This Is NOT the Prissy Presidency

I am a Southern woman and a liberal Democrat. That is not an anomaly. There are plenty of us about - Southerners, who are Democrats, many liberal. Some are even in Alabama and Mississippi.

We are no better than Yankees and no worse, but we do hear dog whistles a lot, and I'm actually surprised the EmoProg Left and their iconic celebrity talking-head pundits aren't being followed lately by a pack of baying hounds.

It seems this President can't do right for doing wrong. No matter what he does, it's either not enough or too much. Whatever he does either shouldn't have been done at all or should have been done ages ago.

He's weak. He's spineless. He's ingratiatingly needy of those who disdain him, yet to the ones who've given him the position he occupies today, he's woefully inadequate.

Some on the Left have even called him inappropriate names, such as "the Affirmative Action President," "Bugaloo Bush," or even "the house nigger" (all courtesy of Firedoglake). To some, he doesn't act enough like a a real black President (that means a ghetto gangsta); in fact, he's more like a bumbling, ineffectual black man, like Fred Sanford.

People recognised as credible voices from the Left have called this President a pussy, whilst Rightwing hacks weigh in, calling him a dick.

Depending upon your political or sociological leanings, the President either has a deep-seeded hatred of white people or he's either too influenced by his white mother and spends far too much time palling around with white Jewish men who happen to be affiliated with Wall Street. If you're Rush Limbaugh, he does too much for African Americans; if you're Maxine Waters, he doesn't do enough.

And if you're of the EmoProg variety, he doesn't do anything right. In fact, he caves so much, he couldn't walk down the street and chew gum at the same time - which is why so many take the onerously benevolent task upon themselves to tell the President what he should do or say and how, exactly, he should do or say it. Then they sit back and criticize him for not performing to specification - and when he does everything pitch and word perfect, there's always something else they concoct with which to beat him.

Whatever.

It would begin to be boring were it not for the fact that, not only is such intolerably childish, whingeing and whining behaviour undermining and threatening the President's re-election (and, by extension, the retention of the Senate in Democratic hands and the re-taking of the House), it's also patently, totally and utterly disrespecful and downright skanky.

So, EmoProgs, if you haven't had the benefit of having a Southern mamma to raise you right, or even if you have and you've gone native on the Left Coast and indulge in more than a bit of rampant self-loathing at your roots, I'm here to school you on exactly what this President is not (and what you are not either):-

EmoProgs, heads UP!

1. This is not your President.

This is Prissy. She is a fictitious character and did not exist in real life or real time. However, many like Prissy did exist. Prissy was a slave. She was owned by white people before the Civil War, a four-year action, the result of which meant that Prissy was freed and was no longer the chattel of anyone.

While she was a slave, Prissy had to do whatever her owners told her. And you can bet your bottom dollar, she received scant praise and no financial remuneration. In fact, she was probably criticized for whatever it was she did - she was either too fast or too slow; she was always dumb and most certainly weak. In fact, Prissy was so slow-witted, kind-hearted and liberal owners sought to protect her (because she couldn't really protect herself), and harder, more malevolent owners sought to make sure she worked to perfection without ever telling her she did and taking all the credit for whatever she managed to do well.

One thing for certain - whichever owner she had, they made sure that Prissy knew and was kept firmly in her place.

So, Emoprogs, Prissy is not the President, although you, most times, inadvertantly, treat him as though he were Prissy.

2. This is not YOU, EmoProgs!

This is Scarlett. Scarlett is not a real person, either, but a fictitious character. Scarlett was Prissy's owner. She told Prissy what to do. In fact, Prissy made Miss Scarlett's life a lot easier, toiling from dawn until dusk, while Miss Scarlett sat on her ass and watched Prissy take care of her. When Miss Scarlett got cold, Prissy brought her a blanket and chopped wood for the fire which kept Miss Scarlett warm. When Miss Scarlett wanted a bath, Prissy fetched the water. When Miss Scarlett was hungry, Prissy got food ready. When Miss Scarlett wanted a husband, Prissy stayed home and minded the children.

Sometimes, though, when Miss Scarlett thought Prissy wasn't performing as well as she should, Miss Scarlett could exercise her authority. She could beat Prissy or scream at her. She could even sell Prissy, just like all the little EmoProgs verbally beat up on the President (Bill Maher, Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore), scream insults at him all the time (Cenk Uygur), make snide and subtly racist remarks (Joan Walsh), call for him to be primaried or impeached (Jane Hamsher, Dennis Kucinich), or even imply that he's mentally unstable (Arianna Huffington, Drew Westen).

So, no, EmoProgs, you are not Scarlett O'Hara or anyone else who's ever owned a slave, although you probably, unthinkingly treat a lot of working-class people or working poor, similarly.

3. Emoprogs, the President is not your Mammy.

Like Prissy and Scarlett, Mammy is a fictitious character, but there were plenty of mammies in her time, and they, too, were slaves. Mammy was a nursemaid and a servant who specialised in childcare (and womancare as well). When Miss Scarlett was sick, Mammy made her better. When she had a baby, Mammy delivered the child and then took care of it, so Miss Scarlett could relax. Mammy made sure Miss Scarlett was comfortable and happy and minded her manners in public, even though in private, Miss Scarlett was often less than polite to Mammy.

But, EmoProgs, the President is not your Mammy.

4. EmoProgs, the President is not your Big Daddy either.

The President is elected to look after the interests of the United States of America and all its people, black and white, rich and poor, from any and all backgrounds. That does not mean he is your father or even the father of the country.

I don't know where or when this President-as-Daddy meme cropped up. I suspect it had its vestigial inception during the Gipper's regime. After all, he brought us Morning in America after dour Daddy Jimmy tried to reason with us like adults and tell us the truth about how bad things were and how they got that way. Then we were told not to worry, just be happy, and Daddy Gipp gave us the plastic to play with. Big Dog Daddy made us feel even richer.

But I think the real infantilization came with Dubya, after 9/11, when we were all shit-scared to the point that we were looking under our beds at night, not for monsters, but for terrorists. Dubya told us all to go shopping, and encouraged our greed. Instead of dolls' houses, we got to buy the real deal with money we didn't have and then we got to use the houses we didn't own that we bought with money we didn't have, just like our own personal ATMs. And all the time, Big Daddy Dubya was keeping us safe from people who had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11 and who didn't have big, bad weapons of mass destruction.

But one thing for certain, during all that time - Right, Left or Centre - we always did what Daddy D or his cronies told us. Always easier to control frightened children, and in regressing us to this state, we got inculcated into a culture of fear which mutated into the culture of political fear we see today.

Nope, EmoProgs, the President is not your Big Daddy. He's not even your Sugar Daddy. You know, there are good daddies and bad daddies, just like there have been some good Presidents and some not so good, but most have been, mainly a mixture of both. Hell, even the saint that every EmoProg likes to think is absolutely, peachy-keen perfect, FDR, had his bad points, as the ever-excellent Milt Shook points out here; and as EmoProgs are so fond of pointing out, even Nixon wanted universal healthcare and created the EPA, all the while he was dick-deep in Watergate.

The President's brief is to look after the country, and if you're a part of this country, that means he looks after you; but at the end of the day, it's your daddy (or his memory) who actually does tell you to sit up, shut up and eat your peas. Another important thing for EmoProgs and their icons to remember is that the President doesn't do this on his own. We have three separate and truly equal branches of government with specific remits and who make sure that no one branch grows higher or more "uppity" ("arrogant," if you're one of our Northern brethren) than the other, although, as Jonathan Chait points out in his excellent essay in this week's New York Times magazine:-

The most common hallmark of the left’s magical thinking is a failure to recognize that Congress is a separate, coequal branch of government consisting of members whose goals may differ from the president’s.

Jeez, if I had a dollar bill for every time someone has reiterated again and again that this is the way our government works, that our President isn't a king or a dictator or even Jesus Christ, I wouldn't have to work. And here's another myth to dispel: George Bush, contrary to popular belief, didn't always get what he wanted from government. He didn't manage to privatise Social Security, and he didn't get Harriet Miers appointed to the Supreme Court. And here's another gut-buster: His signature No Child Left Behind legislation was crafted, in the main, by one Ted Kennedy. Yessiree, the same ueber-Liberal god Ted Kennedy who was too liberal and too good to work with either Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter in formulating what would, by now, be a solid universal healthcare plan, wasn't too nasty-nice to work with another scion of of a prominent New England family, even if he did pretend to be a cowboy.

And while we're on the subject ...

The President isn't even your boyfriend, your lover, or your protector. He won't drive you away from a burning city, and he certainly won't douse your hair that's continually on fire for insipid, insignificant and incorrect reasons.

He's your PRESIDENT, and you've elected him to govern according to the Constitution, which means "in conjunction with" Congress - and when part of Congress, for whatever reason, is a different political party from the President, that means governing will involve compromise. Every President has had to do this - Lincoln did it. So did FDR. And LBJ. And Reagan. Even Bush. And the Big White Dog, himself. It's what's done in business. It's what's done in personal relationships. It's adult. It's not caving or buckling and it certainly isn't weakness. Suck it up and live with it.

Here's another thought to ponder, EmoProgs ...

Would you be conflating every non-issue, whining, moaning, complaining, and generally being pains in the ass all around ... would your iconic betters in the media or your bigtime blog heroes be any more vocal in complaining about every scrocking, itty bitty, inconsequential thing if the President looked like this?

I don't think so. Do you? And you know why too.

Just one last observation, EmoProgs, and then you can let go with the ad hominem on me. (I know you will, because it's the way you "argue" or "debate.")

This is not your President. But keep on behaving the way you are, keep on with your inveterate undermining, your threats, your sulks, your negative behaviour that, by its very nature, not only discourages other Democrats and liberals from voting, but also puts off independents in every way, and you just might wake up to the world of President Perry.

Yeeee-HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.