Friday, October 02, 2009

A year of change

I know there's still a little over a month to go, but I wanted to beat the rush and get this out of the way early.

Last November I shook my head at all of the people who were so easily swayed to such emotional heights by a completely predictable election outcome.

Many people who didn't read closely or chose not to understand my point, assumed I was criticizing Barrack Obama, the man. At most, I criticized his policy recommendations (or lack thereof). But primarily, my disappointment was with the masses who were taken in by such vacuous campaign promises as "hope" and "change" -- my point being that such superficial campaign promises were the complete opposite of change.

Anyway, I just want to bring that up since these days saying anything the least bit critical of the current administration pretty much instantly gets you branded as a racist bigot in much the same way that saying anything critical of the previous administration would get you branded as an unpatriotic commie.

This phenomenon, of course, only serves to support my contention that nothing substantial has changed. In fact, there are many examples of change not happening.

Remember back in the day when there was a lot of criticism of the USA Patriot Act? I mean, a lot of us don't like it. Only the most rabid, tunnel-vision, Republicans dared defend it. But there was some pretty harsh criticism of those wouldn't come right out and denounce it (even though it was a passed as a bi-partisan measure).

Of course, you don't really see any harsh criticism from Obama fans, even though the current administration recently announced plans to extend three of its key provisions, including the infamous "Lone Wolf" provision.
The lone wolf provision was created to conduct surveillance on suspects with no known link to foreign governments or terrorist groups. It has never been used, but the administration says it should still be available for future investigations.
Then there was Obama's campaign promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in his first year as president. I know some of you were betting on this happening, but it turns out that as with most of his policy proposals, Obama didn't really know what he was talking about.
The White House comments were the latest indication that the administration had miscalculated from the start its ability to turn Mr. Obama’s campaign trail speeches into reality. Some of his senior advisers have privately concluded that it was a mistake to set a deadline just two days after taking over the White House, when they still did not fully grasp the enormous challenges involved in closing the prison.
No doubt there will be a few people that will tell you that superficial intangibles have been changed -- things like "hope" and "attitude" and "now there's a website."

But really, a year in to this thing it's pretty much partisan politics as usual.

One more thing that never changes.

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.



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12 comments:

  1. ou didn't have to rub it in.@xonassis already feels bad

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  2. "But primarily, my disappointment was with the masses who were taken in by such vacuous campaign promises as "hope" and "change" -- my point being that such superficial campaign promises were the complete opposite of change."

    Totally don't get it. Not that he's my favorite person or anything, but when I've heard him speak and/or read what he stood for it was extremely clear.

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  3. Whether or not you think Barack's the man, we don't have anybody else worth a shit. And by the way, Barack's choice for Supreme court was way different than it would have been under old man Mccain. Barack going to Egypt was way different than what McCain would have done. The Dems health care initiative (whether it passes or fails) is way different than what Repubs would have proposed--which is what again? IN regards to Afghanistan, it'll be interesting to see what Barack does there. Your whole "there's no difference" line is growing tired Emawck. Its lazy thinking. There's very serious differences between the parties. If another Supreme Court justice retires, the whole complexion of the court would have been different if Krusty McCain had won.

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  4. Not every one bought in completely to the 'hope' and 'change' line, we KNEW he was just another politician.

    I'm happy with some of the things he's done, and not please with lack of action on some points, and very upset with other things he's responsible for.

    What I'm angry (irrationally, sometimes) about is the extremists that are screaming socialism and refusing to even talk about the issues, and to look at REAL solutions.

    I don't want the dems to do it all, they don't represent the entire country. I want bi-partisanship, but that's the dream left un-fulfilled for me. I'm happy that he tried, sad that he failed, on that.

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  5. Obama hasn't failed on anything yet Janet. He's got lots of time. When Rush Limbaugh came out right off the bat and said "I hope Obama fails," he (Rush) failed to support what Americans like yourself seem to have voted for. And by the way, I'm curious what things "are Obama responsible for" that you're upset about? Americans are sick of hearing abut the mistake of Iraq--but fact is were still the spending $2 billions dollars a month there. That's gonna effect the ability grow here at home. Then there's Afghanistan. How much is that a month? And of course you need the economy to hum to fund those projects. so that means the need for stimulus. More money. Its not Obama's fault for any of these problems. Not one of them. Its just a matter of agreeing/disagreeing with how he handles them.

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  7. The thing that bothers me about Obama is that he can break any number of campaign promises and his supporters won't call him out on it.

    From sending in more troops to Afghanistan to keeping Guatanomo open to embracing the secrecy of the Bush administration to signing on to detention of suspected terrorists without a trial and oh yeah, he's going to sign the bill to extend provisions of the Patriot Act. I think he could rape the girl that Roman Polanski raped on live prime time television and some would say that she had it coming.

    It shouldn't matter what letter follows his name a D or an R or god forbid an I. Right is right and wrong is wrong. He should be called out for going against things he said during the campaign. I'm curious if it will happen.

    But, the larger issue addressed by Emaw, is correct. Nothing has changed. We just now have a President that doesn't make so many people cringe when they see him on TV. I guess that's enough for some people.

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  8. Trolling, eh?

    Not falling for it...you rabid, neo-con loon.

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  9. To Bull E. Vard:

    One of the reasons Obama can break certain promises and still be supported is 'cause of a-holes like Joe Wilson and Rush and that Senator who vowed to kill health care reform as way of "defeating Obama's whole program." Obama supporter's feel backed into a corner and extremely defensive by talk like that. And please be reminded that a President simply presides over the governing body--he cant wave a wand and say "Now Guantanamo closes." Obama is certainly doing 1000x more than any Republican would have done to close Guantanamo.

    Finally, to both you and Emawck, the reason why there seems to be so little difference between the parties is that you have to win a majority of votes to win an election. Both parties need to capture at least 51% of the vote. Candidates that appeal to only 20-30% of the electorate (even if that portion is the most forward-thinking) are named Sarah Palin or Ralph Nader. In other words--losers. At the end of the day, there are certain core things that a President is going to have to support or conversely, fight. Every President.

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  10. So in order to fight Rush Limbaugh you blindly support a President implementing policies that Limbaugh would support. That seems like a perfectly reasonable plan. Good luck with it.

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  11. No one's trying to fight Rush Limbaugh. Its Rush that's always looking for a fight. Thats his whole schtick. How he stays relevant.

    But lets not digress. If someone doesn't like Obama, fine. But if you're gonna heckle a Presidential address or show up to his speeches carrying/displaying weapons--then yeah, Obama supporters are first and foremost gonna get defensive and rally round him. Then they'll worry about policy and campaign promises.

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