WTF Obama

[pasithea]

Dear Mr. President,

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZofCcJ-sLl6Lacl5o_wDamuYVNw


Yes yes. Now all you little right-wing shits can jump up and down and gibber about how you knew he was wishy washy and if we'd ONLY elected Dumb and Dumber I wouldn't be irked now.

Fails basic logic check, but ya'know. Go ahead and feel free.

Meanwhile, I'll point out this thing about us liberals that's different from you pinheads. Notice how we're unafraid to question and criticize our own guy. Not like you, screaming that we only got angry at Bush because he was Bush while you kiss every shit he takes as though it were the baby Jesus.

It sickens me that he's being a chicken shit coward about this, but you know what? McCain would be far worse. He'd be down there giving the pope a blowjob, nodding happily with every crusty old thrust.

Comments

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

If he's talking about reducing the overall number of abortions by improving the health care system and social support such as child care, so that people don't have to choose between parenthood and, oh, THE ENTIRE REST OF THEIR LIVES, that I'd be down with. But somehow I don't get that impression.

In semi-related news, amusing article today on Pharyngula about recent research that indicates that male fertility can be improved by ejaculating once a day. That's right, spanking it makes sperm healthier and better equipped to create healthy offspring. I cannot wait to hear what the Catholics have to say about this one.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Naw, they'll just spin it that it should be intercourse to male orgasm every day. Silly women saying no to sex, don't you want healthy babies?
/sardonic

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

But somehow I don't get that impression.

Actually, reading that article, that was exactly the impression I got. It mentioned basically how he wants to reduce abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies. That can be done through perfectly reasonable means like birth control education. Also it reiterated how he continues to speak out for abortion rights. The two viewpoints are not mutually exclusive. It's as if he is basically saying, "I don't like to see abortions happen, but women should still be given the choice to have them." It's a very centrist and libertarian point of view, and it shows a willingness to keep personal beliefs out of the affairs of the legal system.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

It mentioned basically how he wants to reduce abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies.

I saw the bit where a White House spokesman brought up the subjects of unintended pregnancies and adoption, but the whole article is woefully light on details -- at least, details that mean anything. Yes, yes, it's very nice that Sasha and Malia got to meet the Pope, but I'd like to hear more about how Obama intends to improve the lamentable state of things like birth control education in the US. I mean, the article didn't even go so far as to say "the President wants to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in the United States" -- it merely mentioned unintended pregnancies and adoptions in the same sentence. The spokesman could just as easily have meant that they intend to promote the latter as a solution to the former.

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind Obama was also acting as a diplomat here for all intents and purposes, and he had his kids with him. The intent was to try to find what areas of common ground there were, and apparently they found agreement in the generality that there should be less abortion in the world, but apparently not in the details, as the spokespeople for both Obama and Benedict inferred that there was still disagreement in that area.

Again, one can be both pro-choice and *true* pro-life (as opposed to the anti-choice movement that only is 'pro-life' in name).

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

Again, one can be both pro-choice and *true* pro-life (as opposed to the anti-choice movement that only is 'pro-life' in name).

Oh, certainly. I'd go as far as to say that I fall into that camp; the world I want to live in is one where every child is loved and wanted, and no one has to go through the pain -- emotional or physical -- of abortion. (In my early twenties, Depo-Provera failed for me, twice. Both times, I figured it out early in the first trimester and underwent a medical abortion. The cramps are excruciating. I got an IUD immediately after the second one, but it would have been nice to know that Depo just doesn't work on me.)

What I'm particularly shirty about is how pathetic an excuse for journalism that article is.

[paka.livejournal.com]

I wish it weren't the case, but pretty much every national leader is obliged to treat the Pope like some sort of worthwhile world leader, and if the Pope wants to blather about abortion, whoever the national leader is is obliged to nod their head and go, yes yer holiness, abortion, yeah sure, abortion's bad kids, m'kay. It doesn't mean anything.

It's like Obama stopping to see Her Majesty the Queen, only Elizabeth II isn't an utterly hateful waste of carbon atoms, and the British government doesn't try to mandate how Americans vote.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

For being the third least populous nation in the world, Vatican City actually has a pretty decent amount of money. (Its official population is 826.) I don't think the CIA World Factbook's numbers on the Vatican's budget accurately reflect the degree of resources that the Vatican actually controls, either. So, it probably is a good idea for the President to maintain friendly relations with the Pope, since he actually is a legitimate head of state.

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much my take on it. While I won't say the Obama administration isn't without fault I can't really blame him for not getting into a heated argument with the Pope.

[paka.livejournal.com]

But that's the thing, there's too much power there to ignore.

When the Pope decides he's going to scream about the evils of Gays or promiscuity or abortion, he does have the power to instantly make large numbers of Americans get up and pay attention to closed-minded bullshit instead of actually focusing on building a fiscal and environmental future. You look at how the Catholic Church screwed Kerry back in 2004 - and there were hints of it in the last election. Obama's not stupid, and that means he will waffle on big issues like that lest the Church literally dictate how some of our fellow citizens vote.

Counter-example; when the Pope visited Isrel, did the Israelis really want some ultraconservative homophobic former Hitler Jugend member, showing up in their country? But they didn't have a choice, they had to play nice to the Pope because he has the potential to raise too much of a stink.

It's almost as though the Protestant Reformation never happened.

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Until he says otherwise I'm inclined to believe that the President's position on abortion is the Clintonian one: safe, legal, and rare. I've got no problem with that as long as the democratic plan for making them rare has to do with contraceptives and mitigation of the economic motives that cause abortions to be sought. I guess I'm assuming a lot, but that was the position last time I checked. I know it irks to have him palling around with the Pope. I do sort of like the idea that when Obama agreed that abortion rates should be decreased the pope, as is his want, probably imagined Obama appointing a bishop to his cabinet to beat pregnant women with the bible, whereas Obama was thinking about science based methods that have proven efficacy.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

I know it irks to have him palling around with the Pope.

Yeah, in the same way it irks to have him palling around with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Necessary.

(I'm inclined to agree with you regarding Obama's position on abortion, as well. There's really nothing in that article beyond slow news day filler, and if the only thing those two men could agree upon were that "it would be nice if there were fewer abortions in the US" then I doubt they saw much common ground on the issue.)

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

IAWTC. With this whole exchange, really. Carry on. n.n

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

Yes yes. Now all you little right-wing shits can jump up and down and gibber about how you knew he was wishy washy and if we'd ONLY elected Dumb and Dumber I wouldn't be irked now.

I think this rant would be more effective without this strawman.

Fails basic logic check, but ya'know. Go ahead and feel free.


(err, yeah -- that's what makes it a strawman. If you were linking to and ranting about this sort of response, it wouldn't be, but that doesn't seem to be the topic of this post.)

Meanwhile, I'll point out this thing about us liberals that's different from you pinheads.

By "you pinheads" do you mean "anyone who isn't a liberal?" In which case, I call BS on the "unafraid to question and criticize" part. Please don't tell me you're one of those people who divides American politics into "Conservative" and Liberal", "Republican and Democrat". This "us vs. them" illusion is getting tiresome.

[I've got a huge headache and am in a bad mood, so I'm hoping I'm taking this the wrong way. I probably am.]

... independently, I have to say, I see nothing wrong with the goal of reducing abortions in the US. I'm nearly certain that if you asked any woman who has had to have an abortion if, given the choice, they'd rather have not needed the abortion, they'd opt to not need the abortion. Eliminating "abstinence only education" and making condoms/morning-after-pills freely available to high-schoolers would absolutely go a long way toward that goal.

[centauress.livejournal.com]

Look, it's all about this: He goes out to offer the olive branch, the common ground. Then we have the debate...

...And when the right-wingers try to fight, it's them who are being assholes and limiting healthcare and pregnancy prevention, not Liberals. So their views will get trotted out under the bright lights, and when people see that they generally choose the Liberal position.

Basically, by playing nice, we win either way - by reducing the number of wingers by them alienating more kids and people - or by passing the support we want to help people.