“We don’t want somebody sitting back and saying 
‘you’re not holding the mop the right way, you’re not mopping fast enough, that’s a socialist mop.’”
in San Francisco, after saying Congress is working to
clean up a mess others left behind, Oct. 15, 2009
Let ‘em have it: We’ve longed to see the president and congressional Democrats take off their kid gloves and clean the floor with members of the Party of No, politically speaking. Obama’s barb was a mild, humorous comeback about conservative Republicans whose handiwork resulted in a near depression, two intractable wars in the Mideast and debt beyond anything seen before, but we’ll take it as a start.
Americans need to be reminded about who got us into our current predicaments, who’s working overtime trying to get us out of them — and who is standing by, carping, complaining, finding fault and not lifting a finger to help. Worse, Republicans want Obama and Democrats in Congress to fail, in hopes that will somehow restore their ruined reputation.
Plenty more could be said to spotlight and condemn Republicans’ cynical selfishness. We hope the president will loosen up and let them have the lambasting they so richly deserve. Doing so might help keep voters from setting us all up for more of what Republican rule inevitably brings.
(Note: debt link added Oct. 16, 2:42 p.m. Pacific time. )
I’m waiting for them to ‘give’em hell” too. So far, the best spoken (at least as far as going liberal holy-roller all over the repubes) has been Alan Grayson of the House. That one bears watching.
The mop analogy was a good one, defending himself against the outrageous rhetoric is the way to go, the mental picture of him cleaning up the mess resonates with people. Leave the political attacks to them. I like good political defense, just tear down their argument and leave it in tatters. All they are doing is sitting back and criticizing and offering nothing. They want to be attacked. Don’t do it Mr. President. To use an analogy of my own: A good offense wins games, a good defense wins championships.
Free market mops are the best: a bit cheaper, but the sponge disintegrates and the plastic squeegee cracks so you end up buying a dozen replacements in the course of a year.
Bee, I wonder if Obama drew inspiration and courage from Grayson, and from all the attaboys Grayson got after telling it like it is. Good for both of them.
Holte, that’s an interesting take but I obviously don’t agree. People want a president to lead, and that means doing more than letting himself get pushed into a corner and then punching back. Harry Truman knew that. He took it to the Republicans whenever they got out of hand, and the people knew they had a fighter. He let them know who and what he was fighting, and why. People liked and respected that. Obama won’t win the day by forfeiting the initiative and/or the offensive to Republicans.
Randal, you do realize that older Russians would probably tell you that description better fits socialist mops, LOL. The thing about free market mops is that the mop handle comes for cheap while replacement sponges are relatively pricey.
Great line from Obama. Like Bee said, maybe Alan Grayson got the ball rolling. And we need to keep it rolling. I’m glad nobody’s stooping to the level of the rightwing hate machine, but the Democrats need to hit back more often.
I was watching Original Star Trek season 1 on blu ray (which is awesome, btw), and it occurred to me. I voted for Obama because I really wanted a Captain Kirk, and he seemed the most likely candidate. He still goes Captain Kirk sometimes, but he needs to really channel Captain Kirk, especially when Kirk jumps all over Bones and Spock to hurry up and find an alternative to blowing up a planet and killing 1,000,000 alien-infected people.
Tom, agreed on keeping the ball rolling and Dems hitting back.
Bee, after having a Capt. Queeg type as vice president for eight awful years, I get uneasy talking about captains in power positions.
I’m waiting for him to take off the kid gloves and start leading. I guess I can keep waiting. I got hope, I’m waiting on change, and by change I mean- we’re in a hole… please stop digging!
Welcome, Tony. I don’t see Obama digging the hole we’re in deeper, but I too want President Obama to apply some more hands-on leadership.
I think Governor Jan Brewer could use this same analogy. She is trying to mop up this illegal immigration mess she has in her state and from Washington Obama is telling her that her mop is misguided.
Genius, I disagree on the analogy. But if we have to use it, I’ll add that it does no good to go at it with a dirty mop.
Anderson, Tell that to the families of the 2200 plus American citizens that are murdered each year by illegal immigrants.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/19595263
PG, the video wouldn’t load. No loss, considering it’s a Fox News production. The federal government doesn’t keep statistics on this. This meme has been all over right-wing blogs since Worldnet Daily, a right-wing blog, ran a story on it in 2006, citing various independent studies and estimates but not naming any specific sources. I’m sure illegal aliens kill some number of Americans each year. I’m sure Americans kill some number of illegal aliens each year. Exact numbers aren’t known, but murder is wrong, whatever the status of the murderer.
BTW, on-topic comments are welcome; off-topic comments not so much. Please stick to the post topic.
You Bias is blinding. I won’t be posting anymore since your already brain washed.