Writes Maureen Dowd in her column this week, "Here Comes Trump, the Abominable Snowman" (NYT).
To repeat the question: "How could we have gone from such a hopeful moment to such a discordant one?" Does Dowd really believe it's all Trump's fault? Couldn't Obama himself have used his presidency more effectively and built American optimism? He promised hope, but why didn't he deliver more of it? Why did we end the Obama years with so much division and strife? Dowd puts no responsibility on Obama. It's all about the reactionaries — the countermovement that automatically follows any movement. It happens "every time." Dowd chooses to portray the American people as a machine, behaving mechanically — and perversely. And yet somehow it is Trump who is devoted to "tearing down faith in humanity."
Dowd herself is stimulating the emotional state she ostensibility bemoans. She — and many others like her — is stoking pessimism. It's true that Trump — doing his various comic riffs — has some meanness. That's satire. Dowd deploys satire too, of course. Trump's fans laugh at his barbs, and Dowd's fans laugh at hers.
I'm reminded of one of the best lines we caught on video during the Wisconsin protests: "All the assholes are over on the other side."
What's absolutely hilarious and what's just plain mean may depend on which side you're on. The other is always awful. But you're not going to resist otherizing. It's part of humanity. My "faith in humanity" doesn't entail phony reverence for human beings. I have faith that humanity will continue the age-old practice of seeing themselves as good and their opponents as the assholes over on the other side.
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103 comments:
You people that saw hope were duped. Obama made no secret of wanting to fundamentally transform America with bad policies that harm humanity. He/they largely succeeded but ditzes like Dowd would never allow themselves to see that…
I’ve seen Vivek 5 times in Iowa. People accept this Hindu who isn’t white. Iowa is going to shock the world on Monday. But old Maureen can’t bear to leave NYC and fly to Iowa to learn the facts. Too hard.
I don't have an entry in the "essence" thread, but this is the type of post that has kept me reading all these years. Take a text and drill, baby, drill. Nobody does it better.
This is my favourite post. Thanks.
For the love of God, when will someone stop the bullshit talking point that Joe Biden has a "stutter" and he's had it since childhood??
The fact that Dowd repeats this canard is the reason people rally to Trump......they don't like being lied to.
Obama transformed the Democrat Party into the Decivilizer Party. The Decivilizer Party does anything to maintain control, including creating the Russian Collusion Hoax, the Blazy-Ford sexual predator hoax, the attacks on the SCOTUS, both insurrection and threats. Let's not forget the FBI's targeting of Mike Flynn. Nancy Pelosi has done her part to both enrich herself with inside information and keep the Ukrainian graft flowing.
Now, its Trump will kill all the leftist nitwits in the media after he wins reelection.
Everything the Decivilizer Party does makes life worse. Vote them out.
Anyone can succumb to ideology. All it takes is a sense of one’s own moral superiority for being on the right side; a theory that purports to explain everything; and—this is crucial—a principled refusal to see things from the point of view of one’s opponents or victims, lest one be tainted by their evil viewpoint. Solzhenitsyn
"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewart’s character in Harvey)
Dowd is oh so smart and oh so principled….
i've lived in iowa for over 50 of my 62 years.. I wasn't aware that we HAD Presidential caucuses on odd numbered years
The people who call Rural people hicks and cousin humpers and claim the GOP are racist Nazi homophobe bigots are concerned that Trump says mean things.
Obama brought back a racial divide, which has spilled over to every aspect of society, the democrats and media want to maintain that.
And it’s the democrats, not Trump, that are playing peoples fears and creating a divide ‘Trump is Hitler/a Dictator/destroyer of worlds’.
She’s willfully ignorant and disingenuous.
Yes… 0bama. The Great Recession with a side of the Grand Deception.
One of the worst frauds ever perpetrated on the American people.
Trump says stupid stuff - but he is a superior president than anyone on the corrupt left, Maureen.
In response to the question yesterday, this post is one that has the type of analysis that I greatly appreciate on this blog. Perhaps there are several blog essences but this represents one. You pull out the fact that Dowd paints a picture of Trump amplifying a countermovement. And that countermovement (if it existed) wewas illegitimate because it was based on people feeling threatened,and Trump plays on fear. Then you pose questions and observe that she places no responsibility on Obama.Your last paragraph is primo and you give us the interesting thought that we don't need phony reverence but rather a faith in how people operate. As I write this I see that you are stimulating thought about why some do not agree with all aspects of progressivism. There are reasons.
Thank you, there have been many such posts.
She lost me at "causcuses in 2009" ~ it was 2008.
Obama was president in January 2009.
What's wrong with "John Wayne's America"?
"I knew it, I'm surrounded by assholes." Mel Brooks, Spaceballs.
Here.
"I'll never forget my cave's national anthem. Let 'em all go to Hell, except Cave 76." . Simpsons
"Of course, every time there’s a movement, there’s a countermovement, where people feel that their place in the world is threatened.... Trump has played on that resentment."
This is a bit like claiming Jonas Salk played on people's fear of polio. No, Mo, Trump is trying to cure the thing that actually IS threatening to average Americans, which is the effort of Obama and his progeny to refocus public policy so as to favor the interests of elites in this country and around the world over those of non-elite American citizens. Globalization, crippling climate regs, non-enforcement of immigration laws, giving aid and comfort (but mostly aid) to Iran and other supporters/practitioners of terrorism, suppressing dissent, censorship, demonizing traditional cultural values, promoting rioting and retail theft, fanning anti-white racism -- these are Obama's gifts to America and, yes, they are legitimately threatening to normal Americans.
“… where people feel that their place in the world is threatened…”. Resentment is the word Dowd uses.
I guess in Dowd’s mind, there’s no possible way that others could simply have a different view and different principles they would like to see enacted in policy. For her it is all just resentment for losing their place in the world, whatever that means.
And while it may be human nature to divide into tribes and criticize others, there are leaders and teachers out there who call for us to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us. And these ideas are, what, only at a minimum 2000 years old. But now we’re told Trump is the original sinner - the divider. People who say that whites are incapable of anything but oppression of people of color - well, that’s just trying to build a better society!
Could the flaws in this prideful “me and my side good; you and your side bad” thinking- could the flaws in that prideful thinking be more obvious? And writers like Dowd are supposed to be our intellectuals. But of course, not really. Dowd is trying to sell newspapers and sell advertising in order to pay her probably high salary, and she must appeal to their consumer base. The CFO demands it.
Charlie said...
"For the love of God, when will someone stop the bullshit talking point that Joe Biden has a "stutter" and he's had it since childhood??
The fact that Dowd repeats this canard is the reason people rally to Trump......they don't like being lied to."
Plus people, not just politicians, prospered under Trump and the our future looked hopeful.
Dowd in person knows better. She's writing for a specific audience for their entertainment.
Also the endless correction of lies about Trump. When a reporter's name came up, Trump did this thing that vaguely resembles a person with cerebral palsy. The reporter in question actually has a disability, but not this one; he has something more like a fixed or frozen body rather than a floppy, spastic one. All Trump's enemies said: he is picking on a person with a disability, because of the disability.
As I recall, a review of some videos revealed that he has done this bit of his on various occasions. Against political opponents who don't have any known disability. Remarkably, he has even done it against himself. Like a lot of American business people, he says he finds it difficult to enjoy a vacation. "I'm all at loose ends, I don't know what to do, I'm like this ..." So the little bit he does indicates undirected or unfocussed activity, including mental activity, whether the person being mocked has any known disability or not. It may imply a kind of hopeless incompetence. As we all know, there are some NYT reporters who have displayed hopeless incompetence, again quite regardless of any detectable disability in a medical sense.
Maureen Dowd: I would never support someone that makes fun of people with a disability!
After taking grief for bowling a 129, Obama said: It's "like the Special Olympics or something".
Due to their penchant for double standards, it is clear that the Democrats have twice as many principles as I do!
Race relations were necessarily destroyed under Obama, Maureen. Or did she forget?
Under Obama - oil shot up to over 100$ a barrel.
Under Trump - dropped to around 40$ a barrel. Trump allowed US production. Biden and Obama, cut off US production. Obama even told us that energy prices had to necessarily increase. He said that.
You know - to please his bogus green energy gods. Solyndra, bitch.
Back to oil - Obama and Biden's cut-off of US production and Biden's depletion of our oil reserves is a gift to Biden's Russian and Chinese masters.
Barack Obama’s entire career has been about dividing up people by categories and instigating anger, jealousy and violence. Sometimes I think that man does Biden Suck, then I realize that he’s just the emptiest and stupidest white guy he could find to get back squarely in control of the federal government.
So, these two assholes are on opposite sides of a river.
One asshole yells to the other asshole, "How do I get to the other side?"
The other asshole looks puzzled. He yells back, "You are on the other side."
Did Obama win in 2009? I thought he won in 2008.
Wow, layers and layers of editors yet Obama won the Iowa Caucus in 2009?
Obama did more to set back race relations than any single person in 100 years.
As always, Democrats create discord so they can blame Republicans for the discord. Obama saw the Race issue was making positive movement every single month. Obama would not allow that to continue.
White Bread, racist Iowans, elected Obama President.
Forever sorry for that screw up.
It's true that Trump — doing his various comic riffs — has some meanness. That's satire.
I think you need to get out your OED and look up the definition of "satire". He is not being satirical, he is just acting like a middle school bully. This campaign has just reinforced the assertion that Trump never matured past the eighth grade (which may be why Michael K likes him so much, because Michael K also acts like a middle school bully.
Wayne's America recognized diversity of individuals, minority of one. Obama's America languished with "burdens" and wicked solutions, political congruence and exclusion, shared responsibility through progressive prices, ethnic Springs, diversity in color and class blocs... one step forward, two steps backward.
I sometimes wonder if Obama was in the on the joke, did he really think he was bringing joy and light to the masses or did he know it was all a big con, that there was this desire on the part of a lot of people, not just those on the left either, to have some transformational moment in our country that would show we had risen to become the better angels of our nature and he represented to those people the opportunity for that moment but he knew he wasn't really all that and that there is no one person who could be this magic Messiah anyway but he figured, why not ride the wave, take it where it takes me. Did he believe his own hype? I don't think so, he just used it.
Trump didn't ruin anything, there wasn't anything to destroy. He's the anti-Obama because he doesn't inspire anyone to believe in anything wonderful or magical or transformational. He doesn't appeal to anyone's better angel and he doesn't try to do that.
To be fair, Obama was only the latest head of the ouroboros.
When I think of the Obama years, I don't think of hope and vision for tomorrow. I think of them with lifted chin, looking down their noses, with condescension, at anyone (on either side) who dared to disagree.
Obama showed (and still shows) a level of meanness and lack of compassion that makes Trump's "mean tweets" look tame by comparison.
We can thank Obama for creating Trump. MoDo didn’t connect the dots, as she’s sometimes wont to do.
We can also thank Obama for the shit state of race relations and the precipitous decline in medical care even for those with good insurance. Also a whole bunch of other things born of cultural Marxism. Future historians, if there are any, will consider him America’s Commodus.
It is pretty mind boggling to recall back on that promise/prediction by Obama, just before he won the vote, that his election "would fundamentally transform this country". He could have used his presidency in so many healing ways...esp. to get black leaders to stop flaming the fires of victimhood and grievances in the black community. He could have encouraged black men to embrace the responsibilities of fatherhood. One speech about that subject was definitely not enough. Instead, he welcomed the divisive rhetoric of the Al Sharpton types. Americans did step up and voted twice for a man who identified more with his black half and, somehow, racial healing went in the opposite direction.
"For the love of God, when will someone stop the bullshit talking point that Joe Biden has a "stutter" and he's had it since childhood??"
All one has to do is go review Joe Biden videos from the time he became a senator. He never had a stutter and it was never mentioned until he ran for the Presidency in 2019. It's only then when he started mumbling, mispronouncing basic words, and losing his train of thought did that narrative begin.
Just for fun go read this article by Kitty Kelly on Biden from 1974 published in the Washingstonian. The media's love affair with Joe Biden has been going on for almost 50 years. They love him long long time.
https://www.washingtonian.com/1974/06/01/joe-biden-kitty-kelley-1974-profile-death-and-the-all-american-boy/
"My "faith in humanity" doesn't entail phony reverence for human beings. I have faith that humanity will continue the age-old practice of seeing themselves as good and their opponents as the assholes over on the other side."
Before you get too far along this line one might consider that there's just too much thin skin out there. Sarcasm about "others" today is far more likely to provoke anger than introspection.
A vote against Trump (for anyone else) is a vote for Obama. Yay.
Obama was all talk, no hat. Obama zealots were as deluded as to his character and substance as are Trump's. Obama's patronizing tone and rhetoric obscured the reality that he continued the neoconservative agenda which serves the entrenched interests of the wealthy and powerful, and prefers robust use of our military, (and Obama did oversee vigorous continuation of the phony and criminal "war on terror"). His lofty manner of addressing the public was mere phatic noise, meant to soothe us with sweet nothings as baby talk is meant to amuse or soothe a baby, while giving Obama a bogus facade of wise sage (or so he endeavored). It was his version of Clinton's cornpone joviality, Dubya's comparable Texas crude, and Trump's profane and grandiose braggadocio.
Face it, we don't have functional presidents anymore, but manufactured images of presidents, each seducing their desired audiences with the look, demeanor, promises, and pandering oratory that most arouses their respective audiences' passion and support.
I have come to see Trump's sneering commentary as a reaction to the presence of late-night TV. He has to be his own Kimmel, Colburn and Fallon because there is no conservative host to throw out insults for laughs at Democrats. Wish it were otherwise but that is how it is.
The Progressive Left is unfortunately gifted with insights that are almost precisely backwards. In 2016, journalist Salena Zito famously said: “When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.”
Now, this year, the Progressive Left is doing it again, with urgent warnings of The Menace, of how Trump is positioning himself like a God, a dangerous charismatic leader with dark intentions, another Hitler, so forth. Meanwhile his fans point out, again and again, 'we don't support him and come to his rallies, and put up his signs because we're on his side - we do it, because he is on our side" . And it's driving the Left absolutely batsh*t crazy. Fanatics are only allowed when they're on the Left.
Happy birthday, dear Ann, and thank you for your daily multiple insightful posts which call forth such interesting and provocative comments. The whole package is balm for the minds, souls and hearts of us more thoughtful and introspective hicks, cousin jumpers, and Nazi homophobe bigots. (thanks for that felicitous turn of phrase, SGT Ted!)
Many happy returns, and God bless you and all of us during these interesting times.
I find Dowd, when she's not being boring and unfunny, to be absurd and superficial. She's the ultimate libtard. She appeals to the NYT's readers because she's all about emotion and class. In her mind - and those of her readers - she's the fashionable, elite, smart person fighting against all those "dumb rubes" in flyover country.
Nothing is about POLICY. Nothing is about what's good for the USA. Nothing is about principles. She's a brainless bimbo.
And "John waynes America"?! God, how old is she, 100 ? There never was a John Wayne America, and he died almost 45 years ago. And constant Goddamn lies. Trump didn't do any of things she accused him of doing. But I'm tired of fighting the MSM Propaganda machine.
Genocide Biden is the worst POTUS of my lifetime. He's not only senile and incompetent, he should be impeached for refusing to enforce the immigration laws and allowing in invasion of our Southern Border. How any normal American can support genocide in gaza, giving Ukraine hundreds of billions to kill Russians over a border dispute, while leaving our border unprotected and even worse, suing the state Texas for trying to stop illegals coming over, is beyond me. Its "Invade the world, invite the world" on steroids.
Don't I remember that Obama stole the Iowa caucus by shipping in people from Illinois?
And, 2009? The Obamessiah was elected in 2008.
the left are collectively very superficial.
It was such a hopeful moment when they overcame all those straw men. They decided they liked fighting straw men and have been in a constant state of war with them ever since.
The collective left take comfort in what they are told.
Not what reality is.
“ … a Times reporter’s disability.” This is an easily debunked lie. Trump never mocked the guy. He just was doing a comic riff on pearl-clutchers that he’d used many times and that just happened to look like the reporter’s disability. The fact that Dowd doesn’t know this (and I believe it’s ignorance, not malice) is why I despise the Left. Biden does the same thing with the “Fine people on both sides” hoax. I doubt Biden even knows the true story here.
This is what the Left has devolved into: brainless tribalists. They don’t know the arguments for or against anything they purportedly believe in; they just know what the tribe needs to get out of it. They will scream that I’m projecting, that it’s the Right that doesn’t know the depths of any of their positions but that too is a lie. The Right, even the lowliest on the IQ chart, can defend their positions to some degree because they live in a Left-dominated world where they’ve heard their opponents’ argument all the time. The Left has never heard any of the Right’s arguments. They’ve been protected from news the NYT deems unfit to print. The Left, dominated by middle-aged, college-educated, angry white women, are actually dumber than the Wal-Mart crowd they so despise.
And the worm is turning.
I was never comfortable with Obama. His first campaign event when he ran for state senate was at the home of Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dohrn. A man he "barely knew" despite serving on a committee with him for seven years. That was a big red flag for me. Then there was Rev. Wright's church. And didn't he climb the ladder from state legislator, to US Senate, to leading Presidential candidate so effortlessly, despite having not a single significant accomplishment in his entire career.
Now we are in the latter stages of his "fundamental transformation" of America into a socialist state through his use of a surrogate President, while he pulls the strings from behind the curtain to bring about the third term he wanted so badly.
I much preferred "John Wayne's America."
Maureen Dowd sees Iowa 2009 (sic) as a “hopeful moment” about “faith in humanity” because she’s a racist elitist socialite. “Look and how enlightened we are muffy, voting for that ‘clean articulate black man’ for President.”
That’s it. That’s all. A white liberal socialite patting herself on the back for being so progressive. I imagine her (maybe in or around the summer of love) sucking off a black guy and thinking it made her so much better than her “less progressive” friends at Daddy’s country club.
Actually that’s something she probably has in common with Obama - they both like sucking black cock.
As for Obama, as has been stated upthread in the comments, the “great uniter” sowed division everywhere. Every single time he had a chance to choose unity or division, he chose division. Starting with Henry Luis Gates when, while admitting he knew nothing about the situation, Obama somehow knew “the police acted stupidly.”
People like Maureen Dowd will always think they’re better than (and look down on) us stupid racist Iowa corn-heads because they voted for a black douche-bag politician over all the other white douche-bag politicians. But they’re all the same - they screw us over all the while the douche-bag politicians and the Massengill Family keep getting richer.
I’d prefer Mo just STFU (or fill her mouth with something else) so we don’t have to listen to her.
"Trump is a master at exploiting voters’ fears."
Covid- who was exploiting fears there, cupcake? You got your shot and all the boosters, right?
The people who call Rural people hicks and cousin humpers and claim the GOP are racist Nazi homophobe bigots are concerned that Trump says mean things.
@SGT Ted, right on! Your comment bears repeating.
The Great Problem facing the left is that for the past 90 years they've had their way. Communists, Socialists, and Social Democrats have overpromised and underdelivered.
Wicked old capitalism created wealth that stoked the greed and envy of the redistributionists. Obama and his pals at the NYT sold Big Promises snake oil. Every few years they change the formula, but whether it's racial reconciliation, an end to poverty, or curing cancer, it's all just a promise so wonderful that people vote for it for the same reason they buy lottery tickets: the delightful fantasy of winning justifies the cost of losing.
Relative to race relations in the era of Obama, this morning I read something that is very much on point. Under a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr., was the caption
“Claudine Gay was hired because of the color of her skin,
and she was fired because of the content of her character.”
Way back when the smiley faced Hawaiian who had been carefully trained by the Marxist was sold to the voters twice as a perfect way to prove Racism was dead and gone.
Would it had been true. Instead the creepy phony proceeded to ramped up rascist divisions to rule over us. And while we trusted his smile he single-handedly lead the USA into submission to the Iranian Muslims. The crazy ones.
Biden is a low level crook with a mean streak.
Biidwn was speaking in dumb, corrupt jackass when he came on my radar in 1987. In fact, it was Biden that clarified what stupid, vicious Northeast pol was to me.
Althouse off to a strong start in her 21st year of blogging.
"I’m puzzled about why his devoted fans don’t mind his mean streak."
I'm puzzled progs don't mind the 8 years of deep-state persecutorial meannness toward Trump and his allies.
"He can gleefully, cruelly, brazenly make fun of disabilities in a way that had never been done in politics — President Biden’s stutter, John McCain’s injuries from being tortured"
Why can Dowdies gleefully, stupidly misunderstand Trumpian fun--aimed at Biden's phony stutter, and McCain's parading of his war experience for political effect? Oh, and by the way, what would she call the Times' smears of McCain just before the 08 election?
"If Trump wins here, it will be about tearing down faith in humanity...."
Hey, Dowd, join the party. We long ago lost ours.
"Does Dowd really believe it's all Trump's fault?"
It doesn't really matter what she "really" believes. It is enough to spout the required prog lines.
"Dowd puts no responsibility on Obama."
And why should she? He brought light, but the forces of darkness were too strong even for him. Except in Iran--the mullahs, he could work with.
"Dowd herself is stimulating the emotional state she ostensibly bemoans."
Of course. But most Trump supporters are not in the "emotional state" alluded to here.
Slow Joe was supposed to be the uniter.
As for stuttering, I doubt Joe ever had one. He's been in politics for at least 50 years and I've never heard it once.
As for McCain, he was one of the biggest sanctimonious assholes in history, and what he did in Viet Nam does not absolve him of how he fucked the country over in service of his own gigantic ego.
"When Obama won the Iowa caucuses in 2009 — "It felt then as if we were embracing modernity and inclusion, moving away from the image of John Wayne’s America."
While driving in downtown Madison in 2008 I happened to see an SUV parked at Freethought Hall, HQ for the Freedom From Religion Foundation. On the rear window was a poster showing Barack Obama with a sort of halo around his head (not quite like a Greek icon, more subtle) and the obligatory 'HOPE.' I thought it odd to see such imagery parked at a place that eschewed religion.
Blogger Shane said...
She lost me at "causcuses in 2009" ~ it was 2008.
--
She stutters.
"Trump is a master at exploiting voters’ fears."
Biden's entire campaign so far has been aimed at creating fear of a mythical, fascist Trump destroying "our democracy" and ruling as a Hitlerian dictator.
It's not working on anyone except a few of the more gullible voters, despite the constant promotion by much of the media.
This would make Biden an apprentice rather than a master. Trump knows how to handle those.
Singing songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly say, "Hooray for our side"
Since Trump didn't actually make fun of McCain's having been tortured or the reporter's disability (watch that clip--he's doing his generic 'idiots saying things' annoying-voice), probably we should just stop reading and conclude "ordinary Dowd bullshit," but I think what really bothers Dowd so much is actually informative. She can't possibly hate "meanness" per se (she is Maureen Dowd, for God's sake! Being nasty to younger, prettier women is one of the things she's best at!), or even a particular kind of meanness that she can't stand. No, it's UNAUTHORIZED meanness that she can't stand.
What Trump did was break an asymmetry between those inside the club and those outside it. Media and media-approved politicians could say the nastiest imaginable things about people outside the club--call them racists, nazis, sexual predators, 'white trash,' etc.--while the people inside the club were immune from criticism, and when it was just too obvious that, say, John McCain was a self-righteous douche or Joe Biden was a gibbering idiot, shielding stories (McCain's POW experience or Biden's stutter--both conveniently 40+ years in the past) were invented to protect them. You can't attack a woman's appearance or supposed promiscuity--except when it's Sarah Palin or any number of Republican women. You can't mock "disability" except when Bob Dole was running for President. The meanness is authorized (and relative--McCain was only off-limits when Republicans were criticizing him).
Often it seems to me that the people in media and politics have never left high school. Maureen Dowd is angry not just that Trump refuses to play by the rules set by the Mean Girls Table, but that by doing so he lets everyone else see that NO ONE has to play by those rules, because the Mean Girls are only powerful and impressive in the limited context of high school: once you're out of that context--as we all are--there's really no reason for anyone to care what they think about anything because, honestly, they're pretty pathetic. I think the reason that Dowd, Jonathan Chait, and Taylor Lorenz use all their institutional power to viciously attack outsiders, civilians who dare to make memes, or join the Tea Party, or publicize craziness on TikTok, is that they desperately want to preserve what little Mean Girl Power they still have, and unauthorized outsiders are an existential threat in same way that a new girl in town who is prettier and richer than the established Mean Girls.
Obama ( and Michelle ) are the most bigoted and racist president in modern history. With a "mission" to TRANSFORM america. Rascist bigots.
"Trump has played on that resentment...
exploiting voters’ fears."
Self serving, lame assed, condescending bullshit assertion posing as making a point.
Maybe they're not afraid. Maybe they're pissed of and standing up for themselves.
Obama blew his historical chance, once in a lifetime, to fulfill MLK's dream. Instead he went with grievance based, tribalistic neo-Marxist, reverse segregation. He is still doing it through his puppet Biden. What a lost opportunity to be one people, united, regardless of race. It makes me despair.
"I’m puzzled about why his devoted fans don’t mind his mean streak."
Maybe because it is entirely the invention of lying liars who always lie? I suppose when you're Maureen Dowd, it does not occur to you that lying liars who always lie are not the best resource for resolving one's puzzlement regarding phenomena occurring in the real world.
Dowd does apparently grasp that calling Nikki Haley "Birdbrain" is an instance of disability-mocking. Good call, Mo. You know what we call you?
Obama could have said something like "People should be allowed to criticize me or my policies without being called a racist. All presidents receive criticism". He could have smacked down those in his party that reflexively call such criticism racist. But he didn't.
The Clinton campaign and the DNC promoted Trump. Any Democrat who thinks that Trump is a threat to the country should have spent the last eight years trying to drive those people out of politics.
Trump makes fun of specific people--most of whom have attacked him specifically. Dowd lies about what Trump did, and extrapolates to all of humanity bearing similar characteristics to the person Trump made fun of.
Maureen Dowd is a dishonest meany.
Neener, neener.
Also--what the hell was wrong with John Wayne?
With a writing gaffe like 2009, Dowd is simply no longer credible, even as a writer.
Maureen Dowd:
How could we have gone from such a hopeful moment to such a discordant one?
Her following text explains exactly how.
Published today, a completely contrary view of the effect of Obama's election -
https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/shattered-consensus-revisited
Obama was the guy who proudly stated: "I'm really good at killing people." He's such a cold, stupid psychopathic democrat party member.
Am I the only one here who knows that waving your hands in the air is a gesture that has nothing to do with physical disability? It's a way of mocking people who are panicking like it's the end of the world: "Oh my God, we're all going to die!!!!!"
Ann asks "Couldn't Obama himself have used his presidency more effectively and built American optimism? He promised hope, but why didn't he deliver more of it?"
My answer is that he will go down in history as a truly tragic figure. I have little idea what he really thinks and what his life is really all about. He is a mystery. But he came into power on a wave of true American decency and hope that the great racial division/wound was finally healing. He appealed as a black man who affirmed basic American bourgeois values, wife, kids, civil discourse, intelligence, etc. He had the opportunity as no white politician did to directly confront other blacks about the INTERNAL dysfunctions still keeping a large share of black Americans down. Family dysfunction above all, fatherlessness, lack of educational capital and lack of job-related skills, and the astoundingly high percentage of young male criminality it all produced. It seemed at first, he would do that. But then came that series of utterly atypical police-black male encounters, starting oddly with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates and his mix up with those horrid racist Cambridge police, and then on to Eric Garner, Michael Brown of Ferguson with the bogus "hands up, don't shoot" b.s. and on and on, and as it did Obama fell right into line playing up and giving credence to all the Al Sharpton fakery about all that which has since done the black community no damn good at all, but which consumes and corrupts guilty white liberals into thinking their hand-wringing IS doing any good. Which, it and Obama, have not. Tragic.
hombre said...
Don't I remember that Obama stole the Iowa caucus by shipping in people from Illinois?
1/13/24, 9:56 AM
I know they did that in New Mexico too. In 2004, Bush won NM by 4,000 votes or less. In summer of 2008, democrat party members made a concerted drive to resettle enough democrat party members in New Mexico to swing the state to the dogeater. I worked in a Hollywood movie studio at the time and was friendly with a work acquaintance who one day took me aside and asked me if I'd be willing to relocate to New Mexico. He told me that he was a democrat party organizer and that they were moving party members into New Mexico to make sure that Obama won the popular vote there. Those were the days when the democrat party fraud was almost legitimate!
It was about the reporter lying about the events around september 11th
who is the master at stoking fears?
“2009” was my typo. Fixed. Sorry.
" Meanwhile his fans point out, again and again, 'we don't support him and come to his rallies, and put up his signs because we're on his side - we do it, because he is on our side" . And it's driving the Left absolutely batsh*t crazy."
Leftists see everyone as a member of a group, each group requiring a leader to direct their actions. They are unable to understand the concept of individuals coming together in agreement over the selection of a representative who will advocate for them, not tell them what to do.
Obama is our man, he will relieve all of our... uh, burdens. If he can't do it, then nobody can. Meanwhile, climate change ensures that seaside estates will be underwater by rising waters, progressive prices, or immigration reform. And the world Springs forward. Let us bray.
Comment on the comments: isn't it striking that all of us immediately see the BS in the Dowdian absurdity, the distortion of well-known events, well known at least to us, the obviously false descriptions, and the bad faith that pervades such little screeds, and isn't it also striking that Dowd and her ilk show no inkling whatsoever of the absurdity of their BS and of the fact that they are totally exposed in their bad faith.
Prog advantage lies in the comfort of their bubble: the Dowds of the world can rest secure they will not be held accountable and in fact that nice prog women will cheer. Deplorable advantage lies in seeing the world, including the prog world, as it is, outside the confines of the propaganda apparatus--on our side, we can't afford not to understand the other side.
Sally327 said...
"I sometimes wonder if Obama was in the on the joke, did he really think he was bringing joy and light to the masses or did he know it was all a big con, that there was this desire on the part of a lot of people..."
Look. I tried to warn you people that Obama was bad news. Obama was an Illinois politician with big friends in Chicago politics. The most corrupt city in the most corrupt county in the most corrupt state in the union. What the fuck did you think he would do? I told you all at the time that he was going to bring the illinois political machine to the Whiterhouse and make Chicago style politics nation wide. And he did.
Obama was the most divisive president of my long life. A very bad man. Stupid or evil or both.
It all started downhill when all the racists voted Obama into the presidency. Not racists as in hatred but they voted for Obama because of the color of his skin and too no heed at all to the content of his character. So many of those who voted for Obama wanted their own "feel-good" of voting for a black man and they didn't care about policies, integrity or ideology.
But it is true, McCain was a poor alternative and then the Republicans ran the loser Mitt Romney who wouldn't even fight for himself, much less Americans.
MoDo wrote …
“Of course, every time there’s a movement, there’s a countermovement, where people feel that their place in the world is threatened....”
Well, Maureen felt her place was threatened enough to write a column about it.
Haven't decided which AA posts over the years are my favorite. But the series of posts like these over the last decade are my least favorite. Ok to be disillusioned with the guy you voted for in 2008. But to be covering for his successor for so long got tiresome fast.
He is not being satirical, he is just acting like a middle school bully. This campaign has just reinforced the assertion that Trump never matured past the eighth grade
Your entire, fucking party is made up of middle-school bullies. You simply don't like the fact he punches you back.
The Left has always hated John Wayne and has spouted numerous "reasons" but the truth is:
The Left hated (and still hates) John Wayne because Wayne hated Commies. He hated them to the extreme. And while many of The Left will pretend to be anything but, ... well, comrade, let's go for a helicopter ride.
MarcusB. THEOLDMAN
"Obama was the most divisive president of my long life. A very bad man. Stupid or evil or both."
Uh, no.
Trump has demonstratively been the most divisive president in recent years.
"It felt..." That's the whole problem, the whole discussion, and the whole answer right there.
Electing Obama was top tier virtue signalling and the press was right there contributing.
But he was economically astute:
"Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gases," Obama said. "Coal power plants, natural gas, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money onto consumers."
Sure, it got little play in '08. But Team Romney was so neutered they refused to hammer him on that.
My god - will she never retire? Remember her column about William Jennings Bryan?
Lot of people believed that the way forward was by showing just how inclusive they could be. They didn't mind that Obama was an unknown, he HAD to be better than McCain and Caribou Barbie, right?
I don't think McCain actually wanted to win. He wanted to run because it was 'his turn', but win? He wasn't popular, he hated he was paired up with a photogenic, charismatic politician that got more attention than he did.
Palin could have gotten him the win, I think, if he'd had put his ego aside and really wanted the job.
Romney tried too hard to be 'nice' to a media that hated him.
Obama - I was worried about his 'fundamental transformation' statement. You can fundamentally transform a Ferrari into a pile of scrap by wrapping it around a telephone pole, but there's not many who'd argue that it'll function better afterwards.
But it sure looks like Dowd would. And she'd resist any attempts to fix it afterwards, assuming it could be fixed.
The folks in DC and their 'experts' are dedicated to STAYING in DC, no matter what. That's why Palin was a threat, that's why Trump was even more of a threat. He was an outsider who showed just how incompetent the whole mess of them were, running on a Well, this is the way we've always done things with the economy, with running the country, with foreign and domestic policy. It all works, after a fashion, so don't touch it.
Trump did more than touch - he wanted to FIX things so they worked better, less expensively, more efficiently. That was the big threat that couldn't be tolerated. It brought up questions - if things could have been better by doing something different, why didn't our 'political elite' do those things years ago?
I fully expect the 'Trump is a danger to the country/economy/world/solar system' narrative to continue for the next five years, by people who WANT the current state of things to continue. They see themselves as an 'elite', who knows what we need better than we do ourselves. And Dowd sees herself as one of them.
We're just peasants, and they can't understand why we don't just let our 'betters' make all the decisions for us.
Cookie,
Trump is a response to Obama...and many Repubs.
I understand how that triggers.
Cookie,
Has Trump had an "If I had a son" Trayvon level divisive moment?
What was so terribly wrong with John Wayne's America? And Trump is the abominable (?) showman, not snowman. He's putting on a show, and anyone with a little spirit will enjoy it.
Robert Cook said...
"Obama was the most divisive president of my long life. A very bad man. Stupid or evil or both."
Uh, no.
Trump has demonstratively been the most divisive president in recent years.
1/13/24, 7:16 PM
Trump fights back. WE got Trump because of what Obama DID to America. Trump is a big FY and middle finger to the Obama gang and idiots who voted for him because of the color of his skin.
Robert.
Which of Trumps policies effected you negatively?
Readering.
Make a compelling arguement as to why I should vote for Biden.
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