Hi Daily Kos, Canadian living in Korea here. I think it might be a good time to pen my thoughts on the US and President Obama, as I might be able to offer a bit more objective and unbiased view from over here.
Let's see...where to begin. First of all, the way Obama views government and the presidency. I think if I had to characterize Obama's governance in a single sentence it would be this: "Begin with an ideal, analyze the situation, and then move as close as possible to that ideal as the current situation will allow".
Sometimes what the current situation will allow is quite a bit, sometimes it isn't much. Obama seems to always prefer a bit of progress to the possibility of none at all.
That explains pretty much everything he has done so far. Obama isn't exactly what either extreme would like to characterize him as. He's certainly not a Marxist or any of the other ridiculous names he gets called by the GOP, we know that, but neither is he a sellout, a corporate shrill, etc. On the other hand, he doesn't have any problem working with anybody that he thinks may be able to help him enact that "as much change as the current situation will allow" if that's the only way to achieve it.
Health care: the US admittedly still has a pretty ridiculous system and I'm glad I don't understand what a deductible, copayment and the rest are, exactly. However, take a look at this:
http://www.reddit.com/...
Not too bad for a year and a half. I'm not sure why Daily Kos isn't full of diaries that are focused on building on this instead of tearing Obama down. Over here we're watching the US redeem itself, slowly but steadily: a drawdown in Iraq, much better diplomacy (especially with Russia, very important IMO), plans for high-speed rail finally beginning to form, a nice measured tone on North Korea and the ability to get things done at the UN Security Council instead of whining about the UN itself as Bolton used to do. Oh, and Israel and Palestine are in talks again. Cautious optimism.
On how health care was passed: the Democratic Party is a wider tent than the GOP and thus has a lot of Democrats that don't act like one would expect a Democrat to act on issues like taxes, health care and the rest. I'm not sure why this isn't the focus of the upcoming election instead of all the diaries about Obama. Why is there such little talk about individual Democrats when those were the ones that prevented the health care bill from being better than it could? Even in a climate as poisonous as that was, being able to get something through both the House and the Senate looked like a minor miracle to me.
Demagogues on the left: I'm not really a fan of perfectionists, the Cenk Uyghurs and Arianna Huffingtons that always seem one second away from crying "sellout!" whenever something goes wrong. I'm sure they're nice people and I don't question their motives, but their techniques are all wrong at this stage (a few months before an election). Whenever I read a diary written by someone making the case that Obama or whoever has sold out, I always look for the alternative they are proposing...and there usually isn't any. Okay, Obama sold out and...what's the plan? Usually the plan is pretty vague - Obama needs to "take off the gloves" or something.
In short:
- It's pretty exciting to watch the US change bit by bit for the better since Obama was elected
- I'm quite baffled at the despondency amongst Democrats (at least online), and am beginning to wonder if the habit of piling on your own candidate and party can really be cured
- I think Democrats tend to spend too much time just trashing Republicans like Palin and the rest for fun, and don't spend enough time reflecting upon the fact that yes, these people could be running the country again. "So-and-so FAIL interview on Fox News" and "GOP shrill says RIDICULOUS thing on talk radio" is mildly entertaining, but I rarely see those posts concluding with any sort of call for action.
Finally, remember this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
You voted for Obama and all you got was health care reform, stem cell research, ungagging of scientists, reduced nuclear weapons, an improving economy, greater rights of states to legalize marijuana, more rights for gays, and an improved image on the world stage.
That quote comes from here.
http://www.reddit.com/...
Some things have happened since April, so add "end of the combat mission in Iraq", "Israel-Palestine negotiations again", "financial reform", what else?
So how about a focus on action over the next few months? Really boring, dry work like calling people and canvassing and talking about individual candidates, all over the front page and on the right side in the diary section. There'll be plenty of time to complain about the President after November. Really.
-----
Edit: thanks for all the recs. One point a few other Canadians have made that I neglected to mention is how incremental health care was in Canada too in the beginning. See this comment for that:
Our Health Care System began forming in 1947 in one province, Saskatchewan. It took about 20 more years to finally get every province and the federal government on board.
Edit 2: It's past 1 am here in Korea so that's about it for me today. I'm glad to see this diary get so many recs as I suddenly had the urge to do what I could from over here across the Pacific to help keep the focus on what matters in the next few months - diaries about individual candidates, canvassing, overall message, whatever helps to harness the large number of people that read Daily Kos in the best way possible, and I actually do get the sense that this is beginning to happen.
Also one more concrete idea: some have said that canvassing is tough as there is little to excite the base or average voters. I would recommend things like this that are simple and to the point:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
Easily understood graphs like this need to be spread far and wide in this election season. There's plenty to run on, both in terms of what has already been done and what Obama and (the majority of) Dems intend to do.
-----
Where to find me when I'm not on Daily Kos: http://www.pagef30.com