Gibbs defense of Obama alienates the “left”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs blasted the “professional left” yesterday in an interview with The Hill (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left) saying that liberals in the U.S. “would never regard anything the president did as good enough.”
My take: it’s Gibbs’ job to protect the president. I can understand him feeling defensive at a time like this. The president’s popularity is down in the dumps and dropping. Republicans, Tea Partiers and so many haters from around the U.S. are not making it easy for the Prez either – at every opportunity they try to step on Obama’s cojones. And this is done, it’s important to note, knowing full well that they may be doing great harm to the country itself. The strategy, though, seems to be, “Fuck’em if it means Obama doesn’t get reelected in 2012 while we recuperate the Congress in 2010.”
OK, so let’s agree that Obama and his people are in the hot seat and getting zinged from all sides.
What Gibbs needs to realize before he alienates the left (even more) that helped elect the first black president in 2008… first, he (Gibbs) says, “They will [never] be satisfied … [until] we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”
Eliminating the Pentagon may be a stretch, but why not a Canadian-style healthcare system? The truth of the matter is that during the health care reform (which many now call a windfall for insurance companies) debate the president never once stood and defended a public option or a single payer system (which he called the best option, but… without defending it). As a good and stout liberal this fact bothered me. As for the Pentagon, I wouldn’t ask the prez to do away with that white elephant across the river from Washington, but why is the military always getting, getting and getting some more, while budgets are being slashed for education, the arts, the country’s infrastructure, health care, and so many other programs so vital to the health and vitality of our country?
The fact is that if I had to vote for president today, my vote would go to Obama again. I don’t see anyone else on the horizon. Although, as Mr. Gibbs mentioned, I would prefer a Dennis Kucinich (a true liberal) to Mr. Obama.
Beside the fact that I’d vote for him, though, to date, I am very disappointed with the President’s performance. I agree with those who say that the president often demonstrates a “loser’s mentality” and Obama seems to cave in way too often without a fight.
Mr. Prez, wake up! You’ll never convince the republicans… what they’re after is your head.
Alvaro F. Fernandez
