Progressives question Obama's bona fides

You want substance, here it is:

Obama supports raising the cap on Social Security earnings in order to be proactive about the program's solvency. So do I. That doesn't make someone "right-wing" -- and the only people who think it does are the netroots wannbe Grover Norquists who don't get to make up my mind for me.

Paul Krugman should stick to economics, which he knows a lot about, and avoid politics and psychology, which he knows next to nothing about. His armchair psychobabble above amounts to one thing: He thinks Republicans are mean.

The meme that Obama is skating or not being examined is ludicrous, and beneath the both of us.

And any Democrat who has decried the Rovian element of modern American politics these past seven years and then votes for Hillary Clinton is a flaming fucking hypocrite. Politics ain't beanbag, but it ain't what she's about, either.

I'm damn tired of listening to candidates who tell me that they'll "fight" the Republicans. It's reactive and weak and insulting to my intelligence. I'm so damn tired. And I'm also damn tired of Baby Boomers who want to refight the battles of the 1960s in perpetuity. If the modern Democratic party wants to have any relevance, it will, once again, have to explain to this country that we all have a stake in the outcome of certain things, and that we all have to work to achieve the goals we set in those areas. If I wanted to vote for a divide and conquer, win at all costs bunch of slime who rely on whispering campaigns, dog whistle appeals to racism and xenophobia and general appeals to people's fears, I had my chance already twice. I passed then, and I'll pass now.

I'm damn tired of hearing about Hillary's "experience" when the whole world knows damn well that she has much less experience than Dodd or Biden, not to mention less time in elected office than Barack Obama.

Only Obama, out of the Democratic frontrunners, is running a campaign about who he is and what he wants to do when he is President. Only Obama, of the Democratic frontrunners, opposed this idiotic war from the start -- not from a liberal point of view nor from a conservative point of view, but from an intelligent reading of the situation. Only Obama, of the Democratic frontrunners, has a genuine chance at a mandate when he reaches office, thereby rendering the bleatings of desperate-to-be-tough-guys like Krugman obsolete. Only Obama, should he get the nomination, offers me a chance to vote FOR someone rather than against someone else. That's why he's got my vote.

 

I get it, I get it. Ponzi, pyramid, ponzi. But I don't think you are where the base of the Democratic party is. Also, I think you speak with a little hyperbole, but as long as you would support doing away with the SS tax entirely you have a defensible position.

The thing I don't like is a plan that would continue the SS tax and then force us into some privately managed, limited-choice account -- a boondoggle for the banking/investment industry and not at all secure. Oh, and most of your posts aren't long?

 

Zeke,
Just because you decry the Rovian element doesn't mean it will go away. It sure as hell won't go away with an Obama kumbaya moment. In my mind, the question of who can better withstand Rovian attacks is a genuine and legitimate issue for dems. To think it's not is simply naive.

 

Damn dude. I read your post in its entirety. I responded in substance. I throw that line in as a kicker because it was topic du jure in one of your other threads. No offense. Now, do you confirm that you would support getting rid of the entire SS tax altogether, and would oppose any effort at maintaining a tax and proceeding with privatization?

 

It isn't "withstanding" Rovian attacks I'm worried about.

It's voting for someone who makes them.

If you think HRC isn't running the dirtiest campaign out of all the Democrats, you're the one who is naive. She's Karl Rove in a pantsuit, and fuck if I'll vote for that. And, while I'm at it, fuck if I'll vote for someone who's case is that they can "fight" or "withstand" dirty tricks. Permanent minority mindset, at its worst.

 

zeke --
Buddy, cool the jets. HRC is tough, but she's no Rove. At least the D's aren't fighting about who Jesus' brother is.
And Ragu, you're as wrong about SS as you are about Canadian health care. Jeebus, man, the notion that we should entrust the most successful social-insurance program in history to the American money-management industry is just freaking laughable. The system is fine through the distant event horizon, and further, with some small adjustments. Its trustees say that. So does everyone else who knows anything about it. Some day, you're going to have to discover that every economic program you don't like isn't "unsustainable" just because you say it is.

 

Well, I just don't believe that Hillary = Rove, Bush, Cheney, Romney, Rudy or whichever other republican she could be compared to. And no, Obama has not gotten anything near comparable to a Swiftboat-type attack -- not from Hillary and not from anyone else. It's not even close. If he wins the nomination I will get behind him 100%.

 

Unfortunately, Fenian, she is.

Unless you think likely propogating and certainly disseminating the "Obama the Muslim wants to carry out jihad from the Oval Office" emails is any different than John McCain's black baby in 2000, she is.

Unless you think sending out a top campaign official to postulate questions about whether Obama "ever dealt cocaine" is any different than the slime that Rove typically throws, she is.

I have no doubt it's effective. Doesn't mean you'll earn my vote that way.

 

The Swiftboat attack hasn't come because it's too early. The disgusting whispering campaigns and email forwards are out in full force.

At the beginning of this campaign, I'd have told you that I would support the Democratic nominee no matter who won. Not anymore. If Hillary gets the nomination, I'll vote third party. And my own politics are to the left of everyone running for president.

There are millions of people who feel the same way.

 

Personally, I'm about 5 ticks down on the vertical axis and two tics left on the horizontal (hence the preference social security). I take it you're in the lower right quadrant?