what are barack obama's flaws?

"A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?"

Contrary to popular misconception, this microphone gaffe was not broadcast over the air, but rather leaked later to the general populace. But the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported in October 1984 that the Soviet Far East Army was placed on alert after word of the statement got out, and that the alert was not withdrawn until 30 minutes later.

Ronald Reagan @thegipper - 1m
What's #AIDS? I don't have it, do you? #hilarity

(http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/12/aids-white-house-larry-speakes-joke-press-briefing-1982.html)

make that

Retweeted by Ronald Reagan
Larry Speakes @presssec - Oct. 15
What's #AIDS? I don't have it, do you?

WalMart is leading the way to our green future.

fwiw I hate Walmart with a passion, have never set foot in one etc. but their energy efficiency and renewables program really have been v forward-thinking

other bits:

Q: Governor, do you think homosexuals shoud be barred from public office in the United States?

A: Certainly they should be barred from the department of beaches and parks.

"We were told four years ago that 17 million people wen to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet."

In contrast to reading Ishmael Reed's interview with George Schuyler this afternoon:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/38965/ishmael-reed-all-the-demons-of-american-racism-are-rising-from-the-sewer

http://gawker.com/president-obama-cut-in-line-for-barbecue-in-texas-1603270179

"I feel real bad, but—"

classic barry

ENTER Morbius, with a grudge.

trivia is boring

franklin's is dope tho

I need to give them another try, but I gotta admit that their appeal eluded me the one time I went. It was certainly good, but not as good as a variety of other BBQ joints in and around town that don't make you wait in line for an hour in 105-degree weather and don't run out of various items before noon.

i mean its no salt lick or even ruby's, but damn if i'm not tired of the NC garbage i get up here

The insane hype around Franklin mystifies me, but I guess I just need to try it again. I recently went to a family wedding in California and a whole bunch of people were asking me about Franklin.

I have a deep and abiding love for both Salt Lick and Ruby's. I took a college pal to Ruby's for lunch when he visited recently and the place was empty, but the food was amazing! Why don't they get more love? I guess people want something new.

ruby's is my fave tbh if only because its the only bbq joint to make a policy of feeding touring musicians

http://i.imgur.com/8WRQPXf.gif

hypno.......tic

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/1653073/black-or-white-mj-o.gif

more bromwich:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n13/david-bromwich/the-worlds-most-important-spectator

pretty good rundown of how half-assed everything turns out. but in the end i don't know how this analysis differs from ron fournier.

the specifics of his charges aside, this guy is a good writer. i especially like:

Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, presents himself as another adoptive and grateful American of Cuban descent (though born in Canada). He bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Joe McCarthy – a clean-shaven, teetotal McCarthy, without the jowl and the after-hours squint. Cruz talks smoothly and skilfully, always in a tone of accusation: a manner that one might suppose had passed with the death of McCarthy, but nationalist rage and resentment have a melody that lingers on.

a few instances of passive voice keep this from being a real success, and I question this insistence on Obama's poor relations with congressional Dems; we'll know when the bios are published.

Something to chew on: A perilous and unspoken accord in American politics has grown up while no one was looking, which unites the liberal left and the authoritarian right. They agree in their unquestioning support of a government without checks or oversight; and it is the Obama presidency that has cemented the agreement. The state apparatus which supports wars and the weapons industry for Republicans yields welfare and expanded entitlements for Democrats. The Democrats take to the wars indifferently but are willing to accept them for what they get in return. The Republicans hate the entitlements and all that goes by the name of welfare, but they cannot escape the charge of hypocrisy when they vote for ever-enlarging military entitlements.

This sounds like it was true in 1988.

i'm probably overrating bromwich a bit but i feel like so much political writing these days is pitched at the same tone of apocalyptic hysteria that it's a relief to find someone saying these things in a calm and reasonable way.

a few instances of passive voice keep this from being a real success

hah this sentence was spoken in a tweedy baritone i hope

rubbed the corduroy off my elbow patches from leaning on table too long

The passive voice is no more egregious than actively attributing specific thoughts and emotions to huge, vague abstractions, such as ''most christians', 'all right-thinking people' or 'white liberals'.

he IS motherfucking Dubya.

‏@ggreenwald
Some nice folks tortured some other folks. But we shouldn't judge them and definitely shouldn't punish them

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/01/obama-cia-torture-some-folks-brennan-spying

Obama Told Aides He's 'Really Good At Killing People,' New Book 'Double Down' Claims

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/03/obama-drones-double-down_n_4208815.html

we can't even be sure it's his birthday today, can we?

found myself wondering this the other day -- what quotes are ppl going to associate with obama in the future?

considering how excited so many ppl were back in 2009 to have a smart, literate, well-read president, i'm hard-pressed to think of many memorable things he's actually said since then. most of us would instantly associate FDR, JFK, LBJ, nixon, reagan, even W with two or three memorable lines -- i can't think of anything for obama.

i guess 'we tortured some folks' is a contender, sadly.

Thanks Tut, Gramps, Choom Gang, and Ray for all the good times.

LATERS

"Folks have gotta settle down."

Those song mash-ups, maybe--he'll be singing "Fancy" or "Blurred Lines" or "Call Me Maybe" staccato.

The first part of this is depressing to revisit, but lol at max's vivid fanfic from April 30, 2008

This thread, I meant

the audacity of hope

'likeable enough'

so now he's just going and betraying the constitution

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/opinion/obamas-betrayal-of-the-constitution.html?smid=tw-share&_r=4

http://i.imgur.com/kWYUV4Z.png?1?7534

yea this whole thing has been wildly disappointing, some victories aside. should've known better though than to expect a lot. also he was still the best electable person running in 08, doesn't say much though.

my favorite thing on earth is the hilary fans in my life keening for the day she's president, as though she'd lead us into the light rather than tweak the crosshairs

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-meltdown/

i know a lot of enthusiastic pro-hillary dems but they're probably to the right of yr hillary fans

I'm not sure I agree with the estimable Commentary writer about the missile shield/Poland and citing Israel's disappointment re our changing Iran policy.

Yet, with the qualified exception of the liberal-democratic model, each of these systems wound up collapsing of its own weight—precisely the reason Dean Acheson, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and the other postwar statesmen “present at the creation” understood the necessity of the Truman Doctrine, the Atlantic Alliance, containment, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and all the rest of the institutional and ideological architecture of America’s post–World War II leadership. These were men who knew that isolationism, global-disarmament pledges, international law, or any other principle based on “common humanity” could provide no lasting security against ambitious dictatorships and conniving upstarts. The only check against disorder and anarchy was order and power. The only hope that order and power would be put to the right use was to make sure that a preponderance of power lay in safe, benign, and confident hands.

ok stop

obv there's plenty to disagree w/ there - commentary is not exactly ilx-spectrum politics. but i think there's a strong case there too, or at least a fun enough one to read that it deserves inclusion on this illustrious thread.

hasn't morphed into Dysentery yet?