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Leaving the Cult?

I've gotten oh so bored with the whole "Obama, Love Him Or Leave Him" stuff, but Glenn Greenwald wrote a good post about all of it. Anyway, as regular readers know, sometimes I support the President, sometimes I criticize him. Depends on whether he adopts policies I agree with or not.

I also never miss an opportunity to republish this post:

As citizens and activists, our allegiances have to be to the issues we believe in. I am a partisan Democrat it is true. But the reason I am is because I know who we can pressure to do the right thing some of the times. Republicans aren't them. But that does not mean we accept the failings of our Democrats. There is nothing more important that we can do, as citizens, activists or bloggers than fight to pressure DEMOCRATS to do the right thing on OUR issues.

And this is true in every context I think. Be it pressing the Speaker or the Senate majority leader, or the new hope running for President. There is nothing more important we can do. Nothing. It's more important BY FAR than "fighting" for your favorite pol because your favorite pol will ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS, disappoint you.

In the middle of primary fights, citizens, activists and bloggers like to think their guy or woman is different. They are going to change the way politics works. They are going to not disappoint. In short, they are not going to be pols. That is, in a word, idiotic.

Yes, they are all pols. And they do what they do. Do not fight for pols. Fight for the issues you care about. That often means fighting for a pol of course. But remember, you are fighting for the issues. Not the pols.

Speaking for me only

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  • Display: Sort:
    Assume this also applies to being (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by oculus on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 03:42:30 PM EST
    a Gator fan.

    Nope (none / 0) (#2)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 03:48:56 PM EST
    Does apply to TL, though, right? (none / 0) (#6)
    by Cream City on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:19:22 PM EST
    Sometimes I agree with BTD, sometimes not.  As you may have noticed. . . .

    Parent
    Leave BTD Alooooone!!! (5.00 / 4) (#8)
    by ruffian on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:25:29 PM EST
    Thank you (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:41:12 PM EST
    Haven't noticed much agreement . . .. (none / 0) (#7)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:21:35 PM EST
    Where's my CULT dammit!!

    Parent
    I'll support (none / 0) (#12)
    by Socraticsilence on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:14:43 PM EST
    the Orange and Blue til the day I die. Man if you push this you might even get BTD to post "These are the boys of Old Florida"

    Parent
    Next post . .. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:30:04 PM EST
    Donald won't like this line: (none / 0) (#16)
    by oculus on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:39:41 PM EST
    Down where the old gators play
    In all kinds of weather

    Also, I noticed the Alabama quarterback talked about winning for the entire state of Alabama.  Even if Tebow had won, he couldn't really say that, could he?

    Parent

    Hahaha (none / 0) (#17)
    by Steve M on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 06:18:46 PM EST
    All kinds of weather, indeed.  Humid and humider!

    Parent
    Interesting choice of words (5.00 / 4) (#3)
    by ruffian on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 03:54:26 PM EST
    From TPM:
    Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) told The Hill that President Obama "called me and told me that he heard that I was demeaning him and I had to explain to him that it wasn't anything personal, it was an honest difference on the issues. And he said, 'Well, let's talk about it.'"

    Demeaning him? I can see where the 'bots get it.

    If that's all it takes (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by lilburro on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:24:13 PM EST
    to get a phone call from Obama then I look forward to mine coming soon!

    And really Conyers has not said anything I would describe as "demeaning," that I know about anyway.

    Parent

    If that's a true story (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by shoephone on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 07:44:42 PM EST
    then Obama is proving himself to be a pathetic, thin-skinned, little pu$$y, not fit for public office of any kind.

    Reading that makes me want to call my rep and tell him to start flipping the thin-skinned one some $hit every other day or so, from now until 2012. At least I know my rep is fighting for real health care reform.

    Parent

    The best part of Greenwald's column (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by oculus on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:08:16 PM EST
    is his bit about the Palin booksigning fans being asked why they support her and Greenwald's applying that to the Obama fans.

    There are pols worth fighting for: (5.00 / 2) (#11)
    by pluege on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:06:18 PM EST
    Rush Holt
    Berny Sanders

    to name 2.

    Maybe, Weiner (at least on healthcare), Nadler, and Feingold.

    obama was never worth fighting for. Neither is pelosi.

    reid, hoyer, and many other democrats well worth fighting to defeat.


    Feingold's (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Socraticsilence on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 05:15:38 PM EST
    good on some things but not exactly universally laudable.

    Parent
    No argument (none / 0) (#19)
    by pluege on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 07:49:39 PM EST
    Cool (none / 0) (#20)
    by Socraticsilence on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 09:26:50 PM EST
    I'm just starting to get sick of the hero worship of the guy from the people who were rightly skeptical of the same sort of thing that surrounded Clinton and Obama last spring.

    Parent
    I ripped Feingold on the FP of DKos (none / 0) (#23)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 07:36:21 AM EST
    in 2005.

    It was not pretty in the comments.

    Parent

    Didn't Sully (none / 0) (#5)
    by lilburro on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 04:18:04 PM EST
    just leave the Right?  Why is he already b*tching about the Left?  

    The whole emotional thing with Obama (none / 0) (#21)
    by BrassTacks on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 01:11:01 AM EST
    Has always kinda creeped me out.  I haven't had crushes on anyone since the 9th grade so it seems weird to me when people swoon over a politician, or anyone else.  It also scares me to think that we elect people based on our emotional responses rather than their backgrounds and records.  Yet I know that it is true and Obama is the shining example of that.  

    Is Obama thin skinned?  You betcha he is.  And why not?  He's never had to deal with any real criticism because he's never done much of anything.  Now that he's President, he's not about to start having to deal with criticism.  He's the King, he shall be shielded from such things.  

    More and more it appears that Obama is "The Candidate", and nothing more.  He's an empty suit that the nation projected their love upon.  People had such HOPE, without anything to base it on other than pretty words.  Feelings, nothing more than feelings...........we deserve what we get for voting as if we were 14 with a big crush on the cute guy we never really knew.  

    He's always been thin-skinned (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by jbindc on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 07:17:45 AM EST
    Everytime he was attacked during the campaign, he became petulant - remember "waffles" and "Hey ugys, you've asked 8 questions already"?

    Parent