Obama, isn't he dreamy!

[archerships]

A friend of mine recently attended an Obama rally, and is now gushing about him. It's all I can do to bite my tongue. Obama's charismatic to be sure. But let's remember what he's done, and plans to do.

1. He continues to oppose gay marriage.
2. He wants to imprison pot users.
3. He wants the power to assassinate U.S. citizens in secret, with no trial or review.
4. He continues to support extraordinary rendition, the sending of prisoners to other countries to be tortured
5. He appealed a court ruling striking down Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Note that these are all "left" issues, from "left" sources. Sure, Obama's handsome and wellspoken. But he's a political cad--once he's got your money and your votes, don't expect him to be there in the morning.

Posted via email from crasch's posterous

Comments

[lds.livejournal.com]

It's just like church. If you're taught that your good guy can do no wrong, and your bad guy can do no right...

And that you have to believe in a list of buzzwords without any evidence, but that's okay because faith is a virtue...

And repeat the tenets of your faith over and over to engrave it on your brain, and hold mindless recitation as a higher priority than critical questioning...

And then surround yourself with like-minded people who feed each others' confirmation bias and make you feel so good because of the endorphin rush from worshipful fellowship...

You might be a partisan Democrat.

[pasquin.livejournal.com]

Chicks only vote on looks, anyway.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

Additionally, whenever I am reading the For and Against arguments for the Props in my voter information book I am always swayed if there is a blurb in support of either side written and presented by the firemen....

[pasquin.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if a woman ran on the 'show your tits' platform, I—and several of my dead relatives—would pull the lever for her.

That's tax money, well spent.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

"Screw thine friends to woo thine enemies" is still a valid political ploy for centrist politicians.

[(Anonymous)]

If you read the articles cited you would understand that Obama supports equal rights in homosexual relationships, but won't amend the term marriage. What is important, equal rights or equal title? I think lobbying for the legal aspect of all marriages to be termed civil unions regardless of gender(not to be confused with the religious ceremony), has a significantly higher chance of success than amending the term marriage. Regarding the don't ask don't tell policy, Obama stayed the decision because major HR changes shouldn't be made during war time, he still maintains that the policy needs to go. I think that you should be a bit more responsible with your summarizing.

[crasch.livejournal.com]

So, Anonymous Coward, Obama should be given a pass because he thinks gay people should be willing to accept "separate but equal" legal protections when it comes to marriage, eh? That he should be given a pass for kowtowing to the religious right for political expediency?

And, contrary to your assertion, he's acted against gay marriage not just in name. His administration filed a brief in defense of DOMA, which allows states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and bars federal benefits for same-sex couples (e.g., federal taxes, Social Security and immigration rights) - even if a state had marriage rights or civil unions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-hogarth/obamas-doma-defense-unacc_b_215718.html

The Obama administration _chose_ to defend DOMA. They didn't have to do that. They could've just been silent. But they actively defended anti-gay legislation.


"Obama stayed the decision because major HR changes shouldn't be made during war time, he still maintains that the policy needs to go."

You mean the wars that have been going on for 9 years now? The ones that Obama has shown few signs of ending? The Democrats control the Presidency and both houses of Congress. If not now, when?

And note that, once again, the Obama administration has is actively working against gay rights. He could've let the judicial stay against Don't Ask, Don't Tell remain in place by doing nothing. But his administration actively chose to fight it.

[msmichelle.livejournal.com]

I think Anonymous just got served anyway but wonder how the Obama fascinators can even distinguish their hero's platform from that of GWB?
The stereotype of elitist Democrats spoon feeding the "stupid, hapless American public" is sometimes blown out of the water when dubious policy is broken down.

[gwendally.livejournal.com]

I got into a funny conversation today with a progressive left person who was trying to explain why Obama's Justice Department appealed the judge's ruling. It came down to them STILL believing his words even when his actions do the opposite. They trust he has a plan. A good plan. They just don't know it. But that's okay, because they trust him.

Honestly, I saw the same thing during the build-up to the war in Iraq, where I'm saying, "uh, dudes, how about we stay focused on the Taliban" and them saying, "No, honestly, there's a GOOD REASON to fight (non-existent) terrorists in Iraq! I just don't know it, but I trust they do!"

One of the things we WANT from our public leaders - and want it so bad we are willing to embue them with it without evidence - is that they are smarter and more capable than we are. So... it may LOOK to us like they're blowing smoke, but if you're loyal and steadfast you will not say anything against your party chief. And then you just hope they ARE smarter and worthy of your steadfast loyalty.

Doesn't work out all that great, to be honest. Bush should NEVER have gotten that second four years.

And neither should Obama.

[selfishgene.livejournal.com]

'They trust he has a plan' - this is why I hope OObama (Licensed to Kill) does not get assassinated. I couldn't stand 50 years of liberals whining that he would have saved the world if only he had lived long enough.

[bkrichar.livejournal.com]

Too bad thare won't be a better electable opponent. :/

[gwendally.livejournal.com]

All of my life I've been hearing my Dad, a GM employee, wring his hands and say, "They are killing this company! If they don't do something we will lose American car manufacturing!"

Several years ago I started answering him. "Yeah, Dad, you're right. The decisions they've made, the environment we're in... they're screwed. So ACT LIKE THEY ARE." He never listened to me: he still held his massive amount of GM stocks through loyalty of lack of imagination or whatever. He's retired now and his retirement fund in GM stocks was wiped out.

That's where I am on the failure of Democracy. I sat down one day and charted how we lost the American democracy: where and how did the experiment fail. There are many tendrils that lead there, but democracy in America *is* dead. I have sat and thought long and hard about how to fix it, and the only answer I can come up with is at a local level. At the national level I expect we'll continue to decline a la the Roman Empire into more and more intolerable ways in a slow boil. I do not see how it gets fixed with anything other than massive bloodshed/revolution/foreign attack followed by another 100 years of chaos before something new rises.

So, no, I do *not* think we are likely to have some magic unicorn of a leader show up and fix our broken democracy. The only chance in hell you have is if everyone decides at the PRIMARY LEVEL to vote for new candidates AND we do massive campaign election spending limits. This is next to impossible, and everyone still thinks that THEIR representative isn't the broken one, LOL. No. Our country is now run as a cash cow to whatever special interest is in power. Good thing we have TV to placate the masses or there could be major unrest from the people who mind.

[gwendally.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I should probably mention, right about the time the realization dawned on me that our situation would necessarily end in massive bloodshed followed by a century of chaos I decided it was time to go on anti-depressants.

Better living through chemistry. The knowledge I have doesn't make me *FEEL* the deep despair as much now. But it didn't change the facts on the ground.

Here's an intro to the slide here:

http://gwendally.livejournal.com/463952.html

You'll notice how completely unsolvable this problem is. When you put it that way, it's not a problem (which can be solved) but a dilemma (which must be escaped or endured.)

[girlvinyl.livejournal.com]

Agree.

And I'm getting so goddamn sick of the Obama apologists. "but, he is only the president, he can't do that with out congress!" and "Babysteps! You have to do these things slowly!" Oh please.