Chan Lowe cartoon: B.O.'s big haul
Just a week or two ago, the Obama haters were crowing that Chicago's elimination as a summer Olympics site amounted to a personal loss of prestige for the president, when in fact the decision had very little--if anything--to do with him.
Had he not gone to Copenhagen, the same carpers would have attacked him for not doing all he could to bring the Olympics to the U.S.
How can you blame the International Olympic Committee? Given the choice, wouldn't you rather loll on Copacabana Beach in the shadows of Sugar Loaf than on the steamy shores of Lake Michigan beneath the hulking pile of the Sears Tower?
Anyway, that's old news. Last week, he won the Nobel Peace Prize--again an event he had little to do with--and they say he didn't deserve the accolade. So, which is it?
From the tepid response out of the White House, the prize was viewed as something of a mixed blessing for a president who is already perceived (and perception in politics is reality, as they say) as being all mouth and no follow-through.
Those crazy Europeans. Don't they remember that one of the reasons Sen. Kerry lost the election in 2004 was that he looked "too French?" They should keep their pompous little prizes to themselves, thank you very much.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
The Nobel comittee is a group of liberals who believe, "conservatives need not apply." For God's sake, they passed over the inventor of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine and gave the award to two blokes who merely used the machine in some testing. It was like passing over Einstein and giving it to a run-of-the-mill Physics prof. And why did they pass over the inventor of the MRI? It was because Dr. Raymond Damidian was saved at a Billy Graham crusade and is now an outspoken Christian. That's exactly why.
No no, if anyone thinks that the Nobel Prize actually means anything any more, besides the fact that you are for certain a liberal in good standing, they are sadly mistaken. The Nobel comittee has become a disgrace and a laughing stock.
Posted by: Jack49 | October 13, 2009 5:00 PM
Even accepting all of that at face value, Jack49, it doesn't even touch the "Obama: Wrong No Matter What" attitude we're seeing from many influential voices on the right. NOTHING is more important to the Republican Party right now than opposing the Democratic Party, and especially Obama. On health care, even when they accede to Republican wishes, the Republicans back away and reject what mere days before they demanded.
The type of opposition this administration faces is the ongoing Permanent Campaign strategy of the Republican party. And you know what? It works. When the entire party, in lockstep with their leaders, digs its heels in and refuses to govern responsibly, because doing so would allow successes to reflect well on the Democratic party, it can drag the apparatus of government into the mire and utterly prevent it from being effective.
We are in the mire now, and it will take cooperation to get out. But the Republicans won't deign to cooperate with the Democrats. They didn't during the Bush years - they just steamrolled the opposition, including the use of reconciliation in the Senate when it suited them - and you can be goddamned sure they're not going to cooperate now. In fact, they will throw a world-class tantrum if the Democrats use reconciliation themselves.
There's no shortage of rotten apples on either side of the aisle, to be sure. But the Republican party, with its homogeneity and almost militant chain-of-command rigidity, at this point forms a uniform mass of "MY way or no way at all." And they are doing lasting damage to the country with it.
Posted by: Mike D | October 13, 2009 8:19 PM
Mike D is exactly right about the infants who are monopolizing the right right now. The scorched earth policy they have set for diminishing President Obama proves they are not committed to public service. Rather, they are committed to themselves, right (or more likely) WRONG.
Posted by: Insurance Reform Now | October 13, 2009 11:51 PM
Look at the facts people. Places like Canada and Britain are moving towards privitazation of healthcare because it does not work! Look at Hawaii's experiment. I crippled the budget.
Mike D. Look in the mirror man. The Party of the People only wants those people who are in lockestep. No other opinions need apply. What has the government ever done to make you so sure they can run healthcare. Just looks at the Broward School Sstyem and multiply it nationwide. What has this administration sdone expcept provide it's my way or the highway mentality. Cooperation is "sut up and get out of the way."
Posted by: dave | October 14, 2009 9:15 AM
To Jack49, I guess you forgot about Henry Kissinger?
And to Dave, your post has nothing at all to do with Obama and the Nobel Prize. You prove the Left's stance by not being on the subject.
Posted by: clarkwv | October 14, 2009 1:20 PM