It’s been a pretty devastating start to the year, money wise, and the hits just keep on coming. Taxes, water bill, garbage pickup bill, wood pellets, the ongoing funding of my dentist’s kids’ college education and/or new yacht – all sandwiched around a pair of mortgage payments and of course winter utility bills. Oy. Nothing everybody else doesn’t have to deal with, of course. Well, people of my ilk, anyway. Plenty of people have much bigger problems than I do, and then of course there are the few, the proud – the wealthy. You know, those who have little to worry about, except how the government is taking all their money (and by “all” I mean a few million out of their hundreds of millions) and redistributing it to “those people” so they can’t go out and create jobs with it.

Yesterday, I noticed a post by Jill, wondering what the deal was with Obama (Buddha bless her, she still manages to crank out the outrage; I’ve just been too darned tired, myself).

Has Barack Obama just had enough of his thankless job and is essentially saying “Take this job and shove it”, or is he really living in so much of a bubble that he can’t hear anyone but Republicans and Washington pundits?
[…]
Because unless we are all being misled somehow, it’s very likely that in his upcoming State of the Union address, the President Of All Wall Street is going to talk about “tough choices” and “having an adult conversation” and “belt tightening” — all in the context of cutting Social Security.

Personally, I think it’s just that Obama is a politically (not personally; I’m sure he’s a very moral fella) soulless corporatist, and always has been. Sure, he’s a lot more intelligent and a bit more benevolent than the last idiot we had, but he’s a friend to Wall St and a believer in giving working people the invisible finger of the market while willing to compromise on, well, anything and everything (whether he needs to or not). In fact, I would say that, while Dubya was a believer in preventative war (you know, attacking another country just in case it may, some day, attack you – or at least might have some shit you want), Obama is a big believer in preventative compromise.

In a lot of ways, he’s kind of like America’s first black Bill Clinton.

I think we all saw what we wanted to see in Obama. Some saw a radical liberal socialist Nigerian Candidate. Part of a vast Communist conspiracy that began with planting fake birth notices in Hawaiian newspapers 50 years ago (crafty bastards; it’s no wonder they control the world).

Some saw the second coming of the Black Panthers, determined to rid the world of the scourge of the White Devil (especially evil, given that it would make Obama a traitor to his white mother and grandparents and whatnot).

There are those convinced that Obama is an undercover Mooslam bent on destroying the Christianity he professes to espouse, by allowing Mosques to be built wherever them people (and by “them people,” I of course refer to the damn dirty A-rabs) want to build them.

Then of course there are those of us who saw an intelligent, articulate (dare I say, “clean”) person who was perhaps not the progressive candidate we desired, but at least somebody who would undo most (or at least much) of the really bad shit that the last bunch inflicted upon the world.

Sadly, we got, well, we got what we got. And most of us godless librul types probably figure it’s the best we can possibly (realistically) do in this day and age (I mean, it’s pretty easy to say you saw it all coming ahead of time, but what was the alternative? Hillary? Maybe. She would probably have been much tougher – but not a whole lot more progressive – and I think she at least would have tossed a few more scraps to the progressive base than Obama has, but you never really know how these people will turn out until they’re in office. Hell, I still contend that John Edwards would have been the pick of the litter – the hell with his private peccadilloes).

Obama’s not all bad, of course.

At the very least, I don’t squirm with embarrassment when he speaks, and I have yet to see him attempt to exit stage left via a locked door. But, in his own way, Obama may just do more damage than Bush – dismantling the New Deal all by himself, while (thanks to the relentless drumming of the rightwing noise machine) ensuring Right Wing control of the Executive and Legislative branches of government for at least a decade (the Judicial is pretty much locked up at this point; Dubya’s youngish wingnuts will be there for as long as I live, I think, and the best we can hope for from Obama are nominees that reflect his style of governance – tepid, if not timid, “moderates.” Just like his choice for the “beer summit” – I mean, Bud Light? Really? At the very least, he should have gone for a Colt 45 40 in a paper bag; now that woulda gotten Rush Limbaugh going).

But, for me, I find it hard to get all worked up these days. I’m just layin’ low, waitin’ to go here. Just let me keep my job that I don’t really care for anymore so I can be a good little consumer taxpayer, getting all excited by the prospect of two whole days off every week (where I can try and catch up on my chores, if not sleep).

Speaking of which, it’s Friday, ya bastids! :boobs: