Comments on: A blow for mental health in this lifetime

By: Comrade PhysioProf

Comrade PhysioProf — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:33:26 +0000

Oh, I totally agree that the Democratic Party is complete FAIL. However, I think it is important to correctly understand why it is this way. My comment has nothing to do with excuses, rationalization, resignation, and everything to do with elucidating causality.

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:37:37 +0000

Unfortunately, “the Dems” is not a unified political party with any kind of discipline. Many of “the Dems” want to govern, but a substantial number of them just want to enjoy their corporatist sinecures and be left alone by actual voters.

Why do people say these types of things? Does it somehow change the FAIL the Democrats are engaging in? Hell, they can’t even get an unemployment benefits extension passed, they can’t even force the Republicans into an acutal filibuster of that. They just roll over and whine.

Dems are, right now, a huge FAIL for Democratic principles and policies. Why not focus on the FAIL rather than the, I dunno, excuse? rationalization? resignation? for/to the FAIL?

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:22:46 +0000

Doesn’t matter that the Dems are fractured–they always have been. It’s a voluntary affiliation that I’ve come to see is short for “we don’t actually care about winning or governing. We’re Charlie Brown, and no matter how many of us there are, we’ll never outnumber *one* Lucy. We don’t care that she never will let us kick the ball.” Why would anyone want to play on that team? After I vote in the primary next month, I’m out.

People who want to govern need to leave and start another party. It’s happened before, it could happen again. I don’t hear too many people these days missing the old Whig party any more!

By: Comrade PhysioProf

Comrade PhysioProf — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:38:53 +0000

Emma’s point about the poor widdle Dems with “only” 57 votes is precisely my own. The Dems who own the executive and legislative branches apparently don’t want to govern.

By: Notorious Ph.D.

Notorious Ph.D. — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:41:13 +0000

I really like that quote that you finish that first paragraph with. I should have that tattooed on me somewhere that I look frequently.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:56:20 +0000

Susan, great point. I think Johnsen is probably not suited for government service, precisely because of her independence and sanity. It’s too bad, because it sounds like she would have been a force for good.

I have noticed that there are either people who speak up and do what they want to do, damn the tenure process, and there are those who are temperamentally cautious and scrupulous, and mindful always of the tenure process. Strangely, an individual’s emotional and social attitudes are largely not correlated with the outcome of tenure and promotion decisions. (That is, there are a lot of fearful and hypervigilant people who are denied tenure, and there are a lot of outspoken and even annoying people who win tenure. Making sure one has the publications is important, but there are no guarantees.)

Emma’s point about the poor widdle Dems with “only” 57 votes is precisely my own. The Dems who own the executive and legislative branches apparently don’t want to govern. All they want to do is act like kicked dogs. So, I’m going to get my kicks in, since that’s apparently all we can expect to get out of this congress and this President. At least Republicans care about serving their base: looting the treasury to provide “tax relief” to the wealthy and to corporations, and handing out fat government contracts to unscrupulous corportations, for example. The Democrats only care about b!tching about Republicans, like Washington is one big high school.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:49:11 +0000

And you know, the same goes for us. As I watched a brilliant former teacher go through a tenure fight, I decided the only thing worth doing was what I cared about, because it was easier to live with doing what you wanted to than trying to meet some imagined standards of what you should be….

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:06:08 +0000

A Democratic President and Democratic majority Senate finds it just a bit too easy to blame every failing on the Republican minority…..

By: a little night musing

a little night musing — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:33:31 +0000

Comrade, Obama could have made her a recess appointee, just as he did with a buncha others… but he chose not to do so. I think that speaks for itself.

http://www.correntewire.com/15_recess_appointments

By: koshem Bos

koshem Bos — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:58:52 +0000

Obama can ride but not hide. Once again he shows his lack of vision, resolve and fire in the belly required for the job. Johnsen may be the longest waiting for confirmation, but is not the only one waiting. A president has to put hir foot down on something, otherwise good people such as Johnsen are tortured for no resolution, while the rest of us are swept by the wave of the last Bush and the current haters of the unemployed.