Well, we sure do love our little brand of cynicism don't we?

[whosinpower]

8 years of Bush hypocracy flavoured and grew our cynicism to a magnificent sight. It empowered us to lay blame. It overthrew the republicans. We sure do love it. We love it, so much, we can't seem to let it go - once burned twice shy.

But, I have news for you guys - cynicsm won't end the wars. Cyniscm won't get you health care reform that is meaningful. Cynicsm won't stop Wall Street banksters from making out with as much money as they can imagine. Cynicsm won't bring back jobs, and it won't feed your family.

I came to DU years ago when Bush was in power - cynically armed, so to speak. I found a community of like minded people and spirited debate. I am disheartened now, that the cynicsm that we so adamently pointed towards the republicans is now fiercely aimed at your president, Barack Obama.

Just 11 months in office. A nobel laureate that many here declare he does not deserve, while the folks over at Oslo paid attention to something you barely recognized - his far reaching speech at Cairo. So incensed with your cynicsm of the Afghan war, you failed to see that the world sees Obama through a different set of eyes.

And now, there are those who cynically state that Obama holds the bully pulpit, but is too weak to use it. You want him to do all the work again. He may be the president of the United States, but he is just a man.

If you are unhappy with what the senate is doing in regards to health care reform, get off your cynical asses and do something about it. Get on the phone. Make your voices heard. Stop blaming Obama for everything. Your cynicsm is not helping him achieve the goals you want, if you are unwilling to focus that power on where it counts. Flood the phone lines. Stand up and protest. Demand a good health care bill from those who write the darned things.

I know I'll be blasted - but what a bunch of whiners. You think that just because you worked hard to get him elected - that your job is over, and he has to take over. That is not the case. He can only do what you force him to do - so stop blaming his inaction when it is your laziness. He doesn't write the bills - he only signs them. You HAVE to create enough flack directed firmly, resolutely at the senate.

It was easy with Bush. We could sit back and blame him for everything, and wish and hope that when a democrat goes into office - everything would just magically change. Some things have changed - though a person would never recognize it here on DU.

Barack Obama is a great president - and if he ends up being a one termer - it will be directly because of you lazy cynics - who want all the trimmings without doing any of the hard lifting, who fail to recognise or fully understand just how bad Bush left things, and how limited Obama is because of that.

I don't recognize this place anymore. Your cynicism has grown so strong, so powerful, that it is almost as if you wish he would fail, to further feed your cynicism. And then you'll whine and complain that nothing ever changes anyways - same old same old. You have one of the best opportunities with Obama - but you can't seem to stop feeding your cynicism long enough to work with him. Sad. Really sad.

[MUAD_DIB]

1. If you recall...

Bush I won the first gulf war but lost the election due his perceived failure on the economy. You could argue the same thing with him to a degree. Obama is the leader of his party. He either controls the agenda or the agenda controls him.

[rug]

2. Cynicism is the flip side of hope.

[Clio the Leo]

5. Interesting thing about that painting......

.... even though she only has one string left, she's still plucking...



"Hope" by George Fredrick Watts
(a painting that changed history)

[rug]

11. That painting is striking.

[KansasVoter]

3. I have called many senators and house members multiple times......

and why do I feel almost like I am working the senate and house harder than Obama and the White House are?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JTFrog]

27. LOL!

:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:

[treestar]

40. Feel that way all you want but it's not true

And furthermore, you are a voter. Wouldn't that mean even more to the person who wants you to reelect him than the President's opinion?

[Tansy_Gold]

4. I don't unrec threads.

Many of us here -- many of us cynics -- continue to raise holy hell about this shit. But we really have very little power, except at election time.

And our cynicism is borne of Obama's failure to live up to any of his potential. We weren't cynics when we campaigned for him. We weren't cynics when we voted for him and celebrated his victory -- OUR victory.

We weren't cynics when we looked at an ambitious agenda and a supposedly filibuster-proof majority in the senate, along with a more than comfortable margin in the house. We weren't cynics when we held our breath in anticipation of 1/20/09 and real change.

What do you think happened to make us become so cynical? Do you think maybe it was epic fail of the man we had put our hopes in? Do you think maybe it was not just failure, but failure to LEAD, failure to even TRY, on his part that soured us?

You know, I'm sure, when my cynicism began -- with the appointment of Geithner. I've not been shy in my criticism. And yet, and yet, even with all that, when I see a car in front of me on the freeway with an Obama/Biden bumper sticker, I wave, I give a thumbs up. The excitement, the hope, the expectation of change and renewal and reform and a truly better world is still there, still alive under the cynicism.

But how much abuse do you think we ought to be expected to take? How much outrage? And why is it OUR FAULT? Are we to be treated like an abused wife who is told if she would only be nicer to her brutal husband, he wouldn't slap her around so much? And then, finally, when she's beaten to death, she's criticized for not leaving him sooner?

Obama may not be a dictator or a god, but he is President of the United States of America. He does have a bully pulpit. And for a man who was both praised and criticized for his speaking ability, he sure as hell hasn't put that ability to much use in getting his agenda passed. Gitmo's still open, the wars still rage, health care reform is not, the banks are sitting fatter than ever.

And you fucking wonder why we've grown cynical? Hell, man, you oughta be wondering why we haven't grown revolutionary!!


Tansy Gold, who is both

[JTFrog]

28. Eight years of Bush didn't make you revolutionary, but 11 months of Obama have?

:eyes:

[Cha]

6. Rec'd~ Thanks for your OP, whosinpower.

[Armstead]

7. Your assumptions are cynical

You assume that because people vent here on DU that they are "sitting on the asses" and being cynical.

I'm sure many who you are tarring with that brush have contacted Congresspeople and otherwise lobbied.

What the fuck good did it do? About the same as trying to get the Congressional Democrats to stand up against Bush for eight years.

[Parker CA]

8. K&R. Great post.

[firedupdem]

9. Rec'd n/t

[JohnnyLib2]

10. Rec.

"Terminal cynicism" derailed some people I thought a lot of in the 60s; hate to see it again.

[jefferson_dem]

12. Post of the Day.

"I don't recognize this place anymore."

Yup. A bunch of whiny, cry baby, finger pointers who engage in cynical circle-jerks whenever they hear anything they (mis)construe as bad news.

.... It's embarassing, really.

[JVS]

13. What's cynical is to campaign on hope and change but hand your voters shit sandwiches by the dozen

[QC]

14. That's not shit! That's Nutella!

Don't let the stench and flies fool you.

[Number23]

16. Happy to kick. Happy to rec.

[cry baby]

17. Thanks for putting my thoughts into words better than I ever could. knr nt

[NanceGreggs]

18. Amen. n/t

[bvar22]

19. Who is cynical?

I'm SUPERCHARGED !!!

Just look at all this good shit:

*WARS fully funded and EXPANDING. Bill sent to our children…...Mission Accomplished !

*Trillion Dollars given to friends and campaign contributors on Wall Street. No Strings Attached...Mission Accomplished!

*Military Spending INCREASED....Mission Accomplished!

*Trillion+ Dollars given to the Health Insurance Industry. Easily Avoidable, symbolic only strings attached....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Force all Americans to buy invisible products from For Profit Corporations who produce nothing tangible and create no wealth.....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Kill the possibility for a REAL "Public Option" or REAL Universal Health Care for at least another generation, and begin the “Entitlement Reform” defunding of Medicare (-$500 Billion)....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Block ANY REAL re-regulation of BIG BANKS and Credit Cards....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the Bush War Criminals and Torturers from JUSTICE....Mission Accomplished.

*Throw the GBLTs under the bus and expand "faith based" initiatives....Mission Accomplished!

*Reinforce the worst Police State provisions of the Patriot Act....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the very richest. Tell the Working Class that they CAN WILL compete with 3rd World Slave Labor for their jobs.....Mission Accomplished!

*EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) killed in the crib....Mission Accomplished!

*More Anti-LABOR "Free Trade"....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Jobless Recovery....Mission Accomplished

*The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party SHUT OUT of the Obama Administration…...Mission Accomplished!

*Accelerate the destruction of Public Education...Mission Accomplished!

*Bury next generation under such a debt burden that they will never be able to afford any social or economic programs that will benefit their Working Class....Mission Accomplished.



Man, I'm LOVING this!
:woohoo: :party:

I can't WAIT for "Entitlement Reform"!
Lets ROLL!

[DrToast]

20. Are you trying to win a free toaster for using the word cynicism so many times?

Get a thesaurus already.

If you are unhappy with what the senate is doing in regards to health care reform, get off your cynical asses and do something about it. Get on the phone. Make your voices heard. Stop blaming Obama for everything.

Okay, tell me, who SHOULD be blamed for Rahm Emanuel telling Reid to give Lieberman what he wants.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/rahm-to-reid-give-lieberman-what-he-wants.php

Tell me that. Explain that one in all your cynicy cynicism.

[Starry Messenger]

21. Sorry.

I'll get off your lawn.

[Jamastiene]

29. I'll stay behind and get the baseball.

I ain't afraid of a big ol' grumpy meany. :evilgrin:

[Hekate]

22. KnR

[jeanpalmer]

23. I didn't realize our cynicism

could cause him to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.

"You want him to do all the work again. He may be the president of the United States, but he is just a man." I see this statement more and more lately. It's a strawman. No one wants him to do all the work. Just the work normally expected of a president. In the case of getting us out of these wars, he actually can do all the work.

"Get on the phone." This placing the blame for his failures on our not making phone calls is getting old. A candidate promises certain things, and then he doesn't do them once elected and doesn't make a reasonable effort, or in many cases does the opposite. And the solution for that is to get on the phone and call him, or call Congress? If his conscience doesn't force him to do what he promised to do, why would a phone call? You'd hope that things wouldn't deteriorate to the level of governing pursuant to phone call.

"He can only do what you force him to do." You gotta be kidding? That's all he can do, just what we force him to do? How can we force him to do something if he doesn't want to do it?

"It was easy with Bush. We could sit back and blame him for everything, and wish and hope that when a democrat goes into office - everything would just magically change." I don't want things to magically change. Another strawman. I just want him to do the things he said he would do.

"it is almost as if you wish he would fail...." No one here wants him to fail. And if he made a real effort to do what he said he would do, people would be happy. The problem is he has backtracked on what he told us he would do, and in many instances has done the opposite. And that's what people here are upset about.

[AllentownJake]

24. I see that the fantasy world people were living in since January 20, 2009

Is coming crashing into reality. The play "Into the Woods" is the only thing that comes to mind right now on DU.

Mine came crashing in this summer.

People thought they elected a champion for the little guy, they got a champion for the elite who will give lip service to the little guy, he's better than the last guy because he at least feigns interest in our petty little existences and will toss bones out here and there to the mongrels who brought him in.


As far as I'm concerned our way of life is being destroyed right now, we needed someone who gets it. We got something else. Am I cynical, or do I pay attention to what is being done not what is being said, and what is being done is reality.

[ChiciB1]

30. +1000 And Let Me Add... I Don't Even Know WHAT "We The People"

can do about this CRAP! I don't think Obama is a strong leader, I don't think he put the people before the BIG GUYS (you KNOW who I mean) and I NEVER really say him take the "Bull By The Horns" either!

I think I feel like I got RAPED so far! I need to just STOP trying to help D.C., because they OBVIOUSLY don't care for us!

There MUST be some PUSH-BACK because this ISN'T GOING TO STOP, until WE STOP THEM!

I'm just so DONE, but even more important... I've reached a new low regarding how I feel. I'm depressed, stressed out and angry all the time. HCR wasn't supposed to look like a limp rag, or at least I didn't think so! But as my father always said "that's what you get for thinking" but it wasn't confined to politics, just a saying of his! And it's NOT just Health Care, it a WHOLE LOT MORE that I see Democrats failing at. Repukes must be laughing their heads off!

Where do I turn for my activism? I don't know, but I DO know that there are VERY FEW DEMOCRATS who have really fought the good fight AND IT'S ISN'T OBAMA or so, so many Democrats!

This is sick and making ME SICK TOO!

Flame Away, I won't be bantering back and forth with you! I can at least mean what I say, and SAY WHAT I MEAN!!

Seems LIEBERMAN is REALLY the POTUS, he seems to be running the show these days! All bow down to the NEW KING!!!!!

[treestar]

41. Their paragraph is not justified at all

It's just insults thrown because the President is not 100% of power in the federal government. The fantasy was that he could order all you wanted.

[LooseWilly]

25. Sure feels like cynicism is all we have left to love...

"cynicsm won't end the wars." And neither will Obama.

"Cyniscm won't get you health care reform that is meaningful." And neither will Obama.

"Cynicsm won't stop Wall Street banksters from making out with as much money as they can imagine." And neither will Obama.

"Cynicsm won't bring back jobs, and it won't feed your family." And neither will Obama.

"If you are unhappy with what the senate is doing in regards to health care reform, get off your cynical asses and do something about it. Get on the phone. Make your voices heard. Stop blaming Obama for everything." -Right, it's not his problem, why should we expect him to be saying anything about it. It's really our fault for not... uhh... forming vigilante lynch mobs to extort Health Care Execs to do the right thing?

"Your cynicsm is not helping him achieve the goals you want, if you are unwilling to focus that power on where it counts." -Lynch mobs, right?

"Flood the phone lines." - Uhh, Sprint?, Verizon?... AT&T??...

"Stand up and protest. Demand a good health care bill from those who write the darned things." - Are you sure you don't mean lynch mobs here?...

"I know I'll be blasted - but what a bunch of whiners. You think that just because you worked hard to get him elected - that your job is over, and he has to take over." --> You DO mean lynch mobs!! Excellent!!

"That is not the case. He can only do what you force him to do - so stop blaming his inaction when it is your laziness." --> Uhh, you mean the lynchmobs should go after Obama?? To make him send the National Guard out after all the other industrialists and finance "wiz"s that're screwing us?

"He doesn't write the bills - he only signs them. You HAVE to create enough flack directed firmly, resolutely at the senate. " --> And lynch mobs for the Senate too? (That's a lot of lynch mobs...)

"Barack Obama is a great president - and if he ends up being a one termer - it will be directly because of you lazy cynics - who want all the trimmings without doing any of the hard lifting" --> So, lynch mobs for Obama? And we should exercise too?

"You have one of the best opportunities with Obama - but you can't seem to stop feeding your cynicism long enough to work with him. Sad. Really sad." --> So, Obama won't prosecute lynch mobs?

Hmm... I love my cynicism, and it loves me, and we can trust each other... and my cynicism tells me that this is a sack of shit you're trying to sell.

Try selling it to the Lutherans. I hear they like sacks of shit, if the price is right...

[Name removed]

26. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jamastiene]

31. What you call "cynicism"

is the beginnings of a well deserved revolution in our party. The only way to stop the status quo is to do things differently.

[JNelson6563]

32. I'm pretty cynical

but DU makes me feel like Pollyanna. If I took this place seriously I'd likely turn suicidal.

Julie

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

33. Barack Obama is the most cynical guy in town

Calling some people on the internet cynical because they lack your appreciation of an incredibly cynical leader.... day-um.

Obama said the deficit might cause another down-leg in the economy.

That is Bush-level cynicism. The mode of thinking endorsed is false, it prevents good being done for real people and it endangers the economy.

Why would the president do something so shocking... so horrible?

Because it polls well. Most Americans believe that false and dangerous distortion of economic reality so the president pretends to agree.

That is a level of cynicism that few internet typists will ever match.

And, unlike the president, when some folks on the internet do it millions don't suffer as a result.

[Peacetrain]

34. Well I am squarely planted here as a old style liberal Democrat and I will work

as hard as I did before.. President Obama has done an amazing amount of work in the 11 months he has been in office.

[babylonsister]

35. Recommend! nt

[saltpoint]

36. Hold the 2012 election this afternoon; Obama's got my vote.

The President remains a convincing presence whenever and wherever he appears.

If you piss off a dog it will bite you eventually, not really because it is a bad animal but because you've pissed it off. Lieberman has pissed me off enough times that I feel like biting him. He's a no-dick corporate whore who serves his own ego while betraying the public interest.

That said, I'd like a perfect world, by which I mean one that conforms to my exact specifications. It would be a world of affordable health care for all, a lot better public education, a teeny-tiny and very quiet group of religious fundamentalists who eschew politics, and absolutely no Neil Sedaka albums.

In the current landscape, as if to suggest a distinction, the angry Left is not only cynical on this site and elsewhere, it is howlingly unproductive. The howling angry Left nominated Cynthia McKinney as the top of the Green Party ticket and she swept the nation with say, 27 total votes. I could almost make sandwiches for 27 people, which suggests to me that a major leftist third party revolutionary rock the boat event is not at hand.

In some instances the cyber assault on Obama on this site exceeds the criticism hurled at George W. Bush. In other instances it is not appreciably different in force. The tone is dismissive, and thereby cynical, as you indicate.

The broader landscape told us last November that voters in this country are at last ready to elect someone who does not look like Lou Dobbs. Many anonymous U.S. Americans marched in the streets of Southern cities for civil rights they did not then have, as Southern governors unleashed militias and police dogs to intimidate and harm their solidarity. But by the 90s Bill Clinton, a Southern governor, asked Poet Maya Angelou to read at his Inaugural. Last November voters coast to coast elected an Afro American to the White House. Dr. King's arc is real.

Obama is the double grilled cheese sandwich in Merlin's wilderness kitchen, with a side of chips and a chocolate cookie. He can walk into a school house or a town hall this very hour and genuinely charm the pants off anybody whether they're 6 or 106, and goddammit, it's only fair that his detractors admit this. He is a man of considerable importance and influence and import. And he was rightfully elected to the most powerful job there is.

The Pukes offer very little if anything as meritorious in opposition to this president. Same for the Left. Plenty of howling, yes, but not much in the way of solutions. I don't like the way John Kerry was treated on this site. I don't like the way Obama is treated on this site. The cynicism debases everyone.

[dave29]

44. +1

:)

[dionysus]

37. excellent post.

:thumbsup:

[azmouse]

38. Awesome!

:thumbsup:

[treestar]

39. They can easily claim to have worked hard on the campaign on the

internet.

Anyone can make that claim. it's just an effort to gain more pity.

[AllentownJake]

43. want links?

I'll be more than happy to PM you newspaper articles I was interviewed for and a TV show I appeared on. The only one I can't find is when I was interviewed for Japanese media.

[salguine]

42. Hmmm...

[watercolors]

45. Very good post, thank you, nice to know there are

some sane intelligent people here.This place has become a nightmare. I'm taking a long break from it and maybe sanity will prevail later!