The "new" liberal?

If there’s any criticism I have for the Obama Administration it is that they are slow to fight. Sure, we know the President is “Mr. Cool” and has been accused of being “aloof” but either/or, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to play poker with him. That said, summer 2009 totally blindsided his adminstration. All that crazy Tea Party/Town Hall Insanity caught everyone by surprise just as much as Seattle in 1999. You did have to enjoy much of it; my personal favorites were “Get your government hands off my Medicare” and of course, Barney Frank and the dingbat that asked about the president’s “Nazi policies”


Now this whole Shirley Sherrod gets to me. Now I am not one to be particularly politically ideological and I try to avoid it as there’s money to be made in investments if you get passed it; just look at Ford Motor Companny’s stock price since late 08–some assholes believed the US Auto Industry was “going down”. I do look as politics as sport, and like any sport, one bad call or play changes things often dramatically. The Right Wing laid the bait and the Obama Administration BIT. Not only did they bite but they bit HOOK, LINE, and SINKER. Sherrod was fired because nobody did their homework. Do the Obama people look stupid? YES. The tide went out and those not wearing bathing suits got caught.

I think many in Washington are forgetting something: “Liberals” have changed. They’re not the bleeding heart, “Free Mumia”, “we have all the answers but won’t fight” like they were in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. What happened to them?

Two things: first, the baby boomers got old and financial reality set in but many still “have all the answers and won’t fight”. Many of them just seem “whiny” like Maureen Dowd of The New York Times. I will admit though, I enjoy reading her column however, I do not think she is a good talker and is weak in backing her stuff up when it comes time to “talk” on TV. She is a BABE though. How about the ones that think Jimmy Carter was a “very good President”? Yeah, real genius: Stagflation, Three Mile Island, Bert Lance (remember the old joke? What does Bert Lance and a DC 10 have in common? They’re two wide bodies that were both grounded), and the Iranian Hostage Crisis. That's MY MEMORY of Jimmy Carter's Presidency. A 9 year old shouldn't know that Hodding Carter is State Department spokesman but he was on TV EVERYDAY.

Second, they sold out and became “Centrists” (Bill Clinton b.1946), “Conservatives” (Michael Novak—not a boomer but a 1960s ‘Catholic Liberal’), or worse, “Neo-Cons” (Charles Krauthammer, b.1950). The Neo-Cons are even scarier as “idealists” who have the power to “change the world” turn things into a living Hell (i.e Nazi, Communists, and the “Mission Accomplished” of Bush’s iraq). Bill Clinton is the darling of the Baby Boom Liberals even though he was pro-war, pro-death penalty, and brought us NAFTA (real “liberal” policies there). At least, he felt our pain, right? Osama Bin laden (b. 1957) would classify as a neo-Con. I am sure he was a nice kid once till he bought into Ideological Bullshit and has people kill themselves to kill other people as “modernity” is Evil.

“Progressives” as Liberals call themselves these days as the previous liberals managed to make “Liberal” a bad word. Remember George H.W. Bush talking about “the L word”?

If you look at the liberals these days, they seem to be much more pragmatic and more in line with the old fashioned FDR Democrats.

Just look at the health Care “Debate”. I put the word debate in quotes as there was no debate. Was anyone talking to each other? Of course not: Republicans were against it but never once mentioned one thing they were FOR. In other words, they had NO PLAN , NO INIATIVE, NOTHING AT ALL. Other than the status quo, which everyone knows is broken. Politicians were talking AT each other. It was almost like the Catholic media when they talk about a “Liturgy Debate” as if one actually exists. No debate. No Discussion.

How did the liberals pass health care? Simple: they built an “old fashioned” Democratic coalition: Nancy Pelosi (Italian, Catholic, from San Francisco) and Harry Reed (Mormon from Nevada) mustered the troops and who were TV pitchmen? Anthony Weiner (the “nice Jewish boy” from Brooklyn and this author’s Representative who I would get out of a sick bed to vote for) and of course, the fore mentioned Barney Frank (Boston Liberal and gay. Filling in for the Dead Kennedy). It’s then all signed into law by a black guy. The Progressive Democrats covered all bases.

On top of all of that, liberals today have a media voice to counter act the conservative talk radio media and FOX TV. Rachel Maddow has a high quality TV program (albeit a trifle reactionary as she sets the record straight after Fox news makes silly things up. Who was it who said a lie is half way around the word before the truth gets out of the gate? She doesn’t get particularly emotional and doesn’t seem to proselytize. There’s also Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz, and recent convert Dylan Ratigan.

To sum it all up, it’s time for the President to put on his “fuck you boots” and start kicking. He’s dealing with a group of people that will be against ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he has to say even if he said “the sky is blue”. His loyal progressive base is willing to fight unlike in the past and he shouldn’t be “AFRAID” of the likes of Glenn Beck (who is just insane and maybe should go back to drinking), Bill O’Reilly (b. 1949—garden variety, Neo-Con Boomer and TV hack), Sarah Palin & Michael Steele (political light weights not ready for prime time and are just in it all for the money, and I might add, have done quite well!).

Remember Mr. President, as having a “bully pulpit” you can always have the IRS open people’s tax records. Remember Strother Martin in “Slapshot”? Don’t be a “pussy”. Payback’s a bitch.