Since I'm not above quoting myself, here's what I put on Facebook this morning:
Classmate: Marvin, if you were taken hostage, would you want Obama negotiating your release?
Me: That depends. Who's holding me hostage, Bin Laden or the Tea Party?
What I mean by this is that President Obama is far more likely to adopt a high-risk, high-reward strategy in foreign affairs than in domestic affairs. This continuially astounds me, but I'm not sure why.
After all, candidate Obama promised to focus the fighting on Afghanistan, and even stated he'd be willing to cross the border into Pakistan to get Bin Laden, an idea which John McCain called crazy.
But as for the home front, didn't Obama color us purple in that electrifying speech at the Democratic Convention? Didn't he say that we've got some gay friends in red states, and we worship an awesome God in blue states?
I guess Obama believes that every Gadsden flag waving Tea Partier also has a rainbow flag somewhere up in the attic. In that case, let's give 'em what they want. If they're happy; I'm happy.
This is very disappointing deal on many levels. It's disappointing that Obama didn't get the grand bargain he was looking for. Our welfare state is unsustainable, and it will take a mixture of tax increases and benefit cuts to shore up the solvency of Medicare and Social Security. Boo on the Republicans for choosing fealty to Grover Norquist over good governance.
But once it became clear that the Republican leadership couldn't control a fringe element within its ranks that actually wanted to destroy the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, Obama should have walked away from the table. He didn't need this deal to avoid default. He had other options. Boo on Obama for choosing fealty to his carefully cultivated post-partisan aura over good governance.
Now we have a deal that cuts government spending in the short term, but doesn't really do anything about the long term debt. All this will do is weaken our already fragile economy, which will simply balloon the deficit. Sheesh.
And Boo on Obama for cutting off his supporters at the knees. In 2009 he emailed us, asking us to contact our Congressman and demand a public option in the health care reform bill. So I did. And then he took the public option off the table, in exchange for nothing from the Republicans.
This past week it was wash, rinse and repeat. He asked us twice to contact our Congressman and demand a balanced approach to debt reduction. So I did. And then he agreed to a plan with no new revenues.
Obama said he felt like he'd been left at the altar by the GOP leadership. Well, he's left his own supporters at the altar. This is not the kind of leadership that rallies the troops. Sure, I'll vote for him next year, but why should I work for him (donating, volunteering, canvassing) when he's not working for us?
I need a break from politics. Too much drama. It's still summer. There's weeds to be pulled, and beaches to visit.
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