UPDATE: I want Obama to win. I need Obama to win, but if centrist Democrats keep telling the left to STFU and just vote without addressing their main issues it makes it harder to make them feel "voter entusiasm." That is my main beef. I hate what sold out Republicans have done to America. I want it to stop. My biggest problem is a Democratic party that tells Progressive critics to piss off while the agree with 98% of what Republicans want. I will vote for Obama, make no mistake. Last year I helped raise $30,000 for Democratic candidates. I worked my ass off, and I'm tired of being told to STFU. It's as simple as that. Obama is not my boyfriend, and when I can't criticize an American President because it makes his supporters scared my question is why are Obama's supporters fucking with me and Progressive critics like me instead not Republicans?
This in response to snark and to all those who bemoan the "professional left"
I'm fucking sick and tired of being told that if I criticize this President I am a bad person who is undermining him. It pissed me off when Republicans said it when Bush was President and it pissed me off when Democrats say it. I am sick and fucking tired of being told that any criticism of Obama makes someone an equivalent of a Republican. You know how stupid this is? Are you going to go Rahm and me and then expect me to do all the volunteer work necessary to actually re-elect Obama? I want Obama to win, but you make it suck when you hippy punch me and tell me if I don't clap louder tinkerbell will die.
Why is saying Obama=Bush bad but saying Progressives=Karl Rove is acceptable? Especially when you need those die hard progressives to work their asses off, or a "voter enthuisasm gap" will screw us all and end with the Republican you fear the most
QUIT TELLING ME THAT PROGRESSIVES WHO CRITICIZE OBAMA ARE THE PROBLEM.
And if you are going to tell progressives and people with justifiable complaints about this President to fuck off, don't blame me when we all get screwed.
My problem with centrists is simple, they agree with Republicans more than I do.
But if you want a spineless, gutless party of corporate whores who will sell you out to the highest bidder but are less racist, sexist and homophobically Jesusy and stuff than the scary Republicans of 2011, a party where no one ever complains and we all think happy historic thoughts, then fine, they have a great one they used to call the moderate wing of the Republican party of 1992, but that ain't me hoss.
I am an FDR Democrat. If you are trying to convince me that there is no place for me in the "Big Tent", that questioning the dear leader is forbidden and that I should keep my head down or things will get worse then you aren't selling me "hope", you're selling me cynicism.
So when Matt Taibbi writes of Obama's cover up of Wall Street's crimes . . . a LEGITIMATE COMPLAINT ( and complaint is saying it very, very lightly for your oh so sensitive ears )
Why? My theory is that the Obama administration is trying to secure its 2012 campaign war chest with this settlement deal. If Barry can make this foreclosure thing go away for the banks, you can bet he’ll win the contributions battle against the Republicans next summer.
Which is good for him, I guess. But it seems to me that it might be time to wonder if is this the most disappointing president we’ve ever had.
Bold text added by the diarist
When you bemoan the "Professional Left" you are making the case for MORE CONSERVATIVE POLICIES. Your centrism is pushing the Overton Window to the right, which makes me wonder, if Republicans are so scary to you why do you agree with them that the "Professional Left" is the problem? You couldn't help them frame it better if you held the nail while they swung the hammer.
When I take issue with this President it is because he agrees with Republicans more than I do. On Bush/Cheney's torture program and the prosecution of it's chief architects to the most recent hostage crisis where Boehner got 98%, there are legitimate arguments against this President's policies and the policy agreements that the Democratic Party has made. If your response to my legitimate policy differences is to tell me to STFU and eat what looks to me like shit sandwich because it is that or nothing, then you don't get to bitch about low polls and voter enthusiasm gaps and shellackings and the like.
So honestly, fuck off with all the "Mean Progressives are going to make Obama lose." bullshit, because it isn't funny and it is not helping. In fact, this hippy punching bullshit is totally counterproductive if you want this hippy to work as hard as he has to in order to re-elect Democrats. In all honesty, if you want to help transform the Democratic party into the moderate Republican party of 1992 minus the racist, sexist, homophobic jesusy stuff than fine, go nuts, but you won't have hippies to blame when you lose to the Republicans who hate you as much as they hate me. FDR said "Make me do it", but I can't if you keep protecting this President from any real criticism, and you sure as hell aren't going to win elections against die hard wingnuts with a bunch of wishy washy undecideds and independents. You need the dirty fucking hippies, you can't survive without us, the Democratic party is a total joke without the Progressive movement, or liberals, or the "professional left" or whatever the hell you want to call us. So knock off this hippy punching blame the left bullshit, especially when you need the left to save your ass from the Republican wingnuts who hate us both.
Yours truly, and with love to all, even the people who like to punch hippies and call themselves Democrats. Being able to forgive is what makes being a hippy so groovy.
Peace
You can follow me on the twitter machines @JesseLaGreca
I want Obama to win, but not at the cost of everything I ever believed in.