11 Comments

1. 

   cymast

    /  October 14, 2009

   Obama lies. This is news?

2. 

   acilius

    /  October 14, 2009

   What I think makes this strip interesting is that in it Mr O isn’t the one who’s lying. The people who want to love him and the people who want to hate him are lying to themselves.

3. 

   cymast

    /  October 15, 2009

   Yes, the Obama lovers/haters are lying to a certain extent, but I still say Obama is outright lying. It’s obvious if you read his campaign promises and then look at his actions.

4. 

   acilius

    /  October 15, 2009

   Oh, I’m sure Mr O has been telling lies about his intentions. He’s a politician, after all.

   What this strip brings out is that Mr O isn’t alone in deceiving his constituents. They are actively working to ensure that they are deceived. The wishful thinking Americans do about the president, whatever the wish that thinking may fulfill, conceals him from us at least as effectively as do any lies or deceptions of which he is himself the author. In that sense, it doesn’t matter whether we convince ourselves that we have a good-guy president who will solve our problems for us and allow us to be the loyal followers of the national leader or a bad-guy president who will be a rallying point for opposition and allow us to be heroes of a patriotic resistance. Either way, the real man escapes our notice.

5. 

   cymast

    /  October 15, 2009

   There’s a real man in there?

6. 

   acilius

    /  October 15, 2009

   Oh, undoubtedly. That’s the chief thing he doesn’t want us to find out.

7. 

   lefalcon

    /  October 17, 2009

   I’m willing to cut Obama a tremendous amount of slack. However, as far as I’m concerned, he can start “doing stuff” … any time now!

   Obviously he didn’t “deserve” the Nobel Peace Prize … but heck, they gave it to Kissinger. Ha ha ha … they gave *the Nobel Peace Prize* to friggin Henry Kissinger … How about Fred Flintstone, for his exemplary work?

8. 

   acilius

    /  October 17, 2009

   I agree, but with the understanding that “doing stuff” means “doing something significantly different from what Bush-Cheney would be doing if they were still in office.”

9. 

   lefalcon

    /  October 17, 2009

   To Obama’s credit, he does SEEM to be ending the Iraq war. Maybe he’s doing it slowly; but he does appear to be doing it. Bush / Cheney were prepared to drag it out for decades if not centuries.

   And the health reform thing COULD ultimately result in a marginally better arrangement for many Americans … and that most assuredly would not have occurred under Bush / Cheney.

   His one gleaming success so far appears to have been “cash for clunkers,” which again, never would’ve seen the light under Bush / Cheney … given that they themselves were the clunkers.

   But it’s also true that he’s upping troop levels in Afghanistan … whatever health reform does go through will be de-clawed and de-fanged into a private industry housepet … and in the larger scheme, “cash for clunkers” was only a short-term boost for the automakers.

   Heck: He’s got Hillary Clinton as the family dog, and a Portuguese water dog serving as Secretary of State. Nor has he committed egregious sins like publicly riding in a tank or being a decorated combat veteran.

   Then again, he hasn’t protected us from terrorism nearly as well as GW Bush did on Sept. 11, 2001 … and people often seem to know where Joe Biden is located.

10. 

    acilius

     /  October 17, 2009

    I have my fingers crossed, hoping that Mr O turns out to be better than Bush-Cheney.

11. 

    lefalcon

     /  October 18, 2009

    Well of course he’s better than Bush / Cheney!!!!!!!! I don’t think you need to cross your fingers too hard about that.

    I’m sure you’re 100% on-target in worrying that he may turn out to be completely ineffectual in any number of critical areas … but that’s not the quite same as active, obdurate, relentless pursuit of ruin at all levels — the chronic, maniacal, shrieking deathwish that underlay all Bush-era policies.