The idea on the Right that Obama was treated as a king is based really on the rhetoric of some Obama fans who gushed over him a bit much—like that cringey SNL non-skit where the cast sang “To Sir With Love” to a portrait of him (I was waiting for the funny part that didn’t come) and some of his fans overstated his record as though it was the new New Deal. But many factions of the Left soured on him quickly, supporting him grudgingly but not exactly putting up a monument to him. And more importantly I can’t think of any instance of liberal media organs or congressional Democrats giving him a pass on any major scandals—they even joined the absurd pile-one about Solyndra or cash for clunkers, and the “IRS investigating Tea Party groups” got liberal and Dem buy in, despite that being a non-scandal.
This is just an absurd position to take but that’s the box Megan McCain has found herself in—she can’t defend Trump exactly but doesn’t dare sound like a Democrat.
“ … an alarming lack of foresight from the far left remains a problem to this day.”
Thank you, Stephen. This gets at what I’ve quit trying to helpfully point out to the Leftier-Than-Thou’s: that their outsize rage and rigidity can be as toxic to the Democratic ‘brand’ as the hardest-core MAGA cultist’s are to the Republican party.
It’s been more than 25 years since Jim Hightower wrote “There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos.” But IIRC from my old Evita soundtrack CD, that’s also where the Art of the Possible exists, and that’s still the name of that tune.
I do disagree with the centrist position that the middle ground is always preferable. I think you should have core principles but also be willing to make necessary concessions to advance those principles as best you can. That’s why it frustrated me whenever Obama was presented as a centrist rather than someone who simply believed in the art of the possible.
Obama is also dragged a lot for trying to get Republican support for the ACA, but that wasn’t necessarily “bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship.” He realized that such a major systemic change on party-line grounds could prove tenuous -- and he was right! We were lucky that the ACA survived the relentless right-wing efforts to repeal it.
That over 13 million turned out for No Kings day was heartening. It countered the perception that the American electorate as a whole is looking for a “savior.” However, as you point out, the Democrats on the left blamed Obama for not saving them. They blamed him for not doing for them what they needed to do for themselves. WE CAN NO LONGER SEEK A SAVIOR AS MAGA HAS DONE. Once we choose a new President and Congress we have to continue the work of keeping them accountable. They may negotiate, but WE are the power that makes the negotiations possible.
Never mind that No Kings has nothing to do with Barack Obama...
I can understand why Meghan McCain might be a little obsessed with Obama and the presidency her dad never had, but she is not the only Republican who reflexively goes to whataboutism and myths about "the left".
Obama caught flak from all sides, including those to his left. Go back and look at what people like David Sirota were saying about Obama soon after he took office. I personally knew a Democrat who brought up a resolution to IMPEACH Obama over the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011.
The idea that Obama was coddled or given a free pass is consistent with the rhetoric of those who have never liked the fact that Obama was elected -- twice -- and tried to do everything possible to diminish and de-legitimize him.
I recall Meghan McCain criticizing a photo of distraught Obama staffers (many of them women) when Trump visited the White House after the election. She made an absurd comparison to her father’s concession speech and how she held it together despite her dad losing to “a socialist.”
But Obama wasn’t a socialist and as *John McCain himself* said at the time, Obama was a “good man.” Trump wasn’t. Seriously, the worst thing Obama schemed to do was expand health care access while Democrats (including those women Obama staffers) feared -- correctly -- that Trump was set to roll back many of their fundamental rights.
I used to think that Meghan McCain was gonna be just like her old man. I see now that I was way wrong!! Clearly, she is looking to get some recognition for her role buy IMOHO, I don’t think it’s going to happen!
Obama is a likeable enough guy. If he had accomplished nothing during his two terms, his presidency would still be historic. But he did accomplish some things, while also listening to his political advisors, and letting other things fall aside.
Hiring Rahm Emmanuel as his first CoS was a huge mistake. Rahm's open hostility to progressive ideals, and his belligerent statements aimed at progressive elected members of Congress (who also happened to be very successful politicians), opened the door to dismay, then dislike of Obama's solicitous regard for Republicans.
Firing Shirley Sherrod, by phone as she was driving to work, because Obama was terrified of a bogus accusation made on Fox news, was another unforced error.
I stand to the right of no one in my political views. Which means I would be crazy to expect any politician to support all my lefty, liberal, progressive ideals. Anyone who can cobble together the millions of bucks, and establish the relationships with billionaires which are essential to getting elected, is going to be a mixed bag. That's just politics in the US. The only way to enact progressive policies is to elect people who, like Obama, at least claim to support progressive policies. What happens once they are in office depends on a lot of other factors. If you don't understand that, then you don't know how this game is played.
Love Jonathan Groff. Miranda writing George III's song in the style of the British Invasion*** was inspired.
(***With mandatory cheesy Broadway distortions, like the shows' hip-hop elements.)
Getting even more off topic, I actually saw Groff on "Mindhunter," where he played an FBI agent (a pastiche of real agents) interviewing (real) serial killers, before I knew he was a Broadway star. That show had AMAZING casting and prosthetics for the killers; they really come to life. If you're a fan of the subject definitely check it out.
Only got two seasons and thus no real resolution but it's a good watch. It becomes surprisingly goofy at points, which makes the casting of Groff make sense.
And you're right about everything in the piece, Stephen, of course. No idea why McCain can't accept that she has no place on the 2020s right wing, and insists on making herself homeless instead.
Sigh, not more of this "Democrats think Obama is God" stuff... The Republicans tried that dumb narrative in some B-grade campaign ads in 2008. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050017/Obama-God-Democrats-build-temple-Barack.html Obama's landslide showed just how few Americans bought that line. People liked Obama. Nobody worshiped him. And unlike Trump, he never encouraged people to worship him. But hey, if the MAGA clowns want to re-fight 20 year old campaigns, they can be my guest - I'm fine with them wasting their energy on that while we put our energy into defeating Donald Trump.
Politics has been described as the Art of the Possible. Very seldom does a President get a bill with which he is in complete agreement, but political realities dictate that he accepts what he gets, especially if it passes by enough members to override his veto. Many of my fellow liberals don't understand this reality. If a bill isn't just what they want, they blame the President. This is especially galling when the public elects so many people from the other party who stand in the way of a more progressive platform. We, the voting public, compel our political leaders to make promises they know they cannot keep. Imagine a politician standing before a crowd of supporters and saying, "This is what I want to do, but I will need to compromise with the other side to get anything accomplished." In the past, when there was still a Republican Party, which is now the MAGA Party, their leader rules by fear and intimidation. His constant flip-flopping on the things he has done is not a compromise. His changing of position is merely another indication of his deteriorating mental state. John McCain's politics were not mine, but I respected a great American hero. How can his daughter offer even tepid support for the Mad King after the things he has said about her father and other American veterans? Political differences are one thing, but disrespecting the men and women who have served in our armed forces, many of whom paid the ultimate price, by a Mad King who is nothing but a bully, is so disgusting that I have no words to describe my feelings. It is about time for those of us who are Liberals to come together and join in a unified effort to replace the Mad King with someone who cares about America.
You have a very rose colored glasses view of Obama's presidency, he ran as a progressive to get the prog votes, but after he was elected he governed to the right. Numerous times he would give the rethugs what they wanted while telling the progs to go pound sand. He ran staring he would codify Roe and after he was elected he had the gall to say it wasn't a priority. And NOW he has the goddamn gall to say it was the voters who failed Roe. JFC look in the mirror buddy, you were elected TWICE by the voters, the only one who failed Roe in this equation was you.
I don’t think Obama ran as a progressive like Sanders or Warren. His health care proposal was less aggressive than what HRC campaigned on during the primary. Even his Iraq War position was affirmatively not anti-war but anti “stupid wars.”
There were never 60 votes in the Senate to codify Roe. That was a fantasy.
Anyone who is truly concerned with how the country is ran, rather than worshipping the person running it, understands that politicians in office deserve the utmost criticism. Whether they support them or not. They will be judged based on their policies and how they run our nation. Anyone in any level of government, especially the president and his cabinet understand this. That is, if they are really politicians and not actors.
I also remember how quickly the left turned against Obama. I remember and that was before I wanted any part in understanding or caring about politics...
I still had my subscription to The Nation at the time of Paul Wellstone's death. Prior to that, they were all over him as a corporate sellout. They were caught completely off guard by the well organized right wing framing of his funeral. By the time Obama rolled into town, my Nation subscription was long gone. Maybe they would have surprised me...
Meghan McCain is a vapid, textbook Dunning-Kruger douchevessel who is completely unaware of her own limitations and contributes nothing to society. Her entitlement is also off the fucking charts; she'd be lucky to have a part-time gig at Hooters if it weren't for her famous dad.
I knew a lady once who had her dog's vocal cords surgically silenced by a vet, because he wouldn't stop yapping. I've always considered that incredibly cruel, but...........
Yes, exactly. Megan McCain would be an embarrassment to her father, and is a LITERAL irrelevance, not to mention shockingly idiotic in her desire to be important.
The idea on the Right that Obama was treated as a king is based really on the rhetoric of some Obama fans who gushed over him a bit much—like that cringey SNL non-skit where the cast sang “To Sir With Love” to a portrait of him (I was waiting for the funny part that didn’t come) and some of his fans overstated his record as though it was the new New Deal. But many factions of the Left soured on him quickly, supporting him grudgingly but not exactly putting up a monument to him. And more importantly I can’t think of any instance of liberal media organs or congressional Democrats giving him a pass on any major scandals—they even joined the absurd pile-one about Solyndra or cash for clunkers, and the “IRS investigating Tea Party groups” got liberal and Dem buy in, despite that being a non-scandal.
This is just an absurd position to take but that’s the box Megan McCain has found herself in—she can’t defend Trump exactly but doesn’t dare sound like a Democrat.
“ … an alarming lack of foresight from the far left remains a problem to this day.”
Thank you, Stephen. This gets at what I’ve quit trying to helpfully point out to the Leftier-Than-Thou’s: that their outsize rage and rigidity can be as toxic to the Democratic ‘brand’ as the hardest-core MAGA cultist’s are to the Republican party.
It’s been more than 25 years since Jim Hightower wrote “There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos.” But IIRC from my old Evita soundtrack CD, that’s also where the Art of the Possible exists, and that’s still the name of that tune.
I do disagree with the centrist position that the middle ground is always preferable. I think you should have core principles but also be willing to make necessary concessions to advance those principles as best you can. That’s why it frustrated me whenever Obama was presented as a centrist rather than someone who simply believed in the art of the possible.
Obama is also dragged a lot for trying to get Republican support for the ACA, but that wasn’t necessarily “bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship.” He realized that such a major systemic change on party-line grounds could prove tenuous -- and he was right! We were lucky that the ACA survived the relentless right-wing efforts to repeal it.
I’m not saying the middle ground is always preferable, and I agree with your assessment of Obama.
Oh no, I don’t think that was your position!
ok! my brain feels like a sieve today 🫤
ANYTHING from Megan "Did you know my daddy is John McCain?" can be condenced to one sentence "Pay attention to MEEEEEEEE!"
I’m curious if this woman has any base—who exactly fits into the “hate Trump but oppose anyone who hates Trump” box?
That over 13 million turned out for No Kings day was heartening. It countered the perception that the American electorate as a whole is looking for a “savior.” However, as you point out, the Democrats on the left blamed Obama for not saving them. They blamed him for not doing for them what they needed to do for themselves. WE CAN NO LONGER SEEK A SAVIOR AS MAGA HAS DONE. Once we choose a new President and Congress we have to continue the work of keeping them accountable. They may negotiate, but WE are the power that makes the negotiations possible.
Never mind that No Kings has nothing to do with Barack Obama...
I can understand why Meghan McCain might be a little obsessed with Obama and the presidency her dad never had, but she is not the only Republican who reflexively goes to whataboutism and myths about "the left".
Obama caught flak from all sides, including those to his left. Go back and look at what people like David Sirota were saying about Obama soon after he took office. I personally knew a Democrat who brought up a resolution to IMPEACH Obama over the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011.
The idea that Obama was coddled or given a free pass is consistent with the rhetoric of those who have never liked the fact that Obama was elected -- twice -- and tried to do everything possible to diminish and de-legitimize him.
I recall Meghan McCain criticizing a photo of distraught Obama staffers (many of them women) when Trump visited the White House after the election. She made an absurd comparison to her father’s concession speech and how she held it together despite her dad losing to “a socialist.”
But Obama wasn’t a socialist and as *John McCain himself* said at the time, Obama was a “good man.” Trump wasn’t. Seriously, the worst thing Obama schemed to do was expand health care access while Democrats (including those women Obama staffers) feared -- correctly -- that Trump was set to roll back many of their fundamental rights.
I used to think that Meghan McCain was gonna be just like her old man. I see now that I was way wrong!! Clearly, she is looking to get some recognition for her role buy IMOHO, I don’t think it’s going to happen!
Obama is a likeable enough guy. If he had accomplished nothing during his two terms, his presidency would still be historic. But he did accomplish some things, while also listening to his political advisors, and letting other things fall aside.
Hiring Rahm Emmanuel as his first CoS was a huge mistake. Rahm's open hostility to progressive ideals, and his belligerent statements aimed at progressive elected members of Congress (who also happened to be very successful politicians), opened the door to dismay, then dislike of Obama's solicitous regard for Republicans.
Firing Shirley Sherrod, by phone as she was driving to work, because Obama was terrified of a bogus accusation made on Fox news, was another unforced error.
I stand to the right of no one in my political views. Which means I would be crazy to expect any politician to support all my lefty, liberal, progressive ideals. Anyone who can cobble together the millions of bucks, and establish the relationships with billionaires which are essential to getting elected, is going to be a mixed bag. That's just politics in the US. The only way to enact progressive policies is to elect people who, like Obama, at least claim to support progressive policies. What happens once they are in office depends on a lot of other factors. If you don't understand that, then you don't know how this game is played.
Love Jonathan Groff. Miranda writing George III's song in the style of the British Invasion*** was inspired.
(***With mandatory cheesy Broadway distortions, like the shows' hip-hop elements.)
Getting even more off topic, I actually saw Groff on "Mindhunter," where he played an FBI agent (a pastiche of real agents) interviewing (real) serial killers, before I knew he was a Broadway star. That show had AMAZING casting and prosthetics for the killers; they really come to life. If you're a fan of the subject definitely check it out.
Only got two seasons and thus no real resolution but it's a good watch. It becomes surprisingly goofy at points, which makes the casting of Groff make sense.
And you're right about everything in the piece, Stephen, of course. No idea why McCain can't accept that she has no place on the 2020s right wing, and insists on making herself homeless instead.
You’re never off-topic here when discussing Jonathan Groff. I hope to see Just In Time later this year.
I want to see Just in Time so badly, but I can't get to NYC now even if I could afford it. (And Jonathan Groff should have won the Tony this year!)
Sigh, not more of this "Democrats think Obama is God" stuff... The Republicans tried that dumb narrative in some B-grade campaign ads in 2008. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050017/Obama-God-Democrats-build-temple-Barack.html Obama's landslide showed just how few Americans bought that line. People liked Obama. Nobody worshiped him. And unlike Trump, he never encouraged people to worship him. But hey, if the MAGA clowns want to re-fight 20 year old campaigns, they can be my guest - I'm fine with them wasting their energy on that while we put our energy into defeating Donald Trump.
Sounds like some Usual Suspects Online are getting themselves some juicy, juicy clout!
After all, Murc's Law is Cruise Control for Cool (and Clout!)
Politics has been described as the Art of the Possible. Very seldom does a President get a bill with which he is in complete agreement, but political realities dictate that he accepts what he gets, especially if it passes by enough members to override his veto. Many of my fellow liberals don't understand this reality. If a bill isn't just what they want, they blame the President. This is especially galling when the public elects so many people from the other party who stand in the way of a more progressive platform. We, the voting public, compel our political leaders to make promises they know they cannot keep. Imagine a politician standing before a crowd of supporters and saying, "This is what I want to do, but I will need to compromise with the other side to get anything accomplished." In the past, when there was still a Republican Party, which is now the MAGA Party, their leader rules by fear and intimidation. His constant flip-flopping on the things he has done is not a compromise. His changing of position is merely another indication of his deteriorating mental state. John McCain's politics were not mine, but I respected a great American hero. How can his daughter offer even tepid support for the Mad King after the things he has said about her father and other American veterans? Political differences are one thing, but disrespecting the men and women who have served in our armed forces, many of whom paid the ultimate price, by a Mad King who is nothing but a bully, is so disgusting that I have no words to describe my feelings. It is about time for those of us who are Liberals to come together and join in a unified effort to replace the Mad King with someone who cares about America.
You have a very rose colored glasses view of Obama's presidency, he ran as a progressive to get the prog votes, but after he was elected he governed to the right. Numerous times he would give the rethugs what they wanted while telling the progs to go pound sand. He ran staring he would codify Roe and after he was elected he had the gall to say it wasn't a priority. And NOW he has the goddamn gall to say it was the voters who failed Roe. JFC look in the mirror buddy, you were elected TWICE by the voters, the only one who failed Roe in this equation was you.
I don’t think Obama ran as a progressive like Sanders or Warren. His health care proposal was less aggressive than what HRC campaigned on during the primary. Even his Iraq War position was affirmatively not anti-war but anti “stupid wars.”
There were never 60 votes in the Senate to codify Roe. That was a fantasy.
Too sadly true, Stephen. 😔
Anyone who is truly concerned with how the country is ran, rather than worshipping the person running it, understands that politicians in office deserve the utmost criticism. Whether they support them or not. They will be judged based on their policies and how they run our nation. Anyone in any level of government, especially the president and his cabinet understand this. That is, if they are really politicians and not actors.
I also remember how quickly the left turned against Obama. I remember and that was before I wanted any part in understanding or caring about politics...
I still had my subscription to The Nation at the time of Paul Wellstone's death. Prior to that, they were all over him as a corporate sellout. They were caught completely off guard by the well organized right wing framing of his funeral. By the time Obama rolled into town, my Nation subscription was long gone. Maybe they would have surprised me...
Meghan McCain is a vapid, textbook Dunning-Kruger douchevessel who is completely unaware of her own limitations and contributes nothing to society. Her entitlement is also off the fucking charts; she'd be lucky to have a part-time gig at Hooters if it weren't for her famous dad.
I knew a lady once who had her dog's vocal cords surgically silenced by a vet, because he wouldn't stop yapping. I've always considered that incredibly cruel, but...........
Nvrmd I get it now...I imagine your are talking about Meghan McCain. It showed as if your comment was a reply to mine on my phone originally. Lol.
Sorry Beth. Definitely not meant for you.
Lol no worries. It was technically my phone's bad for the way it displayed it to me. It was funny, I got my fighting gloves on for a sec 🤣🤣
Are you saying I'm yapping? I'm not quite sure I am understanding your comments. I'm all ears of this reply was towards me...
Yes, exactly. Megan McCain would be an embarrassment to her father, and is a LITERAL irrelevance, not to mention shockingly idiotic in her desire to be important.