Ignoring the Obama Presidency

[jaxx]

Ignoring the Obama Presidency
Jamelle Bouie
December 1, 2011
Some pundits pretend as if the Obama presidency never happened.

Among liberals, and most political observers, it’s widely acknowledged that President Obama took a major political hit when he pushed for health-care reform against Republican intransigence and public opposition. The cost of winning comprehensive health-care reform—a longtime liberal dream—was a resurgent and powerful Republican Party. If political courage is defined by the willingness to suffer politically for the sake of good public policy, then Affordable Care Act stands as a testament to the president’s political courage.

Which is why I also have no idea what National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar is talking about when he writes the following:

<..> In fairness to Kraushaar, his critique is par for the course. One of the strangest things about the current poliical moment is the extent to which mainstream pundits routinely act as if crucial moments in the Obama presidency never happened. To wit, Tom Friedman complained that Obama hasn’t taken a stand on deficit reduction, despite the fact that he released a plan in September and has been touting it ever since. Likewise, David Brooks moaned that Obama is mired in liberal ortodoxy, despite the fact that — until recently — he has been eager to accomodate Republican demands. And Chris Matthews demands more ambition from Obama, despite the fact that he ran hard to pass a piece of social legislation that rivals the Great Society programs in size and scope.

It’s one thing for pundits to err in their judgment—it happens to the best of us—it’s something else entirely for them to ignore reality and blame the president for his failure to conform to their magical world.

http://prospect.org/article/ignoring-obama-presidency

Very good!!

[Brainwreck]

Thank you for posting that article, jaxx. I get so weary of explaining over and over that President Obama has survived the constant GOP obstructionism by working his butt off and getting more done than any of us deserve considering how unsupportive so many were in the last election. If the people of this country would get off their butts and do a little fact checking, including reading the endless list of his accomplishments, he would be washed back into the white house on a tsunami of gratitude and support.

[jaxx]

YW Brainwreck. I was glad to see the article, because they have ignored the good things done by President Obama's policies and focus on the naysayers. I can't wait to vote for him again!!