Obama has never built a business, created real wealth or produced tangible prosperity. His understanding of our economy is theoretical and academic. Obama is a privileged young man who has not yet made many mistakes in his life. Having a president who belongs to the Harvard elite and the community-organizer streets is not the same as having a president who has lived a long life among middle-class Americans and understands them. Impatience lies not deep beneath the surface of Obama. There is no shortage of self-confidence in this young man. It is a short step from such confidence to arrogance. Arrogance in a politician is not healthy. Hubris, combined with inexperience, can be fatal. Obama could be a one-term president. Obama is looking a little older. There would be nothing wrong with acting like it.
OK, so I get that this country was founded upon ideas like freedom of speech and expression. I also get that, as I myself have often said, that free speech can be- and often is- offensive speech. What I don't get, though, is why it seems like every Republican who can speak in complete sentences feels free to weigh in on the Obama Presidency as if their "expertise" should actually carry any weight or credibility. After eight years of the Reign of Error ©, one might think that you could reasonably expect that Republicans would grasp that they'd had their chance...and they (and their guys) screwed the pooch. So here's my message to Alex Castellanos and his fellow travelers: You had your time in the sun. You blew it. Sit down and STFU; there's work to be done, and most of that work involves cleaning up the mess that Republicans left for this President. For you to now sit back in your aura of smug certitude and take shots at a President charged with cleaning up the mess you and yours left behind...well, it's frankly disgusting. If this isn't the very height of ignorance and arrogance, I don't know what would be.
If you listen to most of the criticism emanating from the Right, it's as self-absorbed and arrogant as it is pointless and insulting. This President lacks gravitas. He doesn't know how Washington works. He's never created anything. His knowledge is purely theoretical and academic, not experiential. He's impatient. He doesn't understand middle-class Americans (like George W. Bush wasn't born with a silver foot in his mouth??). He's left-handed. It's not hard to get the feeling that no matter what President Obama does, or how well he does it, someone on the Right will find something to fault him for. OK, so I understand that goes with being the "loyal opposition". After all, I spent seven year taking sorts at The Worst President EVER ©. After eight years of epic failure, though, you'd think that these self-absorbed clowns would at least have the common decency and self-awareness to keep their powder dry while this President rolls up his sleeves and gets to work. Your "solutions" didn't work; now it's time to LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET THE HELL OFF THE BUS. Capice??
Already, we're hearing the press demand answers from this President to questions that they NEVER would have dreamed of asking George W. Bush. Yeah, I know...WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA? It's as if people like Ed Henry have been conditioned to attack Democrats while maintaining a deferential mien towards Republicans. Do you REALLY think Henry would have been so aggressively disrespectful of George W. Bush? Of course not; Henry and the rest of the White House press corps spent eight years lobbing softballs at Dubya. NOW they've discovered they have a pair?? Coincidence? Yeah, right....
Castellanos is, of course, free to his opinion...just as I'm to free to excoriate him as an arrogant partisan hack with no real ideas of his own. I'm sorry, but speaking on behalf of the "Party of NO!!" is not indicative of possessing workable ideas or sound alternatives. The problem here is that Castellanos represents the mindset of what Paul Begala refers to as the true meaning of "GOP": "Got 0 Plans". They really is that they got nuthin'...except for brickbats and verbals bombs. Now THAT'S leadership, eh??
Alex Castellanos represents the worst of the chattering classes: people who are willing to kibbitz and criticize and bitch and moan while having nothing conrete of their own to offer. Then again, it certainly IS easier to tear something down than to try and build it up, eh? If Castellanos and his ilk can help ensure that Barack Obama fails, it only increase the chances of Republicans coming back into power. It's not about what's best for America; it's about the never ending game of "King of the Hill, Washington Style". What else could one reasonably expect from a party stocked with rising "stars" who would rather go to a Britney Spears concert than President Obama's press conference?
Y'all had your chance. You failed miserably. Now how about stepping back and letting the cleanup crew do the heavy lifting you couldn't be bothered to do, 'kay? In the meantime, how about displaying a little shame and remorse for the condition you and yours left this country in? Oh, wait, I forgot...Republicans are incapable of feeling shame...which would go a long ways toward explaining why we are where we are today, wouldn't it?
WE DESERVE BETTER....
