I thought nausea was all in the past now that I’m in week 35 of pregnancy but it came back with a vengeance as I was watching this interview Obama gave to Jay Leno:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc6AR3daQNA
I understand that politicians lie because that is practically part of their job description. But here every word he says is just so egregious that I’m horrified. “There is no spying on Americans”? “We don’t have a domestic spying program”? “Whistleblower protection”? “We’ve been trying to reduce the reliance on contractors”? Snowden should have just come forward and shared his concerns with the authorities? Is this some sort of a vicious joke at the expense of the citizens?
What kind of blathering fools does he think we are?
You know the funniest part? During the entire first term, Liberals were saying with the dedication of obsessive parrots that Obama was being what he was and doing what he did because he was afraid he wouldn’t get reelected. “Just wait for him to win the second term and that’s when he will do what we elected him to do! We will see his true face then!” they kept repeating in triumphant anticipation. I was saying the same thing, so I’m acknowledging my own delusion here.
And then the guy gets his second term, and what do you think? He cheers for Larry Summers, chases Snowden all over the world, defends spying on the citizens, champions lower corporate tax rates, etc. Well, I guess the Liberals were right all along: we are seeing Obama’s true face. What you see in this interview is who he is and who he always was.
I might need to go vomit now.
Clarissa's Blog 
Hey Clarissa,
35 weeks, how exciting 🙂 Yeah, didn’t even watch the clip but everything you said is directly in line with what Obama has been doing (and most other politicians of both parties to be fair). My question i guess is why do politicians feel the need to lie so much? And I am being serious here. I would respect, and honestly listen to what an honest politician had to say, even if we disagree, because with honesty overtime you move towards mainly better policies and certainly policies that most people agree with (in a democracy). As you know I’m somewhat young (25), so I get that some would say I just have “youthful idealism” or worst “naivitie” (sp?) or “ignorance”. However, I feel that you, and a good majority of the readers on this blog would respect honesty and truly prefer that and vote for politicians who exhibitied that. Now with that being said, I think its pretty safe to say that you, me, many of your readers and the more politically/socially involved, are more intellectually involved in social/economic/political issues than the average person. So the cynical answer in my opinion is that most people in power / politicians, believe the average person is either too stupid, too lazy, or too disinterested to respond to intellectual honesty that would work on those of us who are more involved. I guess I feel that attitude, combiend with the massive conflict of interest politiicans have to their donor base, are the main reasons politicians are like this. Curious of your thoughts if you see it this way. – Matt
P.S. Apologize for the long post, literally wrote it in 3 minutes.. just very passionate on this stuff 🙂 On that rfront, do you ever or have you ever thought about guest bloggers? Not being presumptuous to assume even if you did that you would ever let me write.. but just curious. I will likely start blogging on my own as part of the company I am launching in the next 6-9 months.. but just curious 🙂
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“As you know I’m somewhat young (25), so I get that some would say I just have “youthful idealism” or worst “naivitie” (sp?) or “ignorance”.”
– I’m 12 years older, and I always get told the exact same thing. 🙂
“So the cynical answer in my opinion is that most people in power / politicians, believe the average person is either too stupid, too lazy, or too disinterested to respond to intellectual honesty that would work on those of us who are more involved.”
– I think you are absolutely right. Too many people vote for the candidate who has the nicest smile or represents some sort of a fantasy they have. And who cares what lies are delivered by a person with the cute smile, right? The only solution here is for people to get more educated, more involved, less apathetic.
“On that rfront, do you ever or have you ever thought about guest bloggers?”
– I’ve tried posting guest posts in the past but for some reason this never worked. Even when guest posters wrote in a way that was clearly superior to mine, still people didn’t want to read those posts. Readers who come to the blog seem to prefer something trivial if it comes to me to something profound when it comes from somebody else. I’m puzzled but I find it very flattering. 🙂
Feel free to bring links to your stuff and I will gladly post them, though.
Good luck with the company!!!
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What an idiot!. But we were even more idiots in re-electing him!
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Clarissa, I’ve never commented before (though I thoroughly enjoy your blog and read it every single day). Sorry to threadjack, but I am very curious to hear your thoughts on this: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/stephen-fry/stephen-fry-open-letter-to-david-cameron_b_3718389.html
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Thank you for the kind words!
I hadn’t seen this letter before but it is beautiful.
“I have visited Russia, stood up to the political deputy who introduced the first of these laws, in his city of St Petersburg. I looked into the face of the man and, on camera, tried to reason with him, counter him, make him understand what he was doing. All I saw reflected back at me was what Hannah Arendt called, so memorably, “the banality of evil.” A stupid man, but like so many tyrants, one with an instinct of how to exploit a disaffected people by finding scapegoats.”
– Absolutely true. Deputy Milonov is an unhinged maniac. Completely brainless and entirely delusional.
“against the hopes of millions of Russians, those not in the grip of that toxic mix of shaven headed thuggery and bigoted religion, those who are agonised by the rolling back of democracy and the formation of a new autocracy in the motherland that has suffered so much”
– 2% of Russians actually belong to the Orthodox Church. 2%! And in the name of those 2% civilization and democracy are being destroyed in the country to please the priests. You turn on the TV, there is yet another bigoted priest pontificating about women provoking men to rape them or gays being all pedophiles.
I love Stephen Fry.
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“What kind of blathering fools does he think we are?”
The kind who would vote for him in the first place….. and then vote to re-elect him!
(burrrrrrrrrrrrnnnn)
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Yeah, Jay Leno will really get to the bottom of this controversy. Good job Obama, answering all the the tough questions posed by a late night hack comedy host.
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The GOP presidential primary process ensures that no moderate or even semi-reasonable candidate can ever be the nominee. This ensures Democratic party majority at the Federal level for the foreseeable future. As a result, we get people like Obama who can say ‘fuck you’ to their voter base with impunity.
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Yes, I agree with your analysis. If the GOP finds a decent, somewhat charismatic candidate who will manage to ditch the anti-gay and anti-women rhetoric, they will win every election. Because on the economy the majority is with them anyway.
But they will not find such a candidate for quite a while.
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It isn’t like he’d dare to face a serious interviewer. Not that there are any left.
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“Yes, I agree with your analysis. If the GOP finds a decent, somewhat charismatic candidate who will manage to ditch the anti-gay and anti-women rhetoric, they will win every election. Because on the economy the majority is with them anyway.
But they will not find such a candidate for quite a while.”
So the democrats will win federal elections and the republicans who’ve gerrymandered the fuck out of their districts (along racial/socio economic lines of course) will retain the house, and auto-block every move the president makes. Permanent gridlock, everyone’s happy.
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“So the democrats will win federal elections and the republicans who’ve gerrymandered the fuck out of their districts (along racial/socio economic lines of course) will retain the house, and auto-block every move the president makes. Permanent gridlock, everyone’s happy.”
– Yes. You know how I always like to be optimistic. But in the face of these recent developments with Obama, I don’t see reasons for optimism. I must be terribly naive because I did not expect this from him. I watch this interview, and I still cannot believe it. Everybody says they expected this from the start. I really did not, and this is a shock.
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The Leno interview doesn’t depress me too much because it’s just what politicians do. They yuk it up with non-threatening interviewers in order to seem “of the people.” I don’t like it but I recognize it as part of the “persona.” I share some of your pessimism. But on the optimistic side, I’m very pleased with Obama’s appointees to the supreme court. And those are lifetime appointments so those are incredibly important decisions. A McCain or Romney presidency would have been disastrous for the supreme court.
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I know what you mean about SCOTUS! Whenever I hear those horrifying people Bush appointed, my blood runs cold.
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What kind of blathering fools does he think we are?
There is none so blind as s/he who will not see.
Also: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
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