Daring Depravity

In the Movie Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield, his character Thornton Mellon owns a series of “Tall and Fat” Stores, and his motto is “If you want to look thin, hang out with fat people”

Barak Obama is having a similar time right now, as he cruises to re-election.  No left wing challenges and no competent right wing challenger have left him along for the ride.  He is winning just by showing up and not sticking his foot so far in his mouth that he chokes on it.

He will never be called to account for punishing his left wing supporters, eroding civil rights, ignoring labor, the environment, and supporting indefinite detention mostly because Mitt Romney is so incompetent that Obama doesn’t really have to try.

I guess all it takes to look competent is to stand on a stage next to Mitt Romney and say, do you want some of this?

So, there is hope that he will accomplish some good for the country in his second term, but I for one am not holding my breath.  Instead we will get free trade, neoliberal policies, moderate war hawk international stances, and a continuation of where we are now.

Part of that blame lays at the feet of the Republicans, but really it is the Democrats fault.  They won’t push for good policies, just for their own re-election.

But, standing next to Romney, Obama looks like Einstein, Socrates, and George Clooney all rolled into one.

“I had a feeling there would be mixed reactions,” Ryan told the crowd.

http://news.yahoo.com/vp-candidate-ryan-heckled-booed-retiree-event-194856123.html

Also, from the same article, Democrats might have figured out how to explain the concept of social insurance they claim to be in favor of (yet seem to be eager to cut also):

“Given the conversations that have been out there in the political arena lately, I want to emphasize Medicare and Social Security are not handouts,” Obama said. “You’ve paid into these programs your whole life, you’ve earned them.”