After my last article declaring an early triumph for Barack Obama, the comments I received were blistering, and rightly so, considering his somnambulistic appearance at the first presidential debate. To say that Romney ate his lunch is charitable. Obama's debate performance was baffling. He had the opportunity to confront Gov. Romney on a range of issues, but for whatever reason, he chose not to, tossing away his best chance to repudiate the GOP/Tea Party platform and allowing the grinning governor back into the race. Among my many critics, one said that I had "spiked the ball on the one yard line," which is among the mildest rebukes I can repeat. The others were the same racially charged remarks that you might expect when accompanied with a side order of crow, or in this case, Jim Crow. I didn't like it. It was too stringy and definitely did not taste like chicken. I did, however, receive one serious comment from a gentleman to whom I promised anonymity if I could use his letter as the basis for a new rant. He wrote:A reasonable question deserves a reasonable response, and I believe I can answer this one without even mentioning the name of Mitt Romney. Anybody can google "Obama record" and come up with a long list of achievements, so rather than just writing a campaign newsletter, I would like to point out a few accomplishments that have affected me personally or the lives of people I care about. Some of these initiatives were passed in Obama's first two years when he had a bickering Democratic Congress; others were achieved in the past two years while the president labored against constant Republican obstructionism. The Tea Party controlled House and their equivalent in the Senate have blocked or filibustered every bill the Obama government has presented, yet the latest unemployment figure is below eight percent and the stock market has gone from 6,500 two months after Obama took office, to 13,610 today. Who wouldn't want over a 55 percent return on their investment in just three years? Critics have called this a "jobless recovery," while in a period of two years, the Republicans blocked nineteen jobs bills. This included the "American Jobs Act," which would have created two million jobs and provided tax breaks for small business, modernized 35,000 public schools, given companies tax credits for hiring veterans and the long-term unemployed, and invested in roads, bridges, rail and airports. Imagine what the unemployment number might be if Obama had a governing majority.As an undecided voter, why should I vote for Obama? What has he done with regard to the economy, foreign policy, and galvanizing our country? And please don't insult me by shifting an answer to why Romney isn't qualified...What has your guy done?
But enough about the Tea Party "know-less-than-nothings" who scream "Socialism!" with every breath, and on to your question. When you speak of "galvanizing our country," I remember the night of November 4, 2008, when an estimated 240,000 people jammed Chicago's Grant Park to hear the new president's victory speech. Millions more around the world heard Obama say, "If there is anyone...who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, tonight is your answer," or, "We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red and blue states. We are and always will be the United States of America." Through my own tears, I thought that event was pretty damned galvanizing, but on inauguration day, a private dinner took place with a small group of GOP congressional leaders, including Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Bob Corker, and evil linguistics genius Frank Luntz. They pledged as a party to block and obstruct President Obama on all legislation; in essence, undermining the economy to regain the White House. I believe sabotage is still a crime. The country was galvanized, but the great promise of the Obama election was wasted for political advantage and the governing process was poisoned. The Frank Luntz propaganda instructed, "Don't say 'healthcare reform,' say 'government takeover' instead, and before you knew it, a corporate sponsored, renegade "Tea Party" began showing up at congressional town hall meetings, wearing holstered weapons and shouting down their representatives with cries of "Marxism," and "Death Panels."
Which brings me to the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." What half the electorate once believed was socialized medicine was merely insurance reform after all. I have written past Rants about my decade's inability to buy health insurance from anyone, at any price, because of "pre-existing conditions." I lived with it until I needed emergency surgery and suddenly my medical bills were costing more than my house. My wife and I found ourselves pleading with doctors and negotiating with clinics for brother-in-law deals and bargain-basement savings. Were it not for my subsequent admission to the Church Health Center, I would have either been dead or broke, or dead broke. Obamacare forbids insurance companies from discriminating against pre-existing conditions or placing caps on coverage. The Insurance bid'ness isn't complaining because they're gaining 30,000,000 new customers and no one yet has been assigned to see a government doctor, except at the Veterans' Administration, which saw an increase in its budget every year under Obama. The Congressional Budget Office once forecast Obamacare savings of $123 billion over ten years, before a GOP-led states rights campaign put the numbers and the program at risk. Meanwhile, there have been 33 separate House Republican votes to repeal Obamacare. I don't understand how a party with an active evangelical Christian wing could vote against a government that wishes to feed the hungry and care for the sick. But that's just me.
Lastly, I have a wife, a mother, a sister, three sisters-in-law, two nieces, a great-niece, and a stepdaughter. My life is filled with women, which is why I want a president who will protect their rights. I want to know that my mother's Medicare is solvent and my wife's Social Security benefits are intact. My stepdaughter will benefit from Obama's student loan reforms, and thanks to the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, my niece is paid the same as a man who does the same work. Under Obamacare, my other niece, who is expecting, can be assured of top-notch pre-natal, and post-natal care. And for any woman who may find it necessary to make a personal choice regarding pregnancy; under the president's plan, her privacy is protected and the procedures are professional, and not subject to the intrusive probes or unwanted ultrasounds of the GOP shame squad. Unfortunately, I lacked the space to discuss foreign policy, like the killing of Bin Laden and the decimation of Al Qaeda, or that minor detail of ending the Iraq War. There was that minor business of Obama bringing the country back from the brink of economic collapse while saving the auto industry, repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and winning the Nobel Prize, but then I'm beginning to sound like a Google list. One group that is bound to benefit from Obama's re-election are professional investors. This includes a certain ex-governor currently running for president- so he'll have a soft place on which to land when he returns to wherever he calls home.
26 comments:
Thank you Randy! 'Nuff aaid.' I wish you could be Barack's debate coach next time. I'll put in a word for you!
Why didn't Obama challenge Romney more in the Debate? Simple, then the Public would have heard Romney's unfiltered responses to the Obama lies about him. If he asked Romney about Bain his attack would have been repulsed in front of 70 million viewers and the response by Romney would have made the 400 million Obama campaign spent on demonizing Romney would have been wasted. This was the first time anyone has challenged Obama in 5 years and he utterly failed. doesn't it scare you that he may be the empty suite who is not as smart as you think. Critical thinking means you must look at all possibilities in order to conclude the proper answer. You have only looked from one side and therefore your conclusions do not include critical thinking.
Here is "another side" I just read from commenter on another blog:
It is astounding to me that the Corporatists do not point out that one of the biggest obstacles to entrepreneurship is the need to anchor oneself in a Corporate or Government bureaucracy or risk bankruptcy and losing everything to a major illness. Romney / Obama care really does not resolve this issue just serving up millions as a captive audience to private healthcare deniers who consume 30% of US healthcare costs vs 5-8% for all other industrialized countries.
Alan, my guru and the voice of sanity on this completely one-sided, Democrat worshipping blog. I read it to confirm my suspicions about liberals and to marvel at the endless bullshit that oozes from Sput's (a.k.a. spinner-in-chief) lips. I wish you would post more often in order to set the record straight. You always slam dunk Sput's squirrely point of view with a very few sage words. You should run for public office. If you would post more often, I would post less often, because you are so much more effective than I am. In terms of knowledge and wisdom you are head, shoulders, waist, and knees above this crowd of political lunatics. By the way, I can't wait until Obama is skewered in the next debate for his criminally insane foreign policy. And, I look forward to Ryan steamrolling Joe 'The Mutant Birthday Clown' Biden. I think that Biden is seriously mentally imbalanced which makes him a perfect running mate for Obama.
The third debate will feature foreign policy...my bad. If Obama doesn't use a teleprompter (his substitute for a brain) in the next two debates, he will be blown out of the water again. All he does is to parrot what his handlers feed him by means of teleprompters. The guy is an affirmative action president. He made average grades in school and knows NOTHING except what his higher ups tell him to say. He is the archtypical empty suit. The progressives could do as well with an Obama sock puppet and a tape recorder or a good ventriloquist. He is a colossal and dangerous fake. People say that if he were truly a Marxist, he would do this or that. He is not going to play his hand too early. He is implementing Marxism on a piecemeal basis. He needs the next term to finish the job on America and the liberal progressive machine which he serves will kill to have him re-elected.
Anonymous 8:20 p.m., you hit the nail on the head. Obama is our first affirmative action president. One of the reasons that his college transcripts are sealed from public view is that his grades were average. If he were the very same person and was white and named Jimmy Jones, he would not have had affirmative action opening doors for him all his life and he would probably be working at a car wash today. He has been primed and coddled all his life because he is an articulate black who looks good in a suit of clothes. That is all there is to him. The rest is as you said. My son had an affirmative action English teacher who used poor grammar and misspelled words every day. Thank goodness he was able to overcome this travesty, because he grew up with no affirmative action. He had to acquire an education the old fashioned way, through study and lots of effort. He had a good background from real teachers in his past and I am sure that he embarrassed his teacher because he had a much better command of English grammar and spelling than she did. I would have to attend parent-teacher meetings and I was embarrassed for her. It was not fair to her or anyone else that she was in that position. Similarly, this is how we wound up with Obama as president. The thought of affirmative action doctors is unnerving.
Well said Alan P. Obama could not respond to Romney's face. He waits until the next day to attack him. He is such a coward. Also Anon you are correct in stating that O cannot show his hand too early. Remember when he patted the russian pres or PM and said wait until after the next election and everything will be alright?
It is my opinion that Obama is an “empty suit” but no more or no less than Romney, his so-called rival in this scam election. It is imperative that they be empty in order that there be room enough for their corporate puppeteers to stick their hands. Consider the appropriate name for this: Mitt! Their messages are taught to them as one would teach parrots. Thus, another meaningful name: Barack!
The oligarchs are putting on a Punch and Judy show and the American public can either buy into the personality contest, the horse race competition, or the superficial differences in their lousy, status quo policies. The corporate think tanks and the corporate media pundits are paid nicely to sell the public the sham differences between Tweedledee and Tweedledumb. All this takes place while truly progressive, caring candidates seeking bold solutions to the real problems are made to sit on the sidelines, ignored or made fun of. The powers love to control.
This collective delusion that life is meant to be a serious competition between fellow human beings has poisoned our relationships and fouled all our important resources in the process. Taking our air, water, soil, and food for granted is way beyond risky--it is insane. The ignorance, arrogance, greed, cruelty, cynicism, irreverence, and lack of integrity that issue forth from the embracing of this delusion cannot continue. It will self-destruct but as a means to Self-correct. The great endarkenment will precede the great enlightenment. There will be some significant shaking prior to the a great awakening.
I awoke this morning a little depressed about politics and the new polls...but was fortunate to check my email and open the "A Reason To Believe" rant; and, my spirits were suddenly lifted. It was refreshing to see that someone besides me really "gets it"....It's like that last scene in "As Good As It Gets" when Nicholson tells Helen Hunt how he can't understand why other people don't know how great she is....That's the way I feel about our president, except that I don't want to date him...I just want him to finish what he started..a journey against all odds and most of the Republicans; a leader who has fought hard against seemingly insurmountable obstacles including an obstructionist Congress; a leader who has made hard decisions, some against poll numbers and his advisers' outcries (e.g.,the GM bailout and ending the war); a leader who brought us from the brink of economic destruction to a slow and steady resurgence of private sector jobs and stock market highs; who actally brought us real "hope"..in that for once a president would fight for the less privileged ..a guy who in essence had "been there, done that". I see this political contest as being a little bit like "Q" from Star Trek vs. Captain Picard...i.e. the guy who has every resource imaginable and will say anything to get elected in a contest with a guy who stands for the right principles and the tenets of the Golden Rule..and president who sticks up for the little guy...and the big girls. I often wonder how this nation might be different if Bush had not questionably won the election of 2000..by a mere 500+ vote count, I might add; and now, I fear the same thing is about to happen now with Romney's new found centrist strategy and about face candidacy...with the same Neocons "pulling the same strings" for Mittens as they did with W. The foreign policy "speech" given by Romney recently should be a wake-up call to those who are tired of sending our boys off to needless wars..the despicable "about face" by Willard in the debate should re-affirm anyone's doubts that the "empty suit" stands for absolutely nothing...the fifty or so documented lies and policy reversals over these past years should give someone in the electorate besides me an insight into his character..or rather lack of. As some of us were growing up in near poverty, we always knew the "Mitt Romney"...the lazy rich guy who would pay someone else to do his term paper..the nerdy guy you would let "hang out" with you because he would always pick up the tab...the fellow you thought about while you were in basic training "hell" whose parents had persuaded the family doctor to devise a medical excuse in order to avoid the draft...or "tithed" severely to convince the Mormon elders to obtain for him four "missionary" deferments so he could persuade the French to give up smoking, coffee and wine. I, too, was disappointed in the "performance" of the prez in the first debate..but that's only because I'm a professional sports junkie...I like the knockout punch, the concussive sack of a quarterback..I love the slam dunk. But in retrospect..I think I too would have been dumbfounded and "sucker punched" by Romney's astonishing reversals of policy positions and outright untruths during the debate...but; one battle does not win a war and one debate shouldn't reward a presidential candidate, a victory. One thing I do know..Me, "good" and RJ are on the president's team...and for my part...I'm glad "I get it..".
Performs has figured it out. I don't agree with everything that you said, but at least you understand the basic nature of the scam. You and Alan are the only ones on this blog who do. Everyone else believes in the Tweedle Dum-Tweedle Dee sham...particularly Sput.
Billy Slais has not only drunk the Kool-Aide, he has drowned in it. He may be more deceived than Sput and that is saying something. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. It is such a shame.
Just think if Al Gore had of won we might have President Edwards running for reelection. Now there is something and someone to believe in!
Wow! I hadn't thought of that. Another whore dog with the morals of a tom cat could have been our president. Just think of how low a man would have to be to carry on an affair while his wife lay dying. Edwards even told his whore that after his wife died they could do anything they wanted. Get a load of this. Edward's whore was a New Ager and told him that their child is a reincarnation of some great world spiritual leader. The only thing is that if you are a Democrat, you can be as immoral as the Marquis De Sade and get away with it, because Democrats don't even pretend to be moral. Clinton proved that beyond a doubt. I still remember Gennifer Flowers on Larry King talking about the time that they did a quicky at a governor's ball in the Arkansas state capitol building. He took her into a restroom off of the ballroom floor where Bill dropped his tuxedo trousers and screwed Gennifer's ears off. She said that it made her nervous because Hillary was only a few feet away. He screwed everything but light sockets and Hillary. I really can't blame him for not wanting to screw Hillary, though. Republican's hands (or should I say penises) are not clean either, but since they purport to stand for family values, they get crucified for doing the same things that the nooky-crazed Democrats do. It is beginning to look like a person can't be elected to the presidency unless he is completely morally degraded . And, these demons who pass themselves off as statesmen are driving the ship of state. Again, Performs is on the right track. He is beginning to see that moral degradation of every kind is rampant among the political leaders of this country. Namely, they are crooks who pretend to care for the poor while their true purpose is their own aggrandizement in terms of money and power. Sure, they throw some chicken feed to the poor to buy their votes, but they have no interest on seeing people become independent. The gutter came to power a long time ago in America. Too bad for us.
Anon 10 PM I agree with you to a point. Where I differ is Romney and Ryan both seem to be decent men who have raised good families and not cheated on their wives as far as we know and the left despises them. Boy that's the litmus test for me.
Playing the morality game is like looking through a pair binocuars, limiting one’s sight and ability to see the whole person and their situation. Placing undo value on any conventional moral criteria usually ends up preventing one from seeing the whole person and sensing their all-important inner motivations and values.
A man might well see fit to not cheat on his wife, while focussing his attention, instead, on the means for cheating untold numbers of husbands, wives and their children through business practices that cause them great misery. Everyone is subject to having strengths and weaknesses of character which avails anyone the opportunity to cast judgments against their fellow humans, be those judgments positive or negative. This is why the mystics and saints have urged moving away from this childish game to a more challenging practice of loving (with understanding) those whom you cannot love and those who wish you harm. The results that stem from this Way are truly miraculous. Rising above our pettiness and self-interest is the route to lasting happiness. Not scoring ego-aggrandizing points off our fellow human beings.
Few people dare to replace clinging to the worldly, competitive model of every man for himself with the purifying love for the One in the many. Taking one’s sense of morality overly seriously expresses one’s ignorance and arrogance and unrecognized immorality.
Let's judge these men by their actions. If a man lives an honest life, contributes millions to charity, serves others in his church I would say that is a pretty clear window into his soul. I don't know that Romney can make a significant difference but he IMO is the only shot we have right now. At least he believes in the American idea. I'm sorry you don't.
Judging our fellow human beings by their actions alone is very limiting. There is no requirement that there be any understanding, no empathy, no charity of tolerance, forgiveness, or even the benefit of the doubt when it comes to utterly misunderstanding the action or its motive.
It more often is simply a fundamentalist "understanding" or acceptance of a dogma that enhances what gives comfort, convenience, or "certainty" to one's self.
Anon 10:29, for the record, would you care to define your take on "the American idea?"
Dude, exactly how far is your head up Alan's ?? Really ... I happen to know Alan and trust me even I know your weird words gotta be freaking him out. Geez, get a life, loser .
Fuck you guys , now how in the world do I know your guys? Really.... Why do all you "swinging dicks" have to bash the writer of the blog instead of talking about the subject. Stay on course , jerks. Or write your own blogs.
Care to wager a bet on the outcome of this election Randy dear? And of the things you cite that Obama has accomplished, which of these are related to his Presidency?
Who is the blogtater?
Agendas the the left, agendas to the right. SOMEWHERE near the middle lies the truth and nobody´s come even close to that yet.
But, I repeat myself.
As the theme is on presidential candidates, I offer the following for added perspective--
Great presidential candidate taken fron from us by violence:
Robert F. Kennedy
University of Kansas
March 18, 1968
a portion of his remarks below
And if we seem powerless to stop this growing division between Americans, who at least confront one another, there are millions more living in the hidden places, whose names and faces are completely unknown - but I have seen these other Americans - I have seen children in Mississippi starving, their bodies so crippled from hunger and their minds have been so destroyed for their whole life that they will have no future. I have seen children in Mississippi - here in the United States - with a gross national product of $800 billion dollars - I have seen children in the Delta area of Mississippi with distended stomachs, whose faces are covered with sores from starvation, and we haven't developed a policy so we can get enough food so that they can live, so that their children, so that their lives are not destroyed, I don't think that's acceptable in the United States of America and I think we need a change.
I have seen Indians living on their bare and meager reservations, with no jobs, with an unemployment rate of 80 percent, and with so little hope for the future, so little hope for the future that for young people, for young men and women in their teens, the greatest cause of death amongst them is suicide.
That they end their lives by killing themselves - I don't think that we have to accept that - for the first American, for this minority here in the United States. If young boys and girls are so filled with despair when they are going to high school and feel that their lives are so hopeless and that nobody's going to care for them, nobody's going to be involved with them, and nobody's going to bother with them, that they either hang themselves, shoot themselves or kill themselves - I don't think that's acceptable and I think the United States of America - I think the American people, I think we can do much, much better. And I run for the presidency because of that, I run for the presidency because I have seen proud men in the hills of Appalachia, who wish only to work in dignity, but they cannot, for the mines are closed and their jobs are gone and no one - neither industry, nor labor, nor government - has cared enough to help.
I think we here in this country, with the unselfish spirit that exists in the United States of America, I think we can do better here also.
I have seen the people of the black ghetto, listening to ever greater promises of equality and of justice, as they sit in the same decaying schools and huddled in the same filthy rooms - without heat - warding off the cold and warding off the rats.
If we believe that we, as Americans, are bound together by a common concern for each other, then an urgent national priority is upon us. We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America.
George Bernard Shaw once wrote, "Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?"
for the whole speech:
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Robert-F-Kennedy-at-the-University-of-Kansas-March-18-1968.aspx
Anon 8:22 a.m., I realize that there are a few upright statesmen in American politics...just not nearly enough of them to lift America above its current state of degradation. Performs, sounds like you have been smoking ganga again. You seem to be one with the Cosmic Muffin. The Cosmic Muffin is bullshitting you. Find a more realistic frequency to attune yourself to. If only you knew how you sound to the sane. Alittlegreen, you sound lke a nasty-mouthed, PMS-ing street walker. Either that, or you are a testosterone-swilling transexual. Just trying to figure out if you are male, female, or something in between. Whatever the case, it would be tragic if you are a female, because you are about as femnine as a jackhammer. At any rate, there are medications that will make you less uncouth and socially unacceptable. My advise is to seek help immediatly.
Performs, George Bernard Shaw was pro-totalitarianism and a rabid Marxist. I saw an old film strip in which he expressed his admiration for Mussolini and in which he proposed that every citizen stand before a committee every five years to explain why he/she should be allowed to live for another five years (in terms of productivity). He was proposing a way to keep the collective productive by eliminating the dead weight. When are you going to realize the truth about Marxism? It is not just about income re-distrbution. There is a sinister side to it. When Marxism comes to full fruition in a given country it uses murder as one of its chief tools of control. Folks tend to forget that people (labor) are one of the means of production. When Marxists take over the means of production, that includes you. The individual is very expendable in their philosophical system. If you knew the whole truth about Marxism you would be aghast. Marxists use egalitarianism to suck in gullible idealists...much like the Venus Fly Trap ensnares unsuspecting insects. All the insects are concerned with is, 'Hey! Free nectar'. They find out too late about the vat of digestive juices at the end of the freebie ride. Be more careful in your selection of political heroes. I don't think that the Cosmic Muffin would hold that against you. One more thing. John Edwards used the plight of the poor in an attempt to be elected. In truth, he scorned the very poor that he supposedly championed. Those who lived in his community said that he would have nothing to do with the common man. He was a scammer and an unprincipled whore dog like most politicians. And, your diminishing of the value of morality says volumes about you. Most people would look askance at someone who was banging a whore while his wife was on her death bed. Well, maybe not Democrats. You guys march to a different drummer that has little regard for morality or truth. I wish that they would quit playing games and re-name themselves the Socialist Party, but that would require being truthful and they are dead set against that...'confusing you is the nature of my game'.
Anonymous, enough with your ugly rhetoric pathetically disguised as "sage" advice. When I find myself in need of advice, I will seek it from one who possesses wisdom, humility and empathy. If you wish to spout your ignorant, arrogant and truly bizarre rhetoric, fine, but please don't direct it at me or others personally. I wish you luck in breaking that bad habit if you ever decide to try.
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