THE UNEASY LEFT

Roman Around ^ | 9 December 2008 | Andrew Roman

[andrew roman]

There's an old Yiddish adage - man plans, God laughs.

Never is it more applicable than in politics.

When campaign-trail elocution eventually bumps heads with post-acceptance speech actuality, promises and propositions become the first casualties of political victory - even when the candidate happens to be a Messiah.

Here it is, only a month since the presidential election - the one that supposedly reflected a mandate from the American people for "fundamental change" - and already, before the first puff of cigarette smoke is taken late at night in the Rose Garden (because there's no smoking allowed in the White House), some liberals out there are growing uneasy with the CEO of the Office of President Elect.

Imagine that.

Not that Republicans are ready to put Barack Obama screensavers on their laptops just yet, but it is kind of fun to watch.

More than just concerned, some on the left are downright infuriated with the way Obama has conducted the first thirty days of his transition in what they believe has amounted to a succession of disappointing Cabinet selections and policy backtracking.

A feeling of betrayal is in the air.

Who is this guy with the tired, inside-Washington, Clinton hand-me-downs and what has he done with our beloved, "Yes We Can" smooth-talking, anti-war, take-down-the-rich Marxist?

As Carol E. Lee and Nia-Malika Henderson write at Politico:

Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.

Rather, the old boss is looking much like what all of us expected the new boss to look like - with big government bailout guns at the ready, dangling trillion dollar price tags over the heads of the American people while presiding over an economic crisis with sad and shriveling resolve.

And even with the Bush tax cuts now reportedly being left to expire on their own under a President Obama at the end of 2010 - without Democrat prodding - liberals are seeing red (pun intended):

“He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right cabinet. But we do hope that before it's all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment,” said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America.

OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn't there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”

Further indication that the monikers "liberal" and "leftist" have become indistinguishable.

To these folks, Democrats are inauthentic unless they adopt what, at one time, were generally seen to be the radical lines of thinking in the party - moral equivalence between America and her enemies, social engineering through the courts, preoccupation with how others in the world see America, the systematic extinguishing of God in the public arena and the whitewashing of the historical impact religion has had on this country (see the new Capitol Visitor's Center), easier access to abortions, and an all-powerful nanny-state paid for by the richest and most successful among us.

Welcome to today's Democrat Party.

Yet, as Chris Bowers lamented, President Obama's will not be seen an "actual Democratic administration" because (presumably) the Dennis Kucinich wing of the donkeys has been snubbed.

The central premise of the left’s criticism is direct – don’t bite the hand that feeds, Mr. President-elect. The Internet that helped him so much during the election is lighting up with irritation and critiques.

“There don't seem to be any liberals in Obama's cabinet,” writes John Aravosis, the editor of Americablog.com. “What does all of this mean for Obama's policies, and just as important, Obama Supreme Court announcements?”

Indeed, to many conservatives as well, that is the money question - how will the Supreme Court shape up over the next four years? And possibly - *gulp* - eight with President Obama?

Despite all of this "centrist" talk surrounding the next President, and the growing (and admittedly amusing) distress of some on the left, the time for Republicans to embrace judiciousness and avoid slipping into the "look, he's going to govern from the middle" trap is now.

Democrats will own Capitol Hill as well as the Oval Office. The pressure will fall squarely on them to answer the election bell. And if this weren't my country hanging in the balance, the first couple of years of an Obama administration could be incredibly entertaining to watch unfold.

Democrats attempting to handle a crisis has a Seinfeldian absurdity to it - lots of laughs, often quotable, but really a whole lot of nothing.

However, this is my country, and Dems will be steering the ship.

(Insert sigh)

Meanwhile, as in 1992 when Bill Clinton entered the White House with similar Democratic congressional majorities, Republicans can vacate the mushy middle that served them so well during the McCain campain - *cough* - and actually be Republicans.

The fact is ... as favorable as most of Obama's appointments have been thus far to many on the right (or, probably more accurately, not as horrible as they could have been), the Prez-El still is not "the man" as of yet.

(The "One", yes. The "man," no).

Believe it or not, Obama hasn't actually accomplished anything as President (although there already is an annual holiday honoring him in one Alabama county), so we can't exactly grade him on his so-called centrism.

In truth, all we have to go on is what he's already done - a record that has him ranked as the Senate's most liberal member.

Let's keep that in mind, shall we?

I am reminded of that old expression about leopards and spots ...

_

[2ndDivisionVet]

I tell you what: If I were the president and I wanted to smoke (which I don’t, but that’s not the point), I’d smoke anywhere I damn well pleased. What a WIMP!!! Putin and Ahmadinnerjacket will surely have fun with this wet noodle...

[elcid1970]

“this wet noodle”

Hmmm...hmmm... Can the epithet `wet noodle’ possibly be construed as racist? Uh, we’ll have to get back with you on that.

Anyway, I shudder to think of the moment when V.V. Putin fixes Obama with that blue-eyed cold stare. The wet noodle will then turn to mush.