Ted Rall for June 02, 2009

I just heard on the news Rall said Obama should resign … WTF? after I confirm that, if it’s true, this is the last Rall toon I’ll look at I think. If it’s true, he has no credible viewpoint, IMHO.

here’s the link to Rall’s comments:

http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/

I’m thinking about what he wrote … what do others think?

Wow. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like him.

Rall thinks he’s a monster and dangerous for his timidity and others think he’s dangerous because he’s pushing too far too fast.

So the conclusion must be Obama’s in the middle, a centrist.

He overstates his case, but I agree with his major premise.

Mattro53, I was about to write the something similar. I’m most troubled about the preventive detention. But there are several areas where he at least appears to be backpedaling too far too fast. I don’t think Obama should resign, and I do think he’s offering a positive direction, but I also hope he doesn’t morph into someone I can’t follow.

Upon reading Rall’s column, it is self-evident that he fell for the Righties’ sarcastic vision of Obama as a “savior”.

It’s like Ben Franklin said in the musical 1776: “What are we? Demigods? We’re men, no more, no less…” Obama’s made mistakes. Obama will make mistakes. Obama will move quickly on some issues, and will drag his feet on others. He’ll break promises (though he’s not done that much) and he’ll keep promises.

He’s a man. No more. No less.

If Obama should resign because he couldn’t turn the tide quickly enough for Rall, then Rall is being unreasonable.

Don’t you liberals just hate it when a fellow lib speaks the truth! BCS, I’ve yet to hear you debunk anthing Rall said in that article. BHO is pure leftist….no centrist thinking there!

Obama is slightly right of center:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Since Regan the political center in this country has been so far to the right that we have lost perspective.

I do not always agree with Obama, but I am satisfied with his deliberation and decision making so far. I will reserve full judgment until his policies have had time to take shape and work (or fail).

On Rall: weather you agree with him or not, his is an important voice. It is the duty of the media to look for failings in our political leaders. I will admit that Rall has a penchant for hyperbole, but his observations are usually astute.

Tell me anyone who has been reading his strip who is surprised by this hatred o Obama?

Rall hates establishment. I think he hates that Obama “portrayed” his stance, but then did what any megalomaniac would do … sieze power as fast as possible.

If only the rest of the sycophants in this country would see the light about this president … maybe we could get some change for the good.

Oh, and this strip hits home, since I was just laid off myself last Thursday …

Apparently Ted Rall’s expectations of Obama have fallen way short. However, considering the unbelievable range of problems that Obama and the Nation are facing, it is way too much of a reach to believe that Obama should resign.

“He’s a man. No more. No less.”

He’s less than a man, as was Mr. Clinton.

Neither is unique. Self-servitude may be a given among politicians, but these two (slice o’white, slice o’wheat for my Al Gore sandwich) [mixing metaphors] take the cake.

I’m all for Mr. Obama serving out his one and only term.

Yeah, baby. The political center of this country remains where it’s always been. Just a little right of center. Right where it belongs. Here’s a recent quote from one ot those I consider a little right of center:

“I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone,” I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish.”

Dick Cheney (to the National Press Club, June 2, 2009)

thank you! well said Ted. Finally a liberal that gets its not about making us all agree thats not possible but its about keeping America , America. You are so right what is going on is SOOO unAmerican and should scare you all . The fact the we have always disagreed (left and right) but managed to live in harmony is what makes America but now we are going to be forced to agree (By Obamas rules) or else….. I mean do you really think all the auto makers were in agreement? NO they were forced in to agreement you know what I say GO FORD! F**K GM

ectome, I’ll respond to your comment. Why would I debunk anything Rall said? It’s his opinion which I don’t happen to share.

What’s interesting is that Rall is disappointed in Obama because he is too conservative. So if you like what Rall said, your comment about Obama being “pure leftist” is inconsistent.

it seems obvious to me that if those on the left belief he is too conservative and those on the right believe he is too liberal, that puts Obama somewhere in the middle. I think it’s a bit hard to call him “pure leftist” when so many of his actions are in line with Bush 43, doncha think?

I have some concerns about his performance so far, and Rall hits on one of them. I’m having a problem with his idea of prolonged detention for people with no evidence against them or only “tainted” evidence against them. It seems to me that’s part of the symbolic reason for closing GITMO in the first place.

I don’t fault Obama for his administration’s work on the economy. He inherited a disaster and every economic expert I’ve heard has suggested he’s on the right course, though they may disagree with a thing or two. And, this is the same course Bush started us on, so if it’s socialism, it’s the course Bush started us on. Obama has repeatedly said he will NOT nationalize banks even when some thought he should.

I’m waiting to see what he does with healthcare and I have some concern. I’ll be disappointed if he is too timid. Now is the time to reform a broken, inefficient system that wastes between 30 and 35 cents on every healthcare dollar. The pharma and healthcare insurance lobby are very rich, very active and they spread their wealth to everyone on the hill to buy their right to control healthcare.

I suspect that Congress will pull together a somewhat half-@ssed plan that doesn’t tick off the lobby too much and I hope, I sincerely hope, Obama brings them back to reality.

If we do a half-@ss job on healthcare now, everything that is wrong with our system will only continue and in a couple of decades healthcare will make up one-third of our GNP and it will still be inefficient, people will still be buried in insurance co. paperwork, and it will be out of the cost range of far too many people. And the health insurance cos. will get richer and richer while allowing less and less care.

John Sweat Rock of New Jersey addressing the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1862, approximate quotation: “While Mr. Lincoln has not done all that I had hoped he might, I believe that he is an honest man and is doing what he can to remove the degradation and shame brought upon the nation by Mr. Buchanan and his predecessors.” Not the exact words, see Great Speeches by African Americans, Dover Thriftbooks, $3.50

believecommonsense, you said it so well. May I ditto that?

I don’t know where, if anywhere, before Peanuts, the subject addresses the audience in last panel. Granted that it’s a reflection to himself, he does offer a toast, a social act, and since he is not Old Eben Flood, it is as if others can join in his small celebration of “small victories.” The small victory is against the prevalence of euphemisms, an aspect of hypocrisy, justified to spare the feelings of the sensitive and avoid disturbing the children. The woman is right–the human resources worker–that “firing” implies cause, but there are other aspects. The last time I was “laid off,” it was that, on the surface, but there was cause–in my case–beneath the ostensible neutrality of it. As I like to say to myself, if I hadn’t antagonized the city manager, he might have stood up for me to the city clerk, and if I hadn’t antagonized the city clerk, she might have stood up for me to the city manager–in other words, it was good riddance under cloak of neutrality cost saving. There is a PROBLEM, however, in that we always FEEL we were at fault and could have prevented it if we’d been better, BUT IT’S NOT SO–even in my case, as just described. When they have the money, ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THAT YOU SHOW UP; and when they don’t, THE ANGELIC HOST COULD SHOW UP AND THEY’D LAY THEM ALL OFF–in fact, have done so several times.

Rall can say what je wants- it’s still a semi-free country. You can call him ‘shrill’ if you don;t like it.

By most any measure, from centrist to ultra-liberal, Dems were elected in 2006 and 2008 to be the ‘Not Bush’.

When we see Pelosi back down from a reasonable threat of impeachment and Obama carry on the very worst of the Bush Regime practices (and back down from his equality promises), one wonders what is really going on in this government. Do fairness, equlity, and THE CONSTITUTION no longer matter to these people. They have an oath of office that they are not honoring and it demands an explaination.

I don’t understand the anger. Obama is above all a politician. It should be taken for granted that some campaign promises would be empty. That’s politics. Just because he’s a good speaker, a democrat and the first black president doesn’t make him some sort of magician. He’s just a man. So was Bush. If we were to call for a resignation of every politician because they weren’t sticking to their promises well, we’d be out of politicians.

Anyone who has been paying attention to Obama’s actual positions, speeches, writings, policies, and choices of advisors cannot help but to arrive at the same conclusion that Ted Rall has. Obama must resign. It’s understandable that the intellectually lazy, those who heard “hope” and “change” while Obama was talking “expanding military occupation”, “increase military budget”, “torture is OK”, “Bail out the rich, screw the poor” think Obama is a good president. It’s not just that he’s a bad president, but that his supporters are lazy uninformed, and have the attitude and demeanor of high-school cheerleaders.

O-BOMB-A is guilty of all the war crimes that George Bush committed. Even worse! He started the slaughter before he took office when he gave the slimeball Zionists in Israel the go-ahead to murder the people in Gaza. On his first day in office he rained down drones on innocent men women and children in Pakistan. He has increased the insane war in Afghanistan and far from removing our troops from Iraq; he will leave 100,000 mercenaries there along with 50,000 “peacekeepers”.

He has taken single-payer healthcare off the table and he has created an incredible form of state socialism where taxes paid by the working-class are being used to absorb the losses incurred by Wall Street’s gamblers. What Obama is doing is worse than nationalization; it is a form of fascism where he is privatizing the gains and socializing losses – another word for “state socialism” or “national Socialism” more accurately is fascism.

Obama has shown himself to be completely incompetent and lacking in the skills needed to lead this nation. He has no vision, no direction, no mission and no goals. His modus operandi is to serve the interests of the corporations who financed his election. He should resign. Then like George Bush and Bill Clinton he should be arrested and tried for war crimes. (He is fully aware that he’s a war criminal; that’s why he won’t go after people in the Bush administration.) Sometimes I don’t who’s dumber the Repugs or the Dummycraps!

oldlego , ah, well that certainly clarified your thinking and was so productive to the discussion to boot!

cdward_, thanks