White House Bashes Liberals in Defending Its Many Broken Promises

Silly me. I thought Barack Obama was not the typical politician who will say whatever is necessary to get elected and then turn his back on those who put him in office. Stupidly, I actually fell for the lines he repeated during the campaign about delivering full equality to LGBT Americans. Two years later, we all know that Obama's campaign promises are about as good as a three dollar bill. And now our self-described "fierce advocate" is peevish because I and others like me are none too happy realizing that we were lied to. I did reluctantly attend the local Democrat Committee last night and one thing I seem to keep discovering is that the dissatisfaction of the LGBT community with Obama seems to run all across the various elements of the Democratic Party base. Faced with discontent and lack of enthusiasm across the party, what has Obama decided to do? Attack the party base through his hapless press secretary, Robert Gibbs. The Hill reports as follows concerning Gibbs' remarks:
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The White House is simmering with anger at criticism from liberals who say President Obama is more concerned with deal-making than ideological purity.
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During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.
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The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”
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The White House, constantly under fire from expected enemies on the right, has been frustrated by nightly attacks on cable news shows catering to the left, where Obama and top lieutenants like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have been excoriated for abandoning the public option in healthcare reform; for not moving faster to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay; and for failing, so far, to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
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Just last week, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow described Obama political adviser David Axelrod as a “human pretzel” for his explanation of the administration’s position on gay marriage. Axelrod had explained that Obama opposes same-sex marriage but favors equal benefits for partners in gay relationships.
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The sin of those who have criticized Obama? Believing that words have meaning and that promises are just that, promises and not something to be discarded when they become inconvenient. In what I view as a misguided column in the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus sides with Gibbs and the White House. To me, however, what is more telling is what some of Obama's critics are saying whom Marcus quotes. Here are some highlights:
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Apparently not. Responding to Gibbs, Jane Hamsher, of the blog Firedoglake, derided Obama's record of "corporatist capitulation" and noted, "Spiro Agnew -- sorry, Robert Gibbs -- says ‘the professional left is not representative of the progressives who organized, campaigned, raised money and ultimately voted for Obama.' Well, the Obama in the White House is not representative of the Obama who organized, campaigned, raised money and ran for office, so I guess it's a wash."
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Marcus does get one thing right, however, when she says this:
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In the old days of press-bashing, it was sound advice not to argue with people who buy ink by the barrel. The Gibbs backlash shows how foolhardy it is to argue with people who don't even have to buy ink.
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The Democrats up for election need the base energized. Attacking their spokesperson is not exactly a means to accomplish that. In deed, it is doing the exact opposite.