Whining, bitching and doing nothing

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Hi everyone

The political agenda for the next couple of weeks is full with super-progressives items. From DADT to the Dream Act, from the START Treaty to extending unemployment benefits – It’s difficult to find much more progressives objects than these.

And yet, probably the only call for action that you can find throughout the famously influential progressive blogosphere, is to primary Barack Obama. 

At this point they’re so obsessed with their self-pity party, they can’t even notice what’s going on outside. What a HUGE month this could be for progressive values in this country. Instead of sitting on the phones and making the lives of the Scott Browns of the world a living hell, they sit behind their precious keyboard, sipping a slurpee, and shouting at the president: You don’t push hard enough. At this point, their most important mission is not to end DADT, but to make Barack Obama a one term president. Sound familiar? Yep. 

Well, I refuse to be part of it, and I hope you feel the same. If you do, then let’s get t work.

First, if you’re yet to sign the petition to stand with the president and call for the repeal of DADT, please do it now:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/repealdadt??source=HQB

Then, post it on Facebook, Twitter, email your entire mailing list, whatever you can.

And make phone calls. Every Blue State Republican is a legitimate target. From Scott Brown to the strange Maine twins. Be creative, do the most you can, even if it’s just a little bit. Just don’t let yourselves get sucked into the happy misery pool. Let’s remember what some people forgot already back in January 21 2009:

WE ARE THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

 

58 thoughts on “Whining, bitching and doing nothing”

  1. Signed the petition and thank you for the link.
    I truly hope DADT is settled very soon.

    I have a question on using this site. I get notice of a new diary, and if I comment in it I can ask for all comments to be sent to me by e-mail. However, what do I do to get the comments by e-mail if I do NOT comment myself?

  2. Now THIS is a site that works with the POTUS to achieve goals. The whole f’ing lot of them in WATBland never got it. How supposedly intelligent people could be so stupid was beyond me. Unless, it never WAS about achieving anything. All just a ruse for what they really needed: attention. Sad, buy NMP (not my problem)

    Thanks for the action items. Being a force for good is a win/win. May accomplish something/feels good.

  3. Yes, I know BWD. They could use some of that energy to persuade others to vote middle class tax cuts, DADT,unemployment extensions and the Dream Act, but instead they contiune to bash the president. I hope their plan to primaried Obama backfires bigtime.

  4. BWD, thank you so much for this post. You have captured what I’ve been feeling exactly. I have been so upset because the so-called progressives who just sit on their hands and expect President Obama to work miracles without any support at all, yet give the real enemy of progressive causes a pass.

    Every email I get from MoveOn or some other progressive group is all about “pressuring President Obama” and “tell Obama to stand for (insert the favorite progressive cause of the day here).” Yet they’re not trying to put pressure on the democratic congress critters whose vote the President should be able to comment on but can’t.

    I’ve so had it with these hypocrites. President Obama couldn’t get sworn in before they started. And they’ve been relentless ever since.

    I’ve had it with Olberman and Maddow and all the other holier-than-thou “true” progressives who really aren’t so progressive after all. Just a bunch of whining hypocrites who want to have everything their way, right away, without lifting a finger to help make it happen.

    So disappointing.

    I, however, am proud to stand with President Obama.

  5. I am becoming very disappionted with what is happening with proggresives. The constant whining and bitching, why don’t we get organized and make our senators and house members know that there is an effort to let them know that we got there backs. I don’t think even Carl Rove the evil genious could have done a better job of turning proggressives into thier own worst enemy. I believe we need to start the fight at the grass root level and our legislatures will notice and follow our passion and activism.

  6. I really enjoy this site. I wholeheartedly support our President and am so glad to see the support he gets on your blog. Yes We Can!

  8. My fax machine is “fired up and ready to go!” I’ve already been sending out the calls and emails. I like faxing when I can because it is immediate and leaves a paper trail.

    My disgusting Repugnant Senators, McCain and Kyl should be able to paper their offices with my missives.

    Thanks for the call to some real action BWD. I also signed the petition.

  9. BWD, I fully agree with you about the whiners who don’t really do anythign to change things. That is not to say that I agree with Obama on everything. Nor is it to say I have not felt disappointed by him at times. I will be particularly disappointed if he bails on the tax cut issue and doesn’t make a major push on START, going to the public directly.

    At the same time, I can’t think of a person that more closely represents my values that could be President (excluding myself, of course). If people think things would have been different if Clinton had won, they are deluding themselves. Not that she woudl be bad, but she may actually have had even more difficulty getting things passed.

    So it is important to follwo your action suggestions. And also it is important to let the President know through letters or emails that we have his back, even though we may wish he did more.

  10. Good job, BWD. I’m happy that you and Tori have set up websites, away from the nasties and nutsies. I’m extremely frustrated with those whom you discuss here. And I’m behind President Barack Obama, all the way. Oh, and I love the quote from VP Biden. Somehow I missed that one.

  11. I’d like to add several Senators to the call list from a comment made by St. Roscoe in the “Late night quick mishmash”, he suggested: Voinovich of Ohio, Murkowski of Alaska, Gregg of New Hampshire and LeMieux of Fla as possible supporters. Voinovich,
    Gregg and LeMieux were all mentioned because they are retiring.

  12. Thanks for the reminder BDW! I’ve signed and posted this on my Facebook page. I was already encouraged that a couple of facebook pals have already added wall comments of their own.

  13. BWD – I applaud your call to increased engagement. To all those “progressives” whose response to the new political reality is to demand that the President magically reverse their unhappy state: Wake up, folks! Where were you when your own contribution of time and energy could have made a difference? We don’t live in a society where the President can impose his will on an unwilling body politic. It is indeed up to us to do the hard work of changing our world. It starts with becoming informed, and all of us need to be engaged in a true discussion of our options. We need to leave our immature and destructive finger pointing and blame games behind us. We need to forge a consensus and work together. This is essentially what our brilliant President has been trying to do for his entire life. I remember how you all cheered when he said “not red States or blue States but the United States of America” or “No matter where you come from, no matter what you look like” or “whether you’re rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight” etc. Unity does not mean that we will always agree on all the issues or even agree on how to proceed, but it DOES mean that we act like a family. It also means that we all share the responsibility of righting wrongs and healing wounds. The future does not depend on what we demand, it depends on what we do.

  14. Unless you are their constituents, they don’t care about your opinion. Or at least don’t have to acknowledge your opinion.

  15. Republicans have vowed to “block everything” in the lame duck session unless a vote to extend all of the Bush tax cuts take place.

  17. I fully agree that he should be pushed. Contrary to the popular opinion, i don’t agree with him all the time and i had me fair share of disappointments. But there’s a huge difference between pushing him and simply destroying him, using RW talking points against him – while all the time doing absolutely NOTHING to help him. I feel disgusted, to be honest.

    And since i am a pragmatic person, i will have no problem with a deal that will extend the tax breaks for two years in exchange for the START treaty and unemployment benefits. We live in the real world, not in La-La-Land.

  18. Remember too that OFA asked that we write letters to the editor in support of the repeal. Sharpen those pencils!

  19. They are a disgusting bunch of bastards. But this is reality, and i guess that this why the president will cut a deal with them in the next few days – so he can get a vote on the START treaty and DADT.

  20. Agreed. Just like there is a difference between constructive and destructive criticism. There is no attempt, on the part of the whiners to get any sense of what Obama is dealing with. He isn’t an ideologue. He is pragmatic. Now he and I may disagree on what is possible in the current environment, but all too often I hear how he has betrayed the progressive movement. Betrayal requires a deliberate decision to do something and involves a value system different from that which you are betraying. I don’t see that as being the case here.

    As far as what to give up to get somethign else, although I agree in principle, it is debatable as to what equals what. START is a toughy. Yes it is an important part of our national security and if the Republicans blocked it, it would show they aren’t serious about our national security. But the bulk of Americans don’t see that connection and it really hasn’t been laid out for them in a way to understand. Perhaps if it were, then he wouldn’t have to give up anything.

  21. Thanks blackwaterdog — I’ve signed the petition and contributed our retirees’ mite. I’ll send an email to Hatch and Bennett, for all the good it will do. Thicker, more bone-like heads there are none, even in the state of Utah. There are a few democrats in Utah, more in and around Salt Lake City. Up here in Near-Siberia, on the Utah-Idaho border, there are perhaps fourteen.

    It’s snowing again. After a blizzard, a heavy storm which followed it, and now more snow. I could enjoy this if we never had to leave our little farm.

  22. Beautifully said.

    The future does not depend on what we demand, it depends on what we do.

    This really is it in a nutshell.

  23. This is exactly right. I know of no one who is utterly uncritical of anyone else, including this President, for the simple fact that we are all human beings and none of us do things perfectly. Constructive criticism does *not* include the use of: overarching anti-POTUS memes and themes seeking to create a larger narrative of total ineffectiveness or character flaws; preemptive criticism in which strident, ugly rhetoric is used to criticize events which haven’t even taken place; or abandoning nuance to declare that the WH is either perfect or is awful.

    We are not stupid and can tell the difference between constructive and destructive content; between criticism and *condemnation.* Far too often, the latter is put forth in the guise of the former.

  24. Tell it BWD.

    What makes my blood boil is when President Obama gets 80% of some major initiative accomplished, too many on the left complain about the 20% he didn’t get.

    The Affordable Care Act is a perfect example. The past presidents who attempted to pass health care reform includes Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Clinton.

    President Obama does what six previous presidents have tried to do and does the left celebrate? No, they complain that there was no public option and that it should have been single payer.

    Meanwhile, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is improving the lives of the American people already. Of course it’s not perfect. Look at the congress he had to deal with and the special interests he had to battle. But now that we have a foundation to build on, maybe just maybe we will someday eventually get that elusive public option.

    There were a lot of complaints that President Obama was trying to do too much while he had majorities in the House and Senate. He knew what he was doing. I am glad he pushed ahead. Can you imagine if he had decided to push off healthcare reform until 2011?

  25. The chicken littles are peeping with all their might about how the sky is falling, but the sky in their world is plaid, and the only peep they have is ‘capitulation, peep, peep’.
    “The courts are going to repeal blah, blah”!
    “Tax cuts only for the top 2%!!11!one!”
    “He’s making deals and signing off on social security, :0

    Well, I can’t go on, the sky isn’t plaid in my world; there’s a republican House & filibuster in the senate–not everything that happens is a ‘capitulation’ or quid pro quo, it’s keeping things going.

  28. Thank you! Finally, someone who supports this! Be prepared, I’ve been called the vilest things because I don’t think in this dire time that we should be taxing people who are struggling to give money to people who already have jobs. I’d rather see the money given to people who don’t have jobs. For that, I’m a Republican, divisive, petty.

    People are so primed to be angry at Obama, they aren’t even think anymore about what they say.

    How did this happen?

  29. Thank you, BWD! Shared on FB. Thank God for your blog. An actual SANE progressive site!

  30. What a great comment! Thank goodness the vast majority of democrats support our president. The local activists through OFA are doing phone banks to voters to call potentially persuadable GOP senators and letter to the editor. I think the left so-called progressives calling for a primary rather than focusing around organizing against the GOP agenda are no better than tea partners, equally out of the mainstream, delusional, and enemies of progress. I wish Al Giordano were posting: he usually is right on the money. I am done with poutrage!

  32. Hi Tracy

    Are you serious? The OFA is promting constructive suggestions and the Big Mouths are screaming “primary??” It really is about THEM, isn’t it? Reality, be damned. Helping their fellow Americans, who cares? They were ridiculed by some of my friends as “Firebaggers” on DK. Of course, admin had fits. But I thought it was apt.

  33. Hi KnowHopeLisa. I had deactivated my FB account because I set it up primarily as an sidebar to DK, when I was a fan. Maybe I should go back, to partipate in our efforts? I’ll probably use a new name though.

  35. Hi BWD, great site/blog. Thanks for all you do. I have a font suggestions for the comments section. Perhaps try Arial (8-10pt). It’s a clean font and better on the eyes–although I’ll read either way. Thanks again!

  36. I called and emailed the White House today. I told them that while I would prefer that tax cuts not be extended to the wealthy, if they have to be, then we need to get DADT repealed, START ratified, DREAM act passed and a one year extension of unemployment.

  37. How much luck do you think I’ll have contacting my senators – McCain and Kyl or my congressman – Trent “Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery” Franks and asking them to vote for a rational idea. Even one rational idea…

    UGH!!!!!!

    I actually did contact all of them a few months ago on behalf of DADT and got the patented script return email.

  38. They may not care, but I call anyway. Since the republicans like to about the american people, I think taht they need to hear from the american people.

  39. I realize that you’re right conlakappa, but every time I call and get that attitude I remind them that their Senator’s actions affect everyone in the country.

    Dont know if it makes a difference, but it needs to be said time and again.

    God knows the Republican’s have folks phone banking.

  40. RE: Congress, I have to admit that being in the sausage factory watching the sausage being made is hellish. But these people need to be watched, so what can I say?

    PBO is dealing with N Korea, WikiLeaks, the fallout from WikiLeaks, START, unemployment, unemployment benefits expiration, Bush tax cuts, Euro meltdown, DADT, AFPAK, TSA, domestic terrorism in freaking Portland, the CF that is Congress, Deficit Commission, oil drilling, Republican 2010 election preening, incessant whiny noise from EVERYBODY and hmmmm, WHAT ELSE?

    I love this man and his family and I am astonished that he has accomplished so much. Thank you once again, BWD.

  41. Thank you so much for saying what I’ve been thinking, bwd.

    It’s nuts.
    Just flat out Swiftian nuts.

    Signed the petition and called my two Senators, the Maine twins, earlier today.

    Boy did there offices get an ear full.

    Snowe’s young man is very nice. We chatted for quite awhile.

    Be making more calls tomorrow.

    Hugs and love to everyone.

    Hang in there. We’ll make it through.

  42. Our MSM is doing it again. They are proclaiming this stonewall letter from the repugs as if it is something new. Did they not notice the last 2 yrs when NO was the only word in their vocabulary? In the past 2 days I have had to turn off Ed Schultz, Rachel and Keith. Even CSpan had Joe Wilson (You Lie) fame on this a.m.

    I completely support President Obama. We can never know all that he knows but never doubt that his only interest is the American people. For that I will stand by him forever.

  43. Dear lord, the man said that? The level of arrogant ignorance and racism is stunning.

    My personal take on calling them is the one I hold when I call the Maine twins.

    They work for me, my family and friends.

    They need to know that I’m paying attention, otherwise all they’re ever hearing from are those that agree with them.

    And perhaps, just perhaps, calling may make a difference. Especially if enough of us do so.

    I’ll give your Senators a call tomorrow. Their actions affect all of us.

  44. I knew you would focus on all that is going right with POTUS and the world and I’m so glad I stopped by tonight. I have called my senators and signed the petition. Thank you, bwd for keeping your eye on where we want to go and what we can do to support President Obama.

  45. I, too, am sick of the so-called “progressives” who are nothing but little brats whining that they didn’t get their ponies. If I read one post on some website from someone bloviating about how they did this and that and the other thing to get Obama elected, I’m going to scream. They think their job in helping to turn the country around is done. They want to sit back on their thrones and have Obama deliver their pet issues to them on a silver platter.

    Well, since that is now how the world works, they have now turned their focus on Obama. Sites I used to like going to, I can barely stand any more, they are so full of vitriol. They spew lies, hatred, half-truths, and so many other things that they used to call right wing talking points, and would not have been caught dead repeating when Bush was still in office.

    Thank you again for starting this site, BWD. It was sorely needed!

  46. Limbaugh, Palin, FDL/Hampsher, Beck, Bush, O’Reilly, hannity, Bachmann, Rupert Murdoch.

    To a lesser extent: Chris Matthews,Keith Olbermann, Howard Fineman, Chuck Todd.

  48. So right. I could barely listen to a particular radio show this morning (I won’t mention the name, but suffice to say that she’s one of the only “Progressive” women on in the morning, and she has two sidekicks). I was so disgusted by how disrespectful they were of the President and their characterizations of how Republicans are treating him. I have never heard Democrats speak like that about war criminals like Bush, but they feel just fine saying such crass things about this particular President. They are all part of the problem.

  49. Another excellent job, BWD. I look forward to coming her each day. I always save it for last after I’ve seen a lot of bad…..;)

  51. You referring to Stephanie Miller? They’ve turned on Obama too? Damn.

    I feel like we’re part of the Sane, Reality-based Resistance fighting against the WATB-army.

  52. More time is spent by the slurpeerers one upping each other on just how bad this administration is than on doing anything useful to make it better.

    They refuse to see their own bias, nor admit that they were never in this administration’s camp to begin with. They can’t come right out and say, ‘I hope he fails’ cause that’s been taken already, but the constant bashing and denial of good deeds says it all.

    Keep up the good work bwd.

  53. Hi, BWD…really like the new site. I have my concerns about the tax cut thing like everyone else, but I have never known endless gloom to help much. I’m a Dem in Arizona, so I know. 🙂

  54. Rachel Maddow said the same thing, and not because she’s an Obama booster.
    I don’t think she’s a hater, either…just wants the criticism to be fair.

  55. I knew I forgot something yesterday…my letters never get published, though. There seems to be a real trick to it. Any thoughts?
    (of course, my local paper has McCain-gasms so that is probably part of it.) God I wish Glassman had won.

  56. Well done BWD . . . all the news the corporate people leave out on their “news” programs.

    The truth will set us free.

  57. I sent Ed Shultz this blog page yesterday and wrote, “You see Ed not all democrats are sitting around bitching, whining and bashing the president.

  58. BWD, I agree with what you said, it’s just one big “progressive” circle jerk for those being big fish in a small pond. For the most part honestly, people I talk with in person, via email and on fb have no idea about dk, so much for that. Thank you for the action item, emailed and posted on my fb page with the note to SIGN,SHARE and FORWARD! We’ve got work to do!!!

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