Abo's Comments (113)

“You mean like environmentalists? Anti-war activists? Unions? Gay Rights? Healthcare?

Just where has he NOT disappointed and betrayed the Left? Or, is it the mainstream? The only class he really advocates for is the corporate ruling class and pays lip service to everything else. Sure, there have been some easy tinkering around the edges but no real notion of a shift . It is actually dangerous, because if he doesn't connect on an authentic level then people, especially people losing their security and standard of living, are much more vulnerable to the manufactured populism of the Right that speaks to their growing fear and channels their ANGER. That anger is real.”

“Wonder who the "far left" could be?

Those who support an end to the war in Iraq and an escalation of aggression in AfPak? Those who support environmental regulation and participation in global efforts to address climate change? Those who advocate health CARE reform, preferrably medicare for all, those who endorse the participation of the US in international law? Those who oppose massive transfer of wealth to the crooks on Wall St and when polled, accept Gay marriage? Just who could those people be?

Why, it is the majority of Americans. Thanks for marginalizing us, while at the same time lecturing us that we should be pressuring Obama.”

“What about all those people whose lives would be impacted for the better by Obama's policies?

You mean like the Wall Street Bansters?

Additionally Obama is more dangerous because of the unwillingness of some to recognize the deception. Their denial, their inability to confront the betrayal, keeps them clinging hope against hope, that around the next corner...a­round the next bend Obama will rise up and redeem himself. Meanwhile pundits will provide cover, blame his shortcomings on Progressives not pressing hard enough (often characterized as "whining" here), and accuse anyone not drinking the koolaide of having a Rightwing agenda--ma­nufactured partisanship also helps to blind people. Very cagey strategy--but shortsighted ultimately.”

“Which is NOT accomplished by continuing to make excuses for him.
For example, using the partisan tactic of relegating any DISSENT to realm of teabagger.
The one tactic I failed to mention-- creating a simplistic us vs them divide based on partisan allegiances that keeps people in rigid opposition despite the fact that the parties increasingly serve the same interests.
As for the snide remark below regarding the shift in tone, previously taboo? How long can you afford to ignore the growing consensus in your constituency?”

“"He deserves a progressive movement that is more independent, and less obedient"

That is rich, considering the constant flood of columns by progressives, excusing, apologizing, tamping down & revising expectations, advocating waiting til just over the next hill while ignoring the mountains of betrayal we just crossed, ramping up the rhetoric of hope, rhapsodizing over tinkering as the bone thrown, gushing over the window-dre­ssing....T­here is real anger down here among the rabble of all stripes & this ongoing campaign by political insiders and elites to spin it or ignore it, are part of the problem.”

“When they pull out the "lesser-of­-two-evils­" line, you know they have nothing to defend.
Problem with that is Obama could be continuing every bad Bush policy--with better rhetoric, but would you even recognize it? You could always claim that the other guy is worse. In purely partisan terms, it is the fallback excuse. Talk about lowering expectations.
All these apologies and excuses accelerate as time passes and the truth becomes more difficult to obscure. How is it possible for Progressives to pressure Obama when he marginalizes and dismisses them with hostility? How is it possible for Progressives to put on the pressure, when progressives keep giving him a pass????”

“Amazing how these so-called progressives place the blame with progressives while giving Obama a pass. If Obama shouldn't be held accountable for his betrayals, his reversals, his appointments--why should the progressives bother?
You see, it starts with an honest assessment that is reinforced by political pressure--but Obama has no reason to be responsive, if the agreed upon consensus keeps on apologizing for him.
And, this is not a conservative country--that is a deliberately manufactured perception. When polled the majority of Americans want real healthCARE reform--medicare for all, they want out of Iraq, they want economic justice, but Obama has threatened the progressives, while claiming he has to pander to the BlueDogs. He has squandered the opportunity and will tumble down in no time. So, it is you, you who continue to maintain the status quo while lecturing the progressives to act. Progressives can win--Obama proved it, the congressman in CA proves it--which is why we aren't hearing anything about that, because the lie is we have to pander to the crowd Obama has surrounded himself with--even though they represent a failing worldview and lose at the polls.”

“Naive or complicit?
Depends on who his words are really targeted to. Seems like Obama is always on the campaign, never actually being president. The speculation is he must work for the funding and the votes in order to win. But what is winning if the funding negates anything worth winning and the pandering for votes becomes an endlessly hollow refrain?”

“Maybe, but the issues belong to the Left.
The Democrats make all sorts of excuses from obstructionism to incrementalism. The Right just forges ahead. Problem is the Dems are compromised on the issues because their backroom allegiances prevents them from pushimg a full-throated charge. The Right has no such problem with conflict of interest. They may be lying manipulative crooks, but they don't have to hide whose side they are really on.

Framing is based on the assumption that the Democrats really want to push the issue, when in truth, they are more likely to compromise via triangulation.”

“Maybe because they don't want to listen.
They already know how to win--that is how they won the election. They know what to say and how to frame it. They know what people want and what they want to hear.
The question then becomes whether they really want to do it rather than just say it.
And some people are just not willing to take that leap yet--they have to convince themselves that it is all in the way the issue is or isn't being promoted.”

“More likely the Blue Dogs were a construct since the Democrats controlling all levers of government with majorities had no one to blame, so they need an obstruction to justify their sell out.
Question wheter the Blue Dogs truly represent conservative districts. My district has one and it isn't conservative at all, in fact for many years we had one of the most progressive members of the House representing us.”

“If only. Too bad he seeks unity more with the far Right out to destroy him while repudiating his own progressive base and progressive majority.”

“Ah yes, thee, he-has-a-s­ecret-plan­-of- sophiscate­d-cunning-­and-ingenu­is-strateg­y excuse.”

“or pimps?”

“Wow...This is tremendously important and so little feedback. Must be too much truth for those claiming we still have to rally around O despite the fact that he won't reciprocate. Bravo for telling it like it is--you will catch hell for reporting it and shattering illusions, though.
Screw him.
Where is the hook and the trap door? Some one pull the damn curtain already!”

“That's backwards. If you stand to fight they accuse you of whining--or the other one, being "too angry" Never hear the dudes carring assault riflls being characterized that way.”

“Just echoing the talking points that were all over the thread I wandered into yesterday. wink.”

“But you have to give him more time to fix things!
Obama has a secret plan, he has the Republicans right where he wants them! He will outsmart them!
If you criticize our president you are a Republican! We must stand behind our president because he is president to all Americans and you angry Leftists are spoiled babies for expecting too much. Change is incremental and they won't let him do anything. He isn't Bush, isn't that enough for you unreasonable people?”

“better that we all have lobotomies than express a bit of justifiable anger...

I have to really question the agenda of people who frame the Progressive Left as "angry" , like the Right does,--and if they, themselves aren't angry at the unrelenting mounting betrayals posted on Huffington Post every day, one is left to wonder if anything the Bush administration did was worthy of anger.
Don't you care about your country--or are you just about images?
Get angry if it is worth it to you!”

“...underto­ok a blitz of immigration enforcement without reform of civil rights violations so nasty that one professor of immigration law described the policies as "literally the worst of all worlds"?

...refused to set legally enforceable immigration detention rules covering such basics as health care and legal representation, instead relying on a flawed contractor-based monitoring system?

...pressur­ed a member of Congress to withdraw an amendment that would have ended the military's disastrous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" regime, simply by defunding it?

...asked a federal court to dismiss a case in which the plaintiffs challenged the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, arguing to the court that heterosexual marriage is "the traditional, and universally recognized, version of marriage"?

...dramati­cally increased the influence of religion in government, directly violating the First Amendment, by lavishly spending federal dollars on "faith-based" programs, and giving religious groups massively increased power and access within the White House to shape policy questions?

...stood by silently, allowing climate legislation to be watered down to nothing, to include generous pollution allowances to coal utilities, and to undermine the EPA's authority to control carbon emissions?

...backed healthcare legislation that did little for the public and actually increased wasteful federal expenditures, while continuing to enrich insurance, medical, hospital and pharmaceutical corporation vampires?

Every item above actually reflects the actions of the Obama administration in just its first six months – not George Bush!”

“...steered hundreds of billions of bail-out dollars to the very people who drove the country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, required nothing of these sharks in return, and did almost nothing for ordinary Americans struggling to survive this disaster?

...opposed legislation allowing shareholders the right to have even a non-binding say on salaries, even though executives took home billions in bonuses last year while their companies were hemorrhaging money so badly they required a trillion bucks in taxpayer bail-out?

threatened Britain, America's closest ally in the world, with withdrawal of intelligence data that could prevent terrorist attacks unless the British government blocked one of its courts from accepting documented evidence of torture at Guantánamo?

...sent droves of Predator-launched missiles into Pakistan – supposedly one of America's allies – killing groups of civilians, even at weddings, thus intensifying hatred toward the United States?

...tried to shut down a charity's illegal-su­rveillance suit against the government on the basis of a supposed constituti­onally-gro­unded state secrets privilege which would allow the president to kill any legal case before it is even heard?”

“How come the Republicans never whine that it takes time. They go for it and they get it more often than not.
What has he fought for? Ending Iraq? He kept Bush's generals and is keeping with Bush's timeline. Closing Gitmo? The subject never comes up while he is in the courts fighting the ACLU..
What, in the time he has had, has he done?
Basically he serves the interests of the same class that Bush served.
He hasn't changed a thing.”

“Except--on the issues, most of America polls progressive. So, if you don't represent the Left, you aren't representing the majority.”

“And you aren't defending what he does or doesn't do--you just mindlessly, blindly support him like a school girl crush.
And where shall we start? On the environment? Clean coal? Mountaintop removal? Foreign policy? Escalation in Afghanistan? Refusal to prosecute Bush era crimes--instead his Justice Department embraces secrecy, most likely continuing Bush era policies regarding Gitmo, seeking to punish only a handful of bad apples. Occasionally he mouths the right language, but he maintains the status quo. The transfer of wealth to Wall Street, the unwillingness to reregulate Wall Street? Really, where do you want to go? The betrayal of Labor? The healthcare talking points like American are satisfied with their healthcare, the rejection of single payer, preferred by the majority, claiming it isn't the American way, the rejection of the progressive caucus?How about the build-up in military funding? Really, you tell me..
And then, we are called names or bullied for not backing him without question while at the same time told that we need to mount popular movements to support him.

Well?”

“How are you supposed to push or pressure a politician that ignores you and then you get called a "spoiled Baby" by some party hacks that demand you stand behind my president right or wrong?
How can you push or put on populist pressure when you're not even allowed to acknowledge there is a problem?”