Andrew Sullivan: Obama Screws Over Young Supporters
Andrew Sullivan is finally fed up with Barack Obama.
And so it begins:
[T]his president is too weak, too cautious, too beholden to politics over policy to lead. In this budget, in his refusal to do anything concrete to tackle the looming entitlement debt, in his failure to address the generational injustice, in his blithe indifference to the increasing danger of default, he has betrayed those of us who took him to be a serious president prepared to put the good of the country before his short term political interests. Like his State of the Union, this budget is good short term politics but such a massive pile of fiscal bullshit it makes it perfectly clear that Obama is kicking this vital issue down the road.
To all those under 30 who worked so hard to get this man elected, know this: he just screwed you over. He thinks you’re fools. Either the US will go into default because of Obama’s cowardice, or you will be paying far far more for far far less because this president has no courage when it counts. He let you down. On the critical issue of America’s fiscal crisis, he represents no hope and no change. Just the same old Washington politics he once promised to end.
The “it” above is my December 21, 2009 prediction: “Why Andrew Sullivan Will Dump Obama in 2012.”
Sullivan, who has never supported the same man in consecutive elections, is poised to continue his streak. He fell in love with Candidate Obama in 2008, taking him at face value that he’d be a Different Kind of Politician. It turns out, though, that President Obama is, well, The Same Old Kind of Politician. Presuming the Republicans nominate someone to the sane side of Sarah Palin, expect Sully to be in his corner. Once.
This much is true. If you’re a politician endorsed by Andrew Sullivan you will, at some point, be thrown under the bus.
He gets way too emotional and personal with politicians – like you said, he’s basically fallen in love and out of love with Obama. Shouldn’t he know better than to over-estimate a politician’s influence on the political establishment?
Andrew Sullivan seems to get these “man crushes” on presidential candidates. He decides he likes their personality and then starts backing them to the hilt, completely without regard to their actually policy positions or ability. When they get in office he invariably discovers that just because you like someone doesn’t mean they’d make a great president, he abandons them.
The real problem in this is that he never seems to learn anything from the experience; four years later he’s on to the new crush, completely certain that this time will be different.
Gosh, I wonder exactly how much this man of the people has saved for his retirement. A couple million, possibly? It’s so easy to slash Social Security and Medicare when you and all the millionaire pundits and politicians you hang out with don’t know anyone who will need them.
He fell in love with Candidate Obama in 2008, taking him at face value that he’d be a Different Kind of Politician.”
As many did. But, alas, we aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Hence a fundamental point in my worldview: Government is an unfortunate necessity, to be minimized as best possible. And thinking that “if just the right politicians were in charge government would work great” is a fool’s errand.
You do realize he’s attacking Obama for not doing what most idealistic young people wouldn’t actually want him to do…namely take an axe to social programs. In fact over at various liberal websites “young people” are going crazy because he’s proposed modest cuts in his budget. But then who ever thought Sullivan was anything other than erratic. He’s just as likely to be back in love with Obama next week so don’t celebrate too soon Jim.
Andrew Sullivan is still blogging??
Don’t be too harsh on him, OTB guys, his new heartthrob is Mitch Daniels….
That’s what surprises me. I’d expect wide-eyed idealism about a candidate “changing the way Washington works” from young activists and those with less knowledge about the political establishment, but Sully isn’t either of those. He should know that one man (even a President) can’t change everything, but he gets so wrapped up in his emotionalism that he never sees it.
As far as I can tell, he’s been like that forever on the Web. Not just on candidates either – remember the crap-slinging he did in some of his commentary in the lead-up to the Iraq Invasion?
Sullivan has always been an excitable drama queen. I love him when he is on the handle, but he flies off it so easily.