Something I've just noticed

From where I sit, President Obama is getting a whole hell of a lot more criticism (and even some mean spirited overreaches) from his own partisans and supporters than Bush ever got from his in the entire disastrous 8 year run of his presidential career.

I don't know whether to be happy that we can dispassionately criticize our own better than "they" can, or that we are once again doing something we are so good at - the circular firing squad - truncating our time in power to actually make the changes we want to see.

Conflicted? Yes indeed.

Being a liberal Democrat for most of my life, I've seen that we are much more critical of our own than the others are. DU is actually a good example, in my short time here I have already seen fellow Democrats at each others throats more than I ever saw Freepers in the same state.

I think thats due to the fact that unlike the GOP our party has a long tradition of an ethical code that doesnt allow a blurring between the needs of people over profits.

At least it used to be a tradition before the DLC gained prominence in the early 90's.

Many of us still believe in that old fashioned ideal, which leads to criticism of our politicians who have convinced themselves that the voters are accepting of the corporatism that permeates our current political system.

I mean, look at the deficits he ran up. His small government base said nothing. Remember when he bailed out the airlines to the tune of $15 billion? You didn't hear a Tea Party peep about that one. He did not cohere to his base on one big issue--immigration reform.

The Republican base just doesn't complain as much as we do.

the thing he did best was just that.

Dont you?

But then there is reality. And reality shows me that the republican right personifies lock-step political behavior. Scary stuff.

It kind of started by January 30, 2009, ten days after the inauguration.

I was amused to see this facebook page: "How About We Stop Blaming Barack Obama for Everything George Bush Did?"

http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-about-we-stop-blaming-Barack-Obama-for-everything-George-Bush-did/308174364861?ref=nf


Look, I am not in 100% agreement with every single detail of Obama's agenda. But I see us moving in the right direction on many fronts, which isn't an easy thing to do in a broken economy like this. To have passed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act, and now Financial Regulation in just a little over a year, all while trying to keep from falling off an economic cliff and repair the damage the last administration did with respect to our image overseas. I say it's not bad. I'm not above criticizing certain things, but I am realistic about what he can reasonably accomplish in this crazy climate.

That guy must have been really special!