- BIG NEWS:
- Health Care
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- Karl Rove
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- Rahm Emanuel
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- Nancy Pelosi
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Can the left learn to keep its mouth shut once in a while? Does the American left know how to win wars or just skirmishes? Does the left want change or does it demand perfection? You can't have both in this life.
No one has been a tougher critic of the Republican Party, the Religious Right and various wing nuts out to destroy the Obama presidency than me. Few ordinary Americans (that I know of) have taken more heat (and hate) for their support of the President than me either. Former right wing religious right leaders like me are never forgiven for joining the reality-based community!
Believe me, with my old "friends" on the right I don't need more enemies! (Just check out Fox News smearing of me last week with insanely out-of-context clips on the O'Reilly Factor lifted and edited from Maddow interviewing me.) So I'm hesitant to knock the left. I guess I don't like the idea of all sides pissed off with me at once. But in the light of how and why the debate over health care is being dominated by the loony right maybe the left is partly to blame for the stalemate on health care reform.
Last week the New York Times noted a lack of enthusiasm on the part of Obama's former foot soldiers when it comes to rising to the occasion and pouring on the support for health care reform. ("Health Debate Fails to Ignite Obama's Grass Roots," August 15.) Why the lack of enthusiasm?
It's because the left has made the classic mistake of going for a whole loaf and therefore risking getting nothing. The left has proved itself as impatient as the right and just as shortsighted, given that the lefty sniping at the Obama administration started almost from day one. And now after barely six months in office the people who worked so hard to get him elected have seemingly lost their enthusiasm for another fight on behalf of Obama.
What sapped the yes-we-can optimistic, hope-filled bedrock supporters' will? Who sapped it?
There is a connection between sniping from the left -- the drip, drip, drip of criticism, the demand for instant perfection, be it from those taking shots Obama's economic policy and claiming that the President is in the hip pocket of Wall Street -- and those saying he cut some sort of evil deal with pharmaceutical companies, and the lop-sided "debate" on health care. The right didn't sap anyone's will who voted for Obama. The left shot itself in the foot.
It seems to me that Obama's critics on the left just don't understand governing. If Franklin Roosevelt had had this quality of "support" from his bedrock constituency there would have been no New Deal and we would have never entered the war to defeat fascism. In fact today's left seems to have a death wish of exercising the "right" to snarky frivolity when it's time to get serious.
The American left has a choice: follow our moderately progressive Democrat president and support him when he most needs it most, or allow our whole project to be derailed by the far (increasingly fascist) right. If it is derailed, sure -- the Republicans played a part. But so did the know-it-all left, all because the left's pontificators -- including those right here in the Huffington Post -- would rather be heard than humbly offer their support to our President (or anyone else) and see change actually happen.
Why?
It strikes me that the left suffers from a sort of crazy First Amendment knee-jerk twitch comparable the the right's sick Second Amendment twitch! The right thinks it must collect guns, the left thinks it must express opinions, and damn the real world consequences. Hey, so Obama fails! Well at least I got my say!
The right is irredeemably sick. The left is just silly. Together the silly and the sick may just do us in. If Limbaugh gets his Obama-must-fail wish, look in the mirror.
On the right the election literally broke their racist brains. This is now the day of the old angry white men once again. And how has the left responded? Did we circle the wagons and hang tough with our young black president? No everyone waded in.
The open question is this: Is the left going to be dominated by its talkers or get on with governance that can only happen with near infinite patience and loyal support? Does the left know how to follow a leader and get something done?
Q: "You mean I have to behave like a regular citizen once in a while and let the people I elect do their job?!"
A: If our self-styled free thinkers decide loyalty is beneath them and have forgotten how to compromise and live in the real world, a few election cycles from now the left is going to find itself reduced to screaming down their far right opposition at town hall meetings.
We have a great president. We have a chance for real change and we'd better use it. Sarah Palin and company are waiting in the wings.
My old friends on the far right are counting on the stupidity of right wing white America to believe their lies. They are also counting on the left being so in love with the sound of its own voice that the left can't govern.
How different things would be right now had everyone who voted for President Obama stuck by him and his administration with total determination, and waited until he had a chance to implement -- and test -- his programs, before wading in with the nit-picking.
The left faces the implacable and loony right. The chips are down. Support the President.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism).
Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer
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Frank, you might as well forget it, progressives are not going to listen to you because their self-righteousness, cynicism and short-sightedness is not going to let them. It's very sad.
Once again Frank has hit the nail on the head and I agree with him totally. Between the screaming sheep on the right and the know it alls on the left, President Obama needs some intelligent supporters to back him and help him to plow through the mess this country is in.
I have never seen such hatred as I have witnessed on tv lately at town hall meetings and on Fox TV and other places; freedom of speech is fine but when it preaches hate and incites crazies to plan and carry out harm to others, there should be some limits. Why are guns tolerated near and around presidential visits? Where is this going and how will it all end? I do not like what I am seeing and hearing and fear for the safety of the president and others. Folks from other countries are watching closely and you can be sure this is a large blight on the U.S. and is disgusting to all.
I just wanted to say how much I admire you for taking this stand. I said something one day about "is some state teaching creationism"? The person I was talking to said they didn't know and we moved on. Boy, you would not believe the hate mail in my mailbox 2 seconds later. It was this long list, all in bold and it was like "God commands you to"...
It's amazing how bad it makes you feel. Funny it's the same as someone saying something really mean or threatening. You just feel creepy for hours. I don't see how this can be Christian. You do have fans, people who care about you and picture you and your family safe and happy. You are a hero... if that helps!
I've chided and teased to the point of censor, but Frank, I truly feel badly for the way you have been treated by your former colleagues and their current supporters who apparently posses no constraint in heaping invective and accusation your way. It's awful to be hated. It's awful to be hated when you would rather find some common ground. But sometimes bullies feel sorry after they've done their deeds, although probably better keep a stiff lip, bleeding or no. As for the Left, if that's who they are, I think they saw the Obama presidency in their terms and not his, a repudiation of Bush. I think by example and tone, we could have predicted that Obama would attempt moderation and cooperation -- and few seem to be able to grasp this.
and perhaps things would look differently if the economy hadn't collapsed or the war in Afghanistan had not re-ignited. What we all need to consider is what it is like to be Obama, when you say, for example, that you believe the Constitution gives you a personal right to own a firearm, and yet people come to protest brandishing them, when you give praise to a member of the other party and they accuse you of wanting to kill grandma. Like the man recently arrested in NJ said, people are crazy and times are strange.
The Afghanistan war did not "reignite" itself.
Even though we are hemmorhaging financially, Obama reignited it.
I read Frank's post, I look at the first comment and it says something to the effect of "I suppport Obama as long as..." Good grief, how many ways does it have to be said. Look at it this way, if the republicans had elected Ronald Reagan and then went on to criticize everything he did, wouldn't you have begun to doubt him too? There are two things that you have to admire about republican
The left didn't seem to be a problem when he needed votes but when it comes to him delivering on those votes , all at once we're a problem.
With respect to health care access , I support Obama as long as his administration stands firm on a strong public option. The public option itself is already a compromise on Single Payer.
I'm not going to support the Obama Administration just because they are called Democrats. If they can't follow through on the important policies that would be good for most of the people in this country, all they are doing is propping up a failed system.
During the election, I was a strong Obama supporter. I volunteered for him and donated the few dollars I could. If these right wing Democrats can't recognize the value of Human Rights over keeping Corporations fat and well stuffed, I want nothing to do with them except get them out of office.
I just read in the New York post that Roosevelt didn't get 100% of what he wanted for social security the first time out. He got it passed but it didn't cover famers, government workers, etc. A little later he was able to add more teeth to it. We might have to do that this time.
"The left" made a big mistake backing Obama in the first place. But their really big mistake is staying in the Democratic party where they clearly are not wanted.
Since the MSM won't allow alternative candidates airtime or dignity we seem to be screwed.
Frank, I want the President to succeed, I really do. But, he really needs to strongly articulate his message as to what he stands for and what he wants to achieve with healthcare reform and forget about responding to "death panels" and "pulling the plug on grandma."
Had the White House and Democrats in Congress started off with one message about what it is healthcare reform should look like, we wouldn't be in this bloody mess.
The right wingnuts are going to do what they always do best: FEARMONGER. But the President and his Congressional party members need to be clear about their proposals, stay ahead of the message machine and forcefully stick to their principles.
Bravo Mr. Schaffer; thank you.
I am an independent who voted this year for democratic. In the past I voted for R. Reagan in his second term and Herbert Bush. I use to listen to The Right wing talking stations a lot in the past and boy was I brain washed because I did not take the time to research who and what i was listening to. What got me started researching; believe it or not, is my parents and the Word of God. There was a scripture in the bible that summed it up.
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Luke 6:45. And the things that came out of fox news; well I rest my case.
I think the main reason for the disillusionment on the left (or what passes for the "left" in the US) was unrealistic expectations. A new president is not the same thing as a new political order. The Democrats, by and large, are not a left wing party, they just get the left wing vote because they're not as conservative as the Republicans. As Chomsky has pointed out for years, the US is basically a one-party system, run by a business party comprised of two factions. Hopefully more Dem voters will take note of how many Dem politicians are in the pockets of big business. Until that changes, the will of the people -- clearly in favour of a public option -- will always be secondary.
Plus he has to position himself as a centre, Centre-left President, or he will become a lame duck before the end of the first term. America voted for change, but even then the vast majority of Americans are in the centre of the political spectrum. He's moving the country in the right direction but for some reason in this instant gratification culture people expected a brand new America right away. America will be a vastly improved place in the coming years the economy is still weak but projected to grow strongly over the next few years by the vast majority of economists and Obama is moving towards immigration reform over the New Year whilst congress moves to repeal don't ask don't tell. This Administration is light years ahead of the previous ones.
Thank You!!! God someone had to say it. The self righteousness of some people here is unbelievable. He is & always has positioned himself as a Moderate Democrat, which is where he needs to be to move this country slowly to the centre-left just as Reagan moved the country to the centre-right when he was in power. Obama has achieved more in just over six months than many would in two terms. Passed insurance for children, invested more in education and healthcare than has been done in years with the stimulus bill, took on the defence lobby, begun healthcare reform (which if you read through Robert Gibbs today is still looking at a public option so calm down!), begun financial reform, pulled the economy back from a depression whilst drawing down from Iraq, engaging Israel-Palestine peace (a plan expected in the next month) whilst rebuilding the US-Europe alliance. There is more but jeez come on guys! This is good from a centre-left Liberal President. Yes he has to help Wall Street because unfortunatly 40% of our current economy is Wall Street, in practical terms it had to be fixed in the short term whilst in the long term moving the economy towards less reliance on financial companies & developing manufacturing and high tech industries. If this is six months, imagine what he could do with two full terms.
Well said Mr. Schaeffer. It's a dirty job, but SOMEONE has to tell it like it really is. From where I sit, the biggest problem seems to be the Dem folks we sent to Washington. I don't blame Pres. Obama, as he CANNOT do this all by himself. WHERE ARE THE DEMS WHO ARE SUPPPOSED TO HAVE HIS BACK? Oh I know... .they're all "laying low" and waiting for re-election time. They will get a rude awakening.
I'm not blaming Pres. Obama.... but tell me why we delivered Congress to the Dems again? They are doing nothing except wasting political capital... well... because they're afraid to get down and dirty with the rabid Republicans, and GET THINGS DONE IN WASHINGTON like we sent them there to do.
It's obvious that most of the Dems seems to be more worried more about their re-elections and playing nice with the Republicans and special interests groups who contribute to their campaigns.
The good news is he now has committed at least two impeachable offenses by engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice by blocking investigations of war crime violations (torture) by Bush-Cheney and he's initiating a war of aggression without justification in Afghanistan.
The bad news is we can't do anything about it because Congress won't do anything.
Nevertheless, I consider him a war criminal, so I intend to oppose him every step of the way and do what I can within the law to limit him to one term.
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