Ted Rall for February 21, 2009

oh yea, I can really see that’s how everybody feels now … what a meaningless toon

believe, it is not meaningless at all. The point is, where’s the left-progressive bloc that Amiri Baraka talked about, when he supported Obama despite all his failings ? Obama has essentially betrayed his promises on the torture and the constitution. Where’s the outrage ? Where’s the demonstrations ? Nowhere. There was supposed to be pressure on Obama to move in the right direction. There is no such thing that I can see, today.

That’s the reason for this toon, in my view. Rall taunts the weak left here. I personally knew it would end like this so I don’t care that much.

I don’t think it ever turns out the way anyone would think it should be. Each candidate has to make so many promises just to get there own parties support. Republicans have to act like conservatives when they are not, and Democrats have to act like liberals when they are not. And you can almost predict what any radio talk show host or columnists is going to say because they say the same things over and over again.

What littlehorn said - except that I care.

But, then again, with America imploding, did anyone expect that Obama would have much of a honeymoon at all?

As a progressive, I’ve been bitching and moaning since Day One of the Obamathon. Honeymoons are overrated anyway.

Lavocat, part of that Obamathon has nothing to do with Obama… so many are glad it’s not a Maverick in the White House!

It’s a stupid comic, but I do think progressives have to hold Obama’s feet to the fire on some issues (beyond the economy). I am troubled by his insistence on sticking with the Bush administration’s position that detainees imprisoned at Bagram prison in Afghanistan have no right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.

Mostly annoying, but I don’t have to pretend to be Canadian in Europe anymore. (Sorry, CF.)

Instead of a Maverick, we ended up with an Edsel. Both Ford products.

LLeRay and littlehorn, I appreciate your comments. I knew before the election that the far-left (or left-progressives, whatever, those on the furthest left of the political spectrum) would be disappointed in Obama, because when I listened to him day after day, I believed from his own words he would govern from the middle. What I think is stupid about Rall’s toon is that he’s painting this broad brush over way too many people. Obama did the right thing by focusing on the economy first, he had to! He’s already made clear he will close Gitmo, but he will do it responsibly, which should be greeted with cheers, even from the far right, though not holding my breath I’m know there are some who are disappointed that he hasn’t done more ALREADY on their own agendas, but he’s not even one-third of the way into his first 100 days yet. you know, when i read/hear the false charges of big spending liberal, etc. etc., it makes me chuckle because his critics on the far left are beginning to speak out … so sometimes I think if he’s not pleasing people on the furthest extremes of both ends of the spectrum, he’s probably doing it just right … just MHO

that’s funny BCS…

i felt nearly the same way about this guys strip on 2/9…

“I knew before the election that the far-left would be disappointed in Obama, […] because when I listened to him day after day, I believed from his own words he would govern from the middle.”

That much, everyone believed. That was his slogan too. “Change you can believe in.” Reasonable-ness-itude. I don’t agree with you that moderates are always right/better. Moderation can also be cowardice in the face of evil.

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” - MLK

“Obama did the right thing by focusing on the economy first, he had to! He’s already made clear he will close Gitmo, but he will do it responsibly”

Thank you for that, but I think we can all read the front page of change.gov, on our own.

“I’m know there are some who are disappointed that he hasn’t done more ALREADY on their own agendas, but he’s not even one-third of the way into his first 100 days yet.”

It’s not that he hasn’t done “more”. It’s that he said one thing and now he does another one. That’s betrayal in the text. Also, there should be people asking themselves this: why can the government not obey the population ? And get away with it ? Because we have to wait for a hundred days first ? Because there’s still 4 years ahead ? Plenty of time for the government to do your bidding ? Because there’s an election soon ?

Or is it because you don’t have the guts to make the government obey your will ? Or maybe that’s because you think your will does not really matter that much. After all, you don’t have all the facts. You wouldn’t be so arrogant as to have your will done, you wouldn’t act like a baby, right ?

The comments from the Feb 9th toon are revealing. There’s all sorts of excuses thrown around to explain that closing Gitmo will take a whole year, none of them based on facts and knowledge. Obama decided to take a year to close down Gitmo. So people create their reasons to accept this. They do not consider the idea of refusing this delay. They outright call it unrealistic. “Waving a magic wand” cannot solve problems. Sure. But not even trying to fight for alternatives, for what you want, means you will always eat any and every bleeep you’re offered.

littlehorn, my many years of working in politics, for the legislature, for non-profits, for private business, etc., have taught me that as the old saying goes, the devil is always in the details … what may seem simple from the outside, frequently is not once you get into it. so i am not disappointed that it will take time to close Gitmo, decide how to handle each detainee. I would prefer it be done correctly the first time … sometimes there is pressure just to ACT NOW and many times that corresponds with poor implementation, which then causes more problems from the law of unintended consequences. you wrote: “Or is it because you don’t have the guts to make the government obey your will ? Or maybe that’s because you think your will does not really matter that much.” I don’t expect the government to obey MY will, I’m not that narcissistic … i’m only one of about 306 million people in this country, why should it bend to MY will? I’ve never missed voting in an election, I volunteer my time and donate $ to those causes and candidates I believe in. and I know for an absolute fact that I do not know all the facts that Obama and his top people now know. That’s as it should be. I don’t understand your hostility, because I have directed none toward you. I’ve just learned in all my years that doing things correctly can, and often does, take time.

Pretty excellent, really.

“Marched in ‘03, thought about starting a Liberal Blog in ‘06. Now your activism has paid off”

All the Internet Activists, all the “leaders” like MoveOn and John Conyers, are failures or imposters.

The Internet has turned out to be a very interesting waste of time. All the blogging, all the exchange of opinions by all the peers - didn’t it really serve to keep people sitting on their well-networked butts?

Internet Political Activists are a sad parody of Political Activists, IMHO.

I could go on about the apt criticisms in the rest of the cartoon, and maybe I will later.

“what may seem simple from the outside, frequently is not once you get into it.”

Well said.

“and I know for an absolute fact that I do not know all the facts that Obama and his top people now know. That’s as it should be. I don’t understand your hostility, because I have directed none toward you.”

Did I show hostility ? Sorry. It was not intended. I don’t have any problem with anyone’s ideas.

And no, it’s not as it should be. People remain free depending on whether they know the truth. If the government holds the facts, and not the people, then what’s to hold that government from abusing this ignorant population, by lying to it about fake dangers ? Isn’t that exactly what happened with the WMDs and the war in Iraq ?

believecommonsense says: “sometimes I think if he’s not pleasing people on the furthest extremes of both ends of the spectrum, he’s probably doing it just right”

Amen, brother! Leaning too far in either direction always ends up in disaster. That’s why this Red State/Blue State mentality is so dangerous. Extremists on both sides demand all or nothing, when the majority of Americans probably support compromise.

Nothing’s over, of course, but it’s wrong to say that america’s image in the world hasn’t been improved by the election of Obama.

That’s the pover of an image. It may be America’s best shield against a terrorist attack à la 9/11 in the next months; no one will dare to attack Obama or America while they are so popular and so able to rally the world and masses with them (well, more able to do that than during the Bush years).

littlehorn, thanks for the response. Perhaps we disagreeing about a matter of degrees. I want the truth from my leaders, but I also accept that there will be some things the president and his top team will know that the rest of us won’t. Lying about anything is never OK. When the previous administration was indulging in fear mongering about Sadaam and Iraq, there were voices out there refuting the facts. (It was Joe Wilson’s op/ed piece that led to scooter libby/cheney outing his wife, Valerie Plame.) I never bought the Bush rationale for going to war by reading what was out there, listening to other voices and using my own common sense and logic. I believe the best political leaders present truths and then guide by leading to enlist people to confront challenges and improve our nation. It still irks me that there are documents about the JFK assassination that won’t be made public until after I’ve gone. I hate that, but at the same time, I do not expect to know every thing the President knows on a real-time basis. Does that leave us open to manipulation by less than stellar leaders? Sure, it does. Bush/Cheney manipulated a lot of people quite successfully. But not all.

These comments are exactly as effective as thinking “about starting a Liberal blog in ‘06”.

Whether you are still blissed from November or you are outraged about the Wall Street bailouts,

IT IS SIMPLE.

Demand that we investigate the Bush Crime Family now. Take to the streets to force the new president to act. Look at what a couple dozen Republican staffers did with one protest at the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters in 2001.

If the Stock Market was at 4000 and everyone had money to burn, the wise men would be saying we shouldn’t investigate because it might upset the boat.

For years, the moderates said we shouldn’t impeach. Within the group who thought we should impeach, there were Internet forces causing us to waste energy and time. The 9/11 guys (true-believers and Rove’s crew) said we should not impeach because there was a coup, and then the PNAC people allowed us to get attacked by a handfull of Saudis, and then they scuttled a CIA anti-WMD operation to discredit a critic of their plans to attack a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. No, we should all be outraged that the Twin Towers really were blown up by hidden charges, the 757s were really flown by the CIA, it was an “inside job” all the way.

If you need amazing stories like that to get outraged, you are useless.

People should still be outraged that we went into Iraq, and the events surrounding that choice. Plame-Wilson, the 2000 coup, all the brain injuries and amputations that we are letting continue. Remember the veterans sleeping under bridges? Think there will be fewer now? The election fraud. These are still the reasons to be outraged. But all that’s so 2008 now.

My property! My retirement!

Being outraged for all the 2009 reasons is even better for the Republicans than just being blissed out that Pelosi and the Dems answered Martin Luther King’s dream.

Instead of being “Activists” by blogging and posting arguments why we should focus on this rather than that, everyone demand hearings.

It’s the same thing we should have done in 2001, 2002, 2003,…2008.

Look at the political cartoons getting phased out. Look at the Progressive talk radio stations being closed. Even in D.C.! Someone is blissed out, or thinks we should stop thinking about protesting.

skagit-I think you have od’d on sugar, and caffiene. Or maybe you just need a nice therapy session. Go! Now! and about the detainees in Gitmo: the military is presently using crime scene investigators to gather evidence when bombings, etc, occur, in order to prosecute the people they detain BECAUSE they are not fighting an organized army in uniform, and these people (that have been tracked down and jailed at great personal expense)can no longer be detained with out due process, despite the fact that they aren’t U.S. citizens. So, while I am glad that Gitmo will close, I wonder just where the folks will be housed, since none of their countries want them back. Maybe some of you dems have room at home?

No teaguemj, I am fine. I am also used to people arguing about nothing and not getting good cartoons or good journalism. I have watched the majority of Liberals/Progressives cheer on Shock and Awe while I protested, and I understand that the majority will continue to miss the point. Look, there’s another shiny object, t!

“So, while I am glad that Gitmo will close, I wonder just where the folks will be housed, since none of their countries want them back.”

It’s the second time I read this, and it’s the second time I’m thinking, “Really ?”

I mean, you got the list of detainees ? You asked each government about taking them back as high level detainees ? Or more accurately, because I don’t suppose you would know how to do that, did someone in the press call each government to check the above assertion ?

I’m sorry, but it looks like you’ve made up the above, entirely. I have a hard time seeing why a country would not “take back” a citizen, as dangerous as he may be. America is not the only country with jails, you know.

“I believe the best political leaders present truths and then guide by leading to enlist people to confront challenges and improve our nation.”

I believe political leaders are representatives, and they are elected to do their constituency’s bidding, nothing else. Or better yet, they are elected to implement the program that their constituency decided on.

“Leaning too far in either direction always ends up in disaster. That’s why this Red State/Blue State mentality is so dangerous. Extremists on both sides demand all or nothing, when the majority of Americans probably support compromise.”

Would you call the War in Iraq a disaster ? Good. Cause the compromise position in 2002 was to support it. That’s what Republicans and Democrats did. How “reasonable” and “serious.” And what a terrible thing this red state/blue state mentality is. Good thing people didn’t trust those extremists on the streets. Good thing they think the 2 guys who voted against the war are lunatics who demand “all or nothing.”

And what a strange charge. Let me remind you the last bullshit Reps/Dems went up with: either the bailout or we die (not in those terms, but that was the idea). THAT is all or nothing. THAT is being unreasonable.

“Would you call the War in Iraq a disaster ? Good. Cause the compromise position in 2002 was to support it.”

No, that wasn’t a compromise. That was what the vast majority of Americans supported.

“they are elected to implement the program that their constituency decided on.”

And that’s what the Dems did. The Dems went along with the march to war because they saw how hysterical the public was after 09/11, and being branded “unpatriotic” was political suicide. It was a bad choice, but The Great Unwashed wanted blood for 09/11, even if it came from a country that had nothing to do with the attack.

And again, I’m hearing plenty of complaints, but no solutions.

littlehorn: I stand corrected: Some countries will take back their own: but this is correct: Since 2001, the US has held at least 22 Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay. China, their country of origin does not want them back, because they were present in Iraq and accused of terrorism activities. If we return these people to the general population of their country, what assurances do we have that we won’t have to hunt them down again? I say “we” loosely, I do understand that it will be my two sons and their fellow soldiers in the military hunting them, and not me and you.