The word "pundit" is derived from the Hindu word "pandit," meaning "learned (and usually respected)." The current crop of practitioners, however, gets its etymology from the French, apparently. French "dire" is one of the Gallic ways to say "speak"; "dit" is a conjugation of "dire." And speak the pundits do, the Olbermann's and the Maddows's recently running out of real things to talk about, have jumped on the pronouncements of other voices and decided that this summer's barbecue will feature Barack Obama.
It would be disingenuous of me to suggest or lead you to believe that I am completely or even substantially happy with the way the Executive is behaving and talking these days. As you know I really dislike Rahm Emanuel and believe him to be a major part of the problem. (We have some reason to believe that his obscenities and abrasive personality will be otherwise employed shortly, however.) With that hopfully marvelous outcome we can be assured that relations with Capitol Hill and the press will change. But, we cannot wait for the ejection of Emanuel. It seems to me that the obligation of a Liberal columnist in an environment of distrust and rancorous division across the nation would be to consider the probable causes of his or her own distress and be a little "conservative" about ditching the President before there is any real reason to.
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, sometimes a frequent flyer on Olbermann's Countdown, opens up a volley of nonsense today about Liberals falling out of love with Obama. The very title indicates the foolishness of the idea: we were never in love with Barack Obama, nor he with us. It is politics, and love hardly ever mixes with politics successfully. We handed him our hopes for change and change there was as Ross Douhat in the New York Times astutely points out this morning, too.
The facts are and the truth is that Washington is a swamp of deceit and corruption that would boggle the "mind" of Beelzebub himself. Then when you figure that out, you have to consider that even reasonably fair-minded people disagree about fundamental issues, creating discord, cacophony, and eddys and whirlpools of chaos. Just for instance, take Dr. Paul Krugman on the current slide toward deficit panic in Washington and abroad and compare it to Jeffrey Sachs's peeing in his pants over at Scientific American. Of course huge deficits are scary, but how much scarier are stunting one or two entire generations of Americans and, indeed, human beings of all nations, by letting this Great Recession go into double dip for decade or two, squandering all the previous deficits and making the right choices nearly impossible?
How dangerous is it to beat up Obama when religious fanatics like Huckaby being touted as the GOP's best choice for a presidential run in 2012? It is extremely dangerous and the dog days of summer are no excuse at all for this mindless chattering. This itchy feeling we all have is that our hopes and dreams suppressed for e i g h t l o n g George W. Bush/Dick Cheney years are just not being instantly gratified!
Grow up Liberals! No one really cares that you were in a deep psychological depression for a decade. How smart are you, anyway? Can't you see the situation for what it is? It is hot, slow, and frustrating inside the Oval Office, and out here in the encroaching desert, where the signs are unmistakable that moronic anosognosia has afflicted the very people who could contribute materially to responsible attitudes and activities against anthropogenic global warming. A long hot summer of childish whining at Barack is not going to be helpful and probably will backfire in the worst ways and the worst times!
JB
