Cue Morbs:
Barack Obama was "bullshitting" his opposition to gay marriage and support for civil unions during his 2008 presidential campaign, according to a new book authored by former senior White House adviser David Axelrod.
Time magazine reported Tuesday that the longtime Obama confidant said in his new book, "Believer: My Forty Years in Politics," that he counseled then-senator Obama to soften his position on gay marriage for political reasons.
"Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a ‘sacred union,’” Axelrod wrote, as quoted by Time.
Obama had stated his support for legalizing gay marriage on a 1996 questionnaire while running for the Illinois state Senate. But he said repeatedly on the campaign trail in 2008 that he believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Publicly stating opposition to gay marriage took its toll on Obama, who Axelrod wrote "routinely stumbled over the question when it came up in debates or interviews."
"I’m just not very good at bullshitting," Obama told Axelrod after one of those events, as quoted by Time.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:15 (nine years ago) link
When it comes time to campaign, they all have to defer to the Christan right, and most of them capitulate. I don't think anything is going to change until someone has the balls to confront them.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:44 (nine years ago) link
or the cunt
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link
did anyone ever believe he was opposed to gay marriage? what in his background would indicate such a socially conservative position? what was the point?
― Treeship, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:53 (nine years ago) link
his 1995 position was well known in 2004.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:54 (nine years ago) link
has gotten way better at bullshitting (see odious New Mexico refugee detentions piece in last Sunday's NYT Mag, as he makes mewling sounds about migrant children)
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 15:35 (nine years ago) link
a reminder that obama is good at alienating allies outside the middle east too:http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/americas-frustration-with-south-korea/
― Mordy, Wednesday, 11 March 2015 13:47 (nine years ago) link
Almost as nauseating apologizing for "collateral damage" as he is for causing it, ain't he?
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 April 2015 03:09 (nine years ago) link
As always, it depends upon the apology and what's behind it. Maintaining an empire through military force is always pretty nauseating. Somebody said back a few centuries ago (I could track down the quote, if necessary) that 'the ruler who cannot dissimulate his feelings cannot rule for long'.
― Giant Purple Wakerobin (Aimless), Friday, 24 April 2015 05:46 (nine years ago) link
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/07/14/obama-i-m-like-nixon-reagan.html
― Mordy, Wednesday, 15 July 2015 17:24 (eight years ago) link
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/15/opinion/15friedman1web/15friedman1web-videoSixteenByNine1050.jpg
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 15 July 2015 17:26 (eight years ago) link
pres obama: *don't look at his jowls don't look at his jowls*thomas friedman: in my book the world is flat--pres obama: i read your weakass book, jowlface *shit*
― not a garbageman, i am garbage, man (m bison), Thursday, 16 July 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
obama describing a globe w his hands there; tom not buying it
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 July 2015 07:37 (eight years ago) link
has advisers who say
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/us/politics/with-high-profile-help-obama-plots-life-after-presidency.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
Ideally, one adviser said, a person in Kenya could put on a pair of virtual reality goggles and be transported to Mr. Obama’s 2008 speech on race in Philadelphia.
― j., Monday, 17 August 2015 00:55 (eight years ago) link
.. do you not reckon they might be interested?
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 17 August 2015 13:11 (eight years ago) link
they can watch it on their phones like everyone else
― j., Monday, 17 August 2015 13:28 (eight years ago) link
Mr. Spielberg held the president spellbound, guests said, when he spoke about the use of technology to tell stories.
― marcos, Monday, 17 August 2015 15:26 (eight years ago) link
Flaw: likes vodka "martinis."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 August 2015 15:29 (eight years ago) link
after three of them, he starts saying "Thatsh a Shmith & Wesshon, and you've had your shix."
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 August 2015 15:33 (eight years ago) link
so TRUMP is his fault now too
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/opinion/sunday/from-obama-to-trump.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
in a way though this idiot is right. if O hadn't burned captain combover so mercilessly at the white house correspondents' dinner all those years ago, maybe captain combover wouldn't have been as motivated to enter the ring?
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 28 February 2016 14:29 (eight years ago) link
that's a feature, not a bug
― Sith Dog (El Tomboto), Sunday, 28 February 2016 15:02 (eight years ago) link
keep in mind he gets to do exactly the same thing, over and over again, a few months from now, when he endorses his successor and gets into the campaign
― Sith Dog (El Tomboto), Sunday, 28 February 2016 15:03 (eight years ago) link
I agree that the next one will be worse.
http://theweek.com/articles/621947/why-ill-miss-obama
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2016 14:42 (eight years ago) link
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-waives-ban-on-aiding-regimes-that-use-child-soldiers/article/2536609
― Mordy, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 05:42 (eight years ago) link
I would guess they have already been breaking that for a while given the involvement in Yemen.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 08:05 (eight years ago) link
really, giving a medal to Kissinger is admirably consistent
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 11:25 (eight years ago) link
imho restricting the ability of the President to conduct foreign policy by legislating static lists of named countries is a stupid way of doing business and will produce exactly these results every time
― bothan zulu (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 11:36 (eight years ago) link
It's so thoroughly bizarre to denounce Obama for his foreign policy when that's one of the incredible progressive highlights of his time in office. Do people not remember what our global reputation was when he took office?
I think he's been way worse on education policy and cybersecurity but there the bar for modern Presidenting is low to nonexistent
― bothan zulu (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 12:45 (eight years ago) link
Libya and our involvement in the Arab Spring scream "progressive foreign policy" but I couldn't call it a success.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 12:50 (eight years ago) link
Obama has the best foreign policy of any American president in a loooong time, but that is a low bar. Also, he inherited a world in financial breakdown, which has made for a lot of upheaval these 8 years. He hasn't always handled that upheaval very well, and the drone program is a big blemish, but. Could have been a lot worse. Will be a lot worse, with either Clintons hawkishness or Trump/Sanders complete cluelessness at the helm.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:00 (eight years ago) link
unceasing drone war also progressive, tho in a different sense
http://i0.wp.com/www.ghostcultmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/artificialbrain-800x800-400x400.jpg
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:01 (eight years ago) link
I'm not the foaming Iraq-totally-has-WMDs-you-guys tool of the MIC that I was in 2003 but I don't believe the demands of statecraft in the foreseeable future are ever going to allow for a truly "progressive" foreign policy wherein everybody gets along except the bad guys and nobody ever has to be blown up
― bothan zulu (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:13 (eight years ago) link
It's also important to recognize that intervention and adventuring are never going to have better than a coin flip chance of being even relatively successful at not making stuff worse; Obama did recognize this and by most accounts has done an excellent job keeping the US out of "stupid shit" where others have all been pressing for boots on the ground etc
― bothan zulu (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:18 (eight years ago) link
we flipped the coin in libya, ukraine and syria
― goole, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:41 (eight years ago) link
'It's also important to recognize that intervention and adventuring are never going to have better than a coin flip chance of being even relatively successful at not making stuff worse;'
This is obviously untrue.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 13:44 (eight years ago) link
relative to what is probably a question that needs answering there.
― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 14:01 (eight years ago) link
sub "proceeding idiotically from lies, hubris and bad intelligence" for "intervention and adventuring", and coin-flip odds look good
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 14:12 (eight years ago) link
I don't believe the demands of statecraft in the foreseeable future are ever going to allow for a truly "progressive" foreign policy wherein everybody gets along except the bad guys and nobody ever has to be blown up
― bothan zulu (El Tomboto), Wednesday, May 11, 2016 6:13 AM (58 minutes ago)
don't think this is what we typically mean by "progressive foreign policy"
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 14:13 (eight years ago) link
think he means "progressively worse"
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 14:14 (eight years ago) link
pimps for mega-trade deals in commencement speeches
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 May 2016 14:16 (eight years ago) link
back in Deporter of Women and Children mode
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-immigration-raids-20160512-snap-story.html
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 May 2016 14:17 (eight years ago) link
wtf is going on here
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 May 2016 14:35 (eight years ago) link
I think he's been a good president overall, would take a third term. Still something rubs me the wrong way about his hemmy-hawy answers to questions, like when he's trying to sound folksy and intellectual at the same time and his voice gets all caught up in his nose and jaw. I think he has a touch of the same "insincere" quality that Hillary has worse, and this may contribute to the right's dislike of him, though there are more obvious reasons why the right dislikes him. The only thing GWB was really any good at was seeming like himself.
― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Monday, 13 June 2016 15:46 (eight years ago) link
late examples may also just be a sign of the fatigue of the presidency, perhaps a touch of mild depression or a feeling of having to go through the motions.
― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Monday, 13 June 2016 15:47 (eight years ago) link
yes he seems increasingly more weary and beaten down with every shooting. which is kind of what I would want in a President. I do think he's been a great president. I am frustrated by the lack of progress in some respects but I think he's done what he could given how much internal opposition he faces on basically everything he tries to do, I've never seen anything like it.
― frogbs, Monday, 13 June 2016 15:56 (eight years ago) link
i'm confused and upset by his immigration enforcement actions and the fucking drone strikes, i don't get how it squares with what he says he wants to achieve in the world
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 13 June 2016 16:08 (eight years ago) link
I think he sees himself as a logical centrist, and therefore drone strikes to him are a middle ground between sending troops in which could result in more deaths to both civilians and US troops; and doing nothing which, while keeping the US from being involved with directly killing civilians, will allow extremists to terrorize and kill civilians and others around the world
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 June 2016 18:45 (eight years ago) link
I don't think drone strikes and immigration enforcement are things he has to square!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 June 2016 18:46 (eight years ago) link
But I think he would make an argument for it squaring with what he wants to achieve in the world, if he had too
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 June 2016 18:50 (eight years ago) link