I am no longer a Democrat.

[DissidentVoice]

272. I echo some of this

I was over the moon when Bill Clinton was elected in '92.

"NOW," thought I, as a way-too-naive 26-year-old who had listened raptly as my elders talked about the days of FDR, "we'll get health care for all, a decent living wage, protection of Social Security, etc."

Man-oh-man, was I ever wrong.

After eight years of Reagan slash-and-burn and four years of Bush I constipated running-in-place, I had begun to despair for this country.

I watched in aghast horror as Bill Clinton rolled over and played dead on health care, jumped on the Republican bandwagon of "welfare reform" and adopted their language: "The era of 'big government' is over!"

I almost voted for Perot or stayed home in '96...but I voted for him again.

Then, of course, came the Era of Limbaugh, Gingrich-ism, Ken Starr, Al Gore going down to the appointed favourite son in 2000, fascism-lite with the USA Patriot Act, John Kerry getting Swift-boated...

Barack Obama is much better than the alternative (birthers, Trump, Romney, McSame, Palin). That must be said. But there's no way in hell he's the "socialist" he's made out to be by the far right. I wish he were! There's also no way he's an FDR-style Democrat...and I dearly wish he were.

I have to say that I was unprepared for the virulence of the hatred spewed at him by the far right. I knew it would be bad (they almost brought Clinton down) but I had hoped this country as a whole had moved past the horrid racial overtones that he's had thrown at him (not to mention his family).

However, he has disappointed me in some ways.

He did not push for single-payer care. The ACA is better than nothing, but it is not universal, and it keeps insurance companies in control.

He caved on the public option. Max Baucus thinking that even some Republicans would get on board with no public option was a false hope I never held.

He has not closed Guantanamo Bay. This was something he clearly campaigned on. George W. Bush's gulag is still open.

He has not moved to repeal the USA Patriot Act. In fact, he has extended it. That literally horrified me.

I don't expect the guy to be perfect; never did. But I did expect him to be a DEMOCRAT, not the "Republican-lite" we've been getting force-fed by the DLC.