thegreekdog wrote:A couple of things:
(1) You seem to think there is a growing problem with hating the person rather than the policies. I have seen this problem myself from Bill Clinton to GW Bush (especially him) to Barack Obama. I don't think this is a growing problem. I think it has been a continuous problem throughout history. A lot of people hated Abraham Lincoln, the man. So, it makes me wonder why you think this is a growing problem right now. And I think the answer is that you have been led to believe it is a growing problem right now because the current president and his administration have made it clear that to criticize the president's policies is to be either a radical conservative or a racist. So, when someone criticizes the president himself, rather than saying, "Yeah, they're right," like you did with President Bush, you say, "You're being unreasonable/radical/racist."
The difference now is the volume and the tone. People have always disliked politicians, both as individuals AND for their policies. What is new is that the two are so rarely distinguished. Also, to be honest, a lot of it was always rhetoric. I would sit in on some of the Republican discussions in CA, when Reagan was in office (yep, I was a young Republican back then) and you would hear them talk about each other in public one way, but privately.. they got along. Not all of course, they had their own differences personally. However, they did not mix the two.
Today, it is different. When a Republican finds out that a colleague's wife has cancer and expresses condolences, he is likely to be chastized.
Lincoln is not the best example. Times were different then, but we were also in the midst of the most brutal war in our history. Comparing attitudes today to then is plain scary. And that is my point. We should not be at war today, internally, and yet, according to primarily Republican politicians, we are. It is no cooincidence.
thegreekdog wrote:
(2) What exactly has President Obama done to create openness about his use of the Patriot Act? The answer is nothing. And this is why I think you drink the Obama Kool Aid. Because you type things out here that aren't true. I can respect your opinion on healthcare, and that's fine. I cannot accept that there has been any positive difference between Bush's Patriot Act and Obama's Patriot Act. In fact, some of my more libertarian friends have indicated that the Obama administration is actually worse than the Bush adminsitration when it comes to domestic intelligence gathering. While I take what those two dudes say with a grain of salt, there is no more openness now than there was 4 years ago.
I did say I disliked his continuing the Patriot Act. He has, however opened many other records that Bush, etc sealed. He has not been as open as people hoped, but he is just a bit better than Bush. That's not saying much, mind you.
thegreekdog wrote:(3) Time will tell. I agree with you on this. I still think time will tell with President Bush. Bush the man was certainly prone to saying stupid things and should not have gotten us involved in a war with Iraq. However, I will still remain confident that he was unfairly criticized for a lot of things. On the other hand, I think President Obama is unfairly criticized on some things, while not being criticized enough on other things. And this is because the things that President Bush was most criticized for (the wars, the Patriot Act) are things that President Obama has not changed and has no plans to change. That's why I do not understand your (and others') loyalty to this president. The only thing I can think of is political party affiliation, which is completely unacceptable in my mind.
I actually think Cheney was the greater villain in the Bush administration. But, Bush was the head. He could have controlled Cheney, but decided not to. Well, the powers that put him into office did so, in large part, due to Cheney. I am not going to get into more detail there.
As for my "loyalty", I have said again and again that I refrain from villifying the guy. It is pretty telling that even you wish to equate that with "loyalty" and "unwavering support". Very telling indeed... and a prime example of the kind of ultra-partisenship of which I spoke.
As for party, I have said before and will say it again, my party affiliation is simply the best of 2 poor choices. My registration has to do with practical matters, mostly the primary in which I wish to vote.