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August 28th, 2011
Confusion You Can Believe In
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I just won FIRST PLACE in a humorous speech contest at Toastmasters, Int'l in which I advocated my 4 year old granddaughter as our next president of the United States. She was qualified; after all, she was born here in America and has a birth certificate. That's all you need, right? I have proof… the BILL that came to my son's house. And he gave to me to pay. How would she solve problems ALL presidents face? 1) people can't make money? Ans. I will make money FOR them, Grammy. Give me some paper and crayons. 2) Hungry children in America? Ans.: Give them my Halloween candy and also my broccoli and spinach. 3) Criminals who do crime? Ans. Tell them that's not nice, and if they don't listen give them a time out. If they still don't listen, put them in a room without windows and lock it so they won't ever see the light of day ever, ever again. 4) Smog and bad air that gives you asthma? Ans. Get a big, giant hose and wash off the sky. 5) Wars? Ans. Well, if people are hurting other people, you have to go and stomp your foot like THIS, and say, "STOP IT!". Then, if they don't listen, you have to push them. A boy in my pre-school pushed my friend down and I pushed him into the fence, so I was benched by my teacher. But, Grammy, he never ever did it again!" So, that's why I advocate my granddaughter as pres. of the U.S. I wonder how Congress would react to HER?
Sometime over the weekend, I heard someone say that Nixon was our last good liberal president and the reason for that was that all the civil unrest he had to deal with at the time scared the Hell out of him.
I think a parallel situation has happened with President Obama.
Despite that, the public option for health care is NOT dead in the water — the Affordable Care Act allows for states to offer a public option as part of the state pool starting in 2014. There is, for example, a referendum making the rounds in California to offer a public option in the California insurance pool. In Illinois, some of us are lobbying our state reps and senators to do the same.
And Vermont, I believe, already has single-payer under the auspices of the ACA.
I do not agree with President Obama on a lot of things (e.g., allowing the Canadian tar-sands pipeline to go through — bad idea), but I still think he is doing remarkably well, even if his successes are not immediately apparent.
It's the House and Senate that are dragging us down.
Chaya, as Winston Churchill said, 'this is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.'
And regarding the current, POTUS, I had always thought the first African-American President would be a conservative Democrat from the Midwest. Don't know why, it just made sense to me.
Didn't expect a centrist Republican. . . .
If anything I think this comic illustrates the great failure of the Congress. It's great when a President has ideas, but when the Congress is so inept and in most cases – sabotaging itself, then it's not really that confusing when those great ideas don't come to fruition.
I dunno… I love this comic, but you talk a lot more about the President than you do about the Congress, when it seems to me when it comes to domestic matters, Congress matters, and I just hate to see them get a relative pass for their monumental failures and the President take all of the hits. Just my two cents.
When was the last time America had a congress which bent to Democratic party platforms? I think it was the era of integration and getting rid of segregation?
It's definitely been a minute.
The Congressional Republicans have no goal other than to ensure Obama's a failure and return to power, and they're willing to wreck our economy to do that. They've said so. They've made that perfectly clear. They don't operate on reason anymore, they operate on pure make-Obama-fail instinct. Yet for some reason, the President continues to behave as if he's dealing with rational people instead of a wild beast that's trying to eat him. It's more appropriate to criticize the lion tamer than the lion. Especially when the lion tamer thinks he should be giving the lion an outstretched hand instead of the business end of a whip.
I'm not saying you're not right. In fact, there's nothing you said there that isn't true. I just think there's more to it than just that. It's not just about Obama and the Republicans in Congress, the people are stuck in the middle. So while I think it'd be cooler for him to play rougher with the Republicans, if the result is getting nothing rather than something for the American people, Obama's gonna go for getting something every time. That's just his style. And in the bills mentioned in this comic, he did get some things for the American people. Good things.
All I'm saying is that I don't think it's as simple as Obama acting tough on something than getting scared or playing nice when Republicans stomp their feet is all.
You're right about his accomplishments. He's accomplished a great deal. The problem is, his accomplishments are incremental but his capitulations are grand.
On all three issues, public opinion was squarely behind the President, yet each time, he retreated at the last moment. He folded rather than call his opponents' bluff. He's accomplished a great deal, but that's all for nothing if he's not re-elected. If he loses next year, it can and probably will all be reversed by President Teabag and the Republican Congress.
Americans vote for strong leaders. Picking a fight, and then backing down *even though public opinion is squarely behind him* is not strong leadership. A strong executive isn't built on technical accomplishments alone, he's also built on theater. When it comes time to vote, the average voter isn't going to remember that Obama closed the doughnut hole in the Medicare prescription drug plan, he's going to remember that when Republicans stood in Obama's way, he not only folded, he conceded their main points. He conceded that extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class was worth extending it for the filthy rich. He conceded that the public option was too divisive even though at one point it had overwhelming public support. He conceded that the issue of the debt limit could be held hostage to the whims of a minority in Congress and that he had no authority to invoke the 14th Amendment as a trump card. He's conceded that cutting spending – not further stimulus and public works programs – is necessary to fix our economy (that's one theory, but it's not a Democratic one).
His capitulation on the most visceral differences between him and his opponents – his failure to take and hold a stand against the excesses of the Bush era (he hasn't even prosecuted the Wall Street pirates who caused our current crisis… Roosevelt would've marched them out of their towers in handcuffs) – softens the distinction between Democrats and Republicans. It gives independents fewer reasons to vote for him next year (because they're less likely to vote for the guy who's being dragged and more likely to vote for whoever's dragging him because at least they seem to know where they're going), and it gives his base a lot less of an incentive to turn out to support him.
He's a quarterback who keeps advancing two yards at a time instead of taking a risk and throwing any long passes. That's not inspiring. "It could've been worse" is not a winning campaign slogan.
….okay then.
I probably should have stuck to my first instinct and not said anything…
Nah… I don't mean to sound argumentative about it. I actually agree with pretty much everything you've said. Even though I think he retreats when he doesn't have to, there is a lot more going on than just him fighting and retreating; he has accomplished a lot more than we all give him credit for. I'm just saying it's not going to be enough come 2012 because too many voters vote with their id, not their ego.
To your main point, I do deal with the Lion Obama's facing. If you look in the archives for strips starring Figmond Tripp and Fear, Inc., you'll see that I'm not singling out President Obama. The most recent one: http://candorville.com/2011/08/07/are-you-a-norqu…
Oh yeah, I remember that one.
No it's alright. You're right, we're pretty much in agreement and I get your point about voters. It is gonna be a tough slog for him in the election if he doesn't win at least one game of chicken against the opposition.
I'm a detached kinda guy in general, plus politically I'm on the outside looking in (Canadian) so it's just all very… dramatic, you know? =D
ALL politicians lie. I learned this over a period of 47 voting years.
BTW, never be confused or shocked when a president who had high ideals learns he has to kiss ass to stay in office. No president would get elected if all the candidates told the truth. Sometimes, I think that ANYONE would just do as well as anyone else, and we should just take turns having each party's platforms do their thing every 8 years and just rotate. So, for 8 years, we tighten up on the belt and let big business take over. Then, for 8 years, we loosen the belt and feed all our people and take care of the air quality, and give free health care. Then, for the next 8 years, we have socialism. Then, the next 8 years, we have no government at all. See where that gets us.
Shouldn't the title be, "Confusion IN WHICH you can believe"? You can't end a sentence with a preposition.
Sorry Chaya, them there's a false rule …. "believe in" is an action phrase which is usually kept together for clarity, and is generally allowable.