But doesn't it serve Obama's purpose perhaps more than anyone's if it looks like the left is against him? Doesn't that buy some cred with the right? Isn't that why he lets these sentiments sit out there?

So in a way, by calling for moderation, are you actually undermining his bluff?

Just asking. I don't know the answer.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

"But so long as he is winning policy battles, we should relax."

Can't have that. Seriously. One of the great things that's happened over the last 8 years or so is the building of the LW pundit infrastructure. We now have 'liberal' radio, teevee shows, tons and tons of blogs and blogs allowing people to post their own diaries/ blogs within blogs, etc plus the LW magazines. There's an entire LW industry- doing what they do best- complaining.

And all of these writers have to write about something, and since Bush is gone, what are they gonna write about now? Answer: their 'concerns' about Obama. Since he was elected, every utterance is dissected ad nauseum into great fears that he's gonna screw us. (TALK ME DOWN!!!!!) Even though there was no record of him actually making any policy decisions, it didn't stop the concern trolls....they could express concern over his cabinet picks, for example.

It seemd to me, all of this overwrought 'concern' is a way to fill columns and airspace and earn a paycheck. Nothing wrong with that. But until Obama does something to piss me off, I see little point in preemptive bitching/anger/concern. But then, I don't have to earn a living doing it.

What is the stressor that 'relaxing' relieves? What will improve upon relaxation?

Doesn't this form of rhetorical triangulation depend on some form of critique from BOTH extremes of a debate to provide the other two points of the triangle?


Declaring the bottom is the only way back up..

Obama should be measured on his deeds and Unions are very happy with the results so far. Al Giordano breaks down some of the early successes.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/john-judis-and-what-army

Blue Tidal Wave

You can't have an American stimulus package without stimulating the rest of the world to some extent. Even American cars are built with some foreign parts. People make money and they buy electronics that are made in China. You go to the grocery store and some of that produce you buy was grown across a border. And there's no way you can get around this because a whole lot of consumer items, whether you eat them or play with them, just aren't made in America.

Now, even though not buying American takes away from direct stimulus of the American economy I am not against that.

But it was an uneven playing field for most Americans before this current Depression, and it will be uneven afterwards. If we turn this Depression around so that America can run up more huge trading deficits while American labor is undersold, who benefits? The international corporatists, not labor around the world and certainly not labor in America.

So the "Buy America" provision is just a figleaf which doesn't do much except maybe calm down some American workers and get some foreign trade partners a little nervous. It doesn't address the absolutely enormous problems that, if I may reach back and pluck an expression, "WORKERS OF THE WORLD" have been facing and will face to an even larger extent in the future.

Capital, we have seen, can be moved around the globe in ways that can make your head spin. The means of production can and have been relocated over and over in order to find the cheapest workers. Labor cannot cross borders, organizing is heavily regulated or outlawed so that more profits accrue. As long as this game of international keepaway is played most of us will be royally screwed, over and over. And coming out of the Depression will not stop this process.

I thought the Buy-American provisions were kept in despite Obama's attempts to have them removed, though I believe his effort to do so wasn't a full-court or anything like that.

Do what I do, not what I say is surely a curious way for a president to proceed.  I understand that it's the actual policy that matters but won't at least some unfocused individuals be taking him at his word?

Oh, there you are, Perry. -Phineas -SLB-

I think the real problem is that everybody wants everything, NOW, "immediately, if not sooner." And if not, they at least want to hear it loud and clear. And if they don't, then it means betrayal.
   And yet, even if the person in office is their friend, that is not the best way to proceed, politically.
   Not that I'm capable of doing this, but if I were to write a novel about a guy gifted with such incredible political skills that his very election represented the popular repudiation not only of heretofore unbreached national prejudices, but also of the same sophisticated disinformation machine that defeated several previous democratic candidates, as well as the foiling of a near-fascist takeover of the country -- and who, on day one after inauguration, found himself facing one of the most daunting combinations of serious national problems that any president has ever had to deal with -- if I were to write a novel about such a character, I would show him tackling these problems in a gradual and graduated way, like an incredibly complex juggling act, or an exacting game of chess, until his political capital, his alliances were stronger, and his enemies were  definitely weaker. Otherwise, I'm afraid that either the happy ending would not be believable, or indeed the ending would not be a happy one.
    Those who expect everything, NOW, and are not getting it, feel themselves betrayed. They certainly have a flare for drama, but what they need is some perpective.

The real problem is that much of the "criticism from the left" is either deliberate concern trolling on the part of the MSM, naive relays of the same (e.g. Digby) or frustrated mandarin whining from people who think that they should be controlling the message (Sirota, OpenLeft ...).