You’re in the DAYNJAH ZONE! 
Fasten your seatbelts. Obama called some motherfuckers out today, and the pearl-clutching and poutrage is sure to engulf Blogistan in flames. Maybe some of the whiners will cry on MSNBC again; that’s always effective.
Meanwhile, black people are sitting back laughing and shaking their collective head.1
On a related note (and as eloquently phrased by the fine folks at Rump Roast), John Cole has declared a War on Assholes:
Apparently, Obama has lost Katrina van den Heuvel. I’m sure Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild is next…
And before you concern troll me, and claim she makes legitimate points, any alleged Democrat who goes on to the pages of Fred Hiatt’s fishwrap and claims Obama is on his way to a failed Presidency after the accomplishments of the last couple of years in the face of multiple crises, a depression, complete lack of help from the GOP and a fractured and spineless Democratic party, can just go fuck themselves. I don’t care what they have to say.
BTW- when the Democrats lose the black vote because of what has gone on during this administration, don’t act all surprised. I’ve warned you all of the simmering anger just below the surface in the African-American community. They’re being blamed for everything (Acorn, the housing crisis, voter fraud- hell, the day after Prop 8 failed people rushed to blame black people), they are treated to a clear double standard in Congress (Charlie Rangel humiliated for what the panel concluded were small mistakes and not designed to benefit him while DeLay is a felon and no one blinks, Vitter and Ensign and hundreds of others go unpunished. And now they are after Waters. There is a reason the CBC wants to get rid of the ethics panel.), they’re watching their party elites savage the first black President when they have been the backbone for the Democrats for decades, and they are watching a President be submitted to racist smear campaigns by folks outside the party that make any and all of the bullshit the Clintons went through look like small potatoes, and NO ONE is raising any hell in defense of the President. It’s all go along to get along. The only congressman who called the Republicans out was defeated. The rest just sit there and whisper behind the scenes about how Obama won’t tell them what he wants. All of this while the AA community is the hardest hit by recession.
I’m telling you, the black community is noticing this shit even if you all aren’t. Read the damned comments here and see what people are saying.
And I’m banning every asshole who tries to claim that I am suggesting criticism of Obama is racist.
I’ve been battling asshats in the comment section at Balloon Juice for two full days now. Every derailing, belittling, undermining technique has been employed. It’s quite a spectacle, actually. Perhaps the fact that I remain unphased and unwilling to “direct my anger more appropriately” is driving people right over the edge. Meh. This ain’t my first rodeo.
For those of you out there who are gathering your torches, here’s an amazing guide to assist you in Arguing on the Internet.2 When folks fastidiously refuse to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, they’ve got a little Privilege on their faces, point them to Derailing for Dummies.
Sweet Bieber on toast, I love this stuff.
1 Except that one black guy you know who, like, totally hates Obama and stuff.
2 The Intertrons is Serious Business, you know.
[via Rump Roast; via Balloon Juice]
(H/T to Emily L. Hauser for introducing me to my new favorite word for the World Wide Superinformation Global Gore Highway. Internets is so G.Dub, dontcha think? Also, read her blog. It’s the bee’s pajamas.)
You rock, that is all \m/
The internets appear to be clogged with bitter tears in the vicinity of Left Blogistan. Expect delays and stay vigilant for rockslides.
Poutrage is my new very favortest word.
I smell an Archer fan. ABL, I have a serious, and possibly racially sensitive question to ask you. If I stumble or offend, please know that I’m really, really not trying to be a privileged racist honkey pile of dumb. I’m just bad at this, and need the guidance of a frank and intelligent woman of color to reach enlightenment. Okay, deep breath, here goes.
Why won’t Aisha Tyler return my calls?! *swoon*
she won’t return mine either!
duh and/or hello!
:)
I have to say, that this black woman is pretty fucking pissed at Obama on this one. You don’t give the hostage-takers everything they want, and that’s pretty much what he’s done here.
i am pissed too; a lot of Obama screw ups led to this point. on the other hand, i currently have a job. the republicans were holding unemployment benefits hostage. what’s the alternative?
The alternative would have been to do nothing. Let the tax cuts expire. Between now and the next Congress, hammer the Republicans like the fist of an angry God. Push back and call their bluff. One of the things Clinton actually did right was to make Newt shut down the government, and then make it blindingly clear whose fault it was.
If he truly felt like he had no choice, then the least he could do is not slam federal employees. The pay freeze is bullshit. (And no, I’m not a federal worker. I work for the state of CA and I’m so over the government-employee bashing shtick from Arnold; it hurts to see Obama falling into that framing.)
the problem is, if he had done nothing, congress would have recessed and not reconvened until january, and all the people whose UI benefits expired wouldn’t have any money for the holidays.
that’s the pragmatic reality obama was facing. that’s the difference between someone getting evicted next week or not.
the political reality is not much better either: he would have faced outrage from everyone for having their taxes go up, which is how it would have played in the media. democrats always lose the tax cut game. they’re completely ineffectual at messaging.
Now that’s the directness and anger I’ve been looking for.
I’m sorry that he felt he needed to make that speech.
We could be more supportive,though I’m not sure what’s required of us.
I still believe that the LGBT community has it the hardest in this country.
Where’s this aggressiveness when it comes to civil rights? All we get is weaksauce about “evolving attitudes”. Which I don’t buy from a man who was for marriage equality before 2008.
For thirty years we’ve voted Democrat,raised money,educated the people..what more does the party need?
Not being snarky,but sincere.
In short,I expect the same speech in November 2012 when DADT and DOMA are still policy. The LGBT community(including me) will still vote Democrat. Cause a spouse that beats you,but tells you that they’ll change is better than one that beats you and hates you.
Sigh. I don’t hate him.
Politics make me gloomy.
stopthemadness
He didn’t have an alternative. He did what he had to do for those without work. Which is fine.
It is however,one more compromise. The GOP never budges,and we’ll always bend over for them.
that’s true. that’s the democrats’ fault. obama is the head of the party. he needs to figure out why they/he are/is so ineffectual. i’m down with that line of reasoning. what i’m not down with is “OMG OBAMA IS GONNA CAVE, HE’S GONNA CAVE, HE’S GONNA CAVE, HE CAVED! I CAN’T BELIEVE HE CAVED I CAN’T BELIEVE HE CAVED.” meanwhile the blue dogs are sitting around with their thumbs up their own asses. the gop is lockstep. the democrats are a goddamn circus. the blogosphere is but one tiny piece of evidence of the left’s inability to do jackshit.
Yeah, yeah, whatevs, all I know is you gave me a h/t!! Once I saw that, everything above it became like the grown-ups in the Peanuts: “Wah-wha-wah-wah-wah-wahwahwahwah…”.
Thank you ABL!
Also, too: Schooling asshats is God’s own work. You go on with it — I’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor. It’s like you’re a modern day Maccabee! (And Happy Hanukkah!)
FWIW, I love you ABL – here, on BJ (where everyone is a bit touchy these days except John) anywhere.
Things are tough. Shit is a big mess. Obama isn’t Jeebus and never said he was. It’s our own sadness that fighting the system is hard and it sucks – even with someone on our side.
I hope it gets better. I truly do. I have a lot of respect and admiration for our president.
And you too, ABL. :)
Peace
i respect and admire him too. (i almost wrote “i don’t always agree with him”; it’s like a reflex–feeling like i have to write that all the damn time!)
cheers!
What part of “I wouldn’t have been allowed through the front door” doesn’t the Outrage Brigade understand? Obama is so correct here, and I think understands a very key point. The country is not unified…at all…on many issues. It never has been. Surely, we are all aware of the 2/3 Compromise. Can there be anything more odious than declaring another human being 2/3 of a person? The country was founded on a compromise which allowed slavery to continue as a legal and sanctioned institution.
Keep on doing what you’re doing Angry Black Lady. You are not wrong.
And just as a matter of disclosure, I’m not only white, I’m lilly fuckin white. But I definitely feel there is more than a little racism mixed into all of this. Not bigotry, racism. And I think the confusion between those two terms confuses a lot of people. But the simple truth is that as white people we have been given a sub-conscious set of preconceived notions about black people. That’s why white people feel afraid when they see a black man on the street at night. That feeling, that’s racism. The comments about Obama having no balls or other comments that emasculate a black male, that’s racism. And for that matter comments that give Nancy Pelosi “balls” is sexism.
In many ways the new, blogsphere, “progressive left” is neither.
What part of “I wouldn’t have been allowed through the front door” doesn’t the Outrage Brigade understand?
YES. hot damn, i loved when he said that. it’s the reason i always crack a joke about where the other 2/5 of me is hiding when fools start talking about constitutional originalism. women, brown people, jews… what are we supposed to do? i guess let everyone else decide and then tell us what they’ve decided.
right, 3\5, I’m old and I’ve forgotten more than I learned. Thanks for not slagging me :)
It is fun up in here. I loved the smackdowns in the press conference today. And I’ve been enjoying your work over at BJ. Be well and cheers.
dengre
thanks dennis!
Kicking this can down the road for a couple of years is actually a good idea: what better time to engage in this debate than the 2012 election year?
By then, we can conclusively point to the lack of job creation and say. “OK, you got your break. Where’s the damn jobs? Or was it a scam, you lying fucksacs?” Best case scenario is we’re wrong about this and there are actually JOBS created. Either outcome works for me. But the results of the recent election seem lost on the far left. IF they want a seat at the real table, not the one in fluffy pink marshmallow rainbow pony land, and can actually TURN OUT TO VOTE, they might be more listenable. But their demonstrated pique that cost us the House even though we knew there was a big turnout on the right coming, if that’s all they have, the President has no choice but to play to the middle and the independents by trying to eliminate the partisan fuckery and negotiate with the enemy.
What the left of me (most think of ME as a leftist. I guess I’m a Democrat) seems to be trying to say is really akin to the famous Nader arguments redux. I can’t understand them enabling the kill the turnout guys with that “same as a republican” argument. Because at its base, that’s what this is. The third party fucksticks are thinking that they can attack from the left flank while the Teabags attack from the right, and the Democratic Party will crash and burn, with the new glorious “New Progressive” party rising from the ashes Like Linus’s Great Pumpkin. I’ve heard this for years, and it’s always been a fever dream, nothing more. But the left can’t expect to reamin shrill and nonsupportive and have anything to show for it at the end of it all.
Having spent the day perusing Left-o-blogistan, I have come to the conclusion that Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin have come back from the dead, and plan to run Pigasus for President again. It’s good to know that psuedo-Yippie bullshit is what passes for ‘progressive ideals’ these days. At least Hoffman and Rubin could get laid, though. Your average firebagger couldn’t score after being given $500 to spend at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch.
Two things I love… “What About Bob?” and President Obama. Baby steps folks, baby steps.
Signed,
Pissed (look it up!) White English Jewish Gal
I’M SAIILLLLIINNNNG!!!
“When folks fastidiously refuse to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, they’ve got a little Privilege on their faces, point them to Derailing for Dummies.”
I love you Angry Black Lady!