When the nation watched horrified while the Department of Homeland Security fumbled painfully in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Michael Chertoff blamed it on phantom headlines, George Bush assured Brownie he was 'doing a heckuva job,' and right-wing pundits eagerly acquitted the White House by trying to lay the whole mess at the feet of the victims and any Democrat within 1000 miles of Louisiana. When George Bush and his merry band of neoclowns stampeded a panicked nation into an ill-conceived war against Iraq and rolled snake-eyes on catching bin Laden it was all because of 'bad intel' and blown all out of proportion by biased, 'liberal reporters' feeding the progressive pathology of 'Bush Derangement Syndrome.'On and on it went, like a runaway freight train. The economic meltdown was brought on by the unbridled greed of middle class wage earners who bought homes with their 650 FICO scores; politicization of the Justice Department was an artifact of an overzealous congressional witch hunt; Sarah Palin was a superbly qualified candidate unfairly slimed by savage bloggers. If excuses were assholes, the conservative beast would be studded with ugly sphincters oozing an endless stream of foul bullshit from head to toe.
I'd prefer a President who is flawless. But after eight years of conservative 'blame-gaming,' endless Republican evasion and stonewalling, and crazed wingnut finger pointing, I'll settle for one that can construct coherent sentences and tell the truth at the same time. I'll happily support a President with enough basic respect for We the People to look us in the eye and own up.
We'd almost forgotten what honesty looks like. It looks like change.
Update: I'm just not as big a man as Obama. I'd rather kick these morons in the balls until they start to understand the very simple truths more calmly explained in this post:
The Republican playbook is about standing in opposition, knowing full well that the Democratic Congress is going to pass a stimulus package. Their next step is to go home and sell to what's left of their constituencies the notion that if we had listened to them, things would be far rosier. As a minority, a control group is unlikely to emerge that can disprove false numbers based on false rhetoric. They can go back and campaign in two years whether or not Obama's plan creates anywhere close to the number he hopes and tell the world, and claim that their plan would have provided double the number.
A perfectly manipulative strategy which plays to the short-term memory of the American electorate.
The minority role in government should be about balancing the need of their constituencies with real ideas that create a stronger way of finding a solution. In the modern era of politics Rush Limbaugh style, it is all about spewing hate and misinformation in the guise of governing for the good of the people. The very people that the Obama plan will help most, are the very same people that are being preached to by the likes of Limbaugh and his puppets in Congress.
As far as I'm concerned, though ... fuck 'em.
Update II: Go Fuck Yourself, Dick.
Update III:
What have we seen the last few weeks? Democrats caving to GOP demands and inserting useless tax cut provisions to appease them. Then they vote en masse against the stimulus in the House. Meanwhile, Obama hands yet another cabinet post to yet another Republican, this one a right-wing small-government ideologue who voted to eliminate the Commerce Department he will now head just a few short years ago. Then he gives a schizophrenic acceptance speech where he thanks New Hampshire's governor for caving to his demands for a GOP replacement for his seat, while at the same time arguing that it's time to get past "partisanship". Oh, then he punches Obama in the face by denying him a critical cloture vote on the Senate version of the stimulus bill.So what the heck, HHS has an opening, and the media establishment is piling on with progressively crazier ideas, because what the heck, in this post-partisan environment, the party that won doesn't get the spoils. So Romney to HHS! Or maybe Gingrich!
During the Bush years, the best interests of our country took a back seat to the GOP's failed ideology. Right now, it looks like the best interests of our country are taking a back seat to the failed ideology of "bipartisanship".
I'm sharpening my boot tips, because somebody is going to have to do some asskicking ...
