Not even when Bill Clinton was getting his guiltless butt impeached by predatory partisan enemies has a U.S. president so utterly mutilated his political opposition -- so righteously denounced the "inexcusable." Barack Obama's just-delivered evening announcement was brutal, beautiful, unfaltering, fiercely determined and bloodily retaliatory.
He ... has ... had ... enough.
On such acutely personal notes as "I couldn't get a phone call returned" from the House GOP leadership and that he had been "left at the altar" several times now, Obama blasted with a bittersweet fury at those deranged, reckless pseudoconservatives who have now led the nation to a devastating precipice.
You watched it, too, most likely, so I won't rehash further. What I will conclude with, briefly, is merely to say that any critical assessments of Obama's presidential "weakness" can now, and should now, be laid to a permanent and deserved rest.
WOOT! A righteous and magnificent ass-whooping!
Posted by: janicket | July 22, 2011 at 05:54 PM
This man has bent over backwards to "change things in Washington' only to be rebuffed by the minority. I only hope he means he has had it. I am to the point that I think the only way this country will "get" it is to go into default and take the very ugly consequences...sadly that is what we've become.
Posted by: SueMe | July 22, 2011 at 06:11 PM
Wow! I may already have to start eating crow (see my rant on PM's previous post). lol
This was awesome, and overdue. These right wing sociopaths are going to keep coming at him, and he needs to keep swinging back.
Or as David Axelrod urged a couple of years ago, "Punch back twice as hard."
Posted by: Frank Sinclair | July 22, 2011 at 07:15 PM
So, we the people stand at Spring, 1861 and we know whose going to lead this Nation in the defeat of these treasonous goons and let there never be doubt, this President knows how to take names and kick ass.
Yes.We.Can. ... DO.More.Together!
Posted by: Bobfr | July 22, 2011 at 07:18 PM
As a pragmatic point, I muse:
So it looks like turning out to be McConnell-Reid? No doubt we can expect to hear howls of faux outrage henceforth every time President Obama vetoes the phony disapproval votes and raises the debt ceiling between now and the election. The GOP no doubt think that's a real PR winner for them.
What they seem not to be considering is that every time this little farce gets played out, the President will have reason once again to castigate the GOP as the plutocrat-placating, poor-oppressing, obstructionist do-nothings they've shown themselves to be, while he's the responsible adult who cleans up the mess the slacker kids leave behind.
One would think by now the GOP would realize that they're Wile E. Coyote and Obama is the Roadrunner.
Posted by: janicket | July 22, 2011 at 09:15 PM
I thought this stupidity about his "weakness" was settled with the demise of OBL. But perhaps we needed the domestic equivalent. Today we got it!
Posted by: [email protected] | July 22, 2011 at 09:20 PM
Um, he'll still cave. The debt ceiling will be raised. Revenues won't. SS-Medicare-Medicaid-EPA gutted. Tea Party wins. Bachmann-Palin-Limbaugh-Hannity-Norquist victory dance dominates the news cycle for, oh, 1-1/2 years. The end.
Posted by: steve duncan | July 22, 2011 at 09:54 PM
Janicket, I so often agree with you. It was an amazing performance on all levels. May the winds be at his and our backs.
Posted by: Dorothy Rissman | July 22, 2011 at 09:59 PM
And another thing. So Obama is going to prevail because his route to revival is righteous and the public will perceive Republicans as the tools of plutocrats, robber barons, banksters and K-Street? OK, as a group weren't all these the same money grubbing thieves and scam artists they were in 2010? And the public went into the voting booth and elected......Republicans, in droves. Ultra nutty Republicans at that. Where in the hell is the evidence the fricking electorate is going to wake up, smell the coffee and hold The Right accountable for their madness? I don't see it. All I see are Democrats getting their heads handed to them on election day. Like they're going to hold the Senate? Ha, ha, ha! This nation is armed to the teeth and the prevailing bright idea is to form a circular firing squad.
Posted by: steve duncan | July 22, 2011 at 10:05 PM
@steve duncan -
I think your GPS went wiggy on your way to FireDogLake.
Posted by: nepat | July 22, 2011 at 10:48 PM
Roger that, nepat!! :)
Posted by: Bobfr | July 23, 2011 at 01:18 AM
This was almost as good as PBO. :)
Posted by: blackwaterdog | July 23, 2011 at 08:36 AM
WE the people have to get you on tv. This is a must. You cannot keep all this wisdom and way with words under wraps. Rev,Al,perhaps...smiles!
Posted by: caribbeanobserver | July 23, 2011 at 09:32 AM
This is the guy who got OBL. This is the guy who got health care reformed passed and even though it's not single-payer, it's a lot better than what we've had over the last 100 years. When you look at it from that context plus considering the "Hell no you can't" obstructionism of the republican party, it was quite the accomplishment. Republicans are going to learn some hard political lessons before the closing chapter of the 2012 elections is written.
Posted by: Anne Johnson | July 23, 2011 at 09:44 AM
Bob, BWD, caribbean, Anne and nepat, well done, very well done.
People like Steve are blinded by their inability to think and be rational. Talk about nutty-his word. Angst is his mode. Apparently, it makes him happy.
Posted by: Dorothy Rissman | July 23, 2011 at 09:57 AM
Steve said: Um, he'll still cave.
He said that in the face of a fiery speech of the President, which laid to rest all the memes of the PL about the weak spineless Republican tool Obama who supposedly had already agreed to cuts only, cuts to benefits etc etc. Which were all beautifully refuted in this Presser we are right now discussing.
The ability of Steve to hold onto his meme in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary is on one hand impressive, on the other hand it displays a rigid mind in need of treatment.
Posted by: Sophie Amrain | July 23, 2011 at 12:07 PM
What you all forget is Obama has to take measures and make decisions preventing default. The Tea Party, contrary to your host's assessment here, is crazy and will gladly ruin the economy if the reward is their notion it also ruins Obama. Racial animus will cause a person to do strange (and sometimes criminal) things. Close examination of the speeches, positions, backgrounds and temperment of Tea Party adherents, most especially elected ones, reveals they're bigots, xenophobes, homophobes and misogynists. That's a nasty, sociopathic brew sure to cause problems. Including default. Put me down for fifty bucks they don't give and Obama caves, out of necessity to save our asses and our credit rating. He, and many here, will try mightily to paint it as something other than caving. There will be no shame in what he does, he's dealing with madmen. You can't be held to account when you have to make decisions factoring in the criminally insane. Nevertheless, cave he will and calling it by another name will be nothing but a disengenuous attempt at preserving his reputation and standing.
Posted by: steve duncan | July 23, 2011 at 09:35 PM