Fergawdsake

by digby

I can excuse some college kid for this but it is completely absurd coming from a man of Tom Hayden’s age and experience:

Tom Hayden, the liberal activist best known for his work in the 60’s, when he helped found Students for a Democratic Society, was once pretty enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Back in March of 2008 he had the first byline on an article in the Nation — also attributed to Bill Fletcher Jr., Danny Glover and Barbara Ehrenreich — that began, “All American progressives should unite for Barack Obama.” Now, though, after the president announced his decision to send an additional 30,00 troops to fight in Afghanistan, Hayden’s had enough. His latest piece for the Nation begins with a very different sentiment than the one he expressed not two years ago. Now, Hayden says, “It’s time to strip the Obama sticker off my car.”

Hayden’s fanboy endorsement was an embarrassment of giddy projection even at the time. But there were a lot of people who were caught up in campaign fever on all sides so he wasn’t unique. To have a fit and claim “betrayal” because Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to send more troops to Afghanistan, however, is just puerile.

We had a choice in the Democratic Party between two moderates with almost identical agendas and worldviews. It’s not in the least bit surprising that they are working well together. They have never really disagreed. And in the General we had a choice between a moderate and a doddering right wing fool with his ignoramus running mate. These were the choices before us. If Tom Hayden thought we were electing the second coming of Ghandi, Houdini and Jesus Christ, it was all in his head.

Joan Walsh says it all about Hayden’s silliness both then and now, but I will just note that it’s this kind of behavior that has given liberals a bad name since Hayden was in his heyday.

Update:

I wish Obama had changed his mind on Afghanistan, and argued for him to do it. I will continue to do so. But I never had any illusions about where he and most of the other Democrats were headed with the “Good War” narrative. It always ends up the same way.

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