Viewed with the long lens, the uncivil war between President Obama and lib eral Democrats is merely another example of the gradual awakening of Obamabots. The big story of the last two years is how millions of Americans who voted for him have concluded he’s not the man they thought he was.
As a former supporter myself, I know the phenomenon too well. First you wince as he betrays some principle you thought he shared.
It could be a fiscal issue, ethics or national security. Or you might have believed, as I did, he was serious about governing mostly from the middle.
You overlook the breach once, twice, and by the third time, you face the disappointment. Your eyes and mind now open, disenchantment comes in waves. As the anger builds, it finally dawns on you that you were a sucker for your own hopes.
Yet not all suckers are equal, which brings us back to the temper tantrums of the moment. “Liberals and other brats” describes what’s happening in Nancy Pelosi’s haunted House.
It’s shocking to see the open profanity and mockery — “F- – k Obama” and taunting chants of “No we can’t” — coming from Dem members of Congress. But the temptation to sympathize with Obama should be resisted. He has only himself to blame.
Messiahs either deliver, or they are abandoned and vilified. Having failed to deliver, Obama is now paying the price in terms he helped to shape.
Indeed, his self-reverence and personal attacks on any and all critics mark him as the brewmeister for much of what is wrong with our politics. Payback is not just a bitch — it’s fair play.
Obama’s grandiose promises — “our planet will begin to heal” — turned the 2008 campaign into a mutual fantasy society. His life story, race and rhetorical talent made him special, and cult-like status was conferred on those who “got” his greatness.
The awakening began the instant he had to govern. For some, it’s the things he couldn’t get done — closing Gitmo, charming Iran, getting out of Iraq.
For most, the problem is that the things he did haven’t worked. He busted the budget for a stimulus that didn’t stimulate, turned on Israel and other allies for no good reason and insisted on the historic health-care fiasco, which will take years to fix. There are so many ticking time bombs in it that even its authors are discovering unintended consequences — and it’s only started to take effect.
The country’s response was a no-confidence vote in the midterms. Yet Obama still doesn’t accept the verdict, stumbling between excuses that belittle voters’ concerns.
Worse, he’s declared that class warfare will be his campaign theme for 2012. He called Republicans “hostage takers” and “bomb throwers,” reflections of an immature and ideological mind that refuses to recognize any legitimacy in rival views. He would rather campaign on divisions than govern in tune with the majority consensus.
That’s the rub in this whole spectacle — his reactions to the election and its consequences are almost identical to those of the crybaby House Dems.
The only difference is in the details. He’s petulant but willing to make a temporary tax deal with the GOP on upper income brackets so he doesn’t get blamed for a hike that hits everyone. House Dems are petulant but would rather have a glorious flame-out that penalizes millions of workers than accept a two-year compromise.
Both Obama and his party leaders were willing to defy the public for two years because they had full Washington control. And now they are at war.
They deserve each other, and America deserves better.
Make way for petty lane, NY
Conceding that the spread of bike lanes has enraged New Yorkers, city officials are conjuring other methods to calm nerves. One plan would devote more street space to pets.
“Everybody likes dogs,” an insider whispers serenely. “We’re confident people will feel better if they see pets instead of cars on the streets. The folks at Tweed are massaging the data to prove it.” Under the plan, hatched by the Species Diversity Officer, dogs and cats would get a street lane for exercise and potty time, though PETA is seeking separate lanes for each, saying they will fight like,
well, cats and dogs.
The pet lane, or lanes, would fall between the bike lane and vehicles lanes. Officials gush that some streets will not have any space left for other vehicles.
Even before pet lane construction begins, however, opposition is building from a powerful special interest group. Ferret lovers are demanding their own street lane, saying anything less would be species-ism.
They threaten to sue and NYCLU is eager to file. The New York Times editorial page is preparing to applaud the suit by arguing that eliminating traffic lanes will wean people off the addiction to jobs and commerce, which it blames on President Bush.
Janette Kubla-Khan, the anti-transportation commissioner, tells acolytes she first saw pet lanes during a trip to Xanadu. She came back talking dreamily about a stately pleasure dome and the milk of paradise. A source said she reeked of incense.
Mayor Bloomberg was unavailable for comment. An aide said he was out of town and had time only for interviews on national issues, but insisted Bloomberg was not running for president.
$mashing all of us
City Hall’s latest gimmick for squeezing money out of New Yorkers is a plan to bill motorists who get into a car crash and need Fire Department help. Charges of up to $490 for accidents with injuries would be paid by those at fault, adding $1 million to the FDNY budget.
The charges will quickly morph into an insurance issue — and raise the premiums of all policyholders, even those with spotless records. That makes the crash charge a hidden tax on all drivers.
That’s unfair because city residents already pay for FDNY services through their taxes. Insurance hikes would have them paying twice for the same service. Three times if they get hit with one of the crash bills.
A better plan would limit the charge to non-city residents. Since they don’t pay most city taxes, making them pay for FDNY emergency services is reasonable.
‘Jews in gas chambers’ tolerable in Nixon circle
Secret tape recordings Richard Nixon made in the Oval Office still spew venom nearly 40 years later. Transcripts released Friday include a shocking conversation in 1973 between Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his national security adviser who is a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.
Kissinger: “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”
Nixon: “I know. We can’t blow up the world because of it.”
Wow.
Cold, hard comfort
A Wall Street Journal headline says “Companies Cling to Cash.”
Sort of like those people who cling to guns and God.