I was responding to a post in another thread but I realized that there might be a better thread for my response. When I found this thread, I decided that was the case…
This whole attitude makes for a nice soundbite which may sometimes be completely valid — except for one thing: Obama is not evil. He is imperfect, but that doesn’t make him evil.
Also, he’s certainly not a Lefty himself (despite the conjecture from Republicans) and never really was one.
I get quite irritated with Lefties who feel otherwise, like they were duped or something.
What is their rationale? They scream NDAA (and ignore the politics behind it and the Signing Statement that muted it or the judges who overruled it).
They scream about how the Patriot Act and wiretapping is still happening. On this one they have a legitimate beef as I disagree with Obama however I don’t see this changing in a positive direction with Romney in the White House yet it might change for the better when Obama is under different circumstances (i.e. not facing a contentious reelection with an obstinate Congress.)
Guantanamo Bay is still open? This has a lot to do with the situation he inherited there (is he supposed to just cut people who we knew were bad people who wanted to do us harm free after the previous administration totally fucked the chance to make a conviction stick?) and a lot more had to do with the obstructionist Congress. He is still saying he wants to get it closed down. I think he’s more likely to do so than Romney.
They don’t like how cozy he is with Wall Street and the corporate zeitgeist. I also don’t like this and wish he would take a harder stance towards meaningful regulations but unfortunately, too many Americans resist this. The Occupy movement was not a success (and I say that as someone who supported them and visited my local Occupy on several occasions.) If Americans are disinterested in this issue, how can any politician in a representative government go out on that limb?
I want money out of politics but Obama is a lot more likely to put justices on the court who might reverse Citizens United than Romney ever would.
They complain that he’s a war-hawk and about drone attacks when in reality he is getting us out of more wars than into them and using far less firepower and military strength in dealing with new conflicts than Romney ever would.
What else do they complain about? He’s soft on gun control? I don’t care about gun control and view the whole debate as a poisonous distraction from other issues. I am fine with his hands-off approach on this issue, even if gun control lefties are not.
Some were angry that he didn’t come around quickly enough on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or some other promises but he did eventually come around.
And in a general sense, I took issue with Obama’s compromising with Republicans when he first took office, at least at the time. I wanted Obama to lead a bold charge, but his nature was always to try and unite people. This is a for better or worse part of his make-up - on paper, I agree we should be more united and be less divided. In practice, Obama was dealing with petulant babies who would not negotiate in good faith because they preferred allegiances to party and Grover Norquist over country.
So no, I don’t think Obama is a lesser of two evils. He is imperfect and not a Lefty but Lefties have to face facts: Bernie Saunders will never be President of this country. This country has moved far to the right. As much as Obama’s centrist tendencies might irritate you, he’s still way to the left of the GOP which has careened to the far right the past several years.
You want that pendulum to swing back? So do I. But it won’t happen if Liberals spite-vote third parties and Romney gets elected. That will only embolden the far right and the portion of the country that supports them. If you think that the Democratic response to such a thing would be to get farther left, there is room for that debate, but I disagree.
I will paraphrase one of my favorite quotes on the subject, made by Stephen Colbert:
Obama duped liberals by not doing every single thing they wanted. So now, they’ll all vote Republican, third party or simply abstain from voting. It’s like when I want some bread, I won’t settle for half a loaf. Instead, I will have a muffin made of broken glass.
Vote for whomever you want. Vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson or write in Mickey Mouse. Or choose to not vote. As counterproductive as I find that, it’s certainly your right.
But if you think that this country will get better because of your principled stance, well, Ralph Nader says hi. And if you think that your principled stance is more important than making this country better, I feel that you are missing the forest for the trees.