Obama's Hissy Fit

[Weltall]

Huh... wha? Had McCain through some miracle won, we would not have health care reform as we have it now. There's no question about that. We also would not have had a financial rescue bill last year, real Wall Street reform, and more. Despite themselves, and despite the insane Republican stalling, the Democrats have managed to accomplish some things, which is a huge accomplishment. If the Republicans had won the last election things would be very different in some important ways.

We've had 'real' Wall Street reform? I mean, there's a few extra regulations now that didn't exist two years ago, but nobody doesn't think that the corporations still pull the strings, and if some sector of the financial market teeters on the edge of collapse, we'll rush in and save them with our taxes yet again.

I know that the "Obama is the same" thing is tempting, and I've thought it sometimes too, but when you look at the actual records of what the Democrats have done versus what the Republicans have proposed, on the key bills the Democrats have passed or are trying to pass (in the case of a second jobs bill, which is very desperately badly needed but won't happen; say thanks to the Republicans,m 700,000 to 900,000 (minimum) people who will lose their jobs because of the Republican filibuster of the second jobs bill!) such as health care, bank reform, jobs bills, the economic stimulus package (one of the few things that has saved us from this terrible economy getting even worse, which is of course why the Republicans are opposed -- they have not changed as much from the positions of Herbert Hoover as people would have thought they should have...), etc.

The idea of a 'jobs bill' is really a total fallacy. You can't snap your fingers and say LET THERE BE JOBS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED SLOBS. Job creation and deletion is a natural part of the economic cycle. Jobs won't be created until the economy as a whole grows healthier. There isn't one single part of it that can magically be fixed and the whole thing runs smoothly. I mean, unless you create a million new positions in the government, but that's a really awful idea.

I still dream of the idea that there will exist a comprehensive army of accountants which can exercise bloodletting on all aspects of government spending, and contrive ways to maximize efficiency. I sincerely believe that we can operate at least at the levels we're used to with vastly-reduced expenditures if we eliminate most of the secrecy and dirty-dealing. I think the beginning of this most needed reform is to eliminate the concept of politics as a career and institute term limits upon every elected position in the United States. There's far less incentive to create personal power bases and nest-feathering when your tenure has a pre-determined expiration date.

Sorry, but the Democrats are not nearly as shameless and unified in their reversals as Republicans. Democrats would actually have moral qualms about flipping 180 degrees on their position on an issue in the space of a couple of years, while for Republicans it's par for the course and not even something to remark upon...

(See: Should we get rid of the filibuster, positions in 2005 and now...)

See: All the Democrats who supported and funded the Iraq War until such support became a liability to them.

So you're a birther too?

I don't care one iota about the birth certificate

. . . but, I do wonder why Obama hasn't simply shown it already. He could silence all of the noise in five seconds. One could argue that it makes the birthers look vindictive (certainly it does), but vindictiveness is precisely what the disaffected right in this country want right now.

I believe that, if he showed the proper documents, everything would hash out and most of the critics would shut up. What I don't understand is why he hasn't. Machiavelli, he's not.