thoughts on Saturday

Because of the lively conversation this morning. I made a list...

List of observations:

1. The conversation, even when it gets ugly, is important. So far at least, I'd rather have a smaller audience than an echo chamber.

2. Dissent matters. Even when it confronts things I (or readers here) hold to be true.

3. Resentment is sometimes a place to start. It is not a place to stay. Processes here vary. I, for one, felt the movement called "Puma" - born of deep anger and resentment - should have evolved quickly into a third party concerned with many issues. In my thinking, an opportunity was lost because that resentment did not morph into a third way. The difficulties of a third party in the U.S. became an excuse to not try. I hold fast to the belief that we need a third way as badly as we ever have in this country. Both the corruption of the Democrats and the GOP impulse toward viciousness and stupidity prove this point. The clock is very much ticking on our "way of life" - we need another way.

(I sometimes process my resentments with outright mockery and humor. Sometimes with nostalgia, sometimes fury.)

4. Learning from the past is important -as long as one stays in the present while learning.

5. Forcing those who got lost in the Obama muck last year to see and hear how wrong they were is part of the process of owning and growing into the next place. This task needs to last as long as it needs to last. When a banner across the Huffington Post and the DailyKos announces WE WERE WRONG ABOUT OBAMA, then it might be time to move on. It would be dishonest for me to say that I did not take some joy in just how wrong the Pod people were. I do. My claims to sainthood are a few incarnations away.

Cannonfire put it succinctly yesterday: I wish to hell that these people would just be honest about what they did. I wish that they would 'fess up to the role they played in foisting this nightmarish presidency on the world. I wish to hell that they would apologize.

Given the level of lies, delusion and deceit around Obama I feel it is nearly an obligation to confront those responsible for foisting this nightmarish presidency on the world.

HOWEVER: If resentment regresses into a sniping victimhood then it is mostly useless.

There is some movement among the worst of the "Obots". A realization with some that they have been had. This is progress. Pressing this point is important for a number of reasons:

-Saving liberals from themselves is a decent, if not exactly noble, cause.

-Obama was and remains a symptom of a larger disease that grew out of the Bush era. The trickery is palpable and needs to be pointed out to the tricked. To ignore this is to assume that the democratic systems are working. One side loses, one wins - that's it. But they are not working. We shall get fooled, yet again, if we do not remember the machinations of the dysfunction.

Though we've seen it all before, there was a quantum leap in the body politic in the level of denial around Obama. It took the full force of the media, an economic collapse, a generalized revulsion toward the incumbent, and many of the biggest loudest blogs to get the man to 52%. As with 2000 - what we have here is evidence that the system itself is broken. The media's capitulation to Obama - and to the pro Iraq invasion meme in '03 - are important and similar indicators. We do not live in the country we are told we live in. Standing against the "manufacturing of consent" is one thing a blog can do and do well.

6. I stated that this was a "grievance" blog. This was:

A. claiming ownership of a word used by a blogger who called all Hillary blogs "grievance blogs".(I should have been clear about that.)

B. An admission that nearly all political blogs are grievance blogs. From Kos to Texas Darlin. Americablog took off because of grievances against Bush era policies. Posts at Cannonfire, Noquarter, and anywhere else one cares to alight are almost always in response to grievances of one sort or another. "Beefs" if you like. RCP is a compendium of writers with grievances. Blogs in the realm of political opinion and political writing are all grievance blogs. Having a grievance in and of itself is not a problem. Making the grievance one's identity is.

7. For the most part the best a political blog can do it point in a direction, give an opinion, make us chuckle, or uncover some facts that may have been missed or underreported. I think this is important: Blogs are blogs. Nothing more, nothing less. The obligation to "report" is a fallacy about blogs that is best avoided. I avoid it by writing opinion almost all the time.

That's it. Onward!

My Poor, Confused, Liberal Friend

by 'tamerlane'

The advent of Obamafascism has damaged far too many friendships for me, not to mention straining relations with family members, and nipping at least one budding romance. But when I recently saw an old friend after a year apart, I wasn't expecting Obama to cause trouble.

My friend and I concur on most things, like: Buddhism gives meaning to Life without the need for an afterlife; Barbara Kingsolver creates intricate characters; The Who is the greatest rock band ever; canceling Firefly after just one season constituted a Crime Against Humanity. We've always agreed reasonably closely on politics, and could have a stimulating LR-style debate when we didn't. From phone conversations over the past year, I'd gathered she was mildly pro-Obama without being anti-Hillary, but to my shock and disappointment, my friend is suddenly displaying the symptoms of advanced kool-aid poisoning. Our discussion ranged far and wide, but here are excerpts arranged by topic:


SHOUTS AND LIES

Confused Liberal Friend: Why do you hate Obama so much? None of my other smart friends hate him.

Tamerlane: Because BO is a sociopathic narcissist. He's incompetent and dangerous.

CLF: 'Sociopathic narcissist' -- you can't make a statement like that. I can't respond unless you give me a specific complaint.

T: Okay. BO is a compulsive liar.

CLF: What has he lied about?

T: BO lied about FISA.

CLF: Well, HRC lied about landing under fire in Sarajevo.

T: BO lied about public campaign funding.

CLF: HRC lied about landing under fire in Sarajevo.

T: BO lied about his connections with Bill Ayres.

CLF: HRC lied about landing under fire in Sarajevo.

T: BO lied about getting out of Iraq.

CLF: He didn't lie. He's just didn't realize how hard that would be.

T: BO lied about banning lobbyists from his administration.

CLF: How big is his staff anyway? Are a few lobbyists so bad?

T: Are you really comfortable with a President who lies about every single thing?

CLF: He did lie about getting a dog.

T: That's another thing. Wouldn't it send a great message if they adopted a mutt from the pound?

CLF: See, you are a racist after all.


QUALIFICATIONS, PART 1

CLF: BO is uniquely qualified to see America through these hard times.

T: Qualified how?

CLF: He ran a brilliant campaign.

T: So cheating is running a brilliant campaign? (Tamerlane details rampant tampering, intimidation and fraud during caucuses.)

CLF: I never heard about any of that. But you can't blame BO for things others did.

T: And Hitler never ordered Krystalnacht.

CLF: BO still ran a brilliant campaign. He managed a staff of hundreds, and raised hundreds of millions of dollars. That proves he can manage the country.

T: BO broke federal election rules raising that money. The DNC gave him delegates that had been pledged to HRC, to push him over the top.

CLF: He still won. That's all that matters.

T: So GWB's 'brilliant' manipulation of the 2000 Florida recount proved he could run the country?

CLF: That was different. Bush cheated.

T; Ignoring the cheating for a moment, when your decision process is distilled down, it still ran: 'I will vote for BO because he will get the most votes.'

CLF: Well, he did get the most votes.

T: No, Hillary got more.

CLF: (Confused look) No, BO did. Otherwise he couldn't have won.

DYNASTY WAS A TV SHOW

CLF: I also didn't want another dynasty in the White House.

T: Cuz we had two Bushes.

CLF: Yes. One family shouldn't have so much power.

T: Yeah, but the Bushes sucked. Clinton was great.

CLF: What happened to healthcare? Bill Clinton was too politically expedient.

T: Considering that he faced a republican congress for most of his tenure, and his own party crucified him for the healthcare plan and D.A/D.T., Bill Clinton accomplished an amazing amount.

CLF: Clinton should have done more on the environment. He is to blame for GWB ruining the environment for eight years.

T: Are you on crack?

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

T: Aren't you the least bit concerned over the constitutional crisis that would ensue if it was proven that BO was not eligible to be POTUS?

CLF: It's a non-issue for me. The will of the people. (sic)

T: So the Constitution doesn't matter. It's just 'guidelines', which we can ignore when we want?

CLF: Yeah.

T: Why do you think BO refuses to release his birth certificate?

CLF: Everyone has a right to some privacy.

T: Not if you want to be president.

CLF: Even discussing BO's birth is kind of racist.

KNOW NO EVIL; SEE NO EVIL

T: Doesn't BO's dirty dealings with Rezko concern you?

CLF: I never heard about that. But the Clintons had Whitewater.

T: Doesn't BO's dirty dealings with Blagojevitch concern you?

CLF: I never heard about that. But the Clintons had Whitewater.

T: Doesn't BO's dirty dealings with ACORN concern you?

CLF: I never heard about that. The homeless have a right to vote.

QUALIFICATIONS, PART 2

T: BO has never held a real job in his life.

CLF: He inspires people. Management skills aren't very important for a president.

T: Management skills aren't important for the head of the Executive Branch?

CLF: A president's primary job is to inspire people.

T: Inspire them to do what?

CLF: To see America through hard times.

T: By doing what specifically?

CLF: Why do you hate Obama so much?

OBAMA'S ARMY IS HERE TODAY

T: BO wants to force people to 'volunteer' in huge, government-run paramilitary organizations.

CLF: All big countries have these types of organizations . . .

T: . . . all totalitarian countries have these types of organizations.

CLF: I don't see a problem with forcing people to volunteer.

TAMERLANE IS A FIFTH COLUMNIST

CLF: You hope BO fails, don't you?

T: Funny you say that, as it's the latest meme to quash any opposition to BO.

CLF: So you are willing to hurt America, just to get revenge on BO!

T: There are many things BO wants to achieve that I think will hurt America, so yes, I hope he fails to achieve them. I also believe BO is destroying liberalism (h/t JSOM). So the sooner he's removed from office, the better.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON KOOL-AID

T: Aren't you the least bit troubled that the person holding the most important job in the world can't even answer questions at a press conference without a teleprompter?

CLF: BO is a great speaker.

T: I find it highly suspicious that all your arguments exactly mirror those manufactured by BO's propaganda machine.

CLF: Are you implying I'm not capable of forming my own opinions?

T: Yes, actually.

(c) 2009 by 'tamerlane'. All rights reserved.