The Spin Begins: "A Record You Can Believe In" by Eugene Robinson

Robinson writes "Step back for a moment, though, and look at Obama’s record so far. His biggest accomplishment has been keeping the worst financial and economic crisis in decades from turning into another Great Depression. Yes, the $787 billion stimulus package was messy, but most economists believe it was absolutely necessary—and some believe it should have been even bigger. Yes, Obama continued the Bush-era policy of showering irresponsible financial institutions with billions in public funds. Yes, the administration bailed out the auto industry—and we actually heard the president of the United States reassure Americans that General Motors warranties would be honored."


Check out the comments to this article:

"This piece falls into the category of embarrassing, Pollyanna-ish gushing. What we see here at the one year anniversary of Obama’s election ratifies the critiques of Nader and Chomsky - that we really have a one-party system, the party just has two factions. Whether Obama meant better, or whether he simply meant to get elected, I don’t know, but early on he - perhaps thinking himself invincible - swallowed three or four poisonous pills… Bob Gates, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, Hillary Clinton… and the one who thought he would be the 'horse whisperer' has become the whispered. I see this as his defining mistake, since he shows no intention to address it in any way. The pills were a mistake because, as Andrew Bacevich has pointed out, 'Presidents don’t govern, administrations do.'"



"Eugene Robinson was thinking and writing and thinking and writing and during the exhausting excercise decided to share the following— '...He’s brought us to the brink of truly meaningful reform much faster than anyone could have imagined a year ago…it looks clear that the principle that everyone is entitled to health insurance, a Democratic Party goal for at least six decades, is about to become law.'

"Astounding.

"Simply Astounding.

"Eugenie knows the difference between 'mandated' & 'entitled'.
Wonder why he got it mixed up here? Oh, and I’m glad to know that this was the 6 decade goal and not health care, finally. All that mis-understanding"



"Over that last 6 months I have unconsciously grown weary or Robinson’s presence
on MSNBC as well with the entertainmentnews of Keith Oberman and Rachel
Maddow. About a month ago I decided that what was disturbing me was how
they have fallen into our Corporate culture. I thank Eugene Robinson for clarifying
my mind by this sickening article. Balderdash seems to be a good term to apply
to it.

I am going in for an virus innoculation shot that will keep me from listening to
such dangerous germs. I will stay healthy by listening to the likes of Democracy
Now."


"Mr Robinson: You are obviously being paid by the DNC. This was the most ass-kissing piece of drivel I’ve read in quite some time. Obama hasn’t changed a thing. I am one of the uninsured Americans, but I do not expect my government to give me health insurance.I don’t want my government to give me health insurance. Less government is what we need, not more, and especially not from Obama and his ilk. I finally realized how bad things had gotten when I found myself agreeing on some things with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I’m ashamed to say that I voted for Obama, hoping he would bring change. I now think that Obama’s presidency will destroy this country. He is nothing but a paid-for liar for the status quo."



"Perhaps a better title would have been 'A record you can have faith in', given the extraordinary dearth of facts and evidence to support the claims made in this article. This piece is simply atrocious. I cannot say that there is 'a disconnect' between this writer’s views and reality, for in truth the two are actually
diametric. Obama has done nothing to end torture, deescalate our illegal foreign adventures, curb the absolute control over congress and the White House by Sachs & co., or prosecute (or even investigate!) the crimes of his predecessor that his teleprompter was so vehement about during his campaign. I’ve never felt more betrayed and fooled by any politician in the past. Even Bush was at least what he appeared to be from the start. It’s really saying something that Obama is worse, as I could not previously have imagine being less impressed by any president that I was by Bush II. Obama can’t even lay to rest the more extreme and fanatical sounding criticisms against him by providing birth documents. Instead he just seals all the records, insanely lending credence to his detractor’s claims. Mr. Robinson, with all due respect, I hope you have a great deal of difficulty getting a good night’s sleep, for you have betrayed all of us who seek the facts behind the facade. Thereby, you have betrayed your own future."


"Eugene is just licking the boots of power here. Obama hasn’t changed anything. Israel is still getting special privileges as it continues the occupation, the US will open SEVEN military bases in Colombia, we will be in Afghanistan possibly for decades to come, Obama has approved to new mega embassies for Islamabad and Kabul similar to the Vatican-size behemoth we have in Baghdad, Iran is being threatened with crushing sanctions, the Cuban embargo continues etc., etc., etc."


"ER where have been in the past 9 months??? Comments like yours embolden Democratic right wing douchebags. You are wrong on every accounts. Things that you think he has done have always had caveats. Never bold, never a leader, ER read Arianna column in Huff Post. Hopefully that will enlighten you and you apologists colleagues."


"I expect better from this website than articles straight out of the DNC. Is this a press release or is it expected that uninformed readers will swallow this nonsense? Why was this allowed here?"


"This article is totally pathetic. How about standing up
forcefully for what the majority of what the people
want and then pointing out the obstructionists to those
same people so they can vote the obstructionists out of
office? Too simple, I know - the power in the country
is in the corporations, not the government. It just
seems like a president is in a position to turn the
status quo upside down."


"It is important to understand that it is not merely Robinson purveying this disgusting drivel, it is the Washington Post and truthdig, the Prog media. they are cater to the DUPE, Democrats Under Presidential Enchanment. The Dems whose minds are clouded by Hope rather than the Faith of the Gops. Note also what Robinson does not mention at all in the Change You Can Believe In. War. Obama campaigned as a Peace candidate, although he stated in the fine print that he would continue the Afghan war, but he is continuing all of them and, like Bush, is threatening another quagmire in Iran. None of this is even aluded to by Robinson, who is simply serving as truth hack for power. As is truthdig."


"I use to think Eugene was just dumb and really uninformed. After reading this article I’m sure he’s just another paid lobbyist for the Obama administration.
No one with the least bit of awareness would believe that Obama has accomplished anything in his first year other than extending and enhancing Bush doctrine and his own Corporate sponsored agenda. He even had the Freedom Of Information Act ( a Democratic crown jewel) rewritten by none other than Lieberman and Lindsey to prevent the release of the torturer photos! Re Insurance Care: The reason Obama has been able to get a “health Care” (INSURANCE!) bill to fruition is because the bill does nothing for giving affordable health care to the people. It is all about increasing the market for the group of insurance companies who donated 15 million to his election campaign. NO Eugene, The only word that describes adequately the accomplishments of the the Obama administration is PATHETIC and that goes for your article as well!"


"There is a key reason behind articles like this one. The Democrats are scared that some of their voters might be realizing that they haven’t gotten any of the ‘change’ that they wanted when they elected the Democrats. What scares the Democrats is that these voters might walk away from the party. That’s because Democrat election majorities are built on fools who vote Democrat expecting something far different from what the Democrats actually do when in office."


"I’m sorry Eugene, but I, like a majority that voted him into office, am severely disappointed in Obama’s actions. He made a lot of promises and then immediately went to the rich elite for contributions to run and now he’s merely completing his campaign deals with the real money behind his campaign. He’s a great speech giver but worthless in accomplishing anything that he supposedly stood for. I listened to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now yesterday(11/2/09) and her guest spoke about the racket our political system has become. He also spoke about the world crash which will happen in time, probably not too far in our future. Obama’s action was just temporary. We no longer live in a democracy or a republic. Afterall, it was originally set up to favor the rich elite(Good Ol’ Boys) and the rest of us have always been suckers. Remember that he quietly made a deal with both the for-profit insurance corporations and the corrupt phamaceutical corporations so that they wouldn’t have any changes made to their bottom line: Profit. End of Dicussion."


"In retrospect, it may be that the single worst thing GW Bush did to this country was to make actually doing the job seem miraculous. If the US was a retail store, Obama got an Employee of the Month award for not being rude and sullen to the customers, and actually meeting his sales quota. Yay."


"What a pathetic article. I know that Eugene Robinson is appalled by war, racism and economic injustice, but I am afraid that all the years he has put in at the Washington Post has turned him into an abject propagandist for the status quo."


"This is a joke right?"