(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
On the Open Salon version of my previous entry, some right-winger who supports Obama kept trying to lay the blame for next year’s results on the left for failing to properly support the candidate who has done far more to pass the Republicans’ agenda than any GOP office-holder could have.
I am about certain Obama will be a one term president–and that one of the Republican clowns will win in 2012.
Most of the blame for that will fall with the unrealistic expectations and shortsightedness of people devoted to a progressive agenda.
Naturally, when pressed for what exactly is so unrealistic about expecting Obama to do the job he was elected to do, Mr. Right-Winger couldn’t answer, instead falling back on the tried and true tactic of replying with personal attacks, hoping to deflect attention away from the glaring lack of evidence to support his accusations. This is not surprising. Obamabots, lacking any substantive policy changes with which to defend their political messiah, frequently resort to attacking the messenger when it is pointed out that he has not lived up to his campaign promises.
The fact is that voter depression stems in large part from the failure – or refusal – of political parties to act in the public interest. Throw in vote-rigging (GOP) and ballot-rigging (Democrats), and it’s no wonder American voter turnout is among the lowest in the Western World. But always remember that the largest component in deciding the outcome of any election, no matter how corrupted, is what politicians do or don’t do in shaping the outcome from a policy standpoint.
In 2000, 2002, and 2004, the elections were successfully stolen primarily because the Democrats put up poor candidates, engaged in shoddy campaign strategies that left what should have been easy races competitive, but above all, continually acquiesced to Republicans on policy-making. From letting Medicare be partially privatized to supporting George W. Bush’s war against Iraq, to their confirming his fascist judicial nominees, Democrats demonstrated that they were not to be counted on to defend the public interest.
Voter anger at Republicans nevertheless built up, and in the 2006 and 2008 elections, handed Democrats the reigns of power. That the very next election cycle, 2010, saw massive voter backlash against Democrats had nothing to do with voter stupidity or unrealistic expectations – we know more about what’s going on than many pundits give us credit for – and everything to do with Democrats’ endless continuance and expansion of right-wing policies. It didn’t help that Obama and his party literally added insult to injury by taking rhetorical shots at legitimate complaints and threatening voters if they failed to turn out to maintain majorities in Congress.
One would think that Democrats and their sycophants capable of learning from their mistakes, which happen to be bad decisions to institutionalize right-wing policies, and those decisions were rationalized by nothing more than political hubris. When politicians break promises and then add fuel to the fire by attacking voters, we naturally don’t take kindly to it. We can and will punish those who use and abuse us. Given no alternatives but to vote for the same bad policies or not vote at all, many of us chose not to vote. What’s the point when nothing changes?
But try telling that to Obamabots and they will lash out with every bit as much invective as any follower of Bush and Cheney. That they refuse to acknowledge the folly of their ways, much less learn from it, says far more about them than it does about the American left.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rawrep…
This article was in Raw Story this morning–and Nader talks about “organizing” a primary challenge to the Sellout-in-Chief!
Here’s hoping he’ll go for it all-out. I, for one, will be supporting him (again) if he does…