the party of weak and right

today was the first day i've looked at a photograph of president barack obama and thought, "i don't believe you."

not that i think he's dishonest. i don't.

after what happened in massachusettes, and what is happening with health care reform in the days following, i'm wondering if these are the times when someone on the edge thinks, "maybe i'm a repbulican," or at least, "maybe i'm not a democrat." president bill clinton said, "when people are insecure, they'd rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right." i'm not feeling so secure about the democratic party right now, and i'm getting a little tired of belonging to the party of weak and right.

for so long i've held on to the notion that "there must be something else going on," because of course, there always is. what we know or what we hear or what we're told is so often just surface. what appears to be cow-towing to the other side, or giving in on one point or another, or not fighting for this or that, is often being done for reasons that my little pee brain couldn't fathom. it's the first of four chess moves. it's all a part of a strategy. that's the way it works, and that's fine.

the time has come when i'm not willing to believe that. there seems to be absolutely nothing going on here, no planning, no strategy. no looking ahead to the next chess move. we were on the brink of historic reform to this country's health care system one day, and 24 hours later, because of the loss of one senate seat, we give up. because voters in massachusettes – for a myriad of reasons, polls show – voted by 5% points to elect a republican and not a democrat, we give up. massachusettes, the 15th largest state in the union, a state with 2.11% of the total u.s. population.

prior to losing the massachusettes senate seat held for 46 years by edward m. kennedy, there were at least encouraging rumblings about democrats planning what course to take with health care reform should martha coakley lose. you know, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

and yet wednesday morning offered dem after dem rolling over, basically pronouncing health care reform dead. some didn't even wait until the the ink was dry on the ballots. this has led some media folks to speculate that the coakley loss simply provided an excuse not to vote for something these politicians didn't want to vote for in the first place. if this health care bill was worth voting for on monday, why is it not on wednesday? the democrats have gone from having one of the largest senate majorities in recent history to...having one of the largest senate majorities in recent history. and yet, let's throw in the towel.

much of the reporting around coakley's loss in massachusettes called it "stunning." and it is. stunning that no one saw it coming early enough. from massachusettes democrats to dnc chairman tim kaine to dscc head robert menendez to obama himself. a person can only withstand that type of "stunning" incompetence for so long before he begins to question his allegiances.

i don't agree with much of anything the crazy, angry teabaggers believe.
but i'm beginning to feel just as crazy and angry.