Newsweek asks "Is Donald Trump obsessed with Barack Obama?" Duh!

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

Speaking on his CNN show on Saturday, following Trump’s attempt to roll back the Iran deal, Don Lemon asked the question: “Does President Trump have an Obama obsession?” and suggesting the Republican was “making it his mission to undo every last bit of the Obama legacy.” 

Political analyst David Gergen told Lemon he believed the recent announcement on the Iran deal, as well as Trump killing Obamacare subsidies, was “more about blowing up the former president’s legacy than anybody wants to admit.”

“Anything which has the name Obama on it automatically becomes a target for Donald Trump and he’s trying to reverse as much of that as possible,” he added, warning that the tendency of presidents to reverse domestic policy set by their predecessors was now rolling into foreign policy. 

Indeed, back in August, a European diplomat reportedly told BuzzFeed anonymously that in his dealings with President Trump, he had noticed the Republican was driven more by a desire to scrap Obama’s policies than to enact his own. 

“It’s his only real position,” the diplomat told BuzzFeed. “He will ask: ‘Did Obama approve this?’ And if the answer is affirmative, he will say: ‘We don’t.’ He won’t even want to listen to the arguments or have a debate. He is obsessed with Obama.”

This is by no means a new observation, people have been talking about it almost since Trump took office. However it is interesting that now even reputable news magazines are coming to that consensus.

Former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod thinks he understands why Trump has this obsession.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

"There’s some other thing at play here that I don’t have the qualifications to analyze that clearly motivates him," Axelrod said in an interview on CNN's "Smerconish" Saturday. 

"Because every time he talks about anything that President Obama did, he talks about it in these very caustic terms as if he’s jealous or envious of the esteem with which Obama left office.” 

Axelrod added that Trump is "motivated" by the desire to "obliterate the Obama legacy."

That makes pretty good sense actually.

President Obama was a particularly gifted leader who seemed to handle the day to day problems that cropped up with relative ease and a quiet dignity.

I will always believe that Donald Trump has been obsessed with Obama probably almost since he took office in 2008, and then it was during that fateful White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011 that Trump decided he wanted to destroy him, and his legacy, forever.

Barack Obama is returning to politics this fall but does not want to be "a foil" to Donald Trump. WTF?

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Former President Barack Obama will re-emerge on the national scene this fall, though Democrats expect him to do so with caution. 

One aide describes the beginning of a “delicate dance” that aims to put Obama in the Democratic fray but prevents him from remaining the face of the party. 

Aides will huddle with Obama in the coming weeks to plot out what shape the former president's fall schedule will take. Advisers close to him say that while he will play an active role in helping his party rebuild, much of his work will be behind the scenes. 

He is likely to take on fundraising, for example, something he has done for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee since leaving office. In recent months, Obama has played a larger behind-the-scenes role than was publicly known. 

The Hill reported in July that he met with DNC Chairman Tom Perez as well as lawmakers at his office to give his guidance on a number of issues. 

But advisers to the former president acknowledge he also doesn’t want to be “a foil” — as one top ally put it — for President Trump and the Republican leadership.

Well this is some bullshit right here.

Look I know that President Obama firmly believes in following the rules, but he has to understand that there ARE no rules anymore.

Yes it is considered poor form to criticize your successor, but typically your successor does not focus his entire presidency on undoing everything you accomplished during your terms in office.

Right now the Democrats do not have a strong leader to rally behind. They need Barack Obama to take back his place as the head of the party, and then perhaps help find and introduce the person who will then lead the party forward to victory. (I'm sorry, victories.)

Besides that Trump is tearing down everything that Obama spent eight years building, and if he does not stand up to protect it his legacy may be completely stripped away from him.

President Obama has just inserted himself, and his legacy, into the presidential race.

Courtesy of Politico:

It was part mockery, part shock-to-the-system wake-up call. 

Donald Trump is a nasty, hateful charlatan selling a false message to African-Americans and the rest of the country that puts everything he’s done in office and stood for at risk, President Barack Obama said Saturday night, in a rip-roaring speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner in Washington. 

Declaring he would consider it “a personal insult, an insult to my legacy” if black turnout falters for Hillary Clinton, Obama did what he got reamed for doing almost exactly two years ago, in the heat of midterm elections where disdain for him was the defining force: Yes, he said, he is pretty much on the ballot in November. 

“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot,” Obama said, his voice rising to a shout as he went well beyond what sources familiar with the speech say was a tamer version of the riff in the prepared remarks. “Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration, that’s on the ballot right now.” 

"Hope is on the ballot,” he said, laying out the choice. “And fear is on the ballot too.”

Damn! The President is simply not taking prisoners is he?

And good for him.

This election is too important for folks to allow their dislike of Hillary Clinton or their distrust of the status quo keep them from voting in November.

This is not an election where both sides have competent candidates who can both do the job, even if we don't agree with their ideologies.

This is fucking Donald Trump.

Some idiot on an earlier thread suggested that we weathered George W. Bush's administration intact and so it was not that big of a deal if we elected Trump this time.

That made my head hurt so much I had to lie down for a minute.

How could they not know that the Bush administration was responsible for thousands of American deaths, both on 9-11 by ignoring intelligence briefings and in the unnecessary wars that followed?

The Bush administration is responsible for the domestic spy program that is still in place today.

They tanked the economy so badly that our current President is still struggling to repair it eight years later.

The terrorism that we live in fear of today is the direct result of the war in Iraq, and our lack of a plan to deal with country after we defeated its dictator.

No the presidency of George W. Bush damn near destroyed this country, and Donald J. Trump is infinitely worse by any measure you can imagine.

So no I do not believe this country can "weather" a Donald Trump presidency intact.

Sarah Palin, her politics of victimization, and how they became a permanent part of the Republican party.

I have actually written some version of this several times myself, but it is really nice to see that others have also noticed Palin's lingering influence on the party once referred to as the "Grand Old Party."

One of those is Washington Monthly.  

Here are a few excerpts from their take on the situation: St. Joan of the Tundra’s distinctive contribution to the conservative cause was not simply to serve as a lightning rod for resentment of the “liberal elites” that supposedly run the country, but to invite ridicule that she then turned into a sense of victimization and self-pity and a hankering for vengeance. For a while there, she could do no wrong, since every misstep turned into an opportunity for a fresh grievance against the mockery of snooty elitists. 

Palin will hang around the periphery of conservative politics for some time (she’s a relatively young fifty). Her essential role of stimulating resentment and then promising vengeance, however, has been taken over by more conventional and respectable pols, much as George Wallace’s raw demagogic appeal in the 1960s was co-opted and refined by Richard Nixon. Indeed, one of the more notable developments of contemporary politics is the widespread preemption of Palin-style posturing against elites by other Republicans. These include potential 2016 presidential candidates ranging from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who has been seeking to brand himself as the champion of conservative Christians besieged by secularists and Muslims, to Mike Huckabee, whose new book, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, is a seething cauldron of resentment toward those who do not inhabit what Palin once memorably called “the real America.” But to a dangerous extent the whole party has absorbed some of the poison. 

The Monthly goes onto to point out how Palin's "poison" infected the newly formed Tea Party:

Though it did not “sell” well enough to elect McCain and Palin at a time when the bottom was falling out of the economy, the pure politics of resentment spilled over into the Tea Party movement, which from the very beginning drank deeply from the right-wing populist well of belief in an overclass-underclass alliance of financial elites and bureaucrats and looters seeking dependence on federal benefits and the destruction of middle-class mores and virtues. One of the Tea Party’s great conspiratorial myths became viral after a Palin Facebook post argued that Obamacare would introduce “death panels” that would determine the fate of people with disabilities like her son Trig. At the peak of Tea Party influence, millions of conservatives had a tightly integrated view of Obamacare as representing an effort to cut “earned” Medicare benefits in order to vastly expand “welfare” and “socialized medicine” while attacking the sanctity of life from two directions through guaranteed, subsidized insurance for abortion services and (of course) death panels. 

 By the time of the 2012 campaign, Obamacare’s contraception coverage mandate became the target of a particular cultural resentment epidemic that embroiled the entire GOP: the religious liberty campaign, based on the idea that conservative Christians who viewed (against the scientific consensus) certain contraceptives (e.g., IUDs and Plan B pills) as abortifacients were being forced to subsidize homicide, and were thus being “persecuted for their faith.” The religious liberty campaign also became a pity party for those opposing same-sex marriage, with the victims being conservative elements of the wedding industry and a few TV personalities. At about the same time, a “scandal” swept the conservative media making the alleged slow walking by the IRS of applications for tax-exempt status by conservative groups who wanted to run election ads without disclosing donors into a frightful totalitarian specter of doors being kicked down and assets seized. And a remarkably large group of respectable Republicans—including new national GOP star Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa—embraced the John Birch Society’s “Agenda 21” conspiracy theory holding that local land-use regulations are part of a United Nations plot to kill private property rights.

Which brings us to the newest politician to apply a spray tan of the Palin-like camouflage of victimization in order fit in with the under educated fringe that now makes up the most rabid base of the Republican party.

Mike Huckabee.

And hell he even wrote a book about it:

While nobody has written a full-fledged manifesto for conservative cultural resentment, Mike Huckabee’s new pre-campaign book is a significant step in the direction of full-spectrum cry for the vindication of Real Americans. It is telling that the politician who was widely admired outside the conservative movement during his 2008 run for being genial, modest, quick-witted, and “a conservative who’s not mad about it” has now released a long litany of fury at supposed liberal-elite condescension toward and malevolent designs against the Christian middle class of the Heartland. 

The clever conceit of God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy is that Huckabee is explaining to powerful and arrogant elites of “Bubble-ville”—New York, Washington, and Los Angeles—the sturdy folk virtues and beliefs of “Bubba-ville,” by which he means the rest of the country, though it often sounds like just the Deep South as viewed by its older and more conservative white residents. But the book is clearly meant for “Bubbas,” and it is meant to make them very angry. The first chapter is entitled “The New American Outcasts,” and it asks readers to identify with the martyrdom of Chick-fil-A’s Dan Cathy and Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson for defending the “biblical” view of marriage and homosexuality. Huckabee actually launched the very successful idea of a “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” on his Fox News show, giving conservatives the opportunity to show their contempt for “political correctness” by giving the chicken sandwich chain a record day of sales. And he’s long competed with Bobby Jindal in promoting Phil Robertson (a Louisiana native). But aside from these totems, the idea that “Bubbas” must fight back against people who would rob them of all liberty and property permeates nearly every page of Huckabee’s book.

In the article's summation it points out that though Palin is no longer considered a political player, her influence lingers on. Which I think should now be apparent to everyone.

You know much like when somebody hits a skunk on the highway but you can still smell it several miles down the road.

Speaking of a lingering bad aroma, guess who is NOT scheduled to make an appearance in the upcoming Faith and Freedom Coalition convention.

And the FFC is partnering this year with the group Concerned Women for America so that is a double burn.

By the way I encourage you to take the time to read the entire article over at the Washington Monthly. I only shared a portion, but the entire thing is quite informative and entertaining.

Barack Obama for the Supreme Court? I can hear the conservative heads exploding already.

This from Robert Reich's Facebook page:

If Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat wins the White House next year, Barack Obama should be their first Supreme Court pick. He's been a constitutional law professor. He has the right temperament and values. He's a superb writer. The average age of newly appointed justices is 53; Obama will be 55 on leaving office. Even a Republican Senate would be hard-pressed not to confirm a former president. There are precedents (William Howard Taft was appointed to the Court after his presidency). 

What do you think?

I am totally interested in what all of you think as well.

But for my part I have to say that while it would be a great idea in theory, that in reality it would be unworkable.

For one thing the republicans would fight this appointment to their last breath.

And secondly I don't think the President would want the job when he has the opportunity to create an impressive "after the presidency" legacy that might make him even more popular and admired than Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

I think the President will go on to do great things, and though he would clearly be a great asset to the Supreme Court, I think he would find that too limiting.

Just my opinion. Care to share yours?

President Obama's message to the conservatives: "Eight years is only the beginning." I can hear the heads exploding now.

Courtesy of the Chicago Sun Times:  

Though President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle still have two years left in the White House, their foundation has come up with a bold slogan for their next chapter: “Eight years is only the beginning.” 

When they leave on Jan. 20, 2017, Obama will be only 55 and his wife, who turned 51 on Jan. 17, will have just celebrated her 53rd birthday. 

Not that I ever doubted it, but the Chicago-based Barack Obama Foundation‘s revamped website, which went live Friday, makes it clear the Obamas intend to maintain a robust public presence in the decades to come.

I have to imagine that the mere thought that Obama will continue pushing his agendas in the private sector must make conservatives want to pull their hair out. 

I predict that in only five years of leaving office Barack Obama's presidency will be considered one of the greatest in American history and that his popularity will soar.

And with that I have little doubt he will commit himself to charity work, and social programs that will rival the incredible accomplishments of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

State of the Union open thread. Update.

I think I am on record as saying that I am not a big fan of the open thread.

However I think that this state of the union speech tonight is going to be historic, some bits have already leaked out, and that it will not only lay out the President's plans for the next two yeas but also piss the Republicans off like nobody's business.

In other words it will be great TV.

As we go into the speech the President's approval ratings have now risen to 50% in some polls, he has a new tax proposal, and it appears that he is focused with laser like intensity on his legacy and is daring any Republican to try and stop him.

Update: Here is the full text of the speech so that you can follow along.

Update:

"I have no more campaigns to run ... [GOP applaud] .... I know, because I won both of them" Barack Obama? ❤ ya! pic.twitter.com/V4LDQRY9Gm
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) January 21, 2015

Favorite line of the night.

Update: Here is the full speech.

This may be the best SOTU I have ever heard. 

This, this is why we need to always vote Democrat.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Democrats have reversed the partisan imbalance on the federal appeals courts that long favored conservatives, a little-noticed shift with far-reaching consequences for the law and President Obama’s legacy. 

For the first time in more than a decade, judges appointed by Democratic presidents considerably outnumber judges appointed by Republican presidents. The Democrats’ advantage has only grown since late last year when they stripped Republicans of their ability to filibuster the president’s nominees. 

Democratic appointees who hear cases full time now hold a majority of seats on nine of the 13 United States Courts of Appeals. When Mr. Obama took office, only one of those courts had more full-time judges nominated by a Democrat. 

The shift, one of the most significant but unheralded accomplishments of the Obama era, is likely to have ramifications for how the courts decide the legality of some of the president’s most controversial actions on health care, immigration and clean air. Since today’s Congress has been a graveyard for legislative accomplishment, these judicial confirmations are likely to be among its most enduring acts.

Yes, this is how we protect our country and our civil liberties from the conservatives who have tried to knock us back to the judicial stone age.

Just imagine if Hillary wins two terms. Justice Kennedy is 78, as is Scalia.

Ginsberg is 81 and Breyer 76.

The others are somewhat younger, but you never know what can happen with a person's health.

And besides even if Hillary only manages to replace Scalia on the conservative side of the bench, and the not always reliable Kennedy she will have made an incredible impact on this country for decades to come.

And of course that does not take into consideration all of the federal judges that will, and have been, appointed during the Obama and Clinton administrations.

Just look how many Obama has appointed already.

Yes this is where the real political impact is felt, and of course the conservatives are well aware of that fact. So expect this next election cycle to make the previous look like a trip to Disneyland. 

With the death of Margaret Thatcher the song "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" about to top the charts in England. Update!

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Lady Thatcher’s death could propel The Wizard Of Oz track "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to the top of the charts. 

Those who saw her death as a cause for celebration have prompted a download surge for the track. 

Within 48 hours of the former Prime Minister’s death, the song has entered the official UK chart at number 10. 

It is expected to climb higher as a result of a Facebook campaign being set up to encourage sales. 

The Facebook group, encouraging people to download the "Witch" song to get it to number one, already had 664 members and was originally set up back in July 2007. 

The BBC said it would decide whether to play Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead during Radio 1's top 40 countdown when places are finalised this weekend. 

In a statement it said: "The Official Chart Show on Sunday is a historical and factual account of what the British public has been buying and we will make a decision about playing it when the final chart positions are clear."

Whew, that is a little harsh!

But clearly it is an accurate representation of how the people of Britain REALLY view the woman referred to as the "Iron Lady."

So much for the Right Wing attempts to sugarcoat her reputation and rewrite the history of her administration. They might be able to fool the conservatives in America, but clearly the memories of the people across the pond are not nearly so forgiving.

Update: The song has indeed made it to the number one slot in the UK.

If we remember what the LAST Republican presidency was like, perhaps we will be patriotic enough to avoid another one.