Liberal Weiner Whine-Fest Begins

(Photo stolen from unclejayexplains.com.)

Oh, the liberal Democrats are a funny bunch.

So eager are they to be rid of everything Bush – which to them represents the extreme right of the Republican Party – they’re criticizing President-Elect Obama for not immediately swinging the entire country to the extreme left which, in their eyes, is the best thing to do, even though, ahem, it might be a little extreme. They’re so eager for Obama to blunder into extreme politics that they don’t see they’re trying to push him down the same slippery slope they accuse Bush of sliding down gleefully over the past eight years.

I’m getting this reading “Liberals Voice Concerns About Obama” from CBS News this morning. Some of them look at Obama’s cabinet picks – about the biggest thing he’s been able to do since Nov. 4 – and see nothing but doom, gloom, and other words that end in “oom.”

“There don't seem to be any liberals in Obama's cabinet,” writes John
Aravosis, the editor of Americablog.com. “What does all of this mean for Obama's
policies, and just as important, Obama Supreme Court announcements?”

“Actually, it reminds me a bit of the campaign, at least the beginning and
the middle, when the Obama campaign didn't seem particularly interested in
reaching out to progressives,” Aravosis continues. “Once they realized that in
order to win they needed to marshal everyone on their side, the reaching out
began. I hope we're not seeing a similar ‘we can do it alone’ approach in the
transition team.”

I’ve got to say, props to the Obama team, which is trying, coyly, to tell the far liberal wing of the party that what they see as “going it alone” is actually an attempt at finding the right people for the right job, even if they don’t kowtow to that extreme liberal line.

“I think that when you ultimately look at what this advisory board looks like,
you'll say this is a cross-section of opinion that in some ways reinforces
conventional wisdom, in some ways breaks with orthodoxy in all sorts of way,”
Obama recently said in response to questions about his appointments during a
news conference on the economy.

What is even funnier is that they seem shocked, SHOCKED, that Obama is (whisper) a politician. They’re concerned he’s pulled away from promises or statements or hand gestures or whatever he made during the campaign to tell them in so many ways that the instant he was in the Oval Office, the Roto Rooters would follow. It’s as if they think extreme politics from the left is the best answer to extreme politics from the right, rather than trying a more commonsensical approach. But neither the extreme right nor the extreme left are known for their common sense. Both, rather, are known for an uncommon sense of entitlement, selfishness, entitlement and entitlement.

The central premise of the left’s criticism is direct - don’t bite the hand that
feeds, Mr. President-elect. The Internet that helped him so much during the
election is lighting up with irritation and critiques.

So, if I understand correctly, the Internet, which is a haven for pornographers, file-stealers, babbling, know-nothing bloggers (myself included), people who advocate the shaving of public hair on or before Jan. 20 to celebrate the disappearance of George W. Bush from the White House, and (say it in your best Gollum voice) lists, lists, lists, is where Barack Obama should look for continued wisdom, support, validation and the pulse of the coming generation.

If so, save us from the pulse of the coming generation. Don’t trust anyone under 30.

It’s good to see, however, that there is some hand-wringing going on, and that there may be a few on the far left willing to give their new hope a chance to actually get into office before they start complaining that they didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas:

“It's complicated,” said [Johnathan] Tasini [of workinglife.org], who
challenged Clinton for Senate in 2006. “On the one hand, the guy hasn't even
taken office yet so it's a little hasty to be criticizing him. On the other
hand, there is legitimate cause for concern. I think people are still waiting
but there is some edginess about this.”

That’s a view that seems to have kept some progressive leaders holding
their fire. There are signs of a struggle within the left wing of the Democratic
Party about whether it’s just too soon to criticize Obama -- and if there’s
really anything to complain about just yet.

Both the far right and the far left would do good to examine themselves for self-righteousness and, for the sake of the rest of us, learn to tone the bile and gleeful angst down a bit. And, certainly, keep their advocacy for pubic hair shaving in private, where it should be.