SOUNDBITES — “Every single thing he cites in his latest brain-dead critique is, I believe, tangibly false, and the moronic attempt to grab some pageviews by a counter-intuitive and utterly dumb analogy – Obama is like Bush, guys! Aren’t I clever? – is Beltway hackery at its worst. … Halperinism really is part of what’s deeply wrong about Washington. Obama really is the only thing that’s still right.” —Andrew Sullivan slaying Game Change author Mark Halperin and his new “Obama is Bush” manifesto (via)
andrew sullivan
“Obama really is the only thing that’s still right” about Washington
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Devon
Well, he definitely isn’t left.
DillonS
@Devon: perfectly put. 🙂
delurker
I like the president, but that’s a pretty low bar considering how insane the Repulibagger party has become.
Yet Another
He’s not far left. Lets not catch the far right’s “If you’re not as Right as me you’re Wrong” disease, please.
lander
Excuse me, Andrew, the only thing still right is the constitution, or it was, until Bush shredded it and Obama has done nothing to repeal the patriot Act so in a sense he is the worst thing in Washington.
ChicagoJimmy
Andrew Sullivan is a tool who supported Bush’s war in Iraq and in fact aided the invasion by hyping the existence of WMDs. He was an early supporter of George Bush and pushed the whole “compassionate conservative” thing. I can’t find myself taking anything he says or writes as credible.
InExile
Lack of leadership, integrity, and competence is very right.
Sapphocrat
Perhaps Bareback Andy would like to explain how Obama isn’t like Bush.
– BFF with Wall Street. Check.
– FISA. Check.
– Opposed to marriage equality, invokes religion. Check.
– Maintains “faith-based” council. Check.
– BFF with radical religionists. Check.
– Sucks up to AIPAC. Check.
– No idea what “winning” two unwinnable wars means. Check.
– Admires Reagan. Check.
– Promises base everything, gives them Arpege. Check.
– Add your own!
Oh, wait — I know how Obama and Bush are different: Obama gives nice-sounding speeches. Unfortunately, Bush, despite his criminal slaughter of the English language, never made you guess about his intentions or direction. Bush told you what he was going to do, and come hell or high water, he did it.
Michael W.
You people are disgusting. “Admires Reagan,” LOL. That’s a leftover Clintonista attack from the Democratic primaries. Obama has done nothing to demonstrate an admiration for Reagan’s policies since taking office.
I have my qualms about Obama but I agree with Andrew. He’s doing the best he can and I’d still take him over any of the many candidates he vanquished on his way to the White House.
W.
But, but but Obama promised to repeal DOMA and enact ENDA and show some fierce advocacy on repealing DADT……
oh yeah, nevermind.
Brian En Guarde
I think it was very nice for Obama to try to have Washington work together, like a corporate seminar on internal customer service, but really — it did not work, and is a 100 percent fail. If Obama can’t now realize that it has to be the Chicago way, get out of town and let Hillary don her cat suit and start slashing away at the republican tool academy.
In this era, to fight for the Constitution and the rule of law should be the only thing that can be called “right.” Progressivism is great, but the rule of law is supposed to be about who we are as a nation. That always has to come first. Obama has not met the basic standard by keeping hate laws on the books and having disappointingly low standards for his DOJ.
christopher di spirito
Queerty, I love ya’ but you really need to stop quoting this douchebag Andrew Sullivan. He’s not the authority on all things Washington DC.
ELNIKO7
Pres. Obama is a failed President for the simple fact that he has no leadership ability. He was not voted into office because of experience or apptitude, but because of emotion. If the Democratic Party had waited with Obama, choosing someone else to run for office, there would probably be a leader in office.
The truth is the Republican Party nominated someone with solid leadership experience and a vice-presidential nominee with governoring leadership (at the time of the election). The Democratic Party nominated someone with no business or personal leadership credentials, and hence, we now have a President who is not a leader. Most 22 year-olds in the Navy have more leadership experience than President Obama. You get what you vote for.
Yet Another
……Whatever you guys say. It’s just a good thing your opinions amount to nothing more than a few wasted electrons and that America already chose the President. Anyone who would declare a president “a fail” after one year is far better suited to be Queerty’s village idiot than a real political commentator.
Brian En Guarde
One year is forever for gay politics. The Democrats controlled the entire government in that year and failed to deliver two simple repeals of bad laws that directly harm gays and are unconstitutional on their face. If they lose one house of Congress, the repeals of DADT and DOMA are toast.
All Obamabots can deliver are excuses, excuses, excuses. “He only signs bills, he doesn’t not write them! A year is not enough time!” “We don’t have the votes!”
Yet Another
LMAO at Gay Politics.
Well maybe the gay party should have elected a gay president and a gay congress.
Meanwhile, in the real world….
We have to suck it up. Its ok to be upset and to not excuse, much less approve of President Obama. And you know what, its even fine to say whatever you want in our little gay ghetto message boards. But intellectually, all of us must understand that this is one man leading one administration expected to please the entire country. We WILL NOT get our gay rights agenda done in a single presidential term. It is completely unreasonable to think we could ever be satisfied with President Obama. With DOMA and DADT repealed, we’d still find something else he hasn’t done.
Such is just the nature of politics. Meanwhile, we don’t subscribe to the homophobic blogs or the christian right newsletters so we don’t account for the thousands of posts there from their readers who think Obama has given the country over to the Gays. And those are President Obama’s constituents also. And they’re are more of them than us.
He’s not moving fast enough for us. He’s moving too fast for them. He’s not keeping his promises to us. Well he lied to them. All we get is excuses. Well all they get is lectures. He’s the President of the United States. Not a fairy godmother. If you want someone to make your dreams come true over night when so much of the country still does not agree with the totality of your agenda, then you are really are dreaming.
(And he doesn’t make the laws. He signs them. Where was your picket signs when the 60 delegate super-majority didn’t give you what you wanted?)
Brian En Guarde
Excuses, excuses. That is why we are last on the White House to do list, because of all of the gays who get a hard-on if Obama just looks at them. We are at the bottom of the Democratic party agenda because gays have been so nice and understanding we have become the bitch bottom. And the HRC is the biggest bunch of feline holes that ever roamed the earth.
Brian En Guarde
Don’t you love the “be patient” strategy? The gay elite wants us to point our asses in the air and wait until the Democratic Party calls us in the morning. %^#$ off.
Yet Another
LMAO @ your political commentary. Does everything have to about sex? Perhaps if you changed your metaphor for politics, you wouldn’t feel like someone has to be getting fucked in every deal.
What the hell is wrong with patience? There’s a difference between demanding rights now and EXPECTING rights now.
Just so I can feel like words aren’t being put in my mouth, I believe we should press now and fight hard for everything we want. I don’t think we should back down or become complacent. However, to save ourselves from bitterness and disappointment, accept NOW that equality will not come tomorrow no matter how much we work or how strong an ally we have in the white house.
Yet Another
As for gay elite, I’m a 27 year old lower-middle class HIV positive homosexual with a sub 680 credit score and no college degree. So yeah, me and the other elite queens are sitting pretty till change comes….
delurker
@ELNIKO7: Er. Old man McCain was a doddering angry old fool who would have put 200k troops in Tehran right now. Palin is a simp who would have cheerled that decision even if she can’t locate Iran on a man.
I’ll take Obama’s lack of leadership over these two any day. The fact that we have not opened a third front in another unwinnable Republican war makes his presidency worth it.
delurker
@Michael W.: “That’s a leftover Clintonista attack from the Democratic primaries.’
Yup. Lots of embittered, disgruntled PUMAs on queerty who have not gotten over the fact their queen’s coronation was interrupted.
Brian En Guarde
Yet Another ~ Don’t make me take away my sex metaphors! I love them! 🙂
Brian En Guarde
Yet another ~ And I read your posts, you ARE as good enough and strong enough as anyone.
B
No. 21 · delurker wrote, “I’ll take Obama’s lack of leadership over these two any day. The fact that we have not opened a third front in another unwinnable Republican war makes his presidency worth it.” I’ll withhold judgment on “leadership” given the short time he’s been in office, but as you said, he’s not getting us into yet another war. Leadership is also hard to measure over such a short time frame and sometimes you make more progress by not trying to upstage everyone by taking all the credit.
McCain would have been a real disaster. Do you really want someone who said he was in favor of Proposition Eight to be president? Do you want a president who opposes net neutrality?
Do you want a “business knows best” type who could veto health care and who might not care one bit about Anthem Blue Cross (as an example) raising premiums by around 40% per year (this year it created an uproar but those bastards did the same thing last year too).
Sapphocrat
@Michael W.: “You people are disgusting.”
Your deliberate ignorance, hair-splitting, and arrogant, condescending attitude are what’s disgusting.
“‘Admires Reagan,’ LOL. That’s a leftover Clintonista attack from the Democratic primaries.”
Right: When all else fails, start screaming “PUMA!” loudly, and often. Fail. I’m a Kucinich supporter who voted for Cynthia McKinney, genius.
Oh, and I just love the “you people.” Which “you people”? Dykes? Fags? Or just those of us who see Obama’s many flaws and have the nerve to criticize his presidential flaccidity?
“Obama has done nothing to demonstrate an admiration for Reagan’s policies since taking office.”
“Since taking office.” So that erases all the Reagan cocksucking he did _before_ taking office? Howzabout them Reagan _policies_ he’s– oops, my mistake: It’s _Bush_ policies he maintains. I’ll give you a break and assume you’re too young to remember that the economic policy called “trickledown” (as in “piss on the little guys’ heads”) began in earnest with Reagan, and is eagerly embraced by Bank Bailout Barry.
“I have my qualms about Obama but I agree with Andrew. He’s doing the best he can and I’d still take him over any of the many candidates he vanquished on his way to the White House.”
Oh, I see now: you’re one of those Kooch haters.
And, nope, sorry, but “better than John the big-toothed asshole who sired a bastard spawn while cheating on his cancer-ridden wife Edwards” is no recommendation for Obama. We could have done far better than Obama — but too many Americans are swept away by style and couldn’t give a damn about substance.
I’ll give Obama credit for one thing: He sent clear, strong signals of exactly what he was about, and he hasn’t altered his position one inch (well, if you don’t count his complete 180 on both marriage equality and marijuana decriminalization). The problem is, very few people actually LISTENED to him, and those of us who did were roasted alive.
And if you’re planning on pulling out the ol’ “Hope you like the sound of President Palin!” next, save it. That is _so_ early 2008.
P.S. I wouldn’t have gotten so shitty with you if you hadn’t called me “disgusting.” When you can discuss issues instead of playing Obama Apologist Bingo and smearing everyone you disagree with, then we can talk. Until then, you can put it where the monkey puts the nuts.