By GARY BAUMGARTEN
When George W. Bush was president there was such an outrage over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of prisoners held indefinitely at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. But now that Barack Obama is commander-in-chief those voices are largely muted.
Obama promised change. But the change he promised hasn't come. And now those who supported the status quo when Bush was president are attacking Obama. And those who attacked Bush are silent when it comes to the current president.
This is the problem with partisan politics today. People who protest or support one position or another are often disingenuous. It's not really because they are for or against an issue. It's because their guy is or isn't in office making the decisions.
Many people who are so angry with Obama, or so silent since Bush left office, may not even realize that they are being played by one political party or the other.
The latest example of deafening silence from those who were so vocal over Gitmo is evident today. It was revealed this week that, for the third time, a federal judge hasupheld the indefinite holding without due process a detainee at Guantanamo. Had Bush been the one seeking and obtaining the ruling, there would be people marching in the streets. But now that Obama is president, there is only silence.
Likewise, there's been very little said about the massive numbers of deportations of illegal immigrants by the Obama administration. You'd think from the rhetoric that the current administration is opening the borders and inviting undocumented aliens in. People who posture this way long for the good old days of George W. Bush, who stood up to illegal aliens.
But the reality is that more people have been deported since Obama took office than were sent back home during the same time frame by the Bush administration.
Until we as a nation are willing to hold our representatives accountable - whether they are members of the parties we support or not - this kind of duplicity will continue.
If you were one of the 10s of thousands who marched against the wars and the erosion of civil rights when Bush was president, ask yourself why you've mothballed your protest signs now. If you're honest about how you answer yourself, I;m betting you'll admit that you've let your partisan leanings take precedence over principle.
Like dealing with addiction, admitting we have a problem is the first step. It's time for us to take it.
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Also, Bush 43 wanted the latino vote so border enforcement was put on the back burner.
Same goes. Rated.
Why would adults feel the need to pick sides and stick with them no matter what?
I get loyalty to family or friends or even some sports team, but to some team democrat or team republican?
Always good to see someone exposing the truth of the matter.
Let's look at this clearly. Obama has fulfilled or is in the process of fulfilling most of his pre-election promises. No president has ever been able to fulfill ALL of his pre-election promises, and this includes Obama.
This sharp disappointment many people feel is at THEIR OWN EXPECTATIONS not coming about with Obama in the White House. He has not lived up to THEIR hopes.
So if these people would step back and take a look at what Obama actually promised to try to do and separate it from what they hoped he would do, they'll find out why he seems such a "disappointment" to them. If you expect a mere man to walk on water, you are setting yourself up for disappointment, y'know?
And if the electorate is unable to determine the "incompetence" of the candidates, we have the same failure. Yet I know of no way to determine their level of competence when pretty much all of the information that I can obtain about them is derived from self-serving advertising.
Nor is Obama a total surprise or the huge disappointment some make him out to be. He did his fair share of war-mongering on the campaign trail, and now that has come home to roost.
Fact: Until the wars and overseas adventures have stopped, the nearly 1000 military bases outside our borders have been closed, you can forget progressive niceties like universal health care. (Yes, the country is going broke, with good reason. )
Even if war doesn't trouble you so much, it doesn't rate high on your list of liberal sensibilities, as a mere practical matter, for now you're better off voting for someone who is serious about dismantling the Empire (Ron Paul 2012, anyone?).
Call it limousine liberalism. Now that too many people are driving Chevys (so to speak)or walking, principles be damned.
Well said!!
if you want a government responsive to the will of the people, you must have democracy. elective oligarchy simply will not work.
Yesterday CBC broadcast the Academy Award winning documentary "taxi to the dark side"; it will never be shown on any channel in America's "free and independent" media.
American media remains muzzled but the attack dogs at Bagram and Abu Ghraib and who knows how many other secret prisons are kept unmuzzled.
Media manipulation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kureFeGmoDI
What?? Am I the only one remembers the effing impeachment?
In the case of Monica Lewinski, that was not sexual harassment. She was essentially chasing him.
And if you will recall, he was acquitted by the Senate. You can get the details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton
Bill Clinton did not resign from office, as Bob Packwood was forced to do. Nor am I aware that any Democrats were calling for him to do so, nor were the National Organization of Women (NOW) calling for him to do so. Nor did they call for Senator Inoue's resignation, who had been accused of sexual harassment as Republican Senator Packwood had been. And if you will recall, I said that it was probably right that he was charged. But it was not right that it was strictly a partisan, political charge, not brought against Democrats likewise accused of the same sorts of misdeeds by the "morally outraged" group of screaming meemies with their endless litany of "He just doesn't get it!" as were arrayed against
Packwood. Let's be honest. Sexual harassment deserves it's just penalty. In ALL cases! Not just those serving the Democratic left's political agenda.
What's really the problem, though, is our own weakness. We need to cut the Democratic Party adrift. I don't know if a new Progressive Party is the answer; I'm more inclined to think a non-partisan movement not dependent on or catering to a political party might be a better approach.