Fuck you, Obama

I don't know if everyone has gotten to this yet; I saw it in three places simultaneously (thanks to my RSS feed) which is why I clicked on, and ultimately have decided to post about, it.

I guess it isn't just that the president tries to minimize the outlandish size of the bonuses by comparing them to sports salaries. That's a specious strategy to begin with; both athletes and investment bankers are paid vastly too much, so I'm not sure what kind of reassurance I'm supposed to take from the thought that one ekes out a bit more than the other. I think what really, really gets to me, what really makes me dislike Obama more than any Republican, is his naked spinelessness:

Obama sought to combat perceptions that his administration is anti-business and trumpeted the influence corporate leaders have had on his economic policies. He plans to reiterate that message when he speaks to the Business Roundtable, which represents the heads of many of the biggest U.S. companies, on Feb. 24 in Washington.

You see, Obama's only anti-business when he's speaking to MSNBC or on the street with Joe "Average Joe" American. Multiply the cost of the interviewer's suit by a considerable factor and suddenly he's got a Hayek tattoo on his forehead and his tie is supply-and-demand-striped. 'Trumpeted'? He trumpeted his administration's prostration before moneyed interests? That could be journalistic bombast, but even if it's only half-appropriate as a characterization of his tone, that is fucking appalling.

And through all of his public equivocation and cravenness, through every defeat and humiliation, it's as if the president never reads any of the commentary on himself. Does he not realize that everyone hates the guy who kisses all of their asses, regardless of how eagerly and how furiously he puts lips to cheek? People like people who stand up for things, I would hazard, because, however irrational it may be, they respect the strength of a position far more than they are personally invested in the transactional details of it. All the registered voters in the country won't necessarily stand behind such concreteness, but consistency inspires converts, especially when married to an inarguable ethics such as progressives claim to represent.

That's how politics works, isn't it? You represent something solid, and that's what gives you leverage over your opponents and wins you continued support from those who put you in office. Why is the president brown-nosing like his titty fell out on MTV? He's a Democrat: he should be working for the Democrats. Last time I checked, the party's selling point was that it was sorta less OK with sucking from the money-udder than the Republicans. What can he hope to gain by throwing that to the wind?

This is a majority democracy. I don't see a law anywhere that says everybody is supposed to be made happy. I honestly don't give two rats' asses on a flying fuck if the whole state of Arkansas is miserable with Obama as president, because by participating in this polity they've already decided that sometimes their team will not be the trophy-winners. Sorry, Buck and Chip: them's just the rules of the game. But more than anything else, that's a lesson that those grinning little fat-faced whitebread fucks in corporate boardrooms across the country should be taught by whatever means necessary. Otherwise, we're just ratifying a de facto dualism of social contracts: one, for the not-rich, full of responsibilities, the other, for the plutocrats, monopolizing all the rights.

Sorry, Mr. President, I realize that this arrangement doesn't make too much room for you. I suppose we can squeeze lackeys in, too.