The Base has left the building

President Obama's base is deserting him faster than rats leaving the Titanic. I want to blame the Presidents' staff/advisers, but in all honesty I can't because after all, he's the one who hired them.

From a press secretary who sneeringly referred to us as The Professional Left, to a Chief of Staff who called us F*cking Retards. From an Education Secretary who is against public schools and public school teachers, to advisers who made him into a their version of what the first African American President should be. A token, with no real power. Someone to make them feel good, so they could pretend we are a post racial America. Someone to lecture black folks about personal responsibility.

I'm going to assume President Obama honestly thought he would allowed to govern when he took the oath of office on that January day in 2009. I also assume he thought republicans would work with him. Little did he know Rush Limbaugh and Company were already planning his failure. Mission Accomplished. The first African American President is a failure, so we don't have to worry about this little social experiment again. I fear after President Obama, there will never be another African American President.

White people are truly scared of Obama. On one hand they are scared he might enact policies that might improve conditions for African American and be the black President for black people only. and on the other hand, they are scared he's going to exact some kind of revenge for the way blacks have been treated by the white power structure.

There is a divide within the black community regarding President Obama. Recent polling indicate his approval has dropped from 95% to 85%. During the campaign blacks were discouraged from asking about issues that affect their community.

Liberal/Progressive whites who supported the President are through too.

Ronald Reagan famously quipped that the Democratic Party left him before he left the party. Like many progressive supporters of Barack Obama, I'm beginning to have the same feeling about this president.

Consider what we've seen since the shellacking Democrats took in the fall elections.

I thought President Obama was smart and was going to surround himself with smart people. I didn't know he would be so busy trying to keep his JOB he would forget to do his job.

It's not wise to throw your base under the bus. As the young people say, you better recognize.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. President Obama needs to get control of the message. He who controls the message controls the outcome.

I know that I am NOT culpable

SaintSatinStain, I respectfully disagree with your assertion we are all indirectly or just as responsible as Sarah Palin for the terrorism in Arizona. If I were allowed to post on Left in Alabama I would have posted this response there, but since I'm not I will post it here with HOPE you read and will respond accordingly.

You said;

You and I, along with some
politicians and public figures,
right and left, probably contribute
to the sickness with use
of the imagery of violence.

I don't use imagery of violence and I don't know of any democratic politicians or public figures who do. As Melissa Ewen of Shakesville says;

An anonymous commenter at Daily Kos and the last Republican vice presidential nominee are not equivalent, no matter how many ridiculously irresponsible members of the media would have us believe otherwise.

You said;

Public figures with a following
need to take special care
in what they say.

On this point I agree, however as Melissa points out again;

There is, demonstrably, no leftist equivalent to Sarah Palin, former veep candidate and presumed future presidential candidate, who uses gun imagery (rifle sights) and language ("Don't Retreat, RELOAD") to exhort her followers to action.

You said;

We all need to take care
in what we say in public
and in private.

I guess it depends on who WE IS. It's a slippery slope when some have to watch what they say and others don't.

There is no leftist equivalent to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a group which was created from the mailing list of the old white supremacist White Citizens Councils and has been noted as becoming increasingly "radical and racist" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which classifies the CCC as a hate group—and is nonetheless considered an acceptable association by prominent members of the Republican Party, including a a former senator and the last Republican presidential nominee.

You said;

Call folk on it whenever they use violence imagery, especially in political debate
and in the public space.

Again we agree people who use violent imagery should be called on it, however it can't be taken out of context, there is a difference in saying "I clean my flintlock and leave it loaded by the door." as an imagery to express the strength of your feelings about our racial and racist past and telling people if you can't win at the ballot box, use bullets.

There is no leftist equivalent to Glenn Beck, host of a long-running nationally syndicated radio show, former host of a show on CNN and current host of a show on Fox, best-selling author, DC rally organizer, and longtime user of eliminationist rhetoric, including equating universal health care to rape, joking about victims of forest fires being America-hating liberals, comparing Al Gore to Hitler, condoning the murder of Michael Moore, accusing Holocaust survivor George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator, joking about poisoning Nancy Pelosi, equating immigration reform with burning US citizens alive, publicly endorsing violent revolution, and winkingly telling his viewers not to get violent, all of which amounts to a speck on the tip of a very big iceberg.

You said;

Believe in self defence
and defence of others, such as the weak,
but don't talk it, especially in public.
It may influence others, others
who don't perceive nuance real
and imagined.

What good is believing in self-defense and the defense of others if you can't talk about it? How you are you going to defend yourself and the weak with silence? IMHO that's why we're in this mess because those who believe in self-defense and the defense of others are silenced.

There is no leftist equivalent to Ann Coulter, best-selling author and syndicated columnist, who has been a panelist on Fox's Hannity 28 times and was on Hannity & Colmes an additional 18 times, who has been a guest multiple times on The O'Reilly Factor, Geraldo at Large, Larry King Live, Huckabee, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Hardball, and other cable news shows, has made appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, and Real Time with Bill Maher, and has co-hosted The View, and has also said that a baseball bat is "the most effective way" to talk to liberals, as well as: "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too." And: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building." And: "In [Clinton's] recurring nightmare of a presidency, we have a national debate about whether he 'did it,' even though all sentient people know he did. Otherwise there would be debates only about whether to impeach or assassinate."

You said;

No ambiguity in cross hairs, especially when used in targeting context.

Rationalizations, such as claim that it's surveyors' cross hairs, are disingenuous, spurious, and profane.

Per Melissa Ewen;

This is not an argument there is no hatred, no inappropriate and even violent rhetoric, among US leftists. There is.

This is evidence that, although violent rhetoric exists among US leftists, it is not remotely on the same scale, and, more importantly, not an institutionally endorsed tactic, as it is among US right wingers.

This is a fact. It is not debatable.

I will not apologize for standing up to the right-wing bully's. I am not culpable and neither are you.

The shooting in Tucson was not an anomaly. It was an inevitability.

And as long as we continue to play this foolish game of "both sides are just as bad," and rely on trusty old ablism to dismiss Jared Lee Loughner as a crackpot—dutifully ignoring that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators; carefully pretending that the existence of people with mental illness who are potentially dangerous somehow absolves us of responsibility for violent rhetoric, as opposed to serving to underline precisely why it's irresponsible—it will be inevitable again.

Democrats are the ones under attack. Democrats who defend the defenseless.

Congressman Danny Davis reportedly received a threatening email following Saturday's shooting rampage in Arizona.

U.S. Rep. Davis, a Democrat from Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune the email was sent to a staffer and read "Danny Davis is next," likely referencing the Saturday shooting. Davis' staff then notified the authorities.

That's not my fault or your fault. WE are not the ones culpable.

Since Rep. Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ) and others were shot in Tucson, AZ this weekend, Sarah Palin has received renewed criticism for a map her PAC posted last year with gun cross-hairs over the districts of several Democrats who voted for health care reform — including Giffords’. Hours after the shooting, Fox News — which employs Palin — aired scenes from a vigil in Phoenix, but when one mourner appeared to began to call out Palin’s incendiary rhetoric, the Fox feed abruptly went to commercial.

Nor is Keith Olberman for calling them out and telling the world who they are and what they stand for.

If President Obama had listened to the "Professional Left" we wouldn't be in this mess

According to Liz Sidoti and Jeffinfer Aglesta the results of the midterm election are proof Obama's party is in trouble with independents. I don't know why Obama's party is in trouble with so called "independents", he did everything but bend over and kiss their rear ends.

Near the midpoint of his presidency, Barack Obama's diverse voter coalition reveals giant cracks and he faces major work repairing his standing among independents in states crucial to his re-election chances. Catholics. Older people. Women. Young adults. They shifted toward Republicans in this month's elections and failed to support Obama's Democratic Party as they did in 2008.

Two years before voters render judgment on his tenure, Obama's most critical task may be winning back those who aren't affiliated with a party but who hold enormous sway in close contests. National exit polls from the midterm elections show these voters broke heavily for Republicans after helping elect Obama and Democrats in the two previous elections.

Psst President Obama! Independents are really republicans who are ashamed to call themselves republicans. They are not, and will never be your friend. You stand for everything thing they oppose. You need to stop listening to the gaggle heads and listen to us Professional Leftys. You need to surround yourself with some real Political Scientist and kick the clueless consultants and their enablers to the curb.

Watching CNN's gaggle of idiots – and I do mean gaggle, as there were at least 15 of them rotating through an archipelago of tables while Anderson Cooper was forced to play ringmaster – "explain" the election last Tuesday was enough to drive me to drink. They were absolutely obsessed with thematic explanations and sweeping claims of mandates and referendums. A referendum on health care reform. On Obama. On government spending. A mandate for Change. For the Tea Party. For John Boehner. A sign of voters' anger. Or their fears. Or their desperation. Or their impatience. Basically they did what the media do best – vomit a dozen explanations at the camera and let viewers pick whichever they most prefer.

The blue dogs and their progressive enablers just don't get it.

And that is the real story of the 2010 elections. Blue Dogs have traditionally won by voting in such a business-friendly way that they can swamp their opponents with corporate cash. This year, Karl Rove made sure their opponents were competitive. So, without a huge cash advantage, they had to run on their records. And their records sucked, because they wouldn't defend the good their party had done, and they actually bad-mouthed what their party had done. If I'm a socially conservative person of modest means, the only way I'm voting for the Democrat is if it's clear to me that he or she is going to side with me against the fat cats who ruined the economy.

One thing I can say about the gop, they vote for candidates who share their ideology regardless of the color or their skin. Modern day Minstrel show here we come.

Defying the odds, West and Scott were the only two winners of the 32 black Republican candidates seeking seats in the U.S. House this year. By surviving, they are poised to command the spotlight as soon as they arrive in Washington. No doubt they will be in great demand by conservative television and talk radio, offering up living proof that the GOP has a drop of melanin in its lily-white portrait. Scott, in particular, landed a plumb assignment within the first week of his victory. He’s one of three incoming freshmen legislators appointed to the 22-member transition team that will craft House rules under the Republican leadership.

West and Scott are far-right conservatives who owe their seats to the Tea Party and its princess, Sarah Palin, who endorsed both of them. This will complicate their mission. They must embrace the Tea Party and the far-right wing of the GOP as it pushes traditionalists within the House leadership to the extremist margins of politics. All of this drama promises to make West and Scott must-see political theater.

Nancy Pelosi is the hero of the Professional Left because she stood up for our core values. Maybe that's why every DINO who ran against her LOST, why democrats lost the House, and almost lost the Senate.

You are not going to keep a majority if you don’t have core principles that the people know you are going to fight for. And they can’t be core principles that some will fight for; it has to be everyone or no one.

If there is one lesson democrats need from the midterm massacre its play to win. Another is don't throw your base under the bus and expect them to vote for you.

If the Republicans are so dumb, why are they winning? Clearly, the “know-thing” party understands some things a lot better than the Democrats – including the actual workings of race and racism in America. Meanwhile, the Democrats seem incapable of self-help. “Just one legislative triumph for working people would have been enough to give Democrats a margin for victory.”

The political landscape is dismal but I am not without hope. I am hopeful because we can still be resourceful. I am hopeful because we can still be creative. I am hopeful because we can still serve, taking what we have and making what we need. It is this hope with which I go forth to serve during this exacting moment in history.

EPILOGUE – Every victory contains the seeds of defeat. Every defeat contains the seeds of victory. We just have to find the seeds of victory, create the conditions so they will germinate, sprout and grow. Then we must cultivate them until they bear future fruits of victory.~AL State Senator Hank Sanders

The White Backlash has arrived. The gop infused, media enabled Tea Party managed to turn Hope for Change we can believe in to a black president leading the charge to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid and social security in the name of “deficit reduction,”.

We Professional Lefty's tried to tell you. Can you hear us now?