President Obama has won

[brush]

172. Do you really want to know when I voted for a Democrat?

Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2013, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

I didn't vote for Jimmy Carter — try Gus Hall. Know who that is?

Your post reminds me of some words from a Billie Holiday song "Crazy he Calls Me."
Here's a link:

It goes something like this: "The difficult I'll do right now, the impossible will take a little while."

I remember early in his first term when many progressives turned against him, basically out of impatience because he hadn't gotten around to fixing "their issue" yet. Even the repugs feigned impatience also because after a few months he hadn't fixed everything Bush/Cheney screwed up, even as they attempted to block every move he made (yet he still got an amazing amount of things done, including the ACA which had eluded every president since Teddy Roosevelt).

That impatience caused us the 2010 election and the House as many of those so-called progressives deserted him and the party as they stayed home on election day because they were pissed.

He's not up for re-election again but 2014 is coming and deja vue seems to be repeating itself. I don't recall a sitting dem president ever getting so much harsh criticism from those in his own party — much of it seems to be unvarnished hatred even, I'll even go there by mentioning the "R" word. This stuff is unprecedented.

As far as President Obama, of course I voted for him twice. One thing that O supporters who seem to have turned against him forget is that being a senator or rep, and being PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF EMPIRE and all that that entails, bring vastly different forces to grapple with.

As a senator or rep one has the luxury to sit back and be in opposition, or support for that matter of US policies without being the one who has to make the tough decisions and take the kudos or consequences of success or failure. The pres has to deal with hawkish generals, their equally hawkish corporate arms manufacturers who want the humongous profits wars bring, their paid-for congresspersons and senators, and all the war-drumming punditry, not to mention blue dogs and progressives from his own party with little patience.

No one who takes the job of President thinks they have free reign to immediately to make changes to our decades (over a century really) of empire, and fomenting of coups and wars and occupations and assassinations, et al. This president with his flipping of the script on the Syria crisis by throwing it congress has shown a willingness, imo, of pulling back on the unitary executive mandate that Bush/Cheney reveled in. To me he's shown he doesn't want the "boots on the ground" macho exercises of US power that went before him. With this Syria thing he's shown how to use US power without firing a shot.

You think Afghanistan is an easy problem to solve? No country has went into there without coming out badly weakened — the Soviet Union/Russia included. Of course drones are reprehensible but I feel he's trying to extricate us from that mess with the weapons at his disposal.

As far as Africa, sure I want him to adjust our policies, to bring our whole country to an awareness that there is a huge continent across the Atlantic that attention must be paid to, that our persistence derogation of a continent because of the color of its inhabitants skin is a huge missed opportunity for trade that the Chinese are exploiting.

He has to have time. He's been in office 4-plus years. The impossible — turning around acentury of empire and fomenting of coups and wars and occupations and assassinations, et al — will take a little while. Way more than 4-plus years.