US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

Larison, unimpressed:

This is very much like the outrage over the demand for a settlement freeze in the past two years. Opposition to settlements has been standard U.S. policy for decades, but Obama created some waves by making an issue out of it. The key to his opponents’ success on settlements was pretending that something completely unremarkable and entirely reasonable was an unspeakably monstrous idea, which then lead to Obama quickly backpedaling away from doing anything to advance his unremarkable consensus position. That seems to be the pattern. First, Obama re-states the rather bland U.S. policy consensus. Next, his critics treat this as a dramatic and radical change to current policy when it isn’t anything of the sort, and the Israeli government pretends that the consensus view is some new, horrible imposition that cannot be tolerated. At the same time, Obama’s political foes declare that he has betrayed Israel, which ought to reveal them as buffoons but instead somehow makes them seem more “credible” on foreign policy. After all of this, Obama backs down and stops saying anything about the uncontroversial position that caused the phony controversy.

I don’t really understand why Obama gave this speech, I don’t see what he was hoping to accomplish with it, and there seems to be general agreement that it was fairly underwhelming and lacking significant proposals of what the U.S. is going to do differently.

Arab Spring supporters not happy with the speech either---too little, too late

From here at the heart of the Arab Spring to its current battlefronts in Damascus; Syria; and Benghazi, Libya, many said the speech had failed to dispel the legacy of resentment from America’s support for Arab autocrats, its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and its alliance with Israel. Many said Mr. Obama seemed most willing to support democratic revolts after the fact.

“They wait to see who wins and then support them,” said Ahmed Maher, 30, a civil engineer and an architect of the Egyptian uprising as coordinator of the liberal April 6 Youth Movement.

NY Times

time for another photo op w/ Kissinger I guess

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/20/surveillance/index.html

Patriot Act extension and more. None of it good news.

time for another photo op with Kissinger, I guess.

Where is our Team Six freedom dividend?

bulls fan obama has them on security detail down in miami

no, the restoration of civlibs after the Great Villain got capped

you can't turn around the titanic on a dime.

"actually now that he's dead, there's even MORE reason for the Patriot Act..."

http://jasonlaning.net/ffs/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/another-successful-protest.jpg

Any predictions on how this debt thing will work out? Will Obama destroy Medicare or Medicaid as a "compromise" to prevent Republicans from making the country default or whatever

no

I wish I had that kind of optimism.

I'm pretty sure something will happen, whereupon aerosmith, kevin, and I will come here to post mean shit about Obama with the requisite Greenwald or Digby quote. clemenza will then shake his head sadly and mourn the collapse of the American center.

Morbs will bring his Perrin game.

i will just shake my head in silence

unless anybody talks shit abt texas

steers, queers, a nation in arrears

(Shaking head sadly) I miss those halcyon days of Dwight Eisenhower and Ozzie and Harriet so much.

as someone who's pretty uneasy with even sex offender registries, the fact that these are popping up more and more - and the total lack of opposition to them - is concerning

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21registry.html?_r=1&hpw

Lawmakers around the country are pushing for online registries, like those used for sex offenders, to track the whereabouts of people convicted of a wide variety of crimes, from arson and drunken driving to methamphetamine manufacturing and animal abuse.

LOL yeah lets put all the meth makers/dealers in one big registry, and we can call it the list of where to go get meth...

hahaha

can we get a chill dude who sells fat grams for cheap registry? thanks in advance

these days they call those registered dispensaries, unfortunately you need to be "sick" to use them...

What would be the logic behind an arson registry anyway? Do arsonists usually burn down neighborhoods or something? I thought it was mostly insurance fraud and anti-social teens who burn down small businesses and trash-dumpsters respectively. Not seeing the point...

The arson registry would be so you knew who the most badass criminals are.

Can this extend to things that aren't actually crimes, like being adulterous or a furry? Perhaps being a member of a left-wing or otherwise 'radical' organization?

there's a firehouse here with a plaque on the outside wall warning "only you can prevent arson".

I just got my first official Obama 2012 fundraising call last night, a totally scripted deal that just bugged me to hell. It positioned Obama as this total grassroots candidate who needed all the help he could get to take on the opposition, like 2008 Obama or something. I kept trying to explain to the caller that a) Obama doesn't need my money (they asked for $200 off the bat!) b) I certainly wasn't donating this early in the game and c) he's made a lot of decisions I disagree with and that I wanted to wait to see if he refines his positions before I throw cash his way. The guy kept responding like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel; every time I said something, he jumped to a different narrative in the script. Like:

Him: "We need a leader who can rise above petty partisan politics.

Me: "No, we don't. We need a leader strong enough to stay partisan and fight back."

Him: "I understand. There is too much petty fighting in Washington DC. We need an alternative from outside the beltway."

Me: "No, we don't! We need the guy already in the beltway to grow a pair!"

Him: "Well, we are still overcoming the destructive politics and policies of the previous administration."

Me:"No argument there, but so what? It's been four years, it's time to focus on the present. It's time to focus on how the Republican minority, despite having played a direct part in those destructive policies, is still somehow calling the shots and dictating the terms of debate."

Him: "That's why we need a grassroots alternative."

And so on. I complained about extending the Bush tax cuts, Libya, domestic oil drilling and all sorts of shit, and the guy robotically responded like his man in the White House was not only not responsible, but the man we should support to right the ship.

wow the phone bankers were working off a script?? the straw that broke donkey's back!

& how dare they spin their candidate!

Paid telephone solicitor? Check.
Robotic script well-rehearsed? Check.
The "ask" calculated to maximize contribution? Check.
Ghost of Nixon hovering weirdly over whole conversation? Double check.

Welcome to modern prez reelection campaign, Obama stylee.

you guys are REALLY blowing the cover off this whole "election" thing! somebody call the nation!

altho lol @ the idea of "paid phone solicitor"

the tried and true incredulity gambit, I see

J0rd, introduce yrself to Matt Armstrong as the truly jaded one

i'm too stunned by obama's sickening scripted fundraising calls to do much of anything right now

i'm too stunned by obama's sickening scripted fundraising calls to do much of anything right now

the rapture is fucking w/ the ilx server

I wasn't surprised it was scripted. I was surprised it was absolutely impossible for me to nudge the guy off-script. Maybe because I've never actually engaged with a scripted call before? Anyway, it was weird. Like having a conversation with someone who speaks in monotone and doesn't ever directly acknowledge what you've said.

What did shock and disappoint me was the audacious decision to couch the Obama 2012 debate as a "grassroots" "outside the beltway" effort. Like, really? That's the line they're taking? I did tell the guy that such a cynical position was bound to lose Obama "grassroots" support, but again, dude would not be swayed from script.

i mean

were you hoping you'd 'wake up sheeple' him and he'd throw down his phone or

lol J0rdan c'mon man. if the script is calling The President of the United States an "outside the beltway alternative" that deserves some mockery imo

right, maybe josh was digging around for some actually persuasive reasons to part w/ income instead of just having catchphrases shoved down his throat

i mean

were you hoping you'd 'wake up sheeple' him and he'd throw down his phone or

maybe he was hoping that if a guy's trying to solicit donations from a guy on "this is shit you care about" grounds, he wouldn't be transparently cynical abt it?

a) Obama doesn't need my money

p sure every presidential candidate needs money. not sure what u mean here

well he doesn't need it, he is in pretty good shape financially right now I think

his taxes are pretty low too

i'm just making the point that trying to argue with a nervous volunteer working from a script maybe isn't the most effective way to register frustration with the failures of a sitting president

it's like all you can do! the president and his party aren't listening, they have people who read any mail you send 'em or calls you make...sounding off to a nervous volunteer is maybe more effective than much else I can think of, the actual candidates don't give a warm shit what anybody thinks iirc

trying to argue with a nervous volunteer

I've often done volunteer political phone banks. The chances this was a volunteer, rather than a paid worker, are almost nil. First, you are encouraged to identify yourself as a volunteer, because it makes people nicer to you and more receptive to what you say. Second, volunteers are never that slavish to a script, and if they try to be, they screw it up and fumble around.