Tea parties — they aren't just for conservatives anymore.
Liberals are turning against President Obama with an energy that until now has been reserved for Fox News viewers who wear tri-corner hats and wave yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in a news conference Wednesday, declares that she won't ask House members to support Obama's Afghanistan troop increase in a January vote. "The president's going to have to make his case," she says, calling it a "vote of conscience."
About the same time, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) holds a news conference to denounce Obama's renomination of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. "When the people voted for change in 2008," he says, "they did not vote to have one of the key architects of the Bush economy be reappointed."
Howard Dean goes on the radio and says of the Senate health-care bill, which Obama is fighting mightily to pass: "The best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill."
MoveOn.org calls a protest outside the White House to demand that "the president to stand up to Joe Lieberman and fight for the health care reform principles he campaigned on."
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who gained fame by saying Republicans think Americans should "die quickly," holds a news conference to denounce Obama's Afghanistan policy and reads a petition on the House floor asking members to vote against sending more troops.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), in a series of outbursts, criticizes Obama over Afghanistan, health-care reform and the handling of the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Where does this put President Obama? Where does this put the Democratic party?
I know where it puts me. I can hardly wait to torment my arch-Democrat brother over the holiday season. I’ll come out praising Obama, telling my brother that he was right to be such a big fan. I’ll say how much I appreciate Obama for embracing George W. Bush’s policies. In fact, I’ll say, he has even pushed them farther than Bush ever dreamed of. Bush gave us one war; Obama gives us two, complete with an emulation of the last administration’s “surge.” Bush practiced deficit spending, but Obama outdoes him multitudinous times over. Bush bailed out the banks and big corporations, but Obama bails them out even more. And then Obama gives us original policies that carry out the Republican fantasies more than Bush ever dared to: A health care plan that enriches the insurance companies! etc., etc. I’ll keep pushing it (beyond what I believe, of course), saying that the Republicans should nominate Obama themselves to form a national unity ticket. Oh, how my brother will squirm, get defensive, and get indignant. The more he will complain, the more I will praise President Obama. And if he should criticize the president, I’ll act shocked and gently accuse him of racism. The very thought of getting together with family during this happy season fills my heart with a holiday glow.
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