Of the hundreds of columns I’ve written on this site since its inception in 2008, many were about the 44th president of the United States. A long seven years have passed since he left office, years that saw the rise of Donald Trump, his stunning and contested win of the presidency, the pandemic, and so much more. Most of the time, I miss "No Drama Obama," his pragmatic and steady hand at the helm of the republic. Other times, I wonder about the many meanings and consequences of the man and his times.
He was elected with 53% of the popular vote and 68% of the Electoral College, a strong showing considering the close elections of recent years. He came into office on a swell of revulsion of George W. Bush's carelessness in allowing 9/11, endless wars and policies of rendition and torture in black sites. He triumphed over Republican John McCain, who not only had the baggage of the Bush years but showed the lack of judgment in picking the half-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. And with the goodwill of a nation that had elected its first African-American president.
Obama was an intellectual, a rarity in politics, especially for a president. Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, maybe just maybe John F. Kennedy fit this mold. But Obama wore it lightly. He enjoyed playing hoops, snuck a cigarette, and spoke with empathy and sincerity (a striking contrast from the cold and insecure Wilson). Obama wasn't merely book smart but street smart, too. He was blessed with good instincts, as with his insistence on continuity and calm, rather than being the Angry Black Man. It didn't endear him to the left, but overall served him and the nation well.
Obama inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression and steered the ship of state through the storm. The Affordable Care Act, his signature accomplishment, is still thriving despite scores of Republican attempts to repeal it. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. Obama won a second term.
But now, looking back, it's clear that many of us expected too much. Another FDR! Another JFK!
Yet the rule of law was never brought to the banksters who brought on the Great Recession and profited from it. Not one went to prison. Our endless wars of choice continued. USA! USA! continued to fall further behind the world in so many ways. For example, as China built 25,000 miles of high-speed rail, USA! USA! barely funded bare-bones Amtrak intercity passenger trains. The climate crisis grew worse. The economy was slow to recover. No accountability was made for the torture and other horrific acts done by the George W. Bush administration in our name.
Most of this wasn't Obama's fault. The goodwill that greeted his inauguration quickly dissipated as the Republican Party tilted further and further to the right on the way to becoming a nihilist cult. They raised questions about whether the new president was actually an American citizen. The "birthers" never went away despite proof of his birth certificate from Hawaii. Gaining control of Congress in the next election cycle, the GOP insisted on "austerity" that poisoned a quick recovery and prevented federal investments at rock-bottom interest rates that would have been transformative.
For all that, Obama left office on a higher note than his recent predecessors. According to a Pew Research Institute poll in 2016, 46% of respondents said he'd go down in history as an outstanding or above-average president. This was a higher mark than any chief executive since Ronald Reagan. Yet the Pew researchers wrote:
Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats (88%) approve of Obama job’s performance, compared with just 15% of Republicans. That is a wider partisan gap than in George W. Bush’s job approval rating eight years ago (60% of Republicans approved, just 6% of Democrats) or Clinton’s in January 2001 (85% of Democrats approved, as did 35% of Republicans).
Obama’s average job rating over the course of his presidency is more politically polarized than any president dating to Dwight Eisenhower.
It was a sign of things to come. Donald Trump was the demagogue waiting to pounce on the moment that followed. The press didn't help: Hillary's nothingburger emails were above the fold in the New York Times, while Trump's real corruption and scandal — the "grab 'em by the pussy" tape, payoffs to a porn actress and other women, tax evasion, shady real-estate deals, Russian collusion, lies piled upon lies, his very fitness for high office — were downplayed or not reported at all (until much later):
Race was never below the surface. Obama was our first African-American president, and this alone seemed enough to put the 2016 election within stealing range for Trump. And while revulsion over Trump cost him re-election in 2020, he encouraged a mob to overturn the results. A first in American history. Trump will be back next year.
Is it Obama's fault? Or course not. But sitting on the sidelines in Martha's Vineyard isn't a good look for the onetime Chicago community organizer who made us believe we could be better.
Believing we can be better is not the same thing as being better.
The second requires some heavy lifting by the populace as a whole.
And it's proving very hard, if not impossible, to lift the dead weight of 75 million imbeciles.
Posted by: B. Franklin | October 26, 2023 at 04:27 PM
Obama may have made us believe that we could be better, but Melania Trump says we can "Be Best"!
Something to look forward to in the highly likely event that Trump is re-elected next fall (assuming that the expiring prenup can be sweetened enough for Melania to wait another four years to file the divorce paperwork).
Posted by: Kevin in Preskitt | October 26, 2023 at 07:31 PM
Out of the 45 MEN that have been president in 46 presidency's i can only vote for
Great: General George Washington.
Almost great: General Dwight Eisenhower.
Good: Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D Roosevelt.
Sorta good: Theodore Roosevelt.
Even if Teddy did bring the desert
Flood irrigation.
Or as a neighbor called it,
Stinkwater.
Now that word describes a number of politicians.
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 26, 2023 at 09:37 PM
Interesting how, still a year away from the 2024 election, most of us are pretty confident that Trump has got the next one in the bag already. I’m not disputing the sentiment, I feel the same way, but it does seem as if everyone, and by everyone I mean the public as a whole, has simultaneously accepted it as an inevitability.
Go dbacks!
Posted by: 2002 subaru outback | October 26, 2023 at 10:16 PM
Bag man Johnson
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 26, 2023 at 10:40 PM
Ever since 2330 BC there have been empires on this planet.
4,353 years.
In our empire as all others, it is found that the Emperor has no clothes.
Obama is no different than his predecessors.
Posted by: Elsa Entyvio | October 27, 2023 at 08:13 AM
Good points Elsa.
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 27, 2023 at 09:06 AM
Based on a note from Jon i have moved T.R. up one notch to good with his cousin FDR.
Presidential support of water delivery to the desert.
Coming soon Icebergs to Buckeye. Complete with a Emperor Trump hotel imported from Baku.
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 27, 2023 at 11:03 AM
B. Franklin wrote:
And it's proving very hard, if not impossible, to lift the dead weight of 75 million imbeciles.
Don't lift. You'll give yourself a hernia.
Instead, to borrow a country colloquialism, make the hit dog holler.
If you want to set off a maga like a Roman candle, tell them "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris aren't perfect, but they are a great replacement."
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | October 27, 2023 at 12:39 PM
Way back at the beginning of the Obama admin. and the beginning of the Tea party movement we used to have discussions on this blog about the demographics of the Tea party. There were some who felt the Tea party consisted of an array of personalities leaning towards educated, sane, maybe angry persons who still had functioning brains but leaned toward basic conservative issues and ideals.
I argued otherwise.
I win.
To quote another colloquialism, "They are like a squirrel at the end of a long, hard winter, THEY ARE fU&KING nuts.
CULT - NUTS - Brainwashed beyond repair.
Analysis complete.
File closed.
Posted by: AzRebel | October 27, 2023 at 03:34 PM
I think it helps to break Obama's presidency into domestic and foreign affairs. On domestic matters, I would give him a B or B+. He inherited an economy in a complete state of disaster and restored it to reasonable growth with a declining deficit, which Trump proceeded to blow up. As to foreign affairs, his record looks competent only compared to George W. Bush, but objectively it was a disaster, on the order of a D, especially with respect to Russian/Ukraine. His failure, along with Merkel of Germany, to forcefully stand up to Russia's2014 invasion of Ukraine and blatant violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, where Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for border security, ultimately help lead to the current disaster. If he had put on very strong sanctions against Russia in conjunction with the EU and our allies and armed Ukraine to defend itself, we likely would not be in this mess. Syria and Libya were two other complete disasters and the Iran deal did nothing to deter Iran but gave them tens of billions of dollars to fund their weapons programs and Hezbollah and Hamas. However, as with all Presidents, we will need a few decades to completely objectively evaluate Obama. Eisenhower was thought to be a lightweight by the end of his presidency, but historians have reexamined his time as President and the previously confidential records and discovered he was quite adept at handling domestic and foreign policy, especially out of public view.
Posted by: Rich Weinroth | October 28, 2023 at 11:12 AM
IKE WAS THE MAN.
General Dwight Eisenhower
he is the reason i decided to be a republican
at 18 in 1958.
Only the John Birch society thought IKE was a commie.
And General George Washington, tambien.
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 28, 2023 at 11:21 AM
Obama failed to rein in his wall street pals.
And he continued the prscatice of assassinating people including American citizens without prosecution.
Like IKE he was another capitalistic millionaire not a Commie.
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 28, 2023 at 11:26 AM
US foreign affairs can be broken down into two eras, pre-military industrial complex and post-military industrial complex. After Eisenhauer it doesn't matter what party or what person occupied or occupies the White House.
The U.S. is a big Wheel of Fortune game and the President is Vanna White, window dressing.
Apologies to Vanna.
Posted by: Ruben | October 29, 2023 at 08:27 AM
Ruben wrong Eisenhower.
I think Vanna was IKE's jeep driver
Posted by: Cal Lash | October 29, 2023 at 10:44 AM
I personally don't believe Trump will ever be President again. Not because I think he'll be in prison before November 2024 (he probably will be), but because of his mounting recent gaffes, like beating Obama and Biden starting WW2, and misidentifying the town he was having a rally in. His father, an equally wicked person, was stricken by Alzheimer's, and his son is looking like his father left him a curse with his fortune. Thanks, Fred!
Posted by: Pat | October 30, 2023 at 03:53 PM
Notwithstanding the creaky anachronism that is the electoral college, and evermore sophisticated gerrymandering, I would ask, how could Trump possibly have any more support than he had last time??
While the cult will never deviate from worshipping the huckster (yes, Rebel, you win...) no sane, reasonable person can possibly be ok with a pussy grabbing rapist who's demonstrated insurrection is just another day at the office. His filthy laundry being hung out in the legal system isn't winning hearts and minds either...
Posted by: DoggieCombover | October 31, 2023 at 08:41 AM
@DoggieCombover, there's an answer but to believe it's true is unfathomable for most.
To Trump's supporters, Trump represents an avatar. An animating spirit.
Trump is the personification of his voters' ressentiment and fears. We know who his base is -- status-anxious asshole boss. (Robert A. Pape ran the numbers for Foreign Policy magazine on the anniversary of Jan. 6). What animates them is at the intersection of whiteness, maleness and Christianity, along with all of the power accrued therein.
They are also self-aware of their declining power. Fewer and fewer younger people born are white. Race-mixing is becoming more accepted. Women are able to be financially and sexually autonomous. Non-straight people are asserting their sexual and gender autonomy. And fewer people are going to houses of worship.
This looks like progress. But to the Magavolkisch, life is a zero-sum game and progress must come at the expense of the powerful, the traditional, the conventional. And it must be avenged.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | October 31, 2023 at 11:56 AM
@Dugnutts
While there’s truth to your analysis, it’s also quite simplistic, predictable, condescending, and dismissive — in short, a wonderful example of the very attitude that has so alienated great swathes of this nation and helped make them comfortable projecting their frustrations on a sociopath.
Never mind lost real income, a wobbly economy, expensive housing, problematic mass immigration, drug crime and addiction, certain publicly acceptable cultural intolerance, nauseating identity politics, doltish leadership, or any other pertinent factors that drive voter fear and frustration.
No, it’s all about selfish White male bosses who are afraid of shadows.
Does it really make you feel that good?
Posted by: Reality Street | October 31, 2023 at 02:22 PM
Ah, once again we are asked to please find some common ground with the MAGAts. If we'd just listen to them, if we'd just try to understand their fears, blah, blah, blah.
It's like the NY Times Pitchbot come to life.
But...I have no common ground with racists.
I have no common ground with misogynists.
I have no common ground with homophobes.
I have no common ground with nitwits in general.
And I most certainly have no common ground with those who support Treason and Traitors.
So...there it is.
By the way, I do feel really good about that.
Posted by: B. Franklin | October 31, 2023 at 03:21 PM
Reality Street, do you realize that trump MAGAts would not know the meaning of most of the words in your post?
Blind, angry ignorance is their game. A dunce hat is their Medal of Honor.
P.S. the white dunce hat also goes with the rest of their uniform, a white robe.
Posted by: Helen Highwater | October 31, 2023 at 03:56 PM
Yeah, half the nation is nothing but racist idiots. And if we keep throwing that in their face and ignoring all other real-world factors, our unassailable virtue will surely triumph and we’ll all skip along a rainbow of bliss.
And if our approach helps fire up the the MAGAists and they win again, well that just proves that they’re all idiots and we’re right again.
Because we’re all so much better and smarter than THEM.
And, you know, anybody who’s not fully on board is automatically supportive of January 6 traitors and the Klan. And they kick puppies too!
Posted by: Reality Street | October 31, 2023 at 04:57 PM
@ B. Franklin
Well as long as you feel good. Because that’s what’s really at stake here.
Posted by: Reality Street | October 31, 2023 at 05:12 PM
Reality Street,
Do you live and interact on a DAILY basis within a population of 70% of MAGA trump worshiping citizens?
And have you done so for 8 years?
Let's hear your bona fides on the ground, on scene, at the actual scene. Where the rubber meets the road. Where you touch them. Where you breath the same air. Where you feel the heat of their passion and anger. Where you see in their eyes the vacancy of cognitive thought.
Qualify yourself.
Posted by: Helen Highwater | October 31, 2023 at 09:10 PM
Helen, I’m obviously not worthy.
Carry on.
Posted by: Reality Street | October 31, 2023 at 09:27 PM
“how could Trump possibly have any more support than he had last time??”
1. He’s not Biden. All electoral politics now boil down to “which guy do you NOT want to be president?”. Amidst the chaos of 2020, that was Biden. Amidst the decaying fabric of American cities, with the public losing faith in its government to do anything about it, the answer is Trump. The outcomes of this won’t be any better than what we currently have of course, but plenty of people think they will be.
2. Every criminal and civil case being thrown at Trump is seen as a political attack. In my opinion, many of these cases are politically motivated— which isn’t to say that he shouldn’t be charged, but rather, it’s pretty much just expected that politicians get away with bad things, and now that this script has been thrown out to attack Donny it is working in his favor amongst some Americans. There is a brewing hate against the establishment who’s only solution to preventing a Trump re-election is not to choose opposing candidates that people actually want to elect, but rather, hope that the other guy ends up in jail so that we can continue on with the status quo. FWIW, I think Trump deserves to be criminally prosecuted, but I’m not holding my breath after hearing “this time he is REALLY in trouble” in regards to every controversy he’s been involved in since 2016. Remember Mueller?
Posted by: 2002 subaru outback | November 01, 2023 at 08:41 AM
I put his photo in front of the capitol in my scrapbook.
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 01, 2023 at 02:49 PM
@2002 Subaru Outback,
I don't disagree with you that the court cases against Trump are politically motivated. I think it could be established as objective fact that the cases are politically motivated.
So what?
Since the judiciary and law enforcement are a function of government, then the administration of justice is inherently political. Presidents, governors, and sometimes even the public can select judges. Inherently political. District attorneys compete against one another on who is tougher on crime. Inherently political.
Rudy Giuliani propelled himself into the New York City mayorship on his bona fides as a mafia prosecutor. Inherently political.
I can name several political figures, local, state and federal, who've had or will have their day in court. Mark Ridley-Thomas. Rod Blagojevich. Dennis Hastert. Robert Menendez. What Trump is going through is nothing unprecedented.
Donald Trump is unique in having any of his 75 million plus supporters willing to kill on his behalf to anyone who dares cross him. Donald Trump's supporters are the ones who menace election workers with death threats. Trump supporters are the ones who menace prosecutors and judges with death threats. The Republican Party embraces violence in rhetoric and policy positions, if not for the benefit of trump then to use the power of the state against outgroups unable to contest their status.
In a just world, Donald Trump would be found guilty and spend out the remainder of his natural life behind bars. Preferably in Gitmo or Guam, since if Trump were to be confined stateside the Magavolkisch would break him out like El Chapo's son. In a just world, Trumpism would fade into irrelevance and history would pick her teeth with Trumpers' spines.
Sadly, we don't live in a just world. If Trump wins, both in the courts and at the ballot box, he will have remade America in his image and join our neighbors in the Americas as a caudillo state. If Trump is convicted, the man will be gone but Trumpism will live forever with aspirants engaged in open succession of who will carry on the mantle.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 03, 2023 at 01:16 PM
Si !!!!!
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 03, 2023 at 04:36 PM
Or maybe the court cases against trump are because...wait for it...he's a criminal??
Posted by: DoggieCombover | November 04, 2023 at 09:06 AM
Trump sure has lots of folks snowed, and his supporters clearly include a mob of wild-eyed traitors and delusional dorks in furry horn hats.
But the notion that he has “any of his 75 million plus supporters willing to kill on his behalf to [sic] anyone who dares cross him” is just off-the-charts batshit, even as intentional hyperbole.
The vast majority of those millions probably wouldn’t kill on their own behalf, let alone anyone else’s.
But once again, anyone who voted for him for any reason is automatically part of the nut-job hard-core neo-SS vanguard.
They couldn’t possibly be anxious and misguided blue collar family folks angry about any number of legitimate concerns, fed up with the status quo, or just woefully unimpressed with what the Democrats offer.
Because it’s all so simple, and only the righteous intelligentsia can see that…
Posted by: Reality Street | November 04, 2023 at 03:20 PM
Used to think in the following terms:
GOP 10% Nuts, 20% hard core, 20% hard shell-soft center, 50% moderate.
Now they appear to be 30% Nuts, 30% hard core, 40% spineless.
DEMS 10% Nuts, 40% true believers, 50% not paying attention
You seem to be moving between Reality Street and Not A clue Avenue.
Where do you really live?
Sure hope you're an Independent. They're the only sane ones left.
Posted by: Salvatore Ingrezza | November 04, 2023 at 05:38 PM
After 4 years of breathtaking incompetence, after 4 years of undermining NATO and all of our other alliances, after 4 years of being Putin's lapdog, after buddying up to whichever tin pot dictator sent him a mash note, after children in cages, after a huge tax giveaway to the millionaires and billionaires, after "good people on both sides", after no progress at all on infrastructure, after "Mexico is going to pay for it", after "we're going to give you the best health care", after invermectin and the entire Covid debacle, after all that "winning", 75 million people, a lot of them "anxious and misguided" blue collar workers, still voted for that Traitor.
But our not reaching out to them, not valuing their concerns, not saying "there there" and "why yes, you raise a good point" is the problem.
No, the problem is something I like to call Deep Stupid, and there is no known cure.
Posted by: B. Franklin | November 04, 2023 at 06:45 PM
No, actually the problem is not offering them something much better than Trump, and that inspires confidence.
Hint: That’s not Biden or Harris.
And that’s painfully obvious.
So who’s really Deep Stupid?
But if we just keep denouncing them and dismissing all their concerns rather than doing a better job…
Do I need to ask the question again?
Posted by: Reality Street | November 04, 2023 at 07:29 PM
Thank you.
So, Not A Clue Avenue it is.
Posted by: Salvatore Ingrezza | November 04, 2023 at 09:12 PM
No, it’s definitely Reality Street.
That’s around the corner from Smug Alley.
You could probably find it if you tried.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 04, 2023 at 11:05 PM
If anyone wonders where to find Reality Street, it's at the intersection of Dunning and Kruger.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 01:23 AM
Meanwhile, the pit of self-satisfying narcissism is obviously bottomless at the dead end of one-way Wanker Place.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 06, 2023 at 09:36 AM
Hey tanks dudes now i know why I'm stupid.
I'm stranded the bottom left corner of Dunning and Kruger.
Cal Wanker
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 06, 2023 at 10:36 AM
There's a cliff up ahead and one party is riding a horse that ate way too much loco weed and the other party is riding a horse it got on sale at the steps of the glue factory.
Which party is going to pull in the reins??
Stay tuned for each weekly episode of AS THE WORLD BURNS.
Posted by: Ruben | November 06, 2023 at 10:53 AM
Meanwhile, the pit of self-satisfying narcissism
This, signed by Reality Street.
Irony suffered an undignified death.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 11:06 AM
Yep, and Dugnutts STILL just doesn’t get it.
Ah, the pseudo-astute and the inability to grasp the terrifying concept of introspection.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 06, 2023 at 12:21 PM
Hey cal, it looks like we have word slinging going on just like back in the Emil/soleri days. Better dust off old dictionaries.
Speaking of streets, I’m standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ and boy is it windy.
Posted by: Ruben | November 06, 2023 at 12:30 PM
Reality Street, I remember we had this same flame war more than a year ago about the very same topic. You even roasted your favorite chestnuts of "smug," "condescending," because affect is your go-to finishing move. You're carrying on the same languid conversation.
In all that time, you've done no growth.
Color me not surprised.
If we want to go back to the classic late-pandemic-era arguments, would you remember the phrase "amoral pudding"? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Amoral pudding made you lose your shit like an overturned porta-potty truck.
The more you try to defend your ground, the more you prove my point.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 01:04 PM
Notes for class:
"Amoral pudding" was a phrase coined by journalist Jane Coaston in 2018 in a Twitter dialogue with Bari Weiss. At the time, Coaston worked for Vox and now works for the New York Times. Weiss was then working for the New York Times, now an influencer for the "Intellectual Dark Web" through her own "university" (a Substack).
The exchange is here, but I'll copy over the text:
https://twitter.com/janecoaston/status/995021881899089920
[Deleted tweet]
BW: Hi there. What I'm saying that failing to draw distinctions between people like Sam Harris and people like Richard Spencer strips the designation "alt-right" of its power and meaning. That has two main effects, as I see it.
First: When that label is used promiscuously, people start to take it less seriously. And we should be taking the actual alt right seriously.
Second: When conservatives, classical liberals or libertarians are told by the progressive chattering class that they--or those they read--are alt-right, the very common response is to say: Screw it. They think everyone is alt-right. And then those people move further right.
JC: Again, if you move further right because someone on Twitter said something you don’t like, you were always going to move further right.
Also, again, if you join the alt-right BECAUSE OF A VANITY FAIR ARTICLE, you were already on your way there.
BW: I'm sorry, but that's not the point and never was. It's not about any particular article or publication. It's about a tendency to label people as alt-right, fascist, etc who simply are not. That has serious repercussions.
JC: If you’re not, then you’re not. People get labeled stuff they aren’t. Life is challenging. If people respond by then joining the alt-right, they were already there to begin with.
BW: I'm talking here about an emotional response. What happens to you when you are called deplorable? Is the response to say to the accuser: Actually, hey, you're right! I hadn't realized that about myself. Or is it to maybe consider voting for Trump?
JC: Bari, perhaps the issue here is that this hypothetical person is made out of amoral pudding.
BW: I'm not sure what amoral pudding is. I'm talking about every Trump voter I know.
JC: Amoral pudding is who you are when your reasonings behind not great decisions are all based on your feelings being hurt.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 01:16 PM
Amoral pudding, in 4-panel comic form:
https://thenib.com/fault-right/
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 01:30 PM
LMFAO now.
Certainly don’t recall anyone “losing their shit.” But your tedious practice of attempting to mis-ascribe others’ thoughts, reactions, and motives so that you may gratify yourself by puncturing them is just that: tedious.
But your pretensions of instructing a class are downright hysterical, as they were in the past.
Let me guess: you’re an aging or retired associate professor from a suburban junior college of no repute who for many years grew accustomed to fancying himself the smartest arse in the room and receiving no argument from the assembled potted plants.
It shows.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 06, 2023 at 01:39 PM
@Cal Lash, don't despair. The Dunning-Kruger effect has two components.
The salient one is the overconfident ignoramus. When we say Dunning-Kruger, we are usually talking about them. It's people like, oh let's say a certain roadway who will take the bait and attribute hurt feelings to smugness and condescenscion. They're not part of this conversation, but they will be. Bait exists to be taken.
The oft-overlooked aspect of the Dunning-Kruger effect is that people who do possess virtues of credibility, wisdom, expertise and capability are paradoxically underconfident. It's also called the imposter syndrome.
Overconfidence and underconfidence go hand in hand. And the Dunning-Kruger effect implies that there is an uncanny valley between overconfidence and underconfidence. You're one or the other, and if there is a correct balance or a happy medium of ideal confidence, it's situational and all anyone can do is guess correctly.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 02:04 PM
@Ruben:
I’m standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ and boy is it windy.
I'm guessing a girl in a flatbed Ford didn't slow down to take a look at ye.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 02:10 PM
Hahaha bait taken.
“the overconfident ignoramus. When we say Dunning-Kruger, we are usually talking about them,” says the presumptive professor.
Irony now is stone-cold snuffed.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 06, 2023 at 02:12 PM
You don't gloat about taking bait, especially when it was literally about the Dunning-Kruger effect and you were literally warned about being baited.
To quote the great Twitter philosopher Wint: ""im not owned! im not owned!!", i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob"
Bye, corncob.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 03:08 PM
Yeah, I was warned of the bait that I consciously took while announcing so and laughing at it in your face, and that makes me a corn cob.
Some cornholes really, really just don’t get it.
I’ll drop the mic now and move on to intelligent discussions.
But I’m sure to keep laughing about this one for a quite a while.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 06, 2023 at 03:38 PM
@Reality Street, you don't play games very well. You even suck at pigeon chess. (The first rule of pigeon chess is not to play pigeon chess.)
Your comeback is, "I know you are but what am I?" Pee Wee Herman died not too long ago; Paul Reubens was no saint by any means but let him rest in peace by not having you imitate his bit.
When you cannot even put in the effort to come up with an original observation, you should start aspiring to mediocrity first.
Please leave the mic where you left it and grace us by your absence.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 06, 2023 at 07:46 PM
So much dialog and not even one pic of Ye Olde Phoenix!
Posted by: eclecticdog | November 06, 2023 at 08:36 PM
Ruben, she must not have seen your Pinto?
Jerry, for ole phoenix me amiga y me
cruz los barrios.
I'm ready for Jon's next scribbling.
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 06, 2023 at 09:18 PM
Hey B. Franklin & Bobson,
We hate you too.
Posted by: Michael | November 06, 2023 at 10:01 PM
Awe comon Hates not good!
A bad emotion.
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 06, 2023 at 10:16 PM
Bobson,
Sadly, no girl in a flatbed Ford. I did have a girl scout troop offer to help me across the road. Something about earning eldercare badges.
cal is the chick magnet in our group. Over the years his magic has not rubbed off on me. There are no blue pills in my prescription list at the Safeway pharmacy.
Posted by: Ruben | November 07, 2023 at 09:51 AM
Ruben,
The SAFEWAY?
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 07, 2023 at 02:06 PM
The boys are still boys.
Posted by: toughterry | November 07, 2023 at 03:46 PM
At 83 ive become 10 again
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 07, 2023 at 04:30 PM
Wouldn't it be funny if Joe pegged out in the next year and the dum dum dems had to run Michelle Obama in a pinch and she won and everyone in the red states keeled over from strokes and heart attacks and estate sales would suddenly have to unload 300 million firearms so rather than "come for their guns" the government would require every family to take 20 guns to use in their houses as paper weights and door stops?
Doanld Trump, Kari Lake, Wendy Rogers and Paul Gosar along with many others would move back to Russia admitting they were sleeper agents for the KGB.
It could happen.
Posted by: Elsa Entyvio | November 07, 2023 at 05:11 PM
I'm always amused by the people who constantly denigrate Joe Biden.
Joe Biden has done more for working and middle class people than any President since FDR.
This is not my opinion. This is a fact. You can, if you care to, look it up.
And yet there is this constant sniping about his age, or his stutter, or his wife, or he hasn't done this and he hasn't done that.
Considering that he's had to try to undue all the damage that the Flaming Orange Anus left him, and considering that half the Congress consists of people who do not want to govern, then add in a Supreme Court that is controlled by a majority that practices a positively Medieval version of Catholicism that they desperately want to inflict on the rest of us, and I'd say he's done pretty damn well.
Imagine what we could accomplish if the Republicans weren't a wholly owned subsidiary of Putin Inc.
PS. I couldn't care less whether people I don't know like me or hate me. I'm way too old to worry about that nonsense. But if it makes you feel better about yourself, hate away.
Posted by: B. Franklin | November 07, 2023 at 09:53 PM
@B. Franklin, same here. Biden has delivered the goods and then some. I hope I can be as productive when or if I'm 80.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 07, 2023 at 11:32 PM
Cal you're cool, but the others are SO FREAKING LAME bringing up the Dunning-Kruger effect like it's some kind of profound psychological insight that no one's ever heard of before.
They should do more psych research cuz then they'd know about the Punning-Duger effect. It says that the more often and the quicker someone brings up the Dunning-Kruger effect, the more towards the exact middle of the bell curve their IQ falls. It's a well documented phenomenon in the social sciences.
Posted by: Michael | November 08, 2023 at 12:53 AM
We do have an interesting trend developing here after the turn of the century.
A less than intelligent frat boy is elected president.
A Dem president has to come in and with great difficulty clean up the mess.
A less than intelligent sub-human spoiled brat is elected president.
A Dem president has to come in and with great difficulty clean up the mess.
Will the cycle continue. Who knows?
More concerning and disappointing to me is the world wide awakening of old prejudices and racisms which have always lain just below the surface. The basic human animal doesn't seem to be able to evolve.
cal always reminds us of "man's inhumanity to man". Every news cycle proves his point.
The bottom line is that hate and racism is learned around the dinner table. There's no stopping that. Now that dinner tables around the world are lead by increasingly angry, uneducated, frustrated people, we are faced with a whole new generation of hate.
I know you don't like the word hate cal, but brace yourself, it's about to go on an awful rampage.
Posted by: Ruben | November 08, 2023 at 07:43 AM
When did humans begin to hate?
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 08, 2023 at 10:46 AM
Based on 2001 A Space Odyssey, when one cave man knocked another caveman on the head with the leg bone of an ass.
Posted by: Ruben | November 08, 2023 at 11:21 AM
At this juncture, to prevent the dire scenarios that many vehement Trump opponents predict, most reasonable minds would agree that defeating Trump at the polls should be the obvious primary objective.
But it’s very unclear whether Biden can pull that off, to put it mildly, regardless of his performance, age, policies, and any unfair criticism thereof. Is there a better alternative? That’s far from certain, especially this late in the game.
At any rate, most suburban junior college slackers can be made to understand that electoral politics is generally regarded as a game of addition. The importance of erecting a big tent and recognizing that emotional factors such as fear, anxiety, confidence, and inspiration can drive motivation, commitment, turnout, and other real-world factors that actually decide elections is also generally understood.
A reasonable mind might thus also deduce that constantly dismissing 75 million voters as unmitigated and irredeemable idiots, racists, misogynists, homophobes, potential killers, and x,y, or z because they previously voted for Trump and might be induced to do so again for any number of reasons — not least of which might be disenchantment with Biden or his party — is a foolish endeavor.
A reasonable mind might further conclude that, while it’s important to see clearly and disavow unacceptable extremists, such antics as reducing concerns about the economy, real wages, housing, crime, immigration, demographic and cultural changes, and other important issues to “hurt feelings” and trotting out obscure and long-winded theories about morality and pudding as a basis for dismissing the above are plain asinine.
So reasonable minds might wish to consider whether they’re more interested in ego stroking and indulging in intellectual fantasies and moral preening or in influencing the reality of electoral politics and the actual and foreseeable consequences thereof.
Your mileage may vary.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 08, 2023 at 09:12 PM
The insurance industry has been creating and using actuarial charts for centuries. Really. About 400 years.
So, without emotion or prejudice I can say that the odds I will die in the next few years is very high as a 72 year old with heart disease.
President Biden's odds are on the high side too.
I hope he doesn't die, I hope he says healthy.
But, actuarially, without emotion or prejudice, would you please position someone other than Kamala Harris to be in the wings to replace him.
Brushing aside all the FOX news hogwash that washes over the country minute by minute, the bottom line is that Biden has done an exemplary job.
I think you would secure Biden's reelection from us Independents if you just cover our actuarial bet with a LEGIMATE person who could step in the be President.
That is not asking too much.
Posted by: Ruben | November 08, 2023 at 09:48 PM
Reality Street, im a little slow. im going have to read that a few more times to try and understand.
Ruben, i failed algebra.
However Stanley Kubrick and Riddley Scott are my heroes along with Greta Thunberg.
I don't recall whether i have watched
2001 or Blade Runner, more times.
But both many times.
And Deckard is not a Replicant.
And the 1979 Starwars is a big favorite.
I've drank in that bar.
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 08, 2023 at 10:31 PM
The "reality of electoral politics", just like the reality of life, is that stupid people tend to do stupid things.
Sure, you can try to talk to them.
If you're very patient, you can even try to reason with them.
However, in the end you may find, as Gary Oldman says in Slow Horses, talking to them is like "trying to explain Norway to a dog."
This may be because they often believe in imaginary things, like Donald Trump's wealth or business prowess. Or that we can go backward to the 1950's or better yet the 1850's. Or, my personal favorite, that slavery really wasn't that bad.
Anyway, I think it has been proven recently
that 75 million votes isn't enough to win a Presidential election. And another wave of Covid is bound to whittle that number down some. Because science doesn't care whether you believe in it or not.
Posted by: B. Franklin | November 09, 2023 at 05:02 PM
It may indeed be impossible to explain Norway to a dog, but it’s quite easy to flail at a pack of dogs and get mauled for your trouble, especially if the dogs are already feeling threatened or getting hungry.
Think about that one.
Posted by: Reality Street | November 09, 2023 at 05:29 PM
Who could replace Kamala on the ticket?
Posted by: Tony Perea | November 09, 2023 at 05:48 PM
Maybe Reality Street?
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 09, 2023 at 06:39 PM
Reality Street, "stupid people."
My IQ fluctuates between 99 and 100
but at 83 i appear to have made more than
50 percent of good decisions.
With a smart phone I can get up to 104.
There is alot of good and bad availabe information but a sizable number of folks are too busy trying to survive to take it all in. So keep posting as i normaly learn at least one new thing reading Talton scribblings.
Hey Rube, any snowflakes in your town?
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 09, 2023 at 06:49 PM
Who could replace Kamala on the ticket??
Posted by: Tony Perea | November 09, 2023 at 07:59 PM
cal,
Only the human kind.
No precip for quite a while now.
Posted by: Ruben | November 09, 2023 at 09:19 PM
Tony,
I'm thinking Corey Booker rather than Newsom.
Posted by: Ruben | November 09, 2023 at 09:25 PM
Black population 13%
Hispanic population 19%
How about Hispanic VP?
Menendez, either a proven corrupt dude or a frugal saver ( gold, silver, cash for emergencies).
There are other Hispanic senators to choose from.
I have a bunch of silver, am I corrupt?
Your silence kind of tells me you Democrats have a seriously big stick up your ass which prevents you from thinking outside the box. You party stiffs have always had that trait. It's why I hate you as much as the other team.
Posted by: Ruben | November 10, 2023 at 12:29 PM
Based on what I've seen in Arizona elections for my entire life, I question how reliable a voting block the Hispanic population is.
If they were, the Arizona political scene would probably look a hell of a lot different than it does.
And I'd imagine the same would apply to Texas, as well.
Also, women are half of the population. Not 13% or 19%. 50%, some of whom might be offended by dropping a woman from the ticket.
Posted by: B. Franklin | November 10, 2023 at 03:23 PM
Yep. ALL THAT!
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 10, 2023 at 05:45 PM
For Arizona politics hounds, Qanon Shaman Jacob Angeli-Chansley has filed to run as a Libertarian for the 8th Congressional District seat.
This is from the liberal AF Substack Wonkette. There's news in there, but this gets the snark and ridicule that such a news item deserves.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/of-course-the-qanon-shaman-is-running
This is a crimson-red Republican district, and current Rep. Debbie Lesko is retiring at the end of the term.
Shaman's competition:
...haunted Victorian doll Blake Masters, Trent “The Female Body Has Ways To Shut That Whole Thing Down” Franks — who resigned in disgrace from that very seat in 2017 following a sexual harassment scandal involving his inability to stop talking about his and his wife’s surrogacy plans, Chansley’s fellow January 6 participant Sen. Anthony Kern of Glendale, along with Seth Coates, Isiah Gallegos, Jimmy Rodriguez, Rollie Stevens, and Brandon Urness.
Candidate Rollie Stevens, I very desperately need to point out, is a country and western singer who has promised to perform a full concert with every speech he gives.
...
He says he wants to “bulldoze bad government” and is also “building a tourism destination in Wickenburg AZ, Gold Mine Experience!”
The people's house is now the improv comedy stage for folks who have no business doing improv comedy in the first place.
Posted by: Bobson Dugnutt | November 11, 2023 at 07:45 PM
Good post
Posted by: Cal Lash | November 24, 2023 at 11:07 PM
Matthew Yglesias has an interesting take here: https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/obama-mostly-got-things-right?r=7wxen&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | November 30, 2023 at 03:24 PM
A corner in Winslow might be a way out in the future.
Cal I already live in a barrio: Barrio de Devonshire. A taco shop, a blues bar, many apartments and rentals, sex offenders, and numerous homeless spice the place up.
Posted by: eclecticdog | December 14, 2023 at 06:31 PM
Sorry but your take on Obama reveals you to possess a clown's level of understanding of geopolitics. You'd really have to work hard to rid yourself of this level of ignorance.
Make sure to get your 9 booster shots. I'm sure you think you need them. Oh yes and support Ukraine! Because you always believe the stupid lies you are told. And finally since you support 2 things the Deep State has fed you then you might as well support Israel since the Deep State is all in for genocide there.
Posted by: Fudge Cracker | December 24, 2023 at 06:16 PM