Obama responds to street violence in Tehran

Keith Olberman tonite started with President Obama speaking about the street violence in Tehran, which he finds deeply disturbing. He cites Iran’s lack of tolerance for political dissent as running against the currents of international law.

But Obama’s words only went so far. the prevailing wisdom is that Obama cannot speak too stridently about the stolen election because Mousavi would then be perceived as a stool pigeon of the U.S. government.  Obama said US does not want to make decisions for Iranians.

Here’s a supplementary take. President Obama risks being branded a hypocrite due our our own stolen 2000 election, which we did nothing about.  Was the 2000 election stolen? Yes. ask Greg Palast. Better yet, ask Justice Souter.

That’s right, the suggestion here is that Obama’s words are limited by America’s  own diminished moral authority, a plague that  spreads into several other Bush era wrongs that have yet to be remedied. 

Obama moral voice here is constrained because  we did nothing when our “Ahmadinejad” became president for 8 years. It serves notice that the president’s voice and actions  might well be constrained on several other fronts as well, unless we act.

Will. I.am on Barack’s Celebrity

Will.I.am just told luke russert that there is nothing wrong with celebrity as republicans are applying the term to Obama
Bottom line: john McCain is jealous.
Nothing wrong with Obama having gained reknown for his accomplishments and ideas. To the contrary. This is the essence of politics: gaining popularity thru the force of argument.
John McCain would, if only he could.
McCain can’t even give away tickets for his veep announcement tomorrow. Really think McCain doesn’t want to fill venues? C’mon

Bush Guru Grover Norquist Reveals Fatal Flaw in Bush Administration

Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, was featured in this week’s NYT Mag Section “Questions for” section, and the piece reveals how things got so f#@ked up these past seven years. Keep in mind Norquist was a leading architect for Bushco’s America. He came within a hair’s breadth prior to ‘06, of turning America into a one party Republican industrial state, as Nicholas Confessiore has thoroughly documented.

Here’s my take-away from the interview: For the past seven years, America has been overrun by folks with the emotional intelligence of early adolescence–Norquist included. This explains an awful lot. Consider the following Q/A:

Q.Do you see your work as a kind of rebellion againt te pro-tax activities of your mother?

A. Oh no, not at all… I thought up the no-tax increase pledge when I was 14 years old.

Q. Leave us alone? Isn’t that an adolescent philosophy?

A. The state treats us like 12 year olds. They tell you how much water can be in your toilet bowl, how big your car can be.

The meaning here is obvious. If the state treats you like a 12 year old, you respond like a 12 year old. The policy and direction of the country since 2001 has been viewed through the lens of a 12 year old. This has been the problem for this particular visionary as well of course for the president himself, who, according to some, has been making policy as a response to an emotionally stunted relationship with his father, George HW Bush.

So now you have it, America has gone so far off the tracks in some significant ways because the deciders and their sycophants have never transcended teenage mommy and daddy issues. 12-14 year olds do not have the emotional maturity to drive a car let along run a country. so things never even reached the frat boy mentality level. We have been dealing with middle schoolers, and the country has been stuck in junior high. It enough to make you bitter.