Liars to the Right of Me, Jokers to the Left

Really? Obama is failing? Because from where I sit, he seems to be doing pretty darn well under the circumstances.

I see a lot of gratuitous reference to race here - but in all honesty, Obama's racial background had precisely nothing to do with most voters' choice to support him. He could have been any race - that's not what determined who earned the nomination. It was about policy - and it still is.

As far as policy, Obama seems to be doing pretty well. Democrats managed to get a pretty substantial piece of health care legislation passed, which is already improving access to care for millions. They also succeeded in preventing a massive depression with some timely economic stimulus, and rescued the US car industry. Democrats have also restored full funding to the Veterans' Administration, taken effective action to manage the foreclosure crisis, provided some tax relief to low income earners, and fully committed to success and eventual withdrawal in Afghanistan.

In fact, there is very little that Obama can be said to have "lied" about, if anything. In comparison to the previous administration, the current one is a vision of purity and wholesomeness.

In what sense is Obama failing? None that I can see. He is experiencing the push-back that progressive reformers always face from entrenched corporate interests. Of course his popularity has dropped since inauguration. However, Obama remains one of the most popular politicians nationally, and has been doggedly pursuing his policies in spite of complaints from both the right and the left. In reality, Obama has worked hard to embody the vision of post partisan, pragmatic progressivism that he promoted as his platform. He has been met by unprecedented levels of partisan opposition and obstruction, and in spite of this he has accomplished more than most Presidents achieve in 4 years before he has been in office for 2.

If this is failure for the Democrats, then I must have missed something...

Liar, liar: Why Obama is failing

Who you calling stupid?

I’m not nearly as concerned about the intelligence of the Obama administration, as I am about the lack of intellectual honesty on the right.

The constant tone of shrill and incoherent opposition, based primarily on distortions and lies, does not reflect well on the party. Obama may be down near 50% approval. But outside the deep south, the GOP is well under 20%.

It really makes no sense to claim that Obama is both incompetent and an evil mastermind who will transform the country in mere months. Obviously he is neither. He is a disciplined and patient politician, and he understands the nature and pace of Congress.

But go ahead and convince yourself that we’re all a bunch of idiots – after all, we voted for Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin. Certainly that’s evidence of something…