Tag Archives: President Barack Obama

Should I feel good that Bin Laden is dead?

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I am strongly opposed to the death penalty. It is a waste of time and money and isn’t justice. I strongly support the rule of law, due process, and the criminal court system. I seemed to throw all that out late Sunday evening when I learned that US Special Forces killed terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

I was concerned when the media started to ramp up coverage late Sunday evening for an unusal statement from President Obama about a publicly unknown topic. Such sudden statements either mean a military operation has occurred, there was a death of a significant figure, or a killer asteroid was about to snuff out civilization. None of those are really good news but the President surprised me. He announced that the terrorist Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a raid on a house in Pakistan by US Special Forces (reports say it was a Navy Seal team).

I fully support due process and the legal system but Bin Laden wouldn’t give up so his death is not a problem for me. He was either going to be dead in a shoot out or dead from old age in a dank dark prison and I am slightly happy about it. The man helped plan, fund, and execute terrorist activities including 9/11 that killed THOUSANDS.

But let me be clear I do NOT support an eye for an eye. I would have been just as happy if he was alive and in custody and on his way to Gitmo or wherever the government would put him.

I have never believed that the death of a criminal in response to the deaths of their victims is appropriate. I also disagree with any policy that would call for targeted killing of “bad guys”. I would like to think, short of evidence to the contrary, that President Obama authorized the capture of Bin Laden and that he forced the fire fight that in the end led to his death.

Sunday night, after the statement, the news channels showed crowds in DC and New York celebrating like their favorite team had won the World Cup. I understand the emotion but it was no better than the scenes on 9/11 of Palestinians dancing in their streets.

The death of Bin Laden wasn’t a victory or justice. It was an end to a chapter of our history. It was 10 years in the making.

I also have some friends who are a bit upset at the use of the military and the killing.

I have always been of the mind that sometimes use of the military is necessary. Using the legal system and police work should be the default but sometimes we have to deal with irrational assholes who don’t subscribe to law and order.

I thought the invasion of Afghanistan after the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden was the right thing to do and the use of Special Forces to raid Bin Laden’s compound on Sunday without telling Pakistan was also correct. There have been a lot of questions about the Pakistani response to Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. For years it supported Bin Laden and the Taliban as a policy to keep India, their on again off again enemy, off balance.

I also think the burial of Bin Laden within 24 hours of his death as prescribed by Islamic law was much more than he really deserved seeing how his buddies in Iraq and Somalia abused and mutilated dead Americans over the years.

With the final objective of the war in Afghanistan completed with Bin Laden’s death, I would hope we can bring our soldiers home sooner rather than later.

Daily Show gets it wrong, Birther issue is racist

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In covering the news last week that President Obama had the State of Hawaii release his “long form” birth certificate, Jon Stewart and the Daily Show took some shots at several talking heads on MSNBC saying the whole birther issue was racist. I love Jon and the show but this time his quest for equivalency led to a false conclusion.

The tag line for the video clip says it all:

Larry Wilmore claims that the birther controversy isn’t racist — it’s just an opportunity for Republicans to scare old people. (05:11)

The problem is that Stewart and Wilmore ignore the 800 lb gorilla in the room. The questions about Obama’s citizenship would have NEVER come up if he was a WHITE MAN named Steve.

If that isn’t pointing out the racism I don’t know what else would. The whole birther farce is as disgusting as the Willie Horton ad used in the 1988 elections or what Karl Rove did to John McCain in 2000 in South Carolina.

Daily Show: Wilmore – Longformers – Scared Old People

President Obama is like an abusive parent

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President Obama signed the law that repealed the “Don’t ask Don’t tell” policy that had prohibited gay people from serving in the military. If you read the blogs and websites that lean left you would think it was Bastille Day. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a good thing but the exuberance of the event outstrips the over all accomplishments of the President so far. He reminds me of a moody abusive parent where one moment it is all loves and hugs and the next minute you get locked in a closet for waking him up from a nap.

Here is one example from Talking Points Memo:

President Obama this morning signed into law the bill repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

“I am just overwhelmed,” Obama said as he took the stage among chants of “Yes we can!” and whoops from the audience. “This is a very good day.”

“No longer will our country be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans who were forced to leave the military, regardless of their skills, no matter their bravery or their zeal, no matter their years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” he said. “No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie.”

Obama was joined on stage by Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, Sens. Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins and Harry Reid and Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Patrick Murphy, an Iraq War veteran who had pushed for DADT repeal.

Obama Signs DADT Repeal Into Law

Or this from Washington Post’s Greg Sargent:

The White House:

Finally, the White House. Obama had been criticized for months on don’t ask don’t tell, with advocates complaining that his administration aggressively defended DADT in court and that he wasn’t doing enough to rally the Senate to pass repeal. But the botton line is that the White House did everything possible to create the political climate necessary to make this happen. The Pentagon report and the testimony by Robert Gates — and his public round of interviews calling on Congress to pass repeal for the good of the military — were major game-changers.

Also: For all the criticism of the Obama tax deal, today’s victory stands as partial vindication of his strategy. Getting the tax deal wrapped up early made the time for repeal, with only days left in the lame-duck session.

This is an important victory for the White House in another way. It will quiet all the talk about Obama’s supposed “triangulating,” because it demonstrates — for the time being, anyway — that even as the White House sees a need to trade away some core liberal priorities to compromise with Repubilcans, Obama seems to want to bring the left along with him, to whatever degree he can. This will make it tougher to argue that Obama’s strategy is to deliberately alienate the left in order to win back the middle of the country.

This moment in the Senate will take its place in the history books alongside other ground-breaking civil rights votes, and stands as an important reminder that as broken as our system seems at times, progress towards a more just and inclusive society is still possible.

DADT repeal wins!

And from “Mark Warner is God” on Daily Kos:

The bottom line is that no one will remember these people in 2 years when Obama crushes….WHOEVER. Members of this very group will either (1) not even remember that they were ever angry at Obama or (2) assign themselves credit for pushing Obama to the Left and facilitating his win. And that’s fine. Because in 20 years – when people take the long view – people won’t call Barack Obama a “dangerous” president. They’ll see things like the DADT repeal (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), healthcare reform, and other liberal reforms and rather calmly say things like, “You know, that Obama was kind of annoyingly pragmatic, but he really moved the country to the left on an insanely wide range of issues!”

PS: YEAH DADT REPEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Left’s Anger at Obama is FASCINATING

And these are just a few examples of the mass celebration over the repeal of DADT.

But for every “bone” like repeal of DADT we then get a sick upside the head like the Bush tax cut deal.

As a friend of a friend on Facebook noted:

The problem with that is [compromise] only works if you extract something of value in return. He’s done that once or twice, most importantly with the tax cuts/unemployment benefits. But too often his foes have no interest in working with him and he winds up either with nothing (the Dream Act for instance) or has to water down and dilute his initial plans to the point where the final product is far weaker than it started out (Health care, net neturality rules).

DADT was one of those public winning laws. Civil rights laws usually are popular with the public. The Tax cut deal was also popular with the public because most people like tax cuts even if they don’t consider the long term effects.

I think I understand what the President is doing but there are many issues he has been short on that can’t be made better by the win on DADT.

I just hope I don’t wake him up from his nap too early.

President Obama’s Tax Cut Deal Analogy

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In case people don’t understand why a lot of progressives like myself are upset with the proposed tax cut deal brokered by President Obama and the TP/GOP I wrote an analogy:

Look at it this way. I am the Democrats and I have a large pizza cut in 8 slices. You are the GOP and have a six pack of beer. I don’t need the beer because I have soda pop but you really want some pizza since there is no other food in the house. You also have a trigger to a bomb that will blow up the house next door killing the family that lives there.

A rational person in that position would offer a slice for 3 bottles of beer and the family’s freedom but since I am the Democrats I instead open the negotiation by offering 5 slices for one bottle and your promise to think about not blowing up the house next door. You accept and say we compromised and had bipartisanship and in the words of an old cellphone commercial “Daddy got hosed…”

Here’s the old cellphone commercial

You have a choice

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The mainstream media narrative seems to be a huge GOP victory in November. I would like to see the votes counted first but it might be bad for the Democrats. Are the voting public so forgetful of the Bush years that they will vote to have his policies again? Really? You have choice – continue down the correct road or go back to the nasty time of the Bush years.

Here is one example of the narrative:

Republican John Kasich has zoomed to a whopping 17-point lead in a new Quinnipiac Poll released today, an indication that predictions of a GOP landslide across the nation will come true.

The former congressman is up 54 percent to 37 percent over Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, the largest lead of any poll to date on this year’s governor’s race. The Dispatch Poll published Sept. 5 showed Kasich ahead by 12 points.

Kasich leads by 17 points, new Quinnipiac Poll says

Then there is this:

Greg notes two polls — the just-released NYT/CBS poll and last week’s National Journal poll — both of which show that voters believe the GOP would govern like Bush. According to the NYT/CBS poll, 47% believe Republicans would return to Bush policies compared to just 36% who believe they won’t. And according to the National Journal poll 45% believe that the GOP’s agenda is the same as Bush’s compared to 33% who don’t.

Voters think GOP would govern like Bush

Really? Preventing a depression, getting basic health insurance to the 40 million who didn’t have it, restoring our reputation within the world, winding down the worse military mistake since Vietnam in Iraq and moving to end the 2nd worse in Afghanistan, and reforming a banking industry that almost ran us off a cliff, AND a large number of people want to go back to the Bush years? Really?

If you do then you are a fucking moron. Anyone who would lose their mind over basic health insurance for those without need to have their head examined and their brains replaced.

Those on the left who might let that happen by sitting at home by not voting – you are fucking morons.

Yes, I have had my issues with President Obama and the Democrats. Not because I hated their policies but because they didn’t go far enough. I wanted universal health care, breaking up the big bangs and jail for the creeps who fucked us over, jail for anyone in the Bush administration that tortured or allowed torture to happen for example. I didn’t get what I wanted but I am damn sure I don’t want the Republicans and their Tea Party branch to be in charge.

You all have a choice. Stand up for this country and what is right – stand up for our values or be a fucking moron getting fucked over by big business at every turn.