"The mere thought of tangling with the Trumpster’s foul, prevaricatory, sneering tweets offends Obama’s own sense of civil discourse between politicians."

"This revulsion is just another form of self-indulgence... It isn’t as if Barack Obama doesn’t realize what he is doing and what is happening in this self-enriching bubble he has shaped, post presidency.... He can’t seem to help himself."

Wrote Ralph Nader, quoted in "The far left’s attacks on moderate Democrats get old," by Paul Fanlund, editor of Madison's Capital Times.

"Okay, so as a looney leftie who is constantly told by liberals I can't dislike Obama for things like..."

"... ramping up the drone war, finding legal justification to extrajudicially murder American citizens without trial, and so on and so forth, because of his "other accomplishments" that just outweigh that so much. You know, like that hand-out to the insurance industry instead of giving us Single Payer healthcare we all asked for, oh and don't forget, he's cool with gay people! So *waves hands* just forget all this icky shit happening, he loves teh gays! Isn't that just progressive? So, for real, considering this is fucking flat out going down the 1984/Police State hole, can I officially hate Obama for such obviously fascist positions? Can I just say I hate him, just this once, and not be told that I'm not a good liberal because of it? That I need to let it go because he's done some minor stuff for regular people? What the living hell is going on with our government? How can they make these kind of arguments with a straight face, and why am I expected to take them fucking seriously, and treat them with respect when they pull this kind of shit? How am I supposed to take Democrats seriously when this is just as bad, or worse, than anything Bush II ever pulled while in the White House? This was a moment that the shoe incident needed a fucking repeat. Maybe a swift redwing to the noggin might make Obama realize he's being the worst he can fucking be. He may have skipped Nancy Reagan's funeral for this, but god damn did he position himself on the coattails of Reagan with this speech. Seriously, I am so angry right now. I can hardly even contain it over this shit. Honestly, any government official suggesting this kind of thing against their citizens should be fucking impeached."

A comment on a Metafilter post about "Obama, at South by Southwest, Calls for Law Enforcement Access in Encryption Fight."

"In my opinion, Obama has governed as a moderate conservative — essentially as what used to be called a liberal Republican..."

"... before all such people disappeared from the GOP. He has been conservative to exactly the same degree that Richard Nixon basically governed as a moderate liberal, something no conservative would deny today."

Writes Bruce Barlett in The American Conservative.

Whatever you think of all that — and Barlett lays out his evidence at length — it will be interesting to see what Obama does when he has to work with a GOP-dominated Congress after the election.

Why doesn't Obama talk about "climate change" anymore?

The NYT environmental reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal has a long "news analysis" piece titled "Where Did Global Warming Go?" It veers all over the place but I think the nut of it is that Obama's not talking about it anymore. Here are paragraphs 4 and 5:

Though the evidence of climate change has, if anything, solidified, Mr. Obama now talks about “green jobs” mostly as a strategy for improving the economy, not the planet. He did not mention climate in his last State of the Union address. Meanwhile, the administration is fighting to exempt United States airlines from Europe’s new plan to charge them for CO2 emissions when they land on the continent. It also seems poised to approve a nearly 2,000-mile-long pipeline, from Canada down through the United States, that will carry a kind of oil. Extracting it will put relatively high levels of emissions into the atmosphere.

“In Washington, ‘climate change’ has become a lightning rod, it’s a four-letter word,” said Andrew J. Hoffman, director of the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Sustainable Development.

And here's the last paragraph, #24:

In private, scientific advisers to Mr. Obama say he and his administration remain committed to confronting climate change and global warming. But Robert E. O’Connor, program director for decision, risk and management sciences at the National Science Foundation in Washington, said a bolder leader would emphasize real risks that, apparently, now feel distant to many Americans. “If it’s such an important issue, why isn’t he talking about it?”

What's in all those other paragraphs?

1. Poll numbers show a decline in Americans' belief in the catastrophic predictions about global warming.

2. There's nothing about poll numbers in other countries, but governments in other countries are adopting measures aimed at pushing back the climate.

3. In the U.S., the right wing has made "skepticism about man-made global warming into a requirement for electability, forming an unlikely triad with antiabortion and gun-rights beliefs," and polls show a partisan tilt to the skepticism.

4. People in other countries are getting annoyed at us for going about our selfish ways and not getting with the climate-fighting agenda. And Bill Clinton said "I mean, it makes us — we look like a joke, right?"

So, you can see, the point here is: Hey, Obama, get with the program. Look to the world and its opinion of us. Isn't that supposed to be your thing? Instead, you're acting like a right winger. That's so disgusting! Bill Clinton thinks you look like a joke.

"I busted my chops getting them elected, and they caved. They're all lily-livered wimps, and Obama has the backbone of a worm."

The special pain of left-wing (erstwhile) Obama supporters. 

Apparently, I stand alone among conservative bloggers...

... appreciating the conservatism of Obama's decision to decline to stamp new human bootprints into the face of the moon.