I don't always like Obama.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

But when I do, I usually end up loving him!



And I love what he did tonight!

[bigwillq]

1. That guy's drunk.

What does he know.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

3. Actually (just an FYI), Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor from Vermont who plays "The Most Interesting

Man In the Worldl", is a staunch supporter of President Obama. He has even hosted fundraisers which the president attended personally.

[bigwillq]

5. That's cool.

No problem with that. I was just trying to make a funny.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

7. And indeed you did, bigwillq....

[True Blue Door]

2. Don't worry: Half the people happy about this will forget about it in three days

and start accusing Obama of being a corporatist capitulo-crat again, while Republicans never forget their hatred.

[Hoyt]

8. Sad, but true.

[VanillaRhapsody]

9. too late that happened within 5 minutes of the speech ending!

[True Blue Door]

11. And that's why it's so hard for the left to network in politics.

Nobody wants an ungrateful friend.

[VanillaRhapsody]

12. Fair weather friends who try to extort the party!

and that's why we "can't have anything nice..."

[True Blue Door]

14. Not even that. A fair-weather friend is at least nice when things are going well.

But it's hardly breaking news that the left gets angrier at Obama when he achieves for them than when he doesn't.

Can't wait for the inevitable Borderline Personality Disorder howling about everything the immigration order isn't, and how Sugar Daddy "never does anything for us!"

Then of course we'll have to remind that crowd that the only reason such an order was necessary is because they (and we in general) are too fucked up to get a decent Congress elected.

[VanillaRhapsody]

15. yep you are right....Self-loathing Liberals..

All stick no carrot......no wonder the mushy middle cant be inspired ....

[sabrina 1]

16. Don't you worry. Democrats, unlike Republicans, are capable of applauding a politician when they do

what is right. But when they do something wrong, Democrats do not applaud them, they tell them what they think. Politicians are supposed to listen to the people who elected them. How are they to know when they are on the right track if the people just 'follow' and praise everything they do no matter how wrong.

What Obama did tonight was wonderful.

If he puts SS back on the Deficit Table, he will be fiercely criticized.

Because politicians are not movie stars, and we are not Republicans.

What he did tonight is what we expected a Democratic President to do and he deserves credit for it.

[True Blue Door]

17. Except that's not how it usually works.

Democrat does good: "Good job, unlike everything else he's ever done. Now let's talk about everything wrong with his action...at length...forever...and forget the good stuff."

Democrat does okay: "Why you perfidious, sleazy, backroom-deal-making...(goes on for six pages)..."

Democrat does bad: "I always knew he was a shit. He never does anything for us! The whole Democratic Party is shit." (Repeat ad infinitum)

Buried in an infinite sea of hate, bitching, and personal demonization is that one instant of highly begrudging praise, immediately forgotten and dismissed ever after.

A lot of the left get their ideas about political criticism from The Great Santini.

[noiretextatique]

18. no one deserves unquestioned adoration

obama told us to hold his feet to the fire. and i really appreciate that about him, unlike some of his ardent supporters, he seems to welcome and respond to constructive criticism. i think more highly of him because of that.

[True Blue Door]

19. Constructive criticism is hard to come by anywhere in American politics today.

The MSM robotically runs through whatever narratives it finds profitable, which are almost universally anti-Obama.

The left-wing blogs engage in telepathy and history revisionism in order to manufacture brain-dead conspiracy theories about the President. No doubt somewhere, some jackass is now claiming the President is only issuing this immigration order as a fiendish ploy to (insert conspiracy theory).

And the right are just psychopathic liars.

It's pretty clear at this point that the President fails far more often from lack of active constituent support than lack of hostility from commentators.

[noiretextatique]

21. spot on about the rw and MSM

totally CLUELESS about the left. what part about holding his feet to the fire is so hard for you to understand? should we just meekly accept everything he does, or should we actually do our duty as citizens, and do what HE asked is to do? i don't get you, and others. do you expect the left NOT to advocate for its positions, and hold the president accountable, per his request? and this false equivalency BS is beyond tiresome. there is no powerful coalition of media and commerce on the left as there is on the right...NONE. there is, however, a considerable effort, replete with funding, to shove a centrist/third way agenda down our throats. pot...meet kettle.

[True Blue Door]

23. This is why I think of The Great Santini when reading left-wing "criticism" of the President.

So damnably little of it is constructive. You could fill the Sargasso Sea with the personal demonization, the demented conspiracy theories, the constant innuendos about his motives and values, the cavalier dismissal of any and all past achievements as trivial or part of some fiendish Grand Plot to do the exact opposite of what he does, and the insatiable appetite for more of the same content.

Constructive thoughts are little, hurricane-battered island archipelagos in that vast expanse of self-absorbed, hatemongering noise. And it often isn't a false equivalency to equate that insanity with what goes on the right, because it literally overlaps. The conspiracy theories about this President that get top-billing play on left-wing blogs overlap with places like Infowars and WorldNetDaily.

In fact, so damnably little of it even qualifies as criticism, let alone the constructive kind. Criticism has to relate in some vaguely reality-based way to what someone is actually doing, and that kind of basic awareness of and concern for facts is hugely lacking. Am I "holding your feet to the fire" if I randomly walk up to you on the street and start accusing you of being part of the Illuminati and plotting to pollute my precious bodily fluids? Would you give the slightest shit what I think if I followed you around making snarky remarks about your choice of food, your haircut, your family life, calling you names like a petulant child, and then when you tell me to fuck off, saying "Oh, so you don't like criticism, huh? You want to silence me!"

[joshcryer]

22. Exactly, it's about diminishing the good.

SS has absolutely nothing to do with this action and therefore has no relevance to the conversation. It is brought up, as well as many other policy positions that may or may not happen, as a way to diminish a policy action that actually took place.

In other words, talking about solving issues and thinking about ways to solve those issues, discussing openly the various compromises that are available, ie, governance, is bad. But actually doing good things must be diminished by that bad governance.

[True Blue Door]

25. Some folks just can't tell the difference between having high standards for a President

and having low standards for themselves.

"I don't have to confine my criticism of the President to rational thoughts and actual facts - he would know what I mean, if he wasn't such a sellout."

[sabrina 1]

27. What I have seen from Democrats is very constructive criticism on issues that matter to the Working

Class. I have not seen 'bitching' for no good reason.

When we elect a Democrat we expect him/her to support issues that matter to ordinary people, not to Wall St. When a Democrat supports those issues, people are more than willing to give them credit, and no it is not 'begrudging'. Because we care about PEOPLE when something is done for the people, we are happy.

But when Wall St and the MIC are the beneficiaries of policies that do not benefit the people, then Democrats are not happy.

I might be wrong, but you seem to care more about politicians than about the people they are meant to serve. How on earth can anyone who cares about this country and its people, be 'begrudging' of something that benefits them?

Even if it's my favorite politician in the world, if they act against the interests of the people, I am not going to remain silent. Ymmd.

I am happy tonight for the people who will benefit from the President's actions.

[True Blue Door]

29. Then you aren't paying attention.

Because here's the surest and most undeniable constructive criticism: Elect a Congress to the left of a Democratic President.

We haven't done that in decades.

Maybe it's time to direct some of that oh-so-precious criticism inwards.

[noiretextatique]

20. what an fng concept

you mean. you can actually support a politician...and criticize some of the things he does? and applaud him when he does something great? what an fng concept!!!! meanwhile, some people are demanding loyalty oaths. they can kiss my grits.

[True Blue Door]

28. I don't know, can you?

So much of the conspiracy theory drivel that pollutes left-wing blogs suggests some people can't.

They can't criticize without spiraling down a rabbit hole into an alternate universe where the subject of criticism morphs into a demon. Their discontent feeds on itself rather than on rational thoughts about actual events. And anyone who tries to inject a reality check into that process becomes The Enemy.

I know personally how things in history like witch-burnings happened because of what I've witnessed on fauxgressive blogs.

[Midnight Writer]

26. Not so sure: Americans love the "strong leader"

Of course Republicans and conservatives will be outraged (so what) but in troubled times (which the RW Media constantly reinforces) many folks look to strength in the leader.

I learned that after September 11, 2001, many Liberal Democrats I know rallied behind Bush-Cheney because they were afraid and were looking for strong and decisive leadership. Even if they didn't agree with the specific policies, they were comforted that someone was doing something.

[VanillaRhapsody]

4. I never expect to slways love any President...they have

Choices to make...some I wont like....


Orherwise...Spot on......

We are all going to miss all thes wonderful moments he has given us....

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. He made me proud tonight that I voted for him (twice). =) nt

[VanillaRhapsody]

10. Me too....even had a tear in my eye....

He has given us a few moments like that...some people just don't realize they don't come along often and with every President.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

13. I was fine up until Steve Kornacki spoke to the young lady Astrid who the president mentioned

in his speech tonight. She was so emotional and happy, I teared up a little then.

[JEB]

24. Delivered some Hope to quite a few people tonight.

[Gothmog]

30. Agreed

President Obama was was in great form last night. That was the President Obama who I voted for twice