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The Left after Obama…Losing Power?

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Just a look at what the rightwingnuts are trolling over at Erick Erickson’s Resurgent...

Eric C Carver

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Leftism, under Obama and after him, is still the same, malcontent ideology.

Ever since Donald Trump was elected, the left has been in a free fall into utter insanity. They have become ever more belligerent, more obnoxious, and more angry. From labelling Trump supporters as deplorable, racists, sexists, and whatever else sounds damning, in failure they know no grace or calmness.

The left has a couple of defining traits: smugness and arrogance. Anyone who has debated . . . rather, gotten yelled at for thinking differently by a leftist in the last several years knows the familiar decorum: you’re a racist! You’re a bigot! You hate women! You’re a homophobe! You’re an insane fool who prays to a fake Sky Daddy! You’re the reason America sucks! This country will never get better we get rid of religion and focus on science! And so on.

Another perfect example of leftist smugness and arrogance is none other than our 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama was reportedly “shook” by the 2016 election results. “What if we were wrong,” he asked his national security advisor, Ben Rhodes (a failed fiction writer turned national security expert, because why not). “What if we pushed too hard,” he continued. After eight years of a president that governed more like a leftist academician and less like an executive leader, whose experience before entering the Oval Office was a community organizer, adjunct professor, and senator who showed up to vote “present,” Obama seemed bewildered. After all, being that he wondered, “if I was 10 or 20 years too early,” it is quite clear that Obama believed that he, and his leftist idealistic presidency, was a gift that Americans just were too prideful, or racist, as the charge often becomes, to accept, appreciate, and celebrate.

That smugness and arrogance seemed to be a defining trait of his presidency. Remember, that same smugness and arrogance is a defining trait of leftism in general. You have an ideology that seems to compel its adherents to interject themselves into everything, unable to leave nothing alone. There is no aspect of life that leftism cannot reach its hands into and attempt to bend to its will. If anything seems to not be sufficiently leftist enough, then the ideologues will force it to become so.

Now you could say that Obama was a reflection of a growing leftist sentiment in this country. That is a fair assessment. I would submit, however, that Obama ended up being a facilitator of it. The Obama administration seemed to hit all the correct leftist policy marks: universal healthcare, redistributive economic policies, over-regulatory business practices, and rolling back military strength and funding, just to name a few. This was not exactly due to a belief in sound policy for a better America, however. This was to shift the culture.

What is American culture? Liberty, self-reliance, free markets, equal opportunity, individualism, patriotism, Judeo-Christian values, etc.. Leftist culture actually comes off as rather hard to swallow when presented honestly, thus the left figures the best vehicle for cultural change is governmental power. With the election of Barack Obama, the left had their moment. It was no coincidence that the left felt emboldened by his election: for all the ideological titles given him, Obama was an avowed, reliable leftist. He would no doubt govern as such…..

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  2. “Smugness and arrogance”

    Yep that’s only found among the left. Certainly a REPUBLICAN President enjoying record approval among conservative Republicans would never be as smug or arrogant to think he can pardon himself if he shoots someone or can grab any pussy he wants without reprisal. Yep, no smugness or areogance there!

    • not only among the left, but definitely a prominent feature with some. Trump acts like a NYC born and bred leftist in his rhetoric and approach to others.

      • …’ like a NYC born and bred leftist’?…

        REALLY????

        That IS really stretching things……

      • Bullshit! There’s literally nothing “leftist” about Donald Trump’s actions in 2018.

        • In regards to his flamboyant ways and demonization of anyone in his way. But yes, there’s also some Roy Cohn thrown into that.

          And his trade policies and desire for a meaningless smiley-face photo-op summit with a Communist dictator are decidedly leftist.

              • Saying things like, “America does a lot of killing too” and “you think we are so innocent? when comparing America to authoritarian regimes are staples of the Far Left.

                Supporting the impeachment of George W. Bush for “war crimes” is something else he has in common with the Far Left.

                • Well let me know when an actual leftist says and does all of those things.

                  Here in the real world all of those were done by a Republican President with overwhelming support from conservative Republicans.

                  This fairy tale argument of yours is silly and delusional. Even for you.

                  • Is demanding athletes stand for the anthem or else leave the country a “leftist tactic”??

                    • White nationalists are “very fine people” is now a “leftist tactic?

                      Silly

                    • Who is demanding they stand? Not the NFL. Let them stay in the locker room if they don’t want to stand.

                      Left or right, I think most Americans would want the athletes to stand during the anthems.

                    • Now, you are just going down a slippery slope.

                      White nationalists are not “very fine people” , Hamas are not “innocent victims” and Kim Jung Un is not “very honorable.”

                  • Another damning indictment of today’s
                    Republican Party.

                    We have been told that Republicans don’t “really” support Trump but are so angered by “libruls” and the media that they are for him simply because of these two groups being against him(that alone is fairly damning if you think about it)

                    Now,however, it gets better.

                    Now we are told that all this junk the Republican Party Leader spouts off?Just “leftist” talk..

                    Accordingly, Republicans now are so angered by the opposition of “libruls”(ie,Leftists) to their leader,who is spouting off “leftist” dogma that such doesn’t even matter to these uh “conservatives ” , that “leftist” dogma is now acceptable as long as it is spoken from the Leader.

                    Now,if you can follow this line of ,Hell I don’t know what to call it, then the only conclusion one can reach is that .either Republicans are just mindless cult followers of the Leader ,or they’re just a bunch of dumb bastards who are so full of hate for “libruls” that they will support someone who follows a “Librul” line as long as those they define as “libruls “don’t like him….

                    OR

                    You could just see this whole discussion is a bunch of Bullshit(see Scott@2:31)

                    • The Trump followers put it aside.

                      One thing they comfort themselves with as it relates to tariffs, appeasement of North Korea, whatever, is “it’s all just a negotiating tactic.”

                      They don’t think he will ever actually follow through with it.

                      The person whose head you would most want to examine to see this and who would demonstrate my point about Trump supporters is NYCMike, but he is too afraid to post here.

                    • This is not entirely unprecedented in recent American politics.

                      As late as 2012, polls showed that members of the African-American community were strongly opposed to legalizing same sex marriage and opposed it more so than white voters. That portion of the vote had made a difference in a statewide California referenda question, etc.

                      As soon as Barack Obama changed his mind on the issue, there was a beyond dramatic switch seen in polling among African-American voters. That portion of Obama’s base simply followed him as soon as he gave the sign.

                    • pretty much all demographic groups have been tending to support same sex marriage for at least 25 years- including blacks. Yes Obama’s support likely made same sex marriage happen sooner,but he is far from the only leader who had an impact. The GOP support for Putin is solely because of Trump.

                    • Interesting conversation here yesterday, sorry I missed it (not) as I was down in town phone banking for today’s primary. I will return this afternoon to help for few hours. But, I was either talking to answering machines or to people who had already voted. I mailed our ballots yesterday and they won’t be counted until later this week. Our mail-in process here may delay declaring winners and losers tonight.

                      We are regularly told that our friend from the Chicago suburbs is here to keep us honest. Yesterday I think we needed to keep him from becoming delusional.

                      First, it’s Harry Reid’s fault that Donald Trump became President, and now Donald Trump is really a leftist is disguise. Go figure.

                      But, just for giggles, let’s examine the second claim.

                      Donald Trump, the man from Queens New York (not exactly the Upper West Side of Manhattan), who took out full page ads in the Times to attack five young black boys of rape (after DNA exonerated them) and spent years claiming Barack Obama is a Kenyan is a leftist in disguise.

                      Really?

                      Nope, he just allows Republicans to feel good about their racism.

                      It must have been the leftist side of Trump that pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the guy who instructed his staff to racially profile Hispanics. Yep, the New York elitist side of Trump pardoned racist Dinesh D’Souza who has a 30 year history of racist and homophobic comments.

                      But, Trump is really a leftist who must have brainwashed an entire electorate to believe he really is simply a rock solid conservative Republican.

                      Or, maybe, just maybe, Trump is actually telling Republicans what they have always wanted to hear.

                      An April Quinnipac poll found that an overwhelming number of Republicans (82%) think Trump treats people of color with respect as he treats white people. Really? Tell that to the Philadelphia Eagles.

                      Trump is mainstreaming bigotry for Republicans and allowed them to see a new reality, one in which their hatred is not abhorrent, but something they can share with their President.

                      Gallup tells us that three quarters of the Republicans believe Trump provides the country with strong moral leadership. And, 70% of Republicans think the Trump Administration is ethical. It would take too long to recount all the ethical lapses that have already come out of this Administration. But, that’s what leftists do, right?

                      Yesterday’s work-a-day long rant made me wonder. If Trump is really a leftist, why hasn’t the conservative Republican majority in Congress taken steps to stop him from reeking all his liberal damage on the Nation?

                      Could it be that they are leftists too?

          • Trump, and Republicans in general. admire Putin not because he is a Communist, but because he is an authoritarian.

            • I was talking about Kim Jung Un. There is no evidence that Republicans in general “admire” Putin. Just the opposite .

                • We’ve had this discussion before on here. That is an old poll, before Trump kinda, sorta criticized Putin on some things and the vast majority Republicans, even in that survey, say they did not admire Putin.

                  Now, if this were a poll from back in the day regarding Democrats and Fidel Castro…

                    • He was a puppet of the Soviets when they existed and he was plenty threatening to the U.S. in his rhetoric.

                      He murdered American citizens in Cuba and murdered his own people and was a state sponsor of terror.

                      Many Democrats (and leftists around the world) had a weird fetish for me.

                    • and yes, a look at the facts will show that Castro did send troops to intervene in other countries just like Putin has in Ukraine.

                      Castro sent troops and funds to Bolivia for a Communist insurgency. He sent fighters to the Congo, to Somalia.. Cuba deployed troops to fight Israel in the Yom Kippur War, etc. etc. He funded insurgencies in El Salvador and Nicaragua. He intervened for years in Angola and what should be most familiar to Americans of Zreebs’ age is that he sent troops to Grenada to fight Americans there.

                    • To clarify, it is more correct to say that Fidel Castro murdered American citizens in international waters (in 1996) than to say he did so in Cuba.

                      That makes it even worse.

                    • “Sending troops is different than invading.”

                      That’s an interesting distinction. In any event, the same parallels are there between Castro’s Cuba and Putin’s Russia.

                      Of course for years, Fidel Castro allowed nuclear missiles within his country that were pointed at the U.S. They were almost used once when you were very young.

                    • Russian Missles in Cuba for years?

                      No

                      THAT IS NOT TRUE AT ALL….

                      The introduction of Russian missles to Cuba and their hasty removal occurred over a few MONTHS…..

                      Get it Right CG….

                      Sending troops to a Foreign Country is NOT. A invasion
                      The US. Has troops in over 50 countries around the plant none of which we invested

                      Gosh
                      Get it RIGHT!

                    • My personal definition would be that any introduction of ground troops classifies an “invasion.”

                    • Not one of my smartest bcomnenrts. I was thinking of Raw in 2012, not 2002. Perhaps your definition is appropriate. I don,t want to defend Castro, but I consider Putin worse. I don’t think Castro was trying to grab lands.

                    • Yes, the U.S. obviously invaded Iraq, for the distinct purpose of regime change (the second time) which is pretty unusual for us. I think it was the right thing to do.

                      You have some odd definitions.

                    • Yes on Iraq
                      Though
                      The reason give by Bush for going into Iraq was the weapons of Mass Distruction….
                      THAT did turn out to be bull shit….

                    • At this point we know of know circumstance where Putin, as horrific as he is, has murdered American citizens or caused the death of Americans.

                      Castro killed four American citizens in cold blood in 1996, on top of his lifetime of other atrocities and terrorism.

                    • james, I try to show a lot of patience with you. You need to let up on the insults. You are in no position to lecture anyone here or question them.

                    • I’m not lecturing you…..

                      But some of the stuff you fronted today is simply NOT True….

                      I get beat up all the time…

                      You need to relax and enjoy the ride….

                    • Actually I am unsure what CG and James are disagreeing about.

                      It seems to me that they are in agreement.

                      CGs whole “deal” yesterday afternoon was thatTrump is really a “leftist,”and has hoodwinked Republicans into going along with him,the exact same point James was claiming this past weekend.

                      What exactly is it that you two are “disagreeing” with each other on?Some largely irrelevant historical remarks?tsk tsk….

                      You both agree that Trump isn’t “really” a Republican ,that he is “really” a “leftist” and that Republicans have been (and here they use various words that essentially add up to the same thing) “hoodwinked” (I’m being charitable) into going along with him.

                      I don’t get this disagreement.

                    • I do NOT think Trump is a leftist

                      I DO think that he is centric to his OWN NEEDS AND WISHES and has moved to the right to hold his adopted party

                      But that, as demonstrated early in his term?

                      He does have Democratic thoughts on some things that surface and are beat down by the very people he has co-opened

            • Outside of Dana Rohrabacher, I see no evidence of GOP “support” for Putin. Just about every Republican in Congress voted to increase sanctions on Russia. Too many are looking the other way as to Trump’s moral relativism.

              It is ridiculous to claim that the overnight shift in support for same-sex marriage among African-Americans was not attributable to Obama directly and the specific circumstance of his publicly changing his position.

              • and needless to say, once again, that when Obama was President, it was Democrats who were looking the other way at Putin, offering reset buttons and greater flexibility, and claiming that the Romney-led GOP was far too bellicose on Russia.

                • It is True that during 8 years President Obama met with Putin several times
                  But he did so first with a hope for accommodation , and then with caution….

                  He also did not tell the Russians he want to get rid the FBI Dir who was running counter intelligence ops against the Russians….

                  Nor did Obama have to worry about the Russians having incrimatiting things against him….

                  Nor did he have contacts as extensive as Trump

              • You see no support of Putin CG?

                There are polls out the showing that the GOP
                ‘Base’ trusts Putin more than the FBI.

                This is NOT the Republicans of as recent as 2015…..

                Again
                The brain washing is remarkable!

                But for the Intelligence community and the FBI ?
                Putin would vacationing in Mar-A-Largo with Trump monthly

            • All sorts of people have reading problems.

              What I said was that Trump’s style in attacking others was that of a big city leftist. It is the same tactics that Keith was paid to employ in the 1980s in order to make white voters scared of minorities.

              As has been mentioned though, Trump has no real core ideology, but is about himself. On some issues, and especially on trade, which seems to be the one that has always been most important to him, he sides with Democrats.

              • That’s funny–because Lee Atwater was the king of negative campaigning (attacking others) and making white people scared of minorities.

                I didn’t know he was a “big city leftist”.

                Oh that’s right. He wasn’t. He was a rural Sourhern REPUBLICAN.
                I can smell the bullshit through your posts. The sad part is I think you actually believe it!

                • After yesterday Scott I would have to agree with you. It’s interesting to note that I appear to be still living rent free in our friend’s head. As much as I would like to play, I have work to do.

                • Lee Atwater had nothing on Keith, although it is very likely he studied what happened in Chicago during that time period.

                  What exactly did Lee Atwater say or do that crossed the line? Willie Horton was first introduced by the Gore campaign. Neither Atwater nor the Bush campaign ran any ads featuring Horton’s mug shot.

                  The “revolving door prison” ad that was run in 1988 featured white people as the convicts that Dukakis was releasing (actually clean-cut Mormons who were hired to be in the ad)

                  • Atwater must have felt Guilty about it.

                    He apologized to Dukakis before he died.

                    Are do you know more than Atwater himself?

                    • Atwater felt guilty because he made fun of Dukakis seeking psychiatric help in his past. Perhaps he should have felt guilty about that.

                    • In one instance he said that he would seek to “make Willie Horton his runningmate” in regards to Dukakis. That was part of the apology because Atwater while dying said it made him sound racist and that he wasn’t.

                      I do not think there is a political strategist of any party or any color who would not have used the Willie Horton furlough issue against an opponent. It’s hardly proof of racism and again, Atwater and the Bush campaign were not the first to use it. Al Gore used it against Dukakis first.

                    • Yes he apologized for the Willie Horton thing as I said.

                      Good job of googling before I corrected you again.

                      Even Atwater admitted it made him sound racist.It did

                    • If he wanted to apologize to clear his conscience as he was facing a horrible illness that is his right.

                      I am sure James Carville spoke the same way during campaigns. I have no doubt that Atwater was a flawed person and very aggressive, foul mouthed, etc, but there’s no actual evidence that was a racist or the campaigns he actually worked in (for Reagan and Bush) made racist appeals.

                      The American people just clearly preferred the Republican approach in the 1980s to those of their opponents.

                • I would like to see a specific example offered on Atwater to prove this point so we can look at it.

                    • Of course I knew you would go for “The Nation.”

                      Well, they left out the rest of the interview.

                      Lee Atwater was 3 years old in 1954. He was making an historical point about politics and when he said this in 1981 used a horrible word that in 2018 nobody should use. Keith uses the word on here still though to make the same point.

                      Atwater in that same interview, which took part after the election of Reagan, also said that Reagan had transcended racial issues and that America had changed since the Civil Rights Era. He predicted that black Americans, as they achieved more economic success would increasingly identify with Republicans.

                      Atwater was certainly part of some bare knuckles politics but there was nothing that he during his career (and he was just 40 years old when he died) was racial.

                    • He wasn’t saying he approved of what was being said in 1954 when he was three years old or in 1968 when he was 17.

                      The entire crux of what he was saying is that the politics of the south had changed since then, which spoke to the success that Republicans were starting to have.

                      There does not seem to be any campaign that Atwater was involved in in which racial code words were used unlike someone else we know.

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