Friday, May 29, 2009

Keith Olberman, Blast from the Past, Thoughts about Obama/BushCo

Something to think about, to get your anger going again, to help you focus, so you will remember what we need to be writing those emails or making those phone calls about.

This was almost 2 years ago. Sept. 11, 2007. But, the message is the same today as it was then, as it was everyday until Jan. 20, 2009 at 11:59 AM, then things changed. But up until then, this is what we faced.



But just because things are different now, doesn't mean we can stop believing, stop paying attention, or stop holding his feet to the fire on things. We still have to make sure things are done as we believe he has promised them to be.

We have to hold his feet to the fire to make sure things are done, correctly, most especially. That's where things failed, before. No one, NO ONE, held BushCo's feet to the fire and made sure they were doing things legally and morally correct. They just turned their backs and let them go.

Then after they realized what they had done, they had the attorneys draw up the memos and say it was okay, we have proof from the attorneys, they say it is legal.

And most people thought that was enough, and the ones who tried to question it were shouted down, insulted and threatened with jail time, if they dared to speak out. Or, in the case of a few, some tried to run you out of Business.

During a London, England concert ten days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Maines said, "we don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" (the Dixie Chicks' home state). The statement offended people who thought it rude and unpatriotic, and the ensuing controversy cost the group half of their concert audience attendance in the United States and led to accusations of the three women being un-American, as well as hate mail, a death threat, and the destruction of their albums in protest.


All because they spoke out, and it scared people, and they refused to criticize BushCo after that for the most part. That's what got us into the mess we are in. Everyone became afraid of being called "traitors" or "Un-American", or aiding the enemy.

Even the media, were afraid to speak out, that's why so many things happened and BushCo was able to get by with Torture, Shredding the Constitution, Eavesdropping on everyone, Blacklisting people, more or less anything they wanted to do and NO ONE called them on it.

Oh there were protests, but it was never enough, and for the most part we were ignored as a bunch of lefties just being left wingers. Peaceniks. Protesting the war, that's what those lefties do.

Now, we must stand together again. This time to support our President, not to just let him do whatever he wants, but to keep him honest, to hold his feet to the fire and make sure he does what needs to be done. To make sure he stays on the path he and we have laid out together and doesn't get distracted like BushCo allowed themselves to do.

We have to make sure our President stays true to his beliefs and stays true to the Constitution, and to help us prosecute those who tried so hard to destroy it before. No matter who they were, be they Democrat or Republican.

But it is up to us, all of us, to hold him and our selves to that standard that we have set. It is up to us to make it happen. No one else is going to do it, if we don't get involved it's not going to happen.

4 comments:

Patricia said...

Obama spoke early in the campaign and often from then on about building consensus for things that are on our agenda, whether they're on his or not. I think that with some of this stuff it's fine to hold him accountable, but more effective to make sure that our congress people and senators support the things we want. Remember, Bush couldn't get Social Security privatized even when congress didn't say "no" to him about almost anything, because representatives and senators were told in no uncertain terms by their constituents that they'd just better not. That's the model that gets things done, or in that case prevents harm from being done.

themom said...

A trail for Bush and Cheney (and Rumsfeld) cannot come soon enough for me.

K. said...

Olbermann's editorial is a reminder of just how bad of a mess Bush and Cheney left behind. Iraq is bad enough, but there's also Katrina, the economy, torture...Obama's job is akin to Hercules shoveling out the Augean Stables. Sometimes I think that they did it on purpose so that a Democratic Administration would have such a huge task cleaning up after them that it wouldn't have time to implement a liberal agenda.

Silly Ratfaced Git said...

Excellent post Annette.

Rep. Kucinich attempted to hold Bush and Cheney's feet to the fire by reading 35 Articles of Impeachment in the House of Representatives against Bush. I've forgotten how many he read against Cheney. Speaker Pelosi violated her oath of office by ignoring the reading. I'm still waiting for her to explain herself.