#121
Post rating: +
Presidents have almost no power and in general but especially between Romney and Obama there is no difference between the parties. In fact Romney may be to the left of Obama, not that it matters at all. But Obama is an excellent propaganda piece, African Americans still overwhelmingly support him despite being the most fucked by his policies women and the TMZ-esque media still find him handsome and care about his wife and dogs, and in general he does something horrible and then makes a speech where he doesn't say anything and his approval ratings shoot up. It's no accident he was chosen to be president as the world collapses.

Romney on the other hand is grating, out of touch and stereotypical rich, white, male, and has a pearly white president smile. He may mobilize the anti-war movement that got hundreds of thousands to protest Bush, all of which was destroyed by Obama. I'm thinking about voting for Romney because no matter what horrible shit Obama does, it's always impossible to convince people irl that he's shit.

Of course this is a sort of accelerationism and could backlash if people just forget about how terrible Obama is (like with Clinton and Carter and JFK and every dem prez) rather than trying to change the whole system. If it's not Romney I might vote PSL depending on which state I vote in, otherwise I'll just vote for Stalin or something.
#122
Nippon
Post rating: ~
Presidents actually have a pretty large amount of power, they just choose to exercise it in ways you find disagreeable
#123
Post rating: +
the problem with republican presidencies is that all effort on the tepid left becomes focused on removing them to return to a "less bad" option. it's easy to remain comfortable with the status quo partisan system when the person doing terrible things is a political opponent. this is why i think an obama presidency is better for the left, as it forces the more honest people on the left to realize the systemic problems that leave no option but for an imperialist free-market capitalist bribed by wall street to be president. and it allows people to come to the realization that the solution must come from without, that a democratic candidate for "change" will never follow through.

of course those "progressives" or "leftists" who are already ideologically liberal capitalist stay trapped in the false dichotomy created by our hegemonic political system, but there's currently no saving them anyway. at this point they are, like obama himself, republican centrists masquerading as progressives. i can only hope that at the very least a kernel of doubt enters their mind as they continue watching obama murder brown children and erode civil rights. i have a roommate who falls within this category, and it will be interesting to watch the cognitive dissonance he goes through. (his lack of reading and theory is obvious, especially when he follows the idiotic and schizophrenic media and bullshit poll numbers in predicting first a bachmann nomination, then a gingrich, and now probably santorum --- it was always going to be romney out of this slew of candidates)

and so it's probably better that obama wins than romney. but that said, you certainly shouldn't vote for obama. there's no reason to give these people the ammunition of support numbers. certainly it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, but why give them even the small propaganda victory of votes. instead either vote left third-party or don't vote. i'll be voting PSL myself. if obama loses because he lost votes to leftist third-parties it'll be a good shock and will perhaps increase the perception of power that the dying left sorely lacks.
#124
Post rating: +
"No one has ever died from contradictions. And the more it breaks down, the more it schizophrenizes, the better it works, the American way." -ronald reagan
#125
drivel of drunken hags
Post rating: +
baby huey p. newton i'm glad you post here
#126
Post rating: ~
people keep trying to tell me that obama is great because of the "end of the war in iraq" and "defense cuts" and "some speech" and i just smile and say yeah his rhetoric shifts leftward whenever he's within 10 months of an election isn't that funny isn't that weird
#127
[account deactivated]
#128
tardy on these heaters
Post rating: ~
I'm really averse to strategies of volutnarist-evangelical leftism where it's a matter of people becoming convinced of the Truth and the Light or whatever.
#129
tardy on these heaters
Post rating: ~

Groulxsmith posted:
baby huey p. newton i'm glad you post here



same

#130
Post rating: ~

babyfinland posted:

I'm really averse to strategies of volutnarist-evangelical leftism where it's a matter of people becoming convinced of the Truth and the Light or whatever.




#131
Post rating: ~

babyfinland posted:
I'm really averse to strategies of volutnarist-evangelical leftism where it's a matter of people becoming convinced of the Truth and the Light or whatever.



thats not really what i'm saying though. but if you aren't misreading what i meant then i am confused as to how anyone would ever become a leftist without getting "convinced" in some way or another about the inability of the status quo to address the problems of society

#132
tardy on these heaters
Post rating: ~

aerdil posted:

babyfinland posted:
I'm really averse to strategies of volutnarist-evangelical leftism where it's a matter of people becoming convinced of the Truth and the Light or whatever.

thats not really what i'm saying though. but if you aren't misreading what i meant then i am confused as to how anyone would ever become a leftist without getting "convinced" in some way or another about the inability of the status quo to address the problems of society



i'm not totally denying that element of things, just the focus on it as a strategy. i wasn't criticizing you in particular, just making a note

#133
Nippon
Post rating: ~
All failures of leftism derive from the following mental sins : patriotism, capitalist apologism, and troop worship
#134
Post rating: ~

babyfinland posted:

aerdil posted:

babyfinland posted:
I'm really averse to strategies of volutnarist-evangelical leftism where it's a matter of people becoming convinced of the Truth and the Light or whatever.

thats not really what i'm saying though. but if you aren't misreading what i meant then i am confused as to how anyone would ever become a leftist without getting "convinced" in some way or another about the inability of the status quo to address the problems of society

i'm not totally denying that element of things, just the focus on it as a strategy. i wasn't criticizing you in particular, just making a note



yeah of course, it's no "strategy," merely one way of dealing with immediate politics when living in our bourgeois democracy. actual strategies lie elsewhere

#135
[account deactivated]
#136
Post rating: ~


Bwahahaha
#137
Post rating: ~
lmao. i hate daily show democrats more than i do conservatives. the former is the more destructive ideology imo
#138
[account deactivated]
#139
Nippon
Post rating: ~
its cool because Obama destroyed all the hopes of the younger generation who believed that anything could be changed by democracy
#140
Nippon
Post rating: ~
heh. you unreasonable teen retards who didnt know that all the claims explicitly made by Barack Obama were fraudulent *smugs out hardcore*
#141
[account deactivated]
#142
Post rating: ~

Goethestein posted:
its cool because Obama destroyed all the hopes of the younger generation who believed that anything could be changed by democracy



not our ridiculous naive myths

#143
Nippon
Post rating: ~

tpaine posted:

Goethestein posted:
its cool because Obama destroyed all the hopes of the younger generation who believed that anything could be changed by democracy

fitting that their ignorant belief in a lie was destroyed by another lie you'd have to be ignorant to believe in, its like a religious person deciding to be socialist because jesus said to give to the poor



if obama loses it will be blamed on ppl from the Left who criticized him, and the cycle will continue. america is a failed state

#144
[account deactivated]
#145
[account deactivated]
#146
Nippon
Post rating: ~

tpaine posted:
i want to dance around and gleefully play the piccolo as america gets its foot caught in the netting and is dragged under deeper and deeper until finally the pressure of the depth or the bends or the lack of oxygen gets us both



its cool cuz blacks will drown first

#147
[account deactivated]
#148
[account deactivated]
#149
Post rating: ~
if obama loses it will be because romney spent a lot more money that him
#150
[account deactivated]
#151
Post rating: ~
getting a lot of hostility from u recently tpaine. be warned, i will add u to my enemies list and post passive aggressive digs at you
#152
[account deactivated]
#153
[account deactivated]
#154
Post rating: ~
yeah i bet you definitely would want to fuck a dong ahahah what im implying is that youre a homosexual hhahhehahe
#155
Mike Nelson here.
Post rating: ~

aerdil posted:
yeah i bet you definitely would want to fuck a dong ahahah what im implying is that youre a homosexual hhahhehahe

dont say people are gay, that's rude, no one wants to be gay, no one.

#156
Post rating: ~

getfiscal posted:

aerdil posted:
yeah i bet you definitely would want to fuck a dong ahahah what im implying is that youre a homosexual hhahhehahe

dont say people are gay, that's rude, no one wants to be gay, no one.



Goodbye. *pulls out teh banhammer*

#157
desire be, desire go
Post rating: ~
a friend of mine who was a true believer donating obama supporter and who is now totally disgusted with his presidency gave me the latest mailing she got: it is a laminated fold-out card with rebuttals to people questioning what he's done in his first term. i transcribe it here for your enjoyment. dashed lines (---------------------------------) indicate where the card is scored for folding.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE ASK: "WHAT HAS PRESIDENT OBAMA ACCOMPLISHED IN THE LAST THREE YEARS?"

These cards contain the answer. They're a tool you can use to help family, friends and others understand what change really looks like. You can learn even more by going to www.BarackObama.com.

From Day 1, the President has worked tirelessly to end the war in Iraq, expand access to health care to all Americans, and implement an economic recovery program that has created nearly 3 million jobs. We've accomplished so much, and still have a great deal left to do. Everything we've fought for is now at stake.

The question is simple: Will we go forward and build on these accomplishments or will we go back?

The answer is now in your hands.

FOLD HERE
---------------------------------
CHANGE IS... President Obama's Commitment to American Women and Their Families.
President Obama, the father of two girls, believes that women's issues are America's issues.
  • Equal Pay for Equal Work: Signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that ensured women can get paid the same as men for the same work.
  • Improving Women's Health: Starting in 2012 , new health insurance plans will be required to cover women's preventative services such as mammograms, domestic violence screenings and contraception without charge.
  • Protecting Women's Right to Choose: Reversed the Global Gag Rule which banned government from providing aid to international family planning groups. Stood up to Republicans trying to roll back a woman's right to choose and defund Planned Parenthood.


FOLD HERE
---------------------------------
CHANGE IS... President Obama's Record on Health Care.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama passed the landmark Affordable Care Act to restore health care as a basic cornerstone of middle class security in America.
  • Ending Insurance Company Abuses: Prohibiting Insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions; cancelling coverage when someone gets sick.
  • Keeping Premiums Low: Insurance companies must justify rate hikes; provide rebates if they don't spend at least 80% of consumers' premiums on care instead of overhead, marking and profits.
  • Expanding Access to Care: 32 million Americans are able to afford insurance for the first time and nearly all Americans--95% of those under the age of 65--will have insurance.
  • Closing the Medicare Prescription Drug "Donut Hole": Over 2.6 million seniors have saved an average of over $550 each on their prescription drugs and, by 2020, the Medicare "donut hole" will be completely closed.



on the reverse:

CHANGE IS... Putting Americans Back to Work and Rebuilding a Fair Economy for the Middle Class.From day one, President Obama took immediate action to address the crisis of middle class security slipping away for millions of families.
  • Job Creation: An economic recovery program supported as many as 3.6 million jobs by cutting taxes, investing in clean energy, roads and bridges, keeping teachers in classrooms, and protecting unemployment benefits.
  • Saved the auto industry from collapse preventing the loss of more than 1.4 million jobs.
  • The private sector has created nearly 3 million jobs during 21 straight months of private sector growth--but our work is not done. That's why the President is fighting for The American Jobs Act which would put even more people back to work now and put even more money in people's pockets.


---------------------------------
CHANGE IS... Creating an Economy Built to Last.
President Obama believes Americans should be able to earn enough to raise a family, send their kids to school, own a home and put enough away to retire.
  • Out-Educating the Rest of the World: Made college education accessible to hundreds of thousands more students by ending billions of dollars in subsidies to banks and using savings to double funding for Pell grants.
  • Out-Innovating the Rest of the World: Made substantial investments in clean energy manufacturing to create the jobs of the future here in America and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
  • Everyone Plays by the Same Rules: Passed Wall Street reform to protect American families from unfair lending practices, rein in excesses on Wall Street and prevent future financial crises.
  • Everyone Does Their Fair Share: Called for closing tax loopholes to ensure millionaires and billionaires don't pay less in taxes than the middle class.


---------------------------------
CHANGE IS... Ending the War in Iraq and Honoring our Veterans.
President Obama kept his work: He brought the war in Iraq to a responsible end and brought home our troops.
  • Committed to Iraq's Security: The US transitioned full security responsibility to the Iraqi people; remains committed to Iraq's long-term security; will continue to develop a strong and enduring partnership.
  • Refocusing on Al-Qaeda: Refocused our security priorities toward dismantling and defeating Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. In bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice, the President showed America's resolve and our ability to unite to face the greatest threats to our nation.
  • Honoring the Service of Veterans and Their Families: Our troops and their families get the help earned, enacting new tax credits to encourage businesses to hire unemployed and disabled veterans.



a brief and incomplete list of things i noticed: the (totally unsurprising but still striking) focus on the "middle class" to the exclusion of others and yet the mediocre vision for said class, the horizons of the future explicit or implicit (such as "by 2020" or the completely floating unsaid time to come in which nearly all americans "will have insurance"), the paltry change represented by "calling for closing tax loopholes" in a document of concrete accomplishments, the opening rebuttal toward OWS regarding what "change really looks like"--and more generally the refrain of "change is". etc. etc.

#158
[account deactivated]
#159
tardy on these heaters
Post rating: ~
*ensures that men and women never perform the same work*
#160
Post rating: ~
its not even that, it's "can" get paid the same for the same work instead of "will". but i think it's just that whatever PR dude who wrote that is an idiot