How liberals define “accomplishment”
November 19th, 2009 at 2:38 pm by NigelCheck out libtard Dan Benbow’s fabulous defense of Barack Obama’s “accomplishments”.:
Elected to confront colossal real world problems, Barack Obama has faced a steady onslaught from the 5150 elements of the right over trivialities such as his bowing to the Saudi King, issuing a qualified opinion on police conduct in Cambridge, and suggesting to schoolchildren that they should hit the books and make something of their lives.
Obama’s small tax increase on the fat and happy sliver of the country that benefited from Bush’s economic policies was spun as an attack on the common man by “teabaggers,” and public discussions of earnest efforts to reform our horrorshow healthcare system were hijacked by “everyday people” armed with insurance industry talking points. Republican Senator Jim DeMint flatly declared, “If we’re able to stop Obama on [healthcare reform] it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
The temper tantrums of stunted and confused people are to be expected, but Obama is getting it from progressives too: for not repealing ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’; for not releasing torture photos; for not dismantling Bush’s Big Brother power apparatus; for some fox-guarding-the-henhouse appointments and other sops to corporate interests; and for his unwillingness to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Even despite these obstacles, the peanut gallery caricature of a do-nothing president is at odds with Obama’s extensive public record. This turbulent moment is a good time to take stock of the many things for which we should be grateful.
Barack Obama...not just playing golf!
Then Benbow goes on to his “list”. Among President Barry’s Nobel-Prize-worthy “accomplishments:
* Writing down his “goals”
* Choosing as Attorney General a man who was instrumental in pardoning criminal Marc Rich, who dismissed a uncontested voter intimidation case against two Philadelphia Black Panthers, and dropped a military tribunal against a jihadi murderer so he can make a show trial here in the US. But at least Holder is black!
* Signed an executive order pledging money we don’t have to fund killing of babies in foreign countries.
* Giving a television interview on Arab TV whilst on his first apology tour.
* Allowing the press to exploit our fallen soldiers by photographing their coffins.
* “Reaching out” to our foreign enemies.
* Expanding a fraud-ridden Americorps.
* Withdrawing US support for Israel.
* Awarding Presidential Medals of Freedom to Gay Rights “Pioneers” Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King. (Oh, and one to the killer of Mary Jo Kopechne.)
* Nominating the first Hispanic-Female Supreme Court Justice. Have you noticed a pattern here? Liberals consider simply naming appointments or award recipients based on race or sexual orientation rather than on qualifications an “accomplishment”.
* And…tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend!
These are the “accomplishments” liberals point to when critics wonder what Obama has really done with his Presidency. And those critics ARE wrong….Obama has done PLENTY:
* Invited SEIU thug/President Andy Stern to the White House 22 times…or 18 times more than his Secretary of State and 20 times more than “comedian” Martin Lawrence.
* Spent more time saluting flags in foreign countries than he has saluting our OWN flag.
I could list dozens of other “Obama accomplishments”, but unlike Benbow I have a real job. Feel free to list your favorite Obama “accomplishments” in the comments section.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:30 am
He does a pretty good job of acting like he finds his wife *shudder* attractive, at least in front of the cameras. Too bad he didn’t migrate to Hollywood after college instead of Chicago…
November 21st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Nigel: thanks for the free publicity.
Dan Benbow
November 21st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Nigel,
In the spirit of the First Amendment, which every true patriot cannot hug hard enough, I, as the author of the piece you lambasted above, would like to correct a few misstatements for your four or five readers:
-I did not say “getting elected” was one of Obama’s accomplishments. I said Obama’s being elected was something that liberals should be grateful for. I said this because, just as many on the right claim Obama has done way too much, many on the left say he hasn’t done anything at all, which you must admit is kind of ridiculous. At the same time, becoming America’s first black president in an electoral landslide IS a HUGE personal accomplishment, certainly many times over greater than anything you or your humble narrator has ever done.
-Where did I list “writing down his goals” as one of Obama’s accomplishments? Find and cite the exact quote when you blast this response, as you should, as it’s quite rude of me to come into your home turf and slap you around like this.
-I don’t agree with everything Eric Holder has done, but cherry-picking two bad things he’s done (the Rich pardon, which was Clinton’s decision, not Holder’s, and the Panther dismissal) in a lengthy career – which includes a judicial appointment from Ronald Reagan – doesn’t prove that he’s a bad Attorney General. And there are plenty of sound arguments in favor of a public trial for the 9/11 planners, as even some of the honest few on the right will admit.
-I won’t argue the abortion issue with you, as I totally respect the pro-life position (at least for those that believe in a social contract), but Obama’s family planning executive order doesn’t kill any babies. It simply doesn’t cut US funding FOR FAMILY PLANNING to clinics that perform abortions WITH THEIR OWN MONEY, NOT THAT OF THE US TAXPAYERS. Whether we give them the money or not, some of the clinics we fund will perform abortions WITH THEIR OWN MONEY, but now we won’t be punishing all the impoverished women and children who benefit by family planning money because of the functions of the clinics they use.
-Calling Obama’s humility on the international stage an ‘apology tour’ is a perfect reflection of American arrogance. As we now know, we had no good reason to invade Iraq; they had no WMDs and no real connection to al qaeda. Unilateralism strains our relations with the rest of the world, which is bad in and of itself, but especially bad when we need their help. Had Bush not so stupidly invaded Iraq, Afghanistan wouldn’t be the mess it is now, and we wouldn’t have such a hard time getting any of our allies to help us out. Also, we tried the tough guy approach with Iran and North Korea, and well…isolation and street talk has only allowed them to beef up their nuclear programs. As should be more than obvious at this point, unilateralism is counterproductive over the long haul.
-Families of troops that don’t want their coffins photographed will have that right, but it only isolates the American public more from the effects of war to ban the practice outright, and it’s funny to hear a so-called small government advocate such as yourself defend censorship.
-One or two anecdotes about isolated cases of corruption within Americorps do not mean that the whole multi-million dollar organization itself is “fraud-ridden.” This is what is known as the “anecdotal evidence” fallacy (see Reagan’s fictional welfare queen, driving a Cadillac she bought with her AFDC checks.)
-Obama is not remotely ‘withdrawing support for Israel.’ He is simply and rightly pointing out that expanded settlements only stir the pot over there and make peace less likely. In other words, a tiny, tiny sliver of Israelis are benefitting from a policy that causes more friction for the other umpteen million Palestinians and Israelis.
-Your comments about Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King are predictable, but how can you call yourself a believer in ‘small government’ when you’re bigoted against people based on what they do in the privacy of their own home? How libertarian is that?
-White people such as yourself belittle the appointment of the first black Attorney General and the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, but that’s because your race has controlled everything for so long. To blacks and Hispanics that have been largely shut out of the political process, it’s a big deal. And by the way, both of these people are not Affirmative Action picks…they are both extremely qualified with many, many years of experience.
-Obama has spent a lot, but so did your presidents. Reagan and Bush I tripled the debt of the 39 previous presidents, and W doubled the debt of the 42 before him after inheriting record surpluses. And Obama inherited the worst economy in decades. Are you suggesting that he should have starved us out of a recession? Do you really think that would work? What evidence do you have that it would have? Many people actually criticize Obama for not spending more.
As to taxing, the right likes to obscure the details to dupe a lot of uninformed middle-class people to vote against their own self-interest, but the fact is that the only people who had higher taxes under Obama are those making 250K and above, the same people that were among the few that benefitted from W’s supply side ‘jobless recovery.’
The comments at the end about having Stern over repeatedly is irrelevant; how many times did W have Abramoff, who is in prison, unlike Stern, to the White House?
And who cares how much golf Obama played? Are you insinuating that he isn’t industrious? Is it or is it not true that he devotes more hours/day to the job than did W, Bush I, or Reagan?
Last, who cares if he’s traveling a lot? Doesn’t it make sense to hold talks and buoy up our relations around the globe in an increasingly interdependent world? Why is the right so afraid of travel? Do you fear that your head would explode once you get outside of your tiny little familiar worlds?
I look forward to your reply (with bated breath.)
Thanks again for bringing exposure to my most important work.
Much obliged,
Dan Benbow
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Wow, it looks like our honored “professional journalist” guest is a little thin-skinned and apparently a little lonely. We don’t pay union scale here, Dan, so keep that in mind for your future missives.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
There. Fixed that for you.
By Dave’s “logic”, Bush won an electoral landslide against Kerry in 2004. As usual, he throws a pot of spaghetti at the wall and asks which one of his 50 incorrect points would you like to address first?
Can we apply abortion photos in the same category as the war dead? You’re asking for our goddamn money to pay for it. It’s only isolating the American public from the effects of abortion but it’s funny to hear big government activists, such as yourself, defending censorship. After the coffins debate, we know you all love to see a dead body. Preferably on the front page of the newspaper.
Americorps was originally supposed to be a volunteer program and has been a front for funneling taxpayer money to organizations like ACORN.
As far as defending Obama in favor of Israel, where the fuck are you coming from? He’s saved his most precious bile for them. Iran gets the hand pat treatment while Israel is told what to do. He famously said that he’ll defend Islam any time any place and then lied to the Israelis about his position on Jerusalem. They know what the fuck he is. Just like we do. And especially like Reverend Wright does.
Those dumb, uninformed middle class people. How do they survive without you coming down from on high to help light the way? The vote against their self-interest and you’re here to save them from themselves. How magnanimous. When their job is gone. When they’re forced out of their current insurance by and onto government mandated health insurance and sent to prison if they don’t buy it. When their every act and deed, be it drinking a soda, smoking a cigarette, having a beer, eating a piece of fast food, driving their car, etc. is taxed at a punitive rate – again, to save them from themselves then you’ll mewl about only people making $250k getting taxed extra. For that statement alone, you’re a lying piece of shit. The so-called “rich” do not have enough money to pay for “free healthcare”.
He’s already run out of other people’s money and he’s got another year to try to steal the next generation’s.
Face it. Obama hates this country. He has no familiarity with it’s people and doesn’t identify with it at all. He’s the “Pacific President”. He was raised in Indonesia and by his typical white grandmother who mistakenly took in this bastard born from The Whore of the 3rd World. And promptly thrown under the bus for her mistake. He then got shuttled, being the son of privilege that he was, to Ivy league schools until he could cherry pick a leftwing Chicago district to represent for a couple of years.
He ran a 30-state campaign, not a 57 one. Half of this country never had a clue about this guy and they aren’t awakening slowly. Most Americans don’t respect somebody who goes around hugging dictators and talking down our country claiming that we live in a post-American Exceptionalism era and that women, blacks, insert aggrieved minority group here, have it as bad in the U.S. as in Saudi Arabia or Iran. Emboldening our enemies and spitting in the faces of our allies.
It’s you who’s in for a rude awakening next November and personally I can’t wait to wipe that smug smile off your fucking face.
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Dan,
Thanks for spending so much time at our little blog. This is what you wrote:
Even despite these obstacles, the peanut gallery caricature of a do-nothing president is at odds with Obama’s extensive public record. This turbulent moment is a good time to take stock of the many things for which we should be grateful.
What are we supposed to take away from that paragraph? You then listed dozens of items that a reader could reasonably presume were accomplishments of the great Barack Obama.
My bad if I misread your intent. If your intent of the entire column was not to point to what Obama has done but rather to drop to my knees (much like Obama has done throughout his tours of the Middle East, Europe and Asia) just to be thankful, I missed that.
My bad.
Similarly, in your list you had this link:
“Obama Wrote Federal Staffers About His Goals (11/17/08)”
Now is that an accomplishment or something I should be thankful for? Please clarify.
About Eric Holder, you want a bigger list? I could do that if you like (for example, pursuing prosecution against our CIA interrogators…creating a disincentive for our intelligence agency in gathering intelligence that protects our country)
In fact, the Marc Rich thing was SO egregious there’s no way he should be our AG. NO WAY. You know if Bush had nominated someone so complicit in the pardoning of someone on the FBI’s most wanted list, you would have ripped him four new assholes. Further, how could Holder simply ignore the prosecution of these guys?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4MTQVMatW0&feature=related
Had those been Klansman out front, would you have been OK with a Bush AG dropping UNCONTESTED voter intimidation charges?
Regarding your euphemism of “family planning”, you are being intellectually dishonest if think monies are not being spent on abortions. And we are supporting that with our tax dollars. Were Obama only concerned with “family planning”, his executive order could have provided for education, birth control, pre-natal care. But it did not do that. It specifically provided funding for foreign clinics providing ABORTIONS(technically it overturned Bush’s executive order). Why are MY tax dollars going for that?
Regarding Americorps not being fraud ridden? Again, I could provide a larger list, but I only had space for one or two links.
Obama and Israel? Please. If you think Obama is providing support for Israel, then tell me how. What is he doing about Iran? What concessions is he asking the Palestinians for in this “peace” process?
Regarding Milk and King…I don’t give a rats ass what people do in the bedroom. What I don’t agree with is CELEBRATING that. But I wrote that in the context of assuming you thought that was an accomplishment. I guess I should have been down on my knees thankful for that instead.
I am a believer of King’s dream that we judge people based on the content of their character, not their skin color. Again, all we heard about how qualified Sotomayor was based on her being a Latina…and what an accomplishment that was. Did you praise Bush for Condoleeza Rice?
I am tired now and football is on. I could argue and argue and argue with you Dan, but our world views are just completely different. I am not “Thankful” for Obamas “accomplishments”…I dread them.
Someone else want to pick up the ball for me? Or are we done with Dan?
November 25th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Fellow white guys:
Thanks for your comments. I have to go back to work now and earn a living, but I’ll be in touch again soon so that we can continue this illuminating discussion.
November 25th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Yea. You need to go back to that “work” of yours. An additional 558,000 of your fellow Americans weren’t so lucky last month thanks to your vote and somebody needs to pay the taxes.
Might as well be the person responsible.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
What gives? Do you not have enough courage in your convictions to post replies?
December 1st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Raving,
Not sure exactly what you are referring to…but I am assuming you are the same guy who sent us about 20,000 words. And honestly none of us read it. While we Bible-thumpers (describes ALMOST all of us here)were spending our Thanksgiving weekends with our families and…you know…thanking God (not Obama) for our blessings, apparently you were busy sending us your latest rejected submission to Rolling Stone magazine. I apologize that I did not take Saturday night off to wade through your “comment”.
A comments section is just that…a “comments” section. That submission was WAY too long especially for a comment thread that is so two weeks ago. We are just a 3rd-tier blog, not a clearing house for wanna-be Huffington Post diarists. You have an online magazine you write for…feel free to post it there and tell your 15 readers what knuckle-dragging neocons we are.