Obama skates while Right fumes

[JoeChalupa]

Obama skates while Right fumes (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21540.html)

A Democratic president thrills a French audience by telling it that America has been “arrogant.” He brushes aside 50 years of anti-communist orthodoxy by relaxing restrictions against Fidel Castro’s Cuba. He directs his attorney general to ease a crackdown on medical marijuana and even plays host to the Grateful Dead in the Oval Office.

Several times a month in his young presidency, Barack Obama has done things that cause conservatives to bray, using the phrase once invoked by Bob Dole, “Where’s the outrage?!”

The outrage is definitely there, in certain precincts of Republican politics. What’s notable, however, is that it mostly has stayed there — with little or no effect on Obama.

He has been blithely crossing ideological red lines and dancing on cultural third rails — the kinds of gestures that would have scorched an earlier generation of Democrats — with seeming impunity. Obama’s foes, and even some of his allies, are a bit mystified.


Part of the answer is generational. Many hot-button liberal issues — decades-long obsessions for many baby boomers — have cooled a lot since the last time a Democrat occupied the White House.

And part of it is that the highest-profile Republican messengers these days are a deeply unpopular former vice president and a similarly polarizing former House speaker — both of whose days in the sun would seem to be behind them.

“The fact is, the world has changed,” said Charlie Cook, who has carefully studied election results for decades. “Whether it was [Bill] Clinton, [Al] Gore or [John] Kerry, they were all spooked by ghosts. But Obama just isn’t. If you haven’t been around for decades hearing the ghost stories, then going in the big, dark house isn’t as scary.”

Bill Carrick, a longtime Democratic consultant, said Obama’s predecessors on the Democratic presidential ballot were shaped in part by what began in 1972 with George McGovern, a World War II bombardier whose public image was eviscerated.

“They saw a guy turned into a caricature of the drug and draft-dodging culture,” noted Carrick. “And politically they never forgot it. So politically they always lived trying to avoid that baggage.”

And so liberalizing, say, Cuban relations may have been seen as a nonstarter by these Democrats past, the equivalent of political suicide in the pivotal state of Florida.

But the 47-year-old Obama, the first American president born after Castro came to power, sees a younger generation of Cuban-Americans who are less dogmatic about the policy and a broader public with scant memories of the Bay of Pigs.

“Bill Clinton was first on a ballot in 1974, and a lot of his reference points were from the Cold War and the culture wars,” said Cook. “For Obama, that’s just stuff in history books.”

“America is more liberal today than we were in 1993,” said Paul Begala, the Democratic strategist and a key lieutenant in Clinton’s eight-year battle against the right. “When Clinton took office, we were still in the age of Reagan.”

But the passage of time and deep unpopularity of former President George W. Bush have emphatically ended the conservative ascendancy, Begala argued.

“Obama is part of that and a beneficiary of that,” he observed.


--Interesting read. The GOP needs to get their act together.

[Sec24Row7]

Wait til he gets a blowjob in the oval office by a white chick and lies about it.

That will stir them up.

[Marcus Bryant]

I'm for full legalization of marijuana, think the Cuban embargo is well past its usefulness, think that, yeah, the American state has been "arrogant" on occasion, and am on the "right." Though I've never been a Deadhead.

[Extra Stout]

When I was in Louisiana last weekend, I noticed that the state for the most part had entered the 1970's, and parts were even in the 1980's.

Time marches on.

[Marcus Bryant]

'East Texas. Hey, we're not West Louisiana.'

[DarrinS]

I love that he bashes America and kisses some dictator ass. It's good for our image.

[Extra Stout]

'East Texas. Hey, we're not West Louisiana.'
East Texas is a haven for those who find West Louisiana too cosmopolitan and forward-thinking.

[Marcus Bryant]

But the passage of time and deep unpopularity of former President George W. Bush have emphatically ended the conservative ascendancy, Begala argued.

I think a question is to what extent Axelrod et al begin to believe that they have cemented a lasting majority coalition much like Rove did about 5 to 7 years ago. Rove took the 2004 election results as validation of his hubris. Then again, Team Obama benefited from an unpopular incumbent of the opposition party, an opposing candidate who certainly was not the most popular in his own party, and a drop in the Dow of 25% about 4 weeks before the presidential election. Not to mention the expectation of a severe recession looming.

[DarrinS]

East Texas is a haven for those who find West Louisiana too cosmopolitan and forward-thinking.


:lol


I don't know about that. It's pretty damn close.

[Marcus Bryant]

I recall visiting a state courthouse in Ville Platte, LA and viewing a display which contained a Ripley's Believe It Or Not cartoon which informed the reader that a scant 20 years before that court held trials in French and not too long before that announced that court was in session by a baliff blowing into a cowhorn. You need your passport when you visit (don't get any ideas, Gov. Goodhair).

[LnGrrrR]

I'm for full legalization of marijuana, think the Cuban embargo is well past its usefulness, think that, yeah, the American state has been "arrogant" on occasion, and am on the "right." Though I've never been a Deadhead.

Marcus, are you SURE you're on the right nowadays? Look at your fellow brethren there... I'm not sure they'd want you. :)

[JoeChalupa]

We are all Americans.

[Marcus Bryant]

Marcus, are you SURE you're on the right nowadays? Look at your fellow brethren there... I'm not sure they'd want you. :)

Well, everyone wants maximum personal liberty but then they don't want maximum personal liberty.

I do find myself hating most people, not in the sense of what whottt finds when he opens up a fifth of Jim Beam and reads KlanTalk.com, but due to the point of their demonstration of Epstean's Law.

How many Americans would sell off parts of their constitutional rights for a free meal at a Chili's or an Applebee's these days?

[FaithInOne]

We are all americans getting fucked.

[Marcus Bryant]

We are all americans getting fucked.

Ah, poor blameless Americans. We have had no opportunity to organize and exercise our still existing constitutional rights to change that to which we object.

[LnGrrrR]

Well, everyone wants maximum personal liberty but then they don't want maximum personal liberty.

I do find myself hating most people, not in the sense of what whottt finds when he opens up a fifth of Jim Beam and reads KlanTalk.com, but due to the point of their demonstration of Epstean's Law.

How many Americans would sell off parts of their constitutional rights for a free meal at a Chili's or an Applebee's these days?

I'd be willing to sell off some of the ones I don't use. For instance, I will let soldiers quarter in my homes for, let's say, 100 grand. Anyone willing to take me up on this? :D

[Extra Stout]

We are all Americans.

So?

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Obama's policies represent the youth in our nation taking over national politics.

About damn time. The boomers and their children dragged this country through countless waves of stupidity, the culture wars being case and point.

America's youth just doesn't care about fighting the battles of their parents and grandparents anymore, and yes they are far more liberal.

Poll after poll shows that America's young people favor legalizing gay marriage in huge numbers. Abortion rights are a dead issue to most of them. The war on drugs makes no sense to young people because everywhere they look, American culture has shown that drugs (especially Marijuana) are not as dangerous as their parents would have them believe. (Drugs have been mainstream, after all, since the Beatles).

What will the right do now when none of their wedge issues work?

[Marcus Bryant]

Unfortunately, the youth in our nation have been taught by their parents that it's perfectly fine to rack up large IOUs to satisfy their need to buy all the consumer goodies they want and all the government handouts they want to take care of themselves when they don't want to take care of themselves. What will the left do when there's no one left to lend?

[LnGrrrR]

Unfortunately, the youth in our nation have been taught by their parents that it's perfectly fine to rack up large IOUs to satisfy their need to buy all the consumer goodies they want and all the government handouts they want to take care of themselves when they don't want to take care of themselves. What will the left do when there's no one left to lend?

Actually, I think it's the opposite. The youth are now learning you CAN'T do that, and this should be enough of a shock to set some of them straight. (Hopefully.) It's not like it's only been 'young people' hogging out on debt.

[JoeChalupa]

So?

So we are all Americans.

It is a generational movement. Moving forward is just the natural thing to do.

[Marcus Bryant]

Actually, I think it's the opposite. The youth are now learning you CAN'T do that, and this should be enough of a shock to set some of them straight. (Hopefully.) It's not like it's only been 'young people' hogging out on debt.

The same youth for whom the focal point of our educational system now seems to be prepping them for a cubicle bound existence during their working years? Is it not odd how much our educational system has contorted itself to produce good little worker bees instead of free, educated men and women? Yes, we do have one of the finest sets of universities in the world, ones which attracted the best and brightest from around the world. And ones for which most American students are woefully unprepared? Yes, they have the technical knowledge to organize themselves as never before, but to what end? Do they even know? Do they really care or do they pretend to care simply because they need to pretend to care in order to not stick out when they would much rather be participating in a 24 hour marathon session on their XBOX 360 or Playstation 10?

I think the American life to which most 18-29 year olds has been exposed to makes them exceptionally unprepared to tackle the challenges which face this nation, and themselves, for that matter.

I do agree that our debts are not due to the young, but they most certainly have ingrained in them the habits of their prolifigate parents and grandparents.

[LnGrrrR]

The same youth for whom the focal point of our educational system now seems to be prepping them for a cubicle bound existence during their working years? Is it not odd how much our educational system has contorted itself to produce good little worker bees instead of free, educated men and women? Yes, we do have one of the finest sets of universities in the world, ones which attracted the best and brightest from around the world. And ones for which most American students are woefully unprepared? Yes, they have the technical knowledge to organize themselves as never before, but to what end? Do they even know? Do they really care or do they pretend to care simply because they need to pretend to care in order to not stick out when they would much rather be participating in a 24 hour marathon session on their XBOX 360 or Playstation 10?

I think the American life to which most 18-29 year olds has been exposed to makes them exceptionally unprepared to tackle the challenges which face this nation, and themselves, for that matter.

I do agree that our debts are not due to the young, but they most certainly have ingrained in them the habits of their prolifigate parents and grandparents.


I don't know about the civilian population, but I see my fair share of hard workers, lazies, and everything in between in the military.

I think to blame it on Xbox360 or PS3 is invalid. The same kids who don't want to study today are the kids who didn't want to study 30 years ago. They just went out and played baseball instead. :)

I'm more concerned with the idea that facts are malleable, and think that more than anything is leading to a 'dumbing down'.

[Marcus Bryant]

I don't know about the civilian population, but I see my fair share of hard workers, lazies, and everything in between in the military.

I think to blame it on Xbox360 or PS3 is invalid. The same kids who don't want to study today are the kids who didn't want to study 30 years ago. They just went out and played baseball instead. :)

At least hardball required some effort.

Also, is it not convenient that our educational system seems almost exclusively geared towards turning out good little corporate drones? Education is given short shrift in deference to training which makes one employable (lest we forget the inevitable politically inspired twists and turns in 'education').




I'm more concerned with the idea that facts are malleable, and think that more than anything is leading to a 'dumbing down'.

That's if the "facts" are even presented to students. Teaching students how to think might lead them to believe that the system itself is not desirable, and we can't have that.

[Bender]

I've been wanting to walk into one of the Club Humidors in San Antonio and buy some Cuban cigars

[RobinsontoDuncan]

The current young generation is certainly the most obedient generation I have ever seen.

I don't think it's fair to say they're all turning into good little cubicle drones, however. For the most part today's youth seems to be interested in pushing to boundaries of what's possible in the work place w/ technology, etc.

I'm very impressed w/ young people today, and I tend to see them as much more free thinking than even the boomers (who were pretty reactionary after the 60s).

We'll see-- they have the greater challenges to face then their parents or grandparents did

[JoeChalupa]

Times they are a changing and I can see it in the words I hear from young kids.

[SnakeBoy]

How many Americans would sell off parts of their constitutional rights for a free meal at a Chili's or an Applebee's these days?

Give me liberty or give me a 4000 sq. ft. home with all the amenities.