On November 3rd, 2004 I woke up with something that I’d never felt before – clinical depression. As a Psychiatrist, I’d seen it a jillion times, but I had been fortunate and had never actually dealt with it myself. I didn’t treat it, or seek treatment for it. Why bother? I knew why I was depressed. And though I could list things that John Kerry had done wrong in his campaign like everyone else could, I didn’t really believe that those things were the reason he lost. In fact, I wasn’t in love with him as a candidate myself, but I didn’t think that my objections were the reasons he lost either. I thought he lost because his opponents had perfected the ‘dirty tricks’ techniques of the Nixon era and knew their game. John Kerry was ‘swift boated’ out of the Presidency. It took me a while to figure out that my depression wasn’t because John Kerry lost, it was about how he was beaten.
I had that same feeling yesterday morning. It felt exactly the same as five years ago. I was surprised, because I didn’t expect to feel it. I know nothing of the candidates in Massachusetts or the issues local to the State. To be honest, the Health Care Bill has been turned into such a mess that it’s not really on the front burner of my mind. What depressed me is how it was done – the same way as it was done in 2004 – different words but the same music.
Since Obama was elected, they’ve just hammered and hammered. Fox News has attacked 24 hours a day. Rush Limbaugh has ranted his poison every day. Republicans have come out with some kind of scornful criticism every day. The very few Republicans that have voted for an Obama backed piece of Legislation have been either ostracized or run out of the Party altogether. Sarah Palin, a non-qualified person who has quit every job she’s ever had, is elevated to political pundit. The criticism has been ad hominem – racist, fascist, socialist, communist, Muslim, non-American born. Obama’s been blamed for the Recession, TARP, the Stimulus, Immigration, etc. The ‘tea-baggers’ are blaming him for the taxes he might have to enact in the future. Obama’s tried to be bipartisan and been shunned. He’s tried to compromise and been tricked. He’s even been yelled at when addressing Congress.
So it worked again, at least so far. Instead of "an eye for an eye," Obama has "turned the other cheek," and they’ve had a field day smacking him. The Progressives are mad at him for compromising. The Independents are mad at him for "not delivering" and are voting for the very people who block everything he tries to do. It’s very tempting to criticize him for what he’s done or not done. But to my way of thinking, even though many of those criticisms might be valid, they are misdirected. They did it with Carter. They dogged Clinton with Whitewater until they lucked into Monica Lewinsky. Now they’re hounding Obama spearheaded by a 24 hour New Channel that they essentially own.
As usual, we are on the same page. It’s too simplistic and misplace to blame this on Obama. We expected miracles — but didn’t give him the support in Congress that would allow him to perform them.
I want to be on the same page as the two of you and be as supportive as possible to President Obama but the depression that you talk about is starting to affect me and it certainly seems to be affecting the Democrats. I’d like to have a conversation with Senator Whitehouse and ask him what he thinks and what he thinks people like me can do to help this president do his job. I’m not a doubting thomas but I would like a sign of hope to come from Washington. It’s funny but I was really upset over the loss of the late Senator Kennedy’s senate seat and then I watched Keith and Rachel’s show last night and found out how good we had it until Chief Justice Roberts decision set our country back a hundred years with the new rule giving companies etc the right to buy elections.
I think the Supreme Court ruling is a more devastating blow than the loss of the Kennedy seat. Already our governing system is a mess because of corporate lobbying money — now it doesn’t even have to be filtered through those channels. It can just go directly in the bank accounts of politicians. Bought and paid for.
Let’s start an internet, grass roots revolution: only vote for politicians who refuse not only to take PAC money (as Obama did) but also any contributions from corporations. If it caught on, it could work. But, of course, it won’t (said Eeyore, sadly).
The funding of elections is a thorny issue. Hopefully the disclosure discussions will be even more prominent so that any interested observer can tell the degree to which candidate A is in the back pocket of ABC Corp in the blink of an eye. Cheesh. I like your idea Ralph but the voting booth has always been a private place and I fear that you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Consider how many people go to the polls without a single, informed idea about what they are going to do when they get into the booth. Their number is larger than people who care enough to develop opinion based upon at least some mental exertion.
The President is a transformational guy, almost by definition, but certainly in the sheer weight of his intelligence, deliberateness, openness and even, if I may be so bold, in the general “rightness” of his grasp on issues and his recommendations generally.
A Massachusetts friend sent me Jon Stewart’s take on the Senate election there and points out (poignantly) that Massachusetts is the only state in the Union that has a better health care plan now than the rest of us would get even if the healthcare bill before Congress passes. So, the voters didn’t care a whit about what they were about to do to healthcare in America…pretty safe to say that they went with their own perceived self-interests. I didn’t follow it closely enough to understand what they were and didn’t even know until this morning that the new Senator from the Bay State is a former nude pin-up boy in Cosmo or Playgirl or something!! What in the world is this country coming to?
The way I read the meaning of the MA election is that it was a big NO to the broken system in Washington. We sent Obama in to perform a miracle and fix it; he tried, but the system defeated his attempts to change it — because we neglected to give him the strength in Congress to accomplish the miracles.
It’s not just the slim margin in the Senate, the “catch me if you can” antics of HolyJoe Lieberman. it’s also the Blue Dog Dems and those owned by the insurance and drug companies.
Yes, it was a wake up call for Obama — but at least as much for the Congress.
But it’s nobody’s fault as much as it is the broken system of money, greed, filibuster, special interests trumping needs and will of the peoople — and all else that keeps a party from being able to exercise it’s voter-mandate.