Where’s the Intellectual Smugness Now?
Posted March 24th, 2009 @ 11:11pm by Erik J. Barzeski
A few Republican friends have told me lately how he's noticed that "all the intellectually smug, superior Obama supporters have been relatively quiet now that their guy's in office and completely screwing up, going back on promises, or at the very least not living up to their unrealistic expectations. They're being awfully quiet these days."
Another friend observed that those who aren't quiet are simply trying to carry on with the intellectual superiority position, "putting down those who didn't vote for Obama because we don't understand the complexity of the financial mess when, seemingly, neither does Obama's team - which ironically were some of the folks who got us into this mess under Clinton."
I don't really care for politics. What interests me more is the personal, individual psychology. I've always tried to keep opinion separate from fact, and it seems to me that some people pushed Obama so hard and got so high on his unproven abilities that they're having a hard time admitting that it was just an opinion - not fact.
I don't have the time to get into this in depth - and obviously I'm making (or my friends are making) gross generalizations that don't cover anything close to "everyone" and their differing opinions - but it's still interesting.
Donate Life
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 11:56am #
I'm still as intellectually smug and making sure everyone knows it, I haven't gone anywhere or gotten quiet about it. 😉
Those observations from your Republican friends are a result of their view that anyone who voted for Obama, voted for him because they thought he was sent here by his father Jor-El to save the planet Earth and that as soon as he entered office, the country would be bathed in rainbows and unicorns. When that didn't happen, Democrats therefore must be sad. Ha-Ha, laugh at those foolish Democrats.
Pro-Tip: No one who voted for Obama expected rainbows and unicorns. (at least not in his first term)
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 12:07pm #
[quote comment="53534"]Pro-Tip: No one who voted for Obama expected rainbows and unicorns. (at least not in his first term)[/quote]
Bullshit.
I voted for Obama, and while I didn't expect rainbows and unicorns, many of the people I know also did.
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 1:42pm #
I was not able to get a single reason (other than "he's not a Republican," or "he's not McCain" or other similar non-reasons) from any Obama supporter on why they supported him. Not one single person. Every Obama supporter I know was that completely removed from fact. Every single one of them.
Not one of them could name a single thing they didn't like about him. Not one.
And, every one of them really thought he was the Messiah, the Saviour of the USA. Seriously.
And, I don't just know one or two. I know a dozen or 2 at least.
Now, having said that, I'm shocked and embarrassed (as a citizen of this great nation) at how poorly he is doing. He's making the USA into the laughingstock of the world. Not even Clinton, for all his faults, was this bad.
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 4:00pm #
I think all the smug intellectuals are too busy trying to pull the country out of a nosedive that they don't have time to talk anymore! 😛
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 5:42pm #
He's had the job for about 100 days now. It's a little too early to jump to conclusions that he is screwing up and a failure.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 8:29am #
[quote comment="53541"]He's had the job for about 100 days now. It's a little too early to jump to conclusions that he is screwing up and a failure.[/quote]
Lee, there has been enough time, and Obama has introduced enough proposals, that we can make the obvious conclusion that "he is screwing up." He is currently failing, but you are correct that he won't necessarily be a failure after 4 years. However, he does need to radically change course if he wants to not be a failure.
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 7:35pm #
yuck. Politics get so icky, especially when people like "Daniel" go on flamebaiting like that. ew.
Here's the point: a ton of morons got on the "Obama Feel Good" train, and now that he's in office, those same "Obama is magical and everything will be fixed tomorrow!" people are off finding some other way to feel good.
and all the "Ohs-Noes-Socialism! Obama-will-make-abortions-mandatory!" people are off being scared of something else.
The election is over. There are the pundits that still harp on because they have no other way to remain relevant, and there are people on the left embarassing themselves, and people on the right being extra whiny because "their team lost" but really now the election is over and it's business as usual.
Wouldn't have been any different if the election went the other way. The smug intellectuals would be asking where all the loud "salt of the earth / small government" republicans are now that McCain hasn't instantly fixed everything.
at least that's my take. I'll admit there was an Obama Fervor that got quite silly, but the winning party will always have the loud and loyal moron vote. it's just a game of numbers.
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 9:19pm #
what are you talking ?
Your country is making all the right decisions to take back banks to profitability, and is going afters people paying themselves on government money
and of course, you are investing huge money in new research, in your own industry and so on.
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it's like the contrary of what France is doing now. France had mostly a good economy, it was not so much impacted by the "financial crisis" as others, but the french president insists nothing is needed. No need to help people, no need to invest in science massively, no need to stop costly reforms , no need to make laws about companies paying themselves huge bonus with the government money (!!), no need to stop deregulation..
and so on.
and, ho yeah , France is now back in NATO (why? but why ?), which will need to invest so much money it blows my mind. Money the country should use to others things. (I'm still not convinced nato was all that necessary for the France to participate in international operations. it was not needed for all UNO missions and afghanistan now.)
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My point is, your country is back and you will succeed because your politicians see the whole mess. It's not like that in all countries. In france, politicians are delusional.
but yeah, your politiciens are not magical Elves. Deal with it.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 9:59am #
[quote comment="53552"]Lee, there has been enough time, and Obama has introduced enough proposals, that we can make the obvious conclusion that "IN MY OPINION WHAT HE IS DOING WILL EVENTUALLY SCREW UP" He MAY EVENTUALLY FAIL, but you are correct that he won't necessarily be a failure after 4 years. However, he does need to radically change course if he wants to not be a failure.[/quote]
There, I fixed your typos.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 10:04am #
[quote comment="53556"]There, I fixed your typos.[/quote]
You didn't "fix" anything - you completely changed what I wrote to match what you think.
You don't have to like this, but the fact of the matter is that there has been enough time, and Obama has done enough things, to assess that Obama is presently screwing up. Now, that doesn't mean that he will end up a failure - that depends on whether he stays his present course or decides to deviate from it.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 10:10am #
If he is presently screwing up, why is the stock market going up?
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 10:12am #
[quote comment="53558"]If he is presently screwing up, why is the stock market going up?[/quote]
You give the president (any president) way too much credit for what happens in the stock market (good or bad).
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 10:21am #
That is true, that is a bad example. However, I see no evidence to suggest that what Obama has done so far that can show that he is screwing things up right now. There's also no evidence that suggests that things are improving other than the stock market. The point is, it's still too early to say one way or the other. There hasn't been enough time to gauge what impact his decisions will have. To say that he is a failure and is screwing up is only an opinion based on ideology, not facts. If you can point to negative effects that are a direct result of the things he's done, please share them.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 11:00am #
[quote comment="53560"]To say that he is a failure and is screwing up is only an opinion based on ideology, not facts. If you can point to negative effects that are a direct result of the things he's done, please share them.[/quote]
I dunno, it doesn't seem to me to take much ideology to recognize that the whole AIG bonus thing was a huge fiasco that he and his team created. (Dodd claims to have been working under the direction of Obama when he inserted language into the stimulus bill that specifically allowed AIG to hand out the bonuses.)
Also, Bank of America stock took a HUGE hit when there was talk by the Obama administration that they would take over the bank. Once that talk subsided, the stock value returned.
Don't put words into my mouth - I haven't said that he is a failure.
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 1:16pm #
[quote comment="53556"]There, I fixed your typos.[/quote]
Oh, gee, there's the smugness. 😛
Posted 26 Mar 2009 at 2:01pm #
[quote comment="53564"]Oh, gee, there's the smugness. :-P[/quote]
LOL I told you I was unapologetically smug. You asked where’s the intellectual smugness now - it's alive and well.
Posted 27 Mar 2009 at 5:02am #
[quote comment="53561"]
Also, Bank of America stock took a HUGE hit when there was talk by the Obama administration that they would take over the bank. Once that talk subsided, the stock value returned.[/quote]
You give the president (any president) way too much credit for what happens in the stock market (good or bad).
That works both ways, Daniel.
Posted 28 Mar 2009 at 4:12pm #
Last year, Tom DeLay argued that he only represented the republicans in his district, not every citizen. He also refused to meet lobbyists representing the other side. Sarah Palin was upfront that the red states are the 'real america'. After a time, I believed that they meant their rhetoric. By their own words, they stand against the republic, and for real class warfare.
Going into the last election, I rather liked McCain. Then, he started banging the right-wing evangelical drum. By the end of the election, he had completely discredited himself in my eyes. Bringing up a planetarium projector as "an overhead projector, my friends" rather than a tool to popularize science was the last straw.
A pity, since I rather like fiscal conservatism, and have voted for more republicans than democrats.
How is this relevant to Obama? He was the only candidate going in who had any bipartisan sentiment. For a short time, I honestly believed that we could have a bipartisan government. Then I saw the republican response.
Even acts obviously meant to be sops to the republican base are taken as mis-steps by the right wing. To be honest, it is making me doubt that bipartisanship can, in fact work. If that that is the case, if the center is, indeed lost, then I hold out very little hope.
The republicans had eight years to demonstrate the trickle-down effect, and the overall prosperity of lassiez-faire and minimal regulation. What we got was an uncontrolled mortgage industry and corresponding bubble, broken executive compensation, an unfunded war poorly executed, nigh on a trillion dollars in TARP, and a total lack of investment in infrastructure.
So, I do not believe that all will be rainbows and unicorns under Obama. I do believe that he is the best hope we have, and that given the ever increasing gap between top and bottom earners, the hideously broken health care system, the total lack of investment in anything other than short term profits shown over the last eight years, well, we have tough problems, and there is no guarantee that we will solve them this time.
As far as 'smugness', use the word hope. I had hope that the center could pull together, and drive out the more unreasonable elements in both parties. You may be right - we may be losing hope, but if so, it is not hope in Obama, it is hope that the right wing will get its collective act in order and properly represent the interests of fiscal conservatism.
Scott