I have some questions for ’08 Obama voters. Oh, not the Daily Kos bed-wetters or the Birkenstock Brigade. Not you doctrinaire big-government liberals still upset the president hasn’t appointed a Menopause Czar. And certainly not the dedicated professionals of the SEIU (I have too much respect for you guys to question your electoral choices, and not just because I don’t want to spend a week peeing blood.)
No, I’m addressing you “independents” and moderates who pulled the lever for Obama back in 2008.
I understand. You were sick of Bush. You were weary of a leader of the free world who had all the verbal dexterity of a Western Texas gas station attendant. You were tired of the Iraq War (but unlike Senator Harry Reid, you weren’t actually rooting against us). President Bush had alienated our friends around the world, the media assured you, and you knew that couldn’t be good. And you were so tired of everybody hating and pointing fingers in Washington. You wanted a clean start, new politics.
There they were – those Obama campaign workers with their tattoos and messenger bags, those “O” stickers and the smile that said, “Yes we can!” or maybe “That was some good hash!” No matter. They were positive, idealistic even. They believed. It was appealing.
Their guy was new, young, hip and excruciatingly multiracial. In fact, you think he may have been on season 8 of “The Real World.” No wait, the guy you were thinking of was a Venezuelan transvestite named Sylvester.
No matter. Here was something new and fresh. He wasn’t white, and in voting for him you could check that box on your “Virtuous Me” list (“Voting for first black president” – it’s between “Buying a reusable grocery bag” and “Costa Rican Eco-Vacation.”)
Besides, grizzled, serious newsmen had to sit funny to hide their giant erections every time they mentioned him. He must be the real deal.
So here’s what I want to know – and I swear by David Axelrod’s comb-over that these questions are not rhetorical. I truly want them answered.
- Are you satisfied with your post-partisan president? The “consensus politician” that called Republicans “enemies,” that nationalized a 6th of the U.S. economy without a single Republican vote? The guy that just the other day blamed Republicans for the failure of his “Buffet Rule” legislation – in the Democrat-controlled Senate? The guy whose party created an ad showing GOP Representative Paul Ryan pushing an old lady over a cliff? Remember “Attack Watch?” Are you satisfied with this?
- Are you satisfied with the president who decried “false choices” in politics? Are you still gung-ho for the guy who says the Ryan Budget would leave us with dirty drinking water, no air traffic control and no care for autistic children? How about with the reasonable centrist who whose re-election strategy centers on relentless class warfare and who targets corporate jet owners and hedge fund managers who don’t “pay their fair share?”
- What about the ethical giant who promised the “most transparent administration” in history? Are you ok with “Fast and Furious?” Solyndra? Recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess? Phony statistics like “jobs saved or created?” The man that stocked his White House with Maoists, 9-11 Truthers and fisting aficionados whose passion is the “queering of elementary education?” The president whose justice department opposes minimal voter ID requirements to combat electoral fraud?
- How’s it been having the “smartest guy ever to become president” around? The one that didn’t know there wasn’t such a thing as a “shovel-ready job?” Who excuses dismal economic performance by telling all and sundry that he had no idea how bad the economy really was when he took office? How about the guy that guaranteed the stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%? The genius who gave Gordon Brown DVDs that wouldn’t play in Britain, and the Queen an iPod loaded with his own speeches?
- Are you satisfied with the sophisticated internationalist who was going to restore our reputation in the world and repair relationships Bush had all but dismantled? The one who sent Churchill’s bust back to the Brits, who refuses to back them over the Falklands and whose aide denied the very existence of the “Special Relationship?” How about the guy that’s thrown Poland and other friendly East European nations under the bus on missile defense? I won’t even ask about how he’s treated the only democracy in the Middle East.
- Are you satisfied with your post-racial president? Do you find it disquieting that his Justice Department dropped an ironclad and already-won voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers? That his Attorney General Eric “Americans are cowards about race” Holder feels comfortable publicly celebrating Al Sharpton, libeler, murder-inciter and despicable race pimp?
Was it a good thing that the President of the United States simultaneously personalized and further exacerbated racial animosity by declaring that his son would look like Trayvon Martin? What about those Cambridge police who acted “stupidly?” Is it cool that the President of the United States demanded blacks put on their “marching shoes” to get him re-elected? That he’s associated with “African Americans for Obama?”
It all boils down to this: Did you get what you paid for in ’08? Is Obama what he said he was and, just as important – perhaps more important – is he what the media said he was? How you answer will determine how you vote in November. Provided the New Black Panthers let you into the polling place. And you’re not accompanied into the booth by a helpful SEIU volunteer.
P.S. One last question: it’s a small thing I know, but are you satisfied with a president who throws a baseball like this?
I was ready to re-elect until I found out that he throws like Brandon.
Look, he doesn’t have to throw like GW Bush, but Barbara Bush would be nice. Right now, he’s not even managing LadyBird Johnson.
HEY!…I throw side arm wimpy.
these are libs not independents. there is no such thing.
But Obama promised me hope and change so he’s cool
How can you be deemed both cool and be photographed in mom jeans? this does not compute to me.
G Dub could whip his ass for sure…Go Indians, screw the sox!
Yeah black people, instead of voting for Obama, why didn’t you vote for the party that hates you?
That makes so much more sense.
[/irony]
Sorry, they did both at the same time. A vote for Obama was a vote for the party that has (historically) sought to oppress blacks.
Yeah, cause blacks’ unswerving devotion to the Democrats over the last 50 years has served them so well. Why, that Great Society stuff really was boffo! Those safe and comfy housing projects. Cherished family traditions like illiteracy, welfare dependency, incarceration and children having children. How about those fantastic inner city schools?
Wanna create a voter in perpetuity? Simple: Keep him ignorant, Absolve him of responsibility. Let him know nothing much is expected of him. Convince him that victim status can be handed down through generations, so that he’s hardly better off than his slave ancestors. Patronize him with sops to his “culture,” no matter how dysfunctional. Deaden his pride and autonomy by shoving subsistence government goodies at him. Make him believe that economics is a zero-sum game — he can’t make it because others are, that their success is stolen from him. Convince him that you are the only one with his best interests at heart, and that you shield him from a hateful and uncaring society.
Voila! A Democrat voter! Somewhat diminished in dignity and humanity, but he’ll get to the polls when needed.
Quote K.P.
“Sorry, they did both at the same time. A vote for Obama was a vote for the party that has (historically) sought to oppress blacks.”
Oh pur-leaze, every party in America has sought to oppress black people your economy was built on that very foundation.
But right now, anno 2012, the Republican party is the natural home of the white racist, look at a variety of postings on this very website for proof of that.
It’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it.
Quote Blind Blueberry
“Why, that Great Society stuff really was boffo!”
It was. All of America grew more wealthy from the end of WW2 until the election of President Reagan, since then the income of middle-class people has flat-lined, and poor people have gotten poorer. There was a time when people who studied hard and worked hard in America were guaranteed to become more wealthy. That American dream is dead.
Shockingly according to the CIA America’s Gini coefficient is now 93rd in the World, behind Russia (!), China (!!) and Iran (!!!) .
“Patronize him with sops to his “culture,” no matter how dysfunctional.”
So why don;t you tell us what is so dysfunctional about African American culture?
I can’t wait to hear this one.
“Make him believe that economics is a zero-sum game — he can’t make it because others are, that their success is stolen from him.”
This is demonstrably true.
At the end of the Clinton presidency the wealth-gap between blacks and whites was at an historic low point. Since then the gap between them has grown almost exponentially. African American wealth fell 53% during George W. Bush’s second term alone.
“So why don;t you tell us what is so dysfunctional about African American culture?”
Gee, I dunno … Gangs, drugs, misogyny, bling — pretty much anything you can find in a rap video. The idea that academic achievement is “acting white” and “not keeping it real.” The 72 percent illegitimacy rate, the fact that homicide is the leading cause of death for young black males.
But here’s the thing — you complain about wealth disparity, but assume its only for the government to address. Sorry, but if you live and die by the redistribution of wealth, your lot will NEVER improve because you will have never worked to improve it. You could tax the high earners in the nation to oblivion and the pathologies that come with poverty would still be there for the inner cities. A bigger welfare check or subsidized housing or unemployment payments in perpetuity or, marginally more helpful, make-work government jobs that demand little from the recipients won’t move the needle an inch.
Democrats know this. No matter how many goodies they send downstream, there’ll always be an underclass clamoring for them. It’s the basis of the welfare system they stake their political future on. And its far more functionally racist than anything conservatives could dream up.
Sorry Blind Blueberry – the shear depth and breadth of your stupidity is only now becoming clear to me. I had previously over-estimated you. I will pitch my arguments on a lower intellectual level from now on.
“Gee, I dunno … Gangs, drugs, misogyny, bling — pretty much anything you can find in a rap video.”
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight, so you are saying black people’s lives are wholly reflected by rap videos (!). Okay, I get it now. You’ll be telling us we’ve got ‘natural rhythm’ next.
The illegitimacy rate (as you quaintly call it) amongst white americans has increased from 4% in 1956 to 40.8% today, is that a failing of white culture?
[What is white culture btw? Other than Country and Western music, winter Olympics and gassing Jews?]
“But here’s the thing — you complain about wealth disparity, but assume its only for the government to address. Sorry, but if you live and die by the redistribution of wealth, your lot will NEVER improve because you will have never worked to improve it.”
OK, I’m going to explain this one ve-ry, ve-ry slow-ly, stop me if I go too fast…
From the end of WW2 until the election of Ronnie Reagan, Americans shared in the increased wealth of the nation. Generally if you studied hard and worked hard you got wealthier. That process stopped dead in it’s tracks since the end of the 1970′s.
Since then poor have been getting poorer, and the middle classes’ wealth has flat-lined. Despite the fact that middle-class people work longer hours than ever before, and despite the fact that many more women work now than then, middle class families are no better off now than they were then. Meanwhile the wealth of the elite has sky-rocketed, increasing almost exponentially.
Shamefully America’s GINI coefficient (as listed by the C.I.A.) is now 93rd in the world. Below China, Russia and Iran.
The American dream is dead, and Conservative policies killed it.
The key point is that this is direct result of GOVERNMENT policies. It is not that middle class or poor people are not working as hard as they did (in fact there is solid evidence of the exact opposite) they are working for less so that the rich can get richer. Those are the policies that you voted for.
So when people talk about redistributing wealth, they are not talking about handing over billions of dollars to the ill-deserving poor, they are talking about turning the clock back to a fairer time when the American nations’ wealth was shared by anyone who was prepared to work hard.
First off, fuck you and your liberal condescension. I understand its difficult for leftists to encounter differing opinions without assuming those who hold them are stupid and/or evil, but you really should try harder. Makes things more interesting.
Now, answer this question: What would you have government do to address the disparity? You can whine about it all you want, but what would you DO? You say conservatives used government to create the disparity. Tell me how libs can use it to ameliorate it. How will you turn back the clock? Can you do anything that doesn’t punitively tax the successful and redirect that wealth to the unsuccessful? Can you create a government program — sorry, “investment” — that doesn’t require massive amounts of tax dollars, followed by another expensive “investment” to fix the harm the first one did?
And if throwing other people’s cash at problems IS your solution, show how it’s gonna work. Will it work as well as throwing cash at the public schools has?
Or is it really about your feelings about fairness? Is it really about your conscience, and about what you think you or others deserve. Libs are great ones for deciding who needs and deserves what. And that’s as it should be. When you’re always the most intelligent and moral person in the room, you SHOULD be telling others what to do with their resources.