Yes, Andrew, Obama does want you to go away.
Andrew Sullivan's piece called The Fierce Urgency Of Whenever about gay rights is a good jumping off point for tonight. In it he states: ...I have a sickeningly familiar feeling in my stomach, and the feeling deepens with every interaction with the Obama team on these issues. They want them to go away. They want us to go away.
His piece is largely personal and about HIV, not gay rights (Though there are, of course, intertwined, they should not be taken as one and the same.) I have no desire to write a broadside about Sullivan and HIV. The appropriate response to that is, as always, compassion.
However, it causes a bottomless pit of fascination for me that so many people fell for Obama. And fall they did. Flat on their backs. Flattened on their backs is more like it. My distress and revulsion is still palpable.
I've done my time on campaigns over the years: Ted Kennedy, McGovern, Mondale, Brown, Jesse Jackson, Harkin, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Clinton...and in all those campaigns the level of self congratulatory delusion never came close to what was evident in Obama's campaign. Obama in the eyes of those who supported him was not a candidate at all - but a seer, a Messiah, an answer to everything from Gay Rights to bunions. As last year wore on - and into 2009 - oozing smugness became the order of the day. Regardless of all evidence to the contrary - and though that evidence was downplayed anyone with a computer could have found it - the Obama fanatics ignored and dismissed it. Have we ever seen so many people willingly blind themselves?
Every time I volunteered I had hope and purpose. Like all who volunteer I had a belief in the process, a desire to be a part of something bigger, and a faith, of sorts, in the candidate. However, rarely did I have or detect a sense in anyone else that they thought the candidate was anything but a person. Bill Clinton remains the most gifted speaker we've seen in my lifetime. I admit to occasional moments of being so moved by him that he appeared to be something other than a politician. It never lasted. I knew Bill Clinton was a moderate and would behave as such. And chose to volunteer anyway.
The faith the Obama people put in Obama was of a different stripe. It was religious. Which is to say it was willfully blind. The candidate himself really did not matter to them- and he knew it. What they were projecting mattered.
Now, I suspect that many progressives internally exited the Obama Exultation Express when he chose an economic team straight out of Wall Street. But their egos can't come "out of the closet" just yet. So excuses and half baked criticisms are all that can be mustered. "At least he's not McCain or Bush" is the order of the day. Even that excuse has jumped the shark. With each passing compromise and avoidance by Team Obama this too becomes moot.
Instead of reflexively resting on what they believe he's "better than", realistic Obama supporters should be asking - What exactly is the difference between McCain, Bush, and Obama? The answer, so far, is not much. As I stated before, the interference in Detroit probably would not have happened with a President McCain. But even there, the result will be the same: Bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM. The gag rule being rescinded is another instance of sure difference. Still that rule comes and goes every time the parties switch off.
I know much of my audience here is more conservative than me. That's fine. I appreciate it, in fact. Still watching so many "liberals" lop off there common sense for over a year is - at the very least - compelling reading. Did Sullivan actually believe BHO would be a strong proponent of Gay rights? Did John Avarosis? I love calling them dunderheads. but they aren't and I know it. How could Sullivan remain a cheerleader for so long? How did Avarosis get sucker punched into selling his soul?
Huffington and Cheetos man are a different breed. Neither are willing to think outside the box or question their current assumptions. Their arrogance is too thick. Obama merely accentuated their constricted thinking and gave them an excuse to continue bashing Clinton -any Clinton. Obama was the perfect candidate for them- especially for the fad following Huffington. I have no doubt that once Obama sinks below 50% she will turn. She is already prepping her crowd - attacking everyone in the Obama Admin - except Obama.
It actually saddens me a bit to see Sullivan's disappointment in Obama's gay rights cowardice. Like seeing a kid who just found out Santa Clause doesn't exist.
But my patience is short. He was cold blooded and mean last year and has not earned anything but a smidgen of compassion because he realized too late that his God has clay feet on issues closest to his life. Again the issue is not supporting Obama - it is supporting Obama blindly. Not questioning. Not holding up the basic tenant of being intelligent and engaged: Question everything and everyone - even those you intend to vote for. Sullivan and Avarosis have no right to be disappointed in Obama. Both men have a large audience and a platform that could have been used to educate. They could have questioned what happened at the DNC meeting last May. They could have - at least - wondered why Obama was so secretive about his academic record. They opted for cheer leading, mudslinging and gleeful, vicious attacks on Palin.
Sullivan in not a progressive but he's become a defacto member of the Left's intelligentsia with his adoration of Obama. And yes, Andrew, Barry does want you to go away. He wants Code Pink and Move On and anyone who believed he would shake up the elite to GO AWAY. You were used by a man who uses people and throws them overboard as a lifestyle. You should have seen this coming, Andrew.
The rest of us did.
His piece is largely personal and about HIV, not gay rights (Though there are, of course, intertwined, they should not be taken as one and the same.) I have no desire to write a broadside about Sullivan and HIV. The appropriate response to that is, as always, compassion.
However, it causes a bottomless pit of fascination for me that so many people fell for Obama. And fall they did. Flat on their backs. Flattened on their backs is more like it. My distress and revulsion is still palpable.
I've done my time on campaigns over the years: Ted Kennedy, McGovern, Mondale, Brown, Jesse Jackson, Harkin, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Clinton...and in all those campaigns the level of self congratulatory delusion never came close to what was evident in Obama's campaign. Obama in the eyes of those who supported him was not a candidate at all - but a seer, a Messiah, an answer to everything from Gay Rights to bunions. As last year wore on - and into 2009 - oozing smugness became the order of the day. Regardless of all evidence to the contrary - and though that evidence was downplayed anyone with a computer could have found it - the Obama fanatics ignored and dismissed it. Have we ever seen so many people willingly blind themselves?
Every time I volunteered I had hope and purpose. Like all who volunteer I had a belief in the process, a desire to be a part of something bigger, and a faith, of sorts, in the candidate. However, rarely did I have or detect a sense in anyone else that they thought the candidate was anything but a person. Bill Clinton remains the most gifted speaker we've seen in my lifetime. I admit to occasional moments of being so moved by him that he appeared to be something other than a politician. It never lasted. I knew Bill Clinton was a moderate and would behave as such. And chose to volunteer anyway.
The faith the Obama people put in Obama was of a different stripe. It was religious. Which is to say it was willfully blind. The candidate himself really did not matter to them- and he knew it. What they were projecting mattered.
Now, I suspect that many progressives internally exited the Obama Exultation Express when he chose an economic team straight out of Wall Street. But their egos can't come "out of the closet" just yet. So excuses and half baked criticisms are all that can be mustered. "At least he's not McCain or Bush" is the order of the day. Even that excuse has jumped the shark. With each passing compromise and avoidance by Team Obama this too becomes moot.
Instead of reflexively resting on what they believe he's "better than", realistic Obama supporters should be asking - What exactly is the difference between McCain, Bush, and Obama? The answer, so far, is not much. As I stated before, the interference in Detroit probably would not have happened with a President McCain. But even there, the result will be the same: Bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM. The gag rule being rescinded is another instance of sure difference. Still that rule comes and goes every time the parties switch off.
I know much of my audience here is more conservative than me. That's fine. I appreciate it, in fact. Still watching so many "liberals" lop off there common sense for over a year is - at the very least - compelling reading. Did Sullivan actually believe BHO would be a strong proponent of Gay rights? Did John Avarosis? I love calling them dunderheads. but they aren't and I know it. How could Sullivan remain a cheerleader for so long? How did Avarosis get sucker punched into selling his soul?
Huffington and Cheetos man are a different breed. Neither are willing to think outside the box or question their current assumptions. Their arrogance is too thick. Obama merely accentuated their constricted thinking and gave them an excuse to continue bashing Clinton -any Clinton. Obama was the perfect candidate for them- especially for the fad following Huffington. I have no doubt that once Obama sinks below 50% she will turn. She is already prepping her crowd - attacking everyone in the Obama Admin - except Obama.
It actually saddens me a bit to see Sullivan's disappointment in Obama's gay rights cowardice. Like seeing a kid who just found out Santa Clause doesn't exist.
But my patience is short. He was cold blooded and mean last year and has not earned anything but a smidgen of compassion because he realized too late that his God has clay feet on issues closest to his life. Again the issue is not supporting Obama - it is supporting Obama blindly. Not questioning. Not holding up the basic tenant of being intelligent and engaged: Question everything and everyone - even those you intend to vote for. Sullivan and Avarosis have no right to be disappointed in Obama. Both men have a large audience and a platform that could have been used to educate. They could have questioned what happened at the DNC meeting last May. They could have - at least - wondered why Obama was so secretive about his academic record. They opted for cheer leading, mudslinging and gleeful, vicious attacks on Palin.
Sullivan in not a progressive but he's become a defacto member of the Left's intelligentsia with his adoration of Obama. And yes, Andrew, Barry does want you to go away. He wants Code Pink and Move On and anyone who believed he would shake up the elite to GO AWAY. You were used by a man who uses people and throws them overboard as a lifestyle. You should have seen this coming, Andrew.
The rest of us did.
Labels: andrew sullivan, Arianna Huffington, Barrack Obama, delusions, gay rights, john avarosis
posted by John Smart at
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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