Special Comment: The Four Great Hypocrisies of the Debt Deal
Keith Olbermann, to put it mildly, was not happy about this hostage taking over raising the debt ceiling and expressed his discontent with our political system, our corporate media that cares more about access than telling the truth and the concern by our politicians that revolve around getting reelected rather than representing their constituents. Keith asked where the outrage was and asked why more people aren't taking to the streets.
I think he answered his own question with his criticisms of the media and "a population obsessed with entertainment, video games, social media, sports, and trivia."
I do agree with his disgust over the money that has completely taken over our political system and with a corporate media that is not doing their job and doing their best to dumb down the better part of our population while what they call "news" does their best to misinform those that bother to try to follow what's going on.
If he wants us taking to the streets, someone needs to organize that. Ed Schultz got disgusted enough to get a good number of people to go march on Washington D.C. and voice their discontent. If Keith thinks we should be doing the same, I'd say stand up and lead the charge, or start promoting those who are on your show. Maybe Van Jones who is doing some groundwork in that regard should be a regular guest if he wants to promote the efforts of those that are trying to mobilize the public.
Here's more on the segment from his diary over at Daily KOS -- Special Comment: The Four Great Hypocrisies (UPDATED with link):
President Obama's greatest vulnerability in this tragic debt deal is not that he might appear to have failed, or appear to have abandoned the principles demanded of any humane president (let alone of a Democrat). His true risk is that he and the form of government he heads have suddenly begun to appear utterly, irredeemably, irrelevant.
Tonight, after my guests, including Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), the head of The Congressional Black Caucus and the coiner of the memorable 'Satan sandwich' phrase, Kos his ownself, and Al Gore, have had their say, I will have mine.
Our government has now given up the concept of right and wrong.We have, in this deal, declared that we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all political incumbents are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Re-nomination, re-election, and the pursuit of hypocrisy.
We have, in this deal, gone from the Four Freedoms to the Four Great Hypocrisies.
We have superceded Congress to facilitate 750 billion dollars in domestic cuts including Medicare in order to end an artificially-induced political hostage crisis over debt, originating from the bills run up by a Republican president who funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to the military-industrial complex by unfunded, unnecessary, and unproductive wars, enabled in doing so by the very same Republican leaders who now cry for balanced budgets - and we have called it compromise. And those who defend it have called it a credit to a pragmatic president who wins some sort of political "points" because, having stood for almost nothing here, he gave away almost nothing for which he stood.
It would be comical if it were not tragic.
If you are expecting some kind of red meat call to primary President Obama, or a withdrawal of support, I'm afraid it's not as simple as that. It seems to me that given the choice between a Democratic president in 2013 and a Republican one - possibly one who is certifiably insane - I'm going to choose the Democratic one every time. I don't think a primary helps anybody but the GOP, and I don't think it even addresses the real problem that is suddenly starkly clear after this disaster.
The problem is that this is the new form of government: PR stunts with teeth in them. National Lampoon (correcting) Cover government ("Cut this deficit or we'll shoot this economy"). Prop-box pistol government featuring real bullets. Living with arsonists in your house government.
Well it's time for another option.
Where is the outrage over these Great Hypocrisies? Do you expect it to come from a corrupt and corrupted media, for whom access is of greater importance than criticizing the failure of a political party or defending those who don't buy newspapers or can't leap website paywalls or could not afford cable tv?...
Do you expect it from those elected officials who no longer know anything of government or governance, but only perceive how to get elected, or how to pose in front of a camera and pretend to be leaders?...
Do you expect it will come from the great middle ground of the country, with a population obsessed with entertainment, video games, social media, sports, and trivia?
Where is the outrage to come from?
I actually have an answer to that question. It is hardly fully-formed. But as it always occurs to me in these moments when the jaw-dropping stupidity of our elected officials numbs my mind, no solution has ever been achieved without somebody first saying "this here is wrong, and we need to do something about it."
That's all well and good, and the outrage and frustration are understandable, but it doesn't solve the problem. Maybe one of those solutions is turning Current TV into a 24/7 news outlet not influenced by our corporations, and putting a lot of that content out there on places like You Tube so those who do not have cable TV can watch the segments if they at least have access to the Internet. I hope that's the direction they go with the network.
I'm as irritated as the rest of us with the money in politics and how it has corrupted the system. Getting as much information out there to counter our corporate media to low information voters is part of the solution. It's a big uphill battle that just being pissed off about or protesting about is not going to fix. And it's one where we need those who have some money, and who have a voice who agree with liberal principles need to step up and do more about to make up for the lack of a voice that those in our society who are powerless don't have if they care about us remaining a country that still takes care of the least among us, and that still has a middle class instead of just rich and poor.
I'm glad Keith Olbermann wants to be one of those voices. That said, just asking the rest of us to get angry is not enough. We're already angry. We need solutions. And we need help being organized and not just being left to flail in the wind.
Great defense, little over the top but that's super K!!11one
We need a non-violent side for sure XD
"It seems to me that given the choice between a Democratic president in 2013 and a Republican one - possibly one who is certifiably insane - I'm going to choose the Democratic one every time."
Which is why nothing ever changes, which is why the right wingers in Obama's government mock the left in public and tell them they have no where to go. They know the left, most of it, will fall in line, hold their noses and vote for this horrible, neo-liberal reactionary.
Honest question for anyone reading this: What would the Democratic Party have to do for you to do something other than vote for them because they aren't as bad as the other horrible party? Is there ANYTHING in the world that would force you to try any alternatives or to work to build a viable third party? What line would the Democratic Party have to cross for you to move in another direction, and not towards the other party? Is there ANYTHING? Cause it obviously wasn't NAFTA, or shredding the New Deal financial reforms, it wasn't the WTO, CAFTA, the entire Obama presidency. I am honestly asking, what line would that party have to cross for working people to walk away from that party?
If this were the early 20th century Eugene Debs would be in contention for the presidency. But it isn't, and the left has lost it guts, vision and moral outrage.
As far as I am concerned, I am done listening to liberals give wonderful speeches on Obama only to vote for him as the evil of two lessers. What is the point? Critique, stand for something and build something outside the two party duopoly. If not, stop the damn speeches. Just let people like Obama do what they do, support the Democrats no matter what, maybe work on the local level for an actual progressive (whatever that word means now) and tell yourself you tried. Since only so much will ever change if you stand by one of the two parties just accept the situation you and the country is in and take it like an adult. There isn't much else to say.
Keith was spot on,especially "The corrupt and corrupted media" part. But it seems that the Dems have finally taken the fight out of what's left of the party base.I'm thinking that he is right when he says that nothing is going to change until the people are in the streets but that doesn't seem possible because we are too lazy, too distracted, or just plain exhausted and humiliated from the dog and pony show that politics passes for in the U.S.And I'm sure that after a brief respite after Dubya, we are once again a laughingstock to the rest of the world.The White House and Congress should be so proud.I know I am not, I'm ashamed.
..& many dollars short.
I am a huge Keith Olbermann fan, but Keith needs to realize this debt ceiling fiasco revealed nothing new about Washington D.C.
For the last century at least, the politicians in Washington D.C. have been ignorant, phony assholes, who are always looking for the newest Sugar Daddy to buy them out. Washington D.C. politicians, a few notable exceptions notwithstanding, are self-loathing misanthropes whose main goal is to ruin America, not make America better. As a rule of thumb, Washington D.C. politicans hold the American people in deep contempt; they see the America people as, at best, useful idiots.
The biggest revelation coming out of the debt ceiling fiasco is that Barack Obama is an unrepentant Republican.
While realizing Barack Obama is an unrepentant Republican pisses me off, it is not enough to motivate me to take to the streets in protest.
As long as I am aware Barack Obama is a worthless piece of shit like everybody else in Washington D.C., I can use that information to do some positive things that do not entail wandering the streets in a protest.
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
When Marx/Lenin (I forget which) said that religion was the opiate of the people, he was speaking at a time when there wasn't radio, TV, electronic games, etc., and sports had not become what it is today. At the time, people must have felt like they had no control over what happened to them, so they immersed themselves in religion - appealing to someone they thought had control.
Today many have come to the conclusion that they have no way to affect major events in the country or world. If you write your Congressional delegate or Senator, what does that do? If you vote, someone from the opposing view will often win anyway. Few want to have a discussion of politics at work, in the bar, or at home. Many just feel powerless. And if people have come to the conclusion that religion is not an answer, what do they do? They immerse themselves in things to take their mind off of the fact that the world is just going to spin out of control without their help. Sports, movies, games. The Vietnam era had drugs and sex. I guess they're still around, too.
Amen KO, god it is good to see him unleashed from NPC corporate. I hope we get more news programs on Current.
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