Late Weimar in Tucson, Arizona. Charlie Bertsch, in Tuesday's Souciant.
I was out the other night and after MANY libations, had a conversation with a die hard Obama fan. By the end of the conversation, they left in anger. Why? Because, they just couldn't believe that I, a person that once canvassed Ohio for Obama in '08, no longer thought he shit rainbows. When I asked this Obama supporter to name the accomplishments that they were most proud of for their president they had two: 1. Healthcare 2. Gay Marriage The Affordable Care Act is a failure even by most liberal standards and Obama did everything he could to politically skate around the issue of gay marriage until it was no longer politically expedient to have no concrete stance. When pressed on every other issue: 1. Privacy and first ammendment issues -"Obama can only do so much" was his answer. 2. Guantanamo "Obama can only do so much". Basically, for every criticism I had of promises NOT kept, his answer was that if he could do something he would but "Boehner is the devil." When the GOP steadily became more and more socially conservative and left it's fiscal and small govt roots, many people jumped ship and began claiming a libertarian leaning. The DEMS are seeing the same thing. Eventually, your "brand" doesn't convey as much as your actions do. There was a time in my life when I could have said that I will likely always vote DEM. I can't say that anymore. I'm looking for options outside of our two party system. I hope something viable presents itself. Obama though? He's officially failed me. It's a bummer, but apparently there are still some out there that think he craps rainbows.
When you exist at that level of power, you are surrounded by people that tell you how great you are and what you need to do to stay in just good enough graces to not be a failure per the history books. That's my guess.