Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Not Walking the Talk

President Obama has been hard at work trying to re-energize his supporters. He and other members of his administration has been crisscrossing the country trying to convince liberals and progressives to buck up in the face of an expected GOP onslaught in 3 weeks. The president even has chastised lefties for their general lack of enthusiasm.

What neither the president nor his advisors want to acknowledge is that the enthusiasm gap is the direct result of the fact that Mr. Obama doesn't walk his talk! Two recent examples underscore this point to its fullest sense.

As a presidential candidate, Senator Obama favored a moratorium on housing foreclosures. However, now that the country is beset with "foreclosure-gate" and "robo-signers" -- strong allegations that the banks and mortgage companies flagrantly have been breaking the law -- Obama does NOT favor a moratorium. This flip-flop makes no sense at all.

As a presidential candidate, Senator Obama favored scrapping the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to gay and lesbian members of the armed forces. In a recent court decision, that policy was struck down. So, what has the president done? He's asked for an emergency stay to keep the policy in place!!
Finding itself in a strange legal position, the Obama administration filed an emergency request Wednesday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the military from allowing openly gay troops from serving.

In effect, the administration wants to continue barring gays from the military even though it ultimately favors repealing the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."

"They are in a very bizarre position, frankly of their own making," said CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin...
This is another example of the president adamantly refusing to walk his talk.

It's no wonder that anyone who considers themselves liberal or progressive has little enthusiasm for the impending election. What is there to be enthusiastic about? It's a choice between one party that will smile while stabbing you in the back and another party that will coo in your ear and put their arm around you...while stabbing you in the back.

Some choice!!

2 comments:

  1. Obama is not only caught in his own Karma, but that inherited from others, and not just Bush. Of course, how he plays it could make so much difference, but I wonder what exactly goes on behind closed doors. Do you think that the inevitable expose books on this presidency will make interesting reading?

    It's a situation we have playing out here in the UK too, our coalition govt is having its hand well and truly forced. I just wish I thought any of it would make a difference, right now I feel that it's akin to steering a sinking ship. I wish more people realised the scale of change that is needed.

    The housing story is one I'm keeping an eye on, you can bet that the finance of European banks are heavily enmeshed in those unrecoverable mortgages. That story deserves much more attention than it's been getting on this side of the pond.

    ReplyDelete

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