Xtreme Politics

by digby

Joe Sudbay has this right. President Obama dismissing the Wilson flap as a “circus” is weak. I don’t personally think what Wilson said was that big of a deal, but this has taken on a life of its own and the political implications are now bigger than the act itself.

Joe writes:

Last night, on 60 Minutes, President Obama, as he did in his speech on Wednesday night, took a jab at “the extremists” on both sides of the partisan spectrum:

I think we’re debating something that has always been a source of controversy, and that’s not just health care, but also the structure, and the size, and the role of government. That’s something that basically defines the left and the right in this country. And so, extremes on both sides get very agitated about that issue.

We know who the “extremes” on the GOP side are. A lot of them were in DC protesting on Saturday, but it also includes Republican members of Congress who heckle Obama and question his citizenship. And, there’s Rush and FOX News. Their message is that they want Obama to fail (and many of them don’t think he’s legitimately the President.)

But who does Obama think the “extremes” are on the Democratic side of the aisle? He’s made the analogy numerous times, so clearly he has someone, or some group, in mind. A few weeks ago, the White House castigated the “left of the left” for pushing Obama to keep his promise on the public option. Is that the standard for “extreme” on the left – supporting the public option, or expecting the president to keep, at the very least, his major campaign promises?

Ok, let’s do a different equivalence test and consider how our previous president handled a similar situation which happened at a pivotal moment in the congressional debate about the Iraq war “surge:”

Q What is your reaction to the MoveOn.org ad that mocked General Petraeus as General “Betrayus,” and said that he cooked the books on Iraq? And secondly, would you like to see Democrats, including presidential candidates, repudiate that ad?

THE PRESIDENT: I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org — or more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal.

It worked too. The Democrats came to heel like well trained German Shepherds and Petraeus was treated like a God by both parties. And that hissy fit, one of the biggest we saw during the Bush years, succeeded in quelling the growing protest against the surge.

Dismissing these things when Republican congressmen do them and capitulating when the shoe is on the other foot is one of the things that makes people mistrust the Democrats and make them look weak. These Republican politicians are throwing down the gauntlet, taunting the president, calling him a liar to his face, saying he is going to kill old people and winking at those who are calling him Hitler. He should not be afraid to at least allude to that craziness as a problem in our politics and refrain from claiming that “extremes” on both sides are equal in the lunacy.

It’s politically useful to drive that wedge between the Republicans and their base (as well as a good many of their elected officials) even deeper than it is. I know Obama doesn’t like such things — and nobody says he should be a crude as Bush — but it is part of politics, particularly now, and he shouldn’t shirk it. It’s part of the job.

Update: Oh hell. Forget all that. Just read this:

Attn Barack Obama: A guide to dealing with kindergarten bullies

Big bad Beck is a bully through and through. His rocky childhood gave rise to deep paranoia, a bipolar personality, delusions of grandeur, and deep-seated anger at people he perceives to be different than him. He consciously and repeatedly attempts to cause psychological harm to little Obama, mostly by spreading false rumors, making threats, using put-downs and encouraging his base to take up arms. Big bad Beck’s attacks are not just criticisms of little Obama’s pet projects. His attacks are meant to destroy Obama’s spirit, self-esteem, and popularity and to get back at him for winning the elections by a wide margin. It must be said that, as Dr. Gary Namie (author of “The Bully at Work”) says, “Good employers purge bullies, bad ones promote them”. Fox News and talk radio stations are complicit in big bad Beck’s “bullyism” by providing him a bullhorn to spread his slanderous and deranged rumors.

It must be said that big bad Beck’s behavior is perfectly normal for a bully, especially one in the kindergarten playground spanning from New York’s media rooms to Washington D.C.’s halls of power. The unusual aspect of this bullying dynamic is that little Obama is passively taking all the blows. As Kidshealth.com states, “Bullies tend to bully kids who don’t stick up for themselves.”

There are two things you absolutely do not want to do when a bully tries to make your life a living hell: you do not want to ignore them and you do not want to give in to their demands.

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