Hardy har, now we can all laugh at pathetic hypocrite Barack Obama because he is going to actually play on the same political playing field as his opponents. Can you believe this loser? The nerve of him -- doing exactly what his opponents are doing in order to win an election. So uppity.
Republican operative Mark McKinnon in the Daily Beast article linked above:
Perhaps no other secular office in the world wields the power to do right more than the office of the President of the United States of America. But Obama now embraces that which he decried as “a threat to our democracy”—the unlimited and undisclosed influence of super-PAC funds on our electoral process.
The president owns the bully pulpit. He can set the tone, set the direction for the campaign, for the country. Rather than fight to change the rules that allow this perversion of the democratic voting process, he instead lowers the standards, giving his blessing to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing his reelection.
Once an outspoken critic of current campaign-financing laws, he now “reluctantly” embraces what he once called “shadowy groups.” With early fundraising numbers reportedly below expectations, perhaps it is no surprise the easier road is being taken. But Obama is now running against Karl Rove and the Koch brothers rather than running on his record.
So that's the strategic advice to the President from the "global vice chairman of Hill & Knowlton and Public Strategies, and president of Maverick Media"? Really? To use the "bully pulpit"?
It's simply disingenuous to suggest that Obama owns every bit of this. It's unfair. After all, President Obama didn't set the rules of the game: the United States Supreme Court did, largely with their Citizens United decision.
I've seen plenty of Democrats complain about President Obama, too. They should be complaining about the process. They should be donating to the Obama campaign.
Honestly who do you suspect will do more in the next term to reform this system (or try)? Barack Obama, or, say, Mitt Romney?
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....or maybe former Senator Rick Santorum, who won in Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota yesterday. Not with his connection to super-pac donor Foster Freiss.
No delegates were awarded in the two caucuses and one non-binding primary, but it is another slap in the face of Mitt Romney, who I still think will be the nominee, but Republicans are determined to make it as ugly as they possibly can.
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Back to President Obama for a minute.
After a court in California overturned "Prop 8," which sought to ban gay marriage, Michael Hussey of Pushing Rope picked up on an exchange between White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and a reporter for the Washington Blade, "American's leading gay news source," as well as other reporters:
The Washington Blade rightly asks how how can President Barack Obama be against both Proposition 8, and still be against gay marriage. Before Prop 8 was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Prop 8 banned gays and lesbians from marrying. Obama should be a supporter of Prop 8. Yet, President Obama campaigned against Prop 8. The correspondent for the Blade questioned Carney on this inconsistency.
Look, I've been reading Pushing Rope long enough to know that Michael just can't stand President Obama. I get it. But the logic of attacking an administration that has done more to advance the cause of gay rights in America is beyond me. How many other Presidents (and Vice Presidents, and White House staffers and Cabinet Secretaries) have cut an "It Gets Better" video? Which President repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell? What President shifted their position and openly advocated for the repeal of DOMA, and which President has openly endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act? What President ordered hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds give gay and lesbian patients and their families the ability to make decisions on their behalf in case of incapacitation? What President expanded federal benefits for same-sex partners of Foreign Service Officers and executive branch employees?
All of that... is it enough?
No. Of course not.
But as Mustang Bobby, another Florida blogger, demonstrated (more eloquently than I have here), we should be reacting to the wingers who have gone totally off the rails on this ruling.
It's kind of fun to read the reactions among the wingers over the ruling yesterday in California that struck down Prop 8 as unconstitutional. The way they tell it, a bunch of activist judges rode roughshod over the rights of 7 million Californians and in one fell swoop imperiled the laws in 43 states. While this kind of knee-jerk reaction is typical in cases like this, it might be a good idea for the pearl-clutchers to actually read the ruling itself before going off on their predictable fund-raising rants.
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Why would hospital grifter Governor Rick Scott do this? What a phenomenally bad idea.
-- More later --
There's a price to pay for reversing yourself on key elements of your platform. Bush 1 paid the price for read my lips, and although the price will be less than Bush's, he, at the very least deserved to be called out on his reversal. I know, I know this is more Obama bashing from your perspective but to me it's a reality that everyone faces when they commit to something and latter discover they over played their hand.
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000165090403 | February 11, 2012 at 05:00 AM