A few words from the amateur left, if you please

I could rant about how stupid I think Robert Gibbs was to actually say what many think, but I'm not going to. Since I'm not a member of the professional left now or ever, it didn't apply to me. Let them fight the battle.

So I won't rant about Gibbs. But I want to say what drives me crazy. See that over there ? --> -->

Look at the headlines. Michelle Obama on a skewer, despondent Dems, dumbass ethics charges aimed at Maxine Waters and real ones aimed at Charlie Rangel, and the never, ever, ever ending drumbeat about how midterms are terrible, awful, just miserable for Democrats.

I call bullshit. I'm tired of hearing about how depressed the little Dems are, or how Elizabeth Warren MUST BE NOMINATED OR ELSE THE SKY WILL FALL. (BTW, I'm an Elizabeth Warren fan but my goodness -- she is not the sun and the moon and everything in between either!). I'm tired of hearing how the White House has screwed liberals. Screwed? Really?

Back when I was contemplating the end of my first marriage, I saw a therapist mostly because I was afraid of what divorce would do to our son. She shared a profound truth with me then, and it's stayed with me since. Here it is, for all of you:

No matter what you do or who you are, you'll screw it up somehow.

 She was absolutely right. For all the sound and fury, the only thing Barack Obama can count on is this: No matter what, he will piss someone off. The only question then becomes how to piss the fewest off and still get the job done.

Take the public option, for example. It remains the holy grail of grudges among the professional left. Nary a day goes by that I don't read something from someone using that as an example of what a failure he's been. Never mind that the public option, as crafted by this Congress, covered almost no one and was more of a gift to insurers than Americans. Never mind all that, because in the minds of the professional left, it is an example of the White House betrayal of those who elected him.

Never mind that it was Congress who sent it to him that way, it's still his fault.

No matter that this White House has set bright-line standards to release more documents faster under FOIA requests and normal declassification procedures. It just doesn't matter because no matter how much transparency there is, there's just not enough. It's not enough.

No matter that Iraq withdrawals are happening right on schedule from a war this President neither voted for or started. Never mind that in 18 days from now, the combat mission in Iraq is over. Don't pay any attention to that because dammit, we still have troops there and we're still fighting in Afghanistan.

And you know what? I don't want to have troops in either place but it's not as simple as just yanking them out after the last administration sent them in. When you see the generals using the press to jockey for more time in Afghanistan and the one person who has held them to a July, 2011 date not reacting to that, is it really appropriate to call him "Bloody Barack"? (and yes, there are some who do) What, exactly, does that accomplish? Maybe it would be worth backing him up on the July, 2011 date, stating support for his steadfastness to that date, instead of shooting arrows at the guy who made those generals commit to that date.

We liberals, Democrats, progressives, whatever you want to call us, are far better at criticizing than being supportive. Every accomplishment that comes gets a huzzah until it doesn't. Everything that doesn't happen fast enough is the fault of a President who is supposed to be Magic Man, capable of simply expressing his heart's desire and having it DONE! That simple, that fast. 

Look in your email and you'll see yet another petition DEMANDING -- yes, DEMANDING -- that something be done about this or that and it must be done now (with a donation of course) and please don't forget that Elizabeth Warren MUST be nominated and then when she is, watch the worry beads twiddle over whether the White House is supporting her enough because if WE WANT IT everyone should want it and the Senate should just bend like willow branches to the Will of the People as Expressed by Those on the Internet.

When do we start choosing our battles, Democrats? When do we start deciding that if WE want change, we prioritize what is really important and set aside what can be done with a better Congress and a more engaged electorate?

Midterms are about 80 days from now. You want DADT repealed? (Yes, yes I do) Elect Senators that are going to do it. Work your butts off to get them elected if you can. You want a REAL climate bill? Don't let Speaker Boehner be our November reality. You want Guantanamo closed and Afghanistan to begin to wind down in July, 2011? Stand up and support what your elected President has already made those generals commit to.

You want a public option? A REAL public option? Make sure the Democrats in the House after November, 2010 are more progressive, more engaged, more unified. Make sure the Senators understand that this public option is a priority that they can't filibuster to death no matter what their party affiliation is. 

You want jobs? More government jobs to stimulate the economy and get people back to work who stand almost no chance of being re-hired by anyone else? (That would be women over the age of 50, by the way...) Then get rid of the blockage in the legislative branch and lay off the executive branch long enough to see that happen.

I can't guarantee even then it will happen, but I can promise you it has better odds than just taking a bunch of pot shots at the guy in the White House who has to draw priorities every single day and figure out which ones can actually be done, and which ones cannot, or cannot be done at this time.

There is a vast difference between putting pressure on someone or even holding them accountable, and behaving like the teabaggers do. Taking every issue, no matter how small, and assuming that the President that YOU elected and YOU supported is out to screw you or compromise or sell out is not holding someone accountable. It's whining, and laying out an insatiable thirst for whatever cannot be had. It's what the opposition does.

Holding someone accountable means using reason to argue against their approach. Reasonable people can differ. The majority of this country isn't putting everything the White House does under a microscope, but the majority is watching Fox News or one of their affiliates. Reinforcing the Fox News meme-of-the-day, or right-wing tropes is not a pathway to success, nor is it holding anyone accountable. Nor is it particularly effective, just as Robert Gibbs' little rant wasn't particularly effective (if it was even done for the benefit of the "professional left", which I doubt.)

Here's my prediction: Elizabeth Warren will be nominated. The President will receive a message from the vocal left that 'it's about time'. No real kudos because dammit, he took so long to do what WE all know is obvious. Republicans will obstruct. It's what they do. But instead of telling all those Fox watchers out there who is REALLY the obstruction, some will simply be hangdog miserable and blame the White House for not blackmailing, begging, arm-twisting or otherwise exerting their imperial will on the Senate, where it is likely to stall. 

The only constant over the past 18 months -- indeed, the past 30 months, even -- has been Barack Obama's message (we can do better, we can work together, change is possible, we are the change, this is what change looks like...). He hasn't changed, but we have, and in many cases, not for the better and not in a way that serves our own best interests.

He didn't promise a revolution. That's the teabaggers' message. He promised change, and change has happened. What happens next is entirely up to us.

p.s. Elizabeth Warren will disappoint the professional left, too. You heard it here first. She is but a mere mortal, and cannot possibly live up to the ideal or even the pedestal she's on right now.

Comments

[sarah]

Could not agree w/ you more. I knew it was inevitable after the euphoria of Obama's election & inauguration that the second the fever pitch of enthusiasm started to wane, Obama would be blamed for not changing the world in his first 100 days.

[Blue Gal]

Robert Gibbs comment was completely insulting to outside the beltway progressives who worked to elect this President. If he's talking about inside the beltway progressive lobbyists he should have said so up front. For him to say single payer is impractical and we want to eliminate the Pentagon is crass and bad form from someone who is supposed to be the messenger for the person who this past MONTH told us to hold him accountable and hold his feet to the fire.

I too am disappointed that Elizabeth Warren is being dangled in front of the left like Lucy's football. Either appoint her or don't.

PS in honor of Gibbs, we renamed our weekly podcat "The Professional Left." Our latest podcast also covers the Gibbs thing, obviously. http://professionalleft.blogspot.com.

I don't think the dichotomy is professional versus amateur, it's professional versus unprofessional. For Gibbs to attack the base and our stand on issues like healthcare as if we're out of touch losers? That's unprofessional, especially a hundred days before the midterms.

[jacksmith]

I'M PROUD OF YOU LABOR!. Keep standing up. The lives and health of all the American people and the World are in serious jeopardy.

Further, unemployment healthcare benefits are critically needed. But they should be provided through the Medicare program at cost, less the 65% government premium subsidy provided now to private for profit health insurance.

Congress should stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money on private for profit health insurance subsidies. Subsidies that cost the taxpayer 10x as much or more than Medicare does. Private for profit health insurance plans cost more. But provide dangerous and poorer quality patient care.

It's over. Tell congress to get the healthcare Merchants of death and injury out of the American peoples lives for good. 2010 is about THE PUBLIC OPTION!

And that CORRUPT! UNDEMOCRATIC! filibuster must GO! NOW!

Alan Grayson Honors The Dead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV9TRoYMtjs&feature=player_embedded

Alan Grayson on Healthcare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpQ2MNaSDo&feature=player_embedded

Ron Sparks HealthCareReform http://youtu.be/kqlBFRJh4Cw

John Garamendi - The Public Option http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyBTEke68aQ&feature=player_embedded

I want to commend all of you for working so hard and being so strong at helping the whitehouse and congress begin to address our U.S. and Global healthcare crisis. You have been AWESOME! my fellow Americans and peoples of the World. America and the World is better and safer for it. My greatest pride is the knowledge that I am one of you. And that you really get it. You really understand the importance of it all.

There are some potentially very good things in the healthcare legislation. Especially with the reconciliation fix’s. The Democrats, Bernie Sanders and the Whitehouse did a GREAT! job of fighting to produce the best healthcare legislation that they could. They have earned all our strong support. And we should give it to them.

But it was your relentless pressure and hard work that made the difference. Whatever good comes from this healthcare legislation, America and the peoples of the World will have each of you to thank. You were smart, creative, courageous and relentless. You fought together for the best legislation possible. And when you had to, you fought alone. No matter who stumbled and fell you continued to push and forge ahead. Fighting for the lives and health of the American people and the World. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOUR-SELVES :-)

It may come to pass that future generations will look back on us and say that we were ALL Americas Greatest Generations. And that healthcare reform was our finest hour. You should be proud of our leaders President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the many other Democratic and independent fighters for the people in congress. They proved them-self worthy of the leadership of a GREAT! PEOPLE.

But we are not done yet. This was just the beginning of healthcare reform, not the end. WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, ARE NOT! divided on healthcare legislation. The vast majority of you have been consistently crystal clear that this legislation does not go far enough. You want a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE!! available to everyone on day one. And you want it NOW!

YOU MUST NOT ALLOW AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO STAND WITHOUT A STRONG GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION CHOICE! AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.

WE THE PEOPLE have been crystal clear that we want an end to dependence on for-profit healthcare and the for-profit proxies called private for non-profit healthcare. The American people want the CHOICE! of a strong Government-run Public Option to replace their need or dependence on healthcare providers whose primary motivation is profit. Rather than providing the highest quality, easiest accessible and most affordable medically necessary healthcare possible. This is what the rest of the developed World has. And the American people want it too. They want healthcare ASSURANCE! Not, for-profit health insurance. And they want it NOW!

Now is the time to continue the push for a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE! available to everyone that wants it on day one. Rationally it’s clear what we have to do to get this done. SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATS that supported you with a Public Option choice, and REMOVE as many republicans as you can. Not one republican in congress was willing to step across the isle to support a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE!! available to everyone on day one. NOT ONE! Let no candidate prevail this November that does not support a Strong Government-run Public Option.

47,000 AMERICANS die each year from lack of healthcare. 120,000 die from treatable illness that don’t die in other developed countries. Hundreds of thousands of you are dieing from medical accidents in a rush to profit. And Millions of you are injured. Millions more are driven into bankruptcy. All for the privilege of paying two to three times as much as any other people in the developed world for healthcare. HOGWASH!

Additionally, tens of thousands of you and your children were killed and millions sickened and injured from a terror attack with H1N1 (swine flu). Released on the American people and the World by the for-profit healthcare industry. All in an attempt to panic and frighten you into accepting the oxymoronic criminal enterprise of private for-profit healthcare (The most costly, deadly, dangerous, and disgraceful product sold in America). H1N1 is still sickening people and killing them. Especially children, the young and the middle aged. And there will be a third wave. These are the terrorist you need to worry about the most. Even the so-called international terrorist would not do something so INSANE! But greed driven medical profiteers would and did.

Apparently as far as republicans in GOVERNMENT are concerned, YOU! my fellow Americans – CAN JUST DROP DEAD! Including their own family members. Fools!... Hundreds of thousands of you, and possibly millions of you will die from the long-term effects of your infection and poisoning with H1N1.

So my fellow Human Beings. Rest-up, Take good care of the basics (Balanced nutrition, hydration, exercise, rest and POSITIVE emotional supports). Then wade back into the FIGHT! for a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE! available to everyone on day one. Drug re-importation, Abolishment or strong restrictions on patents for biologic and prescription drugs. And government controlled and negotiated drug and medical cost. You must take back control of your healthcare system from the Medical Industrial Complex. You MUST do it NOW! This is a matter of National and Global security. There can be NO MORE EXCUSES.

God Bless You My Fellow Human Beings. I’m glad to know of you. And proud to be one of you.

See you on the battle field.

Sincerely

jacksmith – WorkingClass :-)

[Karoli]

Bluegal,

This is why I leave Gibbs to you. I have no argument with the anger at his remarks. His comments were insulting. But remember, it wasn't only the professional left who worked at it. A lot of us amateurs did too. A lot of us who convinced reluctant and disenfranchised Republicans to cross the fence into blue territory. That's part of what I'm trying to say. We ALL had a hand in it, and if we keep shooting at Obama the message we send out to the rest of the world who also voted is that we blew it, and we should've just let McCain win while we waited for a better, more aggressive, harsher arm-twister.

[Debbie]

Karoli, thank you for injecting some much-needed sanity into the discussion/whining.