Loyal Opposition...

Remember a time in America when the opposition was reasonable and moderate?  When, however, much they might have been opposed to the President’s politics, they respected him for his office, and wished him well for the country’s sake?  No, me neither.  One of the most remarkable things about the Obama Presidency (if you don’t count the Nobel Prize won for 11 days work) has been the new belief of the left that the US President should be above petty personal attacks – they are, after all, attacks on the Commander in Chief of the nation and therefore unpatriotic.

Michael Tomasky is an eloquent example of this tendency.  This column is a perfect case in point: Liberals loathed Bush, but we didn't invoke fantastical fabrications or root our arguments in metaphor instead of fact.

Has he just forgotten the last eight years?  Bush was Hitler, was in the direct pay of Halliburton, was only invading Iraq because of oil/to prove he was a bigger man than Daddy.  We’ve gone through eight sodding years of associated lefty loonies traipsing around with lunatic placards and banners with absolutely no factual basis whatsoever.  And now the roles are reversed suddenly it’s unfair and unpatriotic?  Whatever happened to ‘Dissent is the highest form of patriotism’?

The third point is where the difference enters the picture. As much as liberals despised Bush, people never thought (except maybe on the fringes) that he was secretly out to destroy the US. We felt some of his administration's principles weren't American as we understood the concept (the arrogation of executive power, or the approval of torture). But there was none of this Manchurian Candidate business. Liberals assumed that Bush was doing what he, his team and their supporters believed was the right thing based on their understanding of American values and needs.

Which is also bollocks of the highest order.  If you want some fun, try searching for Bush destroying the US.  You’ll get mainstream Paul Krugman articles as well as the endless Democratic Underground/Antiwar dribble.  Liberals never assumed that Bush was doing what he thought was best for America – it’s a risible suggestion.

It’s one of those irregular verbs: I offer constructive criticism of a misguided administration; you are a partisan opposition supporter; he is a traitor.  Tomasky’s just switched sides, and is finding it hard to adjust.