The way many Americans have treated Obama lately - calling him a national socialist, a socialist, or a non-citizen - well, it is just too much to accept. Americans, who somehow briefly contrived to appear brilliant and brave when they elected the radical man, now appear dim-writted and reactionary at their reluctance to support him. Kick the yes-we-can hard as you want, Obama is still great.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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Even his OFA leadership (essentially what was his volunteer army of campaigners) has turned on him with the prospect of his not pushing the public option. A lot will depend on what Obama does tonight when he addresses Congress concerning healthcare.
Obama may, himself, be a moderate conservative bordering on right leaning centrism on the world stage... But he has been making a post election triangulation run to the right to appease the Radical American Centrists that are not the least bit interested in solving the real underlying problems in the USA, IMHO. And these Radical American Centrists do not, in any way, reflect the major shift to the left in views of the American people on many issues.
There is a minority and very vocal opposition to Obama from the serious whack jobs (Teabaggers, Birthers, Deathers, etc.) but there is also a lot of push back that is merited based on real policies that are not being addressed adequately.
Is he better than Bush or any of the neoconservatives? You would have to measure that difference in light years.
Are his policies worth fighting for? No. Not as long as he continues to pander to the Beltway insider Villagers' wisDUMB that led us into an illegal invasion, ongoing economic disasters, etc. yada yada.
The healthcare battle is probably the most important issue - according to polling before, during and after election time - to the average American. If he runs to the right on this issue? He will have lost not just his base of supporters, but the left, right and center that supports real reform on the biggest social issue of our time.
(And yeah, I know... Here we are stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan and American voters are more concerned with their jobs, their money and their healthcare than people dying. Go figure, eh?)
That said, I don't see Obama as a radical. He's not even a liberal. He's a Democrat, a centrist-- much like Bill Clinton. Many of us on the left (who happily voted for him) are disturbed by his pandering to those carrying out these smear campaigns.
I'm not one to quote W, but there's something to be said for carrying out the mandate.
You are always so pessimistic about Obama, Todd. I told you he would win, and he did. And you always took the doom and gloom scenario to the finish-line.