nowhere to go

About those tea parties....The muddled confusion on the Left about Chicago Slim was in evidence today. The sad turnout for the D.C. "protest" is posted below. A New Way Forward organized the "events". The D.C. protest looks more like some baked potheads wandering around with signs. The necessity of a bullhorn escapes me. Standing around chit chatting does not need amplification. Jane Hamsher dutifully makes herself look foolish with a foolish claim about Fox News.

Sadly, I agree with some of this group's stated goals. "If it is too big to fail, it is too big to exist." is as precise as it gets. I don't know how the other protests around the country turned out. I suspect they were all pathetic. It is too late for the Left. The reason is simple: Those most likely to agree with A New Way Forward just spent a year in a delusional dither about THE ONE, who, to his credit, never embraced their thinking. He merely tricked the gullible into believing he had. Alas, they never bothered to do enough rudimentary investigation into him to realize he was a part of the problem and had no intention of confronting bankers in any real sense. Part of me believes Obama's entire purpose is to neuter the Left - as I've stated many times before.

Until the Left realizes that Obama IS the enemy - nothing will come of A New Way Forward. Even then, it will be a long slog for anything like a liberal opposition to regroup. The down side of subsuming one's values beneath an orgy of identity politics is that sometimes the "identity" wins. A black guy does become President. He's not really on our team - but hey, he's black...WE WON!

So this "identity politics" Left has nowhere to go - unless they fess up and admit they've been had. They gave their all for a man who does not have their values. It is a farce with a tragic Hamletesque third act. No one in the family is left standing.

Given the egos of Obama's blind cheerleaders is not likely that they will come out of their coma soon enough to counter act the much more in tune and organized "Tea Parties" the Conservatives have been planning and carrying out. Newt Gingrich will speak at the one in New York on the 15th. Can anyone imagine the Left getting a comparable national figure to show up? No. Pelosi, Frank, Dodd and now Obama ARE THE PROBLEM. As was W, and Paulson and that crew.

Cindy Sheehan will have to do.

We need a third way.

For the record: I support the "tea parties". Less for ideological reasons than because of the clear need to take action. Chicago Slim is not just another politician meandering down "moderate road". He is a shape shifter - who will play the Right off the Left off the Middle - to get what he wants. Which is anyone's guess. A sort of Goldman Sacks run limp neo-socialism - that is rudderless and ruinous - is my best attempt at a guess now. Mostly what he wants is to be venerated. To be seen as the most valuable player. Nothing in his history indicates that he cares deeply about anything past his next win. Ask Alice Palmer or Rev. Wright. 20 years in that church - and he ditched the place without looking back.

The "smart" veneer is a cover for calculation and fear based in inexperience.

The oratory is cover for a lack of conviction.

Much of the showmanship is cover for a deep contempt for the country he is President of. And yes, I have come to the conclusion that many like him, but he does not like us. Not aspects of us - he does not like us. He doesn't think the country he leads has problems. He thinks the country he leads IS the problem.

He does not want to remake America so much as he wants to make Obamaland. This may or may not include values we recognize.

It baffles me that even a few "liberals" would protest the banking bailout while ignoring those who are ensuring the crooks are paid handsomely. Are they really THAT stupid?