Obama has played the Republicans like a damned fiddle, yet we are worried about his technique

The Republicans talked all their mess about reducing the deficit, President Obama called their bluff and went big, they didn't want to go as big as he did.

It should be pointed out Obama only said he was open to looking at entitlements. He never said he wanted to, he said it had to be considered and even then conventional wisdom points to his being focused on saving money through efficiencies and not necessarily cuts to benefits.

He did however say he wanted to new revenues mainly by closing tax loop holes and let the Bush tax cuts expire. Which is what we wanted, right?

Obama UNDERMINED, House Speaker John Boehner by meeting him more than halfway, but asking to close loopholes and to let the Bush tax for the wealthy expire. He has also portrayed himself as an adult and rationale, unfortunately many folks on our side don't appreciate that.

So today, Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are looking for a way out of this fight. They are willing to give him his debt ceiling.

While our base is still freaking out over a deal that hasn't happened,many of our members of Congress are looking to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Meanwhile the Republicans, whose tea party base had drawn a line of no increase in the debt limit, find themselves looking for a way increase the debt limit.

This is far from over, but Obama is playing the game very well and I hope his critics on the left take notice.

NYTimes: Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona

From The New York Times:

EDITORIAL: Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona

EDITORIAL

Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona

Published: January 9, 2011

She read the First Amendment on the House floor — including the guarantee of "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" — and then flew home to Arizona to put those words into practice. But when Gabrielle Giffords tried to meet with her constituents in a Tucson parking lot on Saturday, she came face to face with an environment wholly at odds with that constitutional ideal, and she nearly paid for it with her life.

Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting Ms. Giffords, killing a federal judge and five other people, and wounding 13 others, appears to be mentally ill. His paranoid Internet ravings about government mind control place him well beyond usual ideological categories.

But he is very much a part of a widespread squall of fear, anger and intolerance that has produced violent threats against scores of politicians and infected the political mainstream with violent imagery. With easy and legal access to semiautomatic weapons like the one used in the parking lot, those already teetering on the edge of sanity can turn a threat into a nightmare.

Last spring, Capitol security officials said threats against members of Congress had tripled over the previous year, almost all from opponents of health care reform. An effigy of Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., a Maryland Democrat, was hung from a gallows outside his district office. Ms. Giffords's district office door was smashed after the health vote, possibly by a bullet.

It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman's act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members. But it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge. Many on the right have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats. They seem to have persuaded many Americans that the government is not just misguided, but the enemy of the people.

-snip-

Sarah Palin calls Obama "half white or half Black," wants him to "refudiate" NAACP

During a recent appearance on Sean Hannity’s show on FOX NEWS, in which she was pushing back at the NAACP’s resolution on teabagger* bigotry, Sarah Palin claimed that they didn’t care if President Obama is “half white or half Black.”

While Obama embraces his mixed parentage, he identifies himself as African American, not biracial, not “half white or half Black,” but African American. Folks who are biracial or of mixed heritage have every right to declare how they want to be identified and everyone else should respect their choice.

Make no mistake Palin meant this as a diss, a racial dog whistle, intended to defend teabaggers against charges of racism and other forms of bigotry, while at the same time reminding her like minded audience that he is not like them, he is different.

She is implying that white folks can’t be racist against some one who is “half white,” while at the same time reminding folks he is “half Black.” Let’s not forget that Palin’s buddy, radio host and pill popping bigot Rush Limbaugh refers to Obama as a “Halfrican American.” These references have a purpose and its not a celebration of Obama’s diverse background.

In the same interview Palin called on Obama to “refudiate,” (yeah the crazy lady made up the word “refudiate”) the NAACP for its resolution condemning the teabagger movement for the bigotry that is directed at Obama as well as others.

Think about that now, Palin wants Obama to “refudiate” (I guess that means repudiate) folks who are speaking out against the bigotry directed at him. Seriously?

Whenever the teabaggers get together the bigoted signs and rhetoric are not far behind. Lets not forget the time they called Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights hero, the “n-word,” spit on Congressman Emanuel Clever and called Congressman Barney Frank the “f-word,” all in one day.

The racially charged atmosphere that surrounds the teabaggers’ protest is just sickening. Whether its the picture of Obama dressed up like a witch doctor, Tea Party leader Dale Robertson carrying a sign with the “n-word” on it or the kid carrying a sign that says “Obamanomics: Monkey See/Monkey Spend,” its not surprising that many African Americans, including yours truly, as well as decent people of all backgrounds are alarmed by the overt racism on display at these events.

Rather than Palin pandering to her fellow teabaggers she needs to call them out, “refudiate” their bigotry, accept the NAACP’s resolution and challenge her friends to be above the bigotry that has defined their movement. Anything short of that is unacceptable, but sadly expected.
*I refuse to defame a special moment in American history but comparing this ignorant band of blithering idiots to the true patriots who took part in the Boston Tea Party.