randy_byers: (2009-05-10)
[personal profile] randy_byers
Okay, here's an example of something that drives me mildly crazy. TPM mainpage headline: "Disappointed Open Gov't Experts: Obama Is Going Down Bush's Path". Click on the link, and the page it takes you to has a less incendiary headline: "CIA Stance On Torture Tape Docs Suggests Obama's New Open Government Era Won't Materialize". No mention of Bush at all. Read the article, and you get even more of a climb down:

Obama's approach to issues of secrecy on national security doesn't mimic Bush's alone, it appears. Rather, said Olmsted, it's broadly in keeping with "every other presidential administration" of modern times. But, she added, "it's disappointing, because President Obama promised a whole new era in government transparency, and here they go again concealing this information." (Emphasis mine.)

So the bottom line is that people are disappointed that Obama told some lies during his campaign. Fair enough, although I honestly think that's kind of no duh myself. But to go from that to "he's no different than Bush" seems like PTSD, doesn't it? I mean, I remember the Clinton administration fighting tooth and nail to prevent the most innocuous information from being released. They seemed to do it on reflex. Then again, I guess that's the other disappointed comparison I hear a lot of: Obama is just like Clinton (i.e., a servant of the corporations). Even that, I think, is a form of PTSD. Must we constantly relive the traumas of the past? Time for new trauma! Boycott Obama Motors!

Date: 2009-06-10 07:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] strangedave.livejournal.com
Back in the pre-inaugauration era I was saying how much I was looking forward to being disappointed with Obama. Because merely being very disappointed would be such an improvement over being regularly driven into disbelieving incoherent rage.

Every so often Obama does something that disappoints me terribly, but every so often he does something that impresses or pleases me. He is a politician, and sometimes he makes bad, even dreadful calls.

Same with KRudd over here. Sometimes I'm appalled - certainly not an anti-censorship administration for example. But sometimes they get things really right. Overall, I'm disappointed - but just being disappointed seems so fantastic in comparison to the previous administration.

Date: 2009-06-10 03:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] randy-byers.livejournal.com
Yeah, I think that's about right. My angry-at-Obama housemate was pointing out to me last night that I hadn't really staked out my own take on various policies and proclamations, and I assured him that my own biggest disappointment with Obama so far is on gay rights. He's been really, really weak, and during a period when the GLBT community is understandably feeling pretty abused. Other than that, I'm not sure I can say I'm even disappointed on things like state secrets or the Afghanistan/Pakistan policy or in the mollycoddling of the banks, because I didn't expect anything different.

I thought Obama was pretty clear during his campaign that his three big goals were withdrawal from Iraq, health care reform, and energy policy reform. The middle one is the really big deal, to my mind. If he doesn't get something done on that, I'll think he has failed. But he also promised to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. I actually don't understand why he hasn't started working on the former. He needs to at least start laying out the groundwork for it, as he's doing on health care and in various areas of Middle East policy.

That said, at least Obama has only been weak on gay rights so far and not actively bad. There hasn't been new bad policy, just lack of action.

And as for things he gets right, it's kind of stunning to hear an American president call the Palestinian situation "intolerable" and to acknowledge that Iran has a legitimate grievance against our overthrow of their government in the the '50s.

Date: 2009-06-10 06:19 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
"[J]ust being disappointed seems so fantastic in comparison to the previous administration."

Amen to that! (Says the angry-at-Obama housemate...)

-- Denys

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