Bob Somerby takes me to task today for posting a clip of Donald Trump that he says is grossly misleading and dishonest. I don't agree. The Biden campaign's snarky summary is fairly conventional Twitter abridgment and the video is right there for anyone who wants more. It wouldn't pass muster in a PhD dissertation, but it's fairly unremarkable in the context of a quick hit in a political campaign.
But agree to disagree! What I'm really curious about is Bob's response to Trump's declaration that we've become a pitiful country that can't solve even the smallest problem:
Just with regard to that one state of affairs, who can doubt the accuracy of what Trump said? Who can doubt the accuracy of the claim that we have become a nation that can't solve the simplest problem?
Of course we've become a nation which can't solve the smallest problem! It isn't perfectly easy to dole out blame for that situation, but the accuracy of the basic statement is blindingly obvious.
....We have become a small, pitiful nation "which is incapable of solving even the smallest problem." Everybody knows that's true—and in our view, a lot of that stems from our blue tribe's unintelligent behavior over the past many years, though your assessments may differ.
Huh? The United States, despite polarized politics and one major party that's all but insane, has been cruising along and solving problems at a remarkable clip for the past couple of decades. We've passed tax cuts, bankruptcy reform, Obamacare, financial reform, and an infrastructure act. We created and distributed a COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year and made it through the pandemic in better shape than nearly all our peer countries. We invented modern AI and we dominate the tech world. Our economy is the most vigorous on the planet. We've slashed crime, teen pregnancies, cigarette smoking, cancer deaths, air and water pollution, and HIV. Our educational system is one of the best.
Are there problems we haven't solved? Of course.¹ But there always are. Contrary to the mass depression that seems to have settled over so many of us, neither the US nor the world are undergoing a "polycrisis"—one of the most fatuous notions I've heard in a long time. In fact, the world is in remarkably calm and resilient shape, but only if you take your head out of the sand long enough to recall what things were like in the recent past.
Just stop it.
¹Fentanyl, illegal immigration, climate change, mass shootings, persistent deficits, racism, Fox News, obesity, falling fertility, social media disinformation, poor life expectancy, the Black-white educational gap, aquifer deterioration, housing shortages, pickleball beefs, mass incarceration, delusional conspiracy theorizing, student debt, Donald Trump, door plugs popping off of airplanes, and kids these days. Feel free to add to this list.
this begets 2 questions:
1) who da fuq is bob somerby and
2) is everything he says this stupid?
++++
????????????????????
!!!!!
+1
1) who cares?
2) mostly; he does sometimes have something worthwhile to say about education standards
I hadn't checked back on Mr Somerby's Daily Howler for years, but when I did, I was shocked to find he'd become bitter and angry, primarily at "the blue tribe", with a particular axe to grind against Rachel Maddow.
He's still regularly harping on Al Gore and 2000! Hey, it's a sore spot with me, too, but I don't constantly bring it back up. No wonder Mr S seems to have such sympathy for The Defendant; both are mired in the injustices of the past.
By the way, hi, Bob!
Same. Once upon a time I really enjoyed his centrist-y shtick, but yeah, at a certain point he really spiraled down the conservative rabbit hole and became pretty unreadable.
Same here. His step by step of how Al Gore got screwed over is so spot on. Then you get to the rest of his stuff and I start to gag. His hatred of Maddow is mind-bendingly ridiculous.
I too am surprised to hear Bob is still around. And still apparently incredibly long winded.
"I too am surprised to hear Bob is still around."
Do we know that he is? His commentary would be very easy to mimic with ChatGPT.
Back in the dim time when I was growing up the conservatives had a slogan: "America, Love or Leave It". Maybe we would all be happier if Trump, Somerby, and their whole crowd instead of trying to blow America up just migrated to Hungary, North Korea, or whereever theres an authortarian problem solving leader that they like.
Adding to the list:
The unintelligent behavior of anyone and everyone Somerby designates as members of "our blue tribe."
Microplastics.
File this with "Everything Is Going To Hell" about 5 or 6 posts ago under "disaster sells" aka "newsertainment." There's a reason people gawk at even minor car accidents but not at, say, even some of the truly amazing feats of highway engineering in the L.A. area. There's a reason that, "if it bleeds, it leads" on local newscasts. People like to hear about disaster (as long as it doesn't directly and personally affect them). They get excited by wails and moans. They stand around and watch fires with interest, even as the people whose homes are burning collapse sobbing right nearby. Some say it's actually a survival instinct. And in any case I think it's particularly true of people who feel their lives have become routine and boring -- eg many retirees. Add to that the number of channels of information we now receive -- compared to a decade or few ago, it's grown by orders of magnitude -- and it's a full-time disaster-fest! Of course the world is going to hell! Don't you watch TV, or read the Internet, or ... ??!?
Puzzling analysis given that it is Republicans who cant even pass a government budget, much less come to grips with providing funding for major policy efforts of any sort.
It is unclear to me how one achieves progress against big problems unless one has the budget to pursue them.
Alas, presumes they want to pass a government budget, or provide funding for major policy efforts, or achieve progress against big problems.
From what I can tell, quite apart from their obvious inability to do so, they have no interest in doing so, indeed very much to the contrary.
The Republican position is that the only legitimate function of government is protection of private property rights. The government certainly has no business promoting the general welfare.
Yeah "promote the general welfare," that's some Commie sh!t right there! Just like "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in" and that other welfare stuff!
private property rights
unfortunately they're not so big on our 'privates' property rights
"The Republican position is that the only legitimate function of government is protection of private property rights. "
As long as you are part of the correct group, otherwise you are SOL.
Minor edit to your comment.
Trump, such a great problem solver that he went bankrupt running a casino.
Looking at Kevin's list, it occurs to me that the problems there have fairly apparent and widely agreed-upon solutions, but ones that are routinely blocked by conservatives because solving them would 1. either tilt the balance of power away from rich, white people, or 2. upset some ridiculous tribal shibboleth they insist on holding on to regardless of how irrational or harmful it is.
If we can't solve problems, it's largely because Republicans don't want us to.
From the point of view of the left, domestic social problems are not getting solved the way they were in the New Deal and Great Society eras, say from 1933 to 1969. This is because of the resurgence of conservatism which came about because Republicans embraced racism, not because of "our blue tribe's unintelligent behavior". Republicans have been getting their electoral wins by splitting working people on the basis of race and religion and increasing partisanship, and this partisanship obviously leads to the way that Congress can't do much of anything when Republicans control at least one of the Houses.
Economically the US is still a powerhouse, though not as dominant as in the post-WW-II years when other industrial countries were down and the East had not yet risen.
Internationally the US was losing or at least not winning wars and other conflicts as soon as WW II was over. We "lost" China and couldn't win the Korean war and so on through Vietnam and the Bush-era Middle-East conflicts. Not much new here.
Somerby finds fault will all sorts of things that the blue tribe does or doesn't do, but offers no constructive plan for how to make things better. Apparently he thinks that MAGAs or at least swing voters would convert to Democratic if only the left were less partisan.
Biden Afghanistan withdrawal was a PR disaster, his Ukraine policy is a failure, his Houthi policy is a failure, his Israel policy is a failure
Indeed a very "special" "newb".
Spoken like a true "Newb". Are you suggesting Vladimir's Ukraine policy is a success?
Use your head.
Ukraine can't win without US support and now thats gone. Ukraine had chances to do better but Biden slow walked aid in quantity and quality and the chances are gone.
Wait, so Biden is now a dictator and can bypass the GOP Congress that's holding Ukraine aid hostage to the Southern border? Who knew?
Thus sayeth the Blathering Bloviator of Newb. What bilgewater. Should we have nuked Afghanistan? Should we nuke the Houthis today? Gaza? How about just Go Big and Nuke Putin?
Houthis: The policy is a failure because any policy would be a failure. Its not possible to stop the strikes with the methods available. So we get all the bad will for attacking islamics for no gain. Fucking Egypt isn't supporting us. Red Sea remains closed.
Gaza: Biden has quite effectively isolated the US globally on the side of war crimes and has no intention of using any of its leverage on Netanyahoo instead continuing to burn away global respect for a fantasy Israel decades out of date.
On Ukraine here's just one example: why does Ukraine have to ship western gear to Poland for repairs almost 1000 miles ftom the front? Because no efforts were made to train Ukraine in how to fix the gear or to supply them with spare parts. This should have started summer of 2022 and maybe it would be ready by now.
Here's another: blathering on about rules based int'l order that mostly screws the global south over and makes Americans shrug. It wasn't until fairly recently that Biden articulated the real reason: if Ukraine goes under Putin will hit the Baltics and then we have to go to war.
If you can use that head of yours for something besides sticking up your asshole you should be able to see the multiple foreign policy failures.
We didn't win in Korea? I was under the impression suggesting South Korea today is not an economically thriving democracy? Granted, sometimes it takes some time for things to fully playout, something Special Newb will eventually learn.
No we didn't. It's an armistice. One Kim is actually taking concrete military steps to end. Will he actually attack? Still unlikely but this years declarations are accompanied by actual military policy changes that make war more likely and that IS new.
We preserved South Korea and eventually helped institute a democracy. That's a win. North Korea is a shit hole with nuclear weapons. Military steps? More like Kim is staging tatrums because he knows North Korea is a shit hole, unliked by anyone except Donald Trump. Yah, It's still playing out, but I wouldn't bet against us.
We "lost" China and couldn't win the Korean war
The UN/US absolutely won the Korean War. Prior to the summer of 1950, there were two Korean states, one Communist (north, or DPRK) and one non-Communist (south, or ROK). The UN (with the US being the prime actor in this effort) went to war to restore the status quo ante after the North invaded in an attempt to destroy the ROK. They failed. We succeeded.
It's true our war-aims were re-calibrated after China's intervention in late 1950. But that doesn't change the fact that the Communists were defeated by the West in their attempt to destroy the ROK.
So which commenter do we think is Bob Somerby?
He comments here occasionally under his own name.
I think Kevin is seriously undestestimating the effect of climate change.
We'll see.
Climate change is KD's biggest example of "it won't affect me, therefore who cares".
Come on. Kevin is not the problem preventing us from dealing with climate change. We've got Trump and the neandrathals to deal with but all you can do is shit on Kevin.
Bob Somerby was always boring and humorless (ironic, since I believe he is, or was at one time, a standup comic; I doubt he was funny) but he is now one of these old, bitter failures who has moved to the right. Well, I assume because it's been ten or twenty years since I stopped reading him. (Thank God, I'm a 70-year old somewhat bitter failure who has stayed firmly on the left.) He's one of those guys who, when I hear his name, my brains goes "he's still alive?" or (perhaps more accurately) "he's still writing?"
tax cuts - problem
bankruptcy reform - problem
Obamacare - worst possible solution
financial reform - largely repealed
infrastructure act -- good stuff was stripped but okay
We invented modern AI -- truly terrible
we dominate the tech world -- with 0 privacy
At least half the things you listed as problems solved were actually PROBLEMS. For fuck's sake drum, AI is a huge negative
Luddite.
I would question this part, mostly not the rest.
Russia and Israel are making the world a lot more dangerous at the moment, and I don't see evidence that either of them are easing up. Notably, both of them are ruled by difficult-to-dislodge corrupt authoritarians (differing in degree, to be sure). Those are the sorts of situations that can tip bad, quickly. And North Korea is behaving weirdly in novel ways, too.
I think you're a bit over-sanguine in parts. But yeah, the "America Sucks" crowd are a bunch of idiots who really need to travel a bit before they renew their pundit cards.
I don't disagree that Russia and Israel are currently making the world far more dangerous, but Israel can dislodge Netanyahu and the Likud coalition by voting them out in the next election, and the Knesset could vote Netanyahu out of office at anytime, if they had the will to do so.
Putin is only going to leave power feet first, either by natural causes or otherwise.
Wouldn't it be nice if the "otherwise" were to happen during one of his droning sessions?
Yet Trump and his MAGA supporters who maintain we are a helpless pitiful giant who can't solve problems are the strongest supporters of Vladimir Putin and David Netanyahu, the respective fathers of the present situations in Ukraine and the middle east. If Trump wins expect more agressive action from Russia amd Isreal, not less.
"David"? I think you mean "Bludgeonman" er, ah "Benjamin"
Yah, your right.
The deficit is not a problem, it's a solution. Specifically, it's a solution to the problem of matching aggregate demand to supply capacity, thus avoiding insufficient demand (leading to unemployment) or excessive demand (leading to inflation).
And, uh, about 70% of the debt owed BY us is owed TO us. For the most part, we are borrowing from ourselves, and a lot of it is for very good reasons, eg investments in infrastructure, science and technology, and human capital.
Now, the LARGE part that's thanks to giveaways via selective tax cuts to wealthy individuals to create asset bubbles and to corporations to buy back their own stock, well, we can thank the Republican Party almost exclusively for that.
We can’t solve these problems because we’re not listening to god.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/us/colorado-pastor-crypto-fraud-eli-regalado.html
Mr. Regalado also said in the video that he went into the cryptocurrency business because “the Lord” told him to. He said that God had once come to him a dream and asked him to do so, and he accepted that he and his wife spent the funds in “a home remodel that the Lord told us to do.” Mr. Regalado said that he still hoped that investors could get their money back, and that he believed “God is going to work a miracle in the financial sector.”
I’m sure these two seemed like decent well adjusted adults, but really, they were either criminals or seriously mentally ill. Or both. And this is why we can’t save the world. Idiots.
Funny, every time a progressive suggests that the country is falling short of its potential in some area, the "red tribe" immediately accuses us of hating America. ????
The Obama administration solved the problem of getting health insurance to millions of people that couldn't previously get coverage and would have provided coverage to millions more if the GOP hadn't fought it tooth and nail and continues to fight it.We also solved the problem of getting a horking big telescope launched and in a lagrange point between the earth and the sun. KD mentioned the COVID vaccines and there are a ton of other new therapies developed and being developed on the governments dime. I guess Somerby's complaint is that all we can do is solve big problems.
This is mainly interesting in the sense that every country, as defined by the relationship between its people and its leadership, accomplishes exactly what "it" wants for the most part.
You could just as well say "Russia isn't solving is problems" when Putin is obviously doing exactly, exactly what he wants to do.
You can't blame anything that the US does not have on "its" inability to "solve" any problem. Whatever the country wants, it does.
If Somerby doesn't like what's "not happening," all he needs to do is to look at the side of the isle who is committed, absolutely committed, no nothing happening. Sheesh.
In the amount of time it’ll take me to write this comment at least one person will die from gun violence in the US and at least one other person will die in the US because of a lack of available and affordable healthcare. Just because someone pays for Obamacare doesn’t mean they’ll be able to use it. Roughly 10% of the US population lives below the poverty line, and far more live paycheck to paycheck in what should be considered poverty. There are almost as many poverty stricken people in this country as are people in Canada or California. It’s a travesty. Our cities’ streets are lined with homeless overdosing on fentanyl. Meanwhile billionaires can get away without paying taxes and through the force of their wealth manipulate our elections. A complete fraud and an insurrectionist traitor can go years after leaving the White House before there’s even any movement on taking him to account for his actions. He could very well even be elected president again. This isn’t a functioning government nor a functioning society that’s solving problems.
While Trump was talking out of his orange sphincter it is true we can’t solve fundamental issues.
We know how to solve most of these, Republicans just don't want to because they live out of touch with reality. Let's be clear on who "we" is.
Bob jumped the shark a while back. I used to appreciate his column, especially since I've worn the hats of editor, journalist, columnist, and tech writer, but he started getting ridiculously picky and just plain tiresome to read. Now he's just a cranky old guy, and I get enough of that at home in my own head.
Not sure what the utility is of responding to an old man yelling at the internet.
Ah, but without old men we would never have learned that the Internet is a series of tubes, not a pickup truck!
Not sure falling fertility is a serious problem. It sounds more like a solution to a lot of the other problems on the list.
This!
If I was a grade seven teacher, and I had students in my class behaving like Bill Somerby, I'd teach them a concept called science. Not the method, just the principles that everyone with an elementary school education should know. And then I'd get ahold of the grade six teacher and ask, "What are you teaching these children? We need to talk!"
And I'm being literal, not facetious.
BS is not a right winger and it is plain dumb to say so. He can overdo his criticism of the left media but he brings out good points. I this instance of Trump quoting I think he is more right than KD for example. And his criticism of RM was valid imo. That said, he does seem to believe the “other” side is reachable when it is not. I think he is slowly realizing this is not the case and lately, like KD, he blames many of the current political problems squarely on Fox news.
On the ground, people see their roads are not being repaired, fees are going through the roof, constant threat of traffic tickets....all because they got their lower taxes.
"....who can doubt the accuracy of what Trump said?"
Let Bob know that I found his problem right here.
> falling fertility,
That isn't a problem, it's a solution. The following listed problems seem like they are at least slightly helped by falling fertility: illegal immigration, climate change, mass shootings, aquifer deterioration, housing shortage. Also, not listed, environmental degradation in general.
Blame mainstream media culture and incentives.
Ask one simple question: if everything was really good, how would we know?
Over 10 years ago when Kevin was at Mother Jones, I posted a comment that was pretty mainstream and unremarkable. Hours later, imagine my surprise to see that Somerby made an entry railing at what I wrote. He started with a minor ancillary passage*, inverted my argument, and proceeded to bang his drum again and again.
* on the order of "most" of something which was a *subset of A*. Not the essence of my comment, but Somerby used it as the fulcrum for his huge lever arguing that I was discussing *all of A*. It demonstrated his lack logical understanding and integrity.
I suppose to satisfy myself that the above is correct, I should try to find my comment & Howler entry, but that's near impossible. Anyway, his tone was abusive, and who needs that?
The rule of Internet comment, Everything Must Be A Crisis And Very Dramatically stated in black and white imperatives, and if not Resolved Right Now At Internet Drama Llama typing speed, all is woe.
Medium does rather tend to reinforce and magnify Drama Llama tendencies