When Liberalism Isn't Enough

As I keep saying, the people who attack Obama on the left aren't upset because he's an ideological traitor, as they claim, but because he doesn't attack Republicans enough.  Yet another case in point, when asked about the Republican governor of Wisconsin's plan to remove collective bargaining for public employees, Obama said:

On the other other hand, some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin -- where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally -- seems like more of an assault on unions.

And I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they're our neighbors, they're our friends. These are folks who are teachers, and they're firefighters, and they're social workers, and they're police officers. You know, they make a lot of sacrifices, and make a big contribution, and I think it's important not to vilify them, or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees.

So, I think everybody's gotta make some adjustments, but I think it's also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to the well being of our states and our cities.

And that's a good, liberal response.  Without a doubt, he offered firm support for unions as well as government employees, and clearly thinks it's wrong to hurt them in the name of fixing deficits. 

Attacks for Attack's Sake

But to those on the left who hate Obama, that wasn't enough.  Why?  Because he used the words "seems" and didn't attack Republicans. Here are some examples from the story I saw on this:

"Seems? Thanks, Captain Understatement."

"'seems like'? can we please have some more milque toast language Mr. President? Obama will never put these thugs in their proper place, too bad, such a missed opportunity in a long line of them."

"Thanks Mr. President for your support. Obama never misses an opportunity to ride the fence "

"Thanks for the smallest thing you could do President DINO Obama.  Why not call them out for what it is? Oh right, you want bipartisanship. You want to get along. How about getting some glasses and seeing what's really going on?"

But...what exactly would Obama achieve if he called out the governor and put him in his proper place?  Seriously, are we to imagine there's a large group of moronic but powerful Democrats who would do something to fix this, if only they had heard Obama insult the governor?  Really??  Obama's not even a Democrat because he used the word "seems"?

Because if Obama had put the governor and Wisconsin Republicans in their place, it would have made the story about Obama.  No longer would the story be Evil GOP v. Government Employees.  It would be Wisconsin Governor v. Obama, catapulting this jerk onto the national stage.  And for as much as Tea Partiers will already support the union busting, it would suddenly become their number one priority and would be cast as "Obama's takeover of state's rights," and how he's butting into issues he shouldn't be involved in.

Not that we should be basing political decisions upon what these bozos think, but the point is that it wouldn't help the unions for Obama to put Republicans in their place, and would only make the story about him.  So there's absolutely no reason for Obama to do that.  He gave a firm liberal response that supported the unions and called out what Republicans are trying to do, but without being controversial and stepping into the story.

But for some on the left, that's just not good enough.  They don't want a liberal president who speaks diplomatically and avoids political battles that have no upside. They want blood, and if Obama won't get it for them, it's his they want.