Netroots Nation, the left vent about Obama

There were several stories on Memeorandum yesterday about how progressives at Netroots Nation vented their displeasure about the Obama administration. In a nutshell the complaints are that the Obama administration has not been progressive enough (i.e. Obama hasn't given enough attention to a particular grievance group).

To be fair to Obama, the administration has done its fair share of Hippy Punching. Publicly Obama has dismissed some of the concerns of progressives, but behind the scenes he is working hard to make their dreams come true. Take ObamaCare for instance. Many progressives lament that there was no public option or that ObamaCare did not directly move America to a single payer system. However, if you look at how ObamaCare will effect the current system, it is clear that it was designed to destroy the current system and clear the path for single payer.

So why does Obama treat progressives so shabby in public? Simple, it is because he knows he owns them. Obama realizes that these hardcore progressives will always pull the lever for him no matter what. Because Democrats have done a good job ideologically enslaving their base. They accomplished this by getting these various groups to see the right a pure evil. Thus, it becomes impossible to vote for the right or to just sit back and let the right win. Under this kind of thinking, you only have one choice and that is to keep voting for Democrats no matter how much they lie and cheat you.

Witness Obama's latest slap in the face to gays. The gay bloggers are up in arms, but you know, I know and Obama knows they will be vote for more abuse come November 2012.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: AmericaBlog Gay

Via: NPR

Joe Biden takes up Hippie Punching, tells base “Stop Whining”

It looks like Joe Biden is getting into the Hippie Punching game.

Jake Tapper, Political Punch: At a fundraiser in Manchester, NH, today, Vice President Biden urged Democrats to "remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This President has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises."

The remarks, made to roughly 200 top Democratic activists and donors, recall comments President Obama made last week to “griping and groaning Democrats…Folks: wake up. This is not some academic exercise. As Joe Biden put it, Don’t compare us to the Almighty, compare us to the alternative.”

The Vice President said that "every one of these (races) is winnable" if the candidates draw clear distinctions between themselves and their GOP opponents.

Acknowledging that voters are angry, the Veep said, "You take it out on those who are in office…They should be able to be angry with us. If we make this a referendum on the current state of affairs, we lose, and so that’s why we’ve got to make this a choice."

Obviously Joe Biden has not sat down with David Axelrod lately.  Had he did he would have known that talk like this is starting to get under the skin of the liberal base.  Biden’s argument is a classic one employed by both right and left party establishment.   Basically, the argument goes, yeah we suck, but look the other guys suck worse; therefore you should just be quiet about any of your party’s shortcomings.

   

If the left ‘s base is growing tired of all this Hippie Punching, then perhaps it is time they started brewing a little tea party of their own. Otherwise they are going to on the receiving end of a whole lot of Hippie Punching come November.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Political Punch

Hippie Punching: The Professional Left Gets Testy

Ok boys and girls, we are going to learn a new phrase today.  It is called “Hippie Punching”!  In a testy exchange between David Axelrod and a  liberal bloggers this new phrase was born. Basically, the White House is using liberal bloggers to tame the unhappy base. This time though, the White House may have gone to the well one time too many.

The Plum Line:Top Obama adviser David Axelrod got an earful of the liberal blogosphere's anger at the White House moments ago, when a blogger on a conference call directly called out Axelrod over White House criticism of the left, accusing the administration of "hippie punching."

That tension burst out into the open when Madrak directly asked Axelrod: "Have you ever heard of hippie punching?" That prompted a long silence from Axelrod.[...]

"You want us to help you, the first thing I would suggest is enough of the hippie punching," Madrak added. "We're the girl you'll take under the bleachers but you won't be seen with in the light of day." 

So what exactly is “hippie punching”? Moe Lane at Red State seems to have the best definition I have seen so far.

[…]I assume it means “to smack around progressive activists, safe and secure in the knowledge that they lack the internal dignity, elementary sense of self-worth, and bare minimum of personal courage necessary to do anything about it.” […]

Oh, how right you are Moe Lane.  Instead of working directly with the White House to create synergy, the liberal bloggers would have best served their causes it they held the administration’s feet to the fire. Given their willingness to do the administration’s bidding, why shouldn’t the administration treat them like cheap whores?

This spat between the bloggers and the White House is just a taste of the fun to come after the November beat down. Come mid November, there will be Hippie Punching going on all over the place.  Popcorn at the ready, folks!

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Plum Line

Via: Moe Lane