Day 296 in the Age of Obama

[Catamount]

Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse, I was born with a large dose of empathy and I wish I could put it to better use than I have, up to now.

The day that the US began bombing Afghanistan was certainly one of my worst days, one where I could not function in any normal fashion. All I could do that day was lie on my couch with my face turned inward and weep. A feeling of such deep despair overtook me and weighed me down and not even my son could snap me out of it.

Having lived for long enough to have lost most of my family members in the first and second World Wars, I have believed forever that violence can never be fought with more violence.

I personally have quite a temper that often feels just seconds away from a violent outburst of some sort--meaning that I do understand how easy it is to lose one self and turn in the wrong direction.

So, when I heard that President Obama was seriously considering a further deployment of possibly 40.000 troops as the general on the ground is demanding in Afghanistan, that same kind of gloom began to overtake me.

Even though I seriously love our new president,I obviously wish that he was far more liberal than he has been so far, but given the totally wrecked state of this country when it was turned over to him, he is doing really well. Especially in these past weeks, when so much extra violence occurred--here and abroad.
You can see the extra gray in his hair and he looks a lot thinner--so all this is taking a huge toll on him---and how could it not?

How can one live normally and try to solve the world's problems knowing that trying to bring healthcare to the general public, is being compared to 'death-camps and Nazism? What is wrong with these people who spout that kind of shit?
I put it down to pure ignorance and a willingness by some to exploit those who have no thoughts of their own, but it really really ticks me off when I see that kind of stuff happening. It turns me off to the extent that I have to tune out any kind of interaction with the media, as it drives me to the screaming point and only music and reruns of Star Trek will soothe my troubled soul, lest I run screaming through the streets in frustration, ready to be hauled in by the authorities.

I have lived through Communism in East Berlin, experienced Nazism in the first degree, and I challenge anyone to to show me the similarities between our situation here in the US right now, and the realities of the World War Two isms.

Let's face it President Obama is always going to be between a rock and a hard place,the incredibly sick and obnoxious far right, and us progressive liberals with our righteous indignation--so taking a centrist position is the only way he will ever get anything done.

So, either way if he doesn't comply with the generals promoting more death and war, all for the sake of 'Freedom'--he will be seen as being 'soft of terrorism', even if we're lucky enough to escape any horrific attacks during his tenure.

And if he does send a lot more troops than how can he honor his commitment to peace in the world?
Will that mean his "Vietnam" is indeed Afghanistan, as so many pundits have been expounding?

So I was incredibly pleased and encouraged to hear that the president is not forging ahead (at least not yet)with a big increase of troops, but is concentrating on an 'end-game' theory, meaning that our goal is to leave the war zone asap.

So once again I can go to bed tonight with the knowledge that the fate of the world lies in capable, sensitive hands, and for that I am so grateful.

[Onlooker]

1. Other presidents got things done without taking centrist positions

JFK/LBJ took a liberal position of Civil Rights and Voting Rights and managed to push it through. FDR took liberal positions on a whole host of issues and managed to succeed. Ronald Reagan took conservative positions on many issues and was successful. G.W. Bush took conservative positions on many issues and managed to push them through. Those who took moderate positions are people like Carter, Ford, and Bush I. A true leader stands for what he believes and uses his position to educate the public. Obama has done poorly on that, and there's no evidence yet that the world is in capable sensitive hands, at least as far as Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Don't Ask/Don't Tell, people facing foreclosure, and women who support abortion goes. That said, he has been sensitive to the needs of Wall Street, and perhaps that's what you were referring to.

[Catamount]

4. I understand your points of view--and agree with you

but that said, your comparisons don't really apply as far as I can see.

Those earlier times were quite different...never before has any presidency been watched more closely and more immediately as it is these days, simply due to the internet and all the technology available to us--so there is no real privacy anymore is there?

And did all the other presidents you mention immediately fulfill all their campaign promises in the first 10 months?

As for abortion issues--I don't really feel threatened by the president--but the idiotic so called dems who are really just right wingers in disguise.
As a woman who has had abortions in the 60's in Australia where it was totally illegal, I feel that we have come quite a way since then.
And also as a woman I resent any kind of interference from men who claim that they know what the fuck they're talking about--like most of our congressmen these days. So once again you cannot honestly claim that things have gotten worse under President Obama.

Did all those others have people acting against them 24 /7 by the likes of M. Bachman. Limbaugh and or O'Riley, Palin etc etc?
Did any other presidents have their birthrights challenged at any given moment?

And as far as the appointment of Geitner and Sumners--perhaps the president had a moment like any good mother or father with the tenet that you clean up your own mess--and gave them a chance to do for the country what they have done for them-self!

Oh I agree that there is much to be negative about, but no matter what--I can still sleep better at night than I could in the past nine years.

[Onlooker]

8. I agree

Of course, Obama is vastly better than any Republican, and I think at his core he's better than Clinton. But, one can only measure a president by his successes, and so far he's not doing that great. I hope he does better, but am frustrated that he's squandering a great opportunity to use his wonderful talents to make a strong case for liberal ideas. He should confront conservativism with the same aggression that Reagan and the Republicans in general have confronted liberalism. Reagan actually succeeded for years in making "liberal" so much of a dirty word that many liberals started to refer to themselves as "progressives." (You know this is you're my age, but perhaps you're younger.) Obama needs to do the same with "conservative." Until he does that, he's going to find himself compromising his core values, and I think that's mostly what I've seen of him since he got into office.

[ZRB]

2. The recent news regarding Afghanistan policy

has encouraged me greatly. I am thrilled with the President for being bold enough to not give in and send more troops. I still believe in him. People who expect Obama to have solved everything by now need to remember just how bad eight years of George W Bush were, and realize that there was a damn good reason we didn't want that maggot Bush to get the presidency: we knew he was going to fuck up the country royally. Job well done by W. Now our REAL President is left to clean up, and is taking a beating for it. It's sickening. Great post.

[nevergiveup]

3. Nice post

I share your sentiments.

[Catamount]

5. Thanks!

[timeforpeace]

6. "The day that the US began bombing Afghanistan..." How about 9/11? Shed any tears that day?

[Catamount]

7. No I laughed my guts out!

What a question!

[JTFrog]

9. Wtf is your problem?

We haven't killed enough brown people who weren't responsible for 9/11 for you yet?

Maybe you should go back into counseling. :shrug: