Suck It Up

This seems very right to me. I've been reading variations of this sentiment all over the place lately--"Obama failed to deliver on this, that, or the other, therefore he has not earned my support for his reelection"--and I am immediately put in mind of our world, post-2003.

The Iraq War, a war of choice driven by many cherished neuroses of GWB and the American right, is a war that Al Gore would have never started. Period. And the fact that it was started is the utmost proof that keeping the psychopaths and the willfully stupid out of high office is a righteous goal in itself.

Any sane, left-leaning individual whose disillusionment with Obama may be pushing them to such selfish handwringing should take a look at the Republican field and imagine--just imagine--what any one of those sycophants and extremists would do with the office of President.

And then he or she should get off their fainting couch and pull the lever for another four years of often less-than-inspiring, clearly imperfect sanity...

A Nativity Scene

God bless Anderson Cooper.

The smack down he lays on Texas Rep. Leo Berman, over Berman's unshakeable fantasy that Barack Obama is not actually an American citizen, is truly something satisfying to behold. Cooper's approach isn't overly antagonistic or bombastic. Rather, it's the kind of patient, respectful probing that Socrates made famous through Plato. (Different than the kind of probing he practiced with Plato, though I've heard Anderson might not be averse to that line of discourse either.) Cooper simply shows his evidence and asks questions, which--as anyone who's ever desperately wanted to verbally string up an idiot knows--is a monumental show of poise on his part.

As for the birther issue, while I've reflexively rolled my eyes at it for years now, I think I've finally come to terms with the fact that I. Just. Don't. Get. It.

Most liberal bloggers say it's rooted in racism--Barack is black; he can't be an American President! So, the birth certificate issue is, what, the white, rightwing racist dogwhistle for the post-Jim Crow era? The bigots can't say out loud that a black man is unfit to be Commander in Chief--because they'd be ridden out of town--so this is the codeword they've settled on, "birth certificate"?

Look, I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, within sight of Stone Mountain. (I mean, c'mon.) I think I have a pretty good eye for this brand of hateful lunacy, just from years of exposure, if nothing else. Maybe I've lost my touch after some years here in the North but...I just don't see the racism here.

If I may distinguish one venom from another for a second: the white male supremacist doesn't register foreign blacks in his mythology. I would argue, in some sense, that he prefers them. "Go back to Africa!" and all that. His problem with African-Americans is precisely their American-ness, as it represents a clear threat to the image of his own. (I'm terribly tempted to make a "through a mirror darkly" joke...and I realize I just passive-aggressively did!)

The hubbub over the teleprompters on the other hand, now that I immediately understood. The idea that he couldn't speak so well, so properly, without outside guidance (from white handlers, I would imagine) goes back to the fundamental sneer bigots employ against educated black people being "articulate." Bing, bing, Bubba wins the spittoon!

But Obama being Kenyan, being other. I dunno. No buzzers go off. Which leads me to think that it's more just hopeful thinking on the teabaggers' part--a magical way to get rid of a political enemy. We'll just wish him away, they say. And believe me, I understand the desire. If someone came up to me in 2006 and said that George W. Bush was actually born in Ciudad Juarez because Barbara heard there was cheap formaldehyde down south, well, I'd be awfully tempted to believe it.

But I'd be wrong.

Nudie Pics

This whole TSA bodyscanning issue makes me terribly cross. Cross, I tell you!

Personally, I don't want some random dude/dudette simultaneously looking at me or my wife naked and potentially shortening our lives. I married my lovely wife because I liked the idea that I was the only person who would get to see her naked and because I'm hoping to spend a nice, long life with her. For folks keeping track, those are exact opposites of what the TSA is offering us.

There are many interesting angles to this, but the one that amuses me most is the idea that this may be the first issue of Obama's presidency that crosses ideological lines. As a left-leaner, I don't like it because I find it invasive and unnecessary, only good for conditioning the public to accept more and more outrageous assaults on our liberty and privacy in the name of fear.

However, I also understand a conservative's take on the matter--resisting the unnecessary growth of government; supporting an airport's ability to hire security firms it prefers--as well as that of the fiscal types pointing out the 6% drop in ridership (pdf, first result) that accompanied the rise of this demeaning security theater after 9/11 and are worried about further blows to the economy.

I mean, hell, I think even conservative Christians would nod right along with me when I talk about my disinterest in the woman to whom I made sacred vows being photographed naked by a stranger. And those people are batshit, especially when it comes to questions of a woman's right to her body! And yet, there we'd be, agreeing.

So here we are, Red America and Blue America, sitting at the table of bipartisanship for the first real time since Obama's election. It must be a relief for the President to finally have an issue where the winning side is also the right side, and to stand up with liberals and conservatives alike as our Chief and make clear that we are all the change we've been waiting for.

Sorry? Oh, you say he supports the scans and the pat-downs?

Dammit....

Le Sigh...

I said in a previous post that I'm most disappointed in the things Obama hasn't done: closing Gitmo; repealing by executive order (a swipe of the pen!) the silliness that is DADT; and now...ending the war in Iraq.

I voted for Obama not just because Chuckles McCain was a shambling shell of a man who'd have trouble being consistent about his own birth date, but because the talent Obama exhibited running his campaign for the Senate and then his nigh flawless run for President led me to believe that the man could get shit done, that if we made him the executive he would execute some proper MF'ing policy.

And he has, of course. Stopping a global economic meltdown counts, as does the momentous health care reform bill. And yet, several huge issues remain inexplicably fuddled. Like Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have so many of our soldiers coming home (after how many stop-loss orders?), but 50K left standing is no small commitment--potentially for a decade, mind you--and the idea that these are entirely support units is ridiculous.

I guess I'm disappointed because the man is usually so very good at calling a situation what it is. To have him say that combat operations in Iraq are over, that the war is over, is simply absurd.

And I really wanted to leave such bald-faced absurdity back in the Bush years where it belongs...