Country music singer Merle Haggard says that, contrary to popular conserva-blather, President Barack Obama is not arrogant or conceited.
Of course, President Obama could get a big head, considering all of his policy achievements. Joe Lowe and I have done what we can to point out the President's praiseworthy record. But let's hear from a Canadian who can't figure out why midterm voters would repudiate their President's party at a time when their President has the country humming along quite enviably:
...[C]orporate profits are at record highs, the country's adding 200,000 jobs per month, unemployment is below 6%, U.S. gross national product growth is the best of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
The dollar is at its strongest levels in years, the stock market is near record highs, gasoline prices are falling, there's no inflation, interest rates are the lowest in 30 years, U.S. oil imports are declining, U.S. oil production is rapidly increasing, the deficit is rapidly declining, and the wealthy are still making astonishing amounts of money.
America is leading the world once again and respected internationally — in sharp contrast to the Bush years. Obama brought soldiers home from Iraq and killed Osama bin Laden [Richard Brunt, letter to the editor, Detroit Free Press, 2014.11.10].
Brunt has received loads of responses since the publication of his letter, 99% of it positive. Brunt notes in a follow-up that Canada's own prime minister may be their most conservative ever but still out-liberals U.S. Democrats with his support for "universal health care at low cost to the public, heavily subsidized post-secondary education and gun control."
That's interesting, because America's Bruce Bartlett argues that President Obama is really a Republican:
...Obama has governed as a moderate conservative—essentially as what used to be called a liberal Republican before all such people disappeared from the GOP. He has been conservative to exactly the same degree that Richard Nixon basically governed as a moderate liberal, something no conservative would deny today [Bruce Bartlett, "Obama Is a Republican," The American Conservative, 2014.10.21].
RomneyCare, hawkish Hillary as SOS, stingy stimulus and deficit cutting, dogged war on drugs, well wishes to Wall Street... where is the liberal President that voters thought was on the midterm ballot last week?
Keep in mind, most of the time people use words like "conceited" and "arrogant" to describe President Obama, it's because it's not socially acceptable to use loaded terms like "uppity" anymore. At least not in polite company.
And that opinion coming from the perceived ultra-conservative Merle Haggard! Ted Nugent is probably going into conniption fits!
I have a signed picture taken by a friend and given to me on my 50th birthday of Hagg leaning against an old barn. Black and white showing all the lines and bumps that age and thousands of nights on the road gives a man.
It soinds to me like he thinks a lot like this picture, in black and white. He has no time for people hiding in the grey shadows waiting to jump out and piss on the president. It isnt that he is in love with everything Obama has to say, its that his vision is still clear and he doesnt appreciate being told one thing while clearly seeing something else. Always an outlaw, and always standing for something both in his personal life, and his music.
Ted is only fit to wipe Haggs butt, nothing more.
The Blindman
Dithmer, Nugent is the substance wiped. A genuine POS.
In about 1991 when living in San Diego some teachers were having a rummage sale and bought a bookshelf. When asked about their plans they were moving to Canada because they didn't like the way this country was moving to the right. Seemed kind of radical but they gave some political reasoning quite over my head. Turns out they had a good sense of what was underway. I wonder sometimes if it worked out for them, if it was a better fit and if they stayed. Still using the bookshelf in the attic.
Obie was blamed for high gas prices. Let's see if he gets blamed for low prices now.
Merle doesn't seem to be as wildly conservative as he used to be. Maybe Willie and weed have helped him see the light.
mfi - interesting theory about Willie and weed, but the "Okie from Muskogee" lyrics suggest otherwise. Something else had to mellow old Merle out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE
Blindman posted a nice link to a tune by Clapton on another thread, and commented on the activity by everyone on stage. Watching Merle's group is quite a contrast - it looks like they are all wearing girdles that are too tight to allow much movement.
Merle started toking in the 70s at his doc's advice. He also claims to have a strong libertarian streak.
his rock'n roll doctor's advice no doubt
Obama is likable and obviously electable, but the crazy, insane wars Bush got us in to have only deepened the problems there. While Obama seemed to be the way out Guantanamo is still open and we helped birth ISIS. What's happened to our service members is terrible and mostly what we hear and feel concern for, but the chaos we've caused there is indefensible and most likely avoidable. The country seems to have accepted it and there doesn't seem to be a way out.
mfi - there seem to be several reported dates that Merle started smoking pot. Wikipedia says it was when he was 41 years old, which would have been about 1978, and consistent with your comment, although there is no mention of doing it on a doctor's advice. But Wikipedia also says he quit pot in 1991.
Merle himself suggests otherwise in a January 2014 interview. During that interview he says he last smoked marijuana about 20 minutes ago. As for "Okie from Muskogee" Merle also implied that he did smoke marijuana when he wrote that song in 1968:
"To be a good writer you have to write things you don’t exactly agree with . . . . I wrote ‘Okie From Muskogee.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with that mentality – I just try to report conditions. ‘Okie from Muskogee’ was the condition in 1968 that was not being represented.”
http://www.ticketsarasota.com/2014/01/22/interview-merle-haggard-is-high/
Either way, Merle is a great songwriter and performer.
If Merle is your barometer note he made those comments in 2010. By 2012 he was saying: "I've got to be honest, I met President Obama and he was a nice fellow, but I'm not going to vote for him, and I'm not going to vote for Romney. So, that leaves me without many options. I don't see much that I like in either of them. It's a tough world, and I don't think either of them is capable of representing this country right now."
Good point, John! Someone tossed that Haggard link on Twitter today, and I didn't catch the 2010 date. Even at that time, he expressed mixed feelings about Obama's Presidency. Maybe he's noticed the President's dedication to fighting the war on drugs?
Some of us seem to be natural born skeptics. I don't know what's in Merle's head, but I remember seeing jubilant Madison faces in Mitchell during his campaign stop and many posts on this site with what would be our failed liberal expectations. They would be interesting but more so painful to review. We fell in love with a sophomore who turned out to be so much different by the time he graduated. That's always embarrassing.
BCB, being stiff as a board was just a part of being country for a long time. It didnt matter who you were, you stood up there and played.
There were a few that ran a different race. Jerry Lee and Elvis come to mind. The old people didnt like them, not because of their music, but what they were doing when they were on stage.
It doesnt matter when Hagg started smoking pot to me. His music speaks for itself, "Mamma tried," "Daddy Frank," " Silver Wings," "I think I'll just stay here and drink," all come tied to very pleasant memories.
Now as for Willie, I know why he smokes pot.
About 15 years ago I helped with the production company that set Willie up at the Rosebud Casino. Everything was going along great until.
You didnt need to see her. You didnt even have to hear her speak. When this woman walked through the door the damn place felt like someone had punched it in the gut. She was trained in classical piano, she was a type A personality who knew how good she was and expected everyone to tell her so. And she was also Willies sister.
The band was scared of her, and so was Willie. I asked his bass player if she was always that way and he told me he didnt know because he'd only known her for 20 years and didnt want to start rumors.
Thats why Willie smokes weed. I know I would in his shoes.
The Blindman
"stiff as a board". "... and dont' bend them goddamn geetar strings neither" at least up thru the mid 80s.
re: war on drugs. obama dedicated?
i thought he was just cautious because science doesn't particularly agree with all you "heads" that the plant is innocous for all comers (specially kids). NIDA
and the "war" part is/was AG holder's baby and i thought things were reversing in terms of incarcerations for use and abuse (Daugaard/Jackley may not have gotten that message yet. their big republican criminal justice overhaul was form (politics), not substance, i believe).
I knew a woman once, Mr. Dithmer, who had these tattoos. She showed me a tattoo of Johnny Cash on the inside of her left thigh. And it was a good likeness. Then she showed me a tattoo of Jerry Lee on the inside of her right thigh. And it was a good likeness. And I told her they were good tattoos. But why, I asked, was the tattoo of Willie Nelson in the middle a little rough?
The Hag before his transitional medication http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhpq2oDPT9w
grudz-whatz yer deal?? just an old sexist, what??
I have noticed that in listing Obama's accomplishments, supporters tend not to notice that for 80% of us, earnings have declined since 2007. Dem politicians who make this error seem surprized when these folks forget to vote. Econ happy talk isn't going to fix this.
So, W pretended to write a book about the father of IS and why the Middle East is such a great place now.