Obama was a bad President because he promised to make the system work for everyone and then didn't. Bush ran on being corrupt/greedy and Trump ran on being a resentful narcissist and both kept their promises. (h/t @atrios) https://t.co/f1VOenzbY1
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 18, 2017
Why do we make the mistake of chewing on each others’ ankles, when there are “professionals” like Stoller to do that for us?
The horseshoe theory of politics states that theorists out towards the far end of opposing ideas eventually start to bend towards each other — thus, far-right authoritarians and far-left “purists” may have more in common with each other than with those of us closer to the center of the bell curve. And you didn’t even know that horses could wear clown shoes!
As for Atrios — whose post set Young Stoller off — IIRC, he’s an economist, and therefore disappointed in President Obama’s solutions to the Great Recession. I also think he’s wrong about how “history” will view Obama’s tenure. While he may have been unduly respectful of both the Republican opposition and his “centrist” so-called allies, I still think President Obama is going to end up in the Top Ten Presidents list if only for what his enemies chose to label Obamacare… among other things.
Obama left office with a near-60 percent approval and your take is that ***literally*** no one thought the country was in good shape?
— Ca 1 (@CAAttorney1) November 18, 2017
Lots of Dems think Obama tried and did the best he could, which kind of sucked but hey that's America. Some think he failed because of those mean Republicans. Some small number (me!) think he did exactly what he sought to do and it turned out horribly because his ideas were bad.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 18, 2017
At some level, it doesn't matter. If the person in charge is weak and doesn't deliver, voters won't forgive them. They don't care if there's a filibuster or whatever nor should they.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 18, 2017
Late Night {Face*Palm} Open Thread: Horseshoes, Clown ShoesPost + Comments (104)