progressive bad ass

[nikto]

24. My sentiments exactly, lark

Last edited Sat Jul 18, 2015, 10:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Obama is very much a mixed-bag (e.g. seeks peace with Iran and opening Cuba, over the attacks of the war-loving
neocons, but does drone-hits on "likely suspects" in Yemen and elsewhere).

Some folks on DU have a desperate need to see Obama as "pure", or something.
That is a false vision, IMO.

Obama is best appreciated without rose-colored glasses, but admittedly, it is hard for some folks
to acknowledge complexity in a public figure, and need to see a "Pure Hero", or something along those lines.

But some folks are able to accept some figures with complexity intact.
For me, a perfect example is FDR----He gave us the New Deal and many other great innovations
for The People (not elites).
But----FDR also would not accept the "Ship of Jews" seeking asylum, and most on that ship,
died in Nazi Germany, in the end.
Also, FDR permitted cannabis to be made illegal by self-serving corporate insiders' shenanigans
during his administration.
In addition, there is the horrendous Japanese Internment.

Those exceptions are bad, for sure.
But they do not keep me from appreciating the great GOOD that FDR did.

IMO, a similar viewpoint is necessary, and appropriate, for Obama.


I guess, like you, I just appreciate reality, with all its blemishes, more than glossing-over unpleasant truths just to
make something more palatable, by superimposing a false sense of "purity".

Heck, even Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus, and did some other political-hardball stuff to achieve his goals.
Flaws? Yes. But we still celebrate Lincoln as a Great Pres, and he totally deserves it, just like
Obama deserves credit for the best, and gutsiest, things he has done.