Obama's Farewell

And He Was Doing So Well

So I'm always on the lookout for stuff that reinforces my thinking about Obama, but also I wanna make sure I'm not drowning in fandom.

So, here's a buncha good stuff...

..but then I see this...

...and my Dad self kicks in and I'm like - aagh, he's throwin' a ball in the house!?! 

So yeah - fuck him.

That Leadership Thing

The first two nights in Cleveland, the GOP speakers have tried mightily to portray Obama (and Hillary) as some kinda disaster when it comes to how the world views USAmerica Inc - like we're somehow flailing about and we're not where we should be and we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing etc etc etc.

Take a look at the numbers of people in various countries saying they have confidence in American Leadership:

Every day, in every way, the GOP just gets worse.

Bless You, Charlie

Charlie Pierce:

When are people going to realize that the big bag of fucks to give at 1600 Pennsylvania is not only empty, but it's sitting in a back closet somewhere and nobody's going to find it until the midway point of Sasha Obama's second term in the White House? Why does this continue to surprise people?

On Tuesday, right around lunchtime, the president came out and parked He, Trump onto a rooftop across Waveland Avenue. In brief, the president informed the vulgar talking yam that he, the yam, was screwing with the country's heartbeat because he, the yam, is an ignorant, ridiculous man who doesn't know shit from tunafish about anything beyond where to find good-quality, child-sized gloves in a hurry. He made very short work out of the preposterous notion that if he uses the magic conjuring words, then the entire Middle East will turn into Sweden.

And then Mr Pierce quotes Barry Bams:

"That's the key, they tell us, 'We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamist.' What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction…Not once has an adviser of mine said, 'If we use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around.' It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with defeating extremism.""We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. To bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop?... These are not religious warriors. They are thugs and they are thieves."

I really hope Hillary's listening.

Last Go 'Round

Obama's 8th White House Correspondents' Dinner:

The guy's got some soul.  And the best part for me is the last bit when he says it without saying it - the Press Poodles need to drop the pretentious both-sides horse-racey political crap, and try to get back to concentrating on facts.

Obama Bond

Why do they hate him?  

Cuz they know they wanna be - and they know they'll never be - this fucking cool.

Go, Barry Bams, Go

I guess we'll see what we see when we see it, but dang.

Politcus.com:

The President is in the midst of a very serious plan to issue an executive order that requires companies doing business with the federal government to disclose their political contributions. Just think; with a stroke of his pen the President will make “dark money” donors receiving billions of taxpayer money reveal who they contribute to or lose out on those highly-profitable federal government contracts.

Now, of course this does not, in any way, shape or form “overturn” Citizens United. But it is a major step in prompting some companies and corporations doing business with the federal government to rein in some of their dark money efforts to buy influence over the government. The directive, a so-called ‘dark money‘ executive order would mandate that “all government contractors publicly report their contributions to groups that spend money to influence campaigns and elections.”

Yeah yeah - it's Politcus.  But wow - if this is really the plan, and he pulls it off, there's gonna be some folks workin' overtime trying to figure how to love what he's doin' while still hatin' his ass for doin' it. 

 

And BTW - every governor of every state should be doing exactly the same thing.

SOTU 2016

Some faves:
(about 14:00) 

"It's not too much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who're going to work the same job in the same place with a health and retirement package for 30 years are sitting in this chamber."

(about 18:50)

"But after years now of record corporate profit, working families won't get more opportunity or bigger paychecks just by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at everybody else's expense." 

(about 22:00) Talking about innovation and research. He's trying to reassert government's proper roll in pushing for progress while trying to keep the privateers and the rentiers from controlling the mechanisms of that progress solely for the sake of corporate profit.

(starting about 30:00) Let's go back to being the smart country when it comes to what we do about terrorism.  Let's not help the bad guys by repeating their rhetoric about how big and bad they are, and how they're coming to fucking destroy America. Basically - "Stop losing your shit all the fucking time."   These are bad guys and they "have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed", but stop saying that a buncha slavering fanatics charging around in a used Toyota pickup is somehow the equivalent of any random squad of US Marines - why do you not understand how insulting that is to the troops you claim to have the highest regard for?  Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people? 

NeoLib uh-oh:
(about 17:00)  - This one sounds like he's selling an investment plan for Wall Street - but it ties into the remarks on not letting the too-big-to-fail gang play by their own rules - he's going for that famous "Obama in the middle" thing(?)

"(on a guy losing his job)...he should still be able to save for retirement  and take his savings with him."

Full remarks: Watch @POTUS deliver his final State of the Union address. #SOTU https://t.co/AOyWjdFk4O

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2016

It was a good one to go out on. I wonder how long before the Repubs get their strategies in place for what to do now.  Gov Haley's "response" seemed to hold some interesting weirdness.  I'll try to get to that later.

Today's DumFux News

Trying hard not to dismiss this as just a buncha cold spirit-sucking empty-hearted teeny-bop cunts at the mean girls table.

Politics-as-usual?

Or maybe massive unresolved daddy issues?  That could easily be the case with Meghan McCain I guess.

When you slag a guy for tearing up a little while he's trying to get us to do something about too many dead kids - when you feel the need to stonewall against any effort to keep kids from being killed - you have no soul and no honor.

And it's not just because you have no soul and no honor.  As it turns out, it's also because the boss can't afford anything to be done about the problem. And that's what I think is driving such cunt-ish behavior on air.

If you wanna know what's up with any problem here in USAmerica Inc, you have to look at who's currently benefiting from the problem, and/or who stands to profit from any proposed solution for that problem.

And more importantly, since we're talkin' politics now, you have to understand that solutions for these problems are not actually allowed - REPEATING: solutions are not allowed.  There's too much money and too many careers of too many very powerful people at stake.  

It doesn't matter what we're scrappin' about - it can be Abortion or Guns or Taxes or Poverty or Schools or Prisons or any other 'problem'.  As long as we're fighting, we're fueling the revenue streams that keep the fat cats fat.

The people who're making the decisions on what we see and hear over the air or on cable;  what we read online; what emails we receive asking for another 3 bucks to help in the fight for blah blah blah - these are either currently wealthy powerful people, or they're people looking to become wealthy and powerful by monetizing the fight for whatever.

Mike's First Law of Career Self-Nurturing: Anybody with any prospect of enjoying even a relatively low degree of success will never ever EVER try to work himself out of that job.

We have a News Industry that went from Public Service to Cost Center to Profit Center to Money Mill - there is no content available on Fox or MSNBC or WashPo or your local FARMNet station that isn't programmed to push somebody's buttons and move them to  send a generous donation to their newfound favorite cause.

Seems like the only thing we manufacture in this country anymore is this bullshit high-school-fuck-around drama.  But hey - business is booming, so it's all good.

My POTUS

Because there's no contradiction in having a hard head and a soft heart.

I'm not a fan - Obama's done some things I strongly oppose, and he's left some things undone I wish he'd tried a lot harder to get done.  But that's just how this shit works.  And the guy's still pretty fuckin' amazing.

Today's Quote

The Prez:

“We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic. We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks.

“When individuals say we should have a religious test and that only Christians, proven Christians should be admitted, that’s offensive.

“I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL [ISIS] than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate.

“ISIL seeks to exploit the idea that there’s war between Islam and the west, and when you see individuals in positions of responsibility suggesting Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims are in a war-torn land, that feeds the Isil narrative. It’s counter-productive. And it needs to stop.

“And I would add, these are the same folks who suggested they’re so tough that just ‘talk to Putin’ or staring down ISIL [will work] … but they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion. At first they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn’t seem so tough to me.”

Where's that guy been for the last 7 years? 

What He Said

This is how I want Obama to do everything.  And maybe it's just me, but it seems like it's only been in the last several months that he's stepping up and calling the opposition out on their bullshit responses to everything he does or says.

Talking about what needs to be done about ISIS in light of the Paris thing:

What I do not do is to take actions either because it is going to work politically or it is going to somehow in the abstract make America look tough. Or make me look tough.

And maybe part of the reason is because every few months I go to Walter Reed and I see a 25 year old kid who is paralyzed or who has lost his limbs and some of those are people I've ordered into battle.

And so I can’t afford to play some of the political games that others may. We’ll do what’s required to keep the American people safe. And I think it’s entirely appropriate in a democracy to have a serious debate about these issues. If folks want to pop off and have opinions about what they think they would do, present a specific plan. If they think that somehow their advisers are better than the chairman of my Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the folks who are actually on the ground, I want to meet them. And we can have that debate.

But what I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership, or America winning or whatever other slogans they come up with, that has no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people. And to protect people in the region who are getting killed. And to protect our allies in people like France. I’m too busy for that.

And of course the nutballs went straight into Deliberately Misunderstanding mode anyway.

“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of ‘American leadership’ or ‘America winning”’ --POTUS

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) November 16, 2015

BTW - We've spent a good 35 years bitching about shortened attention spans, and shrinking sound bites, and news that has a life cycle of about 48 hours - how worried should I be about the 140-character Tweet becoming the dominant debate vehicle?  

Today's Michelle

If you're looking for something to brighten your day - along the lines of thinking "hey, fuck it, things could be worse" - say these four words to yourself: First Lady Ann Romney.

I guess I shouldn't say 'never', but seriously, how are we ever gonna get anybody in the White House as cool as Barack and Michelle?  We kinda tho't that about Bill and Hillary, but that was goin' on 30 fucking years ago.

My first vote for Bill Clinton in the '92 primary is older than my first-born child.  Fuck, I'm old.

Quick Check

I've been wondering why nobody's squawking about the effects the Iran Deal might have on oil prices - 

Oil prices fell further Thursday a day after U.S. benchmark crude tumbled below $50 a barrel for the first time since April as bloated U.S. inventories and the prospect of increased Iranian crude shipments fueled concerns about swelling supplies even as demand is waning.

"We've had a lot of supply," says Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service. "Now the worry is that demand is going lower."

West Texas crude for September delivery fell 67 cents, or 1.4%, to $48.53 a barrel after dropping 2.3% on Wednesday. That's down about 20% from a recent peak of $61.01 in late June.

The Obama administration's proposed nuclear deal with Iran would lift sanctions and could allow that country to ship significantly more oil, adding to a recent surge in supplies from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. A Senate hearing on the agreement is scheduled for Thursday.

- and there it is.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

Scott Walker's been the most adamant about how the deal's so bad he's trying to figure out how to start bombing Iran the day after he's elected.  I guess maybe all that Koch money really is speaking pretty loudly.  Who doesn't see that BTW?

So now the notion pops into my feverish little noggin - Obama (and Kerry - full props for a guy I never tho't was the real thing, but anyway) Obama more or less neutralizes Iran basically by bringing them over to the good guys' side and getting them to promise they'll play nice for now; he precludes (at least for a while) that we'll get suckered into another clusterfuck war in western Asia, which makes it harder for War Incorporated to make money; and he puts the mechanism into motion that should drive Big Oil's profits down; which makes it a little less profitable for Wall Street; etc etc etc.

It just seems like it all adds up to one big old-fashioned bitchslap for an extraordinarily shitty system of legalized bribery that's had a stranglehold on our little experiment in self-government and produced a dumb-n-numb electorate that keeps sending Coin-Operated Politicians back to the trough at the expense of the people who keep saying they're fed up with sending Coin-Operated Politicians back to the trough...

Or maybe it's just a one-off stop-gap thing, and Obama's not the fucking genius I'd like to think he might actually be.

A guy can dream tho'

And just remember - ya heard it here first, muhthuhfuckuhs.

Monday's Minor Miracle

OK OK - no miracle; just good photography (or PhotoShop or whatever).  

But then again, maybe the miracle is that the wingnuts aren't jumping up and down screaming about how Obama's some kinda evil sorcerer who hates America because he's calling on his African Usurper God to bestow blessings on a buncha black people in Haiti.

And you know none of that's particularly funny because you know it's a little too close to the fucking truth.

They Ain't My Guys

Just in case anybody was wondering what it takes to make a buncha theocratic Iranian shit-sniffers look like the 'good guys' - ladies & germs, I give you a buncha theocratic American shit-sniffers 47 Republican Senators who're working really hard to raise the level of partisan fuck-uppery to new heights.

How is it that Iran's Foreign Minister knows more about how the US Gov't is supposed to work than the propeller-heads we hired to run the US Senate?

"The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfil the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations."

But wait - "conservatives" need Iran to be the enemy.  They need some bullshit reason to keep the rubes riled up.  And does anyone need convincing that some of these "public servants" need their stock portfolios to get another nice fat injection of War Bucks?  What could be worse for them politically than having to make nice with an Islamic government after they've spent so much time and energy and Koch Family Money© demonizing it?

And what're they supposed to do with all that silly rhetoric about Obama being a secret Muslim and all the Libtards loving all things Islam?  They can't let all that go to waste, so it naturally fits for them to say they're just being tough on Iran - cuz "Obama can't be", or whatever - in order to keep the bad ol' Mullahs from getting the bomb; with the main point being they can't let anything Obama tries to do go unchallenged.  

That's what all this Party Purity crapola is really good for BTW.  No matter how stoopid your idea is on its own merits, anything you wanna do is OK as long as it hurts Obama and/or makes the Libruls mad.

But guess what, kids - Iran is going to get the bomb no matter what anybody says or does.  It's gonna happen sooner or later.  So why do you send a threatening letter to Mr Fariz?  Maybe it's because you wanna speed things along a little.  Maybe you want Iran to get the bomb ASAP so you have justification for war - which you can blame on Obama's "policy of appeasement"(?), and get back to the good old days of Us vs Them; of enemies within and enemies without.

History doesn't actually repeat itself, but it sure as fuck rhymes.

A Bridge Not Far Enough

First - "conservatives" have been trying hard to pretend GW Bush never even existed.  Wonder what they're gonna say about this:

The rhetorical gymnastics I think we can anticipate coming from Jeb's Bunch oughta be a pretty thing to watch too.

But, y'know - maybe we could stop fuckin' with each other just long enough to remember some of the really good things that happen once in a while, even if they have to grow out of something really shitty.

Tell ya what tho', love him or hate him or somewhere in between, that Obama guy knows how to make a fuckin' speech.

For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That’s why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction — because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it.

Look at our history. We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit. That’s who we are.

We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That is our character.

We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free –- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We’re the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That’s how we came to be. (Applause.)

We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. (Applause.) We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights.

We’re the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent. And we’re the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied.

We’re the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge. (Applause.)

We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told.
We’re the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues, bluegrass and country, and hip-hop and rock and roll, and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom.

We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway. (Applause.)

We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of who “build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how.” We are the people Emerson wrote of, “who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long;” who are “never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”

That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing. We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march.

And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.

For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.

Rudy Rudy Rudy

Rick Ungar at Forbes on Giuliani's fail which turned into a fourple fail when Rudy doubled down twice - most recently by getting space in the OpEd section of Rupert's Vanity Street Journal.

“My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart. My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”

Really?

When you boldly and directly state that a President doesn’t love his country, while suggesting that this lack of affection is the result of not being like "us", you have to be something of a fool to imagine that you can return to the fray pretending that what you meant to say was you don’t like how the President speaks on the subject of American exceptionalism.

Obama Roll

I used to call him President Lawnchair - mostly because I tho't he folded completely instead of really sticking it out on ACA (Public Option in particular).  And I continued that criticism for quite a while because it just looked like the guy wasn't all that willing to smack the Repubs around the way I tho't he should.

I can tell y'all now that I've changed my tune a bit lately, and while it'll take some study from an historical distance to see what all is what, I gotta say there might actually be something to the meme about how this guy plays a mean game of Fourple Dimension Chess; and we may be seeing a pretty good example of just how far into the future he's able to play.

I guess it's also possible he's been playing for this point in time all along, and he's about to kick over that one pawn that puts things in motion like a political Mouse Trap Game. (hey - let an old guy dream)

Obama wants to do something meaningful on Immigration, but he knows the Teabillies insist on forcing Baron von Boner and Mitchy-Mac to give guys like Chuckles Koch a loud sloppy blowjob in public, which makes it nigh-onto impossible for them to do anything else but stand in the way (or kneel if they're feeling particularly adept at multi-tasking), so Obama decides to use his authority as the boss of DHS to move ever so slightly forward.

Which means Boehner has only one tool, which is to threaten to withhold the funding for DHS, which means the "National Security Party" is saying "we're willing to drop all this pretentious chest-thumping bullshit about keeping America safe just so we can fuck over the Mexicans - and Obama".  Oops - Im betting they didn't mean to let it slip that DHS really is mostly pretentious chest-thumping bullshit, but for most of us, that cat's been outa the bag for quite a while - so maybe it's just time to let it go(?)  And as for "fuckin' over the Mexicans" - who doesn't know by now that that's what they wanna do?  Fuckin' somebody over is always what they wanna do, is it not?

Obama kinda has 'em by the nuts on that one.  

Now, add that to this:  The pentagon's latest assessment (QDR 2014) has concluded (again) that Climate Change (ie: congressional paralysis due to Climate Change Denial - hint hint) poses a significant threat to US National Security.  And that's across the board; from "Threat Multiplier" to just plain "making our job harder than it has to be".

Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating. These changes, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing, urbanizing, more affluent populations, and substantial economic growth in India, China, Brazil, and other nations, will devastate homes, land, and infrastructure. Climate change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp increases in food costs. The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence.

CHAPTER I: FUTURE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT 8 

(quick little note - this kind of straight-up declarative statement doesn't make the final cut without the approval of a lotta people who wear some very heavy hats)

So what's a poor Boehner to do?  

Obama is saying he wants DHS to do something about immigration and the Repubs are saying they'd rather close DHS down altogether than take the risk of getting something done on one of the GOP's favorite issues. (say wut now?)

Obama and DoD want to do something about Climate Change (even if it's just some attempt to mitigate the negative effects), while the Repubs insist first on doing nothing about Climate Change, and oh by the way, then insist again on doing nothing while Sequestration strips away the tax dollars that get poured into Defense Contractors' pockets; then laundered thru PACs; and then eventually find their way back into the campaign war chests of Coin-Operated Politicians - like John Boehner.

So who's all about the security of the homeland, and who's not?
Who's all about supporting the mission of our exalted military, and who's not?

From where I sit, I'm just wondering if there's ever been a Speaker of the House who ended up switching parties.  That dude is fucked 9 ways from Sunday.

But wait - do we need to talk about how maybe Boehner's playing the role of Sacrificial Savior of the Party?  Maybe he's whipping this thing into a rich creamy lather on purpose, making all the bubble brains float to the top so they can be skimmed off into the shitter(?)

Yeah, OK.  We'll call that one Low Probability #37, but I purely do like to hedge my bets.

Obama Hits Back

If only.