I read several pieces yesterday that amounted to “look at all the great pieces of legislation we passed, why oh why don’t they love us?”
Unrequited love. Yeah, that’s some painful stuff. Really. But the fact is, we’re just not that into you.
We’re not into you because to you, this is all an academic exercise. You passed something you called a health care reform bill, and yay, I get that it was hard and historic and all that crap. But it’s not really reform. It’s an insurance subsidy that won’t do squat for most of us — except saddle us with an expensive mandate and big deductibles we didn’t have before. Many people have no intention of complying with it — not because it’s too liberal, but because it’s not liberal enough.
You all kept explaining to us how what we wanted “couldn’t get done,” and you traded it away without even trying. You didn’t even bother to show us the work.
That’s the problem with the Beltway. You have no idea how difficult, how scary it is for the rest of us out here. That’s why these incremental, kick-the-can-down-the-road bills you pass seem like such a big deal to you, and such a small deal to us. They don’t help us with the problems we face right this minute — you know, like 21% actual unemployment?
To us, your whining and berating only feels like extortion. “Pull this lever or we’re going to shoot the dog/Supreme Court/civil rights.” That doesn’t feel like love, baby. Hell, that’s not even “like.”
Yup. They don’t get it. All the corruption is out in the open. We can’t live the way we used to, pretending things will somehow be all right. You’d have to be completely brain-dead to believe in these idiots. Not even sure any more that electing (non-)witches and religious zealots is a bad thing. After a few thousand adulterers and teenage dopers are burned at the stake, maybe we’d get some real Democrats.
If I come over your house late at night and throw pebbles at your window and whine and moan all night, then will you love me? Also if you don’t love me your next boyfriend will be a morbidly obese axe-murdering rapist, so really, all things considered, you should love me.
Or rather: “Pull that lever or we’ll blame you for the consequences.”
“The Republicans are worse!”®
I’m with TaosJohn on this: we may as well elect witches, religious zealots, or, for that matter, satanic worshipers if this is all we’re gonna get from the Dems. Heck, I used to think the very least the Dems could argue for would be Medicare for all those over 50 and outawork! And financial ‘reform’? HA, who are they fooling? Folks who’ve maxed out their credit cards and lost their homes ain’t too fucking interested in financial anything, except a freaking job!
Everything you said Susie, and add to that that the kick the can legislation seems like a great way to lose elections in the future.
It puts the lie to Democratic claims that we are less in bed with big business than Republicans. It makes Republican party of no strategies pay off.
It shows no leadership at all.
They act the way they do because it has been a winning strategy for them. They won’t stop until it becomes a losing strategy.
Sorry, kids, but you only seem to learn the hard way. Remember Tom Foley? What ever happened to him?
(FOR Alan) How dare you insult morbidly obese axe-murdering rapists sir! I’m sure you’ll hear from their lawyers soon and the government will hear from their lobbyists.
This post actually hits it on the head. This is exactly how I feel. Nice writing.
it is exactly how I feel as well, but it is still true that the republicans are much much much worse. the democrats kick the can down the road: the republicans will kick YOU into the street, and continue kicking you until you’re in the path of oncoming traffic.
that’s the only reason i’m voting: the democrats did some incremental tinkering around the edges of a bad situation, but the republicans plainly intend to do actual harm.
But that’s not really my point. It’s that they want “attaboys” for the half-assed job they did, and for their ongoing indifference to our plight. AND THEY STILL DON’T GET IT.
By analogy…
Obama is like the guy that gives his wife a mop for their anniversary. At first he’s confused and then he’s angry because his wife is disappointed with the mop.
But it’s a REALLY GOOD mop!
If you don’t think the Democrats have done “actual harm” then you haven’t been paying attention.
Sorry to break it to you, but they are as opposed to your interests and your well-being as the Republicans are. Period. All you have to do is look at what they do, and pay no attention to the pretty lying words they mouth.
Who gave us the health “care” monstrosity? Democrats. Who is going to gut Social Security and Medicare? Democrats. Who created the colossal failure that is HAMP? Democrats. Who gave us FISA, more unitary executive powers, more bailouts for banksters, more war, more bombing of civilians, more torture, more bloodshed? Democrats.
They’re just not into you. At ALL.
@susie: oh yeah, I got the point, and it’s really pathetic to watch them cry.
i was making a different point: the only reason to vote for these unlovable losers is that the republicans are exponentially worse. “the democrats don’t get it” is about the truest statement I have ever heard: equally true is that the republicans are genuinely evil people. Put it this way: i have no doubt in my mind that the republicans would be happy to haul most of us off to concentration camps and execute us. I don’t think the democrats would do that: they’ll just leave us to starve because they don’t get it.
I think this comment form the Yglesias piece sums up the plans of the Beltway bloggers.
# hail our fearless vanguard says:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
The crux of the matter is that progressive efforts to expand the size of the welfare state are basically done.
Let’s all congratulate our creative class betters for their outstanding work. With this final victory, they can now turn their attention to marrying an economically and socially compatible spouse and ensuring their children are admitted to Ivy League schools. The continuation of the meritocracy is in their hands.
I just got a GOTV mailing from Rich Trumka: “Who will work for us Nov. 3rd?” I thought, “Isn’t this a trick question?”
keep giving them hell Susie. Don’t let up.
Yeah, I’ll probably vote for them (except for Hoyer) and they have passed a lot of bills but that doesn’t mean it’s been decent progressive legislation that we should be enthusiastic about. They really don’t get it. Good post, Susie.
[i]i have no doubt in my mind that the republicans would be happy to haul most of us off to concentration camps and execute us.[/i]
But then who would do all the grunt work? Both sides want/need a mass of the great unwashed to live on the backs of (as long as we stay powerless). They wouldn’t really want to eliminate most of us… only the ones that make any trouble.
DancingOpossum was right. The Dems are no less actively evil than the Reps; they just try to fool us The People into pretending they’re really on our side.
Great post. Among all the disappointments, the latest for me is that I can’t even get a thrill from the fact that Rahmbo is gone, I mean what’s gonna change? We get another guy with a rep of “working across the isle”. Sheesh. If you compare Obama’s rhetoric with his actions he can only be one of two things: stupid or duplicitous. He ain’t stupid. And so what’s left, the same old “lesser of two evils”. Unless Obama and the Dems give us the “change” like right now (not holding my breath), “we the people”, the middle class and poor, are absolutely toasted beyond recognition. Period.
But as Atrios points out, when it comes to legislation that will make it easier for the big banks to foreclose on the homes of working people, the Democrats can get shit through the Congress in record time. If they hear their Master’s voice calling from Wall Street, they can pass legislation overnight with no debate. If they hear the voice of their party’s base, they bring out every excuse in the book.
Other than the handful of actual progressives left in the Democratic ranks, we need to work to defeat the lot of them – not by wiping out our democracy with the TP candidates but by voting for any emerging party that has a rational person on the ballot.
Obama is like the guy that gives his wife a mop for their anniversary. At first he’s confused and then he’s angry because his wife is disappointed with the mop.