General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So is every complaint about Obama wrong? Or some people just don't like to hear them? [View all]quakerboy
(13,918 posts)I appreciate your indulging me. You don't have to prove anything to me, but I strongly appreciate that you took the time to do so.
Obviously there are things we disagree on. My perception is that the president has responded more clearly and decisively to criticism than he has to support. Its hard to feel that you will be heard/valued as an uncritical supporter in that sort of environment. And while I do write to our elected republicans (though they are fortunately rareish in my neck of the woods), that also does feel like a waste of time. They are not listening, not even a little, as far as I can tell. I make a point of pointing out their foibles to people in real life, which I figure is a more valuable use of my time.
I strongly disagree that all criticisms of the presidents policy are equal. Obviously, I would tend to feel that way since I don't like being lumped with republicans. But I feel that my critiques are valid, where the repub's and their media lackeys tend to just make shit up. I do also feel like DU should be a place where we can have an honest discussion of the pluses and minuses of the policy with others who are aware, who care about the issues. We may not always agree, but I prefer to believe we are all at least pushing in the same general direction, for the preservation or even improvement of our country. Outside of here is where I put on my game face, where I defend the president as best as I can honestly do. Mainly by pointing out the serious issues of any of the other "serious" contenders, and pointing out how much better he is than his predecessor.
You and I will both be voting for Obama in the next election. I would suppose that we also would both be voting for democrats all the way down ticket as well. I guess one significant point where we part ways, though, is that you feel we need to fight against Republicans and the corporate media, whereas I would phrase it differently, we need to fight for the betterment of our country. I would guess that 90% of the time these mean the same thing, but sometimes they probably lead us differently.
I wish that I could feel like you do. But I don't. I could easily, happily, support 65%. I tend toward quantifying things, so back in 2009, after the first wins and losses, when I was tempted toward despair, I quantified things. I wanted to avoid having purely emotional responses to each issue. 10 basic issues that I cared the most about, each with 3 basic options quantified at +1,0,-1. So an end score of 1 would be 55%, (-9 would be 5% and 10 would be 100%). Giving benefit of the doubt(assuming that the president refuse to lower taxes on the rich or raise the SS retirement age, even though he is being pushed on those issues), I end up with a score of -4. 30%, in other words. I dream of 65%. The only thing that allows me to keep going is that most likely republican challengers are all 0%.
I could be wrong, but my hope is that this internal warfare on DU is that it is much like any other family squabble. So much more vehement and virulent for the similarities and ties that hold us all together, and so much harder to step back from to consider the valid points of the other side because it is personal to the values we hold dear. When we can do things to be more real with each other, to actually talk to one another, I think it is a good and valuable thing, and I appreciate your taking the time to do so with me.