Meek.

[dave29]

I just have to push back on this one.

The one thing the media and the GOP and to some extent the idealistic left (as opposed to those of us who consider ourselves pragmatic) all seem focused on this week... is this idea of a meek President too afraid of conflict. That this focus on compromise and bipartisanship betrays a soul that dares not jump into the fire when there are those who need to be rescued.

I challenge this assertion as complete and utter horse-shit.

There are a lot of people that are threatened by Obama, the mere suggestion of his name, his policies, the fact that he maneuvered to the Presidency when they could not. There are a whole bunch of racists around the country threatened by the image of him as our Commander in Chief.

I remember, one of the many other times this meme percolated to the surface, an encounter took place at a Republican leadership get-away. Our President.... our first African American President, walked into a room of wealthy white men and women and told them to their face where he would work with them and where he would not. He was not in the slightest intimidated, and it was clear he had the upper hand against the entirety of the Republican caucus.

These people are horribly afraid of our President. That they are trying so hard to cast him as weak, betrays their fear of him quite blatantly, in my opinion.

I remember another time they raised his lack of "Decider"-ness. The oil spill. The were going on and on about how he needed to take the bull by the horns and this was his Katrina and.... whatever. He took the bull by the horns by winning almost unconditional surrender from BP, billions for the damage, and was instrumental in pulling together the team that ultimately capped the well, including his own Secretary of Energy.

Just today more were complaining around these parts on his lack of job creation, and what a spectacle he is making by even thinking about going overseas as our head of state. Then it is announced he has landed a 15+ billion dollar export deal that could mean almost 60,000 jobs back home.

Yeah, he frets every day about how weak he is.

The guy came from nothing to be our President... he could barely even afford a room for the 2000 Democratic Convention when no-one knew his name.

Ya'll should give him a little more credit.

[liberalmuse]

1. Yet Beck can bawl like a baby and be considered, 'manly'.

I think President Obama is wise. He is a rational, intelligent man who thinks the best of people - I guess because he expects them to be like him. Part of me wants to see him kick Republican ass, but the other part of me understands that the man will be who he is, and it isn't always some fictional character in an action movie. I think we Americans were raised on too much of that kind of shit.

[SunsetDreams]

2. K&R well written and thank you :)

[Phx_Dem]

3. Agreed.

[treestar]

4. K&R

thank you! That RW talking point is used too much on a supposedly Democratic Board. Against other Democrats, too.

[FrenchieCat]

5. It's a wonder how folks who when they look at their own lives may not

find the Courage that they have decided this President should have,
in the exact way that they define it.

Strength and courage have little to do with one's approach, as much as
what they end up accomplishing....otherwise George Bush would be seen
as a brave man indeed.

We need to stop being so superficial and programmed to react in a way
that when analyzed, makes absolutely no sense at all.

[ProSense]

6. They know it's nonsense

From the moment President Obama took office, there has been various efforts to define him by meme.

The goal I suspect is that if any of these stick, his Presidency will be seen as a failure.

These people are not going to write history, no more than Bush's people could define his legacy. FDR had his detractors, but they did not define his place in history.

[bluescribbler]

8. You are correct.

They are already painting his administration as a failure. Even General Washington had his detractors, both within his staff, and in the Continental Congress. History has not looked kindly upon them.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. It is complete and utter horseshit

And the clearest sign that the so-called progressives play into the radical right's hands so easily and pathetically.

[Qutzupalotl]

9. Outstanding post.

:thumbsup:

[Spazito]

10. Well said!

:applause:

Recommended.