The field, politically speaking

[hkellick]

Been thinking alot about my frustration with Obama and my issues with the fact that I strongly suspect he'll be the lesser of two evils come 2012.

I keep thinking back to the 2008 election. I've been a registered democrat since 1993. I've voted for Clinton, though I never fell in love with him. Gore, despite the fact that I thought the guy had less personality than a phone book, and Kerry, despite the fact that it frustrated me to no end that Kerry wouldn't at least call out the people throwing mud in his face for the pure LIES.

Then came this guy who not only spoke well, but assured us all that he could find common ground with the other side and work together with them to better America. In short, a president who might do some GOOD for this nation and might right some of the grievous wrongs done by his predecessor. He'd close down Guantanamo bay, end the war on terror and at least be able to have a CONVERSATION with the republicans on how we can actually BETTER this country.

I never expected the Republicans would bond together to shut him out. I never expected the Republicans would become the party of no, would take every opportunity to screw him politically so that he wasn't able to HAVE these conversations, wasn't able to make the country better.

But regardless of what I expected, that was the reception he found. So imagine my shock and dismay when, instead of sticking up for himself, instead of getting his message out that he was doing everything in his power, he let the right wing run him over. Constantly.

I can't fault the president for not being able to reason with a group of people who find it in their best interest to not be reasonable. But I think it frustrates me to no end that Obama lets the right wing tell the story.

Some fault needs to go to the media for that. To fill pages, to keep readers, they write as much as they can, even if it's repeating pure garbage, which is why the world now knows about birthers and deathers and whatnot.

But alot of the blame DOES belong on Obama's shoulder. He's no great communicator. He's not able to bridge the gap. By attempting to bridge the gap, he tries to lean right, more right than his base would like (and more right than I think he should. Truthfully, in the light of the Obamacare debate, I now believe the RIGHT strategy is to lean as left as possible, demand single payer healthcare or whatever the most liberal of liberals believes he should do and then only give it up as a concession to the right for some stupid concession no one really agrees with. That way, the resulting bill might be a little more centrist than right.)

In short, Obama, like so many others, is a disappointment to me.

But I'll never ever ever vote Republican because that way lies craziness. Literally. The Republicans are beholden to their base and as evidenced in the last election, either you're with the base, or your job may be threatened FROM THE RIGHT. It boggles the mind.

Because I truly believe that there is no good in the republican base. Their beliefs are wholly wrong in every regard. It's sexism and homophobia and racism disguised as Christianity and 'strong moral values'. I have strong moral values, and they tell me without any inkling of a doubt that redefining rape to only included forcible rape and only if it can be proven is morally abhorrent. Just as I know that your belief that your values and morals are good enough for everyone is sheer arrogance.

I had hopes for McCain, that McCain might have been the kind of republican candidate I could like. But even he had to run far right. And THEN they saddled him with Sarah Palin. Under the current situation, with republicans beholden to their base, the chances are that this will be the fate of any republican not already considered too right to begin with. Beware, Mitt Romney, if you should actually get the nomination.

And so my choice in 2012 will be a man who couldn't deliver on what he promises, he continues to undersell himself and isn't willing to tell his critics where to shove the lies they espouse until it's too late. Or a candidate beholden to the craziest of the crazy. Lesser of two evils indeed.

*sigh*

Comments

[nicki]

I feel your pain (not on the McCain issue, but, you know, the rest of it). Obama was really always a centrist, though. The "OMG! he's so far left!" stuff was coming out of the right wing of the country. The conclusion I've reached is that there are certain things he has on his list of things he wants to get done that he will give up anything for if it will get them done. Healthcare was on that list and he basically gave up the Bush tax cuts and most of this year's budget to get that as a heavily compromised program. Right now I think he's concentrating on re-election and we are not going to get anything he thinks is the least little bit controversial (which is actually helped by the gridlock, because lord knows the congress isn't going to get anything done).