Scapegoating Progressive Bloggers for the Obama Administration’s Failures?

Posted on | September 28, 2010 | 31 Comments

Just when you think Democrats could not possibly become more absurd, they surprise you:

With each passing day, I’m beginning to realize that the crux of the problem for Obama is a handful of prominent progressive bloggers, among them Glenn Greenwald, John Aravosis, Digby, Marcy Wheeler and Jane Hamsher.

That’s from liberal New Media guru Peter Dauo, who evidently doesn’t realize how ridiculous that sentence looks to sane people.

Here we have a president who promised that his election would mark “the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless . . . the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

Not exactly modest in his promises, was he?

What he delivered instead is record levels of deficit spending and unemployment that seems to be permanently stuck near 10 percent.

Yet despite the myriad failures of the Obama administration, Peter Dauo insists, “the crux of the problem . . . is a handful of prominent progressive bloggers.”

On behalf of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I would like to offer this message of comfort and solidarity to Glenn Greenwald, John Aravosis, Digby, Marcy Wheeler and Jane Hamsher . . .

Hey, remember when hating the president was fun?

Category: Barack Obama, Blogging

Comments

31 Responses to “Scapegoating Progressive Bloggers for the Obama Administration’s Failures?”

Bob Belvedere
September 28th, 2010 @ 7:46 am

Obviously, this Dauo fellow is not part of the inner circle of The Illuminati, otherwise he would have know that everything is going right according to plan.
Garym
September 28th, 2010 @ 8:37 am

Did someone fart?
Andrew Sullivan
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:06 am

I didn’t make the list because I haven’t turned on Obama. And I maintained by antipathy to all things Palin.
Ran / Si Vis Pacem
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:07 am

@2
Waylay, get a life, pal. What rubbish! If you had been [*ahem*] paying freaking attention… “Lest we forget” it’s counterproductive to project one’s laziness and ignorance onto others.

Note well, oh clued-out one, that blogging as a phenomenon on the Right was precisely in response to Bush’ failures – and that in the period 2003 to 2006 as people turned away from CNN and the NY Times to the Internet *and* as blogging media were maturing. From your lame comment, one would think blogging started with Marconi.

. . .

To Dauo’s nonsense, it too is hilarious. Reminds one of the days following John F! Kerry’s loss to the mediocre Bush. The Left (was it Alterman and Kos?) were explaining the loss to the Demo’s failure “to get the message out!” as if the media hadn’t done their job. They were exactly wrong: Not only was Kerry’s message delivered loud and clear by the old press, it was amplified by the New Media.
Recall “We didn’t get our message out!?” [sigh.] « Si Vis Pacem
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:19 am

[…] Recall “We didn’t get our message out!?” [sigh.] 2010/09/28 by Ran / Si Vis Pacem As the rats are jumping the SS Obama the blame game heats up. Stacy ‘n Smitty enjoy a moment of pure schadenfreude. […]
The Blast
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:31 am

[…] The Other McCain: Scapegoating Progressive Bloggers for the Obama Administration’s Failures? […]
JeffS
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:57 am

All of those lefties are as clueless as they come, especially in their blind support of the Demonrats and Obama. Heck, some can be described as deranged (e.g., Andrew Sullivan).

But there is no way that they are the “crux” of any problem for Obama. If anything, Obama is a primary cause of their problems. He’s the President, not the bloggers.

Oh, and that sound y’all heard while reading RSM’s post? That was the sound of those “prominent progressive bloggers” getting tossed under the bus.

With the gleeful support of waylay, I might add. It’s more interested in changing the subject than countering it. Heh!
bigsarge
September 28th, 2010 @ 9:57 am

Ran, you’re wrong and waylay is right. That’s why we have Justice Myers on SCOTUS, instead of Alito.
If This Were A Real Civil War, The Left-Wing Would Be Bleeding Kansas Right Now
September 28th, 2010 @ 11:26 am

[…] of Republicans will translate into ready ammunition for the left.I’ll let Stacy McCain point out the flaw in that argument. The fault is not with the bloggers, where Daou would put it, but with the President for abandoning […]
Thomas L. Knapp
September 28th, 2010 @ 1:23 pm

You’re misreading Daou.

The key words in the quote you’re mis-interpreting are “for Obama.” A better phrasing would have been “to Obama.”

Daou is merely pointing out that Obama’s entourage and defenders are making a mistake by blaming Greenwald et. al for the regime’s problems. If you read the whole article, you’ll see that Daou correctly notes that those progressive bloggers are holding Obama to precisely the same standard as they held Bush, and finding him lacking.
Robert Stacy McCain
September 28th, 2010 @ 1:48 pm

@Thomas L. Knapp

The key is that Daou — following the lead of Axelrod and others — sees everything as a matter of political perception, rather than trying to deal with the underlying reality. That has been the Team Obama theme from the outset: As long as he wins the P.R. battle over image and perception, the reality of effective policy is irrelevant. During the 2008 campaign, they didn’t give a damn how grandiose their rhetoric was or that they were raising expectations that were sure to be disappointed.

Obama was like Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” a con-man whose only goal was to convince people that he had the secret method of success. And now having passed the point where the “think” method has been put to the test and failed disastrously, everybody on the Left is looking for scapegoats.

Because Daou deals with progressive bloggers, he singles out a handful of disgruntled Obama critics as the problem. This is a false claim. The Obama administration isn’t failing politically because of its critics — Left or Right — it’s failing because its policies are bad, and the voters are sick to death of being told that “recovery” is just around the corner.
S. Wolf
September 28th, 2010 @ 2:07 pm

Bob Belvedere.. Correct.

Barack Obama, Fabian Socialist
wombat-socho
September 28th, 2010 @ 2:46 pm

Bigsarge, I see what you did there. 🙂
Fishersville Mike: Thanks, liberal bloggers
September 28th, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

[…] cheer him with the same fervor as his most ardent fans. Nice job. Keep up the good work. h/t the Other McCain Posted by Mike at 2:46 PM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to […]
Thomas L. Knapp
September 28th, 2010 @ 7:03 pm

Stacy,

You write:

“Because Daou deals with progressive bloggers, he singles out a handful of disgruntled Obama critics as the problem.”

No, he doesn’t. His point is … well … exactly the same as yours, i.e. that Obama and Co. are incorrectly blaming “a handful of disgruntled Obama critics” for Obama’s failures as president.

Granted, Daou and the progressive bloggers in question mostly disagree with you on what those failures are, but that’s a different subject.

I suspect you have very little in common with Glenn Greenwald. The one thing you do have in common is that you both insist that Obama, not “the progressive bloggers” or “the obstructionist Republicans” or whoever, is responsible for what Obama does.
A Deeper Meaning To Peter Daou’s Post : The Other McCain
September 28th, 2010 @ 8:46 pm

[…] To Peter Daou’s PostPosted on | September 28, 2010 | No Commentsby SmittyStacy covered this in the morning, but there are some deeper points to extract from Daou’s post. Look past the tee-hee-hee of […]
Dave C
September 29th, 2010 @ 12:46 am

Obama was like Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” a con-man whose only goal was to convince people that he had the secret method of success. And now having passed the point where the “think” method has been put to the test and failed disastrously, everybody on the Left is looking for scapegoats.

That means only one thing.

We have trouble, right here in River City.
How Dare You? : The Other McCain
October 3rd, 2010 @ 2:19 pm

[…] profound suspicion in intelligent minds. Why, for example, have Obama’s henchman lately been lashing out at progressive bloggers like Jane Hamsher?At some point, Hamsher and her readers should begin to ask themselves, “What have we signed […]