and every single prediction I made about him has come true. But the truth I thought I knew is both more sinister than I ever could have believed, and far beyond the scope of my imagination.

I understood in 2007 that Obama had the same type of personality as Bush: narcissistic, swaggering, fundamentally incurious, far too attached to the religious right, and scornful of anyone or anything that would presume to stand in the way of his pursuit and retention of power. I wrote this comment on the post I linked above:

Ironically, Obama, while promising change, is really showing that he will deliver more of the same we’ve had for the past 7 years – happy talk and good propaganda, with no, or terrible, results. I’d take almost any of the other candidates over him.

I am not trying to toot my own horn here. Millions of Americans realized the same thing I did, after all, and I don’t think that my seeing Obama for who he was took a huge amount of intelligence or analytical ability. I merely used the same criteria I always use when choosing whom I want to be my President: will he or she do a good job? Clearly, the answer in Obama’s case was, “No, he won’t; in fact, he will do a terrible job.” What other criteria would a boss need when selecting an employee?

But for heaven’s sake, did anyone realize he’d be THIS bad? I ask this question often of PUMAs that I meet in person, or speak with on the blogs, and the answer is always, “No, I didn’t.” That’s my answer too. From his unwillingness to keep his promises to overturn the “conscience rule,” promote and sign FOCA, or end DADT; to his embrace of Reagan and Bush’s failed economic strategies (throwing taxpayer money at big corporations while the unemployment rate skyrockets and more and more Americans lose their homes);  to keeping the cruel and pointless occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan going indefinitely (even “surging” in Afghanistan) and upping the ante in Pock-ee-ston; to his approval of mountaintop removal and promotion of poor environmental strategies like “clean coal” and corn ethanol; to his hard right turn into Dear Leader territory with his radical claims of executive privilege and attempts to keep Bush and Cheney (and possibly a key Dem or two) from being prosecuted for torture and warrantless wiretapping; to his recently-admitted desire to find “common ground” with Christian fundamentalists and his impending destruction of the separation of church and state; to his hostility towards universal health care, Medicare and Social Security and other “entitlement” programs near and dear to Democrats’ hearts; to his obvious elevation of unfriendly Arab countries over Israel: every day brings a fresh, 360-degree, head-rotating horror.

And yet, people wonder why I don’t give props to Obama for nominating Sonia Sotomayor, or pretty much for anything at all. Apart from the fact that I have very little time to write these days (two jobs, two radio shows and PUMA activism will do that to ya), are they smoking crack? Here’s a question for Obots and those who still think Obama is playing eleven-dimensional chess on Pluto: If Dubya nominated a woman to the Supreme Court, would you applaud him for advancing the cause of gender equity? Or would you think, “Well, Bush nominated her, so I don’t trust her to have my best interests at heart?”

I’m sure even Obots can answer that question without too much difficulty, and sadly, it looks like my concerns were once again well-founded. Sotomayor is a fence-straddler who has been mostly silent on the issue of reproductive rights. Do I think she’ll overturn Roe v. Wade? No, I don’t. No President, Democratic, Republican or Obamacratic, would go that far at this point. But do I think she will be friendly towards the “rights” of those fanatical lunatics who want to tell me when and where I can purchase birth control, even after being raped? Yes, I do: because Obama chose her. Our very own Dear Leader has opened the floodgates to the anti-choice evangelical community with his massive expansion of Bush’s faith-based initiatives and his team of (mostly rightwing) pastors which advises him on policy decisions.

If you will allow me a snarky diversion, I can’t help imagining those phone calls:

“Hello, you’ve reached Dial-a-Pastor! For advice on wars in the Middle East, press 1. For tips on how to institute a Christian theocracy in YOUR country, press 2. For a direct line to Jesus, press 3. Please make sure you are over 18 and have a credit card ready, as Dial-a-Pastor is not a free service. Have a blessed day!”

But I digress. The point is that the Froot Loops (h/t to our beloved Pat Johnson) are taking over the federal government, with the full blessing and active participation of a so-called Democrat. I said in 2008 that McCain was a neocon, but Obama was a theocon. I have no doubt whatsoever that our new President is a full-on fascist with the intentions of using the tools Bush left him to create an America that will be a cross between Stalinist Russia and The Handmaiden’s Tale.

No, to paraphrase Gandalf, I never had much hope that Obama would be a good President, but I did hope, foolishly, that he would in some way resemble a Democrat: would assemble a decent economic team, perhaps, or throw some bones to women and gays, or end the war in Iraq, or prosecute BushCheney for their war crimes, or work in good conscience on Middle East peace, or bring back habeas corpus and end the MCA and the Patriot Act.

Now I know for certain that Obama does not care about America at all – at least, not the America we all wanted back after Bush took it so far in the wrong direction. Now, I know he is an enemy of the American people in general, favoring the rich, well-connected and fundiegelical over the hundreds of millions of poor and middle-class who mistakenly believed he would be the second coming of Lincoln, JFK, FDR or even Jesus. Now I know that no matter what he does, there WILL be that ever-so-special Obaman middle finger towards anyone who doesn’t worship him unquestioningly…and even sometimes, towards those that do.

So please, don’t ask me to dance with Obama. Don’t ask me to give him credit for anything; he deserves nothing but scorn, hatred, and frankly, impeachment, for his violation of the Constitution he has sworn to uphold. Don’t ask me to be “tolerant” of people who come to my blog and tell me I’m crazy, or call me a “racist brownshirt Nazi fuck” because I dared to opine that Hillary would be a better President than Obama. Don’t ask me to believe Obama is just waiting for the “right time” to unveil the fact that he’s a liberal. How in the name of the Giant Green Lizard could anyone think that with Obama following the Worst (Republican) President Ever, enjoying a 65% approval rating, and a strong majority in both houses, it’s still “not the right time” to push through liberal policies? Again I ask, does Kool-Aid come in solid form, and are people melting it in spoons these days when drinking it is just not enough?

But PUMAs, I will happily dance with you. And those who are willing to find the courage to question Obama, even those who support him, I’ll dance with you too. And my feminist sisters and brothers, and my LGBT friends and family, I will joyfully dance with you.

For my true hope, one which I dare to dream is not foolish, is that in this crisis of democracy, we the people may discover the truth the oligarchy/patriarchy doesn’t want us to remember: that we are the boss, and Obama works for us. And if we don’t like the job he’s doing, we can fire him.

And wouldn’t that be the best outcome we could hope for?

What You Can Do About Dr. Tiller’s Murder

The Widdershins, Partizane, and many other blogs are discussing the tragic and horrifying assassination of Dr. George Tiller, a doctor who performed abortions after 21 weeks, and was therefore termed a multiple murderer by the religious right.

Please go to The Widdershins to find out how you can speak out against the religious extremism that led to his death.

NYT: Obama Roolz, Bill Clinton Droolz

Bill Clinton, a Real President

Several of our Widdershins commenters have pointed me to this article on Bill Clinton in the New York Times. I haven’t read the Times regularly since 1994, and now I remember why.

See if you can spot the ObamaNation talking points scattered throughout the propaganda piece. (Don’t worry, I’ll help you out.)

Bill Clinton loves to shop. On a March day in an elegant crafts store in Lima, the Peruvian capital, he hunted for presents for his wife and the women on his staff back home. He had given a speech at a university earlier and just came from a ceremony kicking off a program to help impoverished Peruvians. Now he was eyeing a necklace with a green stone amulet.

Standing all by himself, the former president of the United States moved his eyes methodically across shelves of wooden carvings, jewelry and sculptures as he searched for something distinctive to bring his wife. “She used to look forward to me coming home from wherever I’ve been,” he mused with a laugh. “Now I’m afraid I’ll be second fiddle to whatever world leader she’s just met.”

Talking Point: Bill’s a girl! He likes to shop! He’s totally emasculated by Hillary’s appointment as Secretary of State. Obama Roolz, Clinton Droolz!

The advent of a new Democratic administration, with his wife in the top cabinet slot, has opened a new chapter in the eventful life of the nation’s 42nd president. No longer in exile, yet not exactly in the inner circle, Clinton is trying to define his role and find his place in the Age of Obama. He agreed to some limits on his activities to satisfy the good-government advocates around Obama, but he is still traveling the globe, pushing his favorite philanthropic programs, collecting six-figure checks for speeches, dining with foreign leaders and in his own way speaking for America again. A couple of weeks ago, he agreed to serve as the United Nations special envoy to Haiti.

Talking Point: See? Obama has only been in office five months and already he’s got an Age. An Age, I tell you! He is the most historical-est, bestest Preznit EVAH! And did Bill have a clothing line and his own TeeVee station? I don’t THINK so! Obama Roolz, Bill Clinton Droolz!

No one has combined the roles of former president and cabinet spouse before, and the lines are blurry. After Hillary Clinton’s nomination for secretary of state was announced, the telephones at her husband’s office rang as various ambassadors tried to go through him to get a meeting. The foreign leaders he meets with now ask after his wife and know they can use him to get messages to her. But Obama has not tapped Clinton to do anything significant for the new administration yet. Unless Obama messes up, says a former top Clinton aide, “President Clinton is irrelevant.” Obama does not need him. “This is not a circumstance in which Bill Clinton is going to have much of a role,” the aide says.

Talking Point: Bill Clinton is irrelevant. (Okay, that one was easy.) No one needs him, no one cares about him. Obama Roolz, Clinton Droolz!

For both the trip to Davos and the trip to South America that I joined, Clinton said he checked first with Jim Jones at the National Security Council. “I say: ‘Look, I’ve been invited to go to this place. These people will be there. Do you want me not to go?’ ” he told me early last month. “If they want me to make any points on their behalf, I’ll do it. I really do believe there can only be one president at a time.” A White House official later told me that Clinton also checked with Jones before agreeing to take the United Nations post [as ambassador to Haiti].

Talking Point: Bill Clinton has to ask Obama for permission to go to the bathroom! Ha! Ha! Ha! Obama Roolz, Clinton Droolz!

…At one point he devoted days to campaigning in South Carolina against the wishes of her strategists, only to watch her lose the primary.

Talking Point: Bill Clinton was why Hillary lost South Carolina, not because of the demographics of the state, and certainly not because of all the racial smears that the ObamaNation propagated against her! Obama Roolz, Clinton Droolz! And speaking of those accusations of racism:

“None of them ever really took seriously the race rap,” he told me. “They knew it was politics. I had one minister in Texas in the general election come up and put his arm around me.” This was an Obama supporter. “And he came up, threw his arm around me and said, ‘You’ve got to forgive us for that race deal.’ He said, ‘That was out of line.’ But he said, ‘You know, we wanted to win real bad.’ And I said, ‘I got no problem with that.’ I said it’s fine; it’s O.K. And we laughed about it and we went on.” The other side is moving on, too. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, who once recalled an angry Clinton berating him on the phone for criticizing the former president’s campaign rhetoric, is letting bygones be bygones, at least publicly. “No fence-mending is needed,” Clyburn said through a spokeswoman.

Talking Point: It’s fine to smear the “first black president’ with racist accusations, even though you know they’re total and complete bullshit. It’s just politics! And don’t worry, Obama will do it again and again to whomever tries to fight him on anything – and you’d better excuse it just like Bill Clinton! Obama Roolz, Clinton Droolz!

Rahm Emanuel, who was a senior adviser to Clinton and now is chief of staff for Obama, recently described the current White House as a far more cohesive operation than his last one. “We don’t, rather, have the kind of New Democrats versus traditionalist split that existed in that White House,” he said on CNBC. “We don’t have in this White House the president-versus-vice-president staff divisions that have been in other White Houses.” Emanuel credited “the tone and tenor that the president of the United States has set in expectations.” The next day on ABC, he suggested Obama would rank among the best American leaders, comparing him with “successful presidents and transformative presidents” like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan. Emanuel made no mention of Clinton.

Talking Point: Well, duh.

I noticed that in all the many comparisons of the two Presidents contained within this article, no mention was made of Clinton’s great commitment to gender equity. He appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, a woman and a real liberal to boot, and half of his Cabinet was made up of women. For this commitment, columnists in the New York Times derided and attacked him mercilessly. To add insult to injury, there is a great deal of “golly gee, maybe I shouldn’t have said Clinton killed Vince Foster cause it wasn’t true” type of way-too-fucking-late apologizing from the wingnuts who were responsible for crucifying him day after day in the corporate media, while the columnist is strangely silent about the crucial role the New York Times played in hyping every made-up scandal until it died a whimpering, embarrassed death. 

I’ll tell you the thing that really disturbed me about this article, besides all the fawning over Obama and His Holy Awesomeness. It was this idea of the “transformative” Presidency. Apparently being a “transformative” President is somehow more desirable than being a successful one, which even the Koolaid-swilling RahmBo Emanuel admits Bill Clinton was. And yet, all the Obamans say that Reagan was “transformative.” Um, if Reagan is the model Obama is following, then I’d rather have “successful,” thank you very much.

I am very, very troubled by where this country is going. I see the Left closing its eyes and leaping off a cliff with Obama, thinking there is still a safety net underneath it, and that nothing will happen except a hell of an exciting ride. But hear the words of  J-Som of Liberal Rapture, who perfectly encapsulated the way I feel about what Obama is doing to those of us on the left-leaning side of the aisle:

I think – ‘no, I shouldn’t get over it’. I see no reason to “get over it”. A “planned” mistake of epic proportions was foisted on us last year .

And I can’t get around the sense that it may be our final mistake. The mistake that ends the possibility for redemption. The one who comes after Obama shoud be as big a concern now for thinking people as Obama himself.

This mistake aided and abetted in corrupting the Left to its core – with the Left being willing, deluded participants. The far Right is alive now. Alive with passion and ideas. The Left, contrary to MSM blathering, is DEAD. A bunch of lost, confused, disempowered fools.

Exactly right. I can only “hope” that as we keep to our principles, and critique Obama from the left, that more and more Obama supporters (not Obots, they can kiss Angie’s ass!) will join with us PUMAs and make us into a force to be reckoned with.

PUMA POWER!