L.A. Times: Obama is throwing “the environment and public health under a bus” to get reelected

n/t

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Some of us seem to have trouble accepting the truth about about this president's policies and the direction he's taking the country. Maybe you should read the rest of the L.A.Times op ed.

this congress is so screwed up, how could anyone have expected him to fix everything at once? sorry, don't buy it. he needs a second term to keep chipping away at the nihilism, if not 5, 6, 10 terms, you know??? he's the only prez in my memory/understanding who WAITS FOR US IDIOTS (btw, i'm speaking for myself ... i've always voted, but i've never done anything beyond that to help out) to stop whining and start participating in the system. yanking it all left all at once won't do anything but piss off the other side, who will then yank it all right. imo, he's doing it correctly and with the hope of some FINALITY. so he has to kiss corporate ass? OF COURSE he does.

i know i'll get shit for this post, but i don't care anymore ...

he's got to play a fucked up game with fucked up rules to get another term to deal with a fucked up country with buttloads of problems created by racist assholes who would just as soon shoot the black guy in between the eyes than let him get another term.

to put it another way, if and when the shit finally hits the fan in SPITE of our very last and best great hope, i'll be loading up my car with my dog, my beautiful violin, a $1000 bottle of wine, $5.00 worth of Benadryl, and A FRAMED PICTURE OF BARACK OBAMA. then i'll be heading to the flint hills here in Kansas to find the most remote spot and party like there's no tomorrow :)

:rant:
just one woman's opinion. thanks.

PS i was up all night nursing my beloved but fading labrador. so pardon my mood ...

beset by evil doers on all sides. He wants to do the right thing, but he's a victim of circumstance and a feckless Congress. Pull the other one, it's got bells on. And I'm sorry about your dog.

It's in the record friend.

They filibuster EVERYTHING.

I swear, it's like some people haven't lived through the same two years that the rest of us have...

not poor helpless president, imho, but the *fucking most awesome president this country has ever or will ever see*

i know there are people on here who laugh at those of us who defend BO. i know i get tired of typing out my opinion, and perhaps you do too, so i'd like to ask in all honesty -- to what post might i go to read some good critique? this is not intended to be confrontational AT ALL. i'm curious as to how people see him differently--particularly regarding his worldview/political philosophy or what have you as written in his books. i'd immediately discount any hyperbole (*comfortable shoes* bullshit - my man O knows we can read between the lines). i'd also discount any critique of *lacking backbone* or some such bullshit, as none of us have ever been a fly on the wall behind those closed doors. lastly, i'd also discount any critique of transparency. i think comparing US leadership is as relative an exercise as anything else, and i'd defy anyone to compare the obama admin's transparency to that of cheney's (and i do mean cheney's).

i consider myself a pretty good judge of character and simply will never believe that obama pulled some kind of *fast one.* Imo, he has at times been naive, but all in all has been pretty damned brilliant. NOT PERFECT, but pretty damned brilliant.

thanks in advance.

i'd like to know what your particular background is. i actually did work for an environmental firm here in KS, off and on in the 1990s, only as support staff. my ex was an env sci guy -- mainly doing grunt work -- wellwater sampling, core sampling, etc. this particular firm subcontracted for the EPA.

Now at the risk of drawing *big government* ire from you or anyone else who may be jerking my chains (sorry, i don't know you as i've not been on this site long), i can tell you that the EPA is ONE FUCKING BIG-ASS BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE OF A MESS. seriously. we're talking *hurry-up-and-wait* scheduling, study redundancy, and other general buffoonery going on at the cost of gazillions. i kid you not.

It's been around through too many waves of congressional tinkering and empire building to be anything but. Large segments of the government should probably be dismantled and done over from scratch. But Republican presidents manage to get what they want out of these behemoths, while Democrats appear to be hamstrung. I actually believe Obama is in charge and getting pretty much what he wants out of the beaurocracy. There's been no great push to remake any of the agencies. In fact, if Salazar's behavior before and during the Gulf disaster is any indicator, it's been business as usual. Opening the arctic seas to drilling is just more of the same, only worse. The appalling possibility of An under ice blowout like Macondo doesn't seem to phase the administration. Claims that this is going to acheive energy independence are completely specious. This is just one more giveaway to the energy industry. I have no scientific credentials or experience, but I've lived 70 years and spent a lot of time outdoors, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. I know how much we've lost in that time, and I know how thin a margin we have left. Ocassionallly the President says something that indicates an understanding of the scale of the problems, but I think his understanding is merely intellectual, not something he feels deeply. In fact I wonder if there's anything he feels deeply beyond his obvious attachment to his wife and kids. You think he's a great president. I disagree. He had the opportunity. He perhaps could have been a transformational figure, but he's not. The country was ripe for change, and the Republicans were moribund. Instead of siezing his moment, Mr. Obama chose to breath life back into the GOP and create the cult of bipartisanship. How's that for feckless? If the country is still around in a hundred years he'll be remembered the way we remember Rutherford Hayes or Grover Cleveland, which is to say dimly..

i appreciate honest discussion.

opening Arctic seas to drilling: relatively speaking, the scramble to go there, imo, is proof that there must be a pretty frightening dip in resources that we're not being told about. so i don't TOTALLY believe that it's simply a give-away. as to having *reserves,* ANYWHERE on the planet, i think that this is singularly the most frightening and cruel lie of all. energy independence--pffft. a total pipe dream. carter warned, and most of us understood, albeit in layman fashion, that we were screwed, and soon. i just thought it was going to be about 20 or 30 years down the road from now. not that i'm a selfish boomer or anything ... :sarcasm:

i TOTALLY disagree with you about: "...indicates an understanding, but ... is merely intellectual, not something he feels deeply." i think it is almost exactly the OPPOSITE. i believe he feels it WAY as deeply as you and i do, but understands it intellectually more than me and most of us worker bees (i'm certainly not trying to speak for you here). i don't think it takes a genius to recognize a beautiful mind, and i'm no genius!
like you, i've spent a good deal of my life barefoot with sunburn, poison ivy, insect bites, and have loved every minute of it.

i don't have any sci experience either -- i've been a fucking musician (pro violinist) and instructor for the past 40 years. but that being said, i'll go out on a limb here. i've always been intrigued by the whole body language thing (it often comes with the territory of growing up in an extremely dysfunctional family, so i can say with authority that i'm pretty damned good at it). ANYWAY, check out Seth Meyers at The Dinner telling him "... you should go back to smoking ..." blah blah blah, and then suggested that Obama has been "naive." then check out Obama's reaction. he looked a little embarrassed -- and then nods in acknowledgment. this is why i love this guy -- i believe he has a real self-awareness and understanding of human nature, imo. remember his *photo op* in Louisiana after BP? he started talking about how much he loved the ocean and ocean life as he grew up in Hawaii. and if you look, he was holding.back.tears. honest tears. seriously. look for the speech somewhere, and then tell me i'm imagining it.

Only his wife and kids? really??? remember his reaction to the little girl in Tucson? come on, now. i'm not even going to ask you if you read his books, as i'm sure you did. IMFUCKINGHO, i don't believe the man has a single disingenuous bone in his body.

he had opportunity? NO. he had no opportunity. period.

imo, if he made any mistake it was that he was too hyper-pragmatic right out of the gate. should he have started out with some feel-good legislation? whatever. but i do remember that just about every economist and their cousin was backing up the 3-legged stool, and if we didn't address it, we were ALL GOING TO DIE. that was WAAAAAY back when we went bust. he jumped right in and attempted to tackle the first leg -- HEALTH CARE. then,

in steps fucking sarah palin--and, well you know the rest.

i think he could have sewn this recession up, HAD HE BEEN A WHITE DUDE. sorry--but I believe that with every fiber of my being. so for what it's worth, i think he did absolutely nothing other than be the leader that we absolutely needed at the most horrific time, but unfortunately racism in this country proved to be alive and well.

Not a transformational figure? ... all i know is that i've lived through (sentiently speaking) Kennedy up to this moment, and other than a few years of fresh air, the republicans began to destroy this country a long time ago -- the minute Reagan said to Carter: "there he goes again ... " (birth of the sound-bite? or at least the acknowledgement of?)

imo, there is nothing feckless about an intelligent, popular, gracious, articulate guy who steps in, sees that the deck is stacked against him, rolls belly-up to rethuglican predators, and then embarrasses them at every turn! if you want to argue about the *cave-in* on taxes--J.H.Christ!!!!!! i would have given ANYTHING to be a fly on the wall in that room!!! did they threaten his very FAMILY? i'd put money on it! ... otherwise, at what moment did the deck become stacked? realistically so? the minute Scott Brown won in Mass.

the country, by the way, will most definitely NOT be around in 100 years. in fact, i truly do not believe the very planet will be around. i believe a combination of Fukishima, volcanic activity, the last 50 years of industrial pollution, the rise of superbugs and resistance to penicillins, overpopulation, drought and resultant uneven/unchecked emigration, etc. etc. etc., will stop it all. hell -- arguments about water supply have already started here (was it 3 or 4 years ago? georgia/florida or something?)



Disclaimer: it's late, i've had a long day, and this post may be looking as a *little* over the top, but i truly don't care anymore. just watching human beings fucking with other human beings -- Yemen, Syria ... that shit alone is unspeakable. but here in our neck of the woods: WISCONSIN, OHIO, FLORIDA... in a fucking *free* republic with a practicing democracy, we've got elected pols willfully and GLEEFULLY spitting on people with no power and no voice. gods help me, in a way it's almost worse. i'm exhausted. i'm tired of arguing with the very people i should be agreeing with. all i know is that when the shit hits the proverbial fan, i'm going to feel really comforted to know that we had someone like BHO behind the wheel. QED.

just one woman's opinion.

woman's opinion...

which is what people consistently do when they are under financial pressure or out of work.

I don't like the choice myself and I like to think I would choose the opposite, but the president is first and foremost a public servant, and doesn't have a great deal of choice.