Wow, it's been awhile.  I've visited the site now and then and it's good to still see posts from other regulars.  And sorry about the incomplete post earlier--I'm at work and multitasking :-)

But as the title says, I'm back.  And I'm pissed.  There will likely be adult language in this post, so tell the kids to go read something else for the next few minutes.  I have a list of people or entities that I'm ticked off with, and I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way.  So, here we go....

1) Progressives (this includes myself)

Man, we got fooled didn't we.  There's a reason why I stopped posting on TPM, and I thought it was because I was busy finishing up college and getting ready to start my new job and all.  But it wasn't that.

I thought we had it in the bag.  I thought we'd be living in a completely different world where all of our work has been done and it's up to our elected officials to carry out what we voted for.  Except I forgot that our elected officials are owned by lobbyists.  I stopped donating money to the campaign, stopped blogging, stopped learning more about the complex issues that our country faces, and stopped talking to others about what I believed in.  I guess you can say I had "election burnout" or something, but it was really just too much comfort.  I'm also annoyed that it took crazy town hall madness of such magnitude to get me excited again and to be able to articulate what health care reform means to me to others.

I also now live in Kansas, which I also used as an excuse not to care, because...well, hell, I'm a progressive in Kansas.  But as I'll talk about later, this isn't a reason to just fiddle while people are trying to burn Rome.

2) The media

Oh, dear God, don't even get me started on this.  I mean, seriously.  If the media is SO in the tank for Obama, then why the hell are people like this getting significant airtime? 

Worst of all, what annoys me is the oversimplification of the health care debate.  But I should have known this--after all, the least favorite activity of Americans is thinking.  Does the media want you to be scared of death panels?  Some time could actually be spent explaining how dumb Sarah Palin's quote was, but instead, they give Chuck Grassley as much, if not more legitimacy than Palin after he says essentially the same thing!  What the hell is going on?!?

And by giving so much airtime to the birthers and, now, the "deathers", the mainstream media is actually giving these people legitimacy.  We know Obama is a U.S. citizen.  It's a fact.  Stop giving airtime to those who see otherwise.  I liked the coverage for a day or two just because I thought it was so damn funny.  But thanks to the MSM, these people actually have traction now.

Another thing I thought of last Friday, when Obama's physician was on Bill Maher's show:  where the fuck are the doctors on this issue?  No, not you, Dr. Nancy or Dr. Sanjay Gupta, REAL doctors.  The ones who want to truly help people but can't because insurance companies tell them not to.  The ones who spend as much time on the phone fighting with said companies as they do in the office helping patients.  They want reform too, right?

3) Republicans in Congress

Okay, I know you guys don't want to do anything about health care reform, but can you at least tell the wingnuts on your side to calm down?  I mean, I thought I was mad when I was 9 years old and didn't get a Nintendo 64 for Christmas (I got one for my birthday 2 months later, but I digress).  But seriously, you guys are the ones perpetuating fear.  To be honest, I'm not that pissed at the town hall protestors  They've lost their country for a whole 6 months!  Gosh, not having a Republican in the White House must suck!

But by telling your constituents that the time for peaceful town halls is "over", by joking about "lynching" the opposition at these meetings, and by dismissing the quesitons asked of you as bullshit, you're fanning the flames at best and calling for an all-out tyranny at worst.  It's a great strategy though: take an already-ignorant base and make them scared of government taking over Medicare!  The GOP was able to take over during the Bush years with fear, and I suppose you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

4) Democrats in Congress

Why the fuck are you still trying to be bipartisan?!?  Don't you get it!?  Okay, let me type in capital letters for you: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU TO FAIL.  THEY WILL NOT WORK WITH YOU.  EVER.  Why else would Johnny Isakson not acknowledge his role in, um, not establishing a "death panel" in the bill?  And why would Grassley continue to stir up false rumors?  And why would Roy Blunt basically bank on the Democrats screwing up before he and the rest of the GOP even think about offering alternative ideas?  You can't reason with stupid, alright?  Hasn't anyone told you that some of the worst bills in recent history were "bipartisan" bills?  Like FISA?  Or No Child Left Behind?  If you don't do it right this time, voters will find someone else who will--or even worse, think they'll find someone who will in a Republican come midterm elections.

5) Barack Obama

Yes, you, Mr. President.  You have some explaining to do.

I elected you to lead, and you're not really doing that right now.  The town hall yesterday was a bit better, but your press conference a couple of weeks ago was abysmal.  Remember what I said about how Americans don't like to think?  Well, simplify it!  And importantly, explain even to those who do have insurance just how important reform is.  I'm in favor of what's being proposed, but seeing that I have health insurance, I could just not give a crap about the 48 million people without insurance.  Even now on occasion, I still have trouble wrapping my head around the logic of spending money now to save later--yes, I know it's an "investment", but when it hasn't been properly articulated as such, people start believing simple sound bytes like "death to granny".

And I thought we were getting rid of deals with lobbyists?  Don't tell me that you're being pragmatic or that the need to get this done now trumps your campaign principles.  I heard that with the pork in the stimulus bill and at that time I said "ok, fine".  I heard this when you wanted to delay trials for Gitmo detainees and wait until the end of the year to close the prison, and I said, "ok fine, just do it when you get around to it".  But you've been in office for 6 months sir, and clearly you're not living up to what I or the 70 million others who voted for you hoped.  Don't get me wrong--I'm still glad I voted for you, and as an African-American I take pride in your election to the highest office in the land every single day--but this has got to stop. 

Get back on message.  Explain what you want to the American people, and explain specifically what you want in the bill.  It's not helping your cause when there's 6 different bills out there, all of which have different things, which allows people to make stuff up even more easily.

Now that I'm done ranting, let's do something about this.

During the campaign, I didn't do a great deal--I donated money, made phone calls when I could, and talked to my undecided friends whenever I could.  Up until recently, I did none of those things.

For the past week at work, I've been reading every single article on health care that I could--from liberal and conservative viewpoints.  Needless to say, I still don't understand half of it, but you have to be well-informed to have a solid viewpoint and stick with it.  Do what the right-wingers don't want you to do--LEARN something, dammit.

I feel like there's not much else to do at this point besides go to a town hall meeting or make some phone calls.  I want to do more, but I think this is a start.  Health care reform still is possible, and time isn't out yet.  We got Obama into office and a lot of people thought that was impossible.  Let's prove the right wing wrong.  Again.