{"id":3813,"date":"2010-01-21T14:00:31","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T19:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2010-01-21T18:56:12","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T23:56:12","slug":"all-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2010\/01\/21\/all-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"all the way?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On November 3rd<\/sup>, 2004<\/font><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Back in 2005, I started writing this blog as a way of treating the depression I felt then. I expect I’ll treat this one the same way. But I know one thing, I’m not interested in spending my time criticizing Barack Obama. He’s doing the best he can do. And frankly, I don’t think he’s in a position to fight the good fight against his nasty opponents alone. I may be wrong but I think he’s best placed to stay on the high road. I guess I think the fight is our job. So long as the other side has a strangle-hold on the bull-horn, we’re going to keep sinking. How far down does the "Reagan Revolution" have to take us before the collective "we" wakes up? Right now, it feels like the answer is "all the way."<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}