Sometime a little after noon on Thursday, January 21 — two days after a previously unknown pinup boy and Republican state senator in Massachusetts single-handedly destroyed the Democratic Party by winning a special election to replace Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — KMBZ 980's conservative talk-show host Darla Jaye signed on to her Twitter account, where she is known to post astute political commentary.
"Even the Germans see that Hope and Change is Hopeless!" she wrote, including a link to a media outlet. "Obama=FAIL!"
Darla's tweet sent her followers to Spiegel Online International, where the headline reported: "The World Bids Farewell to Obama." A photo depicted the president with his head hung and his hand across his eyes as if he were about to start crying. (It's a tight shot, so he could have been looking down to read the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act or some other piece of socialist legislation.) Anyway, he did not look happy. The caption? "U.S. President Barack Obama suffered a painful defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday. With mid-term elections looming, it means that Obama will have to fundamentally re-think his political course. German commentators say it is the end of hope."
The end of hope!
In fairness to Jaye, we know that she wouldn't really revel in the death of "hope" and "change" — at least as concepts that denote healthy impulses in human nature and history. We know this because of "The Big Tease," Alan Scherstuhl's excellent profile of Jaye in the December 10, 2009, edition of The Pitch. Discussing racism, Jaye told Scherstuhl that wasn't the reason her listeners didn't like the president. "The vast majority of people who listen to my show don't like him because of his policies or his associations, or because they feel he wasn't qualified for the job. They don't like him because he won by just saying hope and change, change and hope for a year."
But wait — scrap that "in fairness to Jaye," because "just saying hope and change, change and hope" was not the only reason Obama won. There were, after all, those two wars that the previous president had started (where was Rep. Joe Wilson to yell "You lie!" when George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?) and an economy gurgling down the crapper. Just to name a couple.
A majority of Americans voted rationally. And then a rabble of sign-carrying loudmouths started getting hysterical, and the flaccid, worn-out, gutted (and gutless) national media started taking the hysteria way more seriously than it deserved. And the big-money interests that bankroll Congress dug in against change.
And the Democratic establishment blinked.
In that sense, the death of hope came long before Scott Somebody's election to the U.S. Senate last week.
Apologies for bursting the right wing's gleeful bubble of delusion, then, but the country's politics aren't swinging their way because Obama "over-reached," to use one of Republican strategists' most effective buzzwords. Democrats are in trouble because they've been pussies.
And they know it.
"Our base of people who put Obama in office don't feel like the national Democratic Party is following through, so they have no reason to come out and support our candidates," admits Stephen Bough, chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Committee.
"We're supposed to dance with the one that brung us," Bough says. "The people who wanted universal health care — we've sold them down the river. The folks who want to see us out of war — we could be doing something besides escalating wars. Union folks want an equal chance to have their votes heard on unionization. Schoolteachers want reforms to education. The gays and lesbians who stood up and fought for the Democrats have every reason to feel abandoned — the administration, by executive order, could get rid of 'don't ask, don't tell.' Politicians need to give a damn about their supporters and the issues that are important to those people."
Showing 1-14 of 14
I came to this one late, but perhaps I'll have the last word. Besides, nothing has changed. The article is quite correct that Obama essentially discarded many of the base supporters who put him in the White House. Yes, we're still handing out money to Wall Street (Just YESTERDAY Freddy Mac announced it wants 10.5 BILLION dollars more due to unspecified losses, and it turns out that the Bailout 'money' that GM supposedly paid back was actually returned in the form of more GM stock shares), yes, we're still in Gitmo, yes, we still have two wars going (same two running back when Europe gave Obama his Nobel Peace Prize! When I saw him reach out to take that prize in his two BLOOD-STAINED HANDS, I almost cried). Obama hasn't done SQUAT for the poor of ANY race, certainly not Black folks, and now he'd like to provide AMNESTY for some 17 to 30 million poorly educated Illegal Aliens who form, as a group, the greatest competition for jobs for poorly educated Blacks trying to get a start in life. As to the Gays and the military, are Gay people all total and complete IDIOTS? Did Gays not listen at ALL to the words of Rev Wright - Obama's minister for twenty years? Did Gays not see the coalition of Black ministers meeting with Obama CONSTANTLY during the campaign? Have you NO idea how Black religious Christians view Gays? (To say NOTHING of how Black religious MUSLIMS look at Gays...) I realize that the bulk of this man's past life has been carefully hidden away (And just exactly WHY can't I know which hospital he was born in?), but these known associates make it quite clear that the most the Gays will ever get out of Obama is a place to dispose of their unused cash. Cheer up, though dears, I muchly doubt that the Republicans give two shits about you either, so at least this way you've had some HOPE for a CHANGE for a while, HAHAHA......suckers. In the final analysis, though, Obama is a STATIST, and believes in the merging of the interests of the state with corporate interests. That is why the first groups he met with on Health 'Reform' were all Industry groups, not Consumer groups. The industry groups LOVED what he did with health 'reform' (viz.- that there actually IS no true reform, and all of their past profit points are guaranteed for the future. No cheaper foreign drug importation, no tort reform, no actual cost controls, no government option, and 20 - 30 million 'new subscribers' who now HAVE to pay their health insurance premiums, or Obama will send them to jail!). Obama got more Wall Street contributions than McCain during the election, and the Corporations have been generally more generous to Democrats than to Republicans. Don't worry, though,they'll get it returned one hundred-fold in the form of special deals and tax breaks, etc. The problem for the people, is that when Gov't and Business collude, the consumer is inevitably the loser. The other name for this sort of Big Gov't Statist collusion is Fascism, and we all know how well THAT worked out for the citizens of Italy.....
I came to this one late, but perhaps I'll have the last word. Besides, nothing has changed. The article is quite correct that Obama essentially discarded many of the base supporters who put him in the White House. Yes, we're still handing out money to Wall Street (Just YESTERDAY Freddy Mac announced it wants 10.5 BILLION dollars more due to unspecified losses, and it turns out that the Bailout 'money' that GM supposedly paid back was actually returned in the form of more GM stock shares), yes, we're still in Gitmo, yes, we still have two wars going (same two running back when Europe gave Obama his Nobel Peace Prize! When I saw him reach out to take that prize in his two BLOOD-STAINED HANDS, I almost cried). Obama hasn't done SQUAT for the poor of ANY race, certainly not Black folks, and now he'd like to provide AMNESTY for some 17 to 30 million poorly educated Illegal Aliens who form, as a group, the greatest competition for jobs for poorly educated Blacks trying to get a start in life. As to the Gays and the military, are Gay people all total and complete IDIOTS? Did Gays not listen at ALL to the words of Rev Wright - Obama's minister for twenty years? Did Gays not see the coalition of Black ministers meeting with Obama CONSTANTLY during the campaign? Have you NO idea how Black religious Christians view Gays? (To say NOTHING of how Black religious MUSLIMS look at Gays...) I realize that the bulk of this man's past life has been carefully hidden away (And just exactly WHY can't I know which hospital he was born in?), but these known associates make it quite clear that the most the Gays will ever get out of Obama is a place to dispose of their unused cash. Cheer up, though dears, I muchly doubt that the Republicans give two shits about you either, so at least this way you've had some HOPE for a CHANGE for a while, HAHAHA......suckers. In the final analysis, though, Obama is a STATIST, and believes in the merging of the interests of the state with corporate interests. That is why the first groups he met with on Health 'Reform' were all Industry groups, not Consumer groups. The industry groups LOVED what he did with health 'reform' (viz.- that there actually IS no true reform, and all of their past profit points are guaranteed for the future. No cheaper foreign drug importation, no tort reform, no actual cost controls, no government option, and 20 - 30 million 'new subscribers' who now HAVE to pay their health insurance premiums, or Obama will send them to jail!). Obama got more Wall Street contributions than McCain during the election, and the Corporations have been generally more generous to Democrats than to Republicans. Don't worry, though,they'll get it returned one hundred-fold in the form of special deals and tax breaks, etc. The problem for the people, is that when Gov't and Business collude, the consumer is inevitably the loser. The other name for this sort of Big Gov't Statist collusion is Fascism, and we all know how well THAT worked out for the citizens of Italy.....
"More susinctly: WE WERE ATTACKED!"
We weren't attacked by Iraq, half-wit. We were attacked by our "allies" Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
By your logic, anyone who gets mugged should be able to go out on the street and shoot a random pedestrian.
"More susinctly: WE WERE ATTACKED!" We weren't attacked by Iraq, half-wit. We were attacked by our "allies" Saudi Arabia and Egypt. By your logic, anyone who gets mugged should be able to go out on the street and shoot a random pedestrian.
Dear Kansas Voter, sorry to confuse you with the facts. Oh, btw, I'm not republican.
Dear Kansas Voter, sorry to confuse you with the facts. Oh, btw, I'm not republican.
Why is it that republicans are so brain-dead? "Dale Cavanaugh" and "JustyneTyme" are perfect examples. Dale believes silly lies about health care reform and Juntyne is spouting off ignorant right-wingnut talking points about george bush's War Of Terror. THESE are the idiots that Obama is listening to, not his supporters, and that's why he's losing support. The republicans in Washington will never compromise, so fuck 'em. The Democrats have more than enough votes to pass some good legislation, so if they don't start ignoring the republicans they're not gonna get any votes from anybody. They'll never get republicans to vote for them, and they're doing a great job making sure that no Democrats will want to vote for them either.
Why is it that republicans are so brain-dead? "Dale Cavanaugh" and "JustyneTyme" are perfect examples. Dale believes silly lies about health care reform and Juntyne is spouting off ignorant right-wingnut talking points about george bush's War Of Terror. THESE are the idiots that Obama is listening to, not his supporters, and that's why he's losing support. The republicans in Washington will never compromise, so fuck 'em. The Democrats have more than enough votes to pass some good legislation, so if they don't start ignoring the republicans they're not gonna get any votes from anybody. They'll never get republicans to vote for them, and they're doing a great job making sure that no Democrats will want to vote for them either.
Wow. "There were, after all, those two wars that the previous president had started (where was Rep. Joe Wilson to yell "You lie!" when George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?)" President Bush didn't "start" any war. Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, several embassys, kidnapped and killed American missionaries in the Phillipines, and plowed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. More susinctly: WE WERE ATTACKED! Weapons of mass destruction? Talk to Syria about all those middle of the night convoys from Iraq while the US grovelled before the UN.
As for Cleaver, he's going back to his days as councilman and mayor: the people just don't understand. Yes we do understand. Bailouts don't work, loans to people who have no hope of everpaying them back don't work, taxing banks that succeed to support car companies that fail doesn't work, taxing business with the idea you are punishing the business doesn't work it only spreads the pain down to the consumer. And by the way where is my $92,000 for your trip to Copenhagen to spew carbon dioxide about how bad carbon dioxide is?
Finally I hate to break it to you, but job losses started before 2001. Can anyone say "tech bubble".
I found your statement more of a rah rah for the far Left than anything else. Have you really talked with people about whether or not they are for this outrage that the Democrats are trying to railroad us with? Health Reform is nothing but another tax on the middle Class. I wonder if you have even read it? I know for a fact that Congressman Cleaver has not, but he still felt like he can vote for it even though he doesn't have the time to analyze it.
During the election I remember Barack Obama wanted change. We were not going to railroad any legislation through without full disclosure and even debate that will be fully televised. No special deals, no behind closed doors legislation, and most importantly we were going to listen to what the people think. Well so much for that, we have politics as usual being performed by our elected officials.
If you really want change and sacrifice why not begin were the true corruption lies? Do away with all retirement funds for past presidents and legislators. Immediately cut all federal wages a minimum of 10% and 25% for those earning $100,000. or more per year. No bonuses or wage increases until we have a balanced budget. No legislator may vote on a bill that he or she has not read and there has been a televised debate. Before a vote each legislator must sign a statement that they have read these bills and fully understand them. Make it illegal to have paid lobbyists in the White House or Congress.
Lead by example and not by false promises made during a gloosy speech. Promises made and not kept is polotics as usual and the only change you have is the name of the person making the promise.
DC/KC
Wow. "There were, after all, those two wars that the previous president had started (where was Rep. Joe Wilson to yell "You lie!" when George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?)" President Bush didn't "start" any war. Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, several embassys, kidnapped and killed American missionaries in the Phillipines, and plowed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. More susinctly: WE WERE ATTACKED! Weapons of mass destruction? Talk to Syria about all those middle of the night convoys from Iraq while the US grovelled before the UN. As for Cleaver, he's going back to his days as councilman and mayor: the people just don't understand. Yes we do understand. Bailouts don't work, loans to people who have no hope of everpaying them back don't work, taxing banks that succeed to support car companies that fail doesn't work, taxing business with the idea you are punishing the business doesn't work it only spreads the pain down to the consumer. And by the way where is my $92,000 for your trip to Copenhagen to spew carbon dioxide about how bad carbon dioxide is? Finally I hate to break it to you, but job losses started before 2001. Can anyone say "tech bubble".
I found your statement more of a rah rah for the far Left than anything else. Have you really talked with people about whether or not they are for this outrage that the Democrats are trying to railroad us with? Health Reform is nothing but another tax on the middle Class. I wonder if you have even read it? I know for a fact that Congressman Cleaver has not, but he still felt like he can vote for it even though he doesn't have the time to analyze it. During the election I remember Barack Obama wanted change. We were not going to railroad any legislation through without full disclosure and even debate that will be fully televised. No special deals, no behind closed doors legislation, and most importantly we were going to listen to what the people think. Well so much for that, we have politics as usual being performed by our elected officials. If you really want change and sacrifice why not begin were the true corruption lies? Do away with all retirement funds for past presidents and legislators. Immediately cut all federal wages a minimum of 10% and 25% for those earning $100,000. or more per year. No bonuses or wage increases until we have a balanced budget. No legislator may vote on a bill that he or she has not read and there has been a televised debate. Before a vote each legislator must sign a statement that they have read these bills and fully understand them. Make it illegal to have paid lobbyists in the White House or Congress. Lead by example and not by false promises made during a gloosy speech. Promises made and not kept is polotics as usual and the only change you have is the name of the person making the promise. DC/KC
Damn, C.J. - tell us how you really feel.
Not that the Dems don't richly deserve being slapped around like this - I just wasn't expecting you to be the one doing the slapping. Martin better get his game on - the stakes have just been raised bigtime. Bravo.
Damn, C.J. - tell us how you really feel. Not that the Dems don't richly deserve being slapped around like this - I just wasn't expecting you to be the one doing the slapping. Martin better get his game on - the stakes have just been raised bigtime. Bravo.
like
dislike
