I WATCHED OBAMA'S SPEECH last night, and the commentary following, both Republic and Democratic.
First, let me say again that it is just nice to have a grown-up in the White House.
"I can understand wanting something so bad that you feel compelled to pretend it's true."
Barack Obama is the most mature, talented, and genuine President we've had since Jed Bartlet.
(Note to my Republican friends: That was a self-deprecating joke. It's a liberal thing, laughing at ourselves. I don't actually think a fictional character was really president. On the other hand, Ronald Reagan, or George W... But let's not go there.)
And the man knows how to give a speech. It's so nice to have someone in the President's chair who can communicate—not just warmth, but real ideas, with substance.
So I enjoyed it, and was inspired by it, in spite of the fact that I don't agree with every detail of Obama's program. Even Republicans must be secretly happy to have a president who can inspire hope and patriotism without lying to us about how hard the times are.
On the other hand, the Republican spin machine seems to be the last part of the old order to die. Not ten minutes after the speech was over, conservative pundits were complaining of "class warfare" and the nastiness of liberals who hate the wealthy.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that it's highly unlikely that Obama, or most any liberal, hates the wealthy. There's not one of us (well, okay, probably there's one, somewhere) who wouldn't like to be wealthy. True, we'd like to be one of the highly taxed wealthy, but we wouldn't turn down the money.
Conservatives seem to have this bee in their bonnet. They can't understand taxing someone without hating them. (They also prefer regressive taxes. Does that mean they hate the poor and middle class?)
I think I understand where this is coming from.
Let's face it: Obama has not played fair with Republicans.
They have very specific, very narrow, needs when it comes to a Democratic president. They need him to be intolerant of Republicans and conservatives. They need him to be unreasonable and dishonest. They need him to raise taxes on the middle class, so they can scream about it. They need him to ignore the budget deficit, so they can scream about it.
They need him to be someone who they can feel really good about hating—someone who fits their fantasy of the perfect liberal.
Obama hasn't been playing ball. He's refused to be divisive. He's been reasonable. He's cut taxes on the middle class. He's smart, but not elitist. So what is a poor Republican to do?
Squint real hard, and see what they want to see.
I can understand that. I can understand wanting something so bad that you feel compelled to pretend it's true.
Liberals have fantasies, too.
The difference is, we knew that Bartlet wasn't really president.
