Friday Tom Toles Rant- Spite, nose, face edition

[n2doc]

Friday rant: Spite, nose, face edition

Okay, people hate Obama. And they hate him a lot, judging by many of the comments received here. They hate him in a way that is demonstrably blind. Here is one example, which obviously is a meme from somewhere in the right-wing fast-breeder reactor, because it seems to be repeated a lot. It's that Obama can't speak without a teleprompter. This is so absolutely fantastical to anyone who has seen him discuss policy in detail, and without consulting even notes written on his hand, that malicious smearing is the one and only interpretation available.

A more generalized but equally telling example is the way he has been attacked on the deficit, where his predecessor, with cookie-jar hands and face, and crumbs all down the front of his tie, shirt, pants, shoes and socks was allowed to ride off scot-free into the red-ink sunset on his mountain bike to write a book about his decision-making. This frantic frothing over the deficit that coincided exactly with the election of a Democratic president, unaccompanied by any sensible program for actually resolving it, is, shall we say, highly suggestive of an animus that goes well beyond policy analysis.

And now we have the current chapter, the newly elected beneficiaries of anti-Obama rage, arriving in Washington with all the internal contradictions that true-believing can camouflage. With a pretty clear commitment to oppose the president on ANY substantive undertaking that could conceivably make Obama appear to be successful in any way going into 2012. This appears to include things that could benefit, um, like, you know, Americans, such as a growing economy. Enjoy the grapefruit of your wrath. --Tom Toles

[planetc]

1. I had no idea Toles was as expressive in prose...

as he is in cartoons, but I shouldn't be surprised. He's one of the most intelligent, and most observant, commentators we have around. Pity we can't create a cabinet post for him.

[DCKit]

2. Agreed. He's one hell of a writer.

Guess we shouldn't be surprised, since he conveys much the same in every panel he draws.

But it is unexpected.