Has Obama thrown in the towel?

[elfs]

On a strictly personal level, is it just me, or does Barack Obama seem tired? I mean, at some point the sheer level of hatred directed at him seems to be getting under his skin.

I'm reminded of the gag "news" story Obama to Nation: "Fuck this shit, I'm outta here:"

"I was prepared to fight global warming, reform the health care system, repair our crumbling roads, create a 21st century electric grid, find Bin Laden, end the war in Iraq, and bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians. But now you tell me I have to clean up the worst financial mess since the Great Depression too? One that's going to plunge our economy into a recession for most of my administration while I take the blame? Fuck that. That's fucking ridiculous. You guys clean up your own shit. I'm outta here."

Let's add on top of that cleaning up America's Chernobyl: an industrial, energy-related accident that will leave large swathes of American territory unviable for at least a generation, if not longer, while sucking huge economic resources that could have been used for other things.

My impression is that for the previous eight years the Bush Administration alternated between treating those who disagreed with the Bush administration as too stupid or too un-American to be concerned with, and laughed off the complaints. Obama ascended on a populist message, like Bill Clinton's, of caring about everybody, and of taking everyone seriously.

Consistently, the people who would benefit the most from Obama's reforms hate him the most. These are people who, for whatever reason, insist that they live in a class-mobile society when in fact they live in a society with significantly less social mobility than France, Canada, or Denmark. These are people who insist that they live in a free country when almost one-fifth of corporate income goes to guard labor. When the government is drowned in its bathtub, they'll suffer the most.

Both parties seem determined to kill him before the end of his first term. The Republicans are just playing "We may end up ruling over the wreckage of America, but it'll be our wreckage" games, and the Democrats are even more spineless splitters that the People's Front of Judea.

I can't help but wonder if the man hasn't given up.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Dude. Anybody with any sort of a conscience gets *murdered* by the hot seat. Dick had bags under his eyes, and the smile was gone. Pappy Bush got a few shades lighter, lost some hair. Jimmy went in a dark grey, came out almost white-haired. No comment on Bubba. Or Dubya. Show me the Current Occupant at the end of his term without at least a few grey hairs and I'll show you a man with no soul. And while the Fix may be In? I think the man's got a soul, and the crap that's coming down the pike is killing him. (Hell, it *literally* killed FDR, not that FDR had much for health to begin with...)

Maybe he'll do something about that. Maybe. He's got the intestinal fortitude to go tell his own brethren they're screwing up by the numbers on a very touchy topic... the question is, has he got the brassies enough to tell the fixers to stick it, and Do The Right Thing.

I'm not holding my breath, but at the same time? it is not inconceivable that he could get tired enough of the endless loads of high-quality organic fertilizer to pull a Hercules... we could use some clean stables.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Personally, I smell a very subtle, sneaky racism in the way that the Republicans are behaving. It's as if they want to make sure that the first non-white US president looks as incompetent as possible.

But I'm personally grumpy with him because he hasn't rolled back several Executive-branch power grabs made by the last administration and restored some semblance of Constitutional rule. At the very least, he could grow a pair and hold the Republicans' feet to the fire when the DIRECT consequences of their policies from last decade come home to roost. *cough*cough*BP*cough*cough*

[tagryn]

I do occasionally find myself feeling sorry for every POTUS at some point. Then I remember that (a) each of them knew what they were getting into when they were running for the job, and (b) under it all we're talking about people who are power-hungry, combined with huge egos and exceptional charisma, and who are without exception trained as lawyers. That doesn't make for a very noble character combination, regardless of the image they portray to the public and the media.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

I remember a political cartoon from Reagan's second term. It showed IIRC LBJ, Nixon, and Carter all looking decades older with their before & after portraits, and Reagan looking the same, or younger. It's a stressful job, at least if you take it seriously.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

When I saw the footage of him on the shores of the Gulf, he just looked so defeated; like he had no idea what to do in the face of such a tragedy. I don't know, but it looked to me like we finally broke him. I'm hoping he can find his backbone again. He ran on a message of hope and change. He needs to make his stand and say "NO" to all the bullshit now, not worry about a second term. He really only ever had one term to make a difference.

And I hope he sacks that damn General with a firm statement of "this will stop now". He's been too much with the negotiating, he needs to be more "Nope, sorry, I'm gonna make you do the right thing".

Just Argh. I'm tired of people fucking up my world. I really thought Obama had enough balls to make 'em stop. Hope he finds them again.