Our president’s crazy, did you hear what he said
I don’t think it’s likely that we will have a full-on default, but it looks more and more that there may be a downgrade of US debt (I know the bond rating agencies are losers, but honestly would you blame them?). If this happens, both sides will be at fault, obviously. Given the Republicans’ intransigence, it may not be possible for most Villagers to claim that both sides were equally unwilling to compromise. So it may be that it was Obama’s arrogance and anger that gets the blame. Bobo:
But the president’s tone of being the only adult in Washington, everyone else is a child, that he’s going to summon people to the White House as if they are kindergartners, well, even if you agree with them on the substance, it’s kind of hard to go along with someone who is insulting you all the time.
And so I think the president took a big risk. Maybe we will see his tone, as he is giving it to them, he’s angry, he’s treating them like children, but a lot of people will take a look at it and say, a little—there’s some arrogance and self-superiority there.
If someone treats you like a child, what better way to prove them wrong than by tattling on them about your hurt fee fees?
Of course, it’s unfair to compare children to House Congressmen. The appropriate comparison for the default caucus is, as many have pointed out, hostage-takers. Bobo’s saying in effect, tell them what they want to hear, make them feel good, anything to get the hostages out of that bank alive, so what if they think Wyoming is a country. Maybe he’s not wrong—if I knew a way to get Boehner and Cantor into that car to JFK (“we’re all going to sunny climes”), I’d suggest it.
But when did taking hostages and negotiating for the release of hostages become morally equivalent? I’d like to know.
Wyoming
July 24th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Brooks is obviously one of the biggest babies around. Fuck him, repeatedly, with a rusty chain saw.
This fucking “tone” crap is bullshit. Obama’s dealing with bawling three year olds.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Brooks sucks, as always. The Republicans are insane and dangerous. But Obama wanted to play it this way. I’m very nervous about how much protecting of the shield we’re about to see for the sake of not being a Firebagger.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
One can only imagine the market’s reaction in Asia Monday if Boehner weeps during the conference call at the bottom of the hour.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
How many synonyms for “uppity” are in Brooks’s vocabulary?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
He’s angry! He’s uppity! He’s elitist and mean and superior
July 24th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Fucking panty waist boo hoo bullshit of the first order.
The right wing has attacked Obama for 3 fucking years, and Obama gets mad on a Friday that the GOP is hell-bent on destruction, and his tone is the problem?
How does Brooks sleep, the butthurt must throb so much.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
I’m morbidly curious to see what Big Orange will propose to his House Of Crazy in a few minutes.
I suspect that if it doesn’t involve Obama’s head on a pike (metaphorically, of course), they won’t be interested.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Brooks is harping on tone because he’s smart enough to (1) know he’s got nothing else, and (2) his continued income depends on manufacturing false equivalences, petty grievances and illusory conflicts.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
One of the news scrolls said that Boehner still says “cut, cap, and balance” is on the table; how soon until it becomes “last and final”, in which case it really will become a game of chicken between the House and Senate/WH. I could see the Senate blinking on something (not CCB; it is shit in its current form), but not Obama, in which case…
July 24th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
@ 3 Elia Isquire – July 24, 2011 | 4:13 pm
Say, what?
He would have certainly signed a clean bill at any point in the process.
:::Oh, wait. Damn. Have I fallen for the latest m/c sockpuppet? Sorry:::
July 24th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Why is the tough-guy Republican party populated by such whiny sissypants?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
@ 12 Barb (formerly Gex) – July 24, 2011 | 4:21 pm ·
Variation on an old (and wrong) saying: Those who can, run for office. Those who can’t. commentate.
ETA: Also too, its how five-year olds act.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Shorter Bobo: The president is kind of a dick.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
So Obama’s arrogant (Bobo) AND a pushover (Krugman).
God, I just hate everybody.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
I think it’s about time for Brooks to choke on his own bullshit.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
bobo reeeaaaallly wants to say ‘uppity’ ... but can’t quite bring himself to it.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Tokyo Stock Exchange opens at 9AM local, 8PM Eastern the previous day. So three and a half hours left to see if the GOP is going to declare war on the USA.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Brooks was a cheerleader for one of the most arrogant administrations in US history – flat out ignoring congressional subpoenas and flatly daring congress to find them in contempt, a president who never spoke of “the Democratic party” but invariably “the Democrat party”, whose chief law enforcement person went before congress and pretended not to remember anything beyond his own name, who marched across an aircraft carrier, package thrust out, in front of a vainglorious banner, and then blamed the sailors (incredibly, since that administration was obsessive about visual presentation more than any administration apart from perhaps Reagan’s),.... I can’t go on. Bad for my blood pressure.
But Brooks says that Obama is shows arrogance because his patience wore thin with a bunch of loons who are using the threat of blowing up the US economy to get their way. Shameless.
But I’ll take my opinion back if someone can find even one place where Brooks criticized Bush and his people for anything like this. Let’s start with something simple and concrete: Did Brooks ever, in eight years, criticize his beloved Bush for never once calling the Democratic party by its own name, but invariably – every single f***king time – calling it the “Democrat party”? If not, then I don’t want to hear him rabbiting on about a president’s incivility.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
An appropriate analogy of the current situation in Washington is that of a bitter divorce, where one of the parties is perfectly happy and content with destroying himself and everything around him as long as it destroys the hated spouse as well. If the actions also happen to hurt the kids in the process, so be it. The objective of hurting the spouse overrides all other considerations.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
How’s the president supposed to handle this? Ask them to meet him at Applebee’s?
And Bobo can spin this all he wants, but the non-lobotomized 73% are going to blame the goopers for this.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
@Calouste:
The articles I’ve read said the Asian markets open at 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time today. So I’ve been refreshing the finance page but nothing is changing.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
steviez314:
Krugman’s a brilliant economist, a top expert in that field. In politics he’s as fallible as the rest of us. Mostly I think he falls for the trap of thinking that the best thing to do is completely achievable, and if it’s not achieved it must be because it wasn’t wanted. I think he’s useful in the line of old school muckrakers, keeping our eye on the prize even if he’s gratuitously negative about everyone and everything involved.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Stranger than fiction, taint it? It’s like these people are critiquing Zor the Black, ruler of lilliputians on planet WTF. Based on a paltry of facts gathered from keyboard warring n the Ivory Tower of true lies.
Krugman though, has tipped the scales of WATB punditry. mother mary of jeevus/
July 24th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Uh oh. Black President is gettin uppity.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Just a reminder for the ‘bots that Obama began this negotiation with a position to the right of Simpson-Bowles – a standard which, just a few months ago, every Democrat was decrying as barbaric.
The “he ran as a centrist” line doesn’t hold up when he’s personally setting the Overton Window in a position that was considered far right wing as recently as Bush I.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I said it before and I’ll say it again Boehner needs to be treated like the terrorist that he is. Lock him in a closet for thirty days and see what color orange man turns.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
@Calouste:
I thought they already had. Isn’t it when they deploy their troops?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Lord in Heaven, Brooks is a sad, sad tool. My 4 year old daughter is more mature than that when she’s throwing a fit because we wouldn’t give her ice cream and marshmallows for dinner. I swear, I’ve thrown away toenail clippings with more self-awareness than most Republicans…
July 24th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
wasn’t Bobo the clown the one who said that POTUS was at fault with Goober Ryan because he wouldn’t have dinner with that idiot?
so, Bobo has to make up his mind.
but, yeah, it’s just another word for UPPITY.
POTUS hurt their fee fees.
awe.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
DJShay:
Honestly, guys, this is IOKIYAR, not race. Obama has dared be correct, reasonable, and worst of all focused on issues that are good for the American people. Obama is doing exactly what Bobo says he wants instead of what Bobo actually wants, which is for him to treat the Republicans as brilliant god-figures who crap wisdom. Obviously, this is infuriating.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
@Trurl:
A lot changes in 18 years.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Niikkei opens at 8pm EDT,(according to MrGoogle), Boehner is supposedly talking to his suicide bombers right now, and planning on going it alone with just Reps., or doing the poison pill; two split votes on the debt ceiling raise. I know this isn’t a Constitutional definition of treason, but fuck all if I can’t figure out what else it is.
I need booze.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I think I’m going to go back to my FDL name. Are you supposed to do that formerly thing?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
@ 20 Kane – July 24, 2011 | 4:34 pm ·
@ 23 Frankensteinbeck – July 24, 2011 | 4:39 pm
Thank you both for expressing these things much better than I tried to.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
hmmm, changing names gets you modded?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
@Violet:
The New Zealand Stock Exchange opens at 5 PM EST, but they’re pretty small. Tokyo is the biggie. Although if New Zealand starts to collapse immediately, there might be a few hours to get a fix in before Tokyo opens.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
OK, I tried to change my name to what I was at FDL, Raven. It looks like it’s a problem?
July 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Question: Does anyone remember pundits along the lines of Bobo referring to Presidents Bush the Younger, Clinton, Bush the Elder or Reagan as “arrogant” or “self-superior”? Did the same pundits worry about the “tone” of any of the above presidents in any kinds of negotiations?
I certainly don’t remember it when W was president. It seems uniquely applied to Obama. Hmm….wonder why that is.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
In the last couple weeks I have seen this kind of pettiness in some local groups I am part of. Added to that my husband and I are watching our parents as they pass the 86 yr mark, some better than others. I’m in the midst of it, and I can’t change a damn thing except for how I deal with it. It’s pissing me off, dammit.
Silly, but when I started reading negative comments about what a loser Amy Winehouse was, it sort of blew my mind. Who can be happy or snarkily cheerful about her all-too-early demise? I know just about nothing of her except “Rehab,” but she seemed like a real one-off, a genuine and troubled talent. Did she really deserve this? Does anyone?
I have this feeling of things flying apart, blasting away, and grinning crazies watching from the sidelines, cheering it on. It is not a good feeling.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Bullshit. The Repuglicans were the ones crowing about ‘the adults are back in charge’ when Bush II was awarded the White House by judicial fiat. Look at what they’ve done since: run up the credit card debt, and now threatening not to pay the bills unless grandma and grandpa’s health care is cut. They are scum and liars and I hope someday soon they will learn the meaning of karma.
July 24th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
I wonder if the Press will ever notice that the polls are with the Dems on this one.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
@Trurl: As I recall it, he initially asked for a clean raise of the debt ceiling. The Republicans said no. Perhaps you were asleep when this happened? Or maybe you were one of the few people who called your Republican senator or representative to ask them not to play chicken with the debt ceiling or default when they refused to consider a clean raise. No? Okay then, maybe you’re still right and it is all Obama’s fault really. If we get rid of him tomorrow, the Republicans will morph into Ralph Nader, shore up the safety net, let the Bush tax cuts expire, confirm the head of the consumer financial protection bureau, embrace regulation of derivatives and risky financial instruments, increase funding for education and research and implement single payer health care. I can totally see Eric Cantor voting for all these things, can’t you?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Well, looks like we’ll finally be forced to get our spending under control. Good. Gotta rip off the band-aid sometime.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
@Jamie:
What? Do actual JOURNALISM?? Are ye daft lad?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
@ 36 Raven (formerly stuckinred) – July 24, 2011 | 4:55 pm
Wait. You the same small, black bird from over The Horde? And LGM, also too?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Yet the line of attack is precisely the “Angry Black Man-” when all the various gentlefolk on the left criticized the President for not “getting a little angry,” black folks knew and said that it was the one thing that he could NOT do.
Fear of the Angry Black Man runs deep in white American culture.
(and let’s not even get into fear of the Angry Black Lady.)
July 24th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
@Calouste:
Thanks for that. I checked nzx.com and all I saw was this:
Don’t see any reports from the market yet. Maybe they’re delayed.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Another day, another DougJ post asking when BoBo will stop being such a fucking numbnuts.
The answer is never. BoBo will never stop being a raging chickenfucker.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
@ Raven
yeah, it puts you in moderation but I think it’s just for the first time you do it.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
@Reality Check:
Think again genius. A higher interest rate means we’ll be spending a LOT more for nothing. A default virtually guarantees a steep tax hike also. Nice to know you’re okay with that.
@eemom: Or you get the all clear from a front pager, which is usually pretty fast.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
efgoldman
Just FDL, Raven was our cocker spaniel that we lost a few years back. The was some other joker that drove by once in a while but he or she used Raven1 or something. I never used it anywhere else except Chevy Talk.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Ah, Bobo Brooks, Chief Propagandist to the News-Readers Grade I.
This, folks, is how the Republicans get the public to demand horrid policy.
It’s called “rhetoric”.
And the sooner Democrats stop denying its power, and learn how to deploy it, the sooner we’ll be able to block the Republicans’ agenda and make (some of) the progress most of us profess to want.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
I better stick with it I guess. Cool, It worked.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
We’ll have to spend more on interest which means finally being able to cut wasteful government spending and bloat.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@ 49 Cliff – July 24, 2011 | 5:03 pm
No, see, that’s the problem. He doesn’t “rage”, BoBo. He’s “reasonable” and “thoughtful.” That’s why they give him the platform.
The fact that he’s always wrong? Well, hey, we can’t be responsible for everything, you know.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@Rome again:
The troops are already in place, they are just waiting to attack a radio tower and blame it on the Democrats.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Yutsano
Yo, I got the healing time last night but not what the surgery was. What gives?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
I said this on the last thread, but I think it was just Obama’s Coach Dennis Green moment, after being beat:
“The Bears ARE who we thought they were!” Just a little rant, “The GOP ARE who we thought they were”
Still don’t know why Green upset so many people. Sorta shrill I guess.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
New Zealand
The New Zealand dollar held above US86 cents after a collapse of debt ceiling talks in Washington saw investors sell down their US dollar positions in favour of safe-haven assets.
http://www.nzx.com/home
I really don’t know if this is significant or not.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Right…
Until a Gooper gets back into the White House, and it’s back to “Ronald Reagan showed us that deficits don’t matter”.
You teatards are a laugh riot.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
cat48 –
maybe because they pissed the game away?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Comparing those GOP Representatives to children is an insult to children.
Eight year old girls behave better than they do. And, eight year old girls are more mature.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Any news on orangeman’s conference call yet?
btw stuckinred aka raven aka… we love you and your dog and garden photos no matter who you are.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Of course, the NZX has been open all of 10 minutes now.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Bobo’s Credo
When the facts are with you,hit the facts hard … when the facts are obstinate, but you can sell the policy, ride the policy hard… when you got nothing … whine about the tone hard.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I think the only remaining solution for the USA was that executed by Oliver Cromwell: to ride into the House of Representatives at the head of an heavily armed company and say “get you gone and give way to honest men.” As for the Senate, after the incumbents have been dealt with, raise the building, burn it and then burn the ashes with CF3.
Seriously, I think your nation is ungovernable unless the GOP is destroyed. And there is no appetite for doing so. I wish the border between USA and Canada was more like that between Argentina and Chile…The serious nations of the world can not permit themselves to be held hostage by a nation of raving lunatics. I wonder what steps are being taken to protect their interests?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
I see an asymmetry in the debt negotiation. The Democrats — Obama, Pelosi, Reid — can all, more or less, speak for their side. Boehner, on the other hand, has a title, speaker, but no longer speaks for his side. He can’t come up with a deal acceptable to them, because the Tea Party tendency are in control and they will not accept any deal. If he couldn’t come up with a deal before, I don’t see how he’s going to do it now. I don’t see how this negotiation is going to end.
Boehner’s trapped. I don’t see a way out for him. He’s no loss to me. But if there’s no deal within the next few hours, the whole planet, your side of it and mine, is fucked.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Hip replacement. Kind of a long story why but let’s just say I share a disease with Bo Jackson.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
What is wrong with the tone? I see no insults or treating people like kindergartners or children. I see a president who understands the seriousness of the problem and who is calling on the leadership of both parties to act responsibly.
The Beltway media bubble is so uber-sensitive and fragile.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
@ppcli:
Bush couldn’t even pronounce his own name, so no wonder he had difficulties with a word of four syllables.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
JPL’
Aw. I kinda wanted a fresh start when I came over here but since I’m sort of a one-trick-pony some other refugees figured it out pretty quick. I still launch the occasional insult over there so why bother with trying to be coy?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Tonal Crow:
Here is the problem. Democrats don’t get to choose who does Bobo’s job or which side he bloviates in favor of.
Ivan:
Maybe, but Clinton got ‘sleazy fat hick’. Their insults are bigoted, but not who they choose to sling them at.
Felanius Kootea:
Eh. No sense arguing with Trurl. He lives in his own little world where the worst rumors are obviously true and they create an overall pattern even after they’re all disproved. ODS gets weirder and weirder as Obama fails to sell us out.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Yutsano
That is a long healing process. Seems like it really helps a lot of folks so hang tough.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
@Amir_Khalid:
Nice and cozy isn’t it? It brings our two parts of the world closer together. This is like something out of B movie.
I do hope the Republican Party gets shredded and never comes back.
@Yutsano:
The hip is a major weight bearing joint. Unless there is a problem, this isn’t noticed. I hope you get those hips in good order soon. It will be a dramatic change and one for the good.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Reality Check
So you dumbfu*k admit that it’s not about the ‘how much’, it’s all about the ‘what for’ that you don’t like.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
For the love of God, what kind of idiot thinks that increasing the amount the US government pays on interest will reduce demand for public services, or that spending money on something with with marginal economic benefit (interest payments) is less a waste of money than spending it on the social safety net?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Bobo is an idiot, but Obama’s condescension and arrogance makes me a little crazy as well. It doesn’t justify the extremism of the GOP, and or mitigate their responsibility for this debt crisis, but Obama is a bit of a dick. If he tells me to eat my peas (or spinach or whatever) one more time, I’m going to primary him myself.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): @Maude: Yes. And soon I get to enjoy the wonderful world that is FMLA paperwork. YAY ME!!
July 24th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Fixed.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
@55 Reality Check:
Yeah,’cause there’s nothing less wasteful than paying higher interest on your debt because fucking Teabaggers haven’t got the sense FSM gave a box of rocks.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
BombIranForChrist: Snark aside, one has to wonder what the point is of electing someone to control the office of the executive if they’re not going to attempt to exert some authority now and then. Or I guess exercising the authority of the office of the president for anything other than bombing Third World nations is another one of those IOKIYAR things.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
What’s wrong with spinach? I love spinach! You should eat more!
July 24th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
@Amir_Khalid:
Ok, so soon? Tell me what I might expect. A downgrade soon?
July 24th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
@DougJ:
When Republicans started taking hostages. SATSQ.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Yup, it does. How is mrs. stuckinred? I mean Mrs. Raven of the sprain? Better I hope.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Comic relief.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
@75 Yup. Even if we spend more to service our debt because of the default, that’s still better than providing services for American citizens. Let’s just send that money to China.
And these guys try to claim they love America more than us “non-real” Americans.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
@Raven (formerly
:
Are you supposed to do that formerly thing?
No rules, AFAIK, but it’s a courtesy for other BJ’ers. When I did it I dropped the “formerly” after a couple of weeks.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
This. This. This from Kane @20.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
At the recent press conference, President Obama said that the only bottom line that he has is that we need to extend the debt ceiling through the next election.
So in response, what’s the one thing that Republicans are calling for? That’s right, a short-term deal with a series of votes. Their animosity towards Obama is so great, they just can’t help themselves to oppose anything that Obama wants, and want whatever Obama is against. Nevermind that a short-term deal will ensure uncertainty with investors, international markets and job creators that a default is a possibility early next year. If Obama is against it, that’s what they want.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Obama might as well resign right now and let the country fall into the toilet because he’ll never win.
My dad says Obama is a weak President because LBJ would have gotten those Republicans to roll over.
And now we get the result of what happens when Obama gasps dares to raise his voice and get angry.
So let’s just be honest. Obama is not a “weak President.” He’s forced to be a subservient one because the minute he tries to dominate, he’s demonized.
You can say who gives a fuck what the media says but, like it or not, if all the media gives the same narrative of the “arrogant” President any time he shows ANYTHING other than pleasant, then it’s an uphill battle to get the support he needs from his own party.
The nation may have been ready to elect an African American President but I can see that the country isn’t ready to have one. I don’t know if they ever will be and it’s really, really pathetic.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
@cat48:
Maybe the damage has already started.
From the link, white House chief of staff William Daley:
July 24th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
And if Obama wasn’t summoning people to the WH, he’d be accused of not leading. Hoocoodanode: black guy is too uppity to lead, to lazy to be part of a team.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
@Frankensteinbeck :
It’s Sunday, so I guess I have to restate what I wrote more simply: It’s about time Democrats’ rhetoric became as effective as the Republicans’.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
No, he began the negotiation with “I expect a clean bill.”
July 24th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
WTF Doug? How is this obamas fault? Was he supposed to convince the senate to pass a balanced budget amendment? Seriously, the only way for the house to get a clean debt ceiling vote will be for Obama to resign.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
@Karen:
Republicans will demonize him no matter what he does, so he might as well do what’s right. I hope he’s finally learned that lesson.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Tonal Crow:
And if they did, Bobo would still spout the Republicans’ rhetoric. Do you see what I am saying? The Democrats’ messages aren’t reported on. Only the GOP’s.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
BTW, global currency markets are basically unchanged from Friday. Try http://www.dailyfx.com/ for realtime updates.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
@Frankensteinbeck:
This is so wrong I don’t know where to begin. Yeah, the media are biased toward the GOP. But no, there’s nothing like a blackout of Democratic views. I mean, Christ on a crutch, even Fox “News” plays clips of Obama and Reid and so forth. What there is, is a blackout of effective Democratic rhetoric. Not because it isn’t being carried, but because Democrats aren’t generating it.
“Learned helplessness”: look it up.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
The Brooksian view makes sense if you look at it this way—Obama is a center-right politician who wanted to use the Tea Party as an excuse for showing he’s one of the Serious People when it comes to entitlement programs. So he gives the sane (but evil) Republicans most of what they want. (That includes Brooks.) But the insane and evil Republicans (the Tea party) don’t want “most of what they want”, they want “all of what they want”. And it is axiomatic for pundits that the truth is always between the two “extremes”, in this case the far right and the center right.
So Obama is at least as much responsible. QED.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Yes, if you’re going to live and die through the President, imagining him to be some sort of superhero or brilliant Spock-like chess player, and totally pass the fuck out over unfair criticism, you’re clearly not ready for a black President. OTOH, if you imagine he’s just a regular human being doing a tough job, getting some things right, some things wrong – IOW, just like any other fucking President – it might be a little less stressful for you personally.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
@JSF (103): Accusations of “firebaggery” incoming in 5…4…3….
July 24th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
So let’s imagine Hilary was president right now. Would she be able to sit Boehner down and tell him how the cow eats the cabbage?
Yeah, I guess she might.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
@Ross (105): Not to defend Obama’s appalling record of poor rhetoric, but is there any reason whatsoever to believe that Hillary would have been even as effective?
July 24th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
this
July 24th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
@Tonal Crow:
then they spend 23 hours and 30 minutes trashing him and lying about everything he just said—- effective or not.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
@Tonal Crow;
It was a thought question to see if race and temperament would actually have made any difference in this situation. I don’t know the answer, but it does bear on what a lot of people have been saying.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
According to TPM:
July 24th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
#103—fascinating, if it had anything to do with the actual reality on the ground.
The president doesn’t have to be a superhero. He only has to be a reasonably intelligent, generally unflappable person. His opponents are pathological liars, and lunatics, and drunks.
John Boehner is a failed speaker. Eric Cantor is a wannabee speaker whose mouth won’t get out of his way. Mitch McConnell is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street who won’t fart without calling his patrons to get the wind direction. The rest of his opposition is mostly on tv and radio, and running around trying to get people to show up at Tea Party rallies, or showing Palin movies to empty theaters. The point is, he wins just by being sane and reasonably well informed. The idea that he has to be Black Jesus is just some theme bullshit that lives like moss on the north side of blogs, you dig? It’s baloney. It’s right up there with Tax Cuts Create Jobs and Death Panels.
My point is that only about 3 people believe that Obama is Black Jesus and all three of them hang around Balloon Juice, along with the other dayroom cliques, like the ones who think Obama is Satan because he won’t actually marry a gay man, or because he doesn’t end the military-industrial-intelligence complex and replace it with the Little Einsteins or Harry Potter movies.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
@JSF
I never thought I’d say this but thank you JSF. I knew that when he got into office that people were expecting miracles from him. And I knew that with the mess left by the previous administration, the miracles would never happen.
Even Obama told the nation, when he first got into office is that it would be hard work and sacrifices would have to be made to get the economy on the right track.
He’s not a center right President. He’s a pragmatist who knows what battles can be won.
I do not consider myself to be an Obot. I’m a pragmatist realist. I didn’t vote FOR Obama. I voted against McCain and next year I will vote against whoever is in the GOP.
And to all of them who says his race is not the issue, tell me when ANY media has EVER said that ANY OTHER Democratic President is being arrogant or self-superior.
I’m waiting.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
@Tonal Crow:
Polls disagree with you on that one buddy.
are people assuming that Obama’s rhetoric isn’t working because the GOP hasn’t buckled and given him everything he wants? or because the bobble heads aren’t repeating his talking points? what the American people are thinking is more important.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I’ll say this, even though I hated middle school, being called a fag pretty much daily for 3 fucking years meant that when I grew up, I didn’t give the slightest shit what people called me. Or their tone. Or whatever tittybaby crap they whine about.
The one thing that goads me is when they say liberals are wimpy. These teat-to-mouth infants would cry when their aunt kissed them, I’m damn sure of it.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Oy. Moderation @113 pleezeee.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
#111—interesting post. Praises Obama for being what he really is, and emphatically states that you did not vote for him but against somebody else.
So I am moved to ask, what would he need to be for you have voted “FOR” him?
July 24th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
This is what’s going on with a lot of Obama haters including members of the press.
Eugene Robinson:
July 24th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Obama’s record of “poor rhetoric”, which only got him elected in that blackface makeup and those funny makeup ears and a hilarious stage name and foreign birth and all, against a war hero and the presumptive Democratic favorite in the primary, and so forth …. wouldn’t matter much if unemployment were at 7%. He’d be so much a prohibitive favorite right now that even FoxNews would be pimping him.
July 24th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
How many times have I seen the liberal blogosphere scream at Obama that he must get roaring mad? yeah, hows that working out? sure didn’t move any votes did it? Might help his poll numbers but didn’t help to get votes in Congress or are we still under the impression that Republicans give a shit about what the public thinks?
July 24th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
@Trurl #26
HaVe been asleep, and did not refresh…
NO, you tool, Obama began negotiations by expecting what EVERY previous president has gotten…a clean debt increase bill, fool.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Go easy on DougJ here. With Broder dead and not hitting his column deadlines now, there aren’t that many objects of obsession to fawn over any more.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
@boss bitch:
Pretty much what I’m expecting for early Monday. The time has not quite run out yet; but the 90 minutes are almost up, and we’ll most likely be going into injury time with the match still in the balance.
The shit will hit the fan only after the final whistle.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
@Reality Check:
Yup. Definitely a spoof. That was just a bit too far over the line into la-la land for even the stupidest of teabaggers.
I really don’t grok what you people get out of doing that. It just adds more wingnut nonsense to the signal/noise ratio without the benefit of being all that entertaining, but with the added risk that your spoofing might actually persuade some dumb gullible fuck now and then.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Brooks is such a complete and utter jackass.
Occasionally he writes a piece that’s somewhat reasonable and not entirely insane. Seeing those rare moments of comparative lucidity makes these forays into right wing delusion land seem all the more crass and lame. One gets the sense reading them that Brooks isn’t at all convinced by his own arguments, and that part of him might even think better of publishing such drivel. Unfortunately, that small part of him which is capable of reasonable self-reflection is overruled by the kneejerk side of him which has problems with an uppity black democrat taking Republicans to task on their insane recalcitrance. Even if that criticism is richly deserved.
Fuck you, Brooks.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
@56. efgoldman:
Well, I meant “raging” in the sense of “a raging case of gonorrhea.” Or in Bobo’s case, “a raging case of the need to fuck chickens.”
I agree with you otherwise – Bobo would never be so crass as to actually get upset over a thing.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
#114
I’m ashamed to admit that I’d wanted Edwards because I actually bought the whole caring about poverty thing he kept talking about and caring about people song and dance he peddled.
So it was nothing against Obama. It was just like every other election I’ve voted in where the guy I wanted didn’t make it so I voted for Obama as the Democratic candidate.
Like I said, I’m a pragmatist.
I’ve become more of an Obama fan as I’ve gotten to see him as President but the reason I won’t be voting FOR him specifically but against the GOP is that while I have complete confidence in him, I can see what a no win situation he’s in. I believe in his intentions for the country. I just don’t believe in the GOP, media and members of his own party’s intentions for him.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
@JSF
That might be your best comment on this site, ever.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
that wasn’t really the point, the point is he’s demonized, so he’s either an evil partisan or weak, in both cases, considered “failed leadership” in this country
July 24th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
No
July 24th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
OzoneR,
I doubt that Obama really cares one way or another.
He strikes me as pretty cold. And, he does not seem to be the sort of man who suffers fools.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Here’s a plan for O to consider…. Thanks to Bush and his merry band of
criminalscrusaderslike minded followers, as the President Obama can declare the Republicans terrorists and whisk them off to Gitmo for some R & R, and with the House and Senate #’s reduced the Dems can pass a clean bill with no muss or fuss….July 24th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
@ efgoldman which is why he’s left to continue to abuse the chickens… he appears so mild and reasonable…
July 24th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
John, please consider renaming this blog “Learned Helplessness”.
July 24th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
@Thymezone:
Awesome observation. Wouldn’t happen to have a newsletter I could subscribe to, wouldja?
July 24th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
@Catsy:
Agreed. Definitely detracts from the discussions, and there’s enough stupidity on the intertrons without mimicking it on purpose. Looking into the abyss and all that.
July 24th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Um, Reality Check really is that stupid.
July 24th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
@AnotherBruce:
I would prefer to continue in my little fantasy world where nobody could truly be that aggressively stupid in good faith and still manage to breathe unassisted by a metronome.
July 25th, 2011 at 12:11 am
@Karen:
What do you think that whole nonsense was with Clinton “delaying airplanes so he could get a haircut” ?
They treated him like an overachieving wet pantsed Bubba. Frontcasing his “Rhodes Scolarship” and time at Oxford, etc.
This isn’t new and damn sure isn’t unique to President Obama.
July 25th, 2011 at 12:21 am
Gotta love it. Obama treats his hysterical incoherent political opponents like the childish ninnies they are, and conservative pundits react by throwing a tantrum.
I’m not a big supporter of Obama’s policies (he’s too far to the right and tries to split the difference on things like continuing our endless pointless unwinnable foreign wars where it makes no sense to split the difference), but at times like these, even I have to admit Barack Obama really is the only adult in the room.
July 25th, 2011 at 12:58 am
@ Thymezone:
Define ‘winning.’
If America defaults and we slide down into another recession and the global economy stalls out again worse than it did in 2008, we’re going to have tens of millions of families in America living in tent cities this time around.
I’m not saying Obama could have done anything—the Republicans are crazy, pure and simple. They want to cause a default.
But Obama looking good while the economy crashes and the global financial system locks up and stalls out isn’t my definition of “winning.” It’s “behaving sanely while the world has gone mad.” Unfortunately, people who do that have a tendency to get grabbed by screaming mobs and lynched. When the whole world is blind, the one-eyed man gets tarred, feathered and strung up with a rope, sad to say. So it’s all too likely that the infantile hysterical American people will blame Obama at the polls in 2012 if we slide into default and recession regardless of the fact that Bodhisattva himself couldn’t have done damn-all to fix the situation with the Republicans acting like lunatics.
July 25th, 2011 at 1:06 am