{"id":6504,"date":"2011-11-10T06:13:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T11:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningseditionists.com\/msblog\/?p=6504"},"modified":"2011-11-10T08:26:35","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T13:26:35","slug":"sorry-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.morningseditionists.com\/msblog2\/2011\/11\/10\/sorry-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’d never have thought that you could make me feel sorry for Rick Perry. The maple syrup thing came close. I didn’t feel sorry for him over that, but I did feel kinda embarrassed. Last night’s debate did it though. Or, rather, the clip they just played from last night did<\/a>. As the lo-cal news anchor just remarked, “dude, write it down!” In fairness, I guess he would so<\/em><\/strong> cut the Department of Energy that it’s already dead to him. <\/p>\n

I also never thought you could make me feel sorry for Joe Paterno, but, well, I can’t help it. Whether you think he deserved to be fired (or worse) for what he failed to do, and even if you’ve spent a lifetime “hating” Penn State the way I have (not a real<\/em><\/strong> hate, but a “Sports” hate; I do, however, really<\/em><\/strong> hate Notre Dame and Georgetown), I don’t see how you can’t feel sorry for this sad old man who probably should have retired a few years ago, and who should be remembered for many other things, but will now be remembered for about the worst thing you can possibly be remembered for. <\/p>\n

Talk about retire and die – I don’t see Joe Pa living for very long after this.<\/p>\n

The Senate will be debating the repeal of Net Neutrality rules today<\/a>. It shouldn’t be a worry, as President Half-A-Loaf’s administration made the strongest statement it’s capable of making, saying he’d “likely” veto it. <\/p>\n

“Likely” is, after all, a full notch above “evolving” on the Obama “take a stand” scale. <\/p>\n

I’ll believe it when I see it, and won’t be surprised if he doesn’t cave when push comes to shove. Because, let’s face it, cave is what he does. <\/p>\n

Oh, sure, while it only takes a simple majority to control the House (not a majority of people who pretend to be Democrats, of course, as many of them are just Republicans who figured they’d have a better shot of getting elected with a ‘D’ after their name), you need 60 people willing to vote as they’re told to in the Senate. And Obama has never had that.<\/p>\n

So, of course, he pre-caved on every issue that came up. <\/p>\n

My big disappointment with Obama is not that he isn’t liberal enough or that I don’t agree with him on every issue, or that I don’t think McCain\/Palin wouldn’t have been a disaster, or that he could have pushed for a debt increase back when Democrats were in the “majority” in both Houses of Congress (but, yeah, that one could have happened), or that I think it’s guaranteed that he could have gotten a better deal on, say, health care reform had he not offered the Republicans everything they wanted and then negotiated down from there, or even that there haven’t been some good (ish) things that have happened during his term.<\/p>\n

No, my disappointment is more that some people rise to the occasion, and some don’t. And he hasn’t. I always used to think that that whole “leadership” quality thing was a bunch of bullshit, but now? Not so much.<\/p>\n

It’s one of those things I might not be able to define, but I can sure tell when it’s missing. And with Obama, it’s definitely missing. Except when it comes to shooting Somali pirates or “getting” Osama. When it comes to using drones to kill people, he’s pretty much down with that – no wishy-washy qualms about civilian casualties or international borders or assassination laws. I’ll give him credit there.<\/p>\n

Frankly, it seems like so much of what “good” Obama has actually accomplished has been as a result of being forced (or shamed) into doing it (after analyzing poll results, no doubt) – and not by the people who apologize for him and make excuses, but by the “ideologically pure” unreasonable people who have been saddened by what they see as a missed opportunity that may be a long time in coming again – if it ever comes at all. Not that I count myself among those people, of course (shit, if I thought anybody was paying attention to what I say – never mind cared about my opinion – I wouldn’t say half of it. And I’d proofread the other half). <\/p>\n

I don’t do much of anything but complain and try to pay my bills and run out the clock on what’s left of my life hoping I can keep my mind-numbing job so I can go sit in a windowless office all day (70 degrees yesterday, and I saw none of it) and get a couple days off every week and maybe retire a few years before I die. For the most part, I try not to pay attention anymore.<\/p>\n

Sorry, but I seem to have developed an inability (for the most part) to care about politics or Climate Change or Wall Street or – especially – the 30% of the 99% who are stupid enough to vote to slit their own throats. I think it’s because I don’t sleep any more and I’m just too damn tired all the time. <\/p>\n

So, yeah, Obama hasn’t had a reliable caucus in Congress, and the media is against him, and the Republicans are obstructionists, and he inherited a huge pile of shit both at home and around the world, and in some respects I guess it’s amazing anything<\/em><\/strong> good has happened during his administration. <\/p>\n

I guess there are a million reasons why Obama has been ineffective.<\/p>\n

Unlike Rick Perry and Joe Paterno, though, I’m not feeling particularly sorry for him this morning.<\/p>\n

OK, to be honest, I’m not really feeling sorry for Rick Perry, either.<\/p>\n