Like the title infers I'll be blabbing about American politics.
The landscape has become a cesspool of shrill right wing gibberish. The left needs to find its voice and make its presence felt, instead of being bitchslapped by cries of "Socialist" "Communist" etc.. The non Fox News media needs to do a better job of pointing out lies when they're spoken. In a perfect world it wouldn't be necessary but Fox has decided they just don't give a fuck about journalistic ethics.
The left can't close ranks. Health insurance reform would have been a done deal except for infighting and concessions made to legislators like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson. I'm no fan of the right, but they know how to work together to get shit done. Say what you will about Bush, but his administration and the Republican controlled Congress got their programs through. Cheney comes off like Palpatine with the Dems playing the part of the whiny rebels.
Even as the minority, they continued to dominate the discussion. They carved out every concession from Democratic legislation (e.g. tax cut package in the stimulus bill), voted against it anyway, then spit in the Dem's face and giving them a hearty "Fuck You".
The left wing needs to counter this, especially with the House now under Republican control. Progressives need more voices like Nancy Pelosi who, love her or hate her, got the job done by getting the squabbling brats in the Democratic caucus to get along. The election had the Dems running like scared women letting Sean Hannity write the narrative. "Democrats can't run on the stimulus, they can't run on Obamacare (fucking hate that expression)." Really? Why not? The stimulus DID create jobs. It would've created more if it wasn't 1/3 tax cuts.
We have in Barack Obama an ambitious visionary. Unfortunately, his calm, cerebral demeanor has been used by the right to brand him as weak, effete, and ineffectual. Politics is a full contact sport, and public perception matters. Obama looks like a kid who just got sucker punched by a bully and walked away. He's also a victim of his own vision. His hand gets slapped every time he reaches across the aisle. Yet he continues to do it when a more pragmatic person would've flipped Republicans the bird. Getting things done in DC doesn't require a nuanced approach, it demands smash-mouth politics.
Comments are welcome. I don't mind swearing, but no name calling, trolls or personal attacks.
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