How Obama will outsmart himself

Yes Obama is in over his head because the mess left was above anyone's head. Bush really messed everything up. That is exactly why Obama should do what is right even if it doesn't seem like it's smart for trying to become re-elected. Obama has been too cautious in my mind.
That alone should not mean he should not be elected. There is a difference between what we should expect and what we should never accept. And unfortunately even if we never accept some of the things he's done doesn't mean he isn't the lesser of evils. But in not criticizing him openly we forever doom ourselves to choose evil.
It's a disservice to Obama. I believe he is a good man but he is governing by what he sees as left of his challengers.
Andrew Sullivan recently put up an article about what a genius Obama is for running this way. Here are some foot notes of mine:

*Sullivan criticizes the 'radical left' of being disappointed that Obama didn't revolutionize everything. Most people don't actually hear from the 'radical left'. They never supported Obama. There is nothing radical about expecting Obama to live up to his own hype. If it was radical Sullivan would be a radical for supporting him when he said it or a shitty journalist for not telling the rest of us that Obama really meant something more mediocre.
*It is true that Republican candidates are making up how Marxist Obama is. They have chosen to run against an Obama that doesn't exist. Obama is a centrist (nothing wrong with that) and no matter how far he bends to prove he is not a radical leftist they continue to campaign against him as if he is.
*It is true that Obama doesn't get enough credit for actions like buying GM. It seems to have worked. But Obama has also done too much waiting to see what Congress will send him. I blame the fact that he has surrounded himself with the same kind of aspiring lobbyist and yes men that previous administrations have. During the election we were given the impression that this would be an administration of academics. It isn't that I am saying that academics would necessarily have better solutions. But they'd be offering different solutions.

*Though it's nice that Obama will be able to call the GOP nominee a liar about raising taxes. Wouldn't it have been better to raise taxes on the top 1% and say "If I raised your taxes don't vote for me"? It's fine not to raise taxes if you don't believe it will help but Obama keeps saying one thing and doing another.
*Sullivan: "But where Bush talked tough and acted counterproductively, Obama has simply, quietly, relentlessly decimated our real enemies, while winning the broader propaganda war." true enough. Though Obama also continues a show of force while proving over and over that is not the way to win modern warfare and 'winning the hearts and minds'

*Sullivan is also right to say that " From the start, liberals projected onto Obama absurd notions of what a president can actually do in a polarized country, " But Obama hasn't been very good about finding common ground. Instead of passing a huge medical bill he could have broke it up and passed the components that would be foolish for congress to vote against. Yeah he got health care through but he could have gotten through more things like hiring more patent clerks if he didn't call in so many favors on healthcare.
The other thing is that Obama has started all his negotiations from the center instead of starting from where he says he believes and forcing the other side to work to the center with him.

* "Liberals have derided him as a captive of Wall Street," That is because of the way Obama has done business. Monsanto is going to be able to save money on lobbyist now that Obama has hired one of their guys to run the EPA. Yes business people are smart and knowledgable. But you can't let them both advise you and lobby to you on how to regulate them.

*Personally I don't expect Obama to grandstand. I expect reasonable results from him. I expect a lot out of him because we pay him a lot of money and pay for him to have a very big staff.  I'll give him that he is probably one of our best presidents of my lifetime but that is a very low bar considering the resources available to him.

*Ending torture does not give Obama a free pass on indefinite detention. Because guess what the next president can bring torture back and doesn't have to worry about the prisoner telling anyone because they are never getting out of solitary confinement.

It may seem easy for me to sit here and criticize the president and his defenders. But I am running for office as a dare to see if I can do better. And I can guarantee that even if I do accomplish more than what we've come to expect, I will be still riddled with guilt over what more I could have done.
We should never be complacent with our elected officials because that is when they begin to slide backwards.

The curious case of Barack Obama

There are many odd things about the gap between the way Obama governs and the way he speaks. Before he took office there was some speculation as to the type of people he would appoint to his cabinet. Obama was a community organizer and would probably bring other organizers with him to Washington. Would he give Cornell West a cabinet position?
But you'd think Hillary Clinton won the election by looking at the cabinet of the current administration. The Obama administration is to the Clinton administration as the Bush Sr. administration is to Bush Jr. DeJaVu you can believe in.
Perhaps, if the speculation was right that different voices would be in the White House, things would be different in DC. Perhaps Republicans would have acted differently if they thought the other side would be different.
The reason I think the more we elected change the more things stayed the same is because Obama choked. Instead taking up the challenge with fresh eyes, he deferred to the old guard.

The Microwave Generation

A lot of people are calling this election a referendum on Obama. I hope not. I hope it's a whole lot more. I hope it's a referendum of the two party system. Amongst activists disgusted with the two party system there are two philosophies: Join/create a third party or take over one of the established parties and change it from the inside.
What the Tea Party is doing is giving me some mixed feelings. On one hand it's great that the technique can be effective. On the other they seem in danger of radicalizing the Republican party. Radicalizing doesn't usually result in things getting more radical/awesome. It's usually radical/crazy.
If this election was a referendum on Obama that bothers me more. The extra energy of the right is coming in part from the extra funds being dumped into the campaign because of Supreme Courts ruling on Citizens United (basically individuals still limited on how much they can give to a politician but companies can give as much as they want).
The idea that Obama is an extreme anything is poppycock. Nothing Obama has done is beyond the trajectory of previous presidents of either party. Every president in my life time and probably longer has pushed the boundries of their powers a little bit only to be escalated by the next guy. Congress has done the same thing. This is why I think every president should be impeached at least at the end of their term if not earlier. I'll go into this later.

What I really think this 'referendum on Obama' is about is that the American people are too used to getting their cake and eating it to. This is a generality so if it doesn't apply to you then I am not talking about you (but put some real thought into if it really is about you). The proof is in the "keep the government out of my medicaid" signs.
Americans who can't afford to hire someone themselves want the government to provide these types of services but don't want to pay for them. A prime example is the recent Congressional race I was a part of, My district is staunchly Republican but a significant portion of the populous draws unemployment three months of the year when Branson shuts down for the winter.
When I took electronics at the VoTech in Reeds Spring the teacher told us we were the microwave generation. We've never had to wait for anything in our whole lives. I think he missed the mark a little because it isn't just my generation. We all have come to expect everything to be wrapped up in a neat little bow in a timely manor and it shouldn't require any actual effort from us.
I have my own reasons for not liking Obama. Much of it comes from the fact that he doesn't practice what he preaches (criticizes gitmo but starts an assassination program for example). But it bothers me that the right is treating Obama as if he is anything but a continuation of Bush. I keep hearing Boehner and others referring to 2008 debt ceiling as if it were an acceptable number.
The silver lining in all this negative intellectual dishonesty is that the left is coming back with humor as anti-venom. It's what I've tried to do. Then there was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and now there is this http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/